The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1860-12-26

he believes half that he says upon this subject,
should at once repair to Washington with his
mahogany stocked" pistols, loaded to the
muzzle, for the relief of Mr.. Buchanan. But the
truth is that Webb knows the President has no
fears of assassination. The idea that he could
have is absurd. We advise our telegraphic
correspondents, however, to be little more
careful for the future in their discrimination
between authentic news and mischievous in
ventions. We want facts, not fictions.
The Approaching ItaIian-Hungarian
War Against Austria.
Austria will not sell Venetia. This is
q settled fact The rumor that was cir
culated to the effect that negotiations were
going forward having that object in view
has been officially contradicted by the govern
ment papers of Austria, and the general COM
handing the Austrian troops in Italy has ap-
prised his lieutenants that they must be ready
for war in the early part of the forthcoming
year.
1t is evident from this that the mere cession
of yenetia would be no panacea for the evils
Aussrians are not strong enough to show the
weakness which such a compromise would
involve. They are, therefore, resolved to fight
the perilous battle which is to decide the fate
of Venetia, and, SO far, the cause Of Italian
liberty, for without Venice the glories Of Italy's
ancient history and the strength of firmly
united territory can never be combined.
Since Rome declined, what other star shed
lustre over Italian history than that of
Venice-beautiful Venice, the pride of the sea?
The mind loves to linger upon its centuries of
greatness and grandeur, as the bee might lin
ger on the flower. That the quadrilateral is
almost the key to the strength of Austria, and
that ii was assigned to her after the great con-
test with Napoleon, because Europe wished
her to exercise controlling influence over the
power of France, cannot be questioned. Aus
tria maintains that France ought to be kept in
check, now and in the future, just as much as
in the past, and asserts that she retains the
grasp Of Venice in discharge of trust to
Europe as much as for the protection of her
own southern territories.
In the event Of ceding Venetia she would
destroy that prestige by which the hete-
lation are nominally united. The act, it
is alleged, would only hasten the catas-
trophc which threatens, sooner or later,
to overwbelm her. That desperate struggle
for the quadrilateral will soon take place is
certain; but the result Of that struggle, in which
both parties look with confidence to the issue,
is by no means equally So That the Italians
viii have to trust to the Hungarians and the
Hungarans to the Italians, and that neither
could do anything serious without the co-ope-
ration of the other, is a circumstance which
makes the so-called glorious uncertainty of war
all the greater. The hope of Italy lies in the
outbreak of successful revolution in Hungary.
That the Hungarians are thirsting for the blood
and downfall of Austria we know and that
they are never likely to be satisfied TILL by ac-
tual triumph on the field of battle, or by exact
ing constitution with which imperial supre-
macy will be wholly inconsistent, is patent to
all who have watched the progress
of Magyar feeling. Nothing less than
the cession of Venetia will have
the slightest effect in averting the threatened
war. The last Imperial charter was failure,
and all Hungary is even now more or less in a
state OF lawlessness, which the Empire has no
power to suppress.
Austria must have firm faith in the conside-
ra,ions which induce her to refuse a large sum
in ready money and make her sanguine of VIC
tory. One reason is that she considers by
holding Venetia she is upholding the cause of
international law, order and the Church. The
Austrians proper look upon the quadrilateral
as the last remaining bulwark of the temporal
sway of the Sovereign Pontif. That these
feelings will act as powerful incentive in
stimulating the ardor of the Imperial troops is
likely enough. The army may so be kept
faithful
The support of Germany is anticipated in
the struggle, by the confederation holding the
north eastern shore of the Adriatic with force
sufficient to prevent the cooperation ofthc
Italians and Hungarians. II will be a fear of
France only that will prevent the confedera-
ton doing this work Of love. A decisive sue
cess early in the campaign might wonderfully
improve the Austrian position, and Austrian
luck is provcrbial. Austria Is wanting in
neither men nor the materials of war, and the
impoverished state OF her cxchcquer will not tell
heavily upon her ut the outset An Austrian
victory in forced battle might cffectually
daunt the Hungarians, or make their revolution,
successful though II might be- SO far local a. to
prevent its being Of any great service to the
Italians.
We can now see the motives which resulted
in the Austrian refusal TO entertain the propo-
sails for the sale Of Venetia-
YouSG AMERICA ABEoAD.-Our British cous-
ins are proverbially slow. They are bothered
a good deal in their cndcavor to fathom the
American character. When they visit the United