Brownlow's Knoxville Whig. [volume] (Knoxville, Tenn.) 1866-1869, 1867-10-23
From the London Times, September 2s.
The Roman QuestsOR...The Situation.

AnO hV1Desn FuCstSUH."InE cltuatf0us
The Roman question may be stated in
the simplest terms. The great ruler of
Italian destinies, Napoleon III, has set
limits to-that national movement to which
he gave the first impulse. If those limits
are over-stepped it can only be with his
knowledge and consent, and his eonnivance
may either be the result of policy or of
necessity. Garibaldi is but one man. Com
mitted as he now is, he may attack the Pa
pal See single-handed, taking his chance of
q second Aspromonte, and may either make
good his bOsst that he will 90 to Rome bv
enteringfit as conqueror or BY being con-
veyed as captive to the Castle st. Angelo.
Garibaldi himself has proclaimed that he
goes to Rome not hoping to conquer, but
determined to die. Italy, he thinks, can
only be redeemed by sacrifice 1t was the
martyrdom OF the Bandiera and Pisacane
that brought Garibaldi to Naples as an
avenger. Let Garibaldis blood flow in it's
turn, it will equally work out the deliver
ance Of Rome. The chances of Garibaldi's
success can lie only in the detection either
of the Papal or of the Royal troops. After
NJ. RattaZzi's declaration, il would hardly
seem possible for Garibaldi to reckon on
the secret favor Of the Italian Government.
1t is true that the experience of the last ten
years has tended to create general seep-
ticism as to the value of official proclama-
tions. People are always afraid of a min
lister who may seem to protest too much -
The whole contingency 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 Cialdini was burning to cross the
modern Ruhicon at La Cattolioa. The I'm
perial veto, merely moral, yet a most ef-
fectial barrier, checked Italian ardor on the
frontiers Of the Marches and Umbria That
barrier was over-stepped, but only when
stultifying his diplomatic and
consular agents at Rome and Aneona, had
tapped Cialdini ON the shoulder at Chan
berry, with his memorable advice, ''Ffdppes
fort ct frdppez rite" In the same manner,
if at the present moment the Emperor Ma
poleon were to give hint to Rattazzi, and
that Minister should transmit the signal to
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 and of the Kings Ber-
saglieri sufficient to persuade the native Pa
pal troops to fraternize, and the foreign
to withdraw or surrender. But
if, as seems more probable. the Emperor of
the French looks upon the September Con-
vention as final and inviolable, and if NJ. |
Rattazzi, as he stoutly affirms, deems the |
honor of the nation bound to the observance
Of. international stipulations If stick |
won't beat dog, and dog won t-bite pig" the !
hero Of Marsala has no more chance Of GUST |
ing the Pope than the old woman in the |
childs doggrel had Of reaching home in the |
evening Whether tacitly OF explicitly, the |
word that would give Rome to Italy must |
come from the same quarter which gave her |
Bologna and Ancona: and, on the other |
hand, the +" so far and no farther" would be |
sufficient, were it only ell-proved that it
was spoken in earnest.
1t would, however, be by no means safe
to argue the future course of the imperial
policy from its precedents. Napoleon tcaS
a born foe to the Temporal po,cer. He has been
too long convinced that it is impossible to
save it by reforms not to leok upon its final
downfall as 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 revenue aceruing to
it from the possession of the Legation and
the Marches he has virtually signed its
death warrant: by withdrawing his garris-
ons he has left it for execution. he has
thus performed his own part of the melan-
choly 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 on without the help
of their Italian brethren, broken through
their bonds, and put an end to the Papal
Sovereignty, he might have shrugged his
and accepted the JaitS dccOnaphS,
as be did after every successive breach OF
the Treaty of Villatranca. But he had to
reckon with France and to at least affect to
the tottering POntifcal throne, even
while he removed one prop after another.
He had little reason TO treat very tenderly
that pricstly party which had made the
Court of the Vatican into nest of Legiti-
mist conspiracy and which, had its power
been commensurate with it's i'll will,
would have turned against Paris that cru
sade which it preached against Turin or
Florence. But hissmind was made up, and
he thought he had brought matters to a
point which allowed him henceforth 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 Conclave could not fail to bring about
the longed-fo solution Under the infiu-
ence 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 "ln
free State no citizen can rise above the
law, or substitute himself in the place OF the
high powers of the nation" If, then, both
NJ Rattazzi and Garibaldi are as good as
their word, we may look for some sorrow
full catastrophe before the present month
comes to its close. Garibaldi lives under
fatalist influences, and has superstitious
regard for dates. The most brilliant, no
less than the most gloomy "reminiscences
associated with his exploits in Southern
Italy have been crowded inte the few weeks
which usher in the fall Of the year. he IS
pledged to go to Rome on the first cooling
Of the weather For the last three months
he has been possessed by one thought, ne
has given utteranee TO but one word" de
must 90 to Rome And NJ. Rattazzi is
pledged to prevent him.
A DISPATCH from San Francisco states
that the King of the Feejee Islands has