The Sun.
London, England, 1866-11-08 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PDBLIO JOURNALS,

TI3IES.—King Victor: Emmanuel crossed the
Lagoon yesterday morning, at 11 o'clock, and
Venice, at last and for the first time in the history
of the world, becomes part of Italy. For the last
fourteen centuries, from Attila to Napoleon, Venice
has been in Italy, yet not of Italy. Europe has not
such another instance of completely isolated exist-
ence as that of the City of the Doge, up to the last
Doge's time. Rising from the water at a time when
hardly one square inch of the mainland escaped the
destroyers of the Roman world, Venice beheld every
wave of invasion break at the foot of her sea wall.
Herulians and Ostrogoths, Longobards and Franks
built up Italian kingdoms, but their sway never
reached the Rialto. The Eastern Empire fell, the
Western Empire rose, but Venice never properly
acknowledged either Exarch or Vicar. Through
Carlovingian, through Saxon eras, under Swabian,
under Hapsburg dynasties, Venice held her own.
Caesars and Pontiffs strove for the world's mastery.
Italy and Germany fought for sceptre or crosier;
Venice alone was unmoved, neither Papal, nor
Imperial, neither Guelph nor Ghibelline. Popes
and Emperors met within her walls as on neutral
ground, never exacting her tribute, never claiming
her homage. Lombard Leagues arose ; a new
Italian life, a life of feud and faction; Venice
stood alone, strong, orderly, free. Ezzelini and
Este, Scala, and Visconti, crushed her inland sisters;
Doges seldom attempted, never achieved, tyranny.
She was " so framed by God, thanks to His mercy,
that any sufferance of others' misery touched her
not." Yet, though apart from Italy, Venice was
not a stranger to Italy. She met Pisa and Genoa
on the high seas. She grappled with Milan on the
mainland, she fought long and hard for her Conti
nental possessions, she stood -the brunt of French,
German, and Spanish onset—the onset of each of
them, of all of them combined ; but her home in the
Lagoon was still inviolate, inaccessible to Italian
passion, out of reach of foreign inroad. The whole
of that fitful Italian life, mediaeval and modern,
began and ended, cities declined, States were ab-
sorbed, dynasties became extinct ; Venice abided.
Down to the last French catastrophe, Venice had
nothing in common with general Italian vicissitudes.
But that catastrophe at last associated Venice to
Italian destinies. Attila's work was undone by
Napoleon. That community which was severed
from Italy when the first tide of invasion set In was
restored to Italy when the era of invasion was draw-
ing to a close. For the last 70 years Venice had,
indeed, become Italian, involved in all the miseries,
overwhelmed by all the calamities, of the rest of the
country. She came in only for the last drops in the
cup, but those were the bitterest, and now can it be
said- that the cup has passed away? that the hour
of rejoicing has come for all the cities of Italy, and
that Venice comes to muster with the rest ? There
are few, we fancy, who will grudge the Italians
their national jubilee, were it even prolonged for a
week or a month, were it to transcend the extremes
of frantic enthusiasm, or to degenerate into an ex-
hibition of carnival mummeries. This is a case, if
ever there was one, to justify even madness ; and if
the well-wishers of Italy abroad look more soberly
on the event, it is because they are still overcome
by its magnitude, and only take it in with some
effort. It iai indeed, a happy, yet a solemn, moment
for Italy I After a hard trial for fifteen centuries,
during which every foreign horde was more at home
in Italy than the Italian himself, he sees now the
backs of the last Austrian and Frenchman with the
consciousness that it must be no one's fault but his
own if he ever beholds their faces again. How it
was all brought about, how he succeeded in con-
quering his country, or who conquered it for him,
will never be quite clear to himself or to the world.
The liberation of Italy during these last fifty years
is an epic in which heaven and earth bore a hand. A
few men of genius and valour bore up nobly and
manfully, yet hopelessly, in the struggle; but the
Deus ex machine, in the shape of European
opinion, looked down from the clouds, and,
for once, a suffering nation was dealt with in
conformity with the rules of poetic justice.
The Italians have got their country—nothing
less, nothing more. All the rest is for them to
do. A wayfarer had fallen among robbers, who had
just cut and bruised him within an inch of his life
when reszue came ; he is writhing on the ground,
all stunned and dismayed, and barely conscious;
but it is for him now to be up and doing, for his
deliverers cannot stanch the blood that is fast ebbing
from him. It will be well to guard against illu-
sions. This Venice from whose limbs the Austrian
fetters have just fallen, and which is thus miracu-
lously restored to the embraces of her Italian, sisters,
has nothing in common with old Venice. Of that
Queen of the Adriatic, who wedded the sea, who
stormed Constantinople, and extended her sway
over " one-fourth and a half of the Roman Empire,"
little more than the corpse is left, and it remains to
be seen whether deliverance comes in time to recall
it to animation, or simply to screen its lingering
death from that foreign outrage which hastened and
embittered it. Neither is Venice all of Italy that
is half dead. Pavia and Pisa, Ferrara and Piacenza,-
Ravenna, and a score of others, are mere spectre-
cities. It was ungenerous on the part of the French
poet to describe Italy as the " Land of the Dead ;"
but it is for the Italians to prove that " she was not
dead, but sleeping." It is with no little expectation
that the world will be looking forward to Italy's
awakening. The wedding of the Adriatic Bride
will be a five days' ceremony, and the turn of the
Papal city, with or without the Pope's blessing,
will closely follow. The question will be, What
next ? The Italians will have full possession of the
land of their fathers—a land.of beauty and re-
nown, of health and wealth, of wondrous achieve-
ments, crying out to them from her ruins, from
her monuments, " Noblesse oblige !" The land is
theirs ; may it for ever be theirs ; may it be for-
gotten that it ever was other than theirs ! The
land is theirs to do with it as they please, to do
with themselves as they please. Should they aspire
to do no more for themselves than Solferino and
Sadowa have done, should they wrap in a napkin
the talent that has been confided to their steward-
ship, the world would, of course, have nothing to
say to it. A great wrong has been redressed in
their case, and the ends of justice are fulfilled. But
the cry of distress which went so straight to the
world's sympathies was less for Italy's actual suffer-
ings than for her forced inaction. The complaint
was not so much that the Austrian tortured the body
as that he killed the soul. The Italian panted for
freedom, not as a source of enjoyment, but as a
stimulus to exertion. Were the vows of adversity
not to be forgotten in the hour of prosperity, what
a vast field for activity would now be open to the
emancipated people ! The very soil of the country
is more than half to be redeemed from long ages of
neglect. No one grudges the Italians these days of
festivity, but they surely bear in mind that it is not
by banners and tapestry, by stars and spangles, by
lights and fireworks, that air and water, and fresh-
ness and sweetness, can be restored to Venice ; that
it is not by shouts of joy and songs of triumph that
the deathlike silence which inhabits her choked-up
harbours and her stagnant canals can be efficiently
banished ! The Austrian is gone ; the Pope,—at
least so far as he is a King,—will follow; but what
a gang of other tyrants, as grim and ruthless—King
Dirt, Queen Beggary, and all the dynasty of Sloth,
Improvidence, Superstition, and Bigotry—still re-
main to be hurled from the throne ! With these
hideous monsters it behoves the Italians to grapple
for themselves, for in such a contest it is little they
can hope either from French chivalry or from Prus-
sian community of interests. The Italians are a
gifted race. The cause which, after half a century's
struggles, is now triumphant required no less than
the high character, the devotion, the endurance of
their leading patriots, aided by the moderation, the
docility, the sense and tact of the common mass.
Give the Italians an object, and they will lack
neither wisdom nor heroism for its attainment. The
difficulty will lie now in their just appreciation of
what has actually been achieved and what remains
to be done. The cry has hitherto been "Italy for
the Italians." It should now be reversed into " The
Italians for Italy," and it should impose upon every
man the duty of exerting himself to the utmost to
restore the land to thatdegree of material and social
wellbeing, and to raise the people to that intellectual
and moral eminence, which may cause even the
French poet to acknowledge Italy as a " land of the
living."
POST.—Statesmen as well as ordinary politicians
who are educated to believe in the necessity of a
" balance of power" in Europe will watch with con-
siderable interest what is now taking place in the
Austrian empire. The next few months may tell us
in all probability whether the Austrian empire ruled
by Francis Joseph is to be effectually reconstituted,
and to remain one of the great Powers of Europe,
or whether her polyglot millions will become power-
less from division. The two important facts of the
day are the convocation of the Hungarian Diet on
the 19th of this month, and the nomination of that
eminent Saxon diplomatist, Baron von Buest, as
Minister of Foreign Affairs. This appointment
appears to have given great satisfaction at Vienna,
and created a dawn of confidence amongst the
friends of the House of Hapsburg. Called upon to
direct the domestic, internal, as well us foreign po-
licy of the Austrian empire at a most critical
moment, Baron von Beust's diplomacy will be fol-
lowed at each move by the statesmen of Prussia,
who cannot fail to discover in the nomination of this
active spirit of the late German Confederation an
attempt to dispute the ambitious designs of King
William and his Prime Minister. In a circular
note lately issued by the new Austrian Minister of
Foreign Affairs he tells his own agents abroad that
he will immediately give his attention to the inter-
nal or domestic affairs of the empire. This is a

supreme necessity, for it is not until Austria l 5
consolidated at home that she can hope to hold
any influence even over a Southern Germany,
whilst internal discord weakens her voice at every
European Court. If the Emperor and his de-
spoiled friends ever hope to regain wnin'
Prussia has conquered, Austria must first make
herself strong and' united politically, whilst
her financial condition must be very different
from that which her budgets now display. The
first and most vital question is, How to
about a reconciliation with Hungary and Croatia
We all know that negotiations have been going on
between the Vienna Cabinet and the leading patriots
at Pesth in order to enable the Diet, when its mem-
bers come together, to accomplish a solid and per-
manent incorporation with the rest of the empire'
Now, if we are correctly informed, .up to a veil
late date the Emperor and his advisers at Vienne'
have shown great hesitation and vacillation in treat'
ing with the Magyars and those leading politica• l
men in whom the Hungarian people have full con-
fidence. Francis Joseph may be willing to accord
the Hungarians a national administration and an
unlimited municipal authority ; but the Emperor
cannot be persuaded to let the Hungarians matter
their own affairs as regards finance and war. The
Hungarians have hitherto kept away from we
Reichsrath, or Council of the Empire, and We
consequently never voted the ruinous taxationuw
posed upon them. The Diet of 1861 was lilt':
short of a protest against the past and presell:
frauds and injustice traditionally practised on the
nation by the Hapsburgs, and which Baron POr
manicky and Count Alexander Carolyi intend to be
heard in sympathising and constitutional England
The Hungarians are a conservative and loyal
people; they really desire to put faith in Austria,
although the representative so long of absolutie. ▪ to
feudal, and Church oppression ; but, unhappill
they have no faith in the integrity of Austria ; that
is the great difficulty of the moment. Past history
has taught them that the House of Hapsburg is more
generous and just in the hour of fear and
humilia-
tion than in the hour of prosperity and power. Pe
leading men of Hungary ask that the concessions
Austria may be disposed to make shall be protectedbl ,
guarantees. The Hungarians may have made up their
minds to accept the national debt of the empire as it
now stands ; but they say—For the future let us have
some guarantee that the taxes we pay to the State
shall not be expended in useless wars to mailltaul
thrones and systems of government we desire to see
rather swept away than perpetuated by military.de-
spotism. Another demand made by the Hungarians
is that they should be permitted to possess a Hindu"
national guard. There are no doubt other miner
questions to be disposed of, but the above form the
more prominent difficultiesfor negotiation. If Berea
von Beust can bring more confiding and generous
counsels to the Court and Government he may I▪ n-
duce the Emperor to abandon the advice of those
who have lost him Venetia and destroyed Austrian,
influence among the German people, if not amongst
the small Princes of a Royal German Confederation,
in which Austrian influence often triumphed .a,,
Frankfort. He commences his difficult task wit';•
more promise than any recent principal adviser 01
the Crown could indulge in. There is no Venetian
question to encumber domestic rule and oblige n
large standing army. Austria is not only free of
Venetia, but she is thoroughly disentangled from
the politics of the Italian peninsula, and we may
presume, at least, relieved from the exigencies of the,
Papacy. Austria, too, is no longer the protector a
those German States whose princes and armies were
of so little use to her in her late struggle with Prussia'
But there are yet enough discordant elements to
.be
reconciled and ingeniously patched into an imperlal
and harmonious political mosaic. Hungary, Croat?,
Dalmatia, Galicia, Austria Proper, Styria, Carinthia,
Buckowina, Transylvania, Silesia, Moravia, the
Tyrol, Istria, &c. Such varied districts and people
have to be yet governed from Vienna, made loyal
and confident towards a dynasty which is just nod
suffering under a cloud of gloom and distrust. Bet,
Hungary is reconciled the main work is accomplished'
Already the various provincial Diets have, with the,
certainly important exceptions of Hungary and
Croatia, subscribed to the Constitution of 1860-61,
and, after what has taken place in 1866, we Ines,:
expect the Court of Vienna to show more respect ant',
consideration for the various nationalities than 0'
old. We should witness with regret the destruction
of the Austrian empire, and we should regret eveLl
its fall from a great Power to a disjointed and Wee:
amalgamation of small States. The treaties of 1815
placed Austria in a false position, and she never vies
able to right herself. She has lost many Sovereiglie
their thrones and considerably damaged the legal:
mate influence of the Roman Catholic Church ; but
we can ill spare her as a great Power in the centre
of Europe in days like curs. We hope Francis
Joseph will sincerely make friends and consolidate
a real friendship with Hungary, and even remove,
the Court to Pesth for a few months every year.
he takes to himself new and intelligent constitutional
Ministers, and turns his back on those who bac°
brought about so much disaster to his dynasty, the
Austrian empire may be renovated, and become once
more of great political value to the European Wulf
of nations and the people over whom Francis Josern
is called to rule.

COUNTRY MARKETS.

SALISBURY.-1--TUESDAY.
To-day there was a small attendance of millers and
dealers. Good wheat in moderate request, and about the,
usual amount of business done, at a decline, however, 01
is per qr. Some large purchases were made in malting
barley.
The following are the quotations :—Wheat realised fror.
56s to 66s ; barley, 37s to 54s ; oats, 24s to 308 ; beam, 4'! ! '
to 58s; and peas, 40s to 50s per qr. Tares, from 4s to .
6d per bushel ; Best bread, 14d ; household ditto, 13.'
per 81b loaf. Flour, 39s to 45s per sack.

MONMOUTHSHIRE—TUESDAY.
ot
Business at the various markets of the county is n
quite so brisk as it has been of late, buyers holding bac
iu anticipatidn of a decline in prices.
The following are the average quotations:—Wheat, redl
Gs 3d to 6s 9d per bushel ; white, 6s 9d to 7s Od ; infe,iccil
4s Gd to 5s Od ;35sg barley, 38s to 43s per qr ; grin
ing ditto, 32s to Od; beans, 44s ; white oats, 25s to 29S
black ditto, 24s 9d to 26s 6d.