The Sun.
London, England, 1867-10-22 00:00:00

LONDON, TUESDAY, OCTOBER 2271867.

It will be with a feeling of universal satisfaction
that the news from the Continent will be read to-
day, and the lapse of a few hours could scarcely
have wrought more striking and salutary
changes. A war between France and Italy is so
much to be deplored for many reasons that
must give place to that of peace. It shows
the danger of despairing too soon, that even
the very significant sign of the French troops
being at Toulon could not be taken as an
infallible proof of war being on the tapis ; that
there was every reason to apprehend it was indeed
true, but then it was not certain or decided upon,
and all must rejoice at the escape they have had.
The Emperor NAPOLEON bas realised the truth of
Lord DERBY'S saying, that boldness was safety, for
in all probability bad he not taken such decisive
steps as he did the Italian Government w ould not
have been so decided in their movements. No
doubt it has been an anxious time for all con-
cerned, and it is as well that things have
turned out as they have done, because no satisfactory
result would have followed upon a general imbroglio.
Anything that interfered with the prestige of France
just now would be a European calamity, for the
minds of men naturally turn to her as the great
check that will be put upon the encroachments of
Germany and Prussia especially. As for Italy,
in this country more particularly, but also in other
places in a great measure, it would have
caused disappointment and dismay to find
her progress so materially retarded and her
prosperity so greatly damaged as they must have
been by a war with a great Power, long her ally
and some time her defender.
VICTOR EMMANUEL is greatly to be commended
for the determined attitude which he has assumed,
and ho is also to be commiserated for the somewhat
anomalous position that he has been forced to assume.
Those are,however,the wisest statesmen and the truest
patriots who look beyond the excitement and the
temptations of the preseent moment to the ultimate
consequences of Itheir actions ; and we may well
ask what good could have come of the Govern-
ment of Florence going with the insurgents whose
policy they had previously denounced. There are
evils in plenty to mention as the consequence of
the rash resolve, and with this reflection the KING
and his friends must console themselves if they
are attacked by disappointed enthusiasts whose
zeal outruns their discretion, and who lack
judgment in their desperate undertakings. The
substitution of Gen. CIALDINI for Rattazzi will, no
doubt, tend greatly to smooth over difficulties,
and to improve the general aspect of affairs.
The news received from Toulon that the depar-
ture of the French fleet for Civita Vecchia is sus-
pended gives certainty and reality to the reassuring
statements from Italy, and proves that if not there
in particular those details are correct in
the main. Thus the Italian Minister and
Paris may well be supposed to have received from
Florence reports of such a nature as to warrant
the belief that the demands of France upon the
Italian Government will be complied with. The
cause of the volunteers does not seem to have
been very prosperous, to judge from the accounts
given of their encounters with the Papal troops ;
but no doubt they were not fully prepared for a
conflict with organised opponents; they relied
too much on their own skill, and were led away by
excitement. It is, at any rate, a matter for rejoicing
that the storm which yesterday threatened the
tranquillity of Italy has blown over, and that
Europe is not to be scandalised by an outbreak of
hostilities as uncalled for as unfortunate. We
doubt, however, if Count BISMARCK will have heard
these peaceful reports with much pleasure, and
perhaps he may have good cause to re-
gret the countermanding of the departure
of French troops for Italy. Who can tell what
turn events may now take.; and it is certainly not
impossible that, in consequence of the impetus given
to the French preparations for war, the scene of
action may be changed to another quarter, and the
long-pending settlement of disputes between France
and Prussia be anticipated by some months. Be