Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1859-05-13
rupopras INTELLIGENCE.

I'M n statement which bids fair to be the Sar-
dinian view of the question; it is not so low
ever. The diplomatic circulars Of the sangulne
Sandman Minister are more intended to
square ones position against every days occur
rences and defeat the crafty policy Of the ever
green Mcttemich, the menx dgitat moiem. the
very soul of Austrian politics. than to form
an outline of those principles or political neccs-
sites whereby hangs the tale. Let us try,
therefore, to make out by ourselves an indie.
pendent Sandman view; showing what great
interests compel Piedmont to appeal to arms
for the second time, and after a first defeat in
the course of ten years. There is more of ne
cessity than of blindness or rashness in the
course followed by the successor of Carlo Al
berto. The cpithet of %'littlc," applied to Sar-
DINA will not take anything away from her
rights, if there arc any, nor lessen her wrongs.
if wrongs are hers. This is not said to advo-
cate 4 morbid sympathy for the little in a
matter Of right, nor to impcach the great
in all matters of facts; we wish only TO see the
ground cleared from previous judgment that
may have been passed upon the subject, and
then try to find out the best arguments for
Il Sandman view. For the same reason the
words great power" applied to Austria. do
not establish Il sufficient and a priori ~juStiii-
cation. This reflection was most naturally
suggested to us By the general character OF
correspondence published both in Europe and
America. We want and require to condemn
Sardinia; to have her found guilty Of some other
crime than that of being little" just as the
fact of being big" will not convey the slight
est idea Of uprightnc>s even to. the least
philosophical mind. We have no intention,
whatever, to expound here onesided ConSidc-
rations. or to endorse the policy Of any of the
bclligerant parties. Still we think that the
maxim: audi alteram portem, is 4 fair one.
Let us see, then, how to account for the policy
of Sardinia. First of all, we. admit that Sar-
DINA, though %'little," has a right to have a
policy; if her policy be good, so much the
better for her; if bad. she will bear the blame
rs we'll as the consequences Of il, just as would
happen with any great power. 1t must be adj
United, too, as q matter of fact, that little
Sardinia has kicked up a very big question,
and we ask this to be noticed oil her behalf, be-
cause even a first rate power could not create,
out of nothing, an artificial question Of any i'm
portancc, and still less one that admits Of 4
European Congress, such rs those who met
after the fall Of Sebastopol and Napoleon the
first. Then there must he a very important
question for each of the great powers, and if
important for such ones. what for little Sardinia ?
a main, chief, leading, capital question. Per-
haps more: 4 vital question. WeknOw that we
are assured that Austria does not mediate any
attack on her ncighbor, and we readily believe
it, since she has in contemplation the POSSIBLE
" of choking her to death between a wall OF
mountains on one side and a wall OfStecl on the
other, till circumScribcd, isolated and weakened
by her separation from the Italian trunk. she
becomes the Poland of the South, doomed to
be cut into pieces. We anticipate an objection.
which is, that France would not allow it. at the
present state of the question. Of course not.
But let the power of Austria increase in surface
and in depth on the Peninsula so as to make
the Italian question a foregonc one; even France
could not do what is impossible, as we do not
admit of the Napolconic axiom that the word
impossible is not French, Gmp0Ssibh nest
pas ~.fydnraix) In such a case the national
policy of France would take another turn, and
however great her sympathicS for the dead
whom she would be unable to recall to life, she
could well consent to partake of the spoilS:
and then, the isle Of Sardinia is so near CorSf.
ca, and Savoy slopes down TO France so much,
that no one having fallen asleep in Savoy would
be much surprised to awake and get up in
France, Yes, the Poland Of the South-Such
is, according to the secular drift Of European po-
lilies. the fate Of Piedmont if she is once forever
cut off from Italy by the settlement Of Austria.
Ii is all very fine to talk of Italian decay and
rottenneSs. Italy never was more populouS; the
Italian stock amounts to IS, 900, 000; and the
fight that was sustained by that unhappy
country against Austria, France and the King
of Naples in - As and '49-thc defence of
Rome, MesSina. L.cbournc. Brcscia, Milan,
Venice, besicgcd, cannoned, bombardcd and
some of them burnt DOWNS n clear tcSti-
mony Of ltaly'S own strength. Facts arc very
: stubborn; so much the worse for those who
want Italy TO be a kind Of Il desert. inhabited
by 4 few Lazzaroni. Beware of Judging Italy
from that poor desolated tract of land, the Cam
pagHa Romano, and the base and vile tdguino
that upholds the King in Naples, as long as
this will supply q macaroni dish and Il San
Giannaro miracle, panem Ct snperstition6m.-
We are told that Mcttcmich, at the beginning
of this century, at the Congress Of Vienna,
called Italy "a geographical expression" Are
these 5000, 900 Of souls nothing? Strange
and unscemly as is the word, it contains in its
conciscness the policy Of Radctzki and Hay
nau, and accounts for the proceedings Of
4 government who seems to love the land,
and appears ut the same time, to hate the
inhabitants thereof, ut least to count them
for nothing. In spite of the work of pow
crful and divers foreign rulers during ages,
the minds and the hearts Of the Italian are
still in the present days what they were in
former times. The stcadfaStnesS with which
the LOmbardS have maintained their indiyi.
duality altogether with their national prcjudiccs
and characteristics. is an undcniablc fact. Ev-
er since the breaking up of the middle age they
have been conquered by some one or other Of
the great European powers. but never could
any of those powers boast Of having dauntcd
the national spirit. The mere fact Of being
conquered was an unavoidable evil. What
man is bound to lift up a weight beyond his
physical strength? What steam engine will
yield one-horsc power additional to the utmost
Of its power when that limit is attained: The
physical subsection of the Italian provinces
does not imply a prescription Of their rights.
If after half n century the state of mind in the
country in regard to the rulers be identical to
what it was the first year, that long occupation,
in a moral point of. view, is Of no more value
than it was on the beginning. Those fifty years
are like a single day. since they can be blotted
out, and you find things as they were,
unchanged, unimpaired. The great work
for a conqueror begins with the victory
To him, then, belongs the now difficult task to
win the heart. But this, perhaps, is to put
the prize too high, and make it unattainablc.
We will not, therefore, require him to be loved.
We will deem it sufficient and satisfactory, if
he is not hated, if he finds among the popu-
lations that cqnanimity which would be a ba-
sis for more friendly feelings in n future day.
Such is not the case with Austria, whose yoke
is as much eXccratcd as ever. and whose long
occupation, for want Of generating sympathics
or even Of being looked at with indifference.
proves. in the end, to have been n long tyran-
ny. The French and the Spanish have sue
ccssively, and each of them repeatedly, occupied
those very same Provinces. What has become
nc thn;r rirhts and what sharc did they sncurn