The Sun.
London, England, 1860-12-12 00:00:00

LATEST COMMERCIAL.

DEC. 1.

Stocks are dull and rather lower. Illinois Central, 57 ;
Erie, 28k; New York Central, 74k. The cotton market is
dull. Middling upland is quoted 10Ic. to 10Ic. Bread
stuffs are heavy, and all descriptions have slightly de-
clined. The market for provisions is heavy. Pork is hard
of sale and lower.

NEW ORLEANS, Nov. 30.

The cotton market is very dull. Middling has declined
to 9tc. to 91e. The sales of the week amount to 45,000
bales ; receipts during the same period, 57,000 ; and ex-
ports, 40,000 bales. Receipts below last year, 195,000 bales.
Sterling exchange is quoted a to I premium.

SOUTHAMPTON, DEC. 12.

The United States mail steamer Fulton, Captain
Walton, which sails to-day for New York, takes
£49,490, all sovereigns, and nearly 200 passengers.

SARDINIA AND SWIIZE.RLAND,

REUTER'S OFFICE, DEC. 11.

The following is the text of the protest of the
Sardinian Government against the sequestration of
the Church:property in the canton of Ticino, belong-
ing to the Bishopric of Como :
" Turin, Nov. 20, 1860.
"M. le Chevalier de Jocteau,—The postscript to
your note No. 202, under the date of the 9th inst.,
informs me of the interpellations just addressed to
you by his Excellency the President of the Helvetic
Confederation on the subject of the questions con-
cerning the revenue of the Bishopric of Como.
" Towards the end of September last M.:Tourte,
Envoy of the Confederation at Turin, wrote to me
in fact, expressing the desire of the Federal Council
to see the discussion of the disputed points under
litigation, as to the mode of procedure for the
separation of the property of the diocese of Como,
confided to men specially appointed for that pur-
pose. M. Tourte therefore requested me in that
letter to name a commission ad hoc with which he
could treat.

"I could not but appreciate the courteous and
conciliatory spirit manifested in this step, and I
desired to accede to it; but this depended much
more upon the measures to be taken by the
Federal Council than upon our good will.
" The state of things as brought about by the
revolution in the Canton of Ticino, approved and
maintained by the Swiss Confederation, is not
normal.

" I have already had occasion to acquaint
M. Tourte with our opiniox on this point, and with
the principles which, in our idea, should be
observed in such a matter". M. Tourte will doubt-
less have informed his Government of this com-
munication.

" The Government of the King does not in any
way dispute the right of Switzerland to withdraw
a part of its territory from the jurisdiction of a
foreign bishopric—from the Bishopric of Como.
" His Majesty's Government has therefore ab-
stained from demanding a participation in the nego-
tiations on that question, which the Federal Council
had opened with the Holy See. But, as I had the
honour of declaring to M. Tourte in my note of the
6th of September, there is another question—viz.,
that of property—concerning which we could
neither admit the system which the Federal Coun-
cil appeared desirous of establishing,, nor sanction,
either explicitly or implicitly, the measures adopted
by the Canton of Ticino.
" Without apprising us, without making any
attempt at an arrangement, the Swiss authorities
placed under sequestration theproperty and revenues
of the Bishopric of Como, existing on Swiss terri-
tory, deprived the Bishop of the administration of
the property which belonged to him, and trans-
ferred it to the State.

"This illegal proceeding was still less consistent
with the amicable and kindly relations between
Sardinia and Switzerland.

"The ecclesiastical nature of the sequestrated
property by no means invalidates, from an inter-
national point of view, the right of proprietorship.
The Federal authorities had no more right to seize
the property of the Bishop of Como than they
would have had to lay hands upon the property of
any other subject of the King.
" According to the terms of M. Tourte's note, it
appears that the Federal Government believed that
it had the right of partitioning the episcopal pro-
perty of Como.
" But, viewing the affair in that manner, the fact
cannot be excluded that there had been a violation
of acquired rights and un outrage—undoubtedly
unintentional, for I could not attribute intention
to the Swiss authorities—an outrage, I say, against
the dignity of a friendly Government, which could
not be deemed indifferent to the injury that was
inflicted on a_ bishopric of its States. Besides, I
must here repeat the declaration that the Govern-
ment of the King cannot share the opinion of the
Federal Council on this point.
" The international law invariably consecrated
by practice is, that the Government wishing to
separate its territory from the jurisdiction of a
foreign bishopric, shall bear the charges which
result from its determination, and that the property
and revenues remain entire to the dismembered
diocess.
" It was thus that we ourselves acted towards
Austria when the territory on this side of the Ticino
was separated from the diocesses of Milan and
Pavia. The old Governments of Modena and Parma
acted in a similar manner towards Sardinia when
they removed a certain number of parishes of their
states from the jurisdiction of the Sardinian
Bishopric of Sarzana.
"In default of other examples, we might invoke
against the system which Switzerland would intro-
duce in regard to the revenues of Como the princi.
pies which she upheld in the affair with Austria
in refereice to the Bishopric of Caire. However, if
the Federal Council has to make any representa-
tions, or to propose any transaction, it is clear that
the question ought to be presented intact, and that
the Government of the King not only cannot con-

sentto enterinto negotiations so long as the viola-
tion of the property of one of its subjects is persisted
in, but that it ought to demand that in regard to the
property everything be restored to its former state.
We are therefore under the painful necessity of
having to renew to the Federal Council the demand
that the sequestration of the property of the
Bishopric of Como be raised, and that its free admi-
nistration be rendered to the Bishop. I have too
much confidence in the spirit of justice and in the
high wisdom of the Helvetic Government to doubt
that our claims will meet a favourable reception.
But if, contrary to all expectations, it refuses to do
justice to so reasonable a demand, the Government
of the King, in its turn, would have to consider
what further measures are just and necessary.
" I invite you, &c.,
" CAVOUR."