The Sun.
London, England, 1861-11-12 00:00:00

"Gentlemen, I am about to propose to you a
toast, which you will all receive with keen sym-
pathy, in honour of our illustrious guest, of M.
,Ratazzi, of the President of the Italian Parliament.
" The Italian Parliament ? " These simple words
comprise all the great things done in Italy—our
victories, the Italian victories, the conquests of
Garibaldi, the unity, the liberty, and the indepen-
dence of Italy,are all found united in the magnificent
expression, 'The Italian Parliament !' It will be to
the eternal honour of Victor Emmanuel, and of such
men as Ratazzi, Cavour, and Ricasoli, that they
wished, from the very first day, to place Italy,
delivered from the foreigner, delivered from the
tyrants who oppressed her, beneath the eyes
of constitutional law. The Italians have be-
come citizens without ceasing to,kte the soldiers
of the great cause of unity and of independence, for
their task is not yet terminated; Rome and Venice
are still enslaved—the one beneath an abhorred Go-
vernment, the other beneath the foreign domination.
The Roman question has, doubtless, its complications,
its difficulties. France, which has constituted her-
self the exclusive protectress of the spiritual
Papacy, would willingly see accepted a compromise,
honourable for the Pontiff, and indispensable to the
interests of religion ; but all the proposals made by
France are .defeated by the sacramental non pos-
sumus. The question must, however, be cut if it
cannot be unloosed. The Emperor, who has re-
cognised the kingdom of Italy, cannot wish that
its firm establishment should be indefinitely de-
ps should shield by
machinations of the
lath ye
rd ,
presencea n d that
hhee Frenchunworthy
r o
promoters of civil wars. When, in 1859, the Em-
peror, deriving his inspirations from the misfortune
of the Italian nation, and from the true policy of ,
France, resolved to arrest the progress of Austrian
ambition, we lent, it may be remembered, a hearty
co-operation to the chief of the State, who, to use
an expression which has now becdme historical,
only met with interested defections ; it is our
duty to tell him of what importance it is to the •
glory and to the interests of our coantry that the 1
Roman question shall be speedily solved. There
exists at the present day between the Italian and
French nations a fraternal solidarity. Whatever
good is effected on the one side of the Alps meets ,
with a happy response on the other. There is
not a single liberal measure adopted in
France which is not of service to the Italian
cause. The French Government, in dissolving
associations nominally philanthropic and really
political, has inflicted on Mtramontanism and on
the counter revolution the defeat of a second Cas-
telfidardo. We are reproached with forsaking our
principles, with sacrificing freedom to the spirit of
party. We understand no freedom save that whieh
is granted to all ; if it is the 'property of a few it
changes its name—it becomes privilege. We seek
no privileges ; we ask for freedom and equality
before the law for all. If the honourable and learned
defenders of the societies just dissolved advanced a
step further in their reasoning they would reach
the point of regretting likewise, from the love of
liberty, the abolition of privileges and of feudal
rights. If I speak of these recent differences of
opinion before our illustrious guests I have no ob-
ject in view ; I wish to entreat our Italian friends,
who are accomplishing a memorable revolution, not
to imitate the faults of the Democratic and Liberal
party of France, but to keep completely united
against the common enemy, and to be firmly per-
suaded of the truth of this: maxim, ':Union is
strength.' Let Italy organise her armies, her ad-
ministration ; let her be faithful to the admirable
conduct which she has observed during these years
of trial, and the triumph of her nationality, of her
unity, and of her freedom is secured. I have the
honour to propose to you, gentlemen, the healths
of 'M. Ratazzi, the President of the Italian Par-
liament,' one of the most eminent statesmen of the
peninsula, a sincere patriot, the framer of laws
envied by all Europe ; of M. della Rocca,' the
able general, who has successfully commenced
the pacification of Southern Italy; of M. Nigro,'
the young diplonatist who, in the most
difficult circumsta:',7 es, has deserved by his talent
and his knowled to be raised to the point of hon-
our which ha ; . with so much distinction. Gen-
tlemen, there still a mode of honouring the living.
It is to show •ur gratitude and our respect to the
dead. Let us, then, give the tribute of our homage
to the glorious memories of Manin and of Cavour.'
. M. Ratazzi returned thanks in the following
' words :

" Gentlemen, I thank you from the bottom of my
heart, for all your kind and amiable words, as well
as for the wishes which you have just expressed for
my country, and, in thanking you, my first thoughts
turn towards the Emperor of the French, the worthy
head of your generous nation. Allow me now to
tell you how much I am affected by and made happy
from the sympathetic receptions which I have re-
ceived from all in this great and noble country.
It makes melhappy chiefly because this sympathy,
this zeal, are addressed to Italy herself, whom it is
sought to honour in one of her sons, and not to my
too feeble individual merits. Yes, I shall always
have before me the frank, French cordiality, the
unanimous encouragements which have so keenly
touched me, and which I shall be happy to recount

.o my countrymen. Gentlemen, believe me, the

feelings of affection and support entertained by
France towards Italy find, in return, amongst the
Italians the most profound attachment. Those per-
sons who have spoken so hastily of the ingratitude
of the Italians had not given themselves the trouble
to come amongst us ; they would otherwise have
learned that we are richly endowed with the me-
mory of the heart, I love to repeat, before you
all. No ! Italy will never forget what she owes to
this august Emperor, who, for her sake, has braved
so many dangers—who alone held out a helping
hand to her at the crisis of her agony ; she will
never forget the admirable soldiers who have fallen
in her cause—the glorious army which has won her
freedom, the gdnerous writers who have so gallantly
defended her, and the French people, whose good
wishes accompanied:each phase of the great enter-
prise of her enfranchisement. The future can only
give still more force to these sentiments. At this
epoch of the reconstitution of nationalities, of the
grouping of sister nations, the union of the Latin
race is not an idle word. Fraternally allied, as is
befitting in nations of the same origin, of equal
civilisation, of ideas perfectly alike, possessing the
same interest in all matters, our two nations, sup-
ported by the sympathies of other Liberal nations,
have nothing to fear from the rest of the world.
Let the crisis come, and France will see how Italy
understands its debt of gratitude and its duties of
responsibility."

7th says—After hesitating some time, the Emperor Napo-
leonFßANCE AND ROME.—A letter from Turin. of the
has refused to accept the propositions of M. Ricasoli,
not because he does not approve of them, but because they
seem to him inopportune, and he fears that they may use-
lessly compromise his influence. M. de Lavalette, while
reassuring the Pontifical Government, will have for his
mission to seize the propitious moment to withdraw the
Papacy from the vicious circle of its old declaration. In
not finally renouncing his hopes of a solution, M. Ricasoli
therefore does not act from obstinacy, as some suppose, but
has very good resaom for persevering,