The Sun.
London, England, 1849-01-19 00:00:00

ITALY.

'The following is the passage in the speech of the
Grand Duke of Tuscany to the Chambers in which
he speaks of the affairs of Italy :
" As respects war, the blood generously shed in Lom-
bardy by the brave Tuscans, so far from discouraging
them, only tends to redouble their ardour. The reasons
for prosecuting the war, besides, still exist, and the dan-
ger is always the same. I caunot accordingly refuse to
concur in the wishes of my people. Our relations with
the Sovereigns and States out of Italy, are not only
pacific but cordial, with the exception, however, of
Austria. We do not in the meantime forget that we
must remain united with the Princes and States of Italy,
like the fingers of the same hand, destined to grasp the
sword of valour and concord, which alone can secure
real liberty to our country. Piedmont has replied to
oar remonstrances relative to certain facts that took
place on our frontier, by sending two commissioners
to inquire into them, and promising to grant the satis-
faction due to us. Powerful mediators have interfered
to adjust the trifling difficulties that have arisen between
the Courts of Naples and Tuscany, and which, we hope,
will soon be terminated. At the same time that we de-
plore the interruption of good harmony between the
Sovereign Pontiff and his subjects, which we hope may
• , n t e re-established, we cannot pursue a policy that
ou ti condemn us to isolation. We will follow that
,nt. other Italian States, to which it is important
we :buttl,i strictly adhere, if, as we have reason to
believe, that policy continues to be inspired
with that respect to which the Supreme
Pontiff of the Church, the Chief of the Catholic re-
ligion, is so eminently entitled. Gentlemen, the Con-
stltuent Assembly proclaimed in Tuscany must not be a
priecip!c of discord and dissolution, but ou the contrary,
one of harmony and strength. Our constitution rejects
no practicable form of organization. It willingly accepts
all that can bring it nearer to the desired term. It ex-
pects to obtain the adhesion of the other parts of Italy,
with which it behoves us to unite in bonds of frater-
nity rather than in bonds of actual confede-
ration. Courage, Honourable Senators and Depu-
ties, the country has lost nothing if we maintain a
firm will, which will increase with events. You are
aware that everything becomes 'dearer to us rather by
the sacrifice which it costs than by the pleasure which it
procures. The sacrifices demanded by our country are
net such as our courage can fear or such as are
above our strength. When you conferred on me
the title of Father, I accepted it with joy, for I teal
a truly paternal affection for men whose wishes I
have always studied, and whom I will study to go-
vern with love. If my ootemporaries and if posterity
confirm the title of Father of my People, it will be
the most glorious reward to which your Prince ever
aspired. Our ambassador will assist at the Congress of
Brussels. It is the most ardent wish of my soul that
Christian blood may cease to flow, and that peace, so
long desired, may be established throughout the world.
Let us be, however, prepared for war. It is thus only
that we can defend our existence and our property, and
maintain intact the honour of our country. Cer-
tain people, our brothers by nature, and by
ancient friendship, have spontaneously devoted
themselves to us. I am am happy, Gentlemen, to
remind you of the confidence they have reposed in us,
and we must consider them as attached to us by indis-
soluble bonds. I cannot disguise from you how often in
the midst of so many motives of bitterness my heart
finds consolation by reflecting that nations have devoted
themselves to the Tuscans, and I know not whether this
fact proves more the merit of the Tuscans, or the great
ft iendsbip of the inhabitants of the Appenines, although
I am convinced that it honours them both in the highest
degree."

THE POPE and ROMAN ASSEMBLY

The following is the address of the Pope to the
Roman people, threatening with excommunication
all those who take part in the election of members of
the Assembly :

" In this peaceful abuosdeinwhither it has pleased Divine
order that we may
en-
abled in all freedom9
Providence to leadbe
mPnts and our wishes, we mwanlfQst. our senti•
remorse will be felt by our erring childrent in hope that
for the sa-
crilegi-us and other crimes committed against persons
attached to us, of whom some have been killed, and
others outraged in the most barbarous manner,
as for the sacrileges and crimes consummated in as well
silence, and even against our own person, And our
.et we
1 re.
h .ve, up to the present, received only .ta-
a barren
being
uttered to return to our capital, without even a
word
uttered in condemnation of the attempts we have
re-
ferred to, and without the least guarantee against the
acts of fraud and violence of that inveterate band
w:)ose barbarous despotism still tyrannises over
the State and Church of Rome. We have wailed in
the hope that the protests and decrees which we have
issued would recal to their duties as subjects, and as of
the faithful, those who in the very capital of our states
hare deTised these duties and trampled them underfoot.
But,instead of returning, a ncw and still more mon-
strous act of hypocritical felony and genuine rebellion,

audaciously committed by them, has filled the measure
of our grief, and excited our just indignation, as it will
afflict the universal church. We speak of that act,
se detestable in all its bearings, by which
it has been pretended to order the convocation of a
soi-disant general National Assembly of the Roman
States by a decreee of the 29th December last, for the
purpose of establishing new political forms in the Pon-
tifical States. Thus heaping iniquity upon iniquity,
the promoters of demagogical anarchy are endeavouring
to destroy the temporal authority of the Roman Pon-
tiff over the domains of the Holy Church, believing,
and seeking at the same time to make it believed,
that his sovereign power is subject to contro-
versy, and depends upon the caprice of factions,
although its rights are so irrefragebly founded upen the
most ancient and solid bases, and although they are ac-
knowledged, defended, and venerated by all nations. We
will spare our dignity the humiliation of dwelling upon
all the monstrosity of this abominable act, arising from
the absurdity of its origin, the illegality of its forms,
and the impiety of its object. But it certainly belongs
to the Apostolic authority with which, unworthily, we
are invested, and by the responsibility to
which we are bound by the most sacred oaths taken in
the presence of the Almighty, not only to protest, as we
now do, in the most energetic and efficient manner,
against this act, but, moreover, to denounce it in the face
of the universe as a monstrous and sacrilegious
attempt against our independence and sovereignty—
an attempt which merits the chastisement inflicted
by divine and human laws. We are convinced that,
on receiving this audacious appeal you have cast
it far from you with indignation as an insult and a
crime. Nevertheless, that none of you may le.r, after
have the pretext of having been deceived by fallacious
seductions, and by artful preachers of subversive doc-
trines, or of having been ignorant of the machinations
of the enemies of all order, of all law, of all right,
of all true liberty, of even your own felicity,
we have this day again raised and exalted our
voice so that you may be rendered perfectly as-
sured of that absolute command, by which we forbid
you, whatever may be your ranks or conditions, from
taking any part in the elections of persons to he sent
to the !Assembly which we have condemned. In the
mean time, we remind you that this absolute interdic-
tion is sanctioned by our predecessors and by councils,
especially by the Holy Council of Trent (Sess. xxii.,
c. xi., de Refer.), in which tho Church has repeatedly
Culminated its censures, and particularly that of the
greater excommunication, as incurred, without the
necessity of any previous declaration, by whomsoever
shall render himself guilty of any attempt whatever
against the temporal authority of the Sovereign Pontiffs
of Rome, as we declare all those have unhappily in-
curred who have contributed (7'utti cholera the hanno
data opera) to the above-mentioned act, and those
which preceded it to the detriment of the same sove-
reignty, or who in any other manner, and under false
pretences, have disturbed, violated, and usurped our au-
thority. But, if we feel ourselves compelled by our
conscientious duties to preserve and defeed the sacred
deposit of the patrimony of the spouse of Jesus Christ,
confided to our care, and to employ the sword of just
severity which God himself, our Judge, has given into
our hands to be thus used, we cannot, however, at any
time forget that we hold on earth the place of Him
who, in the exercise of His justice, never failed to use
mercy. Raising then our hands to Heaven, remitting
and recommending to Him once more this just cause,
His much more than ours, and declaring that we are
ready, with the aid of His powerful grace, to drink
to the dregs, for the defence and glory of the
Catholic Church, the cup of bitterness which He
himself was willingly the first to taste for the
salvation of his church. We shall never cease to
supplicate and conjure Him to deign, in His goodness,
to grant the ardent prayers which we address to him
day and night for the conversion and salvation of those
who have wandered from the true
path. Assuredly no
by the of
day can rise which will be more joyful to us than that
on which it shall be given to us to see re-entering the
ldl in e us hopepale of the Lord such of our sons as are now causing us
so much tribulation and bs iaterernn
strengthened soon seeing a day so happy is
thought of the universality of the prayers which, joined
to ours, ascend to the Throne of Divine Grace from the
lips and the hearts of all the faithful of the Catholic
world, and who incessantly urge Him to change the
hearts of the sinners, and bring them back into the
paths of truth and justice. Given at Gaeta, this Ist day
of January, in the year of our Lord, 1849.
6‘ PI US P. P. Ix."

INSTITUTION OF CIVIL EN-
GINEERS.

The annual general meeting of this institution was
held on Tuesday evening, January 16th, when the
following gentlemen were chosen to form the Council
for the ensuing year Field, President ; W.
Cubitt, J. M. Bendel, J. Simpson, and R. Stephen-
son M.P., Vice-Presidents; J. F. Bateman, G. P.
Bidder, J. K. Brunel, J. Cubitt, J. Fowler, C. H.
Gregory, J. Locke, M.P., J. R. M'Clean, C. May,
and J. Miller, members; and W. Harding and T.
Piper, Associates of Council.
The report of the Council was read, and from the
statement of its financial position the society appeared
to be governed by men of foresight, who had very
properly restricted the ordinary expenditure within
prudential limits, whilst the pressure of the times was
felt so heavily by all classes. It, however, held out
cheering hopes for the future, for, as it ob-
served, "in a country like Great Britain, whose
distinguishing characteristic is energetic and in-
domitable courage in circumstances of difficulty, it
is not probable that any foreign political excitement
can long continue to exercise a prejudicial effect ; al-
ready the horizon is brightening, and a little reflection
will demonstrate, that in proportion to the injury
arising from the late stagnation, must be the activity
on the resumption of the works ; and it appears to
be acknowledged that the forced economy, which
has been practised during the past year, has caused
such a necessity for supplies of working stock, and for
the improvement of works, that the engineering pro-
fession must be generally benefited on the return of
confidence in financial affairs."

Satisfactory reasons were given for the unusual de-
lay in the publication of the Minutes of Proceedings,
and a simple but effective plan was detailed for paying
off the debt incurred for the alterations of the house
of the institution.

Telford Medals were presented to the Right Hon.
the Earl of Lovelace, Messrs. Harrison, Mitchell, and
Ransome ; Council Premiums of Books to Messrs.
Harrison and Jackson, and Telford Premiums of
Books to Messrs. Redman, Green, and Rankine ; the
President addressing a few complimentary words to
each of these gentlemen on presenting the medals
and premiums.
Memoirs were read of the deceased members :
Messrs. B. Cubitt, T. Hopkins, S. Fowls, members ;
Lieutenant-Colonel Brandreth, P. L. Campbell, F.
Carleton, and T. E. Steele, associates ; and J. Pope,
graduate. These contained some very interesting
biography, and, as a specimen, we may give that of
the late Torn Steele, who was a very old associate of
the institution.

" Mr. Thomas Ennis Steele was the descendant of
an ancient and honourable family in the County
Clare, where he inherited a beautiful estate, and few
men have commenced their career with brighter pros-
pects. He graduated and took his degrees at Trinity,
College, Dublin, about the year 1817 ; he then re-
moved to Trinity College, Cambridge, in 1820, and
obtained the degree of Master of Arts in that Uni-
versity, on the books of which his name was always
retained, and he regularly appeared at the elections.
He was an elegant classical scholar, but more parti-
cularly directed his attention to mathematics, me-
chanics, and the application of chemistry to the arts;
he also, at one period, devoted much of his time to
the study of geology, with the avowed object of pre-
paring himself for travelling in the East; a project
which was probably prevented by his entanglement in
politics.
"His attention being directed to the bad state of the
navigation of the river Shannon, be determined to
make a personal survey of the bed of the river, which
he did in the most complete manner, employing some-
times very original means; such, for instance, as
stepping along the line of a reef or shoal, supporting
himself with one hand upon the stern of a boat,
whilst he measured and recorded all the inequalities
of the surface, and ascertained the nature of the rock
or ground. An account of this survey was published
by him ; and no greater proof of its utility can be
given, than the fact of the greater portion of his
suggestions having been followed in the works that
have been since executed.
" His attention being thus directed to the diving bell,
he devised several alterations in its construction and
application ; particularly a method of lighting the
divers, during their submarine labours. All these,
with many similar subjects, were published in the
current periodicals of the day, and some of them
were communicated to this Institution. At a later
period, a favourite theme upon which he repeatedly
addressed the Institution, was the purchase of the
birth-place of Sir Isaac Newton, and its preservation
by the sientific world, in the same manner that Shak-
spere's house has since been obtained by the exertions
of literary and dramatic men.
He embarked deeply in Irish politics, and became
the devoted follower of O'Connell, about the year
1825 ; but upon that portion of his career, the en-
cumbrance of his fortune, and the melancholy ter-
mination of the life of a man:who might have been
an invaluable member of society, this memoir cannot
dwell. His political opponents, however, all ac-
knowledged his honourable feelings, and the entire
absence of selfishness in all his actions; and in his
list hours he had the gratification of seeing the bit-
terest among them vieing with each other in their
anxiety to serve honest Tom Steele. "
He was the most chivalrously-minded of men, the
most affectionate of friends, and the most devoted of
followers, still preserving his independence of mind.
He entertained no private resentments which might
not instantly be extinguished by the slightest approach
to conciliation, even on the part of one who might
have deeply injured him ; and it may with truth be
said, that he never deliberately committed an act by
which he thought he should lose a friend, create an
enemy, or injure a fellow-creature.
" After the decease of his chosen leader, Mr. Steele
abandoned politics, and though visibly declining in
ealth and spirits, he atedfastly rejected all offers of '