The Sun.
London, England, 1856-07-04 00:00:00

for ages grown arourA every continental throne
and which will stunt and distort the young growth
of constitutional freedom ; but in the present con-
dition of Italian politics no other leader is to be
found for the forces of civilisation. A united re-
public is out of the question. Rome, Florence,
Naples, Genoa, Turin, Milan, Venice would all
put forth their claims to be regarded as the
centre of Government, and the difficulties
of race, not easily reconciled under a monarchy,
would be added to the other causes of lutes-

tine weakness, while every quarrel would be
fomented and encouraged by the emissaries of those
absolutist monarchs on whose dominions the
"young republic" bordered. An Italian republic
is a dream—beautiful we admit in the abstract,
but, from many causes, moral, political, and social,
incapable of realisation just now. Victor Em-
manuel is at present the object of much popular
sympathy and applause in this country, and the
moral support alone of England is no slight value
to him. He is too shrewd au observer to risk the
best ally he has, or can have, for the sake of a little
more domestic power. By supporting him as a
nucleus for the constitutional party in Italy, we
are at least keeping awake the embers of national
liberty, while our sympathies would be but wasted
on the more brilliant but far less practical schemes
of Messrs. Mazzini and Pallavicini.

Having thus expressed our dissent from the
teaching of Mr. St. John, we must not part from
him without affording him such praise as is due
for the information contained in his book. The
matter is not unduly "spun out," and all who
read will find something to repay them. The en-
thusiasm on the subject of Jean Jacques Rosseau
is perhaps a little overdone, but this may be par-
doned to a writer of such very " exalted" opi-
nions. The chapter on the " Green Table" at
Aix gives a fearful picture of the effects of gam-
bling, none the less striking that it is perfectly
free from exaggeration. The brief historical
narrative of the House of Savoy is well
and clearly condensed from more voluminous
materials ; and the scenes iu Turin are extremely
amusing. The theatres, the press, the state of
literature and politics, the personnel of the leaders
of party, are all treated in a free and gossipping
manner. Count Cavour seems greatly to have ex-
cited the dislike of the author, who is something
more than doubtful of his sincerity, and the book
winds up with a strong condemnation of our foreign
policy so far as the United States are concerned,
and an urgent admonition to our statesmen to push
matters to a crisis in the Italian peninsula, so as to
prevent the consolidation of despotic forces on the
Continent. It will probably be a popular work
with those who regard the Italian question through
the same medium with Mr. St. John, but cautious
men will shake their heads at the nature as well as
the extent of the remedies he recommends.

Sight-Seeing in Germany and the Tyrol in the
Autumn of 1855. By Sir John Forbes. London:
Smith, Elder, and Co., Cornhill.

This is a plain and unpretending narrative of a
journey of pleasure undertaken by the author last
autumn. It describes briefly, the route to some 40
of the principal towns and cities in Germany, and
the leading objects to be seen therein. It will be a
useful guide-book to those who dislike the troube of
hunting out the various continental " sights," and
will servo to recall to those who have already
"done" Vienna, Berlin, Dresden, &c., the principal
curiosities and attractions over which they have
yawned or fallen into raptures according to their
several temperaments. It pretends to be nothing
more, and it is nothing more. The author evi-
dently has considerable power of observation, and
we would suggest to him that some few charac-
teristics of the_people on his route, their habits,
bc., would brighten a book that may otherwise bo
considered " dry." For the fidelity of his ac-
counts in many instances we can vouch, but he has
scarcely made the most of his subject or done jus-
tice to his own powers of description. His Irish
Memoranda led us to anticipate a more interesting
as well as a more philosophical narrative.