The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 07, No. 39, January, 1861 eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 307 pages of information about The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 07, No. 39, January, 1861.

The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 07, No. 39, January, 1861 eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 307 pages of information about The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 07, No. 39, January, 1861.

The Italian crisis is a European crisis; for matters have now reached a pass in which the foreigner must have something to say of Italy’s future:  and it will be well for the general peace, if he shall use only the words of justice, in giving his decision; for his right to speak at all in the premises is derived only from an act of usurpation, long acquiescence in which has clothed it with a certain show of legality.  In all that the Italians have thus far done, since the conclusion of the with Austria, they have not necessarily been brought into conflict with any foreign nation, though they may have terribly offended those legitimate sovereigns who have been accustomed either to give law to Europe or to see public opinion defer considerably to their will.  Not a single acquisition thus far made by Victor Emmanuel can be said to have proceeded from any act at which Europe could complain with justice.  Lombardy was given to him by his ally of France, whose prize it was, and who had an undid dispose of it in a most righteous manner.  That Central Italy was acquired by him was due partly to the cowardice of the old rulers thereof, and partly to intelligence, activity, and patriotism of its people.  No foreign rights, conventional or otherwise, were assailed or disregarded, when it passed under the Sardinian sceptre.  When go much of the Pope’s temporal possessions were taken from him by the people themselves, who had become weary of the worst system of misgovernment known to the west of Bokhara, no doubt many pious Catholics were shocked; but, if they knew anything of the history of the Papal temporal rule and power, they could not complain at what was done, on the score of illegality; and the deeds of Cialdini and Fanti and Persano were performed against foreigners who had intruded themselves into Italy, and who were employed to uphold the political supremacy of a few persons at Rome, while they had no more connection with the religion of the ancient Church than they had with that of Thibet.  The King of the Two Sicilies, by his tyranny, and by his persistence in the offensive course of his house, had become an outlaw, as it were, and every Italian at least was fairly authorized to attack him; and in doing so he could not be said to assail European order, nor could any European power send assistance to a monarch who had refused to listen even to the remonstrances of Austria against his cruelties.  The stanchest of English conservatives, while they said they must regard Garibaldi as a freebooter, did not hesitate to express the warmest wishes for the freebooter’s success.  When the Sardinians marched to Garibaldi’s aid, they did so in the interest of order, which has been promptly restored to Southern Italy through their energetic course.

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The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 07, No. 39, January, 1861 from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.