The Sun.
London, England, 1867-04-08 00:00:00

THE RECONSTRUCTION OF EUROPE.

The following is the third portion of the article
on the above subject contributed by John S. C.
Abbott to the Anylo-American Times:—
As the Austrian army of invasion was rapidly
marching upon Turin, two hundred thousand
French troops were on the move to aid the Sar-
dinians. _NAPOLEON joined his troops at Genoa at
two o'clock in the afternoon of the 12th of May,
1859. No language can describe the enthusiasm of
his reception. The French and Sardinian army
met the Austrians at Montebello and Palaestro.

After a series of sanguinary conflicts the Austrians

were driven back and across the Ticino. The
Franco-Sardinian army pursued, and again encoun-
tered the foe on the plains of Magenta and Sol-
ferino. Again the Austrians were defeated with
awful slaughter on each side. Sullenly FRANCIS
JOSEPH retired into that renowned Quadrilateral of
Gibraltar-like fortresses, upon which all the resources
of military art bad been lavished at Mantua,
Verona, Legnago, and Peschiera.
Austria having thus been driven into Venetia,
not only Sardinia, but Lombardy was liberated.
All Italy seized the opportunity, and rose with en-
thusiasm. Parma, Modena, Tuscany expelled
their Austrian rulers, and their young men rushed
to the camp of Victor Emmanuel, shouting " United
Italy." The blasts of Garibaldi's bugles were
echoing through the Appenines. All the people
of Naples were roused, and Ferdinand, appro-
priately named Boinba from the patriotic towns he
had shelled, was himself being bombarded.
ABRAHAM LINCOLN said that the United States

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could not exist half slave and half free. There is

an inexpressible conflict between the two systems
It is equally true that European Governments
cannot co-exist, with half of those Governments
based upon the Democratic principle of equal rights
for all men, and the other half, feudal despotisms,
founded upon the exclusive privileges of an aristo-
cratic class.

The old Bourbon regime in France was the
ripened system of aristocratic usurpation. The
Empire, introduced by Napoleon, was the announce-
ment to Europe of equality, the equal political
rights of all men. Between these two systems
there is of necessity deadly hostility. The wars
of the Allies against the First NAPOLEON were
simply the wars which these two antagonistic sys-
tems engendered. The overthrow of NAPOLEON
and the triumph of the Allies was the overthrow of
equality and the triumph of privilege.
But nothing is ever settled in this world until it is
settled right; and Europe has now, after the lapse
of half a century, essentially a repetition, with of
course many complications, of the struggles of the
popular spirit of the first empire with the old feudal
dynasties. The French cannon which lifted up
their voices at Magenta and Solferino spake the
same language which was uttered by the batteries
of the First NAPOLEON at Arcola and Marengo.
All dynastic Europe was now alarmed by the
posture of affairs in Italy. The spirit of NAPOLEON
I. seemed to have burst from the tomb, and to be
riding forth conquering and to conquer. Where
would the movement stop ? If Italy be regenerated
and united, Italy and France would, as under the
first empire, be essentially one ; Hungary and Po-
land demand liberation ; Ireland is restless.
The dynasties were terror stricken. In hot haste a
coalition was formed. England and Prussia both
threatened to unite their armies with that of Aus-
tria if France did not • immediately call back her
troops and desist from the attempt to liberate Ve-
netia. There was no alternative. France must
either abandon the poor Venetians to their fate, or
meet the armies of England and Prussia, united
with that of Austria, and thus plunge all Europe
into one of the most desolating wars ever witnessed.
History will certainly declare that NAPOLEON acted
the part of a sagacious and humane man, in not per-
sisting in the attempt to make Italy free to the
Adriatic at so terrible a price. With frankness
quite unusual in diplomacy he stated these reasons
for withdrawing his army, leaving Venetia still in
the hands of its oppressor. Under such influences

he consented to the peace of Villafranca.
In this rapid sketch I have not space to speak of
the disenthralment of the various States of Italy,

and the reorganisation of the Kingdom. Venetia
was left out, with every Venetian heart burning

with grief and despair. During every stage of this

conflict the sympathies of the British Government

were, as always, with the dynasties. Hungary was
just rising to shake off the Austrian yoke, taking