The Sun.
London, England, 1862-12-05 00:00:00

TILE MINISIEEIAL CRISIS IN ITALY.

rftom the limes' (.70iicsfionclent.j

TURIN, DEC. 2.
Whenever any serious danger threatens this new
edifice of the constitution of the Kingdom of Italy,
safety is invariably found in the keystone on which
it rested from the le,ginning—the upright, true, and
loyal instincts of King Victor Emmanuel. Two or
three times between 1649 and 1839-ditt the King on
the one hand curb the anarchical passions of those
who wished that all should be lost because all could
not be saved, and as many times, on the other hand,
did he resist the prornptings of advisers who aspired
to be more monarchical than the Monarch himself.
Those virtues which so greatly contributed to the
" making" of Italy will now equally prevent the
" marling" of it ; and, Whatever blemishes either
temperament or neglected education may have in-
grained into the. King's character, there is no doubt
his memory will go down to posterity as that of ono
of the noblest crown-wearers, because frOm the
highest to the meanest of his subjects there is not
one known to have given, or to be ready to give,
greater proofs of self-denial and self-conquest.
The Rattazzi Cabinet was at its wit's end. De-
feat was inevitable—a clamorous, signal defeat.
The Prime Minister drew up a decree for the dis-
solution of the Chamber, and presented it for the
Royal signature. Rattazzi was a favourite. No acts
had been spared to set the King's mind against the
stiff-necked Ricasoli—none to wind his supple and,
accommodating successor round Victor Emmanuel'a
heart. But what was now asked of the King was
fraught with incalculable mischief. A general elec..
tion at this moment might put off, but by no moans
prevent, Rattazzi's downfall. The new Chamber
which might have assembled under the auspices
of the present Cabinet would have borne no good-
will to its summoner; hut its main elements would
have been made up either of rampant, head-long
Garibaldism, or of narrow, jarring municipalism.
Neither King nor Minister would have strength to
control such an assembly by ordinary legal means.
Government would have been driven on from one
repressive measure to another; from a provisional,
budget to taxation by Royal decree; from a state
of siege to dictatorship.. The people would have
broken out into anarchy ; theVing could have tried,
no o her remedy than the sabre. /
It was on the brink of such an abyss that the Wise
and; onest King stopped. He was Rattazzi's anti-
cutusgt4 ad aram ; in presence of a', sacred duty,
/
Vktor Emmanuel gave up his Minister. He would
hear of no dissolution, and the Cabinet had to com-
pound with Parliament as they best could. It was
a triumph of immense significance for constitutional
principles in this country, so new to the system.
While Rattazzi was foolishly keeping up a discus-
sion which could now profit no party, and talking
against time, the King called to his council men
whose judgment, and above all whose honour, he
could trust. The merit of setting the King's heart
against Rattazzi's proposal of a dissolution is due to
Cassinis, formerly the Minister of Grace and Jus-
tice under Cavour and Ricasoli, a man on whose
mature wisdom the King has the greatest reliance,
and to Cialdini, a comrade whose brilliant valour
in the field and whose upright and genial charac-
ter in the Court won the sympathies of his warlike
sovereign.

It was by Cassinis' advice that Cialdini was sen
to Florence to invite Torrearsa to take upon him _
self the formation of a new Ministry. Torrersa
shrank from the arduous task, and Cassinis pointed
to Pasolini, the gentleman who filled the office of
Prefect of Milan under the Ricasoli administration,
and who withdrew upon the accession to power of
the Rattazzi Cabinet.

Of two dangers it behoves Cassinis to beware. lie
must lay aside his fond conceit of any possible re-
conciliation between Rattazzi and the men who had
a hand in his late overthrow; for, whoever else may
be called to be a member of the new Administration,
it is due to tte feeling of morality and poetical jus-
tice of the people of all Italy that Rattazzi should
be excluded from it, at least for a time. Cassinis
should also set his heart against the suggestions of
those who fancy that what is now wanted is not a
"political," but merely an "administrative" Cabi-
net, and with that view advise a combination of
such respectable, thorough-paced old hacks as Del
Ambrois, Ponz a di San Martino, &c.—men 'whose
task, in the opinion of these temporizing politicians,
ought to be simply to keep warm the Ministerial
seats, and carry on the business of the country till
such time as parties may gradually define them-
selves, and the real leaders of the common destinies
may be more clearly revealed.

No, no; Italy, no doubt, requires the work of
able- administrators, but it must also be ruled by
deep, stirring, world-grasping political heads. That
there must be persons of that stamp in the country
is, with many, matter of faith. San Martino, Del
Ambrois, and most of the men whom the Senate

might supply, are men ofunexceptionableCharader
and more than average ability. But they have long
been moving in the narrow old Piedmontese groove.
They have little understanding of the destinies of
the new kingdom, and even less faith in it. None

of them need be rejected as fellow-workers ; but
the real master-mind who is to sit at the helm of the
vessel of State in these stoimy times is hardly to be
found among them.

It is a great mistake, I believe, to think there is
among the rising generation of Italian statesmen no

set of untried or only half-tried men capable of taking
the destinies of their countrymen into their hands,
and leading to better results than the timid, plod-
_

ding, used-up veterans who have served their time,

and are now fit for little better than being put upon
the shelf. There is hardly a man who might better
try to conduct the Home-office of the Italian King-
dom, either as Minister or Secretary-General than
..... . .._

Silvio Spaventa; and, as it would now be a wise
thing to promote deserving Neapolitans and Sici-
lians, there is no reason why Pisanelli should not
have the portfolio of Grace and Justice, Michele

Amari or Paolo Emilio Imbriani that of Public In-

struction, and Lacaita the Under-Secretaryship of
Foreign Affairs. Among the Lombardg, Roetalli,

Tenca, Pasini, Mosca, and others, may be looked
upon as men of sterling practical talent. Of the
Tuscans, Cini would be a capital Secretary-General
for Finances, supposing that the portfolio of that

most important department should turn out to be

held by Mioghetti. All of these, and many more
whom I could name, may be comparatively new

Zu-tho ebtfruution of Beglishmen, but they are

at least no less known in this country than was

Cavonr at the outset of his career in 1848.

The retiring ministers have just put forth their
batch of senators—Capriolo, the late Secretary-
General for Home Affairs ; Melegari, the Foreign
Under-Secretary; Valerio, the Prefect of Como;
Emanuele Marliani, the late Commercial Envoy to
England; and Paolo Savi, a distinguished professor
of natural history at Pisa.

PUGILISM.

THE CHAMPIONSHIP.

TOM KING AND JEM MACE.—The stakes (X 400) and the
belt for the late contest between these celebrated boxers
were presented to King yesterday evening at Mr. W.
Richardson's, the Blue Anchor, Church-street, Bethnal-
green, in the presence of an overflowing muster of the
patrons of the ring. Mace, from unavoidable circumstances,
was not present, there being an apology made for his ab-
sence by Mr. Montague, his agent. After the stakes and
belt had been presented to King in due form by Mr. Holt,
who officiated on the part of the stakeholder, it was stated
by the gentlemen who presented King with the stakes, that;
King did not intend to again enter the ring, having pro-
mised his friends at the making of the match that, win or
lose, he would not again do so. King having given the
stakeholder a guarantee for £lOO will hold the belt until
Thursday next, when, as he has positively declined
to maintain his right against all challengers by not making
a match with Mace, he will return that trophy to the editor
of Bell's Life. Under these circumstances the belt will be
an open prize, under the same conditions as after the battlo
between Heenan and Sayers on the 17th of April, 1860.
King, after he had been presented with the stakes, made a
collection for the loser,which amounted to £lB, Tom giving
£6 ; Mr. Bush, King's principal backer, £5 ; Mr. Richard-
son also putting down a fiver for the loser. After the busi-
ness had been concluded, a social evening was spent by the
friends of the present Champion of England.

THE WASHINGTON SENATE IN DANGER.—The
New York Sun says :—" A leak in a large tank, holding
18,000 gallons of water, located over the Senate Chamber in
Washington, was discovered in sufficient time to prevent
the chamber from Willi; flooded,"