CAVOUR AND RICASOLI.

Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, Volume XX, 7 September 1861, Page 3

CAVOUR AND RICASOLI.

The first appearance of the new Italian Ministry in the Chamber is thus described in the Turin letter of the Daily News. The personal contrast between Cavour and Ricasoli is strikingly indicated :—: —

Was there ever such a difference between the figure and aspect of two men, one of whom, after a few days' interval, succeeds the other? It was but on this day fortnight that Cavour, who had been at the Chamber as usual, his constant custom in the afternoon, was taken with his fatal malady at night. You are familiar, of course, with that weighty, though active, and round-shouldered, thick-necked, broad-headed figure, that vast open brow, that bright, fair, plump, and somewhat rosy-face, those grey whiskers meeting under his full good humoured chin, that gleaming pair of glasses, that scanty aud whitened hair above, that Vivacious, hearty manner, that ceaseless, fidgety motion, with which, excepting when his mind was absorbed in meditation, or listening intently to others, he would be throwing his body about on the chair, turning his gaze one way or another, drumming on the table, or tearing up his papers, as if he were impatient to get back to the enormous labours of his desk. You can imagiue the merry archness of his look, the accents of his highpitched and often stammering voice, the large, wide gestures to and fro, with uplifted hands, sometimes vehement in his eagerness, tossing

forth huge arguments of speech.

Now llicasoli is the very opposite of all this, in the outside aspect of the man. Tall and erect, almost ungracefully thin, with an adust complexion, hollow jaws, deep-set eyes, a high severe forehead, dark close hair, but little of it on his face, with a notable stiffness of carriage and posture, a voice rather deficient in flexibility and compass, wanting the orator's power of moving or winning an audience by his looks or tones, despising also, it may be, those aids to rhetorical art, you may be sure that, if any speeches to be delivered by him produce an impression on the Chamber, it will be due to their own sound sense and lofty purpose, or to the known earnestness and uprightness of the man who speaks. I do not, however, expect that he will be a frequent debater, as Count Cavour used to be, for he does not possess the versality of mind, or the stores of various knowledge requisite for dealing with all the miscellaneous topics of legislation. But the debating powers of his Cabinet are such as may well dispense with the continual intervention of their chief. Minghetti, always well-informed, alert, and intelligent, with a faculty of agreeable statement, and a mild conciliatory manner ; Peruzzi and Bastogi, who are masterly exponents of the details of their own departments ; Miglietti, who is the accomplished Thesiger of an Italian bar ; these colleagues of the new Premier can speak for themselves. Menebrea there, with his big bald head full of mechanical science, is not likely to need a defender on questions of naval engineering. Cordova, who is the new Minister of Agriculture and Commerce (not Scialoja or Sella, the persons before named), is about the most prompt and fluent speaker I have ever heard. He is a Sicilian, and, as he lately stood up for the claims of Syracuse, he will have an opportunity, perhaps, of seeing whether that ancient seaport is likely to become again, as General Bixio has predicted, a city of a hundred thousand inhabitants, and one of the chief places of the Mediterranean commerce.

Governor Browne. — In a debate in the House of Lords the Duke of Newcastle gave the highest praise to Governor Browne for his conduct under the most difficult circumstances, and said that, to show the manner in which it was appreciated by the Government, he would be promoted to another Colonial Governorship. — New Zealand Examiner. Archdeacon Paul. — The Rev. Robert B Paul, late Archdeacon of Nelson, delivered a lecture at Stamford, Lincolnshire on New Zealand, "As it was and as it is." The lecture has been published. The Gloire. — The Gtoire made the passage from Toulon to Algiers in sixty-six hours, being six hours less than the fastest French steamers have hitherto made the passage in, and without using her full propelling power. British Forces in the Colonies. — A return to the House of Commons states the force stationed in the British dependencies, and the expenditure incurred in their defence by the Imperial and Colonial Governments respectively, during the year ended the 31st March, 1859. The total expense was 363,177,231 of which £2,852,254 was imperial expenditure, and £324,967 colonial expenditure. The office of Paymaster of the Civil Service in Ireland is about to be abolished, the Government having brought in a Bill for the purpose. The duties of the office are to be discharged by the Commissioner of Public Works.