The Sun.
London, England, 1862-10-25 00:00:00

7HE ITALIAN CAPITAL.

A letter from Turin, dated Oct. 21, says :—I gave
you in my last letter a few of the arguments urged
by some well-meaning Italian patriots in favour of
a speedy removal of the seat of Government to
__ . _

Naples. I ought now to give you the opposite view
of the subject, and point out the obstacles which,
in the opinion of other equally earnest lovers of
Italy, appear to rise insurmountable against such a
measure.

In the first place we must think of the distance.

Turin and Naples are very nearly at the two oppo-

site extremities of the Peninsula; it is precisely as
far to go from the former to the latter as from the

utter to the former. The two places, however, are

not by any means in perfectly equal conditions, and
Turin is, under present circumstances, a far more
central spot than the rival city. With Milan,
Venice, Bologna, Ancona, and Genoa the subalpine
capital has already established very satisfactory
railway communication_ A Turin decree can be
published in any of those provincial centres within

2 to 18 hours—at Milan and Genoa within three

or four. Naples is as yet, so far as railway traffic
with the north or centre of Italy is concerned, as
perfectly isolated as Palermo or Cagliari. The

Neapolitan mail only arrives in Turin after 48
hours, weather permitting. Were it to come by
land, the journey would take at least twice as much
time as does now the sea voyage. Under unfavour-
able circumstances the steamer is liable to be de-

layed for 12 or even 24 hours. On the other hand

Naples never had, and will not very readily have,
very speedy means of intercourse even with the
provinces which 'once constituted her king-
dom. From Reggio, in Calabria, to the old city of
the Bourbon the land mail never employs less than
three days and three nights. As the country is now
situated, Turin is an excellent centre for about
12,000,000 Italians; Naples is a very indifferent
meeting point for about 9,000,000. Add to this that
Piedmont, Lombardy, the .Emilia, and the Marches
contain all that now is most healthy, active, and high-
spirited in the Italian population. Were it even pos-
sible for King Victor Emmanuel to be crowned in the
Capitol to-morrow, Rome would still be in less im-
mediate contact with the real head and heart of
the nation than Turin is at the present day. The
Apennine rises still an insuperable barrier between
the North and South; it will be at least two years
before a tunnel is completed to join the valley of
the Po with those of the Arno and Tiber ; two years
before the locomotive engine may make its way
from Susa to Rome and Naples, or even from
Bologna to Florence. The lack of communication,
however, it is generally acknowledged, is a far more
crying evil in the South than it would be in the
North. The Subalpine, Insubrian, and /Emilian
districts are to a great extent self-extant and self-
sufficing. The action of the Government is less
sorely needed. Indeed, it is questionable whether
they will not fare all the better the less they are
interfered with. At Naples, on the contrary, a
supine, degraded population has to be dealt with.
It is necessary to bring all the energies of the
country to bear upon them. The administration
needs a thorough, speedy reform; the whole per-
sonnel of the magistracy, of the public offices, must
be changed. The Neapolitans complain of the Pied-
montese invasion; yet the whole of the Bourbon king-

dom must be Piedmontised ; the Northern element,
that is, must entirely supersede the corrupt native
element ; to reconcile the Southern people to this
necessary change, it must seem as if the Govern-
ment itself were acclimated, naturalised, as it were,
among them. The prestige of a Court, of a Cabinet,
of a Parliament, must remove from their agents
the stigma of alienhooci. From Naples an Italian
Government will always know how to manage Milan
or Turin. From Turin a Piedmontese ruler will
never know anything of the wants and tendencies of
his Southern subjects. The ex-kingdom of Naples
will always be a dependency—the seat of a separate
and more or less irresponsible lieutenancy. Place
the capital of Italy wherever you chose, the North

must needs for a long period preponderate over the
South ; but so long as you stay in Turin the Nea-
politans will look upon themselves as a conquered
people. Let Naples be the capital, and they will
at least please themselves with the vain conceit that
they are the ruling State. The only way to Italianise
Naples is to bring Italy to Naples.

However far Naples may be from Northern Italy,
moreover, there is no doubt that it has the inesti-
mable advantage of close vicinity to Rome. The
railway between the two cities is at last completed,
and all the subterfuges, and stolid, open denials of
the Papal Government will not put off the opening
beyond the term of the present year; they will not
prevent a traveller from going from one end of the
line to another by an express train in six and a half
hours. If Naples cannot be secured to Italy with-
out Rome, and if the only way to Rome lies through 1
Naples, there is no doubt but a railway will be the
best means to break the Papal barrier, the best bat-
tering ram to bear down the Vatican gates. From
Bologna to Rimini, and from Rimini to Ancona, as
we have seen, it was invariably railway communica-
tion that achieved political conquest. It was the
ther inting press in the 16th century that struck half
nations of Europe from the roll of the Roman
Catholic community ; it will be for the steam engine
either to alienate the remaining subjects of the
compound with modern
d heart of Italy be
pP
raepgarceys
s, . o r
Letto force
the itmto on d
an
let all its
spirits assemble within four or
chonnldc,enithrnaetevdatining and about Naples;
five hours of the Papal frontier, and it shall then
be seen whether even French Imperial omnipo-
tence will avail to render that frontier in-
violable ; whether it will have power to screen the
"old chimera of a Pope" from spiritual no less than i
from temporal attacks. Even 18 centuries ago, in
the times of Cicero's Republic, Rome and Naples
were almost only one city. Concentrate Italy at
Naples, and the outskirts of the Bay city will soon
encompass the ancient caput mundi, till the Bay
itself and the whole coast as far as Gaeta become
once more, as it was in ancient times, the mere
vzlleggiatura of the lords of the Peninsula.
There are some, it is true, who think seriously of
Venetia, and of the danger of removing the centre
of Government from the north, while the Lombard
and iEmilian frontiers are still open, and Austria
sits sulking and threatening on the Mincio and the
Po. Turin and Piedmont, they contend, are the
citadel of Italy ; it will never be wise to remove the
strength of the land from the old Savoy residence,
so long as the security of the whole Peninsula rests
on Alessandria, Genoa, and Casale. The objection
is plausible, and would be stringent, indeed, if the
departure of the Court and of the Home and Foreign
offices were to imply the removal of the military
and naval . • •strati
administration; but, as it is, the transla-
tionof the metropolis need not occasion the trans-
fer to the
Po, the Tanarno and
stores. Turin
of
main the mintaaryna the
nines would still
recruits, and if by
meat at Naples it were
arsenals of warlike and marine
Piedmont, the fortresses on the
Riviera, would always re-
saupitall. The Alps and the Apen-
all the
supply the bravest and hardiest
headsle as it is, indeed,
if
bythat of hydra of
installation of the Govern-
most likely, to crush
Southern brigandage,
security were as efficiently established r :ilea publics

as it is in the' North, the strength of the nation
would be by far increased, not diminished, by
enabling the War- office to send back to the Lom-
bard and Xmilian corps d'armee those divisions
which were detached from them under necessity of
meeting the exigencies of Neapolitan brigandage.
When all is said, however, when arguments pro
and contra have been brought forward on all sides,
there is no doubt that the removal of the Govern-
ment to Naples would be a great, momentous, and,
we may say it, almost desperate experiment ; but
the position of the country is in itself most critical.
Italy is contending against extreme evils—evils of
a nature to justify extreme remedies. Rather than
run the risk of losing Naples, of undoing all that
has been done, of compromising that unity which
has been almost providentially achieved, it certainly
behoves the Italians to be bold and even rash. They
are told almost daily, both by friends and foes, that
without Rome they cannot hope to save Naples,
that Naples is not to be governed from Turin. On
the other hand, there is no doubt but Turin, Milan,
Florence, and all Italy may be ruled from Naples.
All the Italian tribes, with one exception only, are
ready to sacrifice all their local interests, all their
municipal privileges, for the sake of the common
country. Let the Neapolitans be gratified, and
there will be an end to discontent throughout the
Peninsula.

There are some cold calculators, it is true, who
oppose the measure of the demenagement of the
Italian capital, not on political, but on financial
grounds. The removal of persons and things, of
offices, archives, &c., will, they reckon, entail an
expense of at least 50,000,000 f., and these are times
by no means favourable to a similar extravagance.
The objection might have some weight if it were not
overruled by the very cogent reasons of State already
alleged. The brigand wars, the Garibaldi expedi-
tion, the hundred disorders afflicting the Southern
Provinces, have caused hitherto a far more con-
siderable outlay of money than would go towards
carrying the contemplated removal into effect. We
must consider, besides, that the translation of the
capital need not be achieved in a single day or even
year. Much might be obtained, if late in the
autumn or early next spring the Bing, Court, and
Parliament were to rendezvous in the new resi-
dence. The rest would follow in small instalments
and by easy stages ; and, as I said, the military
stores should never be made to depart from Turin,
nor the naval establishment to quit Genoa or
Spezzia.
It would be strange if the Rattazzi Ministry,
who have always been charged with undue muni-
cipal predilections, who were brought into power
by the support of the Subalpine party, and are
looked upon as the incarnation of the narrowest
Piedmontism, were to be the men to move in Par-
liament a bill for discrowning Turin and Piedmont,
and conveying the household gods of Savoy to the
old abode of the Bourbons ; but Rattazzi and his
colleagues are at their wits' ends; they are ready to
go any lengths to retain power; willing to cater for
votes, no matter on what price. A bill of the nature
above mentioned would be sure of the suffrage of
nearly all the Southern and some also of the Nor-
thern members. The undertaking is one of vast
magnitude, would be sure to give rise to much talk,
and to turn public attention from other ticklish
topics; and, for the rest, it will hardly be possible
to avoid the subject during the forthcoming session,
and it will always be well for the Government to
aspire to the honour of the initiative.