The Sun.
London, England, 1860-01-27 00:00:00

CB.NTRAL ITALY.

The Monitore Toscano of the 21st publishes the
following :
" The President of the Council of Ministers pub-
licly thanks the citizens and the foreigners who
were good enough to give a spontaneous proof of
their affection on the occasion of the mad attempt
of Tuesday evening. That mark of favour has been
extremely pleasing to him, because he attributes it
rather to the national p alley which he represents
than to himself personally. It is pleasing to him
to see that the country, confiding in him and its new
government, does not give way to vain fears, and
that dividing his time among his duties as a citizen,
his family cares, regular business, and innocent le-
creation, he spends his life in security, and despises
the vile attempts which are cancocted in the dark."

The Modena Gazette of the 20th inst: publishes
various decrees issued by Governor Farini and
countersigned by the Ministers. These decrees are
worded "During the reign of his Majesty Victor
Emmanuel, the Governor of the Royal Provinces
of Emilia, decrees," &c."
The first decree orders the promulgation of the
electoral law of Sardinia. The number of deputies
for the royal provinces of the /Emilia is to be 70,
viz. :—Bologna, 12 ; Ferrara, 7 ; Forli, 7 ; Massa
and Carrara, 4 ; Modena, 10 ; Parma, 8 ; Piacenza
7 ; Ravena, 7 ; Reggio, 8. .
The second decree orders a new coinage, on the
decimal system, to be struck; the silver coins to have
the effigy .of King Victor Emmanuel on one side,
and the royal arms of Savoy on the reverse, with
the following inscription :—" Dio protegge l'ltalia."
The silver coins are to consist of pieces of 5 lire, 2
lire, 1 lire, and 50 centimes.
The gold coins are to be of the value of '2O lire,
10, lire, and 5 lire. They are also to- have the
effigy of King Victor Eminanuel, with the inscrip-
tion, " Vittorio Emmanuele IL, '1860;" on the re-
verse the value of the coin in a faurel wreath, with
the inscription,
"Re Provincie dell' Emilia."
Farini has also promulgated a decree having
reference to certain ecclesiastical reforms which our
Florence correspondent some time back intimated
were likely to take place. The decree is as follows:
Considering that the poverty in which some of the clergy
live offends the majesty of the priesthood and the dignity of
a civilised people ;
Considering tho working part of the clergy, which is
identified with the sufferings and wants of the population,
merits the solicitude of a free and national government,
On the proposition of the Minister of Grace and Justice
and Worship, it is decreed :
1. The rights of tithe and of collection which by law or
custom in certain places and at certain times the ministers
of religion avail themselves of, are abolished.
2. Priests having the cure of souls, and whose benefices
and fees do not amount to an annual income ofSOO lire, may
demand from Government and obtain an annual subsidy
which will make up that sum.
3. The demand Ar it shall be made to a commission in-
stituted by a special decree, which,. after examining the
claims of the petitioners, shall decide by a majority tho
amount of the subsidy to be granted.
4. The subsidy proposed by the commission shall be de-
creA ed by the Government.
letter from Bologna of the 20th says :—" If we
are well informed, the Marquis G. N. Pepoli,
Minister of Finance, will set out for Paris on the
22d on a mission extraordinary to the Emperor.
Count Albicini will have the portfolio ad interim.
His position and his relationship give M. Pepoli
peculiar advantages for advocating with his august
consin the rights of Romagna and Central Italy,
which he has so well defended in his clear and calm
memoir."

The Patric makes the following observations on
the appointmtnt made by the Emperor of Austria
of the Tuscan Grand Duke to colonelcies of Aus-
trian regiments :

These
T appointments seem to us very significant. Every
one will understand that under present circumstances such
an appointment would be a mistake if it werenot an indem-
nification. Moreover, if wo never recognise the right of
the Emperor of Austria to make, Italian Sovereigns, we,
on the other hand, never contested his right to appoint Aus-
trian colonels.

The Patric has the following :
Some journals have announced that Marshal
Vaillent, who commands the corps of occupation in
Italy, is about to return to France. 'I his report is
devoid of all foundation.

The annual festival in celebration .of the 72d
anniversary of the foundation of the Australian
colonies was celebrated yesterday at the Albion
Tavern, Aldersgate-street. James Edward Fitz-
gerald, Esq., chairman, supported by the Earl of
Carnarvon, Lord Stanley, M.P. Sir J. Pakington,
Bart., M.P., Admiral Fitzroy, Lord Alfred Churchill,
Lord Monteagle, Mr. Chichester Fortescue, Mr.
Gardner, Mr. Merivale, Capt. Young (of the Arctic
expedition), Gen. Wood, C 8., Capt. Morris, R.E.,
Mr. Butt, Q.C., Col. Gawle.r, W. Wentworth, Esq.,
and about 150 gentlemen sat down to a most sump-
tuous banquet. After grace had been sung,
The CHAIRMAN gave The Health of her Majesty
the Queen," and took occasion to refer in terms of
eulogy to the spirit of loyalty by which the whole
Australian population was, under all circumstances,
animated.

In proposing "The Prince Consort; the Prince of
Wales, and theoest of the Royal Family,"
Mr. FITZGERALD mentioned the fact that an at-
tempt having been made to introduce English game
into the Australian colonies, the Prince Consort
had, on application beino. made to him to co-ope-
rate, sent several head of red and fallow deer to be
shipped to Australia, and expressed the great gra-
tification he felt in having it in his power to do any
service to dependencies in whose welfare he felt a
deep interest. (Cheers.)
Both these toasts were drank with loyal honours.
" The Army and Navy" was the next toast, which
was acknowledged by Gen. WOOD on behalf of the
former service, and by Capt. MORRIS and Admiral
FITZROY on the part of tilAe latter.
Admiral-FrnitoY's Object-in rising being prin-
cipally to mention an anecdote illustrative of the
gallantry of Admiral Hope, whose name had been
mentioned by the previous speaker, viz., that
having been twice wounded in the Peiho affair, he
ordered the boat which was carrying him to the
rear for medical assistance to put him on board the
Cormorant, because that'vessel was at the moment
the most closely engaged with the enemy, and that
while directing the operations there he was wounded
a third time.

The CHAIRMAN then gave " Her Majesty's Mi-
nisters." He had hoped to see two of them present,
but Mr. Gladstone was kept away by his Parlia-
mentary duties, and the Duke of Newcastle had
written to him at the last moment, stating that ill
health prevented his attendance. Ho spoke of the
light in which the influence of the Home Govern-
ment was considered by different classed of colonial
politicians, and observed there was one class4though
not a very large one, who thc light that that influence
ought to be greater than it was under the existing
system of Colonial Government, who regretted the
changes that had lessened it, and pointed with ridi-
cule to the constant political changes which were oc-
curring in the colonies, which they regarded as a
proof that self-government was not adapted to the
existing state of society there. In his opinion, that
was not a very thoughtful or wide view of the sub-
ject. Ho believed most thoughtful men were
watching with anxiety the experiments in self-go-
vernment in Church and State now going on in the
colonies, feeling that the result might react upon
this country. There were many difficulties in the
application of self-government in these young
states from which the mother country was free.
There was, for instance, the want of the complete
knowledge of public men who were entrusted with
high office by their antecedents and family and
social connections which existed in this country,
and therd was also the difficulties consequent upon
the continual withdrawal of public men when they
became known and had secured the confidence of
their fellow-colonists, by their returning home to
the mother country. These were difficulties
which must operate for some time to come in pre-
venting the harmonious working of con-
stitutional government in the Australian
colonies, which all desired to see. But this was as
nothing compared with the difficulties which would
have arisen had it been attempted much longer to
continue the administration of the colonial affairs by
means of the central power here. (Hear, hear.)
At the same time while the opinion of the colonies
was decidedly in favour of a free constitutional go-
vernment there was a wish that the connexion
with, or the influence of, the mother country should
cease. (Cheers.) For many years past the Aus-
tralian colonies had displayed an increasing loyalty
to the mother country ; but, at the same time, those
who looked at the matter beyond the present mo-
ment saw clearly that the time must come when the
present dependent position of those colonies to the
empire could no longer be maintained, and when it
woukkbe no longer possible for England to remain the
sole arbiter ofpeace or war, in which those dependen-
cies must necessarily be deeply interested, without in
any way consulting them, or allowing them any voice
or influence in the councils by which the great
armaments of the empire were directed. (Hear.)
It seemed to him that they would be driven to
choose between two alternatives—to refer all ques-
tions of imperial interest to some authority, com•
bining the elements of representation from all parts
of the empire, or to consent to the entire separation
of these great colonies. (Hear, hear.) He begged
to couple with the toast the name of the Hon.
Chichester Fortescue.

Mr. CHICHESTER FORTESCUE replied to the toast.
Lord MON TEAGLE proposed the next toast," Pro-
sperity to the Australian Colonies," and expressed
his gratification that the principles of the British
constitution had been introduced into the govern-
ment of those distant provinces. He spoke of his
former connection with those dependencies while
Colonial Secretary, and bore testimony to the love
they bore to the old country pnd its institutions.
He repudiated the idea of keeping the colonies as a
means of benefiting the mother country and that alone.
The mother country had no right on grounds of
selfish economy to cast off a colony after it was once
established, or to desire to retain it for English in-
terests when it became ripe for independence. He
rejoiced, however, that there was a far better bond
between these colonies and the mother country than
that of self-interest—the bond of mutual and last-
ing affection.

The toast was drunk with immense applause.
Mr. DONALDSON, late Speaker of the House of
Assembly of New South Wales, acknowledged the
toast, observing that the Australian colonies, now
they were left to themselves had the happiness of
contributing £30,000,000 annually to the wealth of
the mother country, and of producing that raw
material which curing the Crimean war was found
to be her very life blood, viz., gold. He referred
also to the Australian productions of wool, iron, and
wood, and to their growing power and wealth, as
indicating their future greatness. He rejoiced to
add that a vast majority of the thinking portion of
the colonial population were decidedly favourable
to that free trade policy which was generally ac-
cepted in England now, and to which a mighty
neighbouring potentate had recently given in his
adhesion. (Cheers.)
Mr. Justice THERRY, of Sydney, proposed" The
llouses of Lords and Commons," coupling with the
toast the names of the Earl of Carnarvon and Lord
Stanley, who severally returned thanks,
Lord STANLEY observing that amongst all the in-
stitutions of the country the House of Commons was
that which was most practically and. characteristic-
ally English—that which had taken the deepest
root in the hearts and minds of the people—and that '
which under every difference of political feeling was
invariably reproduced in every quarter of the
globe where Englishmen had settled. He ob-
served
a great similarity between the working
of the constitutional principle in the Australian
colonies and in the mother country. There were
the same Ministerial crises occurring about once a
year, and creating no excitementbeyond those who
were immediately affected. (A laugh.) There were
the same large promises made upon the hustings,
and the same complaints of those promises being
broken afterwards in the House. (" Hear, hear,"
and laughter.) And as a further proof of unifor-
mity, they saw in the colonies, as in the mother
country, a state of things in which public opinion
was all powerful in public affairs—a state of things
in which no public wrong could take place without
a remedy, and in which anything, like continued
abuse on the part of any Government was impossi-
ble. The House of Commons was by no means in-
different to the working of free representative in-
stitutions in these Australian colonies, hut was
on the contrary watching it with deep in-
terest. He could not, however, conceal from
his own mind that the relations of those
colonies to the mother country must necessarily go
through a certain and regular course. First there
was the relation of government by the mother-
country—.then came free government, but under the
protection of the mother country—and lastly, there
must come, he would not say separation, for that
did not represent the fact, but the relation of a
close, an intimate, and an equal alliance. (Cheers.)
He trusted that the experiment of self-government
now proceeding in our Australian colonies would
succeed, because the result would be not only to
benefit the people of Australia, but to strengthen
our own free institutions at home, and to induce
theirlmitation abroad, and in the conflict of opinion

that was waging throughout the world to add one
more to the list of triumphs of parliamentary
government, popular representation, and well-
ordered freedom. (Cheers.)
Sir J. PAKINGTON proposed "The Governments
and Parliaments of the Australian Colon; es." After
referring to t he fact that he held the sea's of the Colo-
nial-office when the gold discoveries, took place, and
attributing his regular invitation s to these annual
gatherings to the liberal and generous spirit with
which the colonies were met at that time, he ob-
served that Australia had bee n especially fortunate
in the selection of those wiry held office, as gover-
nors, and mentioned esreeially the names of Sir H.
Barkly and Sir W. Denison. He could not of
course speak with the sa me knowledge of the colo-
nial Parliaments, but w'aile he recognised generally
the same influences which operated here, urged the
necessity under existing circumstances of great
caution on the part of those who took a leading
part in the affairs of those colonies. He did
not think we could with any consistency com-
plain of the frequent changes of- Govern-
ment which took place in Australia—(hear, and
and a laugh)--and at all events hoped, what-
ever might be the case there, the duration of
a Government would not be considered here a test
of its merits. (Laughter.) There was one feature in
the Australian Parliament which was novel, and
which he should not like to see introduced into our
own House of Commons, viz., that instead of testing
the strength of parties by a division and the num-
ber of votes, they were in the habit of applying the
physical test of long sittings—sometimes continu-
ing to sit for 48 hours together in order to tire each
other out. (A laugh.) These, however, must be
regarded'ai mere youthful excesses, and he had no
doubt of the future of any community when Eng-
lishmen were left free and unfettered to administer
their own affairs.

The toast was replied to by Mr. L. FOSTER, of
Victoria.

" Our Guests," " Our Fatherland," and "The
Chairman," were the other toasts, which were in-
troduced by appropriate addresses, extending the
proceedings to a very advanced hour.
Mr. Toole performed the duties of toastmaster
with great efficiency.