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THE HAPSBURG PLOT RKVKALED.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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le ° itimacy in every country ; df Europe , lie durst , not depart in the leagi . iota ¦ from ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ the " . formula of freedom established here ; nay more , he seems to think himself bound to discourage on all occasions every possible application of the life-giving principles of liberty , otherwise than in consonance with the iiotions prevalent at "Windsor and Whitehall . As long as Lord John Russell has to deal with the ministers of Austria and Naples , he is all for the expediency and necessity of popular sanction . But when lie comes to talk to' the envoy of the self-emancipated Tuscans , his tone is emphatically monarchical , not merely as advocating the superior advantages of royalty above republicanism , tut specifically in
favour of that . dishonoured and repudiated royal house whose impudence and baseness the Tuscans bore too long , We have it upon the authority of Lorcl Graxville , speaking in his place of leader of the House of Lords , that when the lamented Marquis LvJATicowas in this country last autumn , the Foreign Secretary repeatedly urged upon him . . the desirableness of the restoration of the House of Hapsburg-Lorraine , concornitaiitly with the establishment in Tuscany of constitutional forms . In other words , the English revolutions of 1660 and 16 S 8 were to be set up as models for imitation , no matter how repugnant to the circumstances of the case or the feelings of the people . The old deling quent prince was to be cashiered as Charles I . and James II .
had been ; but his hopeful progeny was to be substituted in Ms stead , as Ciearles II . and Queens Mary and Anne had been , for the sake of preserving the principle of legitimacy . ' " with a difference . '' And this , no doubt , was thought a most skilful and adroit evasion of conflictingdifficulties by the courtier colleagues of Lord John . It equally distinguished the policy recommended by England from that of Austria-, and that of France from that of M . Cavour and that of M . Mazzint . Nobody could corifbund it with that of Vienna , for it proposed to stipulate as an essential condition upon the consent and act of the people ; and nobody at the time was likely to confonrid it with the policy of the Tuilcries , for no one then doubted that Napoleon III . affect ! only to threaten the Italians with the restoration of the Grand
Duke , in order that they might , in preference , be forced to ask for a French prince as their sovereign . The obstinacy with which the French Emperor refused at that time to tolerate the idea of the annexation of Central Italy to Piedmont constituted an additional reason . perhaps , in the eyes of the English Cabinet , for this extraordinary recoriiniendatioii ; and now that that obstinacy seems to have yielded to the- desire of securing Savoy , it is very possible that the two Governments may make up their minds to acquiesce in the decision to which the Tuscans and other Central Italians have come . M . Mazzini himself concurs in the proposed , annexation , because he has always advocated national unity as superior in importance to air other objects which his countrymen hailed .: and the formation of a northern
Italian kingdom , stretching- from the Alps to llaverina , would ¦ unquestionably be a great stride towards that consummation . But now that this point seems nearer to attainment , the English Government steps in anew ' - with its unsouglit-for advice , and proposes to saddle the annexation with conditions respecting Koine and Venice , which the Italians arc as unlikely to agj-ee to as they were to concur in tlie recommendations conveyed through M . ' Lajatjcqo . Venice , it is proposed , shall be- constitutiorinlized , and the Papal States are to have administrative reform : and as soon as these things have been done , all French mul Austrian troops were to bo withdrawn from Italy . But oven were it our duty and our business to take diplomatic measures to prevent the union of the Venetians or the llomnus with the rest of their countrymen , what is the value of so vague -and
ill-defined a plan , ? Who is to be the judge oi' the sufficiency ot the reformatory measures in Venetia or the States of the Church , upon whoso realization' French and German garrisons are to bo withdrawn beyond the Alps ? Probably Lord 3 ' oun Russell himself is neither surprised-nor disappointed at the indisposition shown at Berlin-as well as nt St . ' Petersburg and Vienna to enter into negotiations on such a basis . It is not the less to bo regretted , in our opinion , that it should have boon proposed .
The duty of England 13 to recognise frankly nud- without reserve ) the saoml truth , that Italy was made for the Italians , and , that they find no other people on earth havo a right to bear rulo therein . All attempts of foreign powers to fetter their freo choioo nrc alike unwise and wrong , and there is no respect in whk'li nt the present moment wo should inoro signally thwart the national will , than by devising new lines of territorial demarcation bet \\ ew those parts ' of Italy , which aro iufu . turti . to bo Italian and those which are not .
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npjIE " Correspondcnco on the Affairs of Italy , " just laid before X Parliament , mny bo viewed under two aspects , both ol winch ai'O highly satisfactory , and ought to strengthen public
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confidence in the present administration , and especially in Lord John Bussell as Minister for Foreign Affairs . In the first place , it evinces ah unprecedented frankness in giving so much important information at a time when it is capable of influencing the current of events , instead of following the vicious precedent of withholding it until it could do ' 'little more than ' gratify historical curiosity ; and in the second place , it affords conclusive demonstration that , in -the . main , the Government has faithfully and assiduously repi'esented tlie opinions of the people . Loud
John Russell ' s despatches contrast ' most . ' favourably with those of Lord Malmesbuhy ; instead of being verbose and windy eiForts to conceal : the cloven foot . of absolutism , they are concise , clear , and business-like expressions of statesmanlike forethought and liberal policy . It is moreover impossible to read them in ' connection with-, the details afforded in other documents , without being impressed with the conviction that the British Government has exercised a most beneficial influence upon tlie conduct of France , and the prospects of freedom and independence in Italy .
It is satisfactory to us to find confirmation of every important statement which We have made iipon Italian affairs , and especially of our continued assertioiis ^ -T—put forward at a time when most of our contemporaries took opposite views——that if England did her duty the French Government would be encouraged , and enabled to do more for Italy than the unfortunate Villafranca preliminaries would lead any one to suspect : The reason for the sudden and unsatisfactory peace is partly explained . The French Emperor found victory costly , and was alarmed at the expense by which further triumphs could be secured , and at the
same time his adversary was frightened at the . prodigious outlay , which only led to , defeat . Accordingly the two combatants patched- ' up a . . 'truce , which they . misnamed- a peace , and each one avoided explicit engagements iipon the most difniiult points of the Italian question . They arranged ' . a suspension of hostilities , and then , like tAvo Imperial j \ Eicawbers , waited for " something to turn up . " Lord JoiiS- ¦ IIussell at once saw the uncertainty and hollowness of the _ arrangement , and continued to put a series of shrewd , pertinent , questions , as . to ' . what its clauses meant , arid how they were to be worked out . From first to last h 4 bbldlv . and stoaAilv maintained the right of the
Italians to chooso their .. own rulers , and' protested -against auy employment of force to . obtain the restoration of the dismissed and runaway- potentates .. He was equally explicit as to the danger of auy Italian confederation of which Austria formed a part , and very successful , in gradually approximating the policy of the Tuileri ' es to his own . Upon ' the . ' question of the Congress he was likewise able and firm—rnl way ' ready to enter into it , provided just principles were previously recognised , but determined neither to compromise the dignity of England nor endanger the rights of Italy . This conduct , although it may have placed momentary . difficulties'in the way of the French ¦ Government ,
steadily Jed to mutual respect and agreement , and was iiivnluablein cheeking the designs of the contemptible and unprincipled Government of Austria . It is a matter of regret to those who , like ourselves , wish well to Germany , and de . siro to see her united , and occupying an honourable position in- Europe ; that dier leading power , Prussia j should , as ' usual , have failed alike in dignity and in duty . Instead of supporting- England in maintaining the broad principles of liberty , her Government refused-to recognise the rights principles of liberty , her Government refused-to recognise the rights ' found
of the , Italians torally round the King of Sardinia and a strong and free . kingdom of Xartherirnnd Central Italy ; and they wished to leave , tho question of whether or not force ; should be employed to restore the Pukes , to be deliberated by the assembled Powers , The Prussian Court seems incapable of learning tin . ; plain fact , that a Government only invite ;* respect in proportion as it represents enlightened idena ; and that a halting , shullHny policy , . compounded of reactionary fomuilas and a pretence ot civilization , is utterly ineonsis . tcn ' t with pretonsions to lend » ¦
numerous'and cultivfited raco . Ui > on the conduct ami intentions of Austria , tho " Oorrcspoii ' donee" is eNoeedingly instriiftivc ; and it is clear that from the moment the two' Emperors patched up their quarrel , the statesmen of Sardinia eoulel only , in the Inng'iinye of £ ir James IIl'USON , conaiehn " that .. jienoo 14 ) 011 thosr . buses cannot be other than pveearibus , and tluit it adds , to the olel ¦^• viovt ' iiife ' S ot Italy the new one of deluded lope . " There is ^ vieleiice . thal' the Emperor of tho IVcnch was fully conscious of this fuel . ; and hence , although lio adhered iu words to the VillalVonea preliminaries , he appear * to have endeavoured to leael Austria to 11 more liberal and , satisfactory solution of the difficulty-, but , of course , without tho slij' -hterst ' ofluct . In these pfforts Franeu attempted to secure an Italian aelmiuistmtion for Vcuotia , and an
undertaking from Austria not to employ force to ellec't the rostornUou of the Dukes . The first oonipluti'Iy failed , and the sc-eoiul object only succei'dcd to the extent of obtaining some intimation , tlint Austria was ' nIVaid of an iminaUate renewal of . ¦ war , but that lior
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176 The Leader and Saturday Analyst . ( Feb . 25 , I 860 ,
The Hapsburg Plot Rkvkaled.
THE HAPSBURG PLOT REVEALED .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 25, 1860, page 176, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2335/page/4/
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