740 LIFE OF COBDEN. [oma®

1860.
Kr. B56.

that a megmsnimous policy was the best, and the only B®
becoming a great Empire; that it would, besides, be quite
aseless to attempt to bind the people of Venetia, for that the
world was more and more inclined to recognize the rights
of the people to choose their own mode of governments
and their own alliances and amalgamation ; and, therefore
that if the people of Venetia chose to annex themselves 0
Piedmont, it would not be likely that any Power would interfere
 to prevent them. As respected the great fortresses
I said that I would not advise their being given up but
destroyed, that I would blow them up, and, if possible, raze
them to the ground.
“I then came to the plain statement of the plan I would
follow. I would sell the independence of Venetia for a large
sum, which no doubt might be easily arranged; with that
money, say twenty or thirty millions sterling, I would pub
the finances of the Austrian Government in order, restore
fhe currency, re-establish my credit, and then apply myself
to the internal reforms of the Empire. I knew no country
where there was such a field for improvement as in Austri#;
that a few years of fiscal and commercial amelioration would
add immensely to the wealth and power of the Empire; thats
even with the loss of the Italian provinces, the populatio?
of Austria would be about equal to that of France, and
greater than that of England, and would contain resources
which, if properly developed, might in a few years make
her one of the richest and most prosperous countries iB
Europe. I at the same time pointed out the evils which
must arise from the present state of the finances and the
currency in Austria; that all mercantile operations, and all
contracts between individuals, must be rendered more and
more difficult and insecure, so long as the future of the
Empire is involved in so much uncertainty, and whilst the
sirculating medium is subjected to such constant depreciation-