NEWS. OF THE WEEK.
THE masterly epistle from the Emperor Napoleon to the King of Saidinia, which seems materially to alter the position of affairs in the Peninsula and on the Centinent, has already been perused, we assume, by our readers. But it challenges more than one perusal, for its arguments, its propositions, and its inevitable effects. The Emperor invites "Sir my Brother," the King of Sardinia; to lay aside illusions and sterile regrets, and to'ex- _ amine the actual state of affairs. War, it is truly remarked, has fewer complications than peace. Its arbitrament is positive, peremptory; whereas the claims of peace are innumerable, M- oult to avoid, yet not so absolute in their authority as to support_ the decision of the arbitrator. Napoleon has secured the cooperation of the Emperor of Austria in settling the antagonism which has for centuries disturbed Italy and divided the tree Empires ; and he invites help in " the regeneration of Italy." The elements of the plan proposed are these—each Italian State to be independent, with reforms and a representative system; the whole to be united in a confederation, with one flag, one customs system, one currency ; the provincial representative bodies, under the veto of their Sovereigns respectively, to elect federal representatives to a Diet sitting at Rome under the honorary presidency of the Pope ; Venetia to be a province purely Italian, with its local representation, Administration, and Italian army ; Mantua and Peschiera to be federal fortresses ; every foreign influence to be excluded from the limits of the federation ; Parma and Piacenza to be annexed to Piedmont ; the Duchess of Parma to be called to Modena ; Tuscany to be augmented and restored to the Grand Dnke ; and a system of " discreet liberty " ex- tended to all the States of Italy. This is the plan as it exists in the mind of the Emperor Napoleon. In the terms of the letter, these details constitute " what are in my opinion the essential "conditions of the regeneration of Italy." He thinks that a con- federation so formed will " consolidate the fabric of the inde- pendence of Italy" ; and, he says, "I shall neglect nothing for the attainment of this great result." The purport of the letter has been construed, we notice, by most of our contemporaries as implying that the Emperor, will neglect nothing to attain the particular plan stated. Our readers will observe from the analysis which we have just made, that the Emperor Napoleon offers the project as presenting the conditions which in his opinion would produce the result ; but he expressly directs his own services to attain the independence of Italy—a different object.
Again, we observe that our contemporaries have mostly con- strued this epistle to King Victor Emmanuel as a public appeal meant to extort the submission of that Prince, under the force of his obligations to the Emperor, and to forestall the decision of a Congress ; the letter, in fact, having been mostly regarded as presenting the bases for the deliberations of Congress. We do not find any such presentment in the text. It is still only, an exposition of points upon which the Emperor has agreed with his brother Emperor of Austria, on which his own " opinion" is strong, and on which' he asks or calls for (demande) the con- currence of Ring Victor Emmanuel. That any pledges could have been extorted, or even asked, from the Russian Govern- ment, the Prussian, or the British, is not only improbable, but
is counter to such information as we have. That a proposal to enter Congress for deliberation with, parties, who have already avowed so strong a foregone conclusion may merit, grave delibe- ration, no one will deny ; but we believe it is the fact that the French Government has simply desired that a Congress_ should muster without delay without attempting to dictate the terms of its delib.eration. Long ere this time, most probiiblyr the Em- peror Napoleon knows on what points it is necessary to satisfy the British Government before it can consent to' incur the re- sponsibility even of attending in Congress. For obviously it is better to defer any muster at all, if it be proposed that the Con- gress, must result in some conclusion which the judgment of this country -could not approve. We belieye we are not misreporting Italian sentiment, however, in saying that, if the plan of the Emperor Napoleon could be realized in all its details, it would not be viewed with repugnance ; and that the Italians, at all events,_ are desirous of expediting the muster of the Congress.
The relative position of the Continental States is only varied from what we noted last week by the issue of this positive mani- festo cei the part of the Emperor. In other respects, perhaps, the most remarkable fact of any magnitude once more consists in
'-the absence of any reported advance, or any marked change.Last week we saw the letter of Garibaldi summoning the Nea- politans to join the national flag in order to the expulsion of the Stranger : this week ive,..do not hear, as we might have expected, any sound of the Neapoliatt1.1:-,-opet, any advance of the coun- trymen of Pepe to the standard-11. gebe national Captain ; but Garibaldi himself is summoned to a conlifiteltne with King :Victor with King Emmanuel .at Turin. Italy deliberates. Theen.4 them"froiii °Mg deliberation has not yet been announced, whether it is rof.heipt the opinion so eloquently urged by the Emperor Napoleon, or to persevere in strengthening herself while the action of the Powers ig suspended by their own doubts and their new jealousies. • Every sign in Vienna indleates vacillation of will, and that cross purpose which must paralyse the most powerful of Govern- ments. The report of certain grave events in that capital reads
like a joke,—the invention of some modern Voltaire or Swift, satirizing the puerile devices of great Governments at their wits' end. The Baron Hubner, one of the most respectable of Austrian statesmen, known to entertain views favourable to reform, disap- pears into space, with Griinne, long a court favourite. Bruck, who was to have been dismissed for unaccountable schemes in
taking millions of money unauthorized by the public Imperial rescript, has not yet had the courage actually to insist upon his own resignation ; but is permitted to remain, subject to an Im- perial Commission of Inquiry into his conduct I.—one of the most astonishing spectacles perhaps ever presented to the political
world. And while the advisers of the Emperor are thus playing
what an eminent English Judge once called " Hell and Jemmy" with the prospects of the Austrian Empire, the young dragoon Emperor is playing the resthetic sentimentalist, by subscribing to celebrate the centenary of Schiller. The illustrious young po- tentate having probably been told that such would be fi cunning way to filch back from Germany some of the popularity which he has lost by his act of "immense ingratitude" for the German support which he received in the late war, and by the calumnious attack of- his favourite Minister on a German Prince. It looks almost as if the Emperor were in a conspiracy with other friends of the Pope to justify the prophecy of Doctor Cumming, and to exemplify the school-boy maxim, " Quern dens vult perdere."
Let him look to Hungary, where men of all parties are again engaged in promoting a national movement, and where, if he possess any real statesmanship, he can find a field for its display.
Imperial Russia and Royal Prussia have just had an inter- view, with a result unknown ; most probably, however, tending not to foreclose the questions before the Congress. Other significant fact. Baron Stieglits, it is said, is not ti retire from his commercial position at St. Petersburg; the Russian Government having sentenced him " to continue." It is, indeed, a notable fact at the present day, that the most powerful Governments, whatever questions of account or political difficulties may arise, cannot just at present spare their able financiers, whether in or out of office.
