Rensselaer Gazette, Volume 3, Number 9, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 22 June 1859 — Napoleon III and Victor Emmanuel. [ARTICLE]

Napoleon III and Victor Emmanuel.

[From the London Times.

Il for a moment we can survey the great struggle in Italy with the calm eyes of the historian two centuries hereafter, we may think the personal characters of the two sovereigns allied for Ital to be worthy of special study, strikingly contrasted as they are. A strange pair of hounds to hunt in a leash together! Louis Napoleon we better know as dark and difficult to fathom, unscrupulous and apparently without conscience, but patient, cautious, diligent in detail, long-headed, slow to act, but eminently energetic and unshrinking when the time tor action comes, and resolved to go through with tiie work he undertakes. It has ”>f late become known in certain circles that in tjhe Russian war he distinctly, proposed to the English Minis’ry to restore Poland, as a barrier against Russia. The advice was rejected. A pamphlet notoriously from* Prince Napoleon, in favor of restoring Poland was published, t-* feel the pulse of England; but when it was coldly received here the scheme was of necessity abandoned. It is a matter of public history that when M. Drouyn de l’Huys quailed at Vien-na,-the French Emperor dismissed his Minister, insisted on perseverance until Sebastopol should fall, and confirmed our wavering Cabinet. When such was his obstinacy against the solid empire of Russia, whose throne rests upon the attachment of nearly fifty million peasants that speak one language, he is not likely to vacillate when matched against the rotten dynasty of Austria, which cannot claim as loyal subjects one-filth, perhaps not one-tenth part, of the millions whom it crushes—men of*-many tongues, bitterly remembering the institutions of which they iand their fathers have been treacherously despoiled. At the side of Louis Napoleon stands Victor Emmanuel, having all the qualities which the other has not. Frank and open-hearted, generous and winning, born to conciliate men’s affections and trusts, his faithfulness lias been tried by his subjects at a most critical moment. In tiie reaction of 1849-50 he might easily have re-established a despotic rule, as did nearly all the other princes. Scarcely in Prussia could any real constitutionalism be maintained. The Austrian forces occupied even Hamburg. But Victor Emmanuel flinched not for one hour, and he reaps the harvest in his people’s love and trust. He is known to be as brave as a lion, having a. certain physical joy in danger. What is better he is staking his crown for the deliverance of Italy, apd is thoroughly believed to be in earnest when he says “he will gladly lose it if that end he achieved.” Such is the monarch into whose hands Piedmont has zealously confided all her interests during the crisis ot invasion—a magnanimous proceeding, highly conducive to safety und victory. A king ot such a temperament might he too rash! but he is balanced by Napoleon’s patient sagacity. Napoleon HI might be tempted to some new treachery, but Victor E mu m uel will take no part in ft; and the great army of Italy, winch will soon he formed, devoted to the Sardinian alliance, "«U secure that Napoleon shall not be tempted by too great fs'cilities.