THE CONDITION OF ITALY.

Lyttelton Times, Volume VI, Issue 413, 18 October 1856, Page 5

THE CONDITION OF ITALY.

(From the " Times," Juno 18.) Nothing can be more painful than the accounts which we daily n-ceive of the social condition of the Italian Peninsula. From the gorges of the Tyrol to the southern extremity of the Neapolitan dominions, that beautiful country is given up to brigandage and misery. A stern military de.-potism aggravates, but does not repress, the general license. We are not about to enter upon the political or diplomatic aspect of the question, save in so far as a simple statement of facts must necessarily be regarded as ground for interference. England can have no selfish objects in view in the Italian

Peninsula. We would not accept territory there, were it offered us; we do not desire even influence, if the wretched inhabitants were once relieved from the tyranny under which they are The best result for which we can wish is a strong and united Italy-—in other words the readmission of Italy into the fellowship of nations, as a distinct and powerful member of the European confederacy. In past times we have been severely blamed by hot-headed enthusiasts and by men still more energetic^ in action, though not so honest in intention, because we refused to throw the weight of British influence into their scale. This is..a policy in which it is to be hoped the rtatesmen who guide the destinies of our country will still persevere. England can take no part in petty risings and midnight conspiracies. Whatever we do must be done in the broad light of day. Our intervention when ever it may take place, must be well meditated beforehand, effectual, and decisive. With all this we had rather avoid the necessity of action. We had rather that the petty potentates who, under the protection of Austrian arms, at present afflict the Italian Peninsula should of their own accord pursue wiser counsels. Humanity, however, cannot much longer tolerate the fact that one of the fairest portions of the earth's surface should be given up to desolation and sorrow without a result. The present political system of Italy has no future. It is not a system of which we can say that after a certain period of misery it may produce better things. Forty years have elapsed since the Italian States were handed over by the Viennese negotiators to the fostering care of their native Princes and to the paternal corrections of Austria, and what has been the result? From 1815 to 1856 one long accusing wail has ascended from Italy. Even now while we write, from one end of Italy to the other, with the single exception of the Sardinian dominions, we find nothing but military prisons, military arrests, military executions : the country gorged with police spies; fear and suspicion everywhere; universal lamentation for the past, sorrow for the present, and despair fur the future.

In Lombardy, in Parma, in the Pontifical States, in Naples, society is thoroughly disorganized. The strong hand of Austrian power, indeed, makes it everywhere felt, and naturally in Lombardy to a greater extint than elsewhere. But even in that province the agents of Austiia have taken the alarm, and are multiplying their own precautions and the misery of the inhabitants. The consciiptiou is now enforced with even more than Austrian rigour. Married men are carried away from their homes; only sons who were never called out, save when war was raging, are compelled to enter the Austrian barracks. M. Burger and his agents see warningl spectres around them everywhere, and every warm breeze from the Mediterranean whispers in their ears the accursed name of Piedmont. Nine-tenths, however, of the affliction which weighs upon the rich pin ins of Lorn hardy never can be known, save by a chance revelation such as that which reached us the other day when Felice Orsini escaped from that dreary stronghold of Mantua which has witnessed so much of human suffering. From Parma there is nothing new, and this is the worst possible intelligence. The same system of stern despotism .under the auspices of an Austrian General prevails as heretofore. Military law coniiuui's in fail rigour. There is no trade, for there is no security t'ov property or liftl. There is no amusement, it>r who can divert his thoughts from his own miseries and the miseries oi'all aiouiui? In Tuscany the Grand Duke, who has j'i.-t returned to his beautiful capital, is employing the fiist moments i-f his return to make a Concordat with the See. of Koine, on the model of the Concordat which has been

passed between Rome and Austria. The effects of this unwise measure have already so clearly appeared in the latter country that even Austrian statesmen have been compelled to make application to Rome for relief from the spiritual tyranny of their ecclesiastical guides. M. de la Tour dv Pin, the French Representative at Florence, has been instructed to assure the Tuscan Government that it may reckon upon the support of France, if it can summon up strength at the eleventh hour to resist the attacks of the' Pontifical mcneurs ; but we have little hope from the imbecility and ! bigotry of the petty potentate who at pre- | sent reigns over Tuscany under the shadow of the Austrian flag-. Let us cross the Tuscan frontier and enter the Papal dominions. Everywhere we meet foreign soldiers, Austrians and reluctant Frenchmen, whose bayonets protect the successor of St. Peter and his ecclesiastical advisers from violence and armed attack even at the seat of their power. The land is going out of cultivation. ; No attempt is made to educe the many j virtues of that fertile soil. A spell is laid j owr the moral as well as physical development of the country.

la the Sacred City men dare scarcely whisper their apprehensions into the ears of their closest friends. Turn where a Roman will, the trail of a police agent taints the air. Brigandage has arrived at such a pitch that it is dangerous throughout Roraagna to go even two or three miles from a town at mid-day. In Ancona political arrests are the order of the day. This is the way in which the peace of Italy is preserved. This is hbuono stato for the preservation of which it is worth while to contend. It is entirely maintained by the bayonets of Austria and of France. The Pontifical army consists, as it is said, on paper, of 18,000 men, but not half of this number is forthcoming. Of the two Swiss regiments one is a mere skeleton. Let the Austrian and French troops be withdrawn to-morrow, and, according to all human probability, the next day the Pope would again be an exile from la's own dominions. The only notice we have received of any attempt at improvement amounts to this, —that Cardinal Antonelli is preparing a reply to the memorandum of Count Cavour and the speech of Lord Palmerston. To give this important State, document the greater publicity, the Pope has actually caused it to be inserted in the Giornale di Roma. The whole will be forwarded to Paris by the pious hands of Cardinal Patrizi for the instruction of the northern world. It is to Cardinal Antonelli that the maintenance of the present severe policy is attributed. The Pope, it is said, rightly or wrongly, shudders at the misery and desolation by which he is surrounded, a:<d would gladly undo Antonelli's work. Cannot some means be devised to liberate the Pontiff from the thraldom in which he isjheli? r

It i?= always with reluctance that we fix attention even for a moment upon the stale o:' Naples. The interference of Austria, if, indeed, any of an effective nature ever took pi.ice, has not been' attended with much fifed. The kine has retired in sullen dis-

irust at his own unpopularity, or in apprehension of worse consequences, to Gaeta. To the Palace at this spot, so distant from the capital of his dominions, the Ministers who wish to communicate with their sovereign on affairs of State are compelled to travel. J£ve:i when tjiey arrive at their destination they rue with difficulty admitted into the presence of th-; King. He cannot bear to hear ot the effects of his own misrule. The picture of this mo-ism despot, who in iu\ but energy rcsernhius the miscreant whom Tr.ciui-s has descritc-d to us is striking' enough.-" So much mispry and so much crime,—why should these ever be the portiou of thai beautiiul laud ? From the ad-

vices we receive we fear the arrests continue almost as freely as ever. To give an idea of the condition of those unfortunate persons who are at present in the power of the Neapolitan police,we here re-copy an extract from our Italian correspondence. The state of things described in it existed at the end of last month, and we have no reason to suppose it has been at all modified in the course of the last fortnight:— I must again call your attention' to the condition of the prisoners in Monte Sarchio. Of Baron Foerio I have spoken fully.but not of others, who are labouring1 under different forms of disease, as Sehiavone, who havlost the use of, one eye, and nearly that of the other; Dono, who has been in the place set aside as the hospital for five months; Pironti, labouring under paralysis, unable to move, and in chains* and, not to mention i more, a young man of 34 years, called Alfonso Zeuli, who is dying of consumption from the dampness of his prison, reduced "to a skeleton, scarcely able to breathe or to speak ; he has had the last sacrament administered to him, and yet he is in chains! closer than a brother his letters cling to his withered limbs, and no civilized age or country will ever perhaps have witnessed such a proof of the tenacity of cruelty and vindictiveness. I tell you a fact that cannot | be disputed, and, though a thousand other facts equally deplorable are continually occurring, to the ruin of this country, statesmen will wonder at and regret the 'extreme opinions' of the Italians, talk grandiloquently ! about the " sacred principle of non-inter-vention,' and advocate the right of a Sovereign to call in assistance to goad and pen up his cattle. 'OLordS how long?'well may every Italian exclaim." Poerio's condition has been so fully laid before our readers upon a former and recent occasion that we need not dwell upon it here. Of Naples it is sufficient to say, in a word, that things remain unchanged. What was true of Naples three and six months ago is substantially true at the present moment. Now, whether are those statesmen Revolutionists who wish to arrive at such moderate reforms throughout the Italian Peninsula as may carry comfort and hope to.the hearts of the afflicted people, or those who meet the ; last efforts of their grim despair with the extremity .of-military--law? One way or another, action must ere long take place in Italy. Let us hope that it may be such as will insure the reign of peace, not such as will lead to continuous terror and bloodshed.