FRENCH INTERVENTION IN ITALY. (From the Illustrated News, May 12.)

New Zealander, Volume 5, Issue 358, 22 September 1849, Page 3

FRENCH INTERVENTION IN ITALY. (From the Illustrated News, May 12.)

The French Rppublic took an ex^aordimry, a dangerous, and an unprincipled step when it sent an armed cxped tion to Ita y. The ostensible object of the expedition was lo defend Italian liberty, menaced by Austria. Its real object seems to have bsen iti conjunction with Austria, Naples, and Spain, to restore the Pope to his revolted subjects, <:nd to force him, as a serular ruler, upon a people who had successfully rhidicated the right of self government. But the 1 sailers of the Roman people never allowed themselves to be deceived by the fair words of the French Government. They knew from the beginning what was intendel, 'Ihsy knew that French Intervention was not iiiendly, and that the landing of General Oudinot at Cfvita Vecphia was a^hostile invasion of the Roman territory. They took their measures accordingly. Tney denounced the landing of the expedition. They called upon the Roman* to roist an inteiference which was as treacherous as it was cruel ; and appealed, in eloquent terms, fro n the French Government to the French nation. The Romans le^ponded to the call of their triumvirate. An entlnuiism which is represented as perfectly unprecedented took po^ession of them, and preparations for resistance weie made, which, whatever their ultimate issue may be, have enlisted, on behalf of the Roman Republic, the {.ympathies of all who honour the independence of nations, and who acknowledge the right of a people to eh >ose their own <orm of Government in defiance of foreign dictation. Eren now, before any decisive blow has been struck, tl c military laurels ot the Fiench have been tarnished, and shume has been brought upon the men who have i endjavoured to crush liberty in the name of 1 b jrty, and who, forgetting the origin of their own power, have turned the arms of the French against that constitutional cause Of which France ought to be the foremost defender and the most earnest champion in Europe. M« Odiilon Barrot, when called to account by the opposition in the National Assembly for the conduct of Gene al Oudinot, in disarming the National Guard of Civita Vecchia, in placing tint town in a state of siege, in marching a portion of the French troop 3 t3 Rome, anj in suffering them to be repulsed in one of the luburbs and very severely handled by the indign.n 1 ; Bomans, persisted in the farce of alleging thai the intervention was a friendly one. General o ua "inot, liO.vever, told a different tale to the Civita Vecchians. V^ hen informed, soon after landing, by deputations fro n fie N<i ional Guird and Municipality of that town nniof Rome, that Rome would repel force by force, that ib.3 cHzens lia<l already prepared for the death s'rug^leby uudermtning the Vatican, the Quirinal' St. Peter's, the churches and public buildings, and that i they would pc ish to a man rather than admit the Fiench, he replied that his instructions were precise, that hi was to f roceed to Rome either by good«will or by force, that the Pope would be a mere tUve without tempor. 1 ro ver, and that his object was to restore Pius IX., rcistjb >sh order, and maintain the liberal institutions granted by that Pontiff. Between M. Odiilon Barrot ami General Oudiuot there is a difference scarcely t) be reconciled ; and, as the words of the invading General have been confirmed by his acts, the Romans do well tj rjbist the invader in defence of the sacred principle of their independence, and to appeal to France up,iin>t the French Ministiy, and to all friends of constitutional freedom against them bolh. Of all ili; partiei who are leagued together in the task of tluusuiig the Pope and a sacerdotal Government upon the unwilling Romans, France ii the only one whose iateiference may be onsidcred as utterly iropo'itic, unprincipled, and atrocious. Roman Catho ii-3 Austria acts on behalf of the Pope, for the strongest of all reago ,s that of self-interest. It is not so much because the religion of Austria is papist* as because Lomb<trdy it one of the fairest portions of her dotnit i <ns, that she joins in the ciusade against the liberty of the Romans. Italian independence is the knell of Austrian power. The Republic of Rome gives strength to the Republic of Venice, and keeps Lombard^ in the disquietude of hope deferred. Austrian interference, therefore, is perfectly intelligible. The interference of the King of Naples is explicable on the same grounds, which are partly religious and paitly political. The Republic in Rome is a troublesome and unsafe neighbour for the Monar hy of Naples ; and the religious motive for intervention but crowns and completes the political one. But neither France nor Spiun lus any such petexts to interfeie in the affairs of Italy. Neither the one nor the other is thieatened with the loss of powei, H'nitbry, or influence, by the political independt'ii c of thai country generally, or of the Roman States more particularly. Spain, as yet, has not stirred in the matter ; but is understood, in the interest of the Roman Catholic religion* to wish well to the efforts of those who are engaged in the task. France stands alone, therefore, in the position of committing a gross outrage on the national rights of a large portiin ot the Italian people for the sake of the Chief Priest of Roman Catholic Europe. Religion and statesmanship pull together in the case of Austria and Naples; but irreligious France, for the sake of a priest, throws statesmanship to the winds, belies her own traditions aud principles, leagues herself with her enemies, acts with cruel treachery to her friends, dishonours the Republican form of Government, in the name of which she sends her legions to overawe, coeice, and oppreis a Republic as legally constituted as herself, and renders the principles of her statesmen a by-word of contempt in Europe. It is in vain for M. Odiilon tfatrot to aliege that the intervention of France wai determined upon solely with the object of counterbalancing that of Austria and Naples. His words and his deeds are at \ariance. His tongue tells one story, but his hand another. If Austria and Naples determined upon intervention, in order to crush the liberties of the Italian people, it was the true policy and duty of France to take the other side. France has not done go ; F.ance will not do so, if M. Odiilon Barrot continues in her Government— from his own mouth we learn it Cc leral Oudinot having received a check ( a check ri hy irerited, but not half severe enough), M. Odt 'on bar ok considers that " best course for the French hx, edition is to march upon Rome, and, wh lit causing the French flag to be respected, to save Italian liberty as much as possible,' As much as possible ! when the Pope is to be restored by the force of French gunpowd(r, and when Austria and N-plei arc to lend

their bayonets to the enterprise! The possibility will, indeed, be small when such arc the agencies that are to work it. M. Odillon Barrot is somewhat moderate, however. While he is of opinion that the Pope must be re-estabiisheii in Rome sooner or later, he think* his temporal power shou'd be modified Jt is, doubtless, kind of !\l. Odillon Barrot to consent to the modification ; buf it is no less impertinent. It would not be a whit more impertinent on the part of M . Mazzini if he weie to declare bis opinion that soonrr or later Henri Y. must be re-established in Paris ; and not in the slightest degree more unpiin ijjled ( provided lie were strong enough ) if he 6ent a Konaon expedition to Toulon for that puipose. The rela ive strength of the parties males no difteience in the principle, as even M. Barro might acknowledge, if the Emperor of Hupsia, having settled the Hungarian business, should take it inro his head to do for Prance what France is now doing f.,r the Romans. But we suspect that th« events of Italy will seal the doom of the present Minis'ry in France. Already the National Assembly ha* expressed its ditapprovaf. They may even have deeper consequences. Should the French army meet with any reverses more feiious than that which they have aheady experienced, it would be diffic lit to estimate the eiFect they would have upon the fortune of the Trench Republic. A'ready, the Blight icverse which happened in the suburbs of Horns has given (lie extietne Republican party more life and energy than it has displayed or felt since the days of June, 1818 ; audit is not too much to anticipate that the defeat of General Oudinot would so humiliate andexaipera;e all parties in France, and so encourage the ultra-Republicans, that a new Revolution would be imminent, f "In destrojing the Roman) Republ : c," says an eloquent address issued by the Roman people to th« French army, " you will destroy youi own. If you wish to combat against Republican aims, cease to be Republicans yourselvei, or confers that you are the satellites of tyranny and hypocrisy." Tyiannyand hypocrisy are the words that truly express the conduct of Louis Napoleon and hi 3 Ministers in tliii business; and it will require all bis popularity, and more than all their wisdom and tact, to prevent evil consequences to him ond thorn. What the French are more sensitive about, ii military renown* Tarnish that, and not even a Bonaparte will atone for the calamity.

A Scussion moM Rome —The Rev. Pierre Connol y, chaplain to tho Earl of Shrewsbury, who wai last year sent on a inisiion to the Pope, has leuounced the Romish f.ith— Hereford Journal .