ITALY.
Ties Gazzetta d'Augusta announces that " the Italian question has no existence " ; prophesies that " Italy will never be inde- pendent"; and at the same time declares that " the Italian question must not be deferred, but solved." The statement of the journalist appears to be a mistake in chronology : the Italian question will have no existence when it is solved,. At present, our Parliament, the Paris Conference, the Parliament• at Turin, and the movements of Austria herself, are sufficient evidence that the question is very anxiously and practically discussed. In- deed, such manifestations as that of the Gazsetta have a substan- tial meaning ; it is, that Austria does not intend to retreat one inch from the position that she has occupied in Italy. The ex- planation on the subject of her hostile advance towards the terri- tory of Piedmont must be only intended for appearance. The movements of troops at Pontremoli and other places, it is said, have been only the ordinary exchange of garrisons by the native troops of the state. Now it is notorious that Austria has a practice of making the " exchanges" of troops the cover for an augmenta- tion of forces. It is so even in the Lombardo-Venetian kingdom, where there is not the same need for disguise. Troops are dis. oharged, the soldiers being allowed unlimited " leave of ab- sence " ; they are replaced by other regiments ; and the troops which are apparently discharged actually remain under orders, although they are not mustered or drilled. Thus a reinforcement is introduced under the appearance of exchange. It is quite pos- sible that there have been exchanges in the territory of Parma, and by the native troops ; but there is no statement that the new garrisons of Pontremoli and other places are not more nu- merous than the garrisons they have replaced: If the " native " troops are thus employed on the outposts, those native troops are very largely officered and manned by Austrians; and the Duchess
of Parma retires from the domestic duties of dressmaking and infantile instruction which she has so meritoriously carried on, leaving the city solely under the government of the Austrian General Crenneville. These movements give meaning to the arrogant assertion that there is " no Italian question : Austria stands upon the principle of Metternich, and upon her arms.
Another argument is put forth on behalf of Austria—that the new Italian movement is only an effort on the part of the house of Savoy to extend its territory. This charge is easily made, but it really is unsupported by a shadow of evidence. The Govern- ment at Turin has observed its obligations ; it has invited the support of France and England, not for any schemes of territorial aggrandizement, but entirely for the promotion of reforms in con- junction with the influential men of each state. The proposal is so modest in its appearance, that it has a chance of not receiving support because its practical character may be underrated. It is a fact proved by the history of all the states, that when the upper and middle class of Italians have been invited to execute consti- tutional reforms, they have succeeded, with an equal counterac- tion of arbitrary and of revolutionary movements. The Govern- ment of Leopold the Great in Tuscany secured quiet through the long- and tranquil reign of his successor Ferdinand, and down to the time when Leopold the Second, through a feeble alarm, diverged from the constitutional course. Even Leopold, however, had a Protestant Testiment in his hand, and was contemplating another step in the direction of civil freedom as emancipated. from ecclesiastical tyranny. In Naples under King Joachim, and again under the -administration of which Poerio was one—in Rome under the Provisional Government—in Turin at present, the capacity of the Italian community for con- stitutional reform has been practically established. The flaw in the strength of Italy has consisted in the division of the states and their difficulty in acting together. Let a link for their union be supplied, and they would support each other. This link would be supplied, without any invasion calculated to excite local jealousies if France and England joined with Sardinia and the influential men of the several states to sustain constitutional reform. Opinion throughout Italy is perfectly ripe for extending that emancipation. of the civil law from ecclesiastical control which has been es- tablished in the Sardinian States. The simple act of bringing Italy together would call out the same power that has succeeded at different times and at different places, and would be quite sufficient to settle every question of internal government. This appears to be no step of a kind transgressing the duties or interests of England. if Austria were to resist, she might indeed. entail ulterior consequences upon herself ; and it is not impossible that, anticipating such contingencies, she might either try to draw us into a quarrel or pick a quarrel on her own account. In the memorandum addressed to the Emperor of the French, and communicated to the English Government, Count Cavour com- mences the question whether it would be feasible or profitable for the Western Powers to act directly against Austria, supported as she is by the Coalition. From that question he passes to the plan of a joint promotion of constitutional reforms, leaving the Aus- trian question unconcluded. It is not possible that statesmen like those of Turin can have overlooked the unfinished state in which they have left that question. It is in suspense. The more moderate course would evidently be the more effectual, and the most consistent with the principles at least of this country. Seeing the benefit that would result to Italy, to Europe, and to the material interests of the human family, it is not likely that any Government representing the English people would refuse to give a moral support to constitutional reforms. The language of Lord Clarendon is, mutatis niutandis, an epitome of Count Ca- vour's memorandum. The success of constitutional reform would be fatal to Austrian predominance in Italy. If Austria herself should prefer to anticipate that political defeat by taking arms and assuming the aggressive, the consequences must fall upon her : it is not likely that Englishmen would shrink. from the consequences in that form.
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