The Sun.
London, England, 1861-07-03 00:00:00

ment. The Russian .campaign, as we all
know, was completely and absolutely successful
as a military achievement. Lord BROUGITA3I has
emphatically designated it in this point of view
the most triumphant of all the marvellous cam-
paigns of NAPOLEON. But successful, pre-eminently
successful as a conquest, it failed absolutely in the
very climax of victory by the visible interposition
of the decrees of Providence. Then—when the
legions of NAPOLEON were perishing by battalions
under the blight of that wonderfully premature
winter—then far more truly than afterwards (when
NAPOLEON startled the Vienna Congress by
his Return from Elba) fell to the dust
the hopes of Poland, the hopes cherished so long
and ardently by the Poles, the expectation of the
re-establishment among the Powers of Europe of
that buried but still living Nationality. Those
hopes have since that time, it is true, reawakened, but
feebly and fitfully at intervals. " Still," as the noble
lord her MAJESTY'S Foreign Secretary remarked
last evening in the House of Commons, " looking
to a distant period, one cannot but think that for a
people endowed with so much courage, and which
has so long kept alive the holy flame of national
existence, a time is reserved when she may recover
her ancient glory, and take her place among the
nations of Europe." GOD grant it! And in the
meanwhile Poland has at least the mingled solace
and (even in an age of non-intervention) encourage-
ment of the truthful and Heart-Born Sympathy
accorded to her alike by the English People and the
English Government.

The new Italian Minister has spoken again, and
with a frankness and boldness which seem more
like the daring of GARIBALDI than the general
caution of Count Cavouß. His language is such
as would in very recent times have led Austria to
demand explanations, and then cross the frontier,
or, perhaps, to cross it without warning at all.
Throughout his language is—We mean to have
Rome, we mean to have Venetia ; the first by the
most friendly negotiation with France, the second
by force of arms, if nothing else will do. And—
we do not mean to cede a foot of Italian soil.

His text was as follows :—" We arm not only
for the defence of the national territory such as
it actually is, but also to complete it—to restore
it to its natural and legitimate boundaries," The
Minister had, it is true, to rouse the national feel-
ing to undertake the burden of heavy taxation and
loans. It was his to call upon it to take shares in
a national joint-stock company for the com-
pletion of the fabric of Italian unity, freedom,
and self-government—a company of patriots, whose
only dividends would consist of national honour
and relief from the incubus of the foreigner.
Eventually, indeed, the reward will be of a more
material character, for Venice and Genoa testify
what a self-governed Italy could do in the way of
commerce ; and the agricultural desolations, due to
the curse of foreign and priestly despotism, show
what the soil of Italy might pour into the lap of
Europe, after having filled that of her own sons,
when once the grand causes of depression
are removed. The land of wheat, of the
olive, and the vine—the land of whose pro-
duce both VIRGIL and HORACE sung, will
assuredly drive a splendid trade with England
when she awakes to the consciousness that she can
do what she will with her own. Sardinian trade,
since its liberation by CAVOUR, is, indeed, a proof ,
of this; and the charms of profitable industry will
soon stir up the husbandmen even of the more self-
indulgent South. Let the Bourbon brigands cease
to pour forth from the territory yet held by the
Vatican, and the hirelings of the banished tyrants
be swept from soil, and we shall see such an im-
provement in the agricultural districts of the Two
Sicilies as can be called forth only by the two great
blessings of perfect freedom and perfect security to
enjoy the fruits of one's labour.
But Baron RICASOLI'S text has led us to thoughts
which have often filled his own mind, but which,
for the present, must give way to thoughts of more
immediate urgency. " Defence" stands, of course,
first, and he intimates immetiately, that only in
one quarter has he need to think of that. " The Go-
vernment has (he said) the happiness to announce
to Parliament that, with the exception of Austria,
its friendly relations with the principal Powers of
Europe are of the most satisfactory kind. The
Italian cause enlists general sympathy, and can
still count upon having allies." The other Powers
were as friendly as needful, some of them cordial ;
one only, and she because conscious of guilt towards
Italy, must be watched as an enemy. But that
Power is warned that, however much she may
resent plain speaking. and however galling it may
be to see the liberated land arming and equipping
herself to unclench the hand which garottes
Venetia, she must still remain quiet in her dens.
She may enjoy for a time in her strongholds the
grim satisfaction of trampling down one corner of
Italy, but she is doomed also to look, without daring
to prevent it, on the chastisement preparing
for her.

" Thanks,"

RICASOLI admits of no ambiguity.
he says, "to the principle of non-intervention;
our nationality will very soon be universally and
solemnly acknowledged, as well as our incontes-
table right to complete our independence." Then,
lest this :should suggest the fear of cession, he
denies the possibility of it in the strongest terms.
"We disdain such an idea. I say, once for ever,
that I do not know of a foot of Italian soil which
has to be ceded, that I should not wish to cede
it, and absolutely will not cede it." Such is his
reassuring language on that point ; while he firmly
asserts that the Government is sensible of the great
task imposed
upon it, and, by the help of GOD,
will fulfil it. " The KING'S Government sees a
national territory to defend and to recover. It
sees Rome and Venice, and addresses them in
words expressing the grief, wishes, hopes, and
intentions of the nation." This seems tolerably
specific, but to avoid the possibility of mistake, he
indicates the way in which he expects to deal with
each. As to Austria, he puts her on the racke saofthe
approaching future; the " opportunity," he
ys,
" which time is preparing will open the way to
Venice." But France is to be dealt with as a friend.
The guarantees which France requires for the
POPE'S spiritual independence and dignity are, we
may hope, in the way of becoming satisfactory,
for, in one respect, the case is urgent. Rome is a
centre now of disturbance. " Rome, politically sepa-
rated from the rest of Italy, will continue to be the
centre of intrigues and conspiracies, and a permanent
menace to public order. For Italians, therefore, it
is not only a right bat an inexorable necessity. But
we do not wish to go to Rome aided by rash and
inopportune insurrectionary movements, which
might compromise the natio.aal work. We wish
to go to Rome in accord with France, not destroy-
ing but building up, and at the same time open-
ing to the Church a way of reform by giving her
that liberty and independence v. hich will invite
her to regeneration—a task to be accomplished by
that purity of religious sentiment and simplicity of
manners—by that severity of discipline which in
the primitive ages rendered her glorious and vene-
rated, and, by the frank and loyal abandonment of
that power which is opposed to the great idea
of her institution."

We can hardly bl:ppose such language as we Lave