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    472 T H E rli OSL'A B B Bi. [No. 321; Sk...

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    WHICH IS WHICH? Wnicn is the Tory party ...

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    France—Italy—Au Stria. The Sardinian Ple...

    Italy ; the Mmiaters of Viotob Emmanuel desire tt > eoiidticV that revolution through constitutional channels , under the conviction that , if they fail ,-the revolution will pursue its own way , and convulse the entire Italian community . - Such is the position of Sardinia . : The Austrian position is the counterpart of the Sardinian . No concession , no compromise is offered from Vienna . Instead of these , a threatening attitude is assumed . ± he provinces of Central Italy , and almost the whole valley of the To , are in the occupation of Austrian armies . Prom Ferrara and

    Bologna to Ancona , at the extremity of the Adriatic , a military cordon guards the smaller states , and the imperial engineers are at work , in defiance of the Treaty of Vienna , transforming Piacenza into a first-class fortress ; the garrison of Parma has overflowed into a suburban camp ; Austrian forces are deployed , from the Po to the Apennines , along the line of the Piedmontese frontier . These movements can have but one meaning . They signify that Austria is prepared to contend with Piedmont for the supremacy of the Italian peninsula .

    The Sardinian Government appeals to Prance as well as to Great Britain . The French Emperor , eldest son of the Church , protector of the Pope , protege of the Jesuits , rival of Atistria in Italy , enemy of . liberalism everywhere , is not a friend of the Italian nationality . Count Cavour , who has betrayed an exaggerated deference to Bonapartism , considers the French occupation of Aneona aud of Eome a reply to the Austrian occupation of 1849 . No doubt , had the [ Roman

    [ Republic remained unmolested by ± ranee , it would have been assailed by Austria ; but had not France intervened , it may be questioned whether Austria was equal to the subjugation of all Italy . As long as the Italians retained Home and Turin as citadels of the revolution , they might have held their ground against the armies of Radetzky . General Oudinot's expedition was an act of practical complicity with the aggressions of Austria . France has since asserted no interest but her own . The Eoinan States , under her protectorate , have been as basely governed as the [ Legations .

    Conscious , therefore , that the policy of France in Italy has been to uphold the obnoxious government of the Pope against the rights and feelings of the nation , the Sardinian minister removes the argument from the ground of justice to that of interest . He declares , in unequivocal terms , that Austria is encroaching upon Sardinia with the design of becoming mistress of Italy . Sardinia , he adds , . exhausted and left to contend alone with her gigantic enemy , must succumb . The aid of her liberal allies is essential to her political

    preservation . If such aid cannot be expected from France , it may be claimed from England , which is morally pledged to the Sardinian cause , and which , as M . Mamiani said , " must seek hereafter new friends among nations ripe for civil freedom . " " In order to bo fruitful , the policy of England must tend to assist other nations to conquer their liberty . " Not tho leaBt remarkable feature of the crisis is , that with the exception of a few impracticable men , the advanced Liberals have rallied to the Sardinian symbol . Manin , always generous and discreet , estimates at their proper value tho declarations obtained from the

    British and French plenipotentiaries at Paris , and summons tho Italian national party to identify itaelf with the policy of Piedmont . It sustained in that course , ho says , Piedmont may bo impelled further , by tho will of the nation . This ia wise counsel . Nothing can bo gainod by politicians whose whole career consists in tho

    rejection of actualities , and in the invention of transcendental programmes . It is , of course , true , that the Piedmontese constitution is in a state of imperfect development , that the press is under restrictions , that the police is arbitrary , that the laws still bear in parts the impress of the ancient despotism . But the cardinal evils of Italy are—Austria , the Popedom , foreign occupation ; and the only state in Itaty that labours to destroy these evils is Sardinia , which deserves , therefore , the

    countenance of the liberal party . Freed from a government of priests upheld by foreign bayonets in Home , and from an Austrian army in the Legations and Duchies , the Italians might deal with their domestic grievances , and adopt whatever institutions are most conformable to their genius and to their national desires . The question is not now between Italian princes and [ Republics , but between Italy and Austria , the Church

    and the people . Through the action of the late Concordat , which has delivered over the South of Germany , Hungary , and Transylvania to the supremacy of Roman priests , the clerical Jbody in Home has become , in its turn , the representative of Austrian interests . Sardinia , which resists with equal constancy the ascendancy of Austria and the ascendancy of Eome , is then the direct opponent of this usurpation , which threatens

    to destroy the last relics of political independence in Italy . The national patriots , surely , will not desert their one free state , their one ffethful government . In no other direction does any hope appear ; unless , indeed , the present ferment in the Duchies , in Sicily , in jSTaples , in Xiombardy , in Venice , should precip itate that general conflict which seems inevitable between Austria , with " her pale satellites , " and the true Italian nation .

    "We know that to this revolutionary war many sincere friends of Italy look as the only possible solution of the crisis . Even the moderate D'Azeglio said , " Why should we do something for the [ Legations alone ? " The Neapolitan and Sicilian liberals , recalling the counsels of [ Lord Minto and the

    lamentations ' . of Lord Malmesbury , treat as illusory the hopes of Sardinia to gain the assistance of Western Europe . But there ia a difference between suspecting the sympathy of the British Government , and refusing the co-operation of the Sardinian . Italy has need of concord among her patriots , for they will probably have to fig ht their battle alone .

    472 T H E Rli Osl'a B B Bi. [No. 321; Sk...

    472 T H E rli OSL'A B B Bi . [ No . 321 ; Sky tniPAY ^

    Which Is Which? Wnicn Is The Tory Party ...

    WHICH IS WHICH ? Wnicn is the Tory party ? We see on the Opposition benches of the House of Commons crowded rows of gentlemen always ready to upset the Government , but where is the solid Tory party , which professes to be one and undivided ? Ever since tho full of Lord John Russell from the Premiership , there has been a cry among the Tories that , whereas they constituted a large , compact , coherent minority , a number of petty factions , divided in opinion and in interest , without common traditions or common symbols , were always enabled to combine into a majority

    for the purpose * of keeping thorn out of office . Thus , after Lord Deeby's general election , a coalesced opposition drove out the forty new Privy Councillors sworn by tho Earl at Windsor , and established the Coalition Ministry of Lord Aberdeen . Impatient of Lord Aberdeen , tho [ Liberals joined tho Tories in expelling him , and Lord Palmerston took his place . And now tho grievance is , that tho Premier , who ia an Oligarch besides being an Imperialist , is maintained in power by an amalgamation of the Liberals , who halo his politics , lovo his patronage , and deprive tho nation of tho jone / its it would derive from a strong

    Government resting on the suffrages of a united party . But we do not see any united party any party more united than the Whig . Certainly the Tories can boast of no union . They are at war among themselves on almost every principle of legislation and government . The constituencies , moved by Flewker and Frail , sent up to the existing Parliament a minority supposed to represent one set of

    principles . When these principles are brought forth in detail , the party splits , and a dozen clans may be distinguished , with a dozen champions . The truth is , that the heads of the Tory interest have abandoned the idea of reaction , while the country gentlemen are enthusiastic on little reactionary schemes of their own , which set them quarrelling and voting without their leaders .

    Mr . Spooler has a reactionary impulse on the subject of Maynooth . A large section of the Tory members support him , and , the other day , he gained a majority . But where were the leaders of the party ? Where was Mr . Disraeli ? Not with Mr . Spoonee . When the question arrives at its next stage , they will probably be seen filing off with the Whigs into the Liberal lobby . [ Neither Lord Stanley nor Sir John Pakington supported Mr . Spooner . Then Sir Fuederick XT i

    -v > .-Thesiger moves an amendment on the motion for the admission of Jews to Parliament . Mr . Disraeli votes against the amendment , Lord Stanley refuses to vote for it ; yet [ Lord Stanley ' s and Mr . Disraeli ' s organ appeals to the gentlemen of Euglaud against a measure that will weaken the Protestant securities of the realm . In the same spirit Lord Stanley breaks from the Sabbatical body as he promises , at King's Lynn , and elsewhere , to break

    from all prejudices , and invites the industrious classes to enjoy their Sunday in galleries or museums ; but , in a journalistic sense , he thinks his policy bad ; therefore , j ournalistically , he opposes it . Here is impartiality , but what of principle ? Again , the serious and well-intentioned member for Droitwich is pledged , whenever the opportunity is afforded him , to give the authority of a Cabinet to his Education Bill , in which case Mr . Henley must change his opinions , stay away , or vote against a Derby Government . LordELLENBOROUGii is bound

    to oppose Lord St . Leonards' p lan of Law Reform . Mr . Disraeli cannot agree Avith Mr . Newjdegate on the Jew question . Lord Stanley considers Mr . Spooner , in relation to the Maynooth Grant , as nothing less than a bigot , and nothing more than an obstinate provincial . Lord Stanley , indeed , were his courage more unflinching than would appear from his double treatment of Sunday recreation , in Parliament and the press , could not accept office , on the pretence of carrying out his political professions , with such a body of supporters as the Whitesides , Spoonebs , IIenleys—the real representatives of

    Toryism . ^ A Tory ministry , therefore , with tho Earl of Deiiby , Mr . Disbaeli , and Lord Stanley as its leaders , must begin by " putting down " Sir Frederick Tiieseosu , Mr . Newdeoate and " tho Protestant securities of tho realm , Mr . Spooner , and the No-Popery business , Sir John Pa kino ton and hia Education scheme , and all tho Tory gentlemen whoso abro

    dead idolatry clings to the forms of an - gated Sabbath ; or it must leave theao questions open , and govern without a system or a principle . In tho actual state of parties and opinions , that may not sooin difficult ; yet there is this anomaly in tho political condition of England : at a general election the eonHUtuoncioH , whatever they may think of Wlngfl or [ Liberals , will not lmvo n Tory majority .

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), May 17, 1856, page 16, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_17051856/page/16/