The French occupation of Rome.
The official correspondence in relation to the
French occupation of
Rome has been laid before Parliament.
It appears that
M. Thouvenel said to Lord Cowley, the
British Ambassador in
Paris: ‘"Why are we to be asked to give up
Rome and the patrimony of
St Peter to the
King of
Italy?
The utmost that can be expected of us would be the restoration of
Rome to the Romans. "’
Lord Cowley sent a report of this conversation to Earl Russell, whose reply is pointed:
‘"
Thouvenel asks:' Why are we to be asked to give up
Rome and the patrimony of
St. Peter to the
King of
Italy?
The utmost that can be expected of us would be the restoration of
Rome to the Romans.' This is an objection rather captious than conclusive.
The grand objection made to the evacuation of
Rome by the
French troops, as stated frequently by
M. Billault, as the parliamentary organ of the
French Government, is that anarchy would prevail. "’
In a concluding dispatch Earl Russell summarises the result of the discussions, which he thinks have been attended with considerable advantages.
He says:
‘
"
M. Thouvenel no longer speaks of the difficulty of persuading the
Italian Government to accept of such conditions as her Majesty's Government had suggested.
Nor is there any question of forcing the
Pope to abandon his temporal power and remain in
Italy as the subject of another sovereign.
The whole question is, whether the
Pope, having lost Romagna, the Marches, and
Umbria, should retain the whole of the territory now occupied by
France, or whether the
French troops should occupy for the
Pope only the Patrimony of
St. Peter, including the Vatican.
Setting aside all difference between a Protestant and
Roman Catholic sovereign, it is manifest that the principle thus upheld is at variance with the principles maintained everywhere else by
France as well as by
Great Britain.
Rome is foreign territory; the Romans are to have nothing, and foreign troops everything, to say to the form of its Government.
This system can hardly be of long duration; it is too directly opposed to the maxims of international law and the wishes of the
Italian people.
Earl Russell, deeming the information he has obtained all that can at present be had by discussion, does not wish it to be continued, but he sends an arrow into the
French camp as he retires from the subject:
"On the other hand, the
French Government must not make it a reproach to the
Government of
Italy that the
Southern provinces are not in a state of tranquility, while the
French flag protects the
Pope in maintaining a sanctuary where every chief of brigands can find a refuge, and prepare his band for future incursions on peaceful provinces."
’
