Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Vol. 66, No 409, November 1849Various
History
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Vol. 66, No 409, November 1849
Various
England -- Periodicals; Scotland -- Periodicals
And yet this
was the accredited agent sent out by Lord Palmerston to expound the
intentions and views of Great Britain, not only to the sovereigns of
Italy, but also to their revolted subjects.
We say nothing of the diplomatic employment of such a representative as
Mr Abercromby, at the court of Turin. The correspondence contained in
the Blue Books laid before parliament, shows how singularly ignorant
that minister was of the real posture of affairs in Italy; how eagerly
he caught at every insinuation which was thrown out against the good
faith and pacific policy of Austria; and how completely he was made
the tool and the dupe of the revolutionary party. It is enough to
note the fruits of the Palmerstonian policy, which have been, so far
as we are concerned, the utter annihilation of all respect for the
British name in Italy, insurrections, wild and wasting civil war, and,
finally, the occupation of Rome by the French. Whatever may be thought
of the prudence of this latter move, or whatever may be its remote
consequences, this at least is certain, that, but for Oudinot and his
army, the Eternal City would have been given up as a prey to the vilest
congregation of ruffians that ever profaned the name of liberty by
inscribing it on their blood-stained banners. To associate the cause
of such men with that of legitimate freedom is an utter perversion
of terms; and those who have been rash enough to do so must stand
convicted, before the world, of complete ignorance of their subject. No
pen, we believe, could adequately describe the atrocities which were
perpetrated in Rome, from the day when Count Rossi fell by the poniard
of the assassin, on the steps of the Quirinal palace, down to that on
which the gates were opened for the admittance of the besieging army.
Not the least of Popish miracles was the escape of Pius himself, who
beheld his secretary slain, and his bodyguard butchered by his side.
Of these things modern liberalism takes little note: it hears not
the blood of innocent and unoffending priests cry out for vengeance
from the pavement; it makes no account of pillage and spoliation, of
ransacked convent, or of harried home. It proclaims its sympathy aloud
with the robber and the bravo, and is not ashamed to throw the veil of
patriotism over the enormities of the brigand Garibaldi!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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