The Express.
London, England, 1856-04-01 00:00:00

DEATH OF SIR CHARLES HOTHAM.

TRIESTE, Mainz 30.
Accounts have been received of the death of Sir
Charles Hotham, Governor of Victoria.

We read in • letter from Bt. Petersburg of the
22nd:—" Yesterday at 2 o'clock the usual Hsi messed to
float spots the Imperial chateau. The Emperor had left
for Eialead. This *Reunion, whisk will embrace a lam
portion ef the roustry, will sot *stead over more thus tea
days. His Majesty is secuspauied by his two lirothsn, the
Dread Dukes Coastaatias sad Michael. His Majesty's suits
is very limited."

The Upper Chamber at Berlin decided, on Satur-
day, open the report of its bereau, that M. de &chow
having placed himself, imosedia.e'y after the duel, at the
dispreitios ef the mi:i•ery authority, an au.hotioation to
prosecute wan not required from the Chernher. Anthr-
rity, however, was given in the ease of ha tecmd, M.
de Mandl,.

ITALY.

(vies ova OWN

NAPLES, Ideitcrt 24.

As the Conferences draw towards a conclusion, and
that too apparently of a peaceable character, great is
the " ground swell" of excitement which exists here,
and intense the anxiety to know whether Italian affairs
have been or will be discussed, and in what sense. I
am not surprised at it, for nothing can be worse than
the political condition and prospects of this country,
and, spite of all that poetry may sing that he who
desires to be free "himself must strike the blow,"
profound is the conviction that no amelioration can
be effected except through the intervention—moral
or material—of the foreigner. The reason is this,
that Austria is ever present to put down any move-
ment subversive of " order." Her hordes are at the
beck and call of the Italian despots, who, knowing
this, can well afford to despise the wishes of their
people, and insist on their own theories of govern-
ment. At the very foundation, therefore, of Italian
oppression, is that security which Austrian in-
fluence gives, and not until it is diminished or
centralised, will there be any chance for the I.berties
of this country. When the question becomes a simple
one as between the sovereigns and their people, the
former must, to ensure their very existence, alter their
policy. Several facts within the last week have
awakened the fears of one, ar.d the hopes of the other
party. Hie Majesty lest Ineedzy received a despatch
at half•past four o'clock in the morning, which greatly
troubled him. It was said that Count Cavour had
mooted the Italian question in the Conferences. What
is more tangible is, that the questions pa to Lord
Palmerston and the article in the Morning Post have
created the strongest hopes in the circles of the
liberals. Poor fellows ! how can it be wondered at?
They have no political existence at present—they do
not enjoy the common rights and privileges of man.
And such is the state of things, which it is sternly re-
solved to continue unless some opposing and wiser in-
fluences are introduced into Italian affairs! I am not
asserting facts which do not admit of proof; for, omit-
ting the monstrous ac's of this government during the
last five or six years, let us glance for a moment
at " defences " and confessions of political faith
written and circulated •by a minister of state and by
his paid creature,. In 1853 a pamphlet was printed
in Geneva for circulation in Naples. It was ordered
and paid for by Mazza, of pious police memory. It
was an attack on all free governments, and that of
England in particular : it insulted our nation and our
Queen, and was considered so offensive that a copy
was sent officially to the home government, without,
however, eliciting the expression of any opinion.
The temperate, gentlemanly, and argumentative
spirit in which it is written may be inferred from
the following passages :—" Ido not se much com-
plain of the falsehoods published by Mr. Gladstone
as I am surprised that so many have been
fools enough to confute him, proving him a
calumniator, liar, rogue; for it is well known that,
as being English, these epithets belong to him de
jure. To such a wretch one answers by spitting in
his face. Yee, you are a liar, a calumniator, a bri-
gand, most base, most ignorant—true type of your
monstrous nation. The world will have no peace till
all the united sovereigns succeed in destroying this
piratical people, and blotting them from the list of
nations. May the people of England he destroyed
and dispersed like the Jews, and may London be
rooted out and burnt like Jerusalem, and Europe will
be safe." All this is very elegant and complimentary
to us English; but, together with its tirades agai:: st
free governments, it is of importance, as having been
ordered by Mazza and circulated in Naples. A
second publication, showing the political sys-
tem in favour in Naples was the "Letters of
Jules Gondon, the editor of the Univers, to Mr. Bow-
-1 yer." It is a thorough defence of whivever had taken
I place in this country within the last few years; and
having emanated from Naples, whither it returned
and was circulated, ia of course the true expression of
the opinions of the highest personages in the state.
Again, the last publication of any political signifi-
cance is that which I noted in my last letter—.
Mazza's " Confession of Faith," bearing his name on
the title-page, and breathing the rankest, maddest
"absolutism." All these works tend to one end—
the maintenance of the political system which hen
excited the abhorrence of all Europe—and, proceed-
ing from a press under the control of this government,
and being circulated in Naples, bear upon them the
stamp of authority. No weeder, therefore, will it
be if no promise of change be held out to this country,
if clubbists again commence their agitation, and
" Mazziniani " multiply.

I allude to a report which has found its way into
print, and which has been whispered, too, in Naples,
only to deny it—that the King of Naples had yielded
up his ecclesiastical rights in Sicily, commody known
as the Tribunale della Monarchia di Sicilia. Those
rights were conferred on Count Roger by Innocent 11.,
in gratitude for his having driven the Saracens out
of Sicily and restored the Greek church( s to the
Papal see. Clement XI. abolished them, but Bene-
dict XIII., on the remonstrance of Cnarles VI., re-
stored them. Since then they have been held by the
sovereigns of the Two Siciliev with grett tenacity,
and by none more so than by Ferdinand 11., who
resisted the frequent applications of Gregory XVL,
and who only so late as last year by his resolution
obliged the Papal delegate, Monsignore Biz aro, to
leave the kingdom. In fact, Monsignore Rizarro,
as I reported at the time, was not very mildly treated
by the police, his papers having been seised in him
rooms in the monastezy of the Agostiniani Sealzi. I
shall be much astonished, therefore, if such rights
have been conceded, which I do not believe to be the
case. Theeffect of these very peculiar privileges is
to make the King of the Two Sicilies independent of
the papal power in the Island of Sicily. He is Pope
to it, and sends his nuncio or ecclesiastical minister,
who, in the name of the King, administers and con•
trot the ecclesiastical affairs of the island.

I have scarcely anything new to add to what I
have already said about the decree permitting (or pro-
hibiting) the exportation of grain. No new purchases
can or will be made, since exportation in colers &dead
loss either in England or France. The French have
500,000 tomoli purchased last autumn, and as yet
only tonnage for taking op 120.000 tom. has been
chartered. It is felt that the loss incurred will be
too great to admit of sending all off, and the general
opinion is that the object of exporting this small pro-
portion is to keep up prices here, so as to sell off the
remainder quicly at a less loss in Naples. 'this de-
cree is a pretty specimen of financial jugglery in
Naples. It is perfectly prohibitory in its operation;
and whilst it laughs at the foreigner, kflicts a
most material loss on the native.

The Neapolitans are much gratified by a fact re-
cently brought to light. Giulio Bianco, a shoemaker,
' of Averse, near Naples, was the man, it appear., who
planted the French flag on the Malakhcff Tower.
He left this country some years ago for Algiers,
where he entered a company of the buitives. With
them he embarked for the Crimea, and there he per-
formed that act which has procured him his cap-
taincy, the Cross of the Legion ot Honour, and the
Order of St. Maurice and ot Lazziro.