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    security of jtUat Roman Emperor who . nearly two thousand years ago sought refuge on * , that little islet from the vengeance of , Ws subjects , » ndthe still more awful a&gg&ftlaos s > f bjs own heart I . jifit it not fee' thought that w . e are . indulging in rJkel » ri « aL 4 isplay or reading the story of modem . HapJesl asj&pugh it were a chapter from the Ajinais of Tacitus .. Lost week we published an account of . the rprecaufciQns wd at Castellamare , where strangers , arriving by the railroad , or by any < o . ther conveyance , are not allowed to remain . " Rass on . ; pass on—itke Kingis hme . ! " Can the history of any nation in Europe produce a parallel to , this agony of apprehension ? Alexander , the Russian Cssar , towards the close of his fitful career , was urged to hisrapid and almost perpetual journeys . by . the stings . of re raorse , nqt by dastard terror of the assassin ' s knifealthough no one knew better than Alexander how a Russian Czar may die . The Eleventh Louis of French history wicked and fearful as he was—never showed so c-aven a front to the world as this . It must indeed bQ admitted in the King ' s favour that , if half be true of aU that is charged against hid police agents , it is not so wonderful that he should live in fear of the avenger ' s steel . The streets of Naples are the scene of saturnalia in which the sbirri and police agents reign triumphant . . . . The Neapolitans are served , in fact , just as the wretched Hindoo peasants are by the native peons in our own Indian dominions ; and all this in Italy , in the latter half of the nineteenth century '• The insolence of the ruffian agents of the police exceeds all belief . When we find it recorded that one of them actually dar d the other day to insult a gentleman connected with the diplomatic service of Great Britain , it may he . readily supposed that their own fellow-subjectstheir appointed prey—receive but scant courtesy at their hands . The question is , how long is all this to last ? Would it [ be amiss , when the French and English cruisers are pacing backwards and forwards in the Mediterranean , if they were to put into the bay for a few hours , and sfet matters a little to rights ? France holds Algeria at the present moment as a compensation for an affront to a consular agent not more gross than that which was offered the other day by a scoundrel chef de police at ISfspies to an English employe . France has not been more ciyiljy treated than ourselves on many occasions . If any other reason were wanting , surely it would be well if the two greatest nations in the world were by a simple effort of their will to = put an end to such a hideous amount of suffering as is inflicted by this half-crazy Sjonarch and his police upon so many thousands—not to ss , y millions- — . of cur feUcw-GrTOtuica . Loru . Exmouth could show no better warrant for his proceedings at Algiers than this , and his errand was approved by the civilised world . We are very confident that we but express the feelings of every intelligent Frenchman and Englishman when we say that neither of our countries would accept a rood of King Bomba ' s territory , beautiful as it is , -as a free gift . It is , however , a question if France and . England are not traitors to their high mission when they acquiesce in the infliction of such intolerable evils upon the defenceless population of the Two Sicilies . X . et the King of Naples keep his countries and govern them in his own way , if he can do so without a constant outrage upon humanity—we have no wiah to . meddle in Italian affairs . Indignation , however , may one day be stronger than policy . If King Bomba's subjeota should ever be strong enough to take the matter . into their own hands there is no one in Western Europe but would bid them God speed ! ( From the Economist . ' ) The state of Italy is very disquieting . There are several indications of approaching difficulties , if not actual disturbances . The continuance of the war , though ae yet confined to the East , has not unnaturally exoited , & -vivid and general sensation . No oue believes that the present condition of that wretched land can be permanent , and / therefore every political movement arouses . at © nee the hopes of the oppressed and the ieara of the oppressors . The spirited behaviour of Piedmont , in gallantly joining the Western Powers ; the recruiting for an Anglo-Italian Legion ; the attempt of Austria to throw dust in the eyes of Europe and to offer a sop to her own subjoots by the proposed revival of those miserable mockeries of representative institutions—the Lombardo-Venetian Central Congregations ; and the stupid ittnd brutal proceedings of the King of Naples ¦ and his poliuo — whom alarm seems to have driven actually frantic— , are all so many significant symptoms of coining change . : It would be hard indeed if the present European straggle should puss over without bringing . some good to that oppressed . peninsula . It is not only wild patriots ( and chimerical republicans who now grieve over Italian . sorrows ,, and . . grow indignant at Italian wrongs ; Conservatives ,, us well as Liberate of every grade , are begin- ¦ ning to feel and to avow that there are excesses of despotism . that cannot be borne , and cruelties so brutal and degrftding . that neighbouring nations , more advanced ¦ in olvllisation , ought not to stand tamely by and aae , them perpetrated without protest . It is beginning to i b «; admitted , . even among the ruling oLtsses of better lands , itha&ihora ore tyrannies which justify rebellion ,, '

    and monarchs so . bad-that brother potentates must not ; stain their characters by endeavouring , or even wishing , ; to 'uphold . them . It is felt , too , that the sway of Russia — . which , . we are in arms to restrain—is not more barbarising or benumbing than . * he away of Austria at Milajo , or of the Pope at Borne , or offing Ferdinand at Naples —to which hitherto we have afforded at least . countenance or aid . It is felt , finally , that the condition . of the . Christian subjects of the Ottoman Potte . which the Allied Powers have in a maaner pledged themselves to ameliorate , is . in no degree more suffering or enslaved than that of the Protestants of Tuscany , or the moderate and constitutional -Liberals of Lombardy , Naples , or Romagne . There is nothing new in these circumstances scarcely any aggravated feature ; what is new is the higher . and more conservative class of politicians , here and elsewhere , who have opened their eyes to the facts , and are slowly admitting the inferences to be drawn from them . Moreover , the conduct of Piedmont , both in government and war , is gradually creating in the minds of our more timid , liberal , and suspicious Tories a juster appreciation of the manly and solid qualities of the Italian character . Till 1848 , the foolish , ill-contrived , and abortive attempts of the various insurgent bodies in that country ; their inability" to make any head against the smallest bodies of regular troops , or to organise their own raw levies ; their hasty explosions , followed by surrenders as hasty and yet more disreputable , hfid worn out popular sympathy and discredited the whole people . But the movements of that great revolutionary year caused in all close observers a marked revulsion of opinion . The rapid and signal successes of the first Milanese outbreak , when in five days they drove every Austrian out of Lombardy , or confined them within a few citadels and fortresses , showed energy whore it was least suspected ; while the gallant defences of Rome and Venice , and , still more , the admirable internal government of those cities during the Republican reffime , gave evidence both of fighting and organising talent rare enough in .-any land , and wholly unexpected there . Kewetr ,, it is now admitted , was there more perfect selfi ^ oviernment , or less crime and disorder in any State , than in Venice during the dictatorship of Manin , and in Rome under the triumvirate of which Mazzini wa 3 the chief . But these spirited and well-conducted experiments fell beneath overwhelming foreign forces , and the proofs of capacity and worth they gave might have been forgotten or denied , had not the Sardinian Government survived to show , by indisputable evidence , what Italians when left to themselves can do . Starting m the spring of 1848 with a judicious constitution granted by the King , passing through the perilous crisis of a war forced upon them partly by the extreme democrats at . home , partly by the general excitement around them , the Piedmontese , by the most admirable and even dexterous management , hove steered their young vessel safely through all imaginable dangers during seven eventful years . Yet these dangers have been of the most imminent and deadly nature . The Piedmontese Liberals had no experience in the management of constitutional forms— a problem which we know , from the failures of other nations , to be of the most difficult solution ; yet they have managed them as skilfully as Englishmen themselves . They had to contend at one and the same time against two opposite foes ; the Reactionists—aided . by the priests , who abhorred the very name of liberty or constitution—and the Republicans , who were reckless enough to assume a hostile attitude towards any Government that did not go their length and adopt their intolerant and narrow creed . And while steering this delicate and anxious course , and making . kead against both these contradictory opponents , they had also to carry on & subtle war with the Court of [ Rome , which was striving to bring them back under its crashing incubus , and to baffle and withstand the underhand intrigues of Austria , who saw the full meaning and peril of suffering the successful establishment of a roally free and prosperous State so close to her own contrasted dominions . They had to throw off priestly domination—and no people had been so priest-ridden as the Piedmontese—without alarming or offending the sincerely Catholic feelings of the nation ; and they had to -watch -with'the most jealous care lest the violent and discontented among themselves should , by outbreak or intrigue , give any excuse for Austrian interference , or in any degree turn away the warm sympathies of the more liberal . states of Europe . All this they have done with the most consummate skill . Born Anglo-Saxons could not have done it better , and would scarcely have done it so patiently . The maintenance of freedom has invigorated industry and restored commerce . Railways and other public works have given a vast stimulus to ontorprise , and wealth and revenue are steadily increasing . During this period , too , the constitution of 'the Sardinian army has been entirely remodelled . It used to be nearly as . aristocratic . as our own , and was sadly infected both by favouritism and corruption . 'Now , without / flying into the oppoaito extremo , the door has been opened to all merit , and closed against all i incapacity ; the troops are , we believe , among the flnast and beat . equipped in Europe , and have already shown in ( the 'Crime * that they are not inferior to tho ^ o > of Jftrance and England either in courage or indiscipline .

    ! The effect of all this upon the future prospects of Italy — if only the Italian patriots will be patient and bide their opportunity—cannot be too highly estimated . The Foreign -Italian Legion , composed of men drawn from every corner of the peninsula , and trained by the hard experience of actual warfare , will furnish a nucleus for an Italian army whenever there shall' be a real Italian State ; and will supply leaders , ' officers , and organisers whenever the day of liberation shall dawn , and the war of emancipation shall begin . And the Sardinian troops will return home , after their work is done , veteran soldiers , fully competent to defend their country against the unpractised regiments of Austria , and to put to shame her armies , while their liberal monarch . puts to shame her despotic Emperor .

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    858 T HJS 1 . E ADEB . [ NoJ 265 * Saturday , |

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    WHEN TO RAISE THE ITALIAN TRICOLOR . [ We beg to call the attention of our readers to the following reprint of an article which appeared in the Leader more than a year and a quarter ago . It will be seen that we had anticipated to a considerable extent the present posture of affairs . ] ( From the Leader , May 20 , 1854 . ) Certain facts , just now most important , must enter into all our considerations with regard to the magnitude , the duration , and the extent of the contest upon which we have entered . First of all , we must remember that we are not going to war only to maintain the integrity and independence of the Ottoman Empire . In fact , the fate of the Turks , as Turks , is a matter of little moment , compared to the other vast interests at stake . The existence of the Turkish Power at Constantinople happens to be a European necessity , at present ; hence we light for it . At first , no doubt , statesmen on all sides , including the Emperor of Russia , were anxious to circumscribe the theatre of war , and confine it to the banks of the Danube ; but as the belligerent Powers . approached each other , and as the public attention grew excited , so the real questions at issue visibly increased in magnitude . Statesmen , anxious as they had been to stave off the evil day , could no longer conceal from themselves the fact that the dispute , ostensibly Turkish , was really European ; . and that although they only faced Russian armies on the Danube , they faced Russian influence everywhere . So the conflict grew in extent , until as we now see the elements of war appear everywhere , and the whole of Europe is , or will be , compelled to take sides . Hence we must not only look towards the Baltic and the BospUorus , but take in the whole xange of nations , from the Norwegian to the Italian Alps . For Italy is not a whit less interested than Turkey , England , and France in the curbing of Russian dominion . Over Turkey the Czar strives to obtain a physical dominion - , over Sardinia he exercises a moral pressure . Let us look upon the war , then , from the Alps as well as from the Baltic ; and listen to the throes of Italy as she labours under the burden of the Austrian sabre and of Russian ideas . Sardinia has won for herself a constitution , a Parliament , responsible government . Sardinia represents the great ideas of Italian unity , for she boldly fronts the Pope , and maintains a stout attitude towards Austria . Close to her lies Switzerland , also menaced by Russian ideas , subjected to a forced neutrality , and smarting under Austrian insults and injuries . All Italy waits only the opportunity for self-assertion ; secure , it may be , of Swiss and Sardinian sympathies . Such progress as has been made in Sardinia , such progress as will still be made in Sardinia , can never encounter from England anything but support ; and the plains at the foot ot the Alps are the standing ground of Italian independence . How needful , then , for Ituly to await the opportunity that is sure to come . How necessary to avoid any class movement especially , and any movement , before the right moment has arrived , it may be well for the Italian patriots to reflect that iu England no . success has ever beou gained , except as the fruit of a national movement , as distinguished from a class revolution . Wo have no single instance of a class revolution in our history . When King John tried to overset the common law , the Barona forced him to dechare it at the point of the sword ; when Charles Stuart strove to suppress representative government , the nution struck off his head ; and when James Stuart endeavoured to destroy British liberties , again the nation acted , and drove him forth . But no class did those things : they were done by all classes . To succeed , Uk- ' Italian movement must , in like manner , he national , embracing all ulosues . At all events no mere revolution twill ever command the sympathy of England . In the great war now begun , tho opportunity of Italy -will surely arrive . Austria is in a cleft stick ; and difficulties beset her on all sides . Austriun sincerity , thia way or that , ia not worth discussing ; for the V Vcatorii Powers know her too well over to rely upon her . She will , at the best , be only an auxiliary to them ; nntl ¦ they will thoroughly comprehend that she joins them only for her own ends ; to save , if possible , her province * , mnd to gain something out of the defeat of Ku-wiu . »' Austria side with Russia the oouroo of Italy is extremely shnplo ; backed as she will be by tho Western Povvum , by Switzerland , and by Sardinia . If Austria side w » t «

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 8, 1855, page 858, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2105/page/6/