NEWS OF THE WEEK.
THE latest report is that Lord Cowley has succeeded, and that his success consists in having induced Austria to make the con- cessions required of her on the Italian question.
If this be not true, the prospects of Europe are more over- clouded than ever. The course of France appears to be one of
increased difficulty, and the explanations in the Moniteur prove the anxiety of the Emperor not to be misunderstood. He ex-
plains, and waits, but does not neglect to prepare ; witness the promotion of two of the Colonels, de Chastaguy and Gault, whose swords have at times been only too ready for services in which the Emperor did not need them.
Nor is Germany hardly less enigmatical than France. Han- over, Wiirtemberg, and Bavaria are warlike it is true, but Prussia " draws it mild," and on the Rhine there is sympathy for France. The Austrian and Prussian Ministers at Frankfort are reported to have almost come to blows in a contest whether the federal fortresses should or should net 'be armed and pro-
visioned. But the last article in the Moniteur, reserved as it is, will not help the friends of Austria in Germany, and it will
probably be answered by reciprocal menaces in the German papers. Austria herself may almost be said to be in line of battle from the Ticino to Trieste, from the Tyrol to Vienna. She, at all events, is preparing for the combat. While the pour- parlers are going on, the Armies manoeuvre and fight—on paper. In Italy there is a general movement. The youth of the Country is eager for battle, and the Piedmontese Government is justly represented as the sole barrier between Italy and revolu- tion. Piedmont swarms with volunteers, and the King has car- ried her available force up to 80,000 men. In the mean time
we have outgrown the Papal question : the Pope, seeing that the sacrifice he made by demanding the withdrawal of the foreign troops has not delayed one threatening symptom, has recoiled from his hazardous position, and has begged his protectors to remain.
Now this is by no means a pleasant state of things. Europe is trying to sit on bayonets with a vengeance. Trade in France is in an agony of suspense, and trade in England fears some great revulsion. If it be in the power of Ministers to tell us what it all means in plain phrases, will they be good enough to
do so ? Will they define the question ? Will they tell us whether the question is the regulation of Austria's position in Italy in conformity with the demands of Europe, or whether it is the expulsion of Austria from Italy. Of course if Lord Cow- ley's mission has been successful, it enables us to look under the surface and to catch a glimpse of the question. For Lord Cow- ley could never have gone to Vienna to propose the evacuation of Italy ; and if he has succeeded, his success must have been in obtaining from Austria some concessions of her pretensions to domineer over the other Italian states, some arrangement where- by she may take her true place in accordance with European treaties.
