Smyrna times., 1859-08-04
What the War has Accomplished.

test has resulted in substantial political advan
tages to the oppressed Italians. The immedi
ate objects of the war was, at the outset, on tn
part of the allies, one of repression rather thai
of propagandism. Says recent writer, 'ther
is not yard Of Italian soil, on which Austri'
has not trodden with her mailed heel. Since
1915 she has been for two years in arms ii
Piedmont; for five years in Naples; for si'
years in Tuscany; six in Modena, and six il
Parma; for twenty-five years in the Papa
States. For more than half of the forty five
years since Plus VII was restored TO his throne
by European arms, has Austria had an army
actually within the territories of the Church, mol
has there been moment, unless, perhaps, the
fevered and runous epoch of 184S, when they
have not been overshadowed and Overawed by
her military ascendancy." This aggressive
power is now humbled. Before the war the in.
f1uence of Austria was predominant ln all Italy
except Sardinia, and that State had been
marked as her next victim. Count Cavour, the
Sandman Minister of Foreign Affairs, in his
manifesto to the Count D'Azegho, while the
war was impending, remarked that the liberty
of Piedmont is danger and menace for Aus
trla. According to Austria, there are only two
things TO do-deslroy the liberal institutions OF
Italy, or keep up her dominion over all Italy,
t0 prevent contag ion from spreading over the
other States Of tie Peninsula which have not
enough strength at their disposal for suppress
Dor III & l. Go
one or both of these objects that Austria com.
mtted the first overt acts of hostility. 1t was
to repress her tyranncal propagandism that
Sardinia armed for the contest. 1t was to pro-
trian influence in Italy, that France entered
upon the war.
AS the contest progressed it seemed 10 as
sumo large proportions. The notable decara-
tion of Louis Napoleon that Italy should be free
from the Alps to the Adfatic raised the widest
hopes on the part of the Italian liberals, which
received their first check when Louis Napoleon
refused to sanction the revolutionary movements
in the Roman States, and counseled the dele.
cation from Bologna TO submit to the govern
ment Of the Pope. Victor Enmanue too, IN
refusing the proffered dictatorship of the
duehies of Parma and Modena, plainly ntima-
ted to the Italians that the objncts of the war
must be kept within more modest bounds; and
the Emperor Napoleon unmsta kably defined
the limits of his Intervention when he assured
the Pope that his mission in italy was not to de-
stroy the papal power but to preserve it.
Clearly, then, those who have hoped that the
pr, sent contest would result in the com pete
disenthrallmen: OF ltaly--and few in This coun-
try have not indalGed IN this pleasing ant,c-
pation--have been hoping against stern proba-
bities aud stubborn facts 1t is no fault Of the
French Emperor that these hopes have been
disappointed.
1t is not difficult TO guess the reason why the
Emperor Napoleon should limit the objects of
the war, and keep the issue within his own con-
troll. He is too sagacious a statesman not TO
realize that the complete regeneration of Italy
must be the work of time--of years, aud per.
haps of generations. The fist step towards
this great work was to clip the wings Of the
Austrian eagle, and that has been accomplished.
Here it was wise 10 pause ere tempting the
chances of the dark future. Ifmore had been
attempted--if the Pope had been deprived Of
his temporal power, or the despotic Nea polItsn
government overturned, the war would have as.
sumed formidable proportions, and all might
have been lost. There is evidence that the
French Emperor has no love for the Pope, and
no desire to perpetuatc his temporal power
But the first open infringement upon that pow
er would have aroused all Catholic Europe
Prussia was already in arms. Germany, which
could call into the field over million of troops,
was preparing to take Fart in the contest. The
priesthood of France even had begun TO take
the alarm. The freedom of the States Of the
Church from the tyranny of the cardinals might
be accomplished by diplomacy--out the allies
would have periled all, even the hopes of the
Italians, had they made it an object of the pres
ent war.
We have already shown that the war has
been faithful in good results. In the new tall
an contederation-the organization of which is
the birth of that unity to which the I!aliaas
have long been aspiring--Sardinia, strengthen
ed by the acquisition of Lombardy, will be the
leading power. She will be to Italy what
Prussia is to Germany. Sardinia is liberal and
progressive, and her influence canno; fail TO be
beneficial to the whole peninsula. 1t may even
modify the arbitrary rule of the Roman pontif.
1t is important to the Emperor Napoleon that
the Italian liberals should be consolidated, and
his influence will not be wanting to secure
much needed reforms. Freed from the surveil-
lance and enforced protection of Austria, the
governments must rely more upon the sy ympatby
and support of the people. The various Italian
States will be drawn more closely together by
the ties of mutual interest and the requirement.
| e .oIf Thav miil hecoona in conos