324 



FEANCE. 



the occupation of Syria by the French troops, 

 in order to suppress the insurrection and bloody 

 massacres of the summer of 1860. The prompt- 

 ness with which France had made this move- 

 ment, and the apparent cordiality with which 

 it was regarded by Eussia, and submitted to 

 by the Ottoman Porte, had excited the jealousy 

 of the English Government, which foresaw in 

 this enterprise, undertaken, as the French Gov- 

 ernment protested, solely from motives of hu- 

 manity, and in the interest of a common Chris- 

 tianity against Moslem fanaticism, a purpose to 

 exclude her from a participation in Turkish 

 affairs, and a design to divide the tottering em- 

 pire of Turkey with the czar. France pledged 

 herself to the great powers to withdraw her 

 troops from Syria in June, 1861, and did so ; 

 but not without making the attempt to estab- 

 lish a Government for Lebanon under the ad- 

 ministration of a Christian prince, and protect- 

 ed by the European powers. This attempt 

 proved unsuccessful. A third question of deep 

 interest was the change in the relations be- 

 tween England and France, which had excited 

 on the part of the former a feeling of uneasi- 

 ness and distrust, which was not without se- 

 rious consequences. The interview of Napo- 

 leon III. with the prince-regent of Prussia, and 

 the kings of Bavaria and Hanover, at Baden, 

 on the 15th June, 1860, partially but not fully 

 dissipated the apprehensions with which the Ger- 

 manic States had previously regarded the French 

 Government; while the prodigious activity and 

 preparations for war, which were manifest 

 throughout France preparations which the 

 British Government regarded as only men- 

 acing them, and which imposed on them, as 

 they believed, the necessity of equally exten- 

 sive preparations for defence, increased the 

 anxiety of the States of Central Europe. This 

 disquietude was not diminished by the skilful 

 diplomacy by which the French emperor, with- 

 out being himself present, turned to his own 

 account the meeting between the czar of Eussia, 

 the emperor of Austria, and the prince-regent of 

 Prussia, securing the friendship and sympathy 

 of the czar, and causing him to repel the ad- 

 vances of the Austrian and Prussian Govern- 

 ments ; and though Napoleon III., in an auto- 

 graph letter to Persigny, disclaimed most heart- 

 ily any hostile intention towards Great Britain, 

 it was long before the British Government 

 seemed satisfied with his protestations. 



Meantime a commercial treaty negotiated 

 with Great Britain, mainly through the efforts 

 of Lord Cowley and Mr. Cobden, in the autumn 

 of 1860, and to take effect in June, 1861, was 

 destined to change to a great extent the com- 

 mercial relations of the two countries, and gave 

 rise to great excitement throughout France, 

 and to serious apprehensions in the minds of 

 many of the manufacturers, in relation to its 

 effect upon their business ; apprehensions, how- 

 ever, which the result has proved futile. This 

 treaty admitted a large portion of the manufac- 

 tures of each country into the other, free of 



duty, and nearly all the remainder at a greatly 

 reduced tariff. Among the results of this treaty, 

 which was not finally ratified till Feb. 4, 1861, 

 has been the resumption of a more cordial state 

 of feeling between the two Governments. 



But the most important and embarrassing of 

 all the questions of the time, at the beginning 

 of the year, were the relations of France with 

 Italy, and the preservation of the temporal 

 sovereignty of the pope. In 1860, Garibaldi 

 had conquered, and through the instrumental- 

 ity of Cavour, turned over to Victor Emanuel 

 the kingdom of the Two Sicilies; Tuscany 

 Parma, Modena, and the Emilian provinces, 

 had annexed themselves to Sardinia ; Napoleon 

 III. had stationed his fleet at Gaeta to prevent 

 the Sardinian Government from assailing the 

 last stronghold of Francis II. from the sea, un- 

 til events had proved the inability of the young 

 monarch to maintain any portion of his ancient 

 kingdom ; Lamoriciere, hitherto a French gen- 

 eral, had accepted service under the pope, and 

 had, by passionate appeals to the faithful every- 

 where, succeeded in organizing an army in de- 

 fence of the Papal Government, but had been 

 defeated and routed in a battle with Cialdini, 

 the Sardinian general, who had invaded the 

 States of the Church. A papal bull, imper- 

 sonal indeed, in form, but evidently aimed alike 

 at the king of Sardinia and the French emperor, 

 had been issued. The collection of Peter's pence, 

 for the aid of the Papal Government, had been 

 undertaken, in accordance with a rescript from 

 the pope, throughout Catholic Christendom; 

 and the French troops, which at the pope's re- 

 quest had left Eome when Lamoriciere had or- 

 ganized his army, were recalled at his urgent 

 appeal, and now occupied the city ; and all 

 diplomatic relations between France and Sar- 

 dinia had ceased. These events had excited 

 the liveliest interest in France. There were in 

 that country a variety of parties, of Avhich that 

 sustaining the Administration was perhaps the 

 most numerous ; but the clergy, a powerful 

 body, and hitherto favorable to the Govern- 

 ment, were nearly unanimous in defending the 

 temporal sovereignty of the pope, and in their 

 denunciation of the course of Victor Emanuel. 

 The Bourbon and Orleans parties inclined in 

 the same direction ; while the liberals and the 

 various shades of the Eepublican parties de- 

 manded that the Government should aid and 

 complete the unity of the kingdom of Italy un- 

 der the Sardinian king. The situation of the 

 emperor was embarrassing ; the clergy, and es- 

 pecially the higher clergy, grew daily more 

 violent in their attacks upon the Government ; 

 the bishops issued charges and pastoral letters 

 in their dioceses, accusing the emperor of in- 

 fidelity, and emboldened by their impunity 

 hurled their denunciations against him with 

 constantly increasing bitterness. An anony- 

 mous pamphlet, published towards the end of 

 February, 1861, which from many circum- 

 stances was supposed to have been inspired 

 by the emperor, entitled, " La France, Itomt 



