THE PROPOSED CONGRESS ON ITALY.

Marlborough Press, Volume I, Issue 1, 6 January 1860, Page 4

THE PROPOSED CONGRESS ON ITALY.

It is necessary, before going into a congress, that our government should clearly lay down from what premises they intend to start, and at what conclusion they wish to arrive. Without a decided policy, they may deliberate for months, and yet neither benefit the Italians nor enhance their own reputation. Happily their course is , clear if they be not misled by prejudice. They have nothing whatever to do with the war or the peace. What they have to consider is merely the actual state of Central Italy. Of thp, late Sovereigns of the Duchies, and their claims to be restored, England knows only this—that Tuscans, Parmesans, and Modenese, exercising a right which the people of this country have always claimed ■for themselves, have dethroned their princes for treason to their subjects, and have formed strong and popular governments, which have already endured long enough to be recognised as legitimate by all civilised nations. We should as soon think of taking under our patronage the Count de Chambord or the cx-empcror Soulouque as of using our influence to reinstate the fallen members of the Houses of Este, Lorraine, and Bourbon, who have been banislied 'from Central Italy. Henceforth these princes are pretenders, and nothing more, and their wisest course will be to rest content with their lot, which, at least in the case of the late Duke of Modena, cannot be very wretched, if it be true that this princely farmer-general heaped up enormous riches by systematically purchasing all the corn in his dominions, and selling it again at a high price to his unfortunate people. These claimants, then, being set aside, England .has only to trouble herself with the wishes of the new Government of the Duchies. Our representatives at the congress will have to ask themselves the question:—ls it for the advantage of England and Italy that there should be constituted “ a strong kingdom, which shall he able to defend the independence of the Peninsula” by the union of Tuscany, Parma, Modena, at least, with Piedmont and Lombardy? To this we answer unhesitatingly that there is no possible solution of the Italian question which --'could be more gratifying to the English people. It would remove at once all cause of discontent in the united territories, and would form the best possible guarantee against the renewal of foreign interference. But will a European congress grant the desire which is nearest to the hearts of the people of Central Italy, and which Victor Emanuel, while submitting himself to the will of the great Powers, honourably and temperately avows that he shares ? France, we know, glories, and justly so, in having given Italy independence; yet we do our neighbour no injustice in supposing that her sympathies with tho Italians are not entirely disinterested, and that she would be unwilling to see her protege, Victor Emanuel, so strengthened as to he able to do without her patronage. Russia has yet made no sign, although in one of the St. Petersburg newspapers there was lately a significant hint that it would be well to have a French Prince to rule over the Duchies. It is probable that Austria, failing in her project of restoring tho Dukes, will, in order to spite Piedmont, fall back as a pis aller on Prince Napoleon, and thus, with the assistance of the|two despotic powers, the Emperor of the French may perhaps succeed in gaining a throne for his cousin. But if England and Prussia resolutely support Sardinia, they may, aided by the voice of public opinion, which the Emperor Napoleon values too highly to set at nought, cause the project of creating a new French principality to be abandoned, and succeed in forming an Italian kingdom, which will not be independent merely by the grace of its patrons, but will be able itself to preserve its independence against both friends and foes. But, even if England succeed in obtaining a satisfactory settlement of the affairs of the Duchies, there will still remain to be solved the Roman question.—Manchester Guardian-