Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1867-10-12
Tho Roman clu,stiOn-rho situation.

|
which he gave the first impulse. If those
limits are overstepped It can only be
with his knowledge and consent, and his
connivance may be either the result of
policy or Of necessity. Garibaldi is but
one man. Committed as he now is, he
may attack the Papal See single handed,
taking his chance Of second Aspro-
monte, and may either make good his
boast that he will 90 to Rome by euter.
ing it as a conqueror or by being con-
veyed as a captive TO the Castle st, An
gelo Garibaldi himself has proclaimed
that he goes to Rome not hoping to con.
quer, but determined to die. Italy, he
thinks, can only be redeemed by sacri-
fce.. II was the martyrdom OF the Ban
diera aud Pisacane that brought Carl
baldi to Naples as an avenger. Let
Garibaldis blood flow in its turn, it will
equally work outthe deliverance ofRome.
The chances of Garibaldi's S success can lie
only in the detection either of the
Papal or of the Royal troops. After NJ
Rattazzis declaration, il would hardly
seem possible for Garibaldi to reckon on
the secret favor of the Italian Govern
ment. Ii is true that the experience of
the last ten years has tended to create a
general skepiicism as to the value of
official proclamations. People are always
afraid of minister who may seem to
protest too much The whole contin-
gency hangs on a long chain, of which
the Emperor Napoleon holds the first
link. The present position is not greatly
dissimilar from that of 1860 when Cial-
dini was burning to cross the modern
Rubicon at La Cattoica The Imperial
veto, merely moral, yet n most efficient
barrier, checked Italian ardOr on the
frontiers of the Marches and Umbria.
That barrier was overstepped, but only
when Napoleon, ,stultifying his diplomatic
and consular agents at Rome and An
coma, had tapped Cialdini on the shoul-
der at Chambery, with his memorable
advice, +" FrappeE fort et .trappez rite. "
In the same manner, if at the present
moment the Emperor Napoleon were TO
give hint to Rattazzi, and he should
transmit the signal 10 his commanding
officers on the borders, Garibaldi might
find the ground smoothed before him,
and might appear before the Porta del
Popolo at the head of force both of his
own red shirts,aud of the Kings Bersag-
lieri sufficient to persuade the native
Papal troops TO fraternize, and the for
eign mercenaries to withdraw or shrren-
der. But if, as seems more probable,
the Emperor of the French looks upon
the September Convention as final and
inviolable, and if M. Rattazzi, as he stout
ly affirms, deems the honor of the nation
bound to the observance of interna-
tional stipulations If stick won't beat
dog, and dog won't bite pig" the hero of
Marsala has no more chance of ousting
the Pope than the old woman in the
chld's doggrel had of reaching home in
the evening Whether tacitly or ex-
plicitly, the word that would give Rome
to Italy must come from the same quar-
| ter which gave her Bologna and Ancona;
and, on the other hand, the I" so far and
no farther" would be sufficient, were it
only well proved that it was spoken in
earnest
1t would, however, be by no means safe
to argue the future course of the perial
policy from its precedents Napoleon
was born foe to the temporal power.
He has been too long convinced that it
is impossible to save it by reforms not
to look upon its final downfall as a mere
question of time. And it is precisely
because he is so thoroughly convinced
of the approaching natural death
of the Papacy that he is 10th TO
disturb it. By depriving it of the reve-
nue. accruing to it from the possession OF
the Legations and the Marches he has
virtually signed its death warrant; by
Withdrawing his garrsons he has left it
for execution. he has thus performed
his own part of the melancholy duty, and
left the rest to the Roman people, to
time, and to the logic Of events" Had
the matter depended on him alone, and
had the Romans, with or without the
help of their Italian brethren, broken
through their bonds, and put an
end to the Papal Sovereignty, he
might have shrugged his shoulders,
and accepted the fats accomphS,
as he did after every successive
breach of the Treaty OF Villafrancs. But
he had to reckon with France and to at
least affect to support the tottering Pom
tifcal throne even while he removed
one prop after another. Ee had little
reason to treat very tenderly that
priestly party which had made the Court
of the Vatican into a nest of the Legitim
list conspiracy, and which, had its power
been commensurate with its i'll will,
would have turned against Paris that
crusade which it preached against Turin
or Florence But his mind was made
up, and he thought he had brought mat
tiers to point which allowed him hence
forth to limit his pOlicy to an Observant
attitude. The Pope was old, and the
Papacy bankrupt Should the present
precarious state Of things only continue
till the death of Plus TX, the next Con-
clave could not fail to bring about the
longed-for solution. Under the influence
of such Considerations Nothing would be
more natural than that he should explain
his policy to the Italian government,
and that they should remind Garibaldi
that " in free State no citizen can rise
above the law, or substitute himself IN
the place of the high powers of the
nation" IT, then, both M. Rattazzi and
Garibaldi are as good as their word, we
may look for some sorrowlul catastrophe
before the present month comes to its
close. Garibaldi lives under iatalist
influences, and has a superstitious regard
for dates. The most brilliant, no less
than the most gloomy "reminiscences
associated with his exploits in Southern
Italy, have been crowded into the few
weeks which usher in the fall of the year.
He is pledged 10 90 to Rome on the first
cooling Of the weather. For the last
three months be has been possessed by
one thought, he has given utierance TO
but one word" He must go to Rome"
And NJ. Rattazzi is pledged TO prevent
L.. 7 -. IT,.