The Sun.
London, England, 1859-07-20 00:00:00

THE FORTHCOMING CONFERENCE.

(From the :Lining _Post.)
The rumour that a Conference is to be held at
Zurich turns out to be true. It is there that the
Treaty of Peace is to be signed, and the future of
Italy settled if, as is proposed, the preliminaries of
a Congress can be agreed to. We use the word " if"
advisedly, for the- more -the whole subject is con-
sidered the more difficult the settlement of it ap-
pears to be. In the first place, it is well known that
Austria is altogether averse from the settlement of
the Italian question by-a Congress of the neutral
Powers. Two are Protestant and the other is in
communion with the Greek Church. There is there-
fore little chance that those objects which have
usually been attained by concordats, and. which now
hang upon the neck of Italy like a millstone, will
receive much sympathy. The proceedings of a
Congress would in all prohability assume, in the
eyes of Austria, too destructive a character and,
forewarned by the fear of this, she is not unlikely
to persevere in her reluctance' to see the affairs of
Italy composed by such parties. The question next
arises, if Austria obstinately refuses a Congress,
what then ? Will the other Powers take up the
Italian question and fight it out ? 'Assuredly not.
England is pledged to neutrality ; Prussia has no
motive for attacking France; and Russia none for
going to war with Austria. Nothing will then re-
main for France but either an utter abandonment
of, the Italian cause altogether or a recommence-
ment of hostilities: We cannot suppose the former ;
the latter therefore, upon the premises assumed, is
inevitable.

But supposing a Congress assembled, it is then
that the difficulties will begin. Then it is that the
practicabilitY of the bases of peace will be put to
the test. One of them is the establishment of an
Italian Confederation. But in order to do this
surely the representatives of existing States in Italy
will have a right to be heard in council. Is Austria
likely to consent to this ? But grant that she does
consent, the Congress cannot deal with Italy as
with a conquered 'country. The consent of the
Italians themselves must be given to every proto-
col affecting their peace, possessions, and liberties.
What security have we for such' consent ? How
do we know that the King of Sardinia will be con-
tent to merge his present independent position in a
Confederation ? At present he is a free monarch ;
he is th•• representative. and the. hope of Italian
patriotism.... The eyes of the peninsula have for
years been turned to him, and, to do 'him justice,
he deserves that position. He has proved himself
as brave a soldier as he is patriotic a king. Itut
when he becomes a member of a Confederation,
even should- he be its leader, his own volition will
be circumscribed.; he may be outvoted tiny day.
But then it.is not at all certain that he would be
leader, for it is at least equally probable that
Naples would claim to be at the head. Here is a
new difficulty. Naples has -become a taunt and
a reproach to Italy, a bye-word amongst the States
of Europe for everything- that cau disgrace a
Government and degrade a peofile. Is 'it likely
that a strong, free, and constitutional kingdom,
like Piedmont, will play second to such a State P

And is not the improbability enhanced by the
astounding proposal that Austria herself shall be a
member of that Confederation in virtue of her pos-
session of Venetia? It will strike the world as dis-
appointing that Austria should hold Venetia at all
after what was promised by France. But assum-
ing, as we are willing to do, that circumstances
compelled a compromise, yet what would be the
effect of making Austria a member of the Italian
Confederation in right of Venetia but to facilitate,
and even to legalise, that influence which hitherto
she has so unjustly exercised in Italy ? With Aus-
tria as leading member of the federal body, and the
Pope as its honorary president, the bonds of oppres-
sion would be fastened upon that aspiring people
with greater severity than ever. Between absolute
temporal and absolute spiritual power, the liberty
of the subject, civil and religious, would be crushed
out. To assent to such an arrangement would be
to lend the sanction of the most enlightened' Powers
of Europe, with the prestige of the 19th century
upon them, to modes and principles of government
which were held in abhorrence even in the -middle
ages. By any such arrangement both the Emperor
of Austria and the Pope would be placed in a posi-
tion incompatible with the present age. There is
no dark design, no scheme of cruelty or tyranny,
which by such a system could not be carried out.
It would come to this, that Austria would virtually
rule Italy, and the Pope would rule Austria. Austria
would lend the civil sword to Papal domination ; and
the Pope would farm out the thunders of the Vatican
in return for the material assistance of Austrian
arms. We cannot comprehend why the astute mind of
Louis Napoleon has not seen this. We do not wonder
that with such a prospect in view Francis Joseph
should tell his subjects that he found he could get
better terms out of the Emperor of the French than
out of his Federal Allies, or a Congress of the
Powers of Europe.
We assume all the way through an honest desire
on the part of the Emperor of the French to help
Italy. We assume the existence of disturbing in-
fluences to his plans, of which we are not yet in
possession (notwithstanding Lord Malmesbury's
taunts of French inspiration), and we assume ade-
quate motives to a compromise. But we cannot
understand, and therefore cannot defend, such a
compromise as that announced, because the more
we look at it the more we see that it leaves Italy
worse off than ever. It leaves Lombardy to Sardi-
nia indeed, which is good for all parties, but the
cause of Lombardy is but a moiety of what we un-
derstand by the Italian cause. Lombardy may
rejoice in her annexation to Piedmont, but what
will that do 'for the relief of the Papal States ?
What will it avail in the way of comfort to the op-
pressed Sicilians ? How will it benefit the States
of Modena, Tuscany, and Parina ? The truth is
that, hooking at Italy as a whole, the peace is a
greater calamity than the war, for it introduces far
graver complications. Before the wsr, had a Con-
gress met, it would have been free to consider the
cause of Italy upon general principles. Now it must
do so on the bases of the treaty between the two
Emperors, which is a very different task. It is a
notable fact that in all these proposals the will of
the Italian people has never been mentioned, and
yet that is the key to the solution of the problem.
We maintained at the outset, and we maintain still,
that if the undue influence of Austria and the Pope
could be stopped, Italian affairs would right them-
selves. We believed, from all the statements of the
Emperor of the French, that he was marching into
Italy for the accomplishment of these two objects.
In the promise that the Austrians should be driven
out of Italy, and the administration of the Papal
States be vested, in lay hands, we read the pledge
of a glorious future for italy, and in our trust in
that promise and that pledge we held fast by the
Italian cause, and to Louis Napoleon's share in it,
through evil report and good report. We do not,
even yet despair. We believe that on further re-
flection, and when the representations of this and
other ,countries are taken into consideration, the
Emperor of the French will see that, however mer-
ciful, wise,, and good the armistice was, the peace
that instantly followed it was wanting in these
qualities; and that terms agreed to in the excite-
ment, hasty, and heat of a bloody campaign are not
such as can be insisted on when weighed in the
balances of a calmer judgment, and estimated by
their probable results upon the parties entitled to
the first consideration. We are thereforenot with-
out hopes that the ba;es themselves may be recon-
sidered before the judgment of the five Towers is
invoked upOn.them, In, that case much may yet
be done to secure the grand object of the war—the
recovery of Italy for the Italians.