The Express.
London, England, 1853-01-07 00:00:00

ITALY.

Letters from Turin state that the Itisorgimento has
undergone a complete metamorphosis, changing its
name and editor, and to some extent its principles.
The Parinmento, as it will in future be called, is in-
tended to be the organ of all the sections of the par-
liamentary majority. It.will thus be a liberal paper
on the broadest pcsnible basis. Its committee of
direction is composed of MM. the Marquis Gustave
de Cavour, brother of the Premier, Count I'alheri,
Cadorna, Corriere, and Daziani. M. G. de
Cavour was formerly editor of the Armonin, a vio-
lent clerical paper, which be left on account of its
anti-constitutionalism. The immediate control of the
journal will be in the hands of MM. Cordova, Fa-
rini, and Ferrara. Tho latter, who is Professor of
Political Economy at the University of Turin, was a
former editor of the Bisorginattito.
On New Year's Day (says the Parlamento) the
King received the deputation of the Chamber of De-
puties. His Majesty expressed his satisfaction for
the numerous land important labours accomplished
by the chamber. It is to its members "We owe
thanks for having overcome all the difliculties raised
in our way." In the evening the King gave
a Court dinner, at which the Presidents of the Senate
and the Chamber of Deputies, all the Ministers, the
I'resident of the Council of State, and M. Mazzimo
d'Azeglio, were present. After dinner their Majes-
ties, accompanied by their guests, repaired to the
Royal Theatre, where they were received with marks
of respectful sympathy, and the most expressive;
applause.
The Committee of the Italian Academy of Philo-
sophy met on the Ist inst., under the presidency of
Count Terentins Mamiani, who pronounced his
inaugural discourse in presence of an immense
auditory. On tho next day M. Piranelli was to de-
liver a lecture on the life and writings of the Abbe
Gioberti.
We find the following remarkable letter in the
Opinione :
Milan, Dec. 27.
Radetsky's disgrace is henceforth inevitable. Tie fol-
lowing is the cause:—Although he had received formal
°Men from Vienna, ho had not the heart to sign the order
for the execution of the unrespited prisoners remaining
from the trials at Mantua. He sent the sentence to the
Emperor, requesting a general commutation of punish-
ment, and urging that inasmuch as the proofs of criminality
were not conclusive, and that as the sacred prreon of the
monarch had not been attacked, it was a proper occasion
for the exercise of clemency. To this the Emperor replied
that if ho had not been personally attacked, the laws Lad
been violated, and that he should not hesitate to sign their
condemnation. R eletsky will shortly be called to 'Vienna
with the title of Prince. Ha will be succeeded in the vice-
rayalty by one of the innumerable archdukes.

The Official Journal of the Two Sicilies, in one of
its last numbers, contains a notice from the govern-
ment to the effect, that in times of severe weather,
or of contrary winds, vessels which cannot find room
in the merchant port of Naples may take shelter in
the new maritime port. Whenever this course is
deemed necessary by the maritime authorities a flag
with large yellow and blue squares shall be displayed
from a mast raised on the maritime mole.

ROME, DEC. 31.
The topic of universal discussion and of universal
interest here is the withdrawal from circulation of
the government notes, which have hitherto caused
so much discontent amongst all classes, and the sub-
stitution
of silver dollars. The mode of effecting so
desired an end is what has lately occupied the undi-
vided attention of the financial Council of State,
and the plan which will most likely be adopted is to
raise a couple of millions of dollars by a loan, where-
with to substitute the notes of small amount, whilst
those of fifty and a hundred dollars will be compul-
sorily exchanged for Console at 5 per cont. interest.
This of course creates some alarm amongst commer-
cial:men, whose money is worth far more to them
than such a rate, but the public in general will be
very glad to see the plan realised as soon
as possible. Several difficulties, however, have
as yet prevented the scheme from being
carried into execution, amongst which we may reckon
that of finding any one ready to advance the money
on sufficiently advantageous terms to the govern-
meat.
Rothschild seems tired of doing business with
his Holiness without'some security upon the eccle-
siastical property, which is against the principles of
the ecclesiastical government, and the home capital-
ists, such ea Torloma, Fcoli, and Antonelli, although
very ready to furnish the required silver, insinuate a
wish to have the administration of some branch of
the public revenue in return, which is a kind of finan-
cial farming against the principles of good govern-
ment. Count Antonelli, the brother of the Cardinal
Secretary of State, offered to produce the money if
the custom-house dues were placed in his hands at a
certain annual valuation, but the Consulta at once
negatived the proposition.
The amount of paper to be got rid of is something
less than four millions and a half of scudi (nearly
a million sterling), and it is an object of the
government to restore a silver currency, as it has
many foreign liabilities, such as the interest
of Itothschild's loan payable in Paris, and the Aus-
trian
stipend, which it is obliged to pay in slicer,
at 3 or 6 per cent. premium, causing a loss to the
treasury of seventy or eighty thousand scudi a year.
It is needless to state that no silver ever finds its
way willingly into the state coffers, as the taxes are
almost entirely paid in paper, and what little silver
is contributed by the people is changed for paper by
the officials through whose bands it passes. Even
the cardinals are now paid their piano, or annual
salary, in paper, and it is only the Popo himself who
lingers exclusively silver and gold. It h. not gene-
rally known that one article of the Fundamental
Statute, or Constitution, granted by Pio Nono in his
liberal days, has been preserved throughout the re-
actionary furies of the restoration. But surprise will
cease when it is added that this favoured article is
that which granted the Pope 600,000 scudi a year
(nearly 120,0001.). Formerly the allowance of his
Holiness wag only 210,000 scudi a year, but on
the establishment of the constitutional rei:/inae,
it was suggested that many expenses, such
as the salaries of the cardinals, tho maintenance of
the apostolic palaces, and other strictly ecclesiastical
outlays, could not decently depend upon any one
save the head of the state, and therefore a calcula-
tion of the annual amount of these expenses was
made, and found to be about ZlO,OOO scudi a year,
I including the Pope's own salary, so that it was
decided to set down 600,000 scudi as his annual re-

venue, clear of any other state expenses. These are
now punctually paid, although the Pope has handed
over some of the liabilities to the Minister of Finance,
increasing the state burdens by thirty or forty thou-
sand scudi a year, and the item is put down in the
estimates by virtue of that particular article iu the
constitutional statute, of which it forms the sole
melancholy remnant.
The Consulta has recently made the unpleasant
discovery that the country owes forty millions of
francs more than was suppoaed, in consequence of a

loan convected with Rothschild by the Pope whilst
staying at Portici. 01 this sum no less than thirty-
two millions of francs have already been spent, and
of the remainder six millions figure as scrip in the
portfolio of the Minister of Finance, and two mil-
lions have been converted into Roman Consols,
parable in Rome instead of Paris, according to the
edict last spring authorising such operations. This
hitherto secret item came out of course when the
Consults set seriously to work to restore the finan-
cial condition of the country, and great dismay it
produced amongst the councillors.
The Marquis Berilacqus's proposition to aid in the
. extinction of the paper money, by allowing indivi-
duals to redeem their property from canons or per-
petual mortgages in favour of ecclesiastical institu-
tions, was negatived by the cardinal-president of the
Consults, although that measure was sanctioned by
the Pope and.partly carried into effect in 1818. In
spite of ail these hindrances and eclays, it seems
certain that the year 1833 will witness the extirpa-
tion of our present greasy and lacerated circulating
medium.
On Monday last the Pope received all the officers
of the Roman army at the Vatican, and addressed
them in more courteous terms than last year,
assuring them that he was well satisfied with their
military zeal and their attachment to his govern-
ment, in consequence of which he had determined to
afford them a proof of his sovereign approbation, by
allowing them to resume the use of epaulettes, of
N%li;ch they had been dcprivEd by the late minister,
Ila lb( rmatten.
At Macerate, on the 12th inst., the Papal banner
was formally consigned t, the mixed foreign regi-
ment stationed there, and an oath of fidelity sworn
by the soldiers in French, German, and Italian, ac-
cording to a long printed form, rather different from
the usual military brevity of such documents.
His Holiness is at this moment singing a Te Deum
in the Jesuits' Church, for the close of the year.