The Sun.
London, England, 1859-09-01 00:00:00

TUSCANY.

The following is the text of the memorandum
addressed by the Tuscan Government to the Euro-
pean Cabinets, and which has been already briefly
alluded to in a telegraphic despach :
" The causes which produced in Tuscany the na-
tional movement of the 27th April, and the circum-
stances in the midst of which the State was aban-
doned by the then reigning prince and by the whole
of the grand ducal family, are already too well
known to be necessary to repeat them. What it is
important, however, to state, is the perfect unani-
mity of all Tuscans in the Italian sentiment ; the
wonderful order maintained in times of such diffi-
culty ; and the accord, constant and full of dignity,
of all wills, both as to the object in view and as to
the means considered best calculated to attain it.
And if, on the one side, we witness such things, on
the other there may be pointed out an invincible
obstinacy, first to oppose the most noble and the
most legitimate wishes of Tuscany, and afterwards
a contempt of those same wishes, and of national
opinion, to the extent of seeking an asylum in the
camp of our enemies, and of lighting on their side
against the Italian arms.

" These facts were already known when the news
of the unexpected piece of Viltafranca arrived in
Tuscany. The whole country was deeply affected
by that intelligence, not only because, in presence
of the gre it hopes which had been raised, the gene-
ral cause of Italy received a grievous blow, but also
because certain articles in that treaty inspired a
fear of the dynasty of Lorraine being restored in
Tuscany.
" The calmest minds and those most versed in
political affairs endeavoured to remove the general
anxiety by calling to mind the general sympathies
of the Emperor Napoleon 111. for the Italian
people, and his noble words relative to respect for
their legitimate wishes, and by concluding that it
was absurd to fear that the French Government,
which, by the participation taken in the war by
the Tuscan army under the orders of an Imperial
Prince, had sanctioned the fall of the Loraine
dynasty by supporting the movement against its
throne, would afterwards effect a restoration by
fordo, or tolerate that others should do so. T ;es°
prudent words were listened to, and the country
was restored to the most perfect calm. Every one
reacquired confidence in the destinies of his coun-
try, but it was impossible not to conceal from our-
selves that our future fate was subject to great
uncertainty. With the peace ceased the protea
torate of the ling of Sardinia, and the commis-
sioner extraordinary left Florence and transferred
the supreme authority to the Ministry in the same

manner as the Provisional Government had trans-
mitted it to him by its decree of the 11 th May.

" Under such serious circumstances, the Govern-
ment of Tuscany felt the duty and necessity of im-
mediately convoking the national representation.
The Constitutional Charter of 1848 still incontest-
ably represented the public rights of Tuscany,
since no one could doubt the illegality of the
Grand Ducal decree of 1852 which had abolished

it by a coup d'etat. It was, therefore, decided
that the elections should be proceeded with accord-
ing to the enactments of the law of March 3,
1848. The law itself was extended and liberal
enough at the time it was decreed, and the succes-
sive increase of the family had rendered it still
more so by considerably increasing the number of
the electors. This law, moreover, presented the
additional advantage that, emanating as it did from
the Grand Ducal Government, the partisans of the
latter, both at home and abroad, would not be able
to approach it with giving results in disaccord with
the true state of public opinion. _

" So many and such grave considerations deter-
mined the Tuscan Government to convoke the As-
sembly according to the provisions of the law of
March 3, 1848, as well as to decree a new one.
One subject of alarm for some, and of hope herhaps
for others, was to see a nation, so long accustomed
to any act of political life, and who was now called
on to accomplish one so serious in the midst of cir-
cumstances so calculated to excite anxiety and pas-
sions, fail in the trial. The Tuscan people came out
of it, on the contrary, in giving striking proofs of
patiotism and good sense. Admirable order, the
enormous affluence of electors, the concord which
reigned in the elections, and the nomination of re-
presentatives who are in different ways the illus-
tration of the country, eloquently showed that Tus•
cany was worthy of the independence and the
liberty which she claims from the justice of Europe.
" The National Assembly, regularly convoked,
regularly assembled, and legally deliberating, has
put forth two decisions which in substance only
form one, because, when united, they correspond
to the object of the convocation of the Assembly,
in providing for the definitive organisation of the
country.
" It has adopted a first resolution, which de-
clares the reign of the Austro-Loraine dynasty to
be irrevocably finished in Tuscany. It has also
passed a second resolution, which declares that the
will of the Tuscan people is to form part of a
powerful Italian kingdom, under the constitutional
sceptre of King Victor Emmanuel 11.
" We believe it necessary to speak of each of
these resolutions apart, in order to show not only
the full right which the Tuscan National Assembly
had to adopt them, but the grave political reasons
which recommend the sanction of them to all the
Governments.

" That Tuscany, abandoned to herself and left
without a government, had a right to elect a go-
vernment in conformity with her sentiments and
interests, is a truth so elementary that it needs no
demonstration. It will be sufficient to cite, in
proof of this, an authority which in the present
case can meet with no objection, that of the Grand
Duke Leopold 11. himself. That prince, in his de-
cree of the 12th May, 1848, relative to annexation
to Tuscany of the provinces of Massa, Carrara,
Garfaguana, and Lunigiana, solemnly proclaimed
the principle which we here invoke, and did so on
the same facts and for the same reasons.

" The hostile sentiments of a sovereign against
the country he governs constitute, according to the
international law of all times and all civilised na-
tions, another motive of the gravest kind for de-
priving him of the rights of sovereignty. Sove-
reignty is the protection of a people, and not hatred
of and war against them. Now there are unfortu-
nately too many proofs of the sentiments of hos-
tility of the Loraine dynasty to Tuscany. Belve-
dere, the asylum sought in Austria during the war,
and Solferino proclaim those sentiments so clearly
that we abstain, from moderation and from regard
for propriety, from insisting on the subject. What
can be said too of the violation of faith which
took place by calling foreign -soldiers into
the country, and by destroying, by the abolition of
the statute, the fundamental compact which bound
the Prince to the people ?
" But if the right of the Tuscans not to accept
the Lorraine dynasty is incontestable, not less
evident are the political reasons—not only in them-
selves, but as regards the general tranquillity of
Italy and the world—which imperatively counsel
all the Governments of Europe to accept and sanc-
tion the wishes of Tuscany. The consequences of
a restoration Of the Lorraine Dynasty in Tuscany
would be so politically fatal that no statesman
can regard them without dismay. The conduct
'and the tendencies of the Lorraine dynasty during
the last ten years have raised up between it and
Tuscany a barrier which cannot be passed. If a
sovereign of the fallen dynasty were to return to
Tuscany ;he would do so—no illusion in this
respect should be entertained—with the profound
and invincible sentiments of hatted against the
whole country, embracing in his aversion all
classes of society, the highest as well as the
lowest. The country would respond to such senti-
ments by sentiments still more hostile. Profound
animosity on one hand, incurable distrust on the
other—that is what would prevail between the
rulers and the governed. Mutual repugnance and
personal divisions would render any Government
impossible. Tuscany would become the permanent
centre of the revolution and would reduce the
peace of Italy to a dream. Where would be the
force of the restored Government, where its sup-
port, where would it find the authority and the
means of governing ? In all countries where re-
volutionary agitators are to" be found the army is
the natural guardian of public tranquillity and the
natural defender of the Government. But in Tuscany
it is precisely the army which more than any other
class of citizens is compromised with regard to the
dynasty of Loraine, which more energetically
than any other has manifested its reprobation of
the anti-national conduct of that dynasty, and
which more than any other has actiTely contri-
buted to its fall. It is easy to determine after that
what would be the tendencies and the spirit of the
Tuscan army. The dynasty must therefore have
recourse to auxiliary troops, to foreign interven-
tion, and thon would begin again with more ter
rible intensity that series of violent proceedings on
the one hand, and revolutionary conspiracies on the
other, of oppression and vengeance, which have at-
tracted the attention of the world on this unhappy
Italy, and proved the necessity of applying a re-,
medy for her numberless grievances.
" It is important to remark that Austria, though
obliged by the fortune of war to consent to the
peace of Villafranca will never accept it heartily
and sincerely. She will always be ready to seize
any opportunity either to recover Lombardy or to
resume her former position in the rest of Italy, and
with that view will ever be ready to avail herself
of any European complications that may arise.
Already the journals most devoted to Austria
make no mystery of these projects. Should it so
happen, Italy ought and wonld again make a
great national effort to preserve the immunities
obtained by the bravery of the Franco-Italian
army, the exploits of King Victor-Emmanuel, and
the powerful and generous co-operation of the
Emperor of the French. With an Austrian dy-
nasty in Tuscany, we should be again in the same
position as on the 27th of April. But no one
will pretend that a country can be always risking
its destiny and welfare in a continual alternation
of revolutions and restorations.

The questions now pending between Tuscany
and the dynasty of Loraine may be thus summed
up :—The question is whether the vanquished shall
give the law to the victors—whether a civilised
ation, which has given proofs of all the civic
virtjtcs ought to be sactificed to those who are
manifestly di,posed to pay no attention to such
virtues; whether the ambition and interests of one
family shall outweigh the interests and will of two
millions of tue Z ? Let Europe and the public con-
science decida.

" T.-.e Tuscan Government, although diplomatic
communications are still wanting, is nevertheless
aware that great importance is given in diploma-
tic circles to a pretended abdication of Leopold 11.
and a pretended programme of his son Ferdinand,
containing ample promises of liberal institutions and

Italian policy. It is on that abdieation and those
promises that are more especially based the counsels
of a friendly Government, to the effect that Tuscany
should not refuse to consent to the restoration of
the deposed family. In order to yield to such sug-
gestions Tuscany must first forget all her history
during these latter times, and numerous violations
of sworn faith ; she must also forget that the fallen
dynasty was so completely assimilated with the
interests and passions of Austria as to be incom-
patible with the feelings and interests of the coun-
try. She would also have to forget the presence at
Modena of this same Archduke Ferdinand, who, all
impatience and anxiety, there awaited the issue of
the battle of Magenta, in order to return into Tus-
cany at the head of the Austrians, if the latter had
been victorious in that battle. The name of Sol-
ferino should also be razed from the pages of his-
tory. What a singular example of public morality !
A prince who seeks refuge in the camp of the ene-
mies of his country, who fights against it at their
side, and who, when the allies whom he chose
are vanquished, says to those against whom
he had fought, and whose defeat he had hoped
for, Now I am one of you!' The sentiment
of her own security, as well as that of
reciprocal dignity, will not allow Tuscany to
subscribe to this humiliating capitulation, extorted
by defeat and the fruit of too long delayed re-
pentance.

"In tracing out this rapid sketch of the conse-
quences which a restoration might give birth to in
Tuscany, we have abstained from considering the
hypothesis that such restoration might be brought
about by foreign intervention. We have abstained
from it because assurances emanating from a high
authority, and coming to us from different quar-
ters, guarantee the impossibility of such a calamity;
we have done so because, after the events which
have been accomplished in Tuscany, a foreign in-
tervention to re-establish at the point of the bayonet
an Austrian archduke on an Italian throne would
be a thing so enormous that even to think of such
an act for a moment would be not only an absurdity
but a gratuitous insult towards a friendly Govern-
ment.

" The Tuscan Government is not ignorant that,
intervention being rejected and excluded as impos-
sible, there are people who think that the same
object may be attained by other means. There
are some who speak of the not recognising the
vote of Tuscany, and of abandoning her to herself
until htr state of political uncertainty and the con-
sequences resulting from it, shall bring about in
one manner or another the wished-for restoration.
Would that be an act of justice or of political
prudence ? We feel a firm conviction that such a
plan would not succeed, because Tuscany would
remain united, calm, and disciplined; but if un-
fortunately the contrary should happen, can it be_
relied on that agitation in Tuscany would not ex-
tend to other parts of Italy, and not become the
starting point for new and terrible complications ?
A sanguinary war has just been carried on to re-
store tranquillity to Italy, and to destroy a hotbed
of incessant perils for the peace of Europe, and
the country could not again be thrown back into
a state which would form the foundation for future
agitations. Romagna, and the provinces of Mo-
dena and Parma, are in a situation similar to ours,
and naturally the same system would be applied
to them. Thus, therefore, if certain eventualities
were to be realised, upwards of four millions of
Italians, in the centre of Italy, would be in a state
of agitation from revolutionary disorders, and
Europe would look on impassible and indifferent !
And if, to the disgrace of such a system, the people
should persist in not recalling the dethroned princes,
and that agitation should become anarchy, what
would Europe do ? Would she allow anarchy to
give itself up to all excesses and the people to destroy
each other ? Would she interfere ? And in that
case would it be Austria or France to do so, either
separately or together ? Each of these hypotheses
is a political impossibility. Thus, the Tuscan Go-
vernment, confident in the wisdom and the equity
of the great powers, feels a firm conviction that
after having coolly weighed the system above-
mentioned, and after having looked at iya useless
and dangerous effects, they will all agree•in regard-
ing it as impracticable.
" But in declaring that the reign of the Austro-
Loraine dynasty is at an end in Tuscany, the
National Assembly had not entirely accomplished
its mandate, inasmuch as such a vote was not suf-
ficient to provide for the definitive organisation of
the State. It, therefore, came to a second resolu-
tion, unanimous like the first, declaring that the
will of Tuscany was to form part of a powerful
constitutional kingdom under the sceptre of King
Victor Emmanuel. The communal representatives,
interpreting the public wish, recently adopted a
resolution in conformity with all this. The mu-
nicipal deliberations on this subject are of 225
communes, in which are comprised the cities of
Florence and Leghorn, and all the other important
towns of Tuscany. To give an idea of the im-
mense majority which the resolution has obtained,
we will confine ourselves to saying that out of
1,350 suffrages 1,297 were for, and only 53 agains.
Thus. the resolution of the National Assembly has
already, as an expression of public opinion, a pre-
cedent which shows all the importance and value
of it.. Numerous and powerful reasons have dic-
tated this wish, and numerous and powerful ones
recommend it to the sanction of Europe.
" The principal, or, to to speak more correctly, the
sole and exclusive, character of the Italian move-
ment of 1859, is the sentiment of nationality. That
is so true that no question of the internal form of
government has this time, as was unfortunately
the case in 1848, disturbed the aspiration of the Ita-
lians for national independence. All the Italian
populations, on the contrary, have applauded the
temporary restriction of constitutional liberties in
Piedmont, because they considered the measure
useful for the good conduct of the war the subject
of all their thoughts.
" The resolution adopted by the Tuscan Assem-
bly in the sitting of the 20th of this month was
principally inspired 1. y that sentiment of nationality,
and by the wish to satisfy it. When Austria pre-
serves a strong position in Italy, which may be-
come still more formidable, if the confederation of
which there is a question in the preliminaries of
Villafranca should be established, the necessity of
constituting in Italy a powerful state, the most
powerful possible under present circumstances,
becomes manifest to everybody. It is, on the one
hand, a necessity of defence, and, on the other, a
necessity of equilibrium, without which the con-
federation proposed will never be possible. That
this attachment to the national cause, and this pa-
triotic foresight, weighed greatly in the resolution
adopted by the National Assembly, and that they
now prevail in public opinion, is clearly proved by
the circumstance that the number of partisans of
the union of Tuscany and Piedmont "was greatly
augmented after the peace of Villafranca. As long as
the war lasted, and it was hoped that, the Austrians
being driven out of the Peninsula, the kingdom of
Upper Italy would have seen its force increased by
that of Venetia, the independence of Tuscany had
its partisans. But they have now disappeared, and
mhy ? Because in Tuscany the Italiam idea domi-
nates all others. There are, perhaps, few people
who would be disposed to reproach us with that.
But if, under present circumstances, Tuscany had
displayed various aspirations, those who now consi-
der our wish as excessive would have reproached
us with our old municipal rivalities, and with our
petty local quarrels, and would have concluded that
the Italians are incorrigible and unworthy to be-
come a nation.

" To reinforce Piedmont is, we have said, ne-
cessary both for defence and for maintaining equi-
librium. That is not only trus as regards Italian
interests, but it is equally true as regards Euro-
pean interests. As long as Piedmont is not strong
enough to oppose serious resistance to Austria
Austria will always be tempted to attack her. Re-
cent events cannot have failed to give more strength
to the sentiment of old hostility. Europe will con-
sequently be in constant apprehension of a new
conflict in Italy, and a conflict in Italy may again
compromise the peace of the world.
" As a condition of equilibrium for the sake of
Europe, the necessity of an increase in the force of
Piedmont appears manifest, if we consider the case

of the confederation projected at Villafranca being
realised. The tendencies of Rome and Naples are
known; by an alliance with these two Govern-
ments, Austria, if Piedmont has not a great weight
to throw into the other scale, may one day become
mistress of the confederation, and, at a given mo-
ment, dispose of all the forces of Italy in addition
to her own. Then it would be no longer a question
of Italian, but of European, equilibrium. Can
France, Prussia, and the other 'European powers
accept the probability of these dangers ?
" After so much agitation and uncertainty, Tus-
cany is most anxious for tranquillity. Her union
with Piedmont is the most certain and substantial
guarantee of that tranquility. As it is henceforth
beyond all dispute that this union is ardently de-
sired by all or nearly all Tuscans, there can be no
doubt the universal satisfaction will render any-
thing like disorder impossible. That state of per-
petual agitation, more or loss latent, which, in the
different provinces of Italy, has existed and still
unfortunately exists in some of them, as the effect
of a deep-seated disaffection between the people and
the Governments, will entirely disappear in Tus-
cany, as soon as the country sees its future secure
in the hands of an upright and powerful King,
possessing all its confidence and its gratitude in
common with all the people of Italy.
" It would neither be just nor wise to deprive
the Tuscans of the advantages they would find in
forming part of a great State. Experience has
now proved that, without large aggregations,
nation can never attain that great moral and ma-
terial development which is one of the distinguish-
ing characteristics of modern civilisation. Tuscany
has done enough for the civilisation of the world
to entitle her to a share in the enjoyment of its
benefits. To possess neither army, nor navy, nor
diplomacy, to have a languishing trade and manu-
factures still worse, to be deprived of all scientific
or artistic movement, such is the fate of a small
country in the nineteenth century. With what
right and justice can Tuscany now be thus sub-
mitted to such a Procrustean process ? We might
enumerate many other not inconsiderable advan-
tages that Tuscany may reasonably expect from
her union with an important State. It would be
an act of wisdom and good policy on the part of
Europe not to smother so many germs of moral
development and material prosperity, since that
beneficent solidarity of interests which the progress
of the times has everywhere created would certainly
make it advantageous to all nations.
" In giving these votes, the Tuscan Assembly,
after having expressed the special motives it has
for hoping, with regard to all the great Powers,
that its wishes will be sanctioned and seconded,
has confided to the Government the task of em-
ploying the most efficacious means for attaining
their accomplishment. And the Government, en-
couraged by the same considerations, has readily
accepted that difficult task.
" It feels confident, like the Assembly, that the
valorous and loyal King, who has done so much
for Italy, and has protected Tuscany with special
kindness, will not repel the homage of gratitude
and fidelity which an entire nation conjures him to
accept, both for his own sake and for that of the
common country.
" It feels confidence in the justice and the wis-
dom of France, England, Russia, and Prussia.
" The magnanimous Emperor of the French,
who, with so much generosity, has taken in hand
,
the defence of an oppressed nation, who has said,
and gloriously proved by acts, that he would be
everywhere where there is a just came to defend;
sage and liberal England ; Russia, whose pokey'
elevated and full of grandeur, now excites the ad-
miration of Europe; and valiant Prussia, which.
so nobly represents in Germany the principle of
nationality, will neither disregard nor trample
under foot the right of a quiet, united, and disci-
plined people, who do not demand anything
than to provide for their own destiny in the man-
ner which they think best for their security and
happiness.
" If, however, human justice should fail us, we
will defend by all means our rights and the dignity
of country against any aggression. And if even°
should turn out contrary to us, at least we shall
have the consolation of thinking that all, else
people,
Assembly, and Government, have done our duty
without weakness and without boasting. And then
public conscience and history will say on what side
were right, civil prudence, and moderation; and on
what side are injustice, blindness, and abuse of
force.
(Signed) " RICASOLI, President of the Council
of Ministers, and Minister of In-
terior.
C. RODOLFI, Minister of Public In-
struction, and ad iaterim of Foreign
Aflairs.
E. POGGI, Minister of Justice and
R. BGurasAce.
ccA, Minister of Finance.
SALVAGNOLI, Minister of Ecclesiasti-
cal Affairs.
DE CAVERN°, Minister of War.
"Florence, 24th August, 1859."