The Express.
London, England, 1866-05-04 00:00:00

THE EXPRESS, FRIDAY EVENING, MAY 4, 1566•

ITALY.

of importunate applicants. There is a little bit,
some half dozen square miles or so, of Italian ter-
ritory in the mountains above the valley of Aosta,
in the immediate neighbourhood of the passage of
the Great St. Bernard, which is almost victual in
French territory, and the acquisition of which
would be a real rectification of frontier for France.
France has often wished to possess this remote
corner of mountain and rock. And it is possible
that the "something" in the mind of the Italian
statesman might be this infinitessimal fragment of
Italian soil. But if this were ever said orproposed,
or hinted, it was, as I have said, by a man who is
no longer a member of the government.
Our latest news this morning coming from
Venetia is, that the Austrian army there has been I
increased to 200,000 men, and that it is the belief
of the Austrian officers there that an attack by
Austria on Italy is imminent. If Austria is
anxious, as many suppose, to begin the war in
Germany, without having the responsibility of
being the first to violate the Federal compact, she
may think that an attack on Italy, on the pretext of
the warlike preparations of Italy, may have, as it
very probably would have, the effect of accomplish-
ing this.
P.S. I see it stated by some of your contempo-
raries that General Prim is supposed to be in Cata-
lonia. This may be very true. But meanwhile
the fact is that he is in Florence, where he has been
received with much cordiality and friendliness by
men of mark of every party.

'oaox °ma elm cosszsPoirrocrro

FLORENCE, APRIL 29.
We hear that "things are looking more peaceful
at Berlin and Vienna;' but we know that it is a
crying of peace where there is no peace ; and those
little shiftings of the political weathercock pro-
duced by the light baffling gales of diplomacy pro-
duce little effect on our minds. Italy feels that, let
the question of morality be what it may as regards
the other governments, who are meditating the
crime of plunging Europe into war for the sake of
causes which ought to be utterly insufficient to
produce any such effect, she at least is acting
rightly and righteously in the matter. However
necessary it may be for others to strive to cast the
blame and the responsibility of what may be about
to happen from each on his neighbour, so as to
escape the condemnation of European public
opinion, she has no such necessity. She may say
openly, in face of all governments and all men,
that she wishes for war for an object which must
be held in the minds of all men to be one
of the few that can justify it, and only to

leave as questionable, not the uprightness of her
conduct, but its prudence. We do wish war,
as the only means of rescuing our brothers from
the hands of the oppressor, and rendering our own
national existence possible and prosperous. We wish
it so much, that in the opinion of many—l think
I may say of most men here—the near prospect of
what is so ardently desired has inflamed the national
mind to such a pitch, that Italy may be tempted to
seize the object, even failing the condition on which
it'was first made to depend. Such an event would
be strictly in accordance with the ordinary course of
human conduct. A coveted object is held out to a
man as attainable under certain circumstances that
seem almost sure to be realised. His impatience
for the possession of it is stimulated to the utmost.
The hypothecated circumstances fail, or delay
toj become accomplished facts. But the
hope delayed which maketh the heart siek
has irritated the longing of the expec-
tant, till his desire has become uncontrollable,
and he determines on attempting to satisfy it even
without the conditions, on which he at firstadinitted
that it must depend. This seems likely enough to
become a' tolerably accurate exposition of the
present position and course of Italy. War rumours
of all sorts abound ; and are of course carefully
denied as fast as they arise. And it is exceedingly
difficult, and perhaps hardly worth while to attempt
tootrace the degree of truth that may attach to each
of these. A regiment has been ordered to march in
such for such a direction. Ah ! But look. It is
only a part of movements usual at this time of year.
The government has spent such and such large
sums in war material. Tubh ! The head of the
clothing? department declares that it is only so
many francs less, and that the purchases are needed
to make up for non-purchases last year, and to keep
the stocks at their usual level, &c.
Certain it is that many men in positions likely to
have an inkling of coming events do expect that
come what may between other powers, Italy is on
the eve of striking a blow for Venice on her own
account. This is what any active observer here
could tell you. Of course all such intention is
jealously kept secret. Of course it would be mere
treason to let facts on such a subject be known,
which can be kept secret. And if I were able to
tell you as a certaini fact that the Italian govern-
ment meant to go to war within a fortnight, and
thought that Europe would believe my statement,
may wish to put efeather in my cap as your corre-
spondent would assuredly not suffice to induce me
to do Italy so great an evil as to divulge the
secret.

RUSSIA.

(TROIS OUR CORRESPONDENT.)

ST. PETERSBURG, Apart. 27.

Since the wretched man who fired at the Emperor
has proved beyond all doubt to be a Russian, born
and bred—and with a dash of the Tartar in him—

public attention has been very strongly directed to
the state of politica and parties at home. The
word " conspiracy " is in everybody's mouth, and
the fact of wide and dangerous disaffection has
been suddenly and generally accepted, before any
evidence whatever, beyond that of the attempt at
assassination, has been produced to warrant such
a conclusion. It is certainly true that the Moscow
Gazette has been crying " treason " ever since the
Polish insurrection revealed the " something rotten
in the State ;" but the public outside a small circle
in the old city have been incredulous, and have
been wont to attribute M. Katkoff's continued
denunciations to political querulousness, to per-
sonal animosity against members of the govern-
ment, and generally to a brain over-excited by the
difficulties and dangers which Russia surmounted
in the Polish question. He never ceased to cry
"Wolf !" and yet no wolf ever made his appearance,
and so the Moscow Gazette was almost unheeded,
while not unfrequently it raised a smile.
The public had almost forgotten all the unhealthy
symptoms which appeared in the body politic be_
tween the date of the present Emperor's accession
and the shedding of blood in Poland. Where,
indeed, are those seditious proclamations and those
riotous students ? Where was the influence of
M. Herten I—his Belt was no longer heard. In
lieu of these had there nut been addresses of

loyalty and patriotism from every part of this vast
empire 1 Is it not still the theory that the State was
saved from foreign aggression by the manifestation
of a patriotic feeling which seemed unbounded and
unreserved i Even yesterday the Moscow Gazette
published reflections to the following purport: The
last three years have been a great blessing to the
Russian people, whose powers have been vivified
and raised. The nightmare which oppressed them
and the poison that ran through their veins have
both disappeared. Gradually things returned to a

Among the rumours, however, which may be
mentioned is one which was rife in the Chamber

natural condition ; a mighty feeling of patriotism
caused the evil spirit to be quieted ; the actions of
that spirit had either to be abandoned or more
artfully concealed ; and common sense resumed its
sway. The previous state of public opinion has the
same relation to its present condition as a lunatic
asylum has to the natural order of things in human
society. Masses of the Russian youth who once
learnt by heart the Ku/okt)/ and the productions
of German thinkers, such as Buchner, Max Stier-
ner, and Feierbach, translated and lithographed
for the use of seminaries and gymnasia, have freed
themselves from the infection, and become right-
minded and practical men. "But it is natural,"
continues the Moscow Gazette, "that some of them,
more strongly infected than the rest, still linger in
the loathsomeness of their nihilism, and the more
so since the causes of the evil remain in full force,
and continue to act, though far more carefully and
silently. These are no longer giddy striplings, with
perverted ideas ; they are men that are entirely lost,
and that are ready to be the instruments of every
abomination. They can be trained by evil machi-
nators to do the work both of incendiaries and

yesterday, that Ricasoli is likely to be Prime
Minister, in substitution for La Marmots, whose

seassins."

The picture here drawn appears correct enough,
although it requires some explanation. All the
denunciations of the Moscow Gazette are repro-
duced in the phrase which mentions the influence
of a certain description of literature—it means
nothing more nor less than that the " causes
still at work" proceed from the Minister
of Public Instruction. This accusation against
the old foe of the Moscow Gazette will, to say
the least, appear illiberal to those who see no
danger in studying the literature of every political
sect, and it would scarcely arrest attention were it
not for the appearance of an ukase in the Russian
Invalid this morning, to the effect that Mr. Golow-
nin, Minister of Public Instruction, has been
superseded by Count Tolstoy, Procurator of the
Synod. The minister had long been tottering, but
it has probably been hitherto considered unwise to
strengthen the position of the Moscow Gazette by
his disgrace. The appointment, however, of
General Mouravieff to the presidency of the Con-
spiracy Commission, and the triumph of M. Kat-
koff in the matter of the avertissement given to his
journal, rendered M. Golownin's position unte-
nable, and he is consequently replaced by Count
Tolstoy, a personal enemy. The terms of the dis-
missal contain no gracious intimation to the effect
that the minister had offered his resignation, and
although a seat at the Imperial Council has been
granted to him, the appointment is merely hono-
rary, and takes but little edge off his disgrace.
But lam straying from the point. Is there, or
is there not, a wide-spread and dangerous con-
spiracy in Russia ? That is the question. The Mos-
cow Gazette appears to consider the evil to be limited
to a few inveterate nihilists, incited by machinators,
under whom M. Katkoff probably implies the
Poles, and their allies, the revolutionists of Europe.
He finds evidence of this in the fact that certain

newspapers abroad had spoken of coming troubles

in Russia some time before the attentat of the
16th April. tnauthenticated reports that the

attempt on the life of the Emperor had been pre-
dicted in certain circles have for the last week been
actively spread and generally believed. The police
of St. Petersburg, it is said, had been warned by
anonymous letters that the Emperor would be in
danger on the IGth April ; but Prince Dolgorouki,

chief of the secret police, who has also been die- THE ADULLAMITES AND THE FtEpo---"Rx
missed, was unwilling to communicate such intelli- QUESTION.
gence to the Emperor, believing that he was safe
enough under the, eyes of his agents. There are
stories, too, of at least a hundred young men
who tied from the Summer Garden as soon as the
shot had missed. Two nihitiet women were over-
heard to ask of a suspicious looking man escaping
past them—" Is he killed 1" To which the reply
was " Non, manque." I could relate many anec-
dotes of the same kind, one probably as unfounded
as the other, but all combining to prove that the
public believe in a conspiracy. It is beyond a doubt
that General Mouravieff shares such an opinion, and
the official promise given in the Invalid that a strict
inquiry into Karakozoffs connexion with "societies
aiming at the subversion of the established order of
the state," confirms the conclusion that the
general's opinions are shared by other members of
the government, and by the Emperor himself.
And yet, as I have said before, there are no out-
ward and visible signs of a conspiracy. The
government and the public, in recognising the
existence of a plot, would appear, in the absence of
any published evidence, to have merely assumed
the fact, or to have deduced it from the prevalence
of a certain amount of nihilism. To the uninitiated,
or perhaps superficial student of public affairs in
this country, all that appears on the surface is a
certain malaise, or undefined yearning after some-
thing, which testifies more of the unripeness than
the maturity of things, and in which there appears
no symptoms of disloyalty. Bummed up in a few
words, the questions that cause this malaise in
Russia Proper are as follows :—"The money market
is very' tight,' and the rouble in our pocket is about
25 per cent. less in value than it pretends to be :
the Treasury wants money for the public service,
and cannot get it, even by means of a loan on the
lottery system. Trade suffers, and capital won't
come in to the country for the construction of rail-
roads and the improvement of agriculture."
As regards class aspirations, the nobles are trying,
quite legitimately, to obtain a concession in favour
of representative institutions. They have availed
themselves of the recent event to urge on the
Emperor the necessity of countervailing the en-
croachments of democracy and socialism, by
strengthening the position of the aristocracy. The
peasantry are perfectly tranquil and contented,
although it is much feared that famine awaits them
in several parts of Russia, owing to bad
harvests and a decrease in production ; they are
getting accustomed to their duties under the
new system of rural administration, and
begin to feel the extent of their power, while
they somewhat grudge the expense which their self-
government entails. As for a middle class, there
is none to speak of. The merchants, the inferior
civil and military officers, and the " nihilists," may,
to some extent, come under such a denomination,
although the officers and the " nihilists" will be
angry enough at being grouped with merchants,
who are not noble but plebeian like their "lesser
brethren." All the merchants seem to care for just
now is, protection, and further issues of incon-
vertible paper. They care nothing for repre-
sentative government, and only want to be left in
peace. The Tchinovinka are a class that I do not
much like to praise at the present moment, for there
is much in common between them and the " ni-
hilists." The younger officers of the army are also
infected with crude, wild theories respecting so-
ciety and its government, but not, I am induced
to believe, with disloyalty. But there is another
estate in the realm—the press, which has been
discussing public affairs very freely since the new
law. Warnings have been given to journals that ad-
vocated socialist and other pernicious doctrines ;
the Moscow Gazette has fought the government, and
triumphed ; and the day before yesterday, the St.
Petersburg Gazette received a second warning, for
an absurd article in which the preservation of the
Emperor bya peaaantwaa held up as a proof that his
Majesty should rely on his people, as the officers of
government were evidently worthless, not having
done what Kommiaaaroff did. The Emperor was
summoned by the Gazette to be a " Zemski Czar"
—a Czar of those who are not " serving men." A
milder attempt at sowing dissension between a
sovereign and his administration could not possibly
have been made.
But General Mouravieff declares that a conspi-
racy exists, and we must wait patiently until the
commission over which he presides is in a position
to divulge the evidence.

n'
(From the Daily Neva).
SINCE the division of Saturday morning the
organs of the Adullamites have agreed to sane,.
ledge the desirableness of improving the
occasion to settle the Reform question. wi .
grudging their leaders the opportunity of
notincing a reduction of the Franchise, or
proaching them for having wasted so much of
publicniay tune in
regret Parliament
tha theytin didlreu
we not arrive
their present convictions a month or two
The necessity which they now profess to •
was explained and enforced by Mr. GT....limn
the second week of March ; we should in
like to know when it became apparent to the I
" Liberal " opponents of the Franchise Bill, IA
to how many of them it is apparent now. Thal
who have been taunted on former occasions wit
their credulity in believing similar professions reel
be excused if they are at present a little seep**
The hypocrisy of self-styled Liberals has been reiti
a matter of cynical exultation, and Haunted in th
faces of sincere Reformers so often that we she*
be exceedingly weak to go in raptures over th
first fair words that happen to be spoken. ,

- -
The professions which it is now thought pO4,
to make are anonymous and impersonal ; we
only know whether they are sincere when membail
of Parliament come forward to adopt them, Ri
can well understand that many of the dwellers
the Cave find themselves very inconvenisedi
lodged in this shifty weather.
A scrip with herbs and fruit supplied
And water from the spring,
is no doubt wholesome diet for a brief ,
treat, and we hope that when the Ashi
lamites reappear they will be all the hesisSit
for the change. But there are signs the
some of them feel that their sequestratice hs
lasted too long, and they want to get beck s
a table and a fireside. It matters mole I,
them than it can do to anyone else bos
they make the transit ; but they must Ws
it soon, or find themselves finally do
out. There are no insurmountable difficulties'
the case of chose of their number who have give
silent votes ; but what they are to do who hie
made speeches does not clearly appear. The ts"
is indisputable that the secession, headed by It
Lowe and Mr. HOHSMAY, did nut take place e
any matter of petty detail, but was dictated Is
downright and implacable hostility to the psi
ciple of the reduction of the franchise as kerbs
to democracy. Not only those gentlemen, la
Mr. LAING and Lord ELCHO, the two mulles
, the brotherhood next in importance to ibex
opposed the Bill on the same grounds. ViSs
would be the value of any settlement of Reform
which these gentlemen could actively participate!
If the truth must be spoken, we suspect tie

this new cry simply signifies that the inure az* ;
of the enemies of reform, perceiving that le 0
GitosveNea and his followers have shot their
without hitting the mark, now want to obtain 1
insidious devices that which they could not get
I
open assault. Mr. GtanstoNt's solidity
firmness has been proof against their vehe
and foiled their plans. By half-past three
Saturday morning they had brought things to II
pass at which they had good reason to be
'rived. No set of men ever looked inure t ;
than they would have done if Earl Russell
Mr. GLADSTONE, thinking less of the inters*
the country, had retired from office and left
GROSVENOR with Lord STANLEY, Mr. Lost,
Mr. LAINO to faCi; the country with the di • •
list in their hands. Thanks to the public spiriti
the Government, they have been saved from *
difficulties of that position, and no doubt the
have learned a lesson which will keep them fro
tempting fate again just at present. The alters
tive device just now in favour appears to be
profess friendship for reform. But let it be
served how this friendship is shown. The
first mention of theirimproved dispeeitionis •
with appeals to the Government to sacrifice
characteristic features of its own Bill. We
told that there is no virtue ill political figures, ell
that for Ministers to talk of standing by i
71. franchise in boroughs and a 11
franchise in counties would be to WO
to coerce the House of Commons and to MO
the prospects of reform. This is the old**,
liar voice with a mere change of accent Its
true there is no virtue in figures, but there*
great deal of virtue in the reasons for which on
set of figures is preferred to another. If the Bil
now before Parliament were a wide-sweeping mss
sure—if it had been prepared by a body of Re
dicahs who had somehow got possession of th
government, and with whom it was necessary II
I come to the best possible transaction in order b
avoid worse evils—there would be some ressoak
talking of a compromise. But the Bill I itsi
the result and expression of a compromise.
gives less to the people than Lord Apra=
Lord HERBERT, Sir JAMES GRAHAM, and lite
PALMERSTON were ready and actually proposed fo
give. In counties it gives less than lasi
DERBY offered. It has been brought it
by an Administration which includes embed
members of the aristocracy and amp'y r°
presents the moderate section of the Lae;
party. To reject it is to rejects compute"
which has been deliberately prepared by *
Government, and accepted, not enthusiseticallY
but nevertheless cheerfully and in a reasonable
spirit, by those who had good reason to erPig
more. It is suggested that the Government tali
well consent to raise the qualification proPoBol..
its Bill. But look at the facts. It is calculOw
that the measure, as it stands, would '
two hundred thousand members of the wO
classes. The change that is required to plea
the Adullarnites would be made at the ego*
of that small number of persons. Consider*
that there are five millions of adult nudes
the country, and only one in six of that
is directly represented, does it appear so
extraordinary a thing that Government shall
propose to admit an additional two hundred tbol:
sand of the working classes to the privilege d
voting 4 And would any arrangement inspire oon
fidence as a settlement of Reform which prooool
on the assumption that even that small oddities
was too dangerous to be permitted 'I
The question answers itself. Before the Goern
sent could accept the suggestion now made,
would have to confess that Mr. LAING'S fears eM
Mr. LowE's antipathies were well founded, so!
that it had made a great mistake in attemptiaks'
deal with the question of Reform. But the 00:
vernment, we are persuaded, will do nothing
the kind. It will stand by its own moderate re,
posals, and the country will stand by it, and OM
the Bill has been passed those who now cm
the Government by their hesitation and di°6l;
will acknowledge, at least to themselves'
Ministers took the only course by which a Iva
and troublesome agitation could be ended.

THE CHOLERA AMONG THE GERMAN EMIGRANTS
PROM LIVERPOOL.—We understand that the directors of
the National Steam Navigation Company held a meeting
yesterday at their offices in Liverpool, at which a resolution
was adopted to put a stop to the conveyance of foreign
steerage passengers between Liverpool and North America.
This company last year carried upwards of 37,000 steerage
passengers without any casualty. In the cases of cholera
which have occurred the emigrants have, it is said, brought
the .Needs of the disease with them from the conti-
nent, and these have developed into active mis-
chief when the vessels have been midway across
the Atlantic. There was no suspicion when
the emigrants who went by the England and Virginian
were originally shipped at Liverpool that they were in any
way affected ; but in future the most rigorous precautions
will be adopted both by the National and the other steam
companies. One of the emigrants attacked at Liverpool on
Tuesday died on Wednesday evening at the workhouse.
She was the wife of a German named Schawrnberg.
Another man named Petersen, also at the workhouse, died
yesterday morning. Its feared that there are several
other cases which have not yet come under the attention
of the authorities. The Helvetia, which left Liver-
pool on Wednesday for New York, has been com-
pelled to put back with cholera on board amongst the
German passengers. It appears that government has now
issued a prohibition against German emigrants arriving in
this country unless they have undergone a satisfactory me-
dical inspection. Intimation of this has been sent to foreign
ports. It appears that before the Helvetii' sailed from Liver-
pool one or two German passengers were sent ashore in cone-
. quence of showing dangerous symptoms, but when the ves-
sel went to sea all the passengers were apparently healthy.
She had scarcely arrived at Queenstown before the disease
broke out, and two men had died when she reached that
place. Admiral Ker refused to allow the steamer to enter
the harbour, on the ground that there were no facilities for
accommodating the sick and grappling with the disease.
He ordered the vessel back to Liverpool. The Helvetia will
most likely arrive on Saturday afternoon, and the local
authorities are preparing to put her in quarantine. The
health committee are taking rigorous measures for a com-
plete supervision of the German lodging houses in the
town, which it appears have been greatly overcrowded.
TRIAL BY JURY.—At a meeting of the Council
of the Corporation of London, held yesterday, a resolution
was unanimously passed to petition both houses of parlia-
ment in support of the bill (which is now before the
House of Commons) to declare the right of trial by jury
in petitions for dissolution of marriage under the act of
1857, and in petitions under the Legitimacy Declaration
Act of 1858. The resolution was moved by Mr. John
Richardson, common councilman, seconded by Mr. R. N.
Phillips, common councilman. Mr. Richardson having
explained, in a clear and exhaustive manner, the high
national importance of the subject in relation
to the rights and liberties of Englishmen, expressed
a hope that the Common Serjeant, Mr. T. Chambers, Q.C.,
who his charge of the bill in parliament, would explain its
legal bearing. Mr. Chambers did so in a lucid speech,
stating that the bill (prepared by the jurisprudence depart-
ment of the Social Science Association) is declaratory, not
enactive ; that its object is to declare on behalf of the
English people, that the common law confirmed by magus
charts and many subsequent statutes, was not incidentally
and silently repealed in 1857 or 1858, and to affirm that the
legislature never vested or intended to vest a discretion in
the judge of the Divorce Court (unknown at any time to
any other court in this country) himself to determine
without a jury, contested questions of fact conclusively
affecting legitimacy, nationality, claims to citizeurhipa,
lands or titles, and conflicting interests between crown
and subject. This important bill will be reed a second
time next Tuesday.

CRYSTAL PALACIL 01C1 SHILLING D ;
AY:"
THURSDAY, MAY 3.—Admissions on par4en141,465
by season tickets, 898 ; total visitors, 2363.