A concurrence of reports from various quarters, and in different
forms, corroborates the former belief that England is to mediate between Sardinia and Austria, to settle the question of the Lom- bardo-Venetian kingdom. A contemporary, usually well-informed on Italian affairs, speaks of a compromise as contemplated, by which Venice, or a part of the Venetian territory, should be ceded to Austria.
It is to be hoped that this version of the report is incorrect. We are persuaded that any such compromise would be unfortunate, perhaps impracticable. We pass by the necessity that Italy, if Justice were done to it as a great and important nation of Europe, should possess the port of Venice for its North-eastern coasts, and rely only on the unquestionable fact that Italians are united in their resolve to disencumber their soil of alien rulers who have tyrannically misused their power. Any compromise short of a complete emancipation of the Italian territory could not be final : if Austria keep a foot of Italian land, it will be to keep up the enmity and uneasiness, which will not cease until every inch has been redeemed. Unless England now do her best to make the settlement final, the Italians, sooner or later, will be driven to the last unwilling appeal—the call for aid from France. And the new President of the Republic—a mili- tary chief with a large band of ruffians on his hands, whom it is impracticable to slaughter or transport, impolitic to send at large, dangerous to leave idle—is not likely to refuse any facile pretext for employing them in a war congenial to Republican predilec- tions and French traditions. Unless England help to establish Italy, independent and united under monarchical institutions, France will go in to help in the expulsion of Austria, and will end by cutting up the peninsula in Parthenopean or Ltgunan Republics.
