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diplomacy hiding each couple from all the rest , every one of those Powers is maintaining some kind of secret agency to play the spy upon all the rest . But by the nature of things , in the larger number of transactions each Government confides more to the secret agency than to the avowed . Yet again , by the nature of things , a class of animal must be employed in the secret agency infinitely lovrm than the lowest officials of the public agency . Our own Government is compelled
in a great measure to be public ; our statesmen are trained in a school more or less wedded to publicity and responsibility , and they are so far disqualified from carrying on the veiled statesmanship of Europe . It is a kind of game in . which Ep . gland must be the loser , at the same tin \ e that those of our statesmen whoaeqmr e the greatest ability in that school must 1 > e the less fitted to manage
the affairs of tbi ^ country honestly—the least qualified to be trusted m Parliament , or to obtain Jrom 7 " . ' arliament the kind of confidence essential Vj ail English executive . The game at . which * # q cannot succeed on the Continent spoils ov ar men for the proper conduct of our affairs * at home ; and Downing-street becomes m , or less subservient to the lowest in-^ ' i * ues of Leicester-square .
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neither the right nor the power to interpose between the people of the peninsula and their alien oppressors . Whatever authorities are in existence , in the several Italian states , it would , according to this theory , be unjustifiable and unwise to employ more than the good offices of the British Government for the solution of menacing difficulties . This appears to us the only question which
ITALIAN POLITICS . Lokd John ! Russell accepts and proclaims the principle that the Italians have a right to be delivered from foreign interference , and left free to deal with their governments as they will . But the question of Italian independence is to be argued in presence of the fact , that Italy is under the control of foreign powers — of France and Austria , both , in their influence , ruinous and hateful . It is at this point that the doctrine of intervention or of non - intervention must be applied . The Disraelites go so far as to maintain that Great Britain has
English politicians are officially competent to discuss . They have not , in Italy , another Greece or Belgium to fit with a promising kitig . They are foreigners , discussing the claims of other foreigners to govern one of the most important countries of Europe . It ib pure presumption to debate , with the desire of giving effect to your decision , whether the Italian nation is ripe for liberty , whether it should be consolidated or
federaliaed , monarchical or republican , left to its natural developments or conferred as a gift of easy gratitude upon the Constitutional House of Savoy . The politics of Italy constitute a European interest , in so far as other European powers are concerned iu determining them . The formula has been pronounced that Italian independence means the right of the Italian people to settle with the Papacy , and with their kingdoms and dukedoms , precisely as the Americaus have
a right to enact their own laws , and elect their own president . The question is , then , what shall be the policy ot England with respect to the foreign influences working in Italy ? The Austrian occupation is a breach of the public law of Europe , as laid down by the Treaty of Vienna ¦^ -that compact which , infamous as it was , contained some provision * too just not to 1 ) 0 violated by the reigning monarchies . The . trench protectorate at Xtome is a political crime , and a political danger , keeping open ,
perpetually , the way to a European war . That is the positive extent of the evil . While Italy remains in her present state the peace of Europe is not safe for one day . What , then , are the declarations of British statesmen ? Lord IiYNDHURBT , disparaging the propositions of the Sardinian memorial , incredulous of French generosity , suspecting tho professions of the British Government , regards the encroachments of Austria as attacks upon Piedmont , and urges that foreign armies must be withdrawn , at whatever hazard , from the Italian soil . Lord
Clabendon ' s reply , as a declaration of policy , is devoid of meaning . It simply confirms our opinion , invariable from the first , that the Italian Governments , excepting Sardinia , are too strongly entrenched as outworks of the great military system of Europe to fear the mild admonitions of English sympathizers , and that Austria and France are conspiring in a common cause . Both Lord Lindhubst and Lord Lansdowste believe that , ultimately , it may be necessary to employ force to prevent the absolute powers bearing down every liberal institution in Christendom .
In the House of Commons , Lord John Russell , setting aside the impossible and irrational doctrine of " non-intervention under all circumstances , " contended that Great Britain was pledged to uphold the Liberal cause in Italy , to defend Sardinia , even at the risk of war , and to resist the continuance of foreign military occupations . But he could not blind himself to the reigning curse of Italy—the French garrison of Rome—and
he hinted , what he dared not say , that the British Government was fettered by the " views" of Louis Napoleon . That touches the secret of Italian misery . Set Rome free from this immoral and debasing protectorate , and more than half the weight is lifted from the peninsula . But , as long as the Papal chair is in practical union with the Imperial throne at the Tuileries , Austria is safe , Italy is hopeless , or has only one hope—the Revolution .
The Disraelites , who are animated by not one generous sentiment towards the people of Italy , were well represented on Monday evening by their theatrical leader , who talked of the " awe" with which he approached the subject of secret societies . Those societies , he suggested , constituted a formidable organization , not in the Italian peninsula alone , but in France ; so that an insurrectionary movement against the Austrians , the Papacy , and the King of Naples , might be followed
by an insurrection at Paris . Mr . Monckton MiiiNES , commenting upon this insinuation , remarked , " Where no man could speak his mind , secret societies existed , and God forbid they should not . " Diplomacy is secret , cabinet deliberations are secret , why should the advantage of secrecy be denied to such men " as have the audacity , '' to use Lord John Russell ' s expression , " to devise for their countrv something better than misgovernment ? ' "
The effect of the parliamentary debates on the minds of Italians will be to assure them , that there exists in England a sincere solicitude for their welfare ; but that they have nothing to hope from English policy . They do not expect that Austria will adopt the desperate course of attacking Piedmont , and thus putting to the test the good faith of
England towards her ally . Thoy perceive that it is the design of the military powers to keep a firm and cautious hold upon Italy , and recognizing in tho constitutional Government of Sardinia an agoncy that disquiets Austria in her Italian possosaious , they rejoice that there should be an Italian State in which men may dispute concerning the qualities of their Government .
It is here that we have found ourselves at issue with those politicians who represent Count Cavoub as unpatriotic , and Piedmontese Constitutionalism as a quicksand . From the force with which these views are urged , it is to be feared that they may operate injuriously on the sentiments of the English people . But has not Piedmont improved her institutions , created for herself a happier social state than is enjoyed by Rome or Naples , opened a vantage-ground for Italian
liberals , checked the influence of the Jesuits ? Grant that Bboffebio ' s ideas are preferable to Cavoub ' s—are not Cayoub ' s preferable to the King of Naples ' , or Radetskx ' s ? It is folly , no doubt , to dream of governing the whole of Italy from Turin—it would be as rational to propose Edinburgh as the capital of the British Empire ; and it is equally absurd to contemplate the subjection , of the great Italian nation to a Savoyard family ; yet Count Cavotjb , a noble , a
diplomatist , and not an extreme politician , has represented a policy which , if it be not the best for Italy , has gained distinction for Piedmont . He is bitterly criticized by the Piedmontese journals , but the privilege of being bitter is enjoyed in no other part of Italy . Manin , who protested manfully in 1854 against the doctrine that the Italians ought not to revolt , because the Austrians occupied Italv in overpowering force , has called upon .
the Romans " to remain quiet , because of the presence of the French . " "W " e believe that Manin is an ardent friend of Italian independence . Mazzint , in two magnificent letters recently printed in the Belgian Nation , declares that his government of Venice will be remembered while an Italian lives ; but denies that Italy must wait , or trust herself to any royal family , or identify her cause with that of a throne . He accuses Manin—an
undoubted patriot — of subserving , imprudently , the interests of a princely faction , by prophesying that Victor Emmanuel may wear the crown of Italy . Manin retorts that he is neither royalist , nor republican , but Italian , and devoted to the independence of Italy . We do not see , in this diversity of opinion , a reason for despair . There is much to l > ope for Italy , when so many generous and
intellectual men , though varying in . their ideas , are engaged in planning her deliverance . As we have said , the Italians must decide upon the form of their future government ; we tear , moreover , that they have before them the task of driving out the French and Austrian armies , the most that tho English public enn expect to do , being to prohibit the interference of their ministers in iavour of despotism .
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THE ALLEGORY OF APSLEY GUISE . Tiie story of tho Babbatts reads like a chapter out of the JPilgrini's ^ Progress—a new chapter moralized for the instruction of tho present day . It is an allegory as pertinent and pregnant as any talo of real life can be . Samuel and Susannah his wife lived in a well-appointed cottage , neatly kept , sufliciently furnished , with no signs of poverty . With them lived their daughter Elizabeth , aged thirty-three , three other daughters , and a boy . The boy is employed in keeping cowh ,
aud of him we hear little ; it fb the three daughters whoso fate gives riso to tho story . These three girls wore aged respectively eighteen , sixteen , and fourteen . The eldest of tho throe lately died , and a coroner ' s jury examined into tho case . Although aged eighteen , tho girl was exceedingly diminutive in nizo , and tho condition of her digestive orgnnH showed a state of chronic starvationthe intestines absolutely empty , the stomach containing only one ounce of thin barley gruel . Tho caao of Helen waa that of tho
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084 THE LEADER . [ No . 330 , Sattopay ,
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), July 19, 1856, page 684, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2150/page/12/
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