Spirit of the age. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1849-1865, 1859-05-25
The War in Europe.

ONE certain that a resort to arms mas oeeh
upon for the settlement Of pending
R~culties. and since it has become almost GER
N that every Power in Europe will be
me involved in it. As so large ashare OF
,bl;c attention win be directed to this war,
will be well to give our readers a brief sum
,arv Of the cause of the difficulty, which we
o nv publishing the following, found in
n our exchanges:
Tuv c.rsE OF THE DIFFIcULTY.-Austria
loims that she rightly owns ana eohtrols
Tombardv and Venice that she has a rlght
70 control them as she sees mt that IN ofuer
~ +his she must maintain with the Se'eral
10; ghboring Italian States such an HllueHce
as will render her LomoaIdy NeHl'i"h ~
ro;gntv safe. Therefore she keeps up a par
tiaI MILITARY occupancy of the central Italian
Sites and virtually rules in all tally. SaT-
5in;o Is the only large Italian province Whleh
- excention. There Austria has no power
"a the nolicy Of Sardinia, which Is fayoraoie
- tbo establishment of constitutional 1oNeIh-
on+ in ItaIlv. is hostile to that OF Austria,
mk;ch tands to maintenance OF the strlctesV
Military despotism. Sardinia ana fIanes'
tiiat rhe austrian 0CcupTr10n OF tally IS III
furious in its effects on the Italian States.
prevents the development of the country. and
is virtually in violation of the treaties and
compacts of II They demand the abandon
ment of the Austrian occupation of ItaIy
and the Sardinia frontier, and that Austria
shall cease to exercise any more control in
Italian affairs than the other great Powers.
These demands Austria refuses to comply
4 with, alleging that her policy in Italy is ne
cessary to her own protection in her own de-
Tendencies of Venice and Lombardv. These
matters have been in controversy for three
f years. France and Sardinia proposed in 1856
D the consideration of this subject by the Con
! gress of the European Powers. Austria
: would not consent to this. Diplomatic nego-
~tlatlons were carried on, however. between
o France and Austria, but the difference has
0 grown wider and wider the longer the dis
cussion has continued, until now they rur-
pose to settle the whole affair by a resort to
!, arms.
And if ever any people on earth, had
cause for rebellion, the Italians who are now
!, struggling to free themselves of Austrian tv-
ranny and domination, is certainly that
people. The thousands obliged to abandon
. home, friends, honse and lands, and save their
lives by selfbanishment; the thousands that
have died by the rope or the bullet, without
! hearing, for offences of which elsewhere law
takesno cognizance, the multitudes who starve
yearly under the extortion of the Austrian
tax-gatherers, demanding the bulk of their
!, difficult earnings; the households, without
number, whose young men have been torn
away to serve in the far off Carpathian region;
9 all these are distressed witnesses to the enor-
:. nifty of the evil, which the Holy Alliance
. and the after advances of the Austrians, have
fastened upon a helpless people. The num-
Der who, after the events Of 1913, became
hopelessly fugitives from Italy, is reckoned
d moderately at 80, 900. At least Is, 900 have
+ persisted miserably, upon the scaffold kncel-
u ing before the muzzles of Austrian muskets,
e since the victory of Eovara rendered the pre-
tence of fear and security an audacious false
hood. Delicate women have been dragged
Ut into the public squares, in sight of friends
ut and strangers, barred to the waist, and whip
ut ped, until the subsequent applications of ice
ry could alone save the mangled flesh from NOR
ne titication. Old men, of exemplary lives,
ng wholly unconscious of offence, and without a
in hearing, have been suddenly seized and shot.
err In one case we observe a youth'was shot for
er. defending his mothers honor from the brutal
i've assault of two infamous subalterns. In an
to other instance, two young ladies of Milan
of Maria Couti, cantatrice, aged Is, was sen
for fenced to receive 30 strokes; and Ernest.
rs CALI, aged 20, 40 strokes-for insulting al
ire Austrian courtezan, who displayed a flag il
the streets on the anniversary of the Empe
no ror's birth day. This punishment of the ro
7 a or bastinado, is terrible in the extreme. Few
nee survive fifty, none sixty blows. The tw'
ven young ladies tainted long before the numbe
lead allotted each was completed, and month
up elapsed before they recovered from the effect
as of the fearful scourging.
ste; Such montrosities p~racticed upon youn
the and delicate females, are shocking to ever
the feeling of ones nature, and we trust that til
the God of Battles may enable the Italians t
lolic shake off the yoke of thraldom which has 5
long bowed them down. We have no syn
pathy for the French, but we trust that poo
oppressed Italy, may come out more tina
md conqueror in the conflict and terribly ayeng
i OF the wrongs which have been 50 terribl
nov afflicted.
de- So says the Petersburg Express, and a
the the better feelings of civilized man respoI
the "Amen!" to the prayer that the poor Italian
eous may be able to free themselves from such I
nov ranny and cruelty.
rtue, The following paragraph will give son
more idea Of the immense waste of money and sa
land rifice Of human life, which those Europe
tire wars cost:
What In the sixteen years intervening betwc
1877 and 1915, the French army absorb
= II 4,556, 600 men. The number raised by &C
the scription for Napoleon's army was 2,476,0
sun. men. The army Of 1913 was composed
e din, recruits from eighteen to twenty years Of a.
OF a million and a quarter raised in 1913, G
n' ly one hundred thousand remained alive
ches, 1914. France, in addition to this loss of b
citizens, had to pay 200, 600, 600 francs as
Q but indemnity of war to the allied powers, Z
man 400, OO0, 600 for the support Of foreign gar
sons These figures show the cost of a "
re IN such as the powers of Europe are now abe
a hy- entering into.
un-
nnH - H. M.