The report that Russia has combined with Austria to dictatd
in the policy of Italy, has been -revived by a Paris paper of con- siderable authority ; but we need scarcely say that the news is not "official." It probably rests upon the old foundation of proposals which Austria has almost certainly made, for a combi- nation with Russia in the Italian question, The whole conduct of the Northern power, however' particularly at a very recent date, strengthens us in the belief that she has not in any degree adopted the Austrian proposal ; and we surmise that the revival of the story originated in a revival of the Austrian effort to pro- cure the support of Austria.
Other tales which have been put forward with a show of con- fidence are equally apocryphal. We have no positive informa- tion on every particular, but we believe that we shall not deviate greatly from the facts in describing the situation thus. The Cabinet at Turin has continued to pursue the course upon which it had agreed with the Emperor Napoleon ; and the offer of alliance from the Government at Naples has been so well received as to warrant King Francis Joseph to send two special envoys for the purpose of completing the arrangements. All rumours of Count Cavonr's rejecting the alliance or taking any novel
step whatever, are entirely negatived by alliance, fact that the Nea- politan Commissioners authorized to negotiate the arrangement officially, are only now at Turin.
The disturbances at Naples may be amounted for_paer by the disposition of the King still to trim between his old friego_41111
and the new advisers with whom he has taken refuge, and by the intrigues of the Reactionary party, which gains independ- ence and reckless self-reliance in proportion as the King grows despondent and submissive. On the other hand, the coadjutors of Garibaldi on the mainland are unquestionably endeavouring' to precipitate the revolutionary movement in Naples ; and the powerless condition of the Court, the Ministerial crisis which has just left Be Martino, like a Neapolitan Wellington, holding all the seals of office, had further weakened the administrative con- tra of the capital. Every day some fresh disclosure of the horrible tyranny to which the agents of the Government had resorted was brought to light, and the agitation of the revolu- tionists thus receives strength from the most natural instincts of the human breast.
The position in Sicily is much as it was last week, only that the terms which we then employed might be strengthened. The expulsion of La Farina, a Piedmontese politician who swears by Count Cavour, has been regarded as proof that Cavour and Gari- baldi are at open war, and that the leader in Sicily has thrown away the scabbard. In point of fact, the difference between the Dictator and the Piedmontese Government is precisely what we described some weeks back ; and in the progress of events re- ported by the daily papers the reader has only seen the develop- ment of the influences which we have previously marked out. Garibaldi is not in positive contention with Cavour, but simply differs from that statesman in policy. He is anxious to begin a revolutionary movement in Naples, and only awaits the ma- turing of preparations on the main land ; postponing the Sicilian annexation of Sicily to the dominions of King Victor Emmanuel in the desire to annex also Naples. In this course Garibaldi is now avowedly without the support of any considerable Italian parts. The annexationists of Piedmont and Sicily, represented by La Farina and Pisani, protest against the postponement of the measure which they desire ; but La Farina has meddled in the matter upon his own authority, without any commission from the Piedmontese Minister. The National party of Italy is represented by Cavour ; and the Piedmontese Government holds to the plan of an alliance under the Italian flag, suggested by the Emperor Napoleon as the best for the immediate strengthen- ing of united Italy. In this recapitulation of the actual state of affairs, we are only reproducing our own information and the general statements of the best Italian journals.
