The Express.
London, England, 1849-12-29 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, SATURDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 29, 1849.

their ranks were full, will be seat bsok to this coon-
try, and oat of the army in the United Kiegdont and
the colonies, thee augmented, the reduction of 6,000
men will be made.
The practices of getting the East India Company to
take a number of Queen's troops into their pay is a
mitt eirleNivat arrangement for govegement when
bud pressed kr redactions in theirmy.. A few ear-
Complaints sae at any time *event to Inds, and
kept eat if Jona tlita.'s eight, as if they were
ant up is a box, till they an be brought oat spas
whitest patting him in a passion.
Bat we have not done with "the details of the
mean in which it is propoerd to effect " the promised
redaction. The men disbanded will be all- privates
aad .commissioned officers. The numbers of men
horse on the beaks of the different regiments will be
diminished, but we shall not hays one regiment fewer
theta at present. We shall have as many officers as
ever. The framework of the army will be kept in a
soadition to admit of its being restored to the strength
at whisk it has been maintained for some years back
the ileoeselit a fesidble pretext offers. No step will be
Mks* that an abed the country a guarantee that the
redestion is Weeded to be permanent.
Ths army littered is the interest of the aristo-
cracy ; the army is their main instrument for quarter-
ing younger brothers on the public purse. The army
interest predominates in the House of Commons; a
majority of the members are either in the army
themselves, or have so many relations in it that their
interest in keeping the army on its present footing is
aleaost as great as if they were. The House of Com-
mons will be most loth to promote any real, efficient,
permanent reduction in the army, and wilt gladly
aid ministers to carry any sham redaction for the
sake of preserving apprentices. Financial reformers
mast be on the alert, or they will be duped in the
matter of army retrenchment, u they were last year.
The promised 10,000 will be sweated down ; a thim-
ble-rig will be played with the regiments transferred
from the Indian to the English thimble; and the
army staff will be kept undiminished, waiting for an
opportunity to task soldiers to it.
Sir Witusm Moitswowrm showed last session—
in the course of the debate on the motion prefaced
by the speech in which Mr. Fox MAOLE pared down
the promised army reduction more dexterously than
the court ladies pared their feet in the vain hope of
squeezing them into CINDERELLA'S slipper—how the
force of 42,000 men, maintained in the colonies,
might easily and safely be reduced to 22,000. The
number of soldiers assumed by the ministry last ses-
sion to be required for Ireland was 25,000. Ireland
is tranquil now; the hero of the cabbage garden has
been deported, and surely there is no reason to appre-
hend an armed rising on the part of the protectionist
malcontents in that island. The numbcr of soldiers
in Ireland is actually 36,000, for the Irish polio.-
11,000 strong-area well-armed and well-disciplined
a force as any in the service. Ireland alone can spare
10,000 men, in addition to the 10,000 that may
be dispensed with in the colonies. And considering
the tranquil state of the manufacturing district., and
the abundance and low prices of food, a large propor-
tion of the 27,000 men 'kept under arms in Scotland
and England may be considered unnecessary. We
have 12,000 metropolitan and provincial police to
maintain order, and recent events at Nottingham and
elsewhere suggest a suspicion that it is more likely
their services will be required to keep in order our
turbulent and refractory supernumerary soldiers, theta
that these soldiers will be needed to make good any de-
ficiency in the numbers of the police. The facilities'
afforded by railways for the immediate trumpet if
troops in cases of emergency render the grievance et
the supernumerary soldiers maintained la *ll
country still more gross and palpable.
Last session Mr. HUME met Mr. Fox Mituves
motion for 103,000 men by an amendment proposing
to reduce that number by 14,000. This 11C84100, it is
to be hoped, Mr. Hums or Me. COBDEN will meet the
first vote on the army estimates by a proposal to re-
duce it by at least 30,000 men. And it ought also to
be urged that the reduction be made by the disband-
ing of regiments—the only way in which it can be
rendered real and permanent. Care must also be
taken that no juggle be attempted with the men re-
turned or about to return from India. And while per-
manent reduction in the numbers of the army is in-
sisted upon, a mote reasonable proportion between
the numbers of btElff officers and the wants of the
army, as also baween the numbers of regimental
,fficers and the rank and file, ought not to he
votten.

AMONGST the many benevolent medical institutions
of the metropolis, there are none of which it has more
reason to be proud than its dispensaries : for although
the dispensary is generally regarded as a bumbler
institution than an hospital. the medic 11 relief it sup-
plies is not less efficient. In fact, we have regain to
believe that on account of the poor not bring removed
from their homes and friends, the medical assistance
obtained from the dispensary is administered under
circumstances which frequently render it more effi-
cient than that afforded at an tospitaL The rules of
the dispensary are also generally such that relief can
be obtained at any time in cams of urgency, which is
not the practice in hospitals.
In London the number of dispensaries is meth
greater than that of hospitals, but of course as
they only contemp!ate the administration of medical
advice and medicines, and never board and lodging,
they cost much less. The number of dispensaries in
London is about forty, and the funds spent on them
is on an average yearly above five hundred pounds,
or on the whole a sum exceeding twenty thousand
pounds per annum.
With institutiors having so large an income, and
so great capabilities of doing good, it is worth while
inquiring whether they are so c inducted as to secure
the largest possible amount of benefit for the money
that is expended on them. We fear that, like too
many of our other charitable institutions, in
many cases the object of their foundation is almost
entirely overlooked, and that interests very wide of
the relief of the diseased poor are sought to be
accomplished by their existence.
In examining into the working of our dispensaries
there arc four classes demanding our attention—the
medical officers, the committee of management, the
governots or subscribers, and the patients. First,
with regard to the medical officers, they consist of a
staff of surgeons and physicians and a resident medi-
cal officer. Generally the last only of these gentlemen
is paid for his services. His duty is to reside in the
dispensary, to compound the medicine, to see
pa tents between the times of the visits of the
surgeons and physicians; and, in fact, all the
active and responsible duties of the dispensary
are thrown on the shoulders of this officer. He gives
up all his time to this work, and is,therefore, only justly
pid for his services. But the peculiarities of English
medical practice have allowed to grow up from the
mess of medical men who practise all branches of
their profession, two classes practising particular de-
partments—the surgeons acd physicians. In hos-
pitals a classification of the patients takes place ; one
set is given to the physician, the other to the surgeon.
This system of division of labour, a very proper and
useful one, has led to a curious result, and that is the
almost entire exclusion, throughout the country, from
our public hospitals, of the gentlemen, who are by far
the majority, who practise both branches of their pro-
fession. The same distinction is maintained at
dispensaries, and as these institutions, whether wisely
or not, are regarded in the profession an something
very inferior to hcspitals, it is only the younger as-
p Lute for the future honour of hospital physician-
cie s and surgeoncies that will undertake oispeneary
pra.tice. It is here we think an abuse commences;
as a rule, not without its exceptions, dispensaries do
not pay their surgeons and physicians, the conse-
quence is that few men of any practice or standing in
the professii n will take these officer. They are gene.
rally filled by yourg men whose object is either the
learning their prof Bei n or the bringing their names,
' through the medium of the dispensary advertisements,
before the public. We do not say that in all cues the
duties of the physician and surgeon are imperfectly
and carelessly performed. But we do say, that
the system of gratuitous attendance in these dispen-
saries exacted from the younger members of the me-
dical profession acts mcst prejudicially on the attain-
, meets of the objects of these institutions; and an array
of physicians' and surgeons' names attached to a dis-
pensary letter is frequently a blind and a snare, and
no indication of the amount of benefit to be derived
f•om it by the sick poor. It is not unfreqnently the
case that the more medical officers there ere attached
to a die -eneary the less likelihood there is of anything
like efficient assistance being rendered. This mires
from the prectice of making the retiring physicians
and surgeons consulting physicians and surgeons, or
the adding new officers when the old once, having

more to do than imesedileat with giving gratnitoes
medical advise, still sae to keep their VMS@ before
the public in the dissomeary advertisements.
We do not know eat the phystsiou sul surgeons
are more to blame for this date of thins than the
sanagere and sugporters of the &mesa hot ear-
tivly.mei how or author, medic= men are more
off rest workisg foe nothing than any other class in
the community. Is thy, a post bower dangerous,
physician to a oho*" hospital, surgeon to it Niger
expedition, pay or none is'of no oonsequenoe, up start
a hundrid disciples of ZSCULAYII7B ready to run risks
in °emporia= with which • Polar expedition with Sir
lOW Rosa, or a journey to Timbactoo, is as a
flea bits. And all this without pay or glory.
Whoever thinks of the fifteenth part of the
whole medical profession of Ireland slain in one year
in 1846-7 of typhus? Who cares for the memory of
the noble men who died whilst fighting our great foe,
the cholera? There is no glory for them, nor the hope
of it ; and we believe that where danger is greatest
there asense of duty is the prompter of the medical
hero. But the motive which is undoubtedly upper-
most in the candidates for dispensary practice is the
hope of indirect pay. Yet we have the testimony of
an intelligent dispensary physician," that " nineteen
out of every twenty of thou who ply this laborious
calling will tell you that they were never benefited,
directly or indirectly, by their 000nexion with
• dispensary to the extent of a single
guinea." Now, the question is, whether the public
ought thus to tinffio their charity. The case of those
is bad enough who are ground down to receive the
lowest pcsoble amount of pay ; bat here is a class
who are living in the hope of pay, and the amount of
anxiety and heartsickness which the necessary de-
ferring this " hope" produces is only known but to
those who have watched the " early struggles" of
our physicians and surgeons. But to leave all con-
siderations of the medical officer out of the googols,
suppose them all rich, or that they can live on air, or
that they are conjurors enough to live without money,
the question still recurs as to whether it is
a wise arrangement in our dispensaries to
devolve the carrying out their most important objects
on a body of men who are not paid for their services,
and who, in nineteen cams out of twenty, have no
direct interest in the performance of the duties
intrusted to them. We hold that under these einem-
stenoes it is next to impossible that the duties of the
physician and surgeon should be performed efficiently,
or that the committee of management should exercise
any proper control over their medical officers.
We shall recur to this subject and examine further
into the working of other parts of our dispensary
system.

• Dr. A. P. Stewart, Sanitary Economics.

FRANCE.

PARIS, Tura...DAT, 11
The third reading of the proposition to increase
the number of electoral circumecnptions was chiefly
remarkable for a scene of indecorum on the part of
M. Miot, a member of the Mountain, which caused
him to be not only called to order more than owe,
but in the end formally erneurei for hie intemperate
language. This latter circumstance entails the for-
feiture of one-half of his indemnity. for the space of
one month. Eventually the proposition was read a
third lime, and adopted by 412 votes to 203.
A council of ministers, at which the President of
the Republic was present, was held yesterday at the
Ely Bee.
M. de Coreellee, the late Envoy Extraordinary to
the Court of Rome, has arrived at Marseilles.
The National Federal Assembly of Su itserland
retitled, on the 22nd, the postal treaties with France
and Belgium ; and on the same day the session of
both chambers of the Federal Assembly was brought
to a close, and an adjourement to the 4th of April was
resolved on.

Intelligence from Martinique and Guadeloupe have
arrived to the end of November. In the former colony
the elections at Fort-de-Fiance have been altogether
in favour of order and conciliation, the list of the
conservative party having been elected by a large
' majority. A scene of disorder was attempted on the
occasion of a banquet offered to M. Bissette, bat it
was promptly put down. It appears to have
been got up by the democratic party, who de-
test that gentleman. M. Bruat, the governor of
Martinique, passed the troops of the garrison in
review, and afterwards gave a grand dinner to the '
civil and military authorities. During this banquet
the ultra party of St. Pierre assembled under the
windows shouting out " Vive le gonverneur!" The
mayor of St. Pierre and the head of the staff hastened
to put as end to this compromising ovation. The
("currier de la Martinique, the journal of the
moderate party, has been cited before the tribunals for
attacks made against M. Bruat. At Guadeloupe all
WWI quiet ; the governor, M. Fabre, distributed at a
public ceremcny a number of decorations and recom-
penses to the persons who had distinguished them-
e !Ives in putting down the late revolt.

•
The Patric contains the following :
If we are well informed, the minister of public works has
submitted ci the council of ministers a bill relative to the
railway manna. in, who are applying for a prolougatfon of
the time fixed for their privilege. A general law will, it is
said, grant to all these compaties, without distinction or
preference, concessions for 99 years, in exchange for a sum
to b- paid by each to the state, and which a all be fixed in
proportion to the important' of the capital cf the company,
end the number of years, to 6- added to its present con-
cession. The sum to be demanded from the companies will
be the six-hundredth or the five-hundredth on the capital
for each year of the prolongaticn of its concession. The
eompsoies is question are six in number, viz., the Northern,
Stresberg, Bordeaux, Nantes, Viereon, and Marseilles. The
sen,unt of the sums they will have to pay to the state, if all
accept the conditions, will be 45 millions or 54 rainiest, ac-
cording to the bum which may be adopted. The following
Is the detail:—
Capital Length Sum to be paid
of of to the State
Comeanit • Coops- Conies- according to basis.
Dies. Won. of 1 600. of 1.600
Northern 160,000,000 38 Jr, 16,266,626 19,620.000
Bfruburg 126,000,000 44 „ 11,4.56,316 13,7611.000
Bordeaux , 65,000,000 28 „ 7,091,643 9,230 000
Mentes
Vierxon
Marseilles 20,000,000 33 „ 2,199,996 2,640,000

Total. 45,194,870 64,273.294
It is added, that up to this time there is such a cleat differ-
ence between the demands of M. Bioeau and the offers of
the directors of three of the lien, that it may be considered
probable that the minister will come down to the fraction of
a seven hundredth, in order to s cure the adherence of the
companies to the conditions of the bill ; this seven hundredth
part would pot to the charge of the companies, and produce
to the state as follows :
Northern
Strasburg
Bordeaux
Nantes 3.714,2b2
Vierzen
Marseilles

Total
In order to fulfil their engagement, the companies will be
authorised to kens to the amount in bonds the interest of
which at 5 per cent. and the siuking fund will be guaranteed
by the state, and paid out of the nett produce of the lines
before any dividend is allotted to the shareholdets. Imam.
&MAT alter the panting of this bill, the Minister of Public
Works will present to the Legislative Assembly special bills
either by special motives to improve the situation of some
companies, or to concede branch lines to several who propose
to the government to execute them on their own account,
under the sole condition of a prolongation of their grant te
99 years. In this we grants of money may be made them
by the state. We know not how far tie account of th.se
negoti.tions between the minister end the companies is well
founded ; but we must admit that at the first view such MUM
would constitute for the benefit of the companies conditions
at least exorbitant; and we shall therefore resins to our-
selvesto watch and examine the project.

TUVRIIDAY, HALP7PAST.6 P.Y.

The Ls Plata question is the subject of to-day. It ;
has roused the attention of the Chamber, the jinn-oak, •
acd the public, for iu its solution are concerne I the
honour as well as the interests of France. the Ls
Plea question can be solved but in two ways: either
government and the Chamber must ratify the treaty
of M. Lepredonr, or France must enter opon a distant
and uncertain war. The treaty passed by Admiral
Lepredour is based upon the cessation of intervention
on both sides. According to its stipulations France ,
would withdraw from Monte Video, and Roses promises
to cease all interference in Uruguay,hispresent hostility
being, he says, owing only to tl e fact thr fureigovc
and Europeans have the preponderance there. To
sanction M. Lepredour's treaty will save Frauce from
a great expense, but might involve loss of digt ult. It
is highly probable that Rosas woutd not scruple to
break the clauses of the treaty as soon as the French
retire. This teems to be the opinion of the Chatuher
her.., the majority of which—if, indeed, the mai, rity
of the committee can be so called—desire an arm-ft
exp. dition. M. De Hitte is said to be opposed 10
the latter course, of which he foresees the expense

and trouble. The .DEleats truly says to-day, that, if
the Chamber rejects the treaty of M. Lepredoor, it
v3tati war, and then war must be seriously under-
taken. The plan of sending 4,000 men to hunt Onbe
out of the toulstrY left of the Rio de la Plate is inset-
liaises, and war mast be carried into the heart of the
Argentine republic, if any hopes are entertained of oh-
, taining satufaction. There lies the difficulty
1— the republic of Buenos Ayres consisting
of tracts of in which Rossi and tie forces would
be indomitable bt an European foe. This certainly
causes M. de la Hitte to pause ere a hostile decision
is takes. This it is that causes the Diboll to &avo-
cets peace, and the signature of Lepredonr's treaty;
this it is that will probably induce the chamber, not-
withstanding the hostile decision of the committee, to
vote in favour of pets. The Palrii, however, which
is the semi-official organ of the Elyse', has a long
article on the La Plata questioe, in which it gives
its opinion as being for war. Its article concludes by
saying that the report of the committee being in that
sense also, the conclusions of the Assembly will be
the same, and public opinion will ratify it. It may
be that Oen. de la Hitte's opinion is not shared by the
rest of the mini/My. But at any rate the result will
show.
The debate on the question wee on the order of the
day for to-day, but it did not come on up to post hour.
Before it could be touched upon, however, the cham-
ber bad to decide on the subject of the garde mobile.
M. Clary, to whom a right of priority was allowed
for his amendment, moved that the dissolution of the
mobile guard should be postponed from the 31st of
December to the 30th of January. M. Clary's motion
was adopted, with the consent of government. The
ministerial measure was then voted, by which a
credit, the amount of which will be specified here-
after, is voted for the purpose of forming a battalion,
henceforward to be called cites:ears de Paris, and
destined to receive the men and officers, non-commis-
sioned, and others of the mobile guard of Paris.
The bureaux have named the commissioners who
are to form the committee of inquiry on the excise on
drinks. The committee is composed of fifteen mem-
bers: MM. Bechard, Oodelle, Bocher, Buffet, Chapot,
Douhet, Ciermoniere, Benoist d'Azy, Etienne, Pasay,
Leon Faucher, Thiers, de Lamy, de Charency, and
Lanjoinais. But three of these gentlemen, viz.,
MM. Bechard, Chapot, and de Leroy, voted against
the government on the measure.
A dinner to fifty guests was given yesterday by
the Minister of Marine. The President of the Re-
public was present. In the evening there was a
grand reception.
21/....117

rthilig Highest. lowest Closing.
. pit Cents.
66 90 56 70 56 85 56 64 56 60
li pm Cent& 92 70 92 40 93 65 92 35 92 35
5 do. New Lan „ a n n n
ii per Cents. it a M a a
I. 4 per Cada ,, na
Eggimg• on Louden :60 days, 5343 471 ;90 days, !3':A 324
Bar. 6, 1840
6, 1643
Do. 4a — „ Treasury Bonds... 94 15 „
Do. 1;
Booms. Park sad Cams, 780 ' • Paris and Rouen, 533 ;
Rouen and Hams, 240; Strasbourg and Basle, 118 73; Centre (Vier-
am), 31625; Orleans and Bordeaux, 408 75; North, 458 75 ; Paris
and Strasbourg. NO • Toars and Nub,, 277 50; Avignon and
Marseilles, 317 50 ;Venailles (right bank), 205 75 ; Do. (left bank)
167 50; Mooteresu and Troyes, 110; Boulogne and Amiens, 19250 ,
Dieppe and Fecarnp, 180 ; St. Germain. 410.

PAW, Dec. V. Yor
Many.
- -
•
•

Par Aocotmt.

At the hour of going to press neither the French
nor the German mails had arrived.

MADRID. Dec. 81.—Three per Cents., 301 Rao. Four per Centr.,
121 paper. Biro per Cents., 18 paper. Coupons, 8. Bank of St.
Ferdinand, 57 paper. nettange on London, 50.50.

ITALY.

ROME.—The Journal des Debate has the following
from Rome, dated the 20th:—" Counts Gabriel and
Louis Mastai, brother and nephew of the Pope, ar-
rived here the day before yesterday from Poitici.
Their return adds to the probability of his Holiness's
speedy arrival, the precise period of which is not yet,
however, known. It is said that the return depends
on the conclusion of the loan, which does not appear
to have been altogether arranged.
A letter from Rome of December 20, in the Con-
otitutionnel, says:—"Nothing more is known concern-
ing the return of the Pope. It is perfectly decided
on in principle, but the period, although it appears
near at hand, is still undetermined, si..ce his holiness
has taken to the Bth of January to fix the day. Meat.-
while the apostolic palace of the Vatican is being got
ready, as it is there that the Pope will reside The
cardinals are beginning to return to Rome; yesterday,
Messeigneurs Clarelli and Pianetti arrived here,
and workmen are at present busy in re-
pairing the apartments which Cardinal Lam-
brnschini occupied at the palace of the Commies,
and which have just been given up by the staff, who
were lodged there, to the cardinals agent. A move.
meat has just taken place in the expeditionary army
of the Mediterranean. The first division, wlich occu-
pied the Comarea and the Roman castles, has re-
turned to Rome, and has been replaced by the regi-
ments of the second division hitherto quartered here.
The 20th and 66th regiments of the line are in a few
days to proceed to Civita Vecchia, where vessels have
arrived to take them away, the latter to France, and
the 20th, it is said, to Algeria. The army will in
this way undergo a reduction of about 8,000 men, in-
cluding the sick, the convalescent, and those who
have finished their time."

Our correspondent write.:
ROME, Dee. 18.
Although the accounts we have hitherto received
from Naples appear to indicate an intention on the
part of his Holiness to pass a second winter at Gaeta,
and although the few interviews which General
Baraguay d'Hilliers had with the Pope were unpro-
ductive of any positive assurances of his proximate
return, still the Intelligence which I have been able
to procure from an unexceptionable source leads me
to conclude that the ensuing month may really wit-
ness the return of Pio Nono to his capital.
It is not to be expected or supposed that General
Baragnay d'Hilliers himself can be brought to state
explicitly wherein the difficulty of a reconciliation,
so to speak,between the French cabinet and the Papal
court, chiefly consists ; or upon what especial points
he found the greatest reluctance to compromise on the
part of his Holiness. But, from several persons who
have conversed with the commander-in-chief upon the
subject of his :mission, I learn that his constant
assurance is that the Pope will certainly not return
during the present month, but most probably in the
course of the month of January, and I have every rea-
eon to believe, from what has transpired from those
most capable of knowing the truth of the matter,
that the cardinals are beginning to despair of at eiog
Austria take up the cudgels against France in vindi-
cation of the Papal rights: they see that Spain has
already deserted their cause: they feel convinced
that the French army will not abandon Rome until
the Pope has returned ; and they can hardly
flatter themselves that any other army will
be so Quixotic as to attempt to prepare for
hie entry by driving the present cccupants
out of the city; they expect, on the other hand,
that the arrival of Pio Nono will prove the signal of
departure for a considerable portion of the French
rorce. and that his quiet residence in hie capital for a
year or two will suffice to send away the remainder.
They r. fleet that a prolongation of obstinate re bite-
ance on their part might seriously endanger their
position, they conclude that it is better to grant acme
trifling or apparent concession than to lose the ad-
vantages of ade facto restoration, and console them-
selves for momentarily yielding to the pressure of
circumstances by the consideration that, when thev
have got fairly rid of their troublesome protectors; and
supplied their place by an unscrupulous army of
' foreign mercenaries, the concessions may be virtually
annulled or gradually withdrawn, like the scaffolding
from a newly erected fabric, the allegiance of the
country ensured by forcible compressicn, and Cardinal
Antonelli, or whoever else may then be at the helm
of the ecclesiastical government, left to exclaim with
the witch in Macbeth, " I'll do, and I'll do, and I'll der"
regret to have to announce an increase iu the
degree of severity with which Dr. Achith is tended
in the Castle of St. Angelo. He is now confined in
one of the upper prisons of the fortress, dark, dirty,
and unwholesome, with strict injunctions for the
gaoler to allow him to hold no communication with
the other prisonere, or to receive message, or visits
from h.s friende. The cause of these rigorous orders
appears to hive been chiefly the discovery that an
en, busiest.; but certainly in the present instance in-
discreet zeal bad prompted Dr. Aohilli to converse
with -his fellow-prisoners upon religious subjects
. urine ,he hours allotted to their meals or ex. reise.
Ihr person who was base. enough, to inform against
him was no other than Dutmill'a, whom I menttoned

in a preceding letter as being in custody for the
**WY te _gold wins and medals in the Vatican
Library. He accused Dr. Achilli of enter-
tatting the inmates of the prison with heretical
discourses and of ecandalising them by eating meat on
Fridays and Saturday., and his testimony, although
that of a thief, was considered quite sufficient to con-
demn the unfortunate advocate of protestantism to the
earcere duro, whilst the informer was rewarded for
his treachery by a greater degree of liberty than be-
fore. The captain commanding the prison depart-
ment of the fort was taken by the cardinal-vicar in
his carriage to the Quirinal palace the other day,
and there severely reprimanded by the cardinal
triumvirate for having treated Achilli with an undue
share of indulgence. I hear that the government
architect, Beryl, stated upon examination that many
of the cells in the Castle of St. Angelo were unfit for
human habitation.

SARDINIA.—Our correspondent writes :
TURIN, D.C. 21.

Count Appony, the Austrian minister, issisted at
the opening of the Piedmonteee parliament yester-
day, the first at which he took his place among the
diplomatic body at Turin, exhibiting his superb cos-
tume as a magnate of Hungary.
The national guards, about eight o'clock in the
evening gave a serenade to her Majesty the Queen,
whose fife it was yesterday. The King soon showed
bimetal at the windows of the pilace, surrounded by
the whole of his court, and this act of nondesoen-
sion contrasted so strikingly with the reserve which
even the late Kiog Charles Albert himself always
used when showing himself to the people, made a
lively and most favourable impression on the immense
crowd which filled the square in front of the palace.
His Majesty immediately afterwards ordered the
doors of his apartments to be thrown open, and admit-
ted all without distinction of rank, from the general
in command to the private soldiers of that citizen
guard.
It must be acknowledged that, compared with the
ardour displayed spontaneously, that which was of a
purely official character was of rather a pale cast ;
and so it was necessary that it should be. The speech
from the throne had an unusual form, justified, how-
ever, by the anormal situ►tion in which the ministry
is at present placed. It was not a political pro-
gramme, or exposition of the policy of the ministry,
bat rather an act and testimony of thankfulness on
the part of the kiog towards the nation, which had
just aided him by the late elections to save the
statute (or constitution) given by his late father,
Charles Albert, and thereby really. the very inde-
pendence of Piedmont, the last remaintng, but at the
same time the best, hope of Italy, of Italian regene-
ration. The manner in which those thanks are con-
veyed in the king's speech produced a highly favour-
able impression, by its perfect propriety, as well as its
moderation. The very serious and important questions
which the late parliament would not, or could not,
solve, are still pending, and the King, without desig-
nating any of them in particular, signalised them all
generally to the careful consideration of the newly-
assembled legislature.