!Ohl In Of Eititnr.
ECONOMY OF BLOODSHED.
Belfast, 10th. June 1859. Sot—If we are to reason on any recognized principles of political action, the retreat of the Austrians from Piedmont makes it more mysterious than ever, why they entered it at all : as they have gained nothing by that move except contributions to an amount that probably has not paid the expense of the war for a single day. ; an advantage that no Government would be likely to set against the loss of prestige involved in commencing a retreat before a battle was fought. The Austrian policy in refusing the proposed Congress and abruptly de- claring war is equally unaccountable. It was an action that nothing could have justified except the prospect of a great success, or or the necessity of an- ticipating a great danger. We could understand it they had seized Turin and defended the passes of the Alps against the French : and we should have pronounced them justified, if by so doing they had warded off some great danger to the liberties of Europe. Many persons in this country thought that such was the significance of the Austrian declaration of war, and it was compared to that most high-handed and apparently unjust act of mo- dern times, the seizure of the Danish fleet by us during the war against the first Napoleon, which was afterwards fully explained and amply justified by our Government having obtained information of the secret articles of the treaty of Tilsit threatening to place the Danish fleet at the disposal of our enemies. It was conjectured that the alleged secret treaty between Russia and France had in the same way come to the knowledge of the Austrian Go- vernment, and led to the abrupt rupture of negotiations and declaration of war.
Another reason given for the conduct of the Austrians was that they wished to obtain the advantage of the more forward state of their military preparations. Whether or not either of these reasons be true, they certainly have not been justified by the event. Russia is as quiet as ever : the Aus- trians have not seized Turin, nor impeded the entrance of the French into Italy : and they have lost their first great battle. The position of the Em- peror of Austria is one which makes misfortune ridiculous. He forced on the war, and has met with defeat : he did not seize Turin, and he has lost Milan.
Unaccountable as his conduct may appear I believe it admits of very easy explanation. Austria, like France, is a country where the Emperor not only reigns but governs ; but unlike Fiance, is has an Emperor who is utterly unit for governing, being a man of very ordinary abilities hot- headed, and obstinate. The declaration of war and the invasion of Pied- mont were in my belief not a political or strategical move, but a mere out- burst of temper on the part of the Emperor of Austria.
The present war has shown, no less clearly than that of 1848, how utterly useless the Milanese territory is to Austria in a military sense. It can be scarcely worth while for an empire to remain in a chronic, state of prepara- tion for war, in order to defend a capital and a territory that must be aban- doned after a single defeat ; and Napoleon cannot, honourably, make peace without leaving that territory annexed to Piedmont. The case is very dif- ferent with the Venetian territory, lying behind the great fortresses. Aus- tria, and even the German confederation, have some conceivable interest in retaining all between the Mincio and the Adriatic. Napoleon, however, has promised to free Italy to the Adriatic. It may, notwithstanding, be found possible to arrange matters in some such way as this : the Austrian territory west of the Mincio to be annexed to Piedmont ; and that east of the Mincio to be formed into an independent state with the Emperor of Austria as its sovereign, but with a separate army, to be used only for Ita- lian purposes. The new Italian state to be garrisoned only by its own army, except during actual war ; but Verona (perhaps) to be held by Austria as at present. Such a treaty of peace would be probably durable, and certain- ly glorious for the Allies. • Were the Emperor of Austria a man of sense, he would demand and obtain the Adriatic proving:el of the Papal territory. as a compensation for the loss of Lombardy ; but the murderer of Batthyani is probably too good a Catho- lic for this.
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