The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1866-07-17
The Reclamation of Italy.

The Redemption OF Italy.
PRUss1As laundering legions up)n the banks of
the Elbe, and beneath the shadow OF the Giant
Mountains, have accomp mplished that for Italy
which her own brave sons bad failed to do upon
the banks of the Po and the Mlncio. "The
man of blood and iron," the German absolutst,
BIsMARK has proved the liberator of Italy.
Not the ouadrilateral but the passes Of the
Bohemian mountains, have become the gateway
TO Venetia.
.Ttaly has been struggling against foreign
domination for thousand years and in vain,n
said old MErTERNICH in 1916. But the long
contest bids tair at last to be put to rest, and
the spirit of Italian nationality seems about to
realize its dream of centuries in a free and
united Italy "from the Alps to the sea-"
The offer of the Emperor of Austria to cede
Venetia to the French Emperor will doubtless
be accepted; but LOUIS NAPOLEON will take the
prize only TO transfer it 10 Its right!ul D wner
the Italian people. IT had already been rumor9d
before this offer of FRANCIS JOSEPH was made
that Italy had offered to France the island OF
Sardinia as an inducement for such Intervention
as should secure to her the possession ofVeneHa.
Whether the French Emperor will hold VIcroR
EMANUEL to his offer, if such an one has been
made, remains to be sren. 1t is also matter
of some doubt whether the secret treaty which
doubtless exists between Prussia and Italy will
admit o. the latter's withdrawing from the con-
test while Prussia keeps the field. Still, in any
event. we look upon the transfer of Venetia to
Italy as inevitable. With the victorious hosts
of Prussia pushing down towards Vienna over
the debris of Austra's finest army, led on by
her ablest general, and threatening the very
throne upon which FRANCIS JOSEPH sits, he is
in no condition to prolong the contest with
VICTOR EMANUEL and GARIBALDI. We assume,
therefore, that the unity of Italy is an accom-.
plished fact.
The recovery OF Venetia will leave but one
more "vexed question" IN the way of Italian
progress, and that is the question of the tempo
raj power OF the Pope. 1t is impossible that the
anomaly of this imper1um in imperio, this
power within a power, should much longer
continue to exist. Long ago the italian people,
lett to themselves, would have made Rome
the capital of a spiritual empire only
an important step towards the settlement
of this question has been made dur
ing the present contest by the secular
ization OF the monastic establishments through
out Italy. The Government, during the discus.
sion of this measure, placed it not upon econo-
tical considerations. Doubtless it had its eye
upon this very matter of the overthrow of the
temporal power Of the Pope.
We feel confident that the hour of Italy's re-
demption, political and religious, is at hand.
That land, so long renowned tor all that is great
and glorious in human achievement, is about to
renew its youth.
even now the fame
Bursts forth where once ut burnt 80 gorously,
And, dying left spleDdor like the dav,
That Iii Q the dav difused ilseif, and still
Resses the earth-the light of genIus virtue,
6 ea.ness ia thought ana act, con .empt OF death,
God.liKe eXampleW
These Prussan needle guns are doing cool
service for humanity. That rugged, fierce
BIsMARK is Gods instrument in grander work
than the conquest OF the Duches or the aggran-
dizement of Prussia. Consciously or uncon-
sciously he is the apostle OF progress, not of
reaction, and is building up the Cause of the
people rather than that of their oppressors.