The Express.
London, England, 1851-08-09 00:00:00

ITALY.
ROMAN STATES.

We have received letters, dated July 31st, from
our Roman eonespondent, from which we learn that
great discontent prevailed in the city and throughout
the provinces, on account of the new taxes and eon-
tributions levied by the government, and also on ac-
count of the continued measures of political perseeu- 1
tion against all who were not considered as oboe-
quious partizans of the clerical refaime. Amongst the ,
most recent victims, our correspondent mentions
Signor Blasi, a man of extremely moderate principles, ,
who had advocated the principle of non-resistance ;
when the French entered CiVita Vecchia, and had
subsequently afforded valuable information to the 1
French envoy. M. de Coreelles.
The tide of public sympathy was gradually turning
in favour of the French troops, between whom and
the acts of the French government, the Romans
seemed inclined to make a distinction, which was
observed with jealousy by the priests.
A correspondent of the Lombardo Veneto of
Milan gives the following account of the positions
which General Gemeau has taken up at Rome. Ho
has concentrated all his troops on the right bank of
the Tiber, leaving only half a battalion at La Pilotta,
for the defence of the French embasty. The mili-
tary ocetipatiou extends from the Castle of St. Angelo
to the l'orta l'urtesc, at the other extremity of
the Janieulas. Thus the French army is situated be-
tween the Tiber and the most important fortifications
of Rome. _ _ _

A letter dated Rome, Aug. 1, says:
The Austrians have collected large forces, with
strong divisions of artillery, in the Legation and the
Marches. Bologna, Ancona, Foligno, and the
whole line of positions, arc fortified.
"The late floods are abating, but the country papers
still bring news of the deplorable ravages which
have marked their course."

PIEDMONT.
TURIN, Avo. 5.
The law of the budget of expenses for 11141, which
amounts to 62 millions of livres, is promulgated with
the royal sanction.

IMPRISONMENTS AT NAPLES.
(rnov AN OCCASIONAL COILSIVII.ONDENT.)

TURIN, Aro. 1.
I ace be the papers that the letter of Mr. Glad-
stone had a considerable influence on public opinion;
that people are astonished that such atrocities can
be perpetrated in the nineteenth century, which I
boasts of its civilisation. lam in the position to
give you some further details of Neapolitan cruelty;
they may serve as a supplement to Mr. Gladstone 's
letter. The prisons are full of persons not yet
tried; their number amounts to twenty thousand,
without including those who have been arrested, but
shortly after liberated. In this number there are
about ten thousand imprisoned by measures of police
(misure di p.dizia), because some book or print was
found in their house which aroused the suspi-
cion of the authorities. Signor Corrasin, an old
man of seventy-five, was sent to prison for
having written sonic extracts from 'I acitus in
his memorandum-buck, and a certain Signor Sisto
was imprisoned for having had in his possession
Guizot's Democratic en France!" In Leen.,
Signora Arpa was: arrested because she would not
tell where her husband, a wealthy barrister, sus-
pected for his liberal ideas, had fled. In Naples, a
widow, Donna Muria Ricci-Devernois, was doomed
to six months imprisonment for having visited her
son, a priest, who had escaped from gaol, and
was to leave his country for ever on board of an
English steamer. In the provinces the houses of the
liberals are sacked and destroyed by the rabble,
instigated by the authorities ; and in Salerno,
General Patina had hail flogged more than twenty
persons publicly in the market-place, in order that they
should confess where they had concealed their arms.
In the councils of the cabinet the plan was
discussed to establish an extraordinary commission
under the name of Giunta di State, with the power to
pass sentences without the judicial forms. But this
IN not a new idea. The 7th of September, 1799,
Ferdinand IV. issued an order in which he named a
(hunts. di Stato, per mail:mare cram le f,,rnialila
giudiriarir, al:Armando : termini ad ore. These
were the expressions of the decree. Andrea Caccia-
tore,
a pamphleteer paid by the government, now
publishes this decree as a proof of the clemency of
the government. But even without re-enforcing the
decree of 1;99, the government has sent to the gal-
leys about 600 persons compromised in the Cala-
brian rising, by ministerial order, without a trial.
In Rome, everything mimics in the old unsettled
state. One of my friends writes : I can send you
no news of this place, where peculation alone is ac-
tive, and everything else—public feeling, commerce,
Christianity itself—seems to be in abeyance." The
only recent change is an extended exasperation
against the present order of government, and stupid
wonder at the length of time which can elapse before
it falls to pieces.