The Express.
London, England, 1861-06-06 00:00:00

effective iu the Oriental war afforded Count Cr
your, by her intimacy with Napoleon 111., the op-
portunity of gauung at least a moral support.
On the th of January, 1859, the Moniteur
came out with the official announcement, that
intimate relations had for some time subsisted
between the Emperor Napoleon and the King
of Sardinia. "The mutual interests of France
and Sardinia," it went on to say, " have in-
fluenced the two sovereigns to draw more closely
the bonds between them by means of a family
alliance. For a year peat negotiations have been
going on with a view to this, but on account of
the princess's age, it was necessary to defer till now
the moment of the nuptials." On the 23rd of
January, General Niel, as Prince Napoleon's
proxy, went through the ceremony of betrothal,
and, as early as the 30th, the marriage was
solemnised with great pomp at Turin. On the
25th of March the Sardinian premier arrived in
Paris, at the invitation of the French Emperor,
where he did not omit any precaution which might
be necessary to secure the interests of his country,
whether the ultimate decision in that influential
quarter should be for peace or war. On the
12th of April the chamber voted a credit of
803,115 francs for the fortifications of Ales-
saudria. Eleven days afterwards, Count Buol'a
insulting ultimatum was presented at Turin.
On the 26th, the three days grace allowed Sar-
dinia by Austria having expired, Count Cavour
unhesitatingly, though in courtly terms, rejected
the imperious ultimatum, throwing upon Austria
the whole responsibility of the war, and reminding
her of the universal condemnation of her con-
duct already pronounced by European public
opinion. It was not, however, until the 29th that
the Austrians actually crossed the Ticino, their
movement having been arrested at the eleventh
hour by a last unsuccessful attempt at negotiation
on the part of Lord Malmeebury. General Guylai's
subsequent dilatoriness proves that delay was
not of so much importance as was at first
imagined. The campaign was disastrous through-
out to the invading army, and would not have
been less so had they advanced seventy-two hours
earlier.

After the battle of Magenta, and the evacuation
of Milan, Count Cavour openly avowed that the
object of the war was the independence of the
entire peninsula. Having vainly endeavoured to
'prevent the conclusion of the peace of Villafranca,
Count Cavour resigned of immediately upon the
signature of that singular convention, which so
abruptly closed the seventy days' war. An un-
successful attempt was then made by Count
Arose, a personal friend of the Emperor Na-
poleon, to form a government, and • Ratiari-
Larnarmora ministry was ultimately formed. The
nation, however, now enlarged by the formal incor-
poration of Lombardy, and the informal adhesion
of the Central Italian provinces, Parma, Modena,
Tuscany, and the Legations, had long been cla-
morous for the return of its favourite, Cavour,
and on the 17th January last year Count Cavour
was charged by the King with the formation of a
new cabinet. Another critical time for Italy was
approaching. The desire for union had become a
passion in Italy, and there was one mau who was
bracing all his energies to secure it.
The part which Count Cavour had to
play in the great drama of the year
was a most important one. The world now knows
whether or not it was successful. The diplomatic
attitude of Sardinia in view of the extraor-
dinary revolutions in Naples and Sicily, was
only second in importance to the conduct of
the Marsala expedition itself. General Gari-
baldi has since admitted that the statesman
at home, was equally the friend of Italian unity
with the soldier whose ardour would have led him
on without a pause to Rome and to Venice. The
events of the peat twelvemonth are too familiar
to need recapitulation. How Naples and
Sicily have become inoorporated with the free
power of the north ; how liberal institutions have
been substituted for a despotism almost unpa-
ralleled in history ; how the Papal States, up
to the very gates of Rome, have in their
turn been emancipated form priestly dominion
and joined to the great confederacy of Italian free-
dom ; how even the cession of Nice and Savoy have
been at length acknowledged an unavoidable neces-
sity, and compensated for by the enormous benefits
which have been extended to nearly the whole
Peninsula; how an impatient warlike party has been
moderated and restrained • all thisis familiar to the
reader, and must be inseparably associated in his
mind with the career of the great statesman, whose
loos will now excite the most painful emotions of
regret wherever constitutional liberty is loved and
appreciated.
The late count was unmarried, and his great
wealth, we believe, descends to his nephew.

Noes.—For most of the partimMws in the above notice
we are indebted to an intereatint little book, entitled
"Count favour, Lis Life and Career, from the pen of Bead
H. Cover.

cot Court.

The Queen and the Prince Consort, accompanied
by the King of the Belgians, and attended by the Hon.
Horatio Stopford and Colonel the Hon. A. N. Hood, visited
the new Horticultural Gardens at South Kensington yester
day morning.
The Prince of Wales, attended by Major-General the
Hon. R. Bruce and Captain Grey. strived at Buckingham
Palace yesterday afternoon, from Madingley Hall, Cam-
bridge.
The Prince Consort left Buckingham Palace at a quarter
past four o'clock to open the New Horticultural Gardens at
South Kensington.
The royal precession left the Palace in the following
order :

A carriage conveying the Dean of Windsor, M. Doran:,
Major Elphinstone, sad the Hes. Mortimer Suckville West.
A carriage conveying Captain Grey, Major• General
Wyllie, Major Burnell, sad Dr. Hoepl.

A carriage conveying Lieutenant• General the Hon. C.
Grey, Major•Oeneral the Hoe. It. Bruce, Lieutenant.
Galena the Hun. D. de. Roe, sod Baron Weaterweller.
A earring* *purveying Lord employs, Lord George Lennox,
Count de Iteerkerke, and FAA Spencer.
A =Hoge conveying the Duchess of Atbole, the Hon.
Caroline Cavendish, and the Hon. Horatda Stopford.
A carriage conveying the Princess Helena, the Prin-
cess Louise, the Prince of Wales, and the Count of
Flanders.

A carriage convoying the Prinoe Consort, the Princess
Alice, Prince Arthur, and Prince Louis of Hesse.
The royal party returned to Buckingham Palace at about
half•paat ail o'clock.

The Priam. Alice rode on horseback in the forenoon in
the riding action! of Buckingham Palace.
The Duchess of Cambridge and the Princess Mary visited
the King of the Belgians on Tuesday afternoon at Bucking
bun Palace.

The Prince Contort, attended by Earl firmer, Lord
George Lennox, Major-Gonerid Wylde, and Lieutenant-
Colonel the Hoe. D. de Roe, went bust evening to the
Society of Arta, in the Adelplii, and presided at • meeting
of the society.
A deputation from the Corporation of Dublin, relative
to the restoration of the subsidy to the Royal Atlantic Mail
Company, Galway, bad an interview with Viscount Palmer-
atm yesterday.

A deputation, emieisting of Mr. John Clarke, Chairman
of the Hoard of Harbour Commissioners, Belfast ; Mr. Ed-

ward Cray, Mayor of Belfast and Harbour Comusiadoner ;
Mr. Robert Henderson, Mr. Charles Baffin, and Mr. James
Hamilton, Harbour Commie/Moen, introduced by Mr. S.
G. Getty, M.P., had an interview with the Right Host. T.
Muer Canoe. at the Aloe of the Board of Trade, yester-
day, for the purpose of urging ou the Board of Trade the
advantage which would result to the navigation of the
Channel by the removal of the light-house and fog•bell from
the Copeland lidand to the New bland.
A deputation bad an interview with the Right Hon. C.
P. Villiers yesterday at the race of the Poor-law Board,
WhitehalL

Nspst:Ches were received yesterday at the Coloaial•ofcs
from the Governor of Yalta. Dispatches were sent to the
Governors of the Caps of Good Hope, Natal, St. Helena,
and Canada.

THZ Pinwc OF WALSH AND TEI UNIVERSITY
Or CANISIUDOZ VOLUNTEWL—His Royal Rieman has
graciously offered a silver chancey cup to be shot for by
the effective members of the amps at the sad of the
October term. The arrangements under which it is to be
held are not yet made.