The Express.
London, England, 1865-03-09 00:00:00

ITALY.

TURIN, liAsca 8.

The Sing hes left Milan for Florence.
His Royal Highness Prince ♦rthur has arrived
at Naples.
To-day in the another of Deputies the discussion
on the proposed abolition of the penalty of death
was commenced.
The Minister of Justice declared that he was in
favour of its abolition, but considered the present
time inopportune for such a measure. Tba ques-
tion bad not been sufficiently ventilated, and the
state of public safety was not such as to allow of an
immediate abolition.

AIIIITRIL.

VDINNA, Amen S.

The Abendposi (evening edition of the official
Vienna Gasette) denies the statement that Russia
had proposed to Austria to protract the state of siege
in Galicia until the intended incorporation of
Poland by Russia is completed.
In to-day's sitting of the finance committee of
the lower house, the Minister of Finance declared
that the government intended to maintain their
proposals respecting the reductions in the budget
for 1866, and stated that they did not regard the
report of the sub-committee as suitable for further
discussion. The finance committee thereupon re.
solved to break off negotiations with the govern-
ment on the subject.
The discussion on the military budget was then
concluded, and the reduction of 15,900,000 florins
was agreed to.
The Oestervachische Zeitung announces positively
that the state of siege in Galicia will be raised on
tbs 18th inst.

Ms Poise ss SIVITMIAND.•••• The coffee-
peallest st Dam el the indipelehawee Btke, wiling es
the bed rye ;--" A &gala bele Itemesehers, • willies el
Thstsegriee epee the hubs al Late Oeseiseoe, aasessees
that the Pella ex•ellideese leagimies mired time es
the let el Meek with ea .likely lay. awl imassilistely
WI by the mailway far Zarb& Doris. the later part el
February Wards eta lessibeel MOM Paiimh mimeo sisiveil
at itesserehees. The Yeasialatbeidiss far the maisteeasee
of thole isleetsarte ems lessies .wed. sad the easteeel
Ilabalike his iseSsiest, the jeuesele el Zest Switearlearl
seepage a fah& sebeirieties ler then meemithe at bd. pee
iseseh is fans, d the Pelee Wb are ilastitehe."
Row. Elsossanuesa Facisr2.—At the evening
swishes. A MOW* INKS, it R. Dens
iedmite Saileinae yams win be read 1.
Oe takes from madam of imesialsoaa'
_'lB4
deal Diamais a lagter. Aleish" by Jaime Fez
Wilms, Ns+

MILAN, SMIDAL
It is a rather general theory that feasting and
revelry, when too long protracted, become some-
thing of a bore, but in Milan the theory breaks
down. We are now at the end of the Carnival, the
populace have had their saturnalia in the streets,
and the upper classes their royal ball at the palace
awl their masquerade at La Scala, and to-day the
Milanese are as ripe for fun as ever, for their grand
Como in the afternoon, and their grand opera and
ballet in the evening. Everything, however, say
the philosophers, even to the length of a man's
nose or the colour of his hair, is ruled by the two
potent influences of diet and climate ; and cer-
tainly the Milano* may find in both every
element of hilarity. People only exist in other
places ; they live in Italy, and the mere 000013/0011-
nem of existence is a revelry of enjoyment. First
in orderyseterday came the Carnival, literally on its
last legs, including all the bipeds and
quadrupeds
in the city ; and secondly, the King's ball a the'
Palace; bee it would be w 'violation of all established
usage and elignsits if I did not give the latter
the pas in my description.-
The Palmas, which stands close by the cathedral,-
is not very pretentious in its outward appearance,
but the interior suite of state apartments, in which ,1
upwards of 4,000 of the "life of Milanese society
assembled yesterday evening in response to the
invitation of their sovereign, is one of the finest I
have seen throughout a tolerably long experience el
regal interiors. Previously to going I had, of
sonnet, solemnly communed with my Murray, and
asked fee the celebrated gilt angel at which the
condemned bombardier made such a capital shot in
1333, and which was subsequently left headless as
&prime' of Milgrim gunnery until 1735. But
there was no time to look upon the dead lions, for
the living awe, royal and liable, fair and famous,
were all there, bowing and promenading and
moving about, and eating ices and drinking
lemonade, and listening to the charms of a band.
that would drive Mr. Besting into a coranto, look-
ing lave from the military point of view and saga-
cious from the civilian, but all supremely happy,
and pronouncing the ball to be one of the grandest
festive successes of the present happy regime.
I arrived shortly before 10 o'clock, thinking that,
as the ticket fixed the hour of oommenoement at
half-past 8, the rooms would hardly be decently
occupied, as in other glare of a similar description.
But the Milerse are men of business, and WI
therefore punctual, besides which they are de-
sirous to see their King on all possible occa-
sion*, and consequently I found the grand
suite quite full when I arrived. There were
a great many military and a few naval °Soars pre-
sent, but they did not too seriously leaven the
whole mass, as in court balls at Paris, Berns, ca-
St. Petersburg. They are splendid fellows—tall,
robust, and good-looking ; frank and soldierly, but
not sus • nor Drawcanair ; and they did not
strut a ut twirling their moustaches as if they
thought the place by right belonged to them, and
that civilians, and fliplomats,_ and bureaucrats were
only there on sufferance. The uniform is plain.
but begonia', and there is only so much variety as
is necessary to mark the different arms of the ser-
vice. Whilst talking of the military, I may bets
inaction that the ground outside was kept by a regi-
ment of Lancers, and that they were most unexcep-
tionable troopers, well mounted, well seated, and
having the perfect command of their horses. The
latter looked a little rough and out of condition,
but remember we are not fez from the base of the
Alm erase coma sanstinass a wind sharp enough
to roughest anything.
I wandered along front saloon to saloon soder
myriads of wax lights, and hustled by soldiers
and slakes, cavaliers and signori, and obliged
to proceed with the utmost caution, lest an unlucky
stampede might bring some charming Milanese
toilette to grief, and thus earn for me the undying
animosty of the charming owner ; for we had
plenty of ladies whose costume combined] the
artistic feeling of the Italian race with the more
artificial elegance of the French. There were
the entrance saloon and the small dining
room, small only by oomparisoe, and the pre-
sentation room, and the ball of audience, and the
Imperial throne room with the throne uncovered,
but also unoccupied ; and lastly, the great ball-
room, into which I at last emerged front under a
Fed curtain, and which I certainly would have
aimed, if it were not for the musk, so magnificently
complete seemed the remaining suite of apartments.
The prevailing hue of all the rooms except the ball-
room combines crimson and gold, and there are
pictures worth looking at in all ; but who thought
of looking at pica ires on snob an occasion 1 Inked,
" Where was the King," and at last had the
rerun of seeing his Idajerty, dressed in plain
Week, watching, with good-humoured interest, a
group of young people dancing, and chatting good-
Inimouredly with General Della Marmora (who
never left his Majesty's side) and the other nota-
bilities by whom he was surrounded. The young
Prince Royal was amongst the dancers, policing
with commendable grace and vivacity ; and
no doubt this fact added something to the
royal interest in the dancing. In this por-
tiuu of the room I observed the foreign ministers,
amongst others, the English in an awful
uniform, looking like a British postman of the pre-
adamite period, and the Turkish with his fez, which
excited some little curiosity amongst the Milanese.
Looked et along its whole length, the grand ball-
room presented a most brilliant and magnificent
appearance. Stately and old-fashioned, of the
period before the revolution, when greet men
wore velvet mats and diamond shoebuckles, and
fair ladies great turrets on their heads mad hoops
of a prodigious circumference, and the minuet
de la tour was looked upon as the most vertiginous
of choregraphic movements, it presented when
lighted up by a thousand wax tapers an appearance
of regal stateliness which it would be impossible to
exaggerate. Amber, the beet of all colours as a
back-ground for light, and beauty, and splendour,
dominated everything, and showed off to
the best advantage the white marble cary-
atides by which the noble gallery that
runs all round the dome is supported.
That gallery itself would have been of sufficient
beauty to attract the notice of the spectator; but
it bad other and far more effective ornament' in
the bright and happy faces of "the common
people" of Milan, to whom King Victor Emma-
sue had freely thrown it open, in order that they I
might participate with their sovereign in a grand
royal festivity. I looked, I must confer, at this
charming spectacle—so strange in a royal bell-
room—longer and oftener than at the beauty or the
splendour, or the distinction. that crowded the
floor below. There they crushed and crammed,
and laughed and chatted, their bright eyes glisten-
ing with delight, and their bands keeping time
with the sparkling and inspiriting music. Many
of them, I could see by their dress, were of very
humble rank, but they were aM happy and son-
fortabk, and not one of them, I dare be
dreamt of a boned rouge, or the overthrow o[
monarchical institutions. The ball-room was,
densely crowded, and especially moat the upper cad,
where the King stood der* the greater
portion of the evening. His Majesty being at
home, had entered the room without any fuss or
state, and the company, being his yards, took only
polite sad respectful seeks of the royal entree.
Be were, as I have already stated, plain black,
looked stout and jolly, and the world-famous
moustaches were in magnificent ceder. General
Della Marmots was rearing in his *trailer
to the King, never leaving his Idajerty's side fora
moment, and seemingly informing him of
the " Who's who" of different notabilities who
successively sought lamentation. There was

the baltwoom again.
The minamealla of the morning in the streets
presented • far different, but perhaps quite as
exhilarating a spectacle. We all know what going
to and coming home from the Derby is in England,
and those scenes will give the best possible idea of
what yesterday's revelry in the streets of Milan
wally wee, only that • here there were none
Thor had last earitTmey In • the nos te•
met, the with their glum leeks.
Pen two ragliters I steed at the entrant*
of .4p hotel, which, be is the centre orf the
Corso Victor Emmanuel, afforded the best view
oils" grotesque poem:dos manfully abiding the
pitiiw pelting of the earti7ral storm, which I was
told always fell heaviest on those who were the
greatest favourites with the public. I could not
recollect at the moment sin claim I had
the on gratitude of the • but certaidy I.
'respelled most abominably, looked at the end
of the day asemernonly like • man who Led lived
fore week in a flour seek. Snob as odd eollsetien
of menages, sash an extraordinary sollectiss el
hones, all looms as pave as senators; and El
tlzookeepieed the puerilitiss in whisk As
a
such droll dresses, wash dreadful n
such universal enjoyment I never witaessedi=.
Old sad young, male and female, high aid low, in.
the balconies, in the careisecis, and in the Wrest,
every one worked with their little shovels, as if
the only thing in life worth living for was the
Online of onus year covering your seighhees
with pulverised mortar. The beet shIA, anemia+
nth* young Englishmen, stood in the Weer. ef
the house opposite our hotel. He never Weal Oros
an4.Poro than may "boos,Ot down" year humble
servant, but having at thst caught his eye, X
obligingly pasted out a near neighbour who had.
get himself snugly ensooaced in • corner, and the
insular bombardier henceforth devoted all ha
energies to this more difficult shot. There was no
music? no ceder, but certainly neither was them
any disorder. The people made all the fun therm..
selves, and nothing -could make them angry or ill-
tempered. To use a phrase of the racecourse, the
authorities had "let their heeds g 0,." aid in eons,-
tjnat the " running " was ;oedema'. Old people
told that this cassava' was nothing like thou of
former days' but old peepho always hold similar
opinions, end Itook the statement for what it ease,
worth. You would think yowl's'', in London. so
few were the soldiers and polio"; but I hardly think ,
that under our foggy climate such • storm of animal
spirits and mad rollicksoine abandonment could be
got up under any circumstances.
When I had made up my mind that the stream
Mmiallaa and of pedestrians would never man
lowing, I at last burst from my slasher
and plunged into the vortex of the saturnalia.
Thew masa fair amount et health& but I on de
that as well as my neighbours, sad
_by booPMS.•
sharp look out aloft I preserved • fair immunity
from the putvereen 0/ympseum. I found now that
sections of the crowd were enacting little dramatic
interludes, sod I was fortunate enough to some up
with one which afforded me considerable amuse-
ment. A terrific band of brigands of the
&brand, dressed to perfection, had seined
an unhappy Englishman, and were
him off to their mountain fastness—that
to say, to the nearest open mit The
captain was an awfully. sinister and 111-looking
fellow, and he bore in his hat his name,
M. lie Merode, written in large legible letters.
The Englishman had the long fair whiskers of the
4 +glair of the Jardin Mabille, portentous shirt
collars, and wristbands that reached almost to his
elbows. As they dragged him into the Oda he
clutched his "Murray"convulsively to his beast,
and shouted "I have no money " in very tolerable
English. Every time he spoke a blunderbuss or a
pistol was presented at his head, and it was inti-
mated to bun that several bottles of wine were in-
dispensable preliminaries to his ransom. The bri-
gands scared with laughter, and the Englishman
acted to the life. " I have a wife and sWld--one,
two, six @Mids." Noontime. The blunderbuss
was brought to the present, and the expression ci
fear with which he looked dome the massle was
one of the most comical things I have seen for a
long time. " I have no money, but 1 will give you
a slick on my banker, Sir Roeschild. Beak of Lou-
don Temsetreet, the Borough ;" but the bri-
gands would have nothing to do with paper
currency. The unhappy prisoner was gra-
dually denuded of all the accessories of his
costume, bearing the operation with the moat
Christian resignation, until at last M. de Merode
made a clutch at his Murray, and this seemed to
rouse all the latent courage of the thriller cha-
racter: he jumped from bin chair, burst his bonds,
and, amid rears of laughter from • crowded
company, brought M. de Maude to the ground
with • whack of this ranch-coveted volume. This
was the sensation seem of the entertainment, after
which the Englishman end his captors all sat
ronod a table sad commenced drinking country
wine--an operation which, for an Beghslissan,
would be more dreadful than all the previous
agonies of the day. By fire o'clock all the fun of
the Carnival was over, and thousands of labourers
commenced sweeping up the diet which had been
so industriously scattered in the zooming.
bI