The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1859-09-17
THE PACIFIC
Commercial Advertiser.
SATURDAY. SEPT. II.

\ uries become depleted, and there is little prospec
of an adequate reward for further strife, they
hoist the flag of truce, and settle the prelimina
ries of a peace. By mutual concessions, they eft
feet a compromise, as they ought to have done In
the first place, and conclude the conflict. The
avowed purpose of a war is seldom fully accom-,
plished. 1t is often the case that a protracted
struggle ends in exhaustion to both parties, and
the final result is barren of gain t. either side.
In the recent Italian conflict, a conflict which
has been attended with an immense sacrifice OF
life, the bereavement of many thousands of fam
lilies, and the expense of some hundred million OF
dollars, the ultimate success of the French has no
doubt fallen far short of their original object.
They have failed to expel the Austrians from
Italy, and restore Italy to herself as was prom
ised in the outset. But they have nevertheless
effected some changes, and accomplished perhaps
as much as under the circumstances it was rea-
sonable to expect of them. In the brief space of
two months, the Austrian possessions south OF
the Alps have been reduced one-half. The fertile
territory of Lombardy which has heretofore con-
tributed its yearly quota to the treasury of
Vienna, now rejoices in the rule of an Italian
King. The Austrian influence south of the Pc,
so powerful before, in the States of Modena,
Parma and Tuscany, has been annihilated. Sar-
DINA has greatly increased in population, and
almost doubled her territory and Austria, pent
up within the narrow limits of Venitia, and pro-
tected by the massive walls of Verona and Man
tua, sullenly surveys the contracted boundaries
of her one remaining Italian possession, and
81 bides her time for revenge. The States of
Modena, Parma and Tuscany, have now a fair
opportunity to strengthen their newly acquired
Iihartv NV the establishment Of free and liberal
institutions, and if they fail to develop more
fully their resources, and to take higher stand as
independent and progressive nations, the cause of
the failure, unless other, now unforeseen infu-
ences, intervene, must lie with themselves alone.
Yet the terms of peace are far from satisfactory
to the Sardinians or to the Italian people, and
the signs of the times seem to show that the adj
justment will not be of permanent duration. 1t
was considered doubtful whether Garibaldi would
lay down his arms. All Sardinia was indignant
that Napoleon should make peace at such a time,
in opposition to the wishes of his ally, and leaving
the Sandman kingdom with a frontier more de-
fenceless than before. Unfriendly feelings were
said to exist between Napoleon and Victor Eman-
uel. The Pope had been burnt in efigy at
Milan Florence was in a disturbed state and
some of the Partisan papers had come out plainly
in opposition to the terms of peace, and called
for the expulsion of the petty Italian princes who
have heretofore acted as confederates of Austria
who, perhaps, when they return to power, will
again endeavor to play into the hands of their
old patron.
Probably, in making a peace, Napoleon was
actuated more by motives of self interest than of
concern for the welfare of his allies. In the
course of the war he had ably sustained the great
military reputation of France. While two of
his armies had with remarkable promptitude
scaled the Alps, a third had marched through
Leghorn and Florence, a fourth was ready to
land on the shores of the Adriatic, and there re-
manned material enough in France to double
them all at speedy notice. His fleet, at a weeks
warming, had spread itself through the Mediter-
ranean and Adriatic. The Emperor had proved
the wealth and devotion of the French people.
He had called for FIVE hundred millions of francs,
and the money was subscribed in a day. He
asked for one hundred and twenty-five millions,
and FIVE times the amount was urged upon him.
In Italy his armies had pressed the Austrians
rapidly back over the plains of Sardinia and
Lou1bardy, through a career of glorious victory
for the French and disastrous defeat to the Aus
trians, to their strongholds in Venitia. The
AASASA eAho hoa Oh ehO hdAiC Vi
Magenta, Malegnano and Solferino-a luster
which the dust of ages will not efface from the
scroll of history and now, after accomplishing
all this, the Emperor says it vas prudent to
be satisfied with what he had got and rest con-
tented with what he had done. Hitherto he had
driven the enemy before him in the open field
now he was to cope with the lion at bay and if
the victories had been so hardly won before, the
result was at least doubtful when his untiring
opponents had thrown themselves behind the
strong walls and b~ristling fortresses before them.
If he prosecuted the war, there was a possibility
that his glory would be eclipsed in defeat;
whereas, if he made peace, he should preserve
unstsined his own military reputation and the
prowess of France, and might secure a part of
the objects for which he had plunged into the
war. Besides all this, by leaving Austria still
an important power in Northern Italy, Sardinia,
with her unfortifed frontier, would continue, as
it were, a dependency of France, looking to her
for protection from the encroachments of her
powerful neighbor.
Doubtless all these things were considered in
the reasoning that decided the Emperor for peace.
Indeed he intimated as much in his speech reply
ing to the addresses of the Presidents of the great
bodies of the State, after his return to Paris.
One of the most important facts in relation to
the recent pacifcation was, that the peace was
concluded without the Intervention of either of
the other great powers indeed, it is said to have
been proposed by Louis Napoleon, and hurried on
to execution, for the express purpose of giving
We other powers no opportunity to profer their
advice. Heretofore the territorial statu guo of
Italy was regulated by the DEGREES of the five
powers at the Congresses of Vienna, Laybach and
Verona; and the arrangement was claimed and
acknowledged by all to be immutable. except by
the action and consent of the parties that made
it. Now in the recent Italian treaty, France and
Austria have taken upon themselves the exclu-