The Sun.
London, England, 1859-09-06 00:00:00

THE DUCHIES.

Ost Deutsche Post of Vienna publishes the
following curious article:—
" The question of the Duchies will not much
impede the proceedings of the authors of the peace,
as it has been completely settled in the preliminaries
of peace. It will present but very few difficulties
of detail, and those will not in reality belong to the
sphere of action of the Conferme. The clause of

the preliminaries by which the expelled Sovereigns
are to return to their States may be simply copied
into the treaty of peace. It will without doubt
be therein copied, such as it is, with perhaps a
clause in favour of the Duke of Parma. The
execution will not, therefore, be an object
of stipulation, but a question of fact. The affair
of the Duchies becomes very simple when one
fact is not forgotten, to which the journals pay
but little attention. It is, that the King of
Sardinia signed the preliminaries of Villafranca,
including the cause relative to the Duchies. Whe-
ther he did it willingly or unwillingly matters
little. He did it, and he will be obliged by the
other. contracting Powers to hold to it. King Vic-
tor Emmanuel is bound by his signature, and as
neither Austria nor France is disposed to allow the
article to fall to the ground, he must also sign the
treaty of peace which reproduces it. King Victor
Emmanuel cannot therefore accept the annexation
of the Duchies. At this moment, that is before the
signature of the peace, he is still free to leave hope
to his admirers by saying to them—' I cannot yet
explain myself, for I da not yet know what will be
the final result of the Conference;' but when the
treaty of peace, including an article on the restora-
tion of the legitimate sovereigns, shall be signed, the
King of Sardinia can only express in his declaration
the regret that he was not able, in apite of the best
intentions, to annex the Duchies to his kingdom.
The restoration will then take place of itself. Victor
Emmanuel will not accept his election, and his in-
terest will not permit him to let another candidate
be chosen. He would moreover condemn a pro-
clamation of the Republic, and the same would be
the case with France and Austria. The procla-
mation of a Republic would be, in our opinion, the
only case that could occasion an armed intervention.
The restoration of the legitimate princts will not
necessitate any such intervention. Let the Pied-
montese volunteers and soldiers who agitate the
Duchies. in the disguise of national guards, be re-
moved, and that can easily be done by menacing
the King of Sardinia to cause French troops to re-
main at Milan, Turin, and Genoa so long as the
Piedmontese shall remain in the Duchies ; let, we
say, the populations of Central Italy be delivered
from revolutionary terrrorism, and reaction will
take place of itself for the advantage of the dis-
possessed Sovereigns, supposing that those Sove-
reigns proclaim the reforms and institutions to
which the populations are entitled."

The Piedniontese Gazette announces that in
answer to an application made by the Prussian
ambassador at Turin, the Minister of Foreign
Affairs at Vienna has informed him that the hos-
tages taken in Lombardy were released by the
military authorities on the 18th ult., as well as the
horses taken by requisition.

The following statement of the votes collected in
the States of Parma is published in the Piedmon-
tese Gazette : —For annexation to Piedmont—
Parma, 23,222 ; Piacenza, 17,287 ; Borgo San Don-
nino, 5,963; Borgotaro, 4,679; Poatremoli, 5,044
—total, 56;195. Against annexation—Parma, 113
Piacenza, 257 ; Borgo San Donnino, 43; Borgotaro,
49 ; Poatremoli, 19—total, 483.