The Sun.
London, England, 1861-08-28 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, AU-GUST 28, 1861.

NORTH ITALY.

A letter from Turin, of Aug. 24, says :—Mr. Roe-
buck's political opinions, before and after his memo-
rable journey to Vienna, are matter on which any
man in England may easily draw his own conclu-
sions. It is not what he "thinks," but what he
" knows" as a fact, that may still concern us. He
was the other day startling his constituents at Shef-
field by the revelation of a monster secret. He
"knew there had been a compact entered into with
the King of Italy that the Emperor of the French
should have the Island of Sardinia so soon as he
withdrew from Rome." He, Mr. Roebuck, " was
stating a fact—not what he thought, but what he
knew." These are rather strong words in a country
like England, where, thank Heaven ! a man was
always presumed to speak the truth till he was
found out a liar. Yet Mr. Roebuck must have
known that, by his assertion he was giving the lie
direct to Baron Ricasoli—a man for whose high
honour and strict veracity I know no Italian who
would not willingly lay his hand on the fire. The
positive tone of Mr. Roebuck's statement, I confess,
somewhat upset myself, and I made diligent inqui-
ries to make out whether any new incident might
have shaken the resolution so earnestly and loftily
announced by the nobleman at the head of the
Italian Cabinet at one of the last sittings of this
national Parliament.

The real fact, then, so far as I am able to ascer-
tain, is that whatever schemes the Emperor of the
FranciLmay turn in his own mind, or whatever un-
derhand intrigues either authorised or amateur
agents may be carrying on, no official or officious
advances whatever have been made at any time, and
up to this present moment, to convey even the
shadow of a wish on the part of France to gain
possession of the island of Sardinia. The Italian
Government take upon themselves, therefore, no
credit for resisting demands that have not even
been hinted; but, at the same time, they prutest
that they would never sacrifice one part of Italy
for the rescue of another ; that what they aim at
is the unification of all Italy, and they would
deem it madness to lose in the west what they are
striving to gain in the east. lam aware that
Baron Ricasoli has fully reassured the English
Government on that score.

I may add, for my own part, as it is my lot to
mingle a great deal among public men of all parties
here, that the statesman who should at any day
bring before the Parliament and the nation a mo-
tion analogous to that which cost so dear to the
heart of Count Cavour, and will leave such an
indelible blemish on his otherwise glorious and
unsullied memory, would not long sit on the
Ministerial Bench, but would indeed have to thank
his stars if he were allowed to quit it with un-
broken bones. It would be idle, I think, to ask
Mr. Roebuck for the proofs on which he so con-
fidently grounds his certain knowledge. I know I
am writing what is true, and I defy Mr. Roebuck
or any man to contradict me.
Those who have, as I have, gazed with interest
on the mild, somewhat arch, yet ingenuous coun-
tenance of the ex-Queen of Naples as it appeared
two years ago portrayed in the Almanach de
Gotha, those whose best feelings were enlisted in
behalf of a true-hearted German girl, doomed to
waste her sweetness in a Court of which Ferdinand
11. was the head, must hear with regret the reports
current in this country about her present doings.
Married to a better husband, blessed with children
placed in other hands, under proper control, Sophia
might have been equal to any fate ; but the applause
bestowed upon the show of bravery by which she
illustrated the ignoble fall of her husband's house
have been too much for her. The laurel wreath
got up in her honour by the ladies of Berlin has
made her giddy, and the fumes of the beer which
inspired the bard author of that ditty beginning,
"Du, Heldinn von Gaeta I"
have got into her head. The Royal Bavarian will
never tire of playing the heroine. A good English
riding habit is not Amazonian dress enough for
her. She shows about Rome, too generally, in
man's attire—a breach of feminine delicacy only to
be excused by extreme circumstances. With her
lord's privileged nether garments she affects also
manly swagger and bluster. She " smokes like a
sailor and swears like a trooper," as if that looked
pretty or sounded graceful. She hectors her sisters-
in-law, has pitched battles with the Princes and
Princesses of the House of Bourbon. The members
of the exiled family have constant bickerings
among themselves ; they peck at each other like
chickens tied to the same string and dangling from
the hand of the housewife who is carrying them to
market—those true emblems, as the poet said, of
partners in misfortune. High words and angry
screams are heard from the Quirinal's windows.
Plates are shied at Royal heads, and fly into the
streets, to the great scandal of the Swiss guard at
the Palace gates. The Queen, though robbed of
her sceptre, disdains to handle the distaff ; she
carries he: dread revolver at her side; she delights
in the exhibition of her skill ; she aimed at a cat,
the other day, in the Quirinal garden—a fine
Syrian cat, gray, long-tailed, and hairy—who was
basking in the morning sun (the Queen is up at
five) on the wall hanging over the grottoed foun-
tains and waterworks, which are one of the seven
wonders of the city of the Seven Hills. Purring,
and stretching, and gambolling, did the unwary
tabby luxuriate in the sense of blessed existence,
when the Queen took aim and fired, and the poor
thing leaped up in the air, hit through her head,
and dropped down like lead into a basin of water
beneath. It, is not pleasant to have such deeds
to record against any lady, but private letters say
it, and stories of that nature were hardly worth
getting up if they were not true; and the corres-
pondence goes on informing us that the said puss
belonged to a Signora Bertazzoli—no less a person
than Cardinal Antonelli's sister, who occupies some
apartments in the lower stories of the immense
Papal residence, and that the bereaved gentlewoman
ran to her brother's office, and stormed, and raged,
and called for vengeance for her feline favourite ;
and it is added that the Cardinal soothed her, and
assured her that revenge she should have, and
tabby's manes should be appeased, for that the ex-
Queen would soon find the Quirinal too hot for her,
and she and her family and her murderous revolver,
with bag and baggage, would have to decamp. I
don't know how far the Roman ladies were actuated
by their horror of this shedding of cat's blood, or to
what extent they stood in awe of the unerring re-
volver, but it seems a fact that while on her first
arrival the Royal Bavarian was waited upon and
made much of by the proudest:matrons and dames
of the Roman nobility, she is now mauvais ton,
and left to her inexpressibles, her cigars, and her
execution of domestic pets.
How long the Pope may be induced to bear with
proteges whose presence is daily becoming more
irksome to his unfortunate subjects Antonelli has
not as yet been able or willing to explain, for what
he only hinted at was banishment from the Quiri-
nal, and he may only have so spoken to rid himself
of his sister's importunity; but what seems every
day more evident is that the Papal Government
will not soon rid themselves of their French pro-
tectors, but must bear at their hands such indigni-
ties as it takes more than a priest's stomach to
digest. At a public festivity held on Sunday last
in Piazza Navona a Pon fifical Dragoon was mar-
shalling the conveyances going down a certain
street, and preventing a carriage laden with four
ladies from breaking the ring. A French sergeant,
probably out of chivalrous gallantry, stepped for-
ward, took part with the driver of the ladies' vehicle,
and, seizing the reins of one of the horses, insisted
upon getting the carriage out of the ring, using
all the time foul language to the dragoon ; the latter
gave his horse the spur, rode down the sergeant,
and gave him a fall down into a neighbouring cellar.
The Papal soldier was discharging his duty, and he
was really preventing the carriage doing itself and

others mischief; but the French military command
took up the cause of the fallen sergeant. The
Dragoon was arrested, and is now in durance at
Castle St. Angelo.

AUSTRIA AND HUld GARY.

THE IMPERIAL DECLARATION.

The following is a translation of the full text, as
published in the Vienna Gazete, of the communi-
cation made by the Austrian Government to the
Reichsrath

" It is with profound grief that his Majesty has
perceived that the public affairs of his Kingdom of
Hungary, since the re-establishment of its ancient
institutions, have fallen into a state which the coun-
try cannot tolerate much longer, and which it cannot
get out of by its own efforts (durch eigene kraft).
Commerce and industry are in a complete state of
stagnation; internal and international commercial
relations are a prey to a lamentable mistrust. Confi-
dence in the administration of justice is shaken ; the
administration of the communes, oomitats, and of the
country offers in many districts, in consequence of an
unexampled abuse of autonomy (durch unerhorten
missbrauch der autonomie), the deplorable spectacle
of a sad anarchy ; the so-called protestations against
the decrees of the Royal Government enervate the
moral strength of the people.
" His Majesty did not expect such results when,
on the 20th October, 1860, resolving that all his
peoples should participate in the legislation of the
country, he in his benevolence held out equally a
hand of pardon to the kingdom of Hungary, which,
in a disastrous insurrection, had been misled to the
crime of the 14th April, 1849, and brought back to
its duty by force of arms.

" Counting upon the words of patriots of every
class, of the Princes of the Church, and of other in-
terceders, who assured that the (einsicht) insight
into the necessary consequences of the events men-
tioned, as regards the unity of the monarchy ann
the form of constitutional reorganisation, had be-
come clear to every intelligence, his Majesty pro-
posed, as regards Hungary, to revive the ancient
institutions of Hungary, as organic elements of a
political creation more vast, and capable of satisfy-
ing the wants of an epoch which has made immense
progress, and the legitimate desires of all nationali-
ties, and the imperious demands of the actual poli-
tical state of Europe.

" With that proud conscience (6e/bstgefuhle) which
a benevolent monarch possesses when he is aware
that he has honourably fulfilled his duties as a re-
gent, his Majesty declares that he has done for
Hungary everything that could reasonably be ex-
pected, what was allowable in justice towards the
other kingdoms and countries—everything which
the political development of the empire requires.
" His Majesty has restored the Constitution of
Hungary, its rights and municipal institutions. His
Majesty has done so under the reserve of one single
condition.

" The object of this reserved condition is not to
increase the unlimited power; but, the action of the
national representation having considerably in-
creased, especially as regards taxes and other finan-
cial questions, it requires that the constitutional
right of voting in matters common to all nationali-
ties shall no longer be exercised separately by pro-
vinces, but in common.

" The national autonomy and development of
Hungary are not in any manner whatsoever in-
fringed upon by this reservation, for the constitu-
tional deliberations in co* on only bear upon ques-
tions relating to military duties, political economy,
and the finances of the empire, while all other ques-
tions come under the authority of the Hungarian
Diet.

" This reservation does not restrict any of the
liberal dispositions of the legislation of 1848, which
are the most important part of it—that is to say,
the suppression of corvees and service of the peasan-
try, the abolition of the privileges of the nobles, the
obligation of military duty and taxes for all, as also
the right for all classes, without distinction of origin
to enter the public service and hold landed property.
On the contrary, those regulations have been recog-
nised and expressly confirmed at the same time by
his Majesty.

Moreover, this reservation does not endanger
anything connected with constitutional liberty ;
especially, it does not threaten the right of those
classes participating in the elections for the Diet
who were formerly excluded, and which right was,
in fact, exercised at the present Diet ; it simply re-
quires the revision and suppression by the Diet of
those articles which are in contradiction to the new
fundamental laws.

" It is clear that a reservation of this nature does
not rest upon an arbitrary decision, but that it is
founded on right, and derives its origin from the
very nature of things. It is founded on right, for
his Majesty has spontaneously' resolved to re-esta-
blish the Hungarian Constitution. The Hungarian
Constitution was not only broken by the revolu-
tionary power, consequently cancelled, but, defacto,
suppressed. His Majesty, therefore, to prevent the
recurrence of similar events to those which arose
from the laws of 1848, was in duty bound, in ful-
filment of his high duties es a monarch, to issue
enactments to such effect—enactments required by
the prosperity, greatness, power, and honour of the
Empire, its present safety, tnd future welfare.
"His Majesty having, therefore, in his paternal
goodness, by the diploma of the 20th October last
year, and under the condition of that reservation,
re-established the Constitution, and having imme-
diately convoked the Hungarian Diet for the 2d
April of the current year, it ought to have been
the well understood duty of the latter, consequent
upon the above-mentioned reservation, to submit
the articles of law irreconcilable with the diploma,
conformable to a wise policy and enlightened judg-
ment, to that revision, upon the basis of which it
might have been possible tocome to an understanding
on an inaugural diploma in harmony with the new
position of affairs; thus to eliminate from the Con-
stitution the articles dangerous to the maintenance
of order—enactments unjust and intolerable for
people other than Magyars, to do away with the
remainder of bygone ages—to succeed in creating a
renovated Constitution, keeping at the same time
with the power of Austria the autonomy of Hun-
gary, restricted within certain limits, with a view
to :sanction simultaneously the new regulations
based upon the remnants of past ages, and thus lay
the groundwork for a prosperous future.
"Instead of which, the Diet, after three months
of existence, and in discussions which were of a
nature only to throw new difficulties in the way of
an understanding, announced its intention of adopt-
ing the legislation of 1848 as its basis, a legislation
which has nothing to do with that venerable con-
stitution sworn to by the forefathers of his Majesty,
and which, with all its exaggerations, could not fail
to lead to the renewal of lamentable scenes. It de-
manded the recognition, without reserve, of that
legislation, without taking into account the neces-
sary consequences of a fatal historical fact ; it finally
lost all control over itself, and went so far as to
adopt an address, in which not only the Deputies,
but also the Members of the Table of Magnates,
who are indebted for their dignity, almost without
an exception, to his Majesty and his ancestors, even
dared to refuse to their Emperor, King, and Lord,
with an audacity scarcely credible, the title of his
Imperial and Royal dignity, which no power on
earth has hitherto called in question.
" It is true that the Diet, after serious exhorta-
tions, gave to that address a form which, at least,
rendered its acceptance possible,
" But, after his Majesty, with an indulgence
(langniuth) unexampled in history, had expressed
his opinion openly and sincerely on the tenour of
that address, and had pointed out to the Diet the
only path whereby it would have been possible, con-
formable to the positive claims of justice, and, at
the same time, to !the counsels of equity and pru-
dence, to bring the political relations of the country

In accordance with the constitutional wants of the
monarchy, the Diet declined the invitation to place
itself in that loyal point of view which alone could
lead to the desired end. On the contrary, the Diet
persevered in its demands, insisting upon the re-
cognition in principle of the legislation of 1848,
without reservation of the revision of the articles
in opposition to the diploma.
" Moreover those articles, even were his Majesty
in his benevolence
willing to admit them, could not
and cannot be recognised, confirmed, or made valid,
because from their tenour in their dispositions re-
lating to the Palatine they attack the sovereign
and prerogative rights of the Crown of Hungary ;
because moreover they are offensive to the people
not Magyars, and infringe upon the rights of the
monarchy in its ensemble.

" His Majesty declares that in his quality as King
of Hungary he feels himself called upon to protect
the many millions of Slave, Rouman, and German
inhabitants living in this land and equally dear to
his heart, and to maintain them with his paternal
benevolence in their equal right to the recognition
of their nationality, and the articles of the law in
question not only do not guarantee, but upon which
they make a serious attack.

" Nor can his Majesty confirm those articles of
the legislation of 1848 which have for their object
to prejudice the parity of right of the Kingdoms of
Croatia, Slavonia, and the Principality of Transyl-
vania, which, as all men know, are of so offensive
and irritating a nature that they led to war 11 years
since. -

" Among the articles in question there are some
which appear to be of a nature to try and slacken
the relations between Hungary and the other lands
of the monarchy which have -existed for centuries,
which raised Austria to the rank of a great European
Power, which have been expressed in a series of
laws and documents, especially in the Pragmatic
Sanction incorporated in the articles of law, out of
gratitude for the 'deliverance from the Ottoman
yoke achieved by the arms of the House of Hapsburg,
and the assistance of the Empire, and which in
historical annals have been confirmed a thousand
times over.

" Those laws and documents, without detriment
to the independent administration of Hungary,
having had as a consequence one common general
government, and especially not only a common
diplomatic representation abroad, but also the same
administration, military, financial, public debt, in
common, it is clear that the recognition of the ar-
ticles of the legislation of 1848 which infringe upon
the rights and interests of the provinces comprised
in the Pragmatic Sanction, without regard to the
latter, who shed blood and sacrificed life for it,
according to the immutable laws of justice, would
be inadmissible.

" To this must be added the circumstance that
his Majesty has declared that the combined con-
stitution (Gesamndverfassung) is the inviolable
foundation of his empire one and indivisible, and
regards the demand of the Hungarian Diet as an
attack upon that constitution, and consequently
upon all the other lands and provinces of the Em-
pire.

" Although the Hungarian Diet has not thought
fit to enter into the path of conciliation offered by
the Government, but, on the contrary, has declared
the thread of negotiations to be broken asunder,
his Majesty, nevertheless, desires to maintain in
Hungary, as in other countries of the Empire, con-
stitutional principles, trusting that the country will
return to more reasonable opinions. It is not his
Majesty's wish to amalgamate all the different
countries of the Empire into one single body with-
out distinction, but rather to preserve to Hungary
as well as to the other countries their distinct cha-
racter ; but his Majesty in the interestof the latter,
as well as of the former, must not only protect the
bonds which :link the two, but strengthen them by
constitutional measures.

" I. The fundamental laws of the 20th October
last year, and of the 26th February of the present
year, remain intact. Nor does his Majesty with-
draw from Hungary the concessions granted after
mature reflection and with a serious will.

" The refusal of one country to participate in the
legislative labours of the Reichsrath could not pre-
vent the representatives of other lands from fulfil-
ling their duties and exercising their constitutional
rights. Moreover, the right of being represented
in the Reichsrath rests reserved for all lands as soon
as public opinion is sufficiently enlightened and the
necessity of such representation admitted, and which
will induce them to participate in the councils of the
Reicbsrath and join its deliberations.
" No change in the Constitution, whether in the
sense of a more extended autonomy of parties, or in
favour of the competency of the whole, will be al-
lowed by his Majesty, except by constitutional
measures, that is to say, by the Reichsrath and its
vote.

" 11. His Majesty is the more determined to re-
fuse his Royal sanction to the stipulations of the
legislation which are in contradiction to the preroga-
tives of the Crown, to the rights of other countries
of the Monarchy, and of the whole Empire, as also
to the interests of the non-Magyar population of
Hungary, because, at home as well as abroad, the
conviction has gained ground that it is especially
by the laws voted by the Diet of 1848 that the legi-
timate interests of Croatia, Slavonia, and Transyl-
vania were violated, as also the interests of the non-
Magyar population of Hungary, and which require
revision, as they could not be carried out except by
force.

" On the other hand, his Majesty declares, with
the same decision, that no obstacle shall be thrown
in the way of those stipulations which are in accord-
ance with the fundamental laws, but that, on the
contrary, many of the stipulations of the legislation
of 1848 having already been previously sanctioned
by the patents of the 20th October of last year, his
Majesty is disposed likewise to sanction the other
ones; for which end they must be selected in their
ensemble, so as to be suited to the actual state of
things, that the next Diet may bring them forward
for that sanction by constitutional measures.
" 111. But after the Diet assembled at Pesth has
declared its resolve to persist in its opposition to the
new fundamental laws, although its existence rested
only on the condition of the reservation expressed
in the Royal rescript, and as, by such an attitude,
the Diet has rendered the establishment of an in-
augural diploma impossible, and consequently the
proximate coronation, under the pretext of a con-
dition whichnever existed de jure or de facto—that
is to say, the condition of the personal union (per-
sonal union); considering that from these grounds
the Diet, instead of conscientiously accomplishing
its political task, has entered into a lamentable
path from which there is no outlet, his Majesty has
found himself forced to decide upon. and ordain the
dissolution of the Hungarian Diet.

But his Majesty still hopes that public opinion
will return from its errors, that the public mind
will calm down, and that shortly it will be possible
to convoke a new Diet, which will be called upon
to fulfil the duties which the dissolved Diet has
disavowed and neglected in the most unjustifiable
manner. Moreover, his Majesty has given the most
peremptory orders for the re-establishment and
maintenance of order by the Government autho-
rities.

In ordering the present communication to be
made to the illustrious Reichsratb, his Majesty de-
sires again to express his firm resolution to shield,
consolidate, and accomplish the unity of the Em-
pire as well as the legal autonomy of all the lands
and kingdoms within the limits of Constitutional
liberty.
" His Majesty deigns finally to declare that,
strengthened by the knowledge of the purity of his
intentions, convinced that it is one of the noblest
prerogatives of power to exercise necessary severity
with a gentle hand, at the same time it is the duty
of a monarch to show decided firmness, and fully
resolved in this,important question to show as much