The Sun.
London, England, 1859-07-14 00:00:00

THE -P242'6VIED-UP ...PEACE IN ITALZ.

Nothing is said of any limitations attaching to
the sovereignty of Venice ; nothing as to its having
a separate administration under the sway of an
Archduke. Francis Joseph simply retains his rights
over thakportion of Italian territory, from which
we are certainly at liberty to infer that Austria
Iwill continue ,to enjoy unfettered sovereignty east
of the Mimi% and that, if she so determine, her
rule within those limits will remain unchanged.
But Venice is to form an integral part of an Italian
" Confederation," which is to be established under
the honorary tosspdency of the Pope. Here a wide
margin is left conjecture. What is the " Con-
federation" to comprise ? Will it include the King-
dom of the TWQ Sicilies ? If the King of Naples or
the Pope refuse to enter into the new arrange-
ments, what power will be employed to induce com-
pliance ? What wil: beedone with the Duchies ?
Will Tuscany have to receive back again its Arch-
duke ? or, if the Tuscans should persist in regard-
ing thelli,ght of their late ruler as an abdication
of his throne, will the arms of the French be lent
to effect his restcration ? What will be done
with the States of the Church ? Are they to be
secularised, the Pope receiving the dignity of
an honorary president as a recompense for a
loss of authority ? What is meant by his bein
the " honorary ' president P What will be theg functions of the Federal Power, and by what
organic machinery will its actions find their
way into the politics of Europe ? On all these
points we are left for the present with only the
faintest glimmer of light. We can only submit
them as so many unsolved problems to the curiosity
of our readers, and humbly await the further illu-
mination which it may please the two monarchs to
vouchsafe in their own good time. Still, althaugh
we are not yet allowed to behold the minor action
of the drama, we see enough of its great outlines to
form a tolerably good guess at its probable denoue-
ment. Of, course, we have nothing to do with it.
We hope the Italians will be satisfied with their •
bargain, and, if so, all may go on well. There are
certainly some people in the world who will de-
nounce it as a down] ight swindle, but it may per-
haps be replied with some justice that the Emperor
Napoleon was accepted on his own terms, and that
the heavy price paid down in French blood at Sol-
fain° exempts him from the obligation of being
over nice in fulfilling ideal obligations. He cer-
tainly erred in publishing too fine a programme be-
forehand. In the communication made on the 3d of
May hist to the Corps Legislatif, he told the world
that the fate of Italy was reduced to this dilemma :
—" Austria has pushed matters to such an extre-
mity, that her dominions must either extend to the
Alps, or Italy must be free to the shores of the
Adriatic." Shall we judge the present policy of the
Emperor by his own words ?" Italy is not free to
the shores of the Adriatic. He leaves one-half of
Austrian Italy under the hateful rule from which he
vowed to effect the emancipation of the whole. To -
he candid, all honest men will have no difficulty in
making up their minds as to the character of the
treaty of Villafranca. It is an odious and infamous
vagary of despotic power. The war has been con-
cluded with a precipitancy as offensive to good
taste and as insulting to public opinion as the reck-
lessness with ;which it was begun.—Mandiester
Examiner and Mites.