The Express.
London, England, 1859-01-03 00:00:00

LATEST INTELLIGENCE.

AUSTRIAN ITALY.

A Turin letter of Friday says :
" The belief in war gains ground every day, bat no
one can gnesa how it will break out. Prince Con-
stantine was talking the other day with a military
man who played a considerable part in 1848, and
asked his opinion uto the rumours of war. 'As a
military man,' was the answer, ' I wish for war, but
I do not know if we shall have it." At all events,'
said the Prince, ' I wish you better luck than in
1848." Then we were alone,' replied the officer ;
' and Austria was staunchly misted. To-day I hope
that the contrary would be the came.' ' Amongst
us,' said the Grand Duke, 'the Austrians are
looked upon as my father's murderers, on
account of their ingratitude, but we are
too much occupied in our country just at this
moment; nevertheless, so far as I am concerned,
I am always ready to follow the orders of the
Emperor, my brother.' I report this conversation
in the moat faithful manner possible."
The indipasdents says :
" Letters from Parma state that demonstrations

occurred at Modena on the 24th and 25th of Decem-
ber. The government made a great display of
force. Modena may, perhaps, give the signal for
the general explosion."

(runt A cozazspoxozre.)

MILAN, Dim 24.

At Venice and Milan, as also in the provinces, the
agitation is great, with a strong mixture of pru-
dence and common sense in it notwithstanding.
They are willing enough to have the affair
of 1448 over again, but no more puerilities,
hectoring, and swaggering ; no more silly bragga-
docio. They are organising themselves quietly and
steadily, but solidly and with a will. The Austrians
seem bewildered, and are taking meuures never
heard of before, and which some think perfectly ab-
surd. I need not instance their law on conscription,

or their monetary transactions, but here is one of
their strange acts : the government is compelling the
various municipalities of Lombardy and Venetia to
purchase all the public official edifices in the cities
and towns, such as the palaces of the Archducal
Princes, the guildhalls, barracks, and the like. By
this forced sale it is realising millions ; and, should
the Austrian authorities be ever forced to make
a run for it, they would leave nothing behind
them the loss of which might occasion them regret.
The government has arranged to continue the use of
the buildings at a certain rent. Now, every one
here knows what " paghera" means in the Austrian
month ; it is a promise to pay, as the wolf said to
the stork, when he had a bone in his gullet.
The Archduke has caused his palace at Mantua to
be re-furnished, evidently for the purpose of taking
refuge there in case of disturbances breaking out at
Milan. The antieigar agitation has recommenced ;

people smoke no longer. Some superior Austrian
officers wanted to set the veto at defiance, but were
immediately accosted by some of the Barabbas—a
cant term for what they call "gamins" at Paris—
with the short but now well-known cry, " Chi,
abbasao it sigaro !" One or two resisted, when
their cigars were taken out of their mouths,.
politely enough, it is true, but still by main force.
Others obeyed in silence, and flung their cigars away.
The Archduke wished to give a ball the other day.
Fifteen attended, being officials, and because they
could not help themselves. The Dukes Merl and
Sootti, both of them devoted to Austria, have left
Milan from prudential motives; Count Nara, an-
other devotee of Austria's, speaks openly and loudly
against the imbecility and harshness of the govern-
ment The fact is that; in 1848 you would meet
with scores of people that upheld Austria's good
right and her virtuous intentions, but you would not
find now half a dozen in the whole Lombardo-
Venetian kingdom. Every one is now convinced
that if the Austrians were only once out of Italy, the
King of Naples, the Pope, and all the petty princes
of the Peninsula would soon change their tone, and
that a lasting peace might then become a possibility.
No cue dreams of a republic, no one hints at
socialism. What Italians desire is, to have Italy
governed rationally by native princes and native
laws.