The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1859-06-11
The Italian Question.
NO III

InaTsHalieu nOStS, WIN the panOply anC
clangof of arms, has resounded all along
each side of its murmuring riples ano
rushing cascade, as it rolls onward to the
Po. The powers Of Austria, Sardinia, ant
France have now formally declared war
and blood, the blood of man, once more
mingles with the gurgling waters as they
flow from the mountain glaciers, and IL
the oft blood-drenched soil of Italy. Ter
ritory, cities, and towns of Sardinia are
now, or recently have been, occupied by
Austrian forces; the immediate neighbor
hoods, II not the once CORY and memora
bic fields themselves, Marengo, Lodi, Pavia
and Piacenza, are again to be drenched
with blood, strewed with ghostly dead
and groan with the writings and moan:
OF the wounded. Five grand divisions ot
the Austrian army, respectively command
ed by the ablest Generals Of her we'll drill
ed and powerful army, all nndcr the com
mand of her accomplished, subtle, and
suppressed master spirited -GYULAI, guided
and counseled by her Emperor and the
veteran Hess, numbering about 2I6,OOt
men with reserve supposed to number
not tar from 10000 men, within a reason.
able distance, have crossed the frontiers
OF Piedmont and confronted their allied
Zoe, now numbering about 100000 men,
and also reserve of full 100000 men. OF
these the French compose 2l000U and
the balance are Sardinians and italian
volunteers and refugees, both armies ca
ger Tor the fray, the tumult and the victo-
ry Before this time ii has been supposed,
the Austr!ans having crossed the Ticino.
and having certain advantages of position,
prestige and numbers, would have made
an attack upon the Sardinians and been
able to return TO Vienna, by her Com
mander-in-Chiei, the famous Roman des-
patch " came, saw. | conguered,' and
thus commence the cainpai On with great
eciat, ana IN some measure eclipse the bril-
nancy ot the Crimca; but by unavoidable
delays caused hy the elements of Nature
by floods, and by the strategy of the no
less accomplished King of Sardinia, Com
mandcr-InthIei OF his own army, and Of
his General La NarInOrar and by the pow
er behind or rather, we should say, ,pt2tr
tie throne alluded u in No. | of this series
The dJecf.on Qf tie U,ogoTiGa .i,mcnt Of The
i"StTtDtn dru,g-tear that they were not al
together reliable III certain contIngence.
caused the Austrians 10 delay, and finally
abandon some of the advanced posts they
had occupied as we'll a. TO make certain
retrograde movements II will be borne
in mind that the large portion of the Aus
'rian army in Italy is composed of Hunga-
rians as being supposed reliable then. and
hence delay and partial rc;rea. ha, been
imperative. hoSs,,h Eas Jee,, at ,co,k.
We have had rumors of skirrnishcs, Of
disputed passes bridges, and rivers, of can
nonades for nttse,, successive hours. OF BAY
onet to bayonet, and feeble bulletins Of
triumph: but all these are merely the tu-
ming Of the strings the fainteSt interlude
TO the grand d!apassons we shall hear and
that perhaps, AZ any moment, for Imperial
and diplomatic circulars an
nounce from their ministers that Hras soy
ereiGns-the King of Sardinia, the En-
pcror Francis Joseph, and the Emperor.
Napoleon III. rcSuectiv.ly- j., or H. about
l" toe at the head of his army in the field
Each of these potentates appeals TO the
God of battles in the threatening storm,
while the latter, with perfect if not i'm
posing confidence. en,r,lsts the Ernuress
and his son which lie leaves in Paris.
while he leads the lcg;ons Of France once
more over the Alps 10 victory acainsy the
proud Austrian invader. TO the atlectionate
care OF France. And while Napoleon >
appeal is being made 20 God and 20 arms.
AID while he shouts " long live Italia we
hear the echo come back from hut and
hamlet, palace and plain, mountain glen
and fruitful field, VIC, the people, Will pro-
tcct the EugenIa and the son. rec 7
Haia, "rirs I France"
The blood Of the MARTYRS j the seed
of the church. the blood of brave men
is, and always has been. the seed Of lib
cry or determination The decree seems
now 10 have gone forth Italia mus. be
free and though Armaceddon neov b. at
hand, the cause is holy, for liberty, wheth-
er in church, or individual man. had bet
ter far expire upon the blood red funeral
pyre, than in slow fires. inquisitional dun
geons or 10y superstition. cruelty. and de
grading oppression. Even a Napoleon
knows that the fires Of liberty burn bright
est and purest where the conscience Is free
and the soul unfettered, and when he
sounded his clarion notes of liberty for
Italy though he had evidently for gotten
his interdition, but so short time ago. by
his own subjects, of singing eret the stir
ring notes of the Nar&cik1isc and of po,rer
IN oatria, yet he was in earnest He knows
too, and none better, that honor, and free
dom, and duty to God, man. and country,
are not co-relatives with slavery, despot-
ism and superstition.
But now what is the policy Of this iron
man, this ever masked Napoleon Who
can fathom his cool imperturable, sal!ow,
and reserved countenance, upon which
clouds and sunshine play as they do upon
hillside and plain of the earth, and with
as little effect to move them :?
Do we know, can we know what he will do
by his words, his past, his proclamations
Spirit of the great Napoleon, heart of the
nephew, let us see! Fair words, fair speech,
fair promises, are these all made to be
broken? All TO be refuted by the inglo-
rio US, Ito Napoleon) defeat of another,
but more than Waterloo? The answer
now is the world believes that Napoleon
of to-day is not the one of-yesterday And
the world now believes that the whole
past occurrences, acts, history of Napoleon
the first, mistakes and all, are positive
landmarks of profit to the present Napo-
leon. And this, to us, we confess. seems
plausible and probable. We believe it,
and we believe that none knows better
than he that honesty is the best Policy"
Napoleon is now firmly seated upon his
throne of Franco, and the affections Of
lhe French as a nation, as we have every
reason to believe, are his thoroughly and
Enthusiastically, and we believe he now can
both be just and generous All interests
constrain him to an honest Gas French
monarchs can be) administration of the
government, and with his alliances with
Great Britain, (be it particularly noted,
a policy Napoleon lc grand never sought or
cared for. but on the contrary, ever fought
against, both in cabinet and in the feld,)
and his further avowals of concert of ao-
ton with England, Prussia, and Russia,
combined, and we may say Germany too,
Notwithstanding your contrary newspaper
reports, we believe then, that he joins in
this war in Sardinia now, not for conquest,
revolution, and merely to see thrones
crushed around him, to be reconstructed
for the use of Buonapartists, but strange
as it may seem, considering his antece-
dents, the revolution of the French Re
public to an Empire, to build up and see
republican ideas prevail to greater de-