The Sun.
London, England, 1845-02-26 00:00:00

POST-OFFICE ESPIONAGE.

A charge has been brought against the Government
of this country, which most materially affects not only
the character of this or that Minister, but our national
good faith, and the sanctity of that hospitable protection
which Great Britain gives, without distinction of parties,
to the proscribed and the unfortunate from all parts of
the world. Mr. Milnes and Sir Charles Napier,
therefore, anticipated the public feeling throughout
England, and we may add, Europe, by asking
Sir Robert Peel for an explanation of the part which the
British Ministers had taken last spring between the
Italian Governments and the refugees who were sup-
posed to be meditating a descent on the coast of Cala-
bria or the Papal States ; and Sir R. Peel treated the
questions with the marked attention they undoubt-
edly required. It is revolting to suppose that,
whilst the English Ministers were engaged in a cor-
respondence with the Austrian and Italian Cabinets,
for the purpose of transmitting secret information of
the intentions of conspirators residing in the Bri-
tish dominions, those persons received no warning of
the dangerous position in which they stood, and
were even lured on by a perfidious encouragement
to embark in an expedition which could only lead
to their certain destruction. But it requires no
profound knowledge of the secret communications
which may have taken place between the Govern-
ments of Europe, to demonstrate that the persons
about to engage in these deplorable attempts were
perfectly informed of their position ; they knew that
their projects were disclosed to all the Powers interested
in the prevention of them, and they were aware that the
Austrian troops in Northern Italy were ready at a mo
ment's notice to cross the Po, and march even to Naples.
These facts were notorious to the whole world many
months before the expedition from Corfu sailed, for they
appeared more than once in the most prominent part of
our own columns. No sooner had these particulars come
to our knowledge, by a communication from the Conti-
nent, than we acted on the) conviction that one of the
fairest and most effectual means of preventing the
threatened explosion in Italy, without compromising its
authors, was to publish an outline of their scheme, of
their resources, and of the all-powerful resistance which
awaited them in the shape of an immediate intervention
on the part of Austria. These projects had long been
agitated by the Italian Republicans in London, Paris,
and other places ; and as early as the autumn of 1543
the Austrian Government, being fully aware of them,
was prepared to act on the emergency which was
expected to occur. On the 17th of October, 1843, we
stated that we were led to suppose, by information which
had reached us from Vienna, that a detachment of 4,000
Austrian troops had ere then entered the Papal terri-
tories ; and that the Austrian and Piednaontese Govern.
ments had resolved to intervene in support of the Papal
authority against the revolutionary t movements of the
Republican party. The movement was, however, post-
poned, and, of course, no intervention took place. But
on the Ist of April, 1844, we recurred to the sub-
ject, observing, that the accounts we had before
published were premature, but not unfounded ;
that lively apprehensions were entertained in the
minor states of Italy; and that "in the foreign countries
to which the political refugees have been driven by
former revolutions, as well as in those more contiguous
positions—such as Malta and Corsica—to which they
have access, the greatest activity had for some time past
prevailed amongst the disaffected." We added a great
number of details as to the extent and objects of the
projected insurrection ; and we observed, that " the
fact that such a scheme should be made public, and
that it should have been known for some time past to
the Cabinets most interested in the result, with a va-
riety of names and details which we abstain from
giving, will perhaps interfere with the execution of
the conspiracy, but we have before us certain evi-
dences of its existence. Such an undertaking
would infallibly fail, but it would not fail without
bloodshed ; and we should hereafter be called
upon for our compassion to victims, to whom, if
they were successful, we must deny our respect."
We have great reason to believe that this public
disclosure of the scheme did powerfully contribute
to deter the Italian refugees from proceeding with it.
Certain it is, that a plot which at one time had asso-
ciates all over Italy, considerable funds, and a force suffi-
ciently powerful to contemplate an armed invasion from
the adjacent islands, was silently abandoned, and that the
warning given by this means, and by private communica-
tions from the Italian refugees in England, was all but
completely effectual. The only exception was the ex-
pedition of 22 unarmed men, who started from Corfu
on the 12th of June, and soon afterwards landed in
Calabria, where they met a fate which we cordially de-
plore, and the more so as the slightest prudence or ob-
servation of what was passing amongst their own friends
and in Europe would have preserved them from it. They
must have known that the general insurrection in which
they were to have taken a part was abandoned—
but they persevered. The measures by which the
wholesale misery and bloodshed of fresh disturbances
in Italy had been avoided were lost upon them.
They persisted, and they perished. We sincerely lament
their infatuation and their miserable end ; but, In justice
to all the parties to these transactions, it is fair to re- 1
member that the measures of prevention were successful,
except with regard to those 22 persons, and that the great
service rendered to the peace of Italy and of Europeim-
measurably exceeds in importance this minor incident,
which was unfortunately not foreseen and therefore, could
not be prevented. These facts had been ascertained by
various means of far greater practical utility than the ,
odious practice of opening letters ; and we do not be-
lieve that all M. Mazzini s correspondence could have
added much to what was communicated even to ourselves