From all we can learn, Garibaldi's position is no longer
pre carious. The reports are, indeed, still contradictory. The Neapolitans still officially claim victories. But, in spite of their reported success at Calatafimi, they admit having had to con- tend with insurgents on the heights above. Palermo ; so that, if they won a battle at Calatafinri, they retreated irnmeclistelr to Palermo, and if they defeated the insurgents at Sam Martino owl Monreale, the insurgents are still triumphant in those positions.. The offer of a viceroyalty, a constitution, and an amnesty, is in itself a confession of defeat. We have, indeed, no absolutely au- thentic details of Garibaldi's progress, but the silence of the Nea- politan Government eloquently testifies that he has been success- fUl. Ample details of his landing have been furnished by British officers, and also ample indications of the panic of the Neapolitan marine, land force, and Government. We cannot track Garibaldi step by step from Marsala to Monreale, but we have good reason to believe he is there, and that he has fought his way there. We have also good reason to believe that he has been amply reinforced by Sicilians, and that the Royal Government can no longer trust its native troops. Moreover, we have a glimpse of Garibaldi's design, for he has assumed the Dictatorship of Sicily in the name of Victor Emmanuel, "King of Italy." No insurrection has broken out in the peninsula, but terror reigns in the King's court at Portici, and a great dread of the army. The question now is not so much what will Gari- baldi do, as what course will the Absolutist Powers take to save the Bourbon dynasty of Naples.
, The Russian move in the direction of Constantinople has been Sued down to an " appeal " to the Powers that signed the treaty of 1856, except Sardinia, whom Austria would object to meet, like a Select Committee of the Commons House, and inquire into the condition of the Christians in the dominions of the Sultan. But the real object and purport of Prince Gortschakoff's Eastern move is not discernible. We hardly know what step he has taken ; but we know that he has put the East and West in a flutter. One important correction has been made to the first announcement. Russia has no design of acting independently. Nevertheless, any move of that power in the East, especially under the present critical circumstances of the Turkish and Austrian Empires, and more especially under the new phase of the Italian question, is regarded in the .West with perplexity, if not apprehension. Meddle with the Turkish Empire on any point and a war may burst up from under your fingers. There is some reason to believe that France and England are acting harmoniously in this matter, and it is probable that Austria and Prussia follow their footsteps.
Indeed, Austria has quite enough to do with Venetia and Hungary, and the new aspect imparted to the Italian question by claribaldi, without entering upon the vexatious paths of 'sit politics. She feels the sting of the Sicilian insurrec- tion, the precarious position of the Pope, her ally, and she be- stows attention on the Mind° and the Po, making preparations for the worst in that quarter. Still more does she feel the daily augmenting strength of the Hungarians, the stoutness of the Protestants, the refusal of the magnates to enter her imperial councils, and the disaffection of Croat, Slave, Szekler, and Wal- lach. Perhaps she does not feel that nothing short of the re- storation of the chartered rights of the Hungarians will save that splendid kingdom from scission ; but she may well quake when pamphlets are published in Paris advocating entire inde- pendence, and declaring that the House of Hapsburg-Lorraine must be proscribed. It will require the shoulder of Hercules to remove the broad-wheeled waggon of Austria from the deep slough of iniquitous misrule.
In the meantime, Prussia arms and goes on Germanizing, sup- porting the constitutionalists of Hesse, the nationalists of Schles- wig-Holstein, and taking a distinct position as the German Power. Nevertheless, the Prince Regent is not blind to dangers that may threaten the Fatherland, in the presence of which, he says, all differences should disappear.
The elements of change are active, it will be seen, in Italy, in Germany, in Hungary, in Turkey. The mass of combustible matter in Europe is growing larger and more widely spread every day. Who will apply the match, and when the whole is in flames what shall we do ?
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