FRANCE AND ITALY. (FROM "LE SIECLE.")

Daily Southern Cross, Volume XVII, Issue 1438, 24 September 1861, Page 4

FRANCE AND ITALY. ( FROM "LE SIECLE.")

The imposing religious manifestation in which Paiis and the whole of France have to day expressed their deep legret for the sudden death of Count Cavour has had a distinct character fiom all other ceiemonies of the kind. The alliance of France and Italy, cemented on sucb glorious battle fields, has leceived, it may be said, a striking religious conseciation. Even after Ins death the lllustiious statesman still does service to his country. His sudden disappearance has revealed certain necessities which, were le&s felt while that great heart and raie intellect guided the destinies of his countiy The lecogmtion of the new Kingdom of Italy might have been for a long time fuithei postponed by the French government. Count Cavoui being away, Fiance could not hesitate any longer, with any legard to Euiopean order, or to the generous woik undertaken by oui valiant army. The piesence of the great dignitaries of state and lepieseiitatives of the French government at the touching ceremony of to day is, as it were, the prelude of the public act expected both in France and in Italy with such leasonable impatience. Theie has been some mention of conditions to be imposed on Victor Emmanuel in exchange for the official recognition of the new state of things founded with oui assistance. We refuse to believe, until it shall be cleaily deinonstiated, that France now wishes anything els>e than, she wished when she drew her sword to insure the independence of Italy. What did the Fieuch govern ment then wish ? Italy flee fiom the Alps to the Adriatic. Why should not the government pmsue to day the object it then puisued ' Maik well the false and dangerous situation m which the non execution of this programme has placed, not only Fiance and Italy, but all Euiope. If apprehensions of war paralyse affairs in general ; if any tar piospective operation is considered almost impossible all over Europe ; if the keeping up of fleets and standing armies absorbs the best pait of budgets , if, at home, afflicting disputes break out; if party hatreds are revived to such a degree that a piiest has been heard to say pul hcly that an inquest should be opened to ascertain whether Count Covoui in his last moments was sincere or not in the expiession of his faith ; if we are saddened by beemg the scandalous advantage that is taken of men's excitement, prejudice, and passion, — what is it all owing to but to the doubts entertained in consequence of the non-execution of the geneious progiamme which Fiance drew up at the beginning of the campaign of 1859. What does the French Government mean by maintaining a body of troops at Rome in opposition to the wishes of the country occupied in this military fashion 1 Are we for or against the independence of Italy ? From the impossibility of answering such questions arise fatal doubts and uncei tain ties. The clerical fact tions, persuaded that the Government is afraid of them and quails before them, redouble their insolence, and give free couise to their hostility. Such a state of things must cease We must be either for or against Italy — for or against the temporal power of the Papacy. Will the recognition of the Italian kingdom hasten this univeisally desired solution « God giant it, for the welfare of Italy, for the repose and the gloiy of France ' It is the most ardent wish that we have foimcd during this day, sacred to the memory of the great Italian patriot. The situation of the partisans of the temporal Papacy in France and that of the French army at Rome are no longer tenable. At the very moment of our writing these lines we receive a letter fiom Rome, dated June 12, revealing such a giave and critical state of matters there, that it is perilous to prolong it Let Fiance, since she is a Catholic nation — not Catholic, howevei, so much as Christian — protect the Papacy : lei her supply it with the means of accomplishing its spiritual mission ; all well and good. But for our flag to shelter leactionary mtrigtfes at Rome ; for cardinals and Fiancis II , under the protection of our arms, to keep up civil war in that Italy for whose independence we have lavished so much money and so much blood, is a flagiant inconsistency which cannot be prolonged. Fiance, the classic land of good sense, loves clear situations. Let it be one or the other, " Vive Ie Jloi l" or " Vive la Ligue I" This clearness, this decision, for one side or the other, is the unanimous wish of Europe. We cannot too eageily urge the French government to remove all uncertainty as to its lesolutions. What has taken place to day in Paris — the immense crowd of people round the temple where the momoiy of Count Cavour was honouied in a manner so touching and yet so lncoinploto ; the work in the service of which he died ; oui own interest ; that of Italy and of Europe geneially, on which the present situation weighs like a leaden garment; — everything makes it our duty to pacify Italy by lecognizing the new kingdom unconditionally and in terms that may discouiage for ever the plotteis of disorder, whether their flag be the legitimacy of Divine light or the tempoial power of the Pope,

Unpleasant Visitors —The Huns.— The following is the deacriptien given by the Latin author Atnmiaiius Maicellinus, of the Huns, when they first invaded the civilized poitious of Em ope :—": — " You would esteem them rathei as two-legged brutes than men. Not one of them knows whence he comes, or whither he is wandering. Born iar away, and still fmther the place of his bringing up, the graves of his fathers, and the land of his youth aie alike unknown to him. A waggon his only house, his home the accidental place of his encampment, his whole soul is absorbed by the puisuits of the day, and the past and tho futuio are things of equal inchffeience. None of them plough, and none of them sow ; their food is fiVsh or wild loots, which they devour uncooked. The l garments aie only changed when they fall off fi om old age Without religion, with no idea of civilized life, they almost live upon their tough little hoises; wandering wheievei there is aught to steal, and robbery the_ whole business of their livea,"