The Sun.
London, England, 1870-06-11 00:00:00

SOLDIERS VERSUS CITIZENS.

We have not yet, it seems, heard the last of the
Pldbiscite, and the old vexed question of the civil
position of soldiers has been brought up in connec-
tion with it. It has been currently
reported in Paris that the military vote
was not altogether unbiassed by the influence
of the superior officers, and the address
of the colonel of the 61st Regiment openly
censured his men for having put the wrong ticket into
the ballot-boxes on the redoubtable Bth ofMay. It was
not to be expected that the Irreconcilables would
miss so favonrable an opportunity of attacking the
powers that be, and accordingly M. Jules Ferry,
a prominent Republican, cross-questioned the Minis-
try on the subject in the Chamber of Deputies. M.
011ivier attempted to get out of the difficulty by
declaring that it was not allowable to call into
question the sincerity of the vote. This did
not silence M. Ferry, who pointed out the irregu-
larity of requiring soldiers to vote in their barracks,
where it was evident their vote could not be so inde-
pendent, and demanded that the colonel referred to
above should be censured. This direct attack brought
the Minister of War to the rescue, who took up
arms in true military fashion. He would not, he said,
censure his officer, and the measures that had been
taken would be persisted in. It is not perhaps sur-
pzising that under these cixeunastances X, Ferry de.

dared the military vote to have been a mere form, or
that M. Gambetta, made a motion declaring the
terial explanation insufficient. However, the
Chamber passed to the simple order of the Ilay, reject-
ing M. GambettKs motion, and the subject dropped.
Perhaps the vote in the barracks is not the only one
which is a mere formality.

THE STATE OF ITALY.

The political bands who are now infesting Italy
and attempting to kindle a spirit of mutiny among
the soldiers, are working grievous calamity to the
country. It is said that there is something in the
lake and mountain scenery of the Alps and Appen-
nines which gives a vagabond life an uncommon zest,
and the assertion is more than ever confirmed in the
present day. In Garibaldi's time of triumph the
Bourbon rule was brought to an end in
Italy, while he was the bearer of the Royal Standard,
not while he was a Republican. It was, moreover,
when the cry was "Italy for the Italians !" and not,
as now, "Italy for the Italian Republicans !" that
the struggles of the Italian rebels gained the little
sympathy from other countries they did. In this
day, however, no partiality whatever can be shewn
in favour of the plotters and law-breakers who con-
spire against the country in the name of Republicans.
Reviewing the recent acts of Joseph Nathan (a British
subject, by-the-bye) and his band of adventurers,
and the miserable attempts at revolution at Pavia,
Porlezzii, Riva, and Colico, the Times says that they
are fast tending to sow the seeds of common bri-
gandage over the kingdom. It considers that Italy
must aspire to agricultural progress if the nation is
to prosper and to be at peace. If, however, disorder
is allowed to prevail in the country places,
as at present, it cannot see how rural
labour is to flourish where there is no safety for
the isolated farmhouse, and where every dweller in a
lonely hut can only avoid being the brigand's victim
by becoming his accomplice . Many other
interests of the country besides the agricultural will
in this way seriously suffer if the Government does
not, once for all, employ the ample means for repres-
sion it has now at hand.