FRANCE AND AUSTRIA. {From the Times.)

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XVI, Issue 1242, 9 August 1859, Page 1 (Supplement)

FRANCE AND AUSTRIA. {From the Times.)

! The following is the text, of Count Walewski's ! despatch to the Marquis de Banneville, French Charge d' Affaires at Vienna, announcing the cessation of friendly relations between France and Austria :— Paris, April 29. "Monsieur,— At the moment I have the honor of addressing this despatch to you, 1 feel little doubt but that the Ticino has been crossed by the Austrian army. I have already made known to you by my telegraphic message of the 26th the construction which the French Government would be obliged to put on such a demonstration. If the precipitation of events unfortunately renders all discussion superfluous, it is a du^y for me to remind you in a few words of the ensemble' of the acts w'aich show at the same time the itttperious necessity of ou- conduct and the perseverance of quj: efforts to bring about a different result. The F-rerieh Government certainly has not to justify itself for the solicitude which it feels for the state of things in Italy. The crisis which has broken out in the centre of the Italian peninsula shows the correctness of our fortsight, and sufficed to cause our apprehensions to be shared by the other great Powers of Europe. This simultaneous accord of the Cabinets in face of a danger of which they have for some yearspast felt a deep conviction, proves to what a point the question appears to them to be ripe for a solution We are fully convinced that the Congress, assembled under the conditions on which the Cabinet of St. Petersburg had proposed to convoke it, and confining itself within the programme traced out for its deliberations by the English Government, would have fully solved the difficulties, which prudence will no longer allow to be left to themtelvei. Who can now doubt but that the stumbling-block against which the work of conciliation has been broken, was the pretension put forth by the Court of Vienna on the subject of a disarmament, relative to which it would have been mote just for it to set an example? Sardinia had, in fact, accepted without reserve tha situation which resulted for her from the terms of the proposition of Russia ; and although military preparations had already been made on her territory, the disproportion of her forces rendered tht idea of any aggression on her part inadmissible, and the most simple reason imposed on her the duty of calmly awaiting the decision of the great Powers. In a word, no guarantee could be more real or complete for Austria than the immediate meeting of the Congress ; and if the fiist condition, which the insisted on being accomplished before answering tht appeal of the allies— a condiiion considered by every one as unacceptable — after wards gave rise to combinations which she alone rejected, I must be allowed to say that at the outset, as well as at the end, tht obstacle to that harmony which was sincerely desired by the other Courts, was only met with at Vienna. The situation of affiars, Monsieur, doubtless acquired in consequence of ao many delays, a gravity more and more serious ; but the good wiahtt and intentions which had been formed and maintamed to the end between the Cabinet! of Paris, Berlin, London, and St Petersburg, opposed itt resistance to the perils of this situation. Nothing was irreme liahly compromised, until Austria, not content with refusing her acquiescence to the last propositions of England, adopted the plan of addressing to the Government of Turin a summons at a short delay, wh eh forcibly changed our attitude. The French Government were fully disposed to consider the affairs of It>ily as a great European ques. tion to the settlement of which the assistance of all their allies was necessary. These affairs, however, were connected on one single point with interests which affected them in a more personal and particular manner. Austria herself, in promising not to commence hostilities against Piedmont, implicitly reognised the existence of a limit which tht most anxious desire for a pacific solution would not permit us to suffer her to pass. The French Government had, moreover, declared that it would not support Sardinia in any act of aggression", but that it would assist her in defensive measures. This engagement would remain inoperative until the occurrence of a contingency which depended entirely on the Court ot Vienna. Informed of the menace made to Piedmont with such a brief delay, we were bound, in an equally short space of time, to place ourselves in a position to weaken its effects, anil, on the demand of the King of Sardinia, the vanguard of the French army entered his territory? Sympathies, which we avow without -hesitation, rendered it almost impossible for us to remain indifferent to the sufferings of a country closelr.alhed with France, but more positive reasons dictated our conduct — a« the country in question lay at our very door, covered part of our frontiers, and formed the last obstacle to the extension of an influence which England, Prussia, and Russia, as well as ourselves, considered of « natuie to compromise the equilibrium of Europe, and to keep up in that part of Italy, which was intended to constitute independent and ' sovereign States, a constant cause of agitation and disturbance. In adopting a resolution of which I have defined the purelyde tensive character,' the French Government has Tele bound to apprise 'he Court ot Vienna that its ultimatum and the eventualities to clearly foreseen as it* consequences, gave rise, by the aide of the general question, till then treated in common by the Cabinets of Paris, Berlin, London, and St. Petersburg, to a question altogether French. It waa I a last warning, a final effort to prtvent, before it I was too late, the encounter of France and Austria on other ground than that of European discussion. Th* ■entupent* which bate nertr ctaud to animate tht:

Government of the l-mperor— l do not fear at this ■olemn moment to guarantee the fact— did not tend to these extremities to which another will has fatally led. It wat the passing o r the Ticino which obliged at to cross the -Alps, declining all responsibility tor the events in the face •£ Europe;" J You will, therefore, Monsieur, at toon at donbt no longer remains respecting the movement of the Austrian troops, proceed to the Count de Buol, and, after reading this despatch, of which you will leave him a copy, de;manil your passports. . ' "Accept, Sib." • The following is the note which M. de Bannesfille "wrote to Count de Buol, dated Vienna, the Shd of May, in pursuance of the instructions given :— ' "Referring to the communication which by order '©f hit Government he had' the honour of making te "hit Excellency the Minister of Foreign Affairs, and which putt an end to his mission, the undersigned regrets to have to request his Excellency Count de 'Buol to deliver the passports necessary for him and the persons composing the French Embassy at Vienna, to quit the States of the Emperor of Aus*tria and proceed to Fra-ce. The undersigntd has . the honour, &c."