The Cloud in Italy

The Seventh-day Adventist Publishing Association · Battle Creek, Mich. · Jun 18, 1867

The Cloud in Italy.

The English papers now generally concede the truth of the story which we published some time since that Victor Emanuel has been, and perhaps is, seriously contemplating a coup d’état. The King is anxious for reunion with Rome, and it is understood that the Pope has actually been consulted upon the character of the propositions to be submitted to the Italian Parliament in regard to the sale of the ecclesiastical property. A congregation of cardinals has decided that it is not desirable for the Church to hold land any longer, and therefore that it may in a lofty manner and as a benevolence merely pay six hundred million of francs to the treasury of the state. The King is said to have given his written pledge that, if the Parliament refuses to pass a bill which, in consideration of this benevolence, will release the priesthood from the control of the state, he will suspend parliamentary government, assume absolute power, and reconcile himself with Rome.

Such a coup d’état would hardly succeed. The King, as the London Spectator says, is liked but not respected. He has alienated the love of Piedmont, and that of Tuscany has had no time to grow. The army admires him, but he has led it to defeat only, and his hold upon the soldiers is, therefore, not sure. The priests are hated by the towns, and the army is national and patriotic. An army of Italians enthusiastically educated to free Italy from Austria will not easily fire upon Italians to protect a Pope who has been the symbol of reaction. Garibaldi and Cialdini are names graven upon the Italian heart—the one a volunteer chief, the other a General of the regular army—and they are both bitterly hostile to the new policy. Garibaldi’s manifesto before the election, which seemed extravagant, is now explained. He knew the intrigue. His reluctant confidence in Victor Emanuel is now justified. He knew his want of radical conviction. If the King should attempt a coup d’état there could scarcely fail to be a serious civil war, which would end in his overthrow and a terrible distrust of the royal house. The conviction would probably lead to a general war, for the Pope and the King would appeal for aid. But the Liberals are, of course, prepared for every emergency, and we therefore doubt if there will be any. An advertised coup d’état is a foregone failure.—Harper’s Weekly.