The aspect of events has changed daily. The movements of
the Sicilian leader were watched with anxiety ; two days passed without any intelligence of what he is doing ; the only thing known was that he had disappeared into space, and it was assumed that on his reappearance Francis the Second would take his turn in disappearing. Indeed, we almost infer that lodgings for that one more Italian Prince have already been provided in Vienna.
How impossible would it have been thought a few months
since—nay, a Sew WOOkasinon--thest lie King of Naples, sup- ported by all the power of Aaatria, would tremble with anxiety to know every stage in the tour of the abseil:to Garibaldi! Or that his mind would be relieved by hearing of an attack onMelazzo.
Meanwhile the Pope has spontaneously been at the pains to 'show the world that he has been utterly untaught by the ex- periences of the present year. He has just put forward an allo- cution, rating the sub-Alpine Government for the doctrines taught in the schools, the pamphlets, and the journals " issuing from the workshops of Satan, for the perdition of the universe ; " and he describes religious Ministers in Sicily as having " suffered lately for the acts of abandoned men ; two religious orders that have deserved well of the Christian religion, being dissolved and Their members exiled." The Yltramontane party remains para- mount at Rome, and prevents the papacy from accommodating itself to the present time and to possibilities.
Many of the Irish who have enlisted in the Pope's army are now returning, loud in their complaints that they were disappointed,—that they were treated with little consideration, and that they have not been helped in their return home by countries that lay in their path. They have found that the Irish, who claimed " Ireland for the Irish," made a mistake when they recruited the ranks of those who would withhold Italy from the Italians.
The news from the East has been of a very chequered cha- racter, and it has given rise to rumours in Western capitals quite as chequered. While there is no improvement in the reports from Syria, the despatches from Constantinople may be said to mingle reassuring promises with dilatory pleas. We were first told that the Sultan was about to despatch a large force, many thousand men ; from Syria we learn that by a circuitous route 6000 men have arrived. From Constantinople we are told that the Sultan is about to assert his authority; but diplo- matic reports intimate that he has taken steps to record a pro- test against the intervention of the Western Powers, and to be- speak the refusal of England to any such interference. From
nstantinople we have the report that the Druses and Maronites Ve agreed to a treaty of peace ; from Syria that the outrages re not ceased, the telegraph assuring us in its auricular dia- ,<.tt that. the situation emitinues to be very grave. From Con- stantinople we have a pledge ill words that the Sultan will not be content with a simple cessation of the disturbances, but will exact reparation ; from Syria itself we have continued accounts of unabated insolence towards the Christians or towards any au- thority that can restrain the Mussulman fanatics. Taking all these manifestations together, we infer that the Turkish Govern- ment is exerting itself to moderate the fury of its Mussnlman subjects, and endeavouring to put the best face upon the state of affairs ; but that it is conscious of power and authority too feeble to enforce law, while it is striving to avoid any confession of weakness before the European powers as well as any embarras- sing quarrel with its own Mussulman subjects by quieting reas- surances founded more on intentions than performances.
At first it was said that France had proposed a joint interven- tion, not to put any compulsion upon the Sultan, but to aid him ; the descendant of the Caliphs being utterly powerless to make good his treaty pledges towards his patrons, the Western Powers, it has been thought desirable to supply him with the strength that he lacked. Austria, it is said, did not object ; Russia had already taken the initiative in proposing somewhat similar movements ; and England, it is supposed, agreed. The French were to send a ship and 25,000 men ; the English a fleet. A report was received in London on Thursday, implying that the English Government had unexpectedly objected to the ex- pedition, as interfering with the authority of the Sultan ; but a still later report inclines to the other side, and renewed hopes are avowed that after all the expedition will proceed. The Sultan has " consented " to be helped, and England waives her punctilio.
