, 1866-06-29

VI Cu0 GhI0G uSutpluS OWCIO W oCIAO
upon the portions allotted to the rest is a
problem quite by itself, a question for
robbers, not for politicians. What is
admitted by all who may claim to reason
on the matter is that, if the Poles we're
but strong enough, they would be quite
right to drive out all the three, and that,
because it is their national will, in oppo-
sition tn the uSurpation of all foreign
Powers whatever. Tits merely a ques-
ton of possibility or impossibility. The
right ofthe Poles 10 their own Govern
ment is perfectly indefeasible as long as
they desire TO exercise it and Europe
has never discouraged them from the
attempt to vindicate it with any other
reasoning than that the attempt is be-
yond their strength, and that they will
only Whct the tyranny Of their enslavers
by irritating them. All ciyilised West
ern Europe has, in fact, urged to Poland,
as the only reason for refusing help, that
the aid would be Intellectual, so sacred a
plea to the common humanity has been
considered the claim of a people to its
W national life. England and France
have acknowledged their own crime in
not preventing the partition over and
over again. Why is Venice TO be taken
TO task for asserting the same cause
There is no doubt about the universal
will of the people. Why are the cannon
pointed upon st. Mark's.square to sweep
down the citizens with their g%rapesh0t?
Why are proclamations issued threaten
ing with speedy execution by martial
law all who help the Venetian youth to
pass the frontier, and enrol themselves in
tho r""lse ef tho< It~li"n soldiory 3 WHY
is Venice SO costly and so utterly useless
to Austria, but that it is an indignant
slave that will only work in letters and
under the lash
Gas far as treaties co." continues the
Times, "Venice, an Independent State,
not belonging to the kingdom Of Italy,
was surrendered to Austria by the first
Napoleon in 1897, and the cession was
ratified by the treaties Of 1915, and con-
frmed implicitly by the Convention of
Nllatranca, and the Treaty Of Zurich, not
yet seven years old" What had the
Was the separata State consulted BY the
FIRST Napoleon, when, having made him
self its master, after it had been dragged
1utO d qudIlCl WHICl III SlTOV6 10 avoid,
he gave it to Austria, with the reflection,
in regard to his duty to France-"Venice
pays the cost of the war and the frontier
Of the Rhine {" We're they more will
ing parties to the treaties Of 1915? Or
would they answer with anything but
execration to the Convention of VilIaffan-
ca or the treaty ofZurich, which depriv-
ed them of the share they had SO lately
and so nobly fought for in the liberation
ofItalyP What they spoke was in the
Dictatorship of MANN. What they did
was in sustaining a siege in which their
part was full as gallant as the defence of
Rome under Garibaldi. Let us talk
about prudence and imprudence-the
chances of success and failure, if it must
be so-but it is a cowardly outrage to. all
feeling and all morality to treat the We
netians as if they had no right to their
wi country, and as if it were an offence
against the just order and sacred peace
of Europe for them to strike for their own.
England would echo Byron when, in
1913, he wrote, addressing Venice