Year: 1859

NG w II LIZ aI h4On.


From the London Times Jtlys.l


While we are discussing the project of the plot
and specuating to the nature OF the catastrophe
the curtain falls. Yesterday France and Austria
were upon the point of joining in another desperate
battle The celebrated fortified Quadrangle had
been reached, Peschera had been invested Mantua
had been masked, Verona was upon the point Of
being summoned, Venice was threatened, and Carl
baldl was maneuvring upon the rear of the great
fprtresses. The waves of warfare were undulating
and vibrating to another great burst in foam. p0-
day the spirit OF peace has breathed upon the
waters, and the storm is for the moment at an end
Three months ago we expected peace and were
surprised by war. To-day Europe was waiting in
breathess expectation for great battle fought in
the very fortresses of Austria. and is again sur
prised BY the calm announcement that an armistice
has been concluded, and that the two great armies
are for the moment no longer enemies.


The first impulse is one of joy 1t is a great relief
to know that the human misery, which we have
from day to day been recording, is stayed that the
dogs of war are again chained up, and that half
million OF men have ceased to fy at each Others
throats But, this first congratulation felt and ut
tered we consider more closely the circumstances
OF TINS sudden halt OF conquerOr in his triumph,
and ask ourselves whether this armistice is really
the prelude to peace, or whether it is but stop
to take breath for further race Of conquest The
position OF the two parties is of that equal char
acter which would enable US to hope that both are
III lHe same ueSTee ueSlrOuS OF a lasting peace
Austria has hitherto lost everything that She could
have lost She has been beaten in every battle; she
has been driven back from every position. All the
prestige OF her arms has been destroyed, and
her troops are demoralized less by defeat
than by profound distrust of their leaders
and their military organization. She could
not be in worse position than she now
is. If she had lost another great battle
on the Adige, if Peschiera had fallen, if
Verona had been taken, and if Mantua had been
stormed, it would not be more apparent to the
world than 1t is at this moment that Austria is un-
able to cope with France as military power. To
her, therefore, cessation OF hostities is but the
surrender of all hope of retrieving her military
honOr In consenting to it she must have aban-
med all her pride, and must have embraced only
the last hope of safety. She must mean peace,
and she must mean to pay the price of peace, if
this step Is any other than ill-advised momen-
tary expedient To France, on the contrary
either for peace or for war; this armistce is worth
another great victory. Paris NAV illuminate for it
as for victory on the Adige, or for the storm of
Mantua. Austria is at home, with her resources
behind her, and with Germany mastering in her
rear. France is far away, reduced by her hard
nights, requiring reinfOrcements, anxious to bring
up her supplies, and desirous of time to enable her
combinations from the sea coast to develope them
selves. Every moment Of delay to Francei is a gain.
Every moment of delay conceded BY Austria is a
confession of exhaustion.


The rest of this article appeared in our special
despatch yesterday.l


THE LONDON NEWS ON THE ARMIsTICE


From the London NeUS, JuIy9l


There never was question on which the national
Will was more deep and fixed than the question of
the future tate OF Italy; there never was one there
fore, on which it more emphaticaly behooved states
men to confess explicitly the faith that is in them
After the bitter and mortifyng experience we have
had OF the consequences of sending halfhearted
and puzzle-headed men to represent us in Euro
pean Congresses, we are in no humor to see the
honor, influence and dignity of the nation ieopar-
dlsed again by the choosing of some cunning but
colorless man to be its representative abroad We
want to see Italy free speedily and as completely
as possible The man who has no opinion on this
point, who affecting have it. shrinks from pub
lcly committing himself to it a public man.
may be very able, very useful and very honest
man, but in this matter of Italian emancipation he
must stand aside, for he is not trustworthy in the
particular business in hand. For our part we
should infinitely prefer to the settlement of the
great controversy left to the people of Italy them
selves. They and they alone can Judge rightly
what form or forms OF rule ought to subsis in their
country after the foreigner has been cast out. To
talk of the French Emperor's right to dispose of
Lombardy, because he has driven the Austrians
beyond its confines, and of Austras right to insist
on the retention of Venetia, because its towns are
still garrisoned by her troops, is to deiv anew the
brute right OF mere possession by force against
which the war, war of principle, wa ayowed-
ly begun. Ifmilitary occupation be a legitimate
sanction, when opposed to the indisputable will of
the people whose country is thus occupied then the
entry of the French army into Italy two months
ago was mere act of brigandage, and a violation
of all the usages and sanctions of public law
Nothing did aud nothing could warrant that mo-
mentous intrrposition on the part of France but
the assumed invitation of oppressed nation con-
tinuallv ratified in every variety of form bv them,
wherever their liberatng allies appeared. The
solemn and explicit pledges volunteered by Napo'
leon Ill, he crossed the Tcino, are still fresh
in the remembrance Of all Europe. His mission
tn IAnln 60 l.,
not to carve out Italy atresh to suit dynastic
schemes of power or aggrandisement, but to wrest t
the peninsula from usurping and oppressive for
eign yoke, and to leave it free. From that noble
vow the victor of Magenta and Soerino will not be
BETRAYED into departing. His gains from the brief
but brilliant campaign, Row momentariiy suspend
ed, are already vast; but his moral influence will be
still greater on the day that he leads back his vic
toriouS legions to their native land free from the
stain of spoation, or the reproach OF having be
trayed the nobest cause that brave men ever drew
the sword to win


As far the real or supposed bases of negotiations
said to be about to be opened, and to which the
armiStice Just concluded is but preliminary we
affect no peculiar knowledge One thing We know
that unless they admit frankly and fully the renun-
citation by Austria of all power, either of govern
ment or interference, direct ind .ect, present or
reversiOnary, beyond the Alps their discussion is
but waste of time; for they can never lead to any
thing but failure and renewal OF the deadly strife
1t is no chopping German logic ABOUT the cOmpara-
tive advantages of the line of the MincO or the line
of the Adige or the difference between royal-impe-
rial sovereignty and the domination of an arch
ducal puppet, set up to save appearances and keep
up the old anti-ltalian supremacy under another
name The voice of the people of England-of their
press, and, let us hope, Of their Parliament-wi
unmistakably be raised against all completely, so
Tar as we are concerned in any redistribution of
the all-but-liberated peninsula among the despotic
powers their creatures. Time was when the
offer OF partial concessions by the court of Vienna
might have prevented the active interpostion
of France, though it could never have satisfied or
slenced the inaienable claims of the Italian people
But that time is past never to return. The gives
are already loosed the bars of the prson-house are
broken. The captive nationality of Italy walks
erect and firm, though still bearing the marks of
its fresh wounds, and not yet venturing to sleep on
its bloodstained To say that all shall be un-
DONE or half undone, either by secret compact be-
tween EmperOrs or by another Vienna Congress. is
idle; it cannot be; and for one reason, among
others, because the liberal representatives of the
people of England in the House of Commons will
not, we trust, follow the unworthy couns el given
to the peers, by Lord Brougham and others, of
observing philO-Austrian silence on the great
question: while there is time to appeal to the public
opinion of Christendom against any new partition
of nothern Italy.


From the LirerpOol Times, July 81


1t is premature to discuss the terms on which the
impending peace may hang, but it is evident that
the rock ahead, as regards Louis Napoleon, IS the





Italy never be placed on a safe and satisfactory
basis while the States of the Church are ruled BY
the ecclesiastical power and recent events show
that bis Holiness had no idea OF parting with his
rights of sOveregney. In his recent aocution to
the secret cOnsistory, the Pope menaces with ex-
all who dare to attack his temporal
rights, but be relies he says, on having the integ-
rlty OF his domlnions respected by the French EN-
peror, who has declared to him that the French
army in Italy will do nothing against the dominions
of the Holy See, but on the contrary protect and
maintain them. oiil be soon dscertailed rhether
this pledge rW be kept.


From the london Post (gorernment organJ July 81


Napoleon I'LL has paused in the full career of
victory to tell the world that he is at the head of
his army not to destroy Austria but to lberate
Italy. He knows when he has succeeded and is
willing to Austria from further loss if she is
wise enough to know when she is beaten. He has
shown what the arms of France can do, and he
asks Austria she wishes them to do more In
word, he offers peace. And he does so because he
is IN position to do it with honor and with honor
Austria may accept his terms. Had enmity to
Austria been his motive, or the predominance of
French power in Italy his obect-had be, in short,
had any suppressed evil purpose at heart he need
not have taken the step that has Just given so much
JOY to Europe. He has never known a reverse
since he took the field. 1t is scarcely likely that
any disastrous repuIse wonld have thwarted his
further progress. He had but to push Oh, and in
and the whole Austrian army, or rather what was
left of it. would have been compelled to take refuge
within German territory.


The Emperor of the French would then have
stood before the world the first general of his age
ana the most influential sovereign in Continental,
Europe But though such a course would have
covered him with military glory, it would not have
maze the case OF Italy more secure than it is
1t would only have completed by frightful waste
OF ne work which may be finished by diplomacy.