The Sun.
London, England, 1860-04-23 00:00:00

THE `SUN, LONDON, MONDAY; : EVENING APRIL X 23, :1860.

•
Staff of the sth Division is only a counter measure
against the preparations at the Fort des Rousses.
Councils are always more adapted for discussing
and clearing up disputed questions than for taking
resolutions, above all in critical times. liowever
united about the aim, it is almost impossible not to
find differences about the means to obtain this
common aim. These differences may be merely
slight shades, yet they will always influence,
more or less, the resolutions taken. The Federal
Council makes no exception in this respect. Out
of the seven members which compose it, three
have been from the beginning for energetic action,
three others rather wavering, and ene for concilia-
tion. In the first moment of indignation the
more energetic members exercised a natural supre-
macy, and carried along with them those who were
wavering. This was the time when Switzerland
seemed inclined to consult, in the first instance,

the necessity of her own position, and act according
to it, relying on the Powers to support her in this
action. The assurances of the Powers that they
were ready to secure the interests of Switzerland,
coupled with the advice not to spoil their combina-
tions by precipitate action, turned the scale, and
from that moment the less energetic half of the
Council has been in the ascendant, the time for ac-

tion passed away, and the only chance remained in
an understanding of the Powers. It is probably
the success of the negotiations in this respect which
caused the news of a speedy solution.
How far this be true you may know better than
we here, for since Switzerland has placed her fate
in the hands of the great Powers she has been living
on faith and on hope. She has given up her initia-
tive in the matter, and, instead of leading in a ques-
tion which concerns her most nearly, has been rather
following others.

multitude contrives to multiply itself under the
pressure of eager excitement.
There are three Florences on the pave, as many
again at the thousand windows, and on the stands
and stages everywhere raised up on either side of the
way ; as many again in the squares built up into as
many amphitheatres. Houses tapestried all over,
banners everywhere hanging on the balconies, every-
where waving in the crowd; and arches and great
gateways, with quaint devices and mottoes, inscrip-
tions, and coats of arms, and trophies; and garlands
and rows of garlands everywhere stretching along
and across the streets, masses of flowers, showers of

flowers, too many flowers even for the city of Flora
to have produced, one would think, without the aid
of her neighbours; music also everywhere, military
bands, civic bands, rustic bands ; everywhere glit-
tering things, rustling things, fragrant things, sights
and sounds ; an attack upon all the senses, gratify-
ing at first, delighting and exhilarating, but pre-
sently overpowering and bewildering, till the
strongest sensation is that of confusion and head-

ache.
On we drive, down the endless narrow Via Ognis-
santi, then, left, to the Piazza Santa Maria Novella,
then we come to a standstill at the Duomo. The

King alights at the door of the cathedral. We
have some dim sight of him as he advances
at the head of his sparkling retinue up the
lofty aisle, under the broad Gothic arches which
Arnulfo spanned. The vast gloomy pile is brilliant
with myriads and myriads of tapers. The Arch-
bishop of Florence intones the Te Delon. Thanks
to Heaven that brings to him the excommunicated
new ruler ! The blatant mass of people outside is
awed into temporary, comparative silence; The
pealing anthem is heard echoed by the vast dome,
audible even to us outside. But now the King
issues forth ; once more the King looks round upon
the crowd, whose shouts gain rend the air. The
King's glance is for one moment fixed on a parti-
cular spot. In the midst of so many thousands of
banners he spies three banners. These banners are
of the largest, but they are veiled all over with
crape. The names of Venice, Rome, Naples, hang
at the staff's point. A sudden emotion is percep-
tible in the King's countenance. He has hitherto
only bowed. He now takes off his hat. He reads
his people's thoughts, and shares them.
So on to the Piazza Grande, no longer Piazza
del Gran Duca, down by Mercato Novo to the
Piazza and bridge of the Trinita, sip Via Maggio,
up the Sirucciolo de Pitti—here we are in Piazza
Pitti, the King rides into.the proud Palace so long
the home of the Medici.
It is now 330 years ago that a Burgundian
Prince, hardly an Italian, though residing south of
the Alps, appeared in the crowd of Italian crowned
heads assembled to do homage to the fortunate
Austrian, Charles V., the wearer of the Imperial
diadem at Bologna. Together with that Burgun-
dian or Savoyard Duke, Charles 111., were Medici,
Duke of Florence, Este of Ferrara, Gonzaga of
Mantua; Sforza of Milan, and ever so many others.
Among those feudal lords the greatest ambition
aimed no higher than the Grand-Ducal Coronet,
which, artfully held out by the crafty Monarch,
now to one, now to the other, was for some years
tantalisingly withheld from all of them. All those
Italian tyrants would almost have resented as pre-
sumption any hope for the glittering bauble which
they all coveted. The Medici had it in due time,
and Tuscany was made the highest of North Ita-
lian vassals. Where are now the Medici, where
the Este and Gonzaga, the Sforza, Farnese, and
the whole set ? Behold! tne poor Savoyard has
outlived and swallowed them all ; and all their
deeds of usurpation have gone only to build up
his Italian throne—a throne grounded on legi-
timate rights from the beginning, and which,
in olden no less than in recent times,
owed its increase to popular spontaneous sur-
render to voluntary annexation. Read the history
of Piedmont, and you will see how Ivrea, Cuneo,
Fossano, and even unhappy Nice, came under the
allegiance of Savoy by the same process which now
brings Florence, Bologna, Parma, and Modena
under her sway.
The King is housed at the Pitti Palace ; the great
dignitaries of State are alighting from their carriages,
walking up those handsome stairs, treading those
marble halls, to pay him obeisance ; but underneath
is the real Sovereign, to whom the King must, in
his turn, make his bow. Underneath, the vast square
and the sweeping rise to the palace gates are thronged
with a dense multitude, which the serried ranks of
national guards cannot, without great efforts, keep
under control. They must have one more peep at
the King. The Windows of the opposite houses, far
as eye can reach, are tenanted by deep-browed,
bright-eyed Florentines. A galaxy of beauty of the
same description, but with still greater pretension
to rank, occupies the vast galleries projecting from
the palace on either side and encompassing the
Equare, Those gaily-attired beauties have been
perched up there, closely packed, ever since their
tickets obtained them admittance at 10 o'clock in
the morning, and it is now 3in the afternoon. They,
too, must enjoy the privilege claimed by the eat--
they mint look at the King. Hark ! the clapping.
of their tiny white-gloved hands echoes the roar of
the clamouring multitude beneath—" Viva it Re !
fuori it Re !
The balcony is thrown open ; out issues the serene
face of Victor Emmanuel, by his side the Prince of
Carignan°, a little behind Baron Ricasoli and the
Gonfaloniere' Marquis Bartolommeo. The King
bows his heati. The people are suddenly hushed.
A fancy took them that the King was about to
address them. Silly people ! That is a king for
deeds not words, or if for words not to waste any
but to keep the word he has given.

APRIL 17.

I am still dazed with yesterday's long-endured
turmoil; hardly inclined to attempt to describe last
evening's illumination and fireworks. Were I even
less tired, I should be no great hand at pictures of
that nature, both because I have seen too many of
them of late not to be blase, and because my grumb-
ling disposition is somewhat offended by this per-
petual holiday, which is so oddly ushering in the
new era of Italian active freedom. I have often,
besides, tried to set off the respective merits of Turin
and Florence in this kind of ftstive exhibition.
Imagine, now, that you have both Florence and
Turin together in one and the same town. There
is in the Piedmontese capital a self-taught genius,
accustomed to get up such shows at a moment's
notice, and his name is Giacinto Ottino. He is a
tinman by trade, but if you see his elaborate deco-
rations in Via di Po and Dora Grossa, you will say
he must be at least a first rate artist, a botanist,
an historian, a king at-arms, and ever so many
things besides. The Florentines, on the other hand,
are very proud of a professor of architecture of their
own, a man whose name I forget just now, who
ministers to their taste and fancy by similar con-
trivances. But now Giaciuto Ottini has been sent
for from Turin, the two worthies have been putting
their wise heads together, and the tinman's flights
of imagination, without being cramped, have been
kept to the rules of the architect's art. The result
is such as we might expect had all the Turin Flo-
rence shows of old and modern times been crowded
into one monster show. Fancy Carnival without
masks, the Corpus Domini and San Giovanni with
the priests left out, and then add all the national
gaudy gewgaws which were displayed in honour of
Magenta and Solferino, which were pressed into
service to welcome Plon-Plon, Buoncompagni, and
Carignaho, of to celebrate the first, second, and
third annexations—stan up, in short, all that you
herb o.'"eil for the last twelvemonth, and imagine-
you see it all at °nal in a dream, enhanced by that
supernatural vagueness and digitises which the un-
rbal giaies to the semblance of the real.
The fireworks Were played off from the Carraia
liridge, enjoyed bt the Icing, Who sat in the gal-
lery over the Petite Vecchio. He then drove out in
a carriage to see the illumination, cheered every-
where—the most genuine, heartfelt enthusiasm.
The streets of the town this morning are still
crowded to suffocation. People's only business is to
see by daylight the pictures and devices they be-
held last night as transparencies. They are moving
up and down, listless, happy, gaping, wondering,
like big, overgrown children. The weather favoured
them throughout; the sea was smooth as oil for the
King's voyage on Sunday night; the day was
bright and warm for his reception yesterday ; it
continues everything that pampered idleness might
wish for. The dust alone is a drawback, as, in order
to do away with slipperiness of the broad flagstones,
the pavement has everywhere been strewn with
sand, which, trodden to the finest dust by so many
feet, fills the whole atmosphere. But the people do
not mind it in the least. It is astonishing to what
extent an effeminate race will endure real hardship,
if only enjoyment of pleasure or avoidance of toil
esay result from it. The man to whom washing is
lan irksome process soon learns to luxuriate in dirt.
The King of Sardinia does not, strictly speaking,
see Florence fur the first time, nor is this his first
visit to the place. He was here, quite an infant, at
the time that the Prince of Carignano, a fugitive
from Turin after the revolutionary attempt of 1821,
found here a shelter at the Court of his Grand Ducal
cousins of Tuscany. The Carignano family were
then lodged at the Poggio Itnperiale. The infant
Prince Victor Emmanuel was in his cradle, the cur-
tains of which were set on fire by a candle which
came in contact with them. The child was rescued
from the flames, not, however, without severe burn-
ing on his right hand and left side, in wllieti latter
spot the King bears the marks of the fire to the
present day. Most unfortunately, the Signora
Teresa Zanotti, the nurse to the little Prince, who,
to the risk of her own life,took him from the cradle,
was so severely injured by the flames that she died
after a few days' suffering. All this domestic
episode we learn from the letters of the Prince of
Carignano, the King's father, who Om simply

signed himself " Alberto di Savoia" but viho took
his full name of " Charles Albert" on his ac-
cession to the throne in 1831. These letters, which
&ince a great deal of pious feeling on Charles
Albert's part, were lately given to the public by the
Cavaliere Zanotti, the son of the deceased Royal
nurse. The incident occurred in the middle of
September, 1822.

VICTOR EMMANUEL AND THE POPE.

y-
The Continental press is occupied at this moment
with a correspondence which derives its principal
interest from the station and position of the parties
between whom it has passed. The present genera-
tion seems determined to leave no State secrets to

be dug up by posterity. Every great event is made
clear, and finished off for history directly it has
taktn place. -No sooner has Victor Emmanuel been,
by implication, cut off from Papal communion, than
we are treated to the correspondence which preceded
this decisive ecclesiastical stroke. The Royal and
the Holy letter-writers submit their lucubrations to
the world, like two stockbrokers who may have had
a personal difference upon Epsom Downs ; and they
tacitly call upon the European public to judge be-
tween them which was in fault in the original
dispute, and which has borne himself best in the
subsequent discussion. General Lamoriciere may
be creating Papal Zouaves for some unexplained
purpose, and Victor Emmanuel may be looking to
the efficiency of his army with a view to possible
contingencies. If it should be thought expedient
ultimately to appeal to trial by battle, the right
is reserved ; but meanwhile we are invited to

examine on which side the reason of the matter
lies. Therefore it is that we find circulated all
over the Continent those two long letters from
the King of Sardinia to the Pope, and those two short
letters from the Pope to the King of Sardinia. Bat
no ie fleeting person who remembers who the writers
are will be surprised at discovering that on neither
side are the real considerations which influenced
the opinion of Europe mentioned or even hinted at.
The misgovernment of the Roman States and the
misery.of the people are, and always have been,
non-existent to the vision both of the King and the
Sovereign Ecclesiastic.
It is a very curious specimen of Royal and Pon-
tifical correspondence. The King writes most like
a priest, and the Priest most like a dragoon. On
the one side we have a Monerch with a relatively
powerful army using the most gentle and deferential
and peaceful language, striving in the most oily
phrase to convince the Priest that it is his Majesty's
dat.y to take from the Priest something which the
Priest earnestly desires to retain. On the other
side we have the testy old Priest, in short, stringent,
and decisive sentences, rejecting these blandish-
ments, abusing their author very heartily, and
telling him in good set terms what he may expect
hero, and especially hereafter, if he should dare to
interfere with his property. It seems that so early
as the 3d of last December the Pope had written
an autograph letter to the King of, Sardinia, de-
siring him to maintain before the then projected
Congress the rights of the Holy See. The King,
on the 6th of February following, replies to this
apostolic letter, and, instead of promising compli-
ance with this request, sets forth to the Holy Father
what the Sardinian view of the then existing crisis
is. Victor Emmanuel is the devoted son of the
Church, his race is a pious race, and all his own acts
have been of the most pious character. The Pope,
he flatters hie.self, cannot but feel how sincere his
veneration has been, and what zeal he has shown
in defence of " the right and authority which the
Holy See exercises on earth by virt'se of the Divine
mandate of Heaven." He has given a hundred
proofs. When the Legations rose against the Papal
authority it was entirely without any prompting
from Sardinia. When they offered themselves for
annexation Victor Emmanuel repulsed them. When
" the presence of an audacious General"—meaning,
of course, Garibaldi—" put in peril the tranquility
of provinces occupied by the troops of the Holy
See," who but Victor Emmanuel interposed to re-
move him from the neighbourhood? But all these
good offices of the Sardinian King were in vain.
The people expelled the officers of his Holiness, and
continued to attend their churches and to conduct
their religious ceremonials just as if they had been
acting under express orders from Rome. This was
a very distressing state of matters • but what was
to be done ? It so happened that Victor Emmanuel
had a particular mission to perform. It was the
mission which was proclaimed by Pope Julius IL,
and which was taken up by the Sovereigns of the
House of Savoy ; and its purport was " to deliver
ItalLfrom foreign domination." It was unhappily
evidrat—thus Victor Emmanuel went on to argue
—that the re conquest of the Romagna could
only be effected by fore;gn assistance. This
the honour of a Prince of the House of Savoy
could not allow, and the " generous heart and
the evangelical charity" of the Pope could not
possibly permit him to wish. Religion itself would
suffer; and, although physically the dominion
of the Pope might be thus restored, morally the pro-
vinces would be still more entirely lost. It was very
difficult to know what a devoted son of the Church,
and the scion of a pious race, and the inheritor of the
task of expelling foreigners from Italy, ought to do
ie so complex a contingency. But Victor Emmanuel
had his idea. That idea he submitted with confidence
to the Pope, It wes this—that Romagna and the
Marches and Umbria should all be allowed to parti-
cipate in the blessings which annexation to a strong
Italian kingdom had already. secured to a large por-
tion of Central Italy. This is, lightly paraphrased,
the pith of this humble and oily epistle. The Pope,
when he got to the end of it, seems to have bounded
from the chair of St. Peter. He had called upon Vic-
tor Emmanuel to restore him the Romagna, and
Victor Emmanuel had disclosed to him his " idea"
of taking from him not only the Romagna, but also
the Marches and Umbria. The Pope throws back
the Royal " idea" with fierce indignation, denounc-
ing it as utterly unworty of a Catholic King and of
aPi ince of the House of Savoy. He says nothing
about Julius 11., but uses strong language as to the
miserable state of that man's soul who could differ so
diametrically from the Pope, and could have such
bad designs upon the Papal States.
It must be confessed that the King of Sardinia's
"idea" was somewhat of that character which we
conventionally call " cool." To appeoach a man
with expressions of veneration and devotedness, and
then to tell him that the only plan you can suggest
fog, recovering his lost property is that he should
sitrender all the rest, does seem calculated to put a
venerable old gentleman into a passion, even if he
should be a Pope. There was a grand opportunity
here for a grave and dignified rebuke which must
have told on the opinion of the world. Pio Nono,
however, misses the occasion, falls to scolding, and
abuses his adversary's soul ; giving occasion to
irreverend bystanders to laugh ratleer than sympa-
thize. The King waited a month after this, and
thea renewed the correspondence in the same vague
deferential tone, but allowing, as before, a very de-
cided meaning to peep through his silken phrases.
He talked of a necessity which the force of events
had induced, and to which even the Holy See must
submit, and he spoke of contributing to the charges
of the Popedom. In indistinct but unmistakable
words he offers the Pope a title and a pension. The
Pope's response to thisletter has more of the gravity
of a State document than that which was drawn
from him by the sudden development of the King
of Sardinia's first idea. He protests strongly, and
fie launches at the King some sharp epigrams, in-
insinuating many charges of which he had no
actual proof, but could have no moral doabt. He
doea not, however, scold.
As nothing arose out of this correspondence,
which, when the King and the Pope had exhausted
themselves was continued with an equal inconse-
quence by Cardinal Antonelli and Count Cavour,
we confess we cannot see any very special reason
why it should now be printed. In it both parties
maintain the position which all the world knows
that they have long held. The King of Sardinia
is bent upon reuniting? all Italy under his own
sceptre—a very patriotic and highly praiseworthy
enterprise, which is not without its collateral and
personal allurements. The Pope is doggedly deter-
mined to maintain in its integrity the most stupid
despotism that Christendom has ever seen, or to
scream and threaten as each shred is torn from him.
There is no new information in this. Both parties
in this correspondence act thoroughly up to the
part which they have undertaken to play. Perhaps
we may , learn a little more distinctly from the
King's letter that it is within his present plan to
help himself to the rest of the Roman States. We
knew already, however, that ho had offered the
Pope a titular sovereignty and a pension, and we
knew also that the Pope had obstinately refuse all
negotiation and all compromise.—Times.

THE STANDARD HEIGHT OF THVRENCH ARMY.
—Marshal Randon, in his report to the French Emperor,
dated 13th of April, recommends that, in consequence of the
great difficulty of obtaining conscripts of the height laid
down by the Regulations of 1857, the standard be reduced
one centimetre throughout the service. The Emperor has
confirmed this suggestion, and desired it to be carried out in
future. Tho present standard requires Carabineers to be 1
metre 76 centimetres in height; Dragoons, 1.69; Chassenrs
d'Afrique, 1.66 ; and soldiers of the line, 1.56. Thus, the
tallest recruit must be 5 feet 9 inches, the smallest about 5
feet 2 inches.
[AnvnuristmENT.]--llolloway's Pills and Ointment.—
Diseases of the Chest. The daily increase of deaths from
these causes is positively appalling,. During the last three
weeks respectively 5 90, and 102 persons have died of bron-
chitis alone, and no less than 73 per week have perished from
inftarnmation of the lungs. Let no one afflicted in the chest
hesitate for a moment to use Holloway's potent remedies;
properly used they will mitigate each symptom, and avert
those disastrous consequences so grievously noted by the Re-
gistrar-General. Rub the ointment thoroughlfover the chest
at least .hree times a day, and take the pills exactly according
to the printed directions affixed to each box and pot. Im-
Taadiata relict and perwaileut cur 9 Will result.