The Express.
London, England, 1857-02-14 00:00:00

with regard to Italy,with the knowledge, if not with
the salmon" of our own Government in 1854, if he
will honestly tell us what are the intentions of our
own Government with regard to Italy in 1857. We
shall be excused for feeling some anxiety on this
score by all who are aware of the Austrian
propensities of the courtly English Minister at
Florence. That a diplomatist so notoriously hos-
tile to Mu liberal cause in Italy should bo
allowed bi Main each an important past, is of
Melt emeigh to throw a suspicion on the
intends= of our own Government with regard to
Italy. Since the discussion of the Italian question
in the Paris Conferences, nothing has been done by
Ministers to prove the sincerity of the language held
by their Plenipotentiary on that occasion. Lord
CLAMSIMON declared that the conduct of the Go-
vernments of Central and Southern Italy was a
standing provocation to revolution. lie maintained
that the preservation of law and order in Italy was a
matter that concerned all European Governments,
inasmuch as a revolution in any one European State
was almost invariably followed by similar move-
ments in its neighbours. Among the Italian
abuses which Lord CLARENDON specified 611 most
urgently calling for redress, were the atrocities
of the King of NAPLES, the overwhelming priestly
influence in the Roman Government, and the pre-
sence of foreign troops in the independent Italian
States. All that has since been done by England to
give effect to these declarations is the withdrawal of
the English Embassy from the Court of Naples. Of
the effects of that half-measure we shall have occa-
sion to speak hereafter; our present concern is with
the entire amnions of our Government. It has done
literally nothing to obtain the withdrawal of foreign
troops from the independent States of Italy. It
maintains at Florence a Minister whe is notori-
ously a partisan of Austria, and inimical to the
Liberals of Italy. Nay, if the current talk of intel-
ligent, honourable, and well-informed Italian Libe-
rals may be believed, the Foreign Minister of Enr
land has urged upon the Sardinian Government the
expediency of being more cordial and compliant
towards Austria, with a warmth of explain ad
is scarcely consistent with the ordinary ilesemas
diplomatic correspondence. In short, the swings
and doings of the English Government have been
such as to awaken in the breasts of Italian patriots
an idea that it is angry with their statesmen because
they will not fawn upon Austria at England's
bidding, in order that Austria may bo in-
duced to support the policy of England in matters
which no way concern Italy. It may be that the
fears entertained by Italians of seeing the rights of
their country sacrificed to the convenience of Eng-
*sh Ministers have no foundation. We hope they

are groundless. But the only persons who can
abuse the public of these suspicions are the English
Ministers themselves. And the only way in which
they can accomplish this is by a frank exposition of
their Italian policy in Parliament.

IT should be a part of the business and the plea-
cure of this day to do homage to St. VALENTINE,
however wide apart his concerns may be from those
which are supposed to occupy us. It is really matter
for congratulation that, while debating our budget,
and computing the expenses of past, and the proba-
bilities of future wars, we see all London engaged to-
day in a celebration which has not a thought of poli-
ties or pelf connected with it. Our town readers
must have seen myriads of Valentines in the shop
windows since February set in : and they must
have observed an entire absence of political allu-
sion, of all gravity, all bitterness, of everything
but what is congenial with the loving and frolicking
spirit of the day. We see hits at the ladies' skirts,
it is true, and grimaces on lovers' countenances that
the once graceful maidens have become as unap-
proachable as the damsels of romance in giants'
castles ; but of substantial griefs and fears, sins and
sorrows, we hear and see nothing in the messages of
St. VALENTINE. And this precious exemption if
not from thej mere mood of the hour. For many
weeks sores of artists have been occupied in designs
ing, elaborating, painting, and cutting for this day, s
gifts ; and for many days there has been no getting
anything done by stationers and newsmen that
could be deferred till the 14th of the month. For
months have children and servants been laying by
their coppers and small silver pieces for love-gifts
on this day; and through the whole course of
preparation the spirit has been, as it always is,
true to the occasion. If it is ever true that
the merry French and the gloomy English are
representatives of opposite moods to the rest of the
world, it is not true to-day ; for never, when France
was at her gayest, could her temper have been more
genial or more mirthful than that of England on
the day of St. VALENTINE, of old or now. It
may be doubted whether the English arc not,
au fond, the meet humorous, if not exactly the
gayest. Their 'good-tempered enjoyment of satire,
their mirth at jokes against themselves, their inex-
haustible relish of truth-telling pantomime, their
fidelity in keeping such festivals as this pure from all
alloy of social discontent, seem to show that the
heart of merry England is as sound and u light as
ever. Nothing can be more wonderful than the
external changes noticeable on St. VALWITINL's-day;
and nothing can be more radically unchanged than
the spirit of it. Half a century ego it was told u a
wonderful fact that in London 200,000 Valentines
were delivered by the postmen—the postage* amount-
ing to little short of 1,7001. That was the way
the old folks reckoned ; while the young were ab-
sorbed in the conception of a hundred thousand pairs
of lovers. If it was objected that all who sent
valentines were not lovers, the reply was ready that
there were plenty of lovers who did not send valen-
tines. All over the country the post was lute ; and
in every village the population ran to the doors and
windows when the distant horn of the post-boy
was heard. Ilia swollen bags were discharged from
door to door, and when he went his way few were
left disappointed. In some places the best of the
fun was over the evening before—the giving of gifts
taking place on the eve of the day when the partner
was claimed. A tale of Mrs. °ries shows how
lately this custom existed in old-fashioned Norfolk ;
and the anecdote in that tale can be vouched for by
personages yet living—the snatching of a packet
of family letters, stolen as a valentine, and
treated as might be expected of thieves. The
story testifies to the dearness of postage, as
well as to the existence of the custom of throwing
gifts in at the doors after dark. In Hertfordshire
Yd elsewhere the children went from house to house
tereesiee true-lovers'-knots, garlands and money, and
mode a procession in honour of all lovers. In Kent,
the badness was burning " the holly boy" on the one
band, and " the ivy girl " on the other—nobody
knew why ; but it must be done by order of St.
VALENTINE. In the western counties, an old owl and
two sparrows must be caught before daylight and
presented at the chief house before the family were
awake, or the largess was forfeited. Elsewhere the
young people were all stirring early, because the
youth or maiden met earliest was to be the lib-long
Valentine. Almost everywhere, from John o' Groat's
to the Land's End, the young people were drawing
their mates by lot, so as to liken the occasion to
Twelfth Night. From time immemorial, the gifts