The Sun.
London, England, 1869-02-10 00:00:00

ITALY.

Legislation in Italy has come to a miserable pass. It
is only on some great occasion, such as the debate on the
grist tax, that a number of deputies sufficient to form a
House can be brought together. The Lower House is a
wilderness of benches, varied only here and there
by an oasis in the shape of some deputy's
bald head. At one o'clock, when the sitting
begins, there may be ten present, at two something short
of fifty, at three the frantic efforts of the doorkeepers
may have brought up a hundred; at four the sitting is
given up in despair. The Italians can easily remedy this.
At present the law requires that a majority of the whole
number, excluding absentees, be present before business
can commence. Hence obnoxious measures can be defeated
by simply staying away. What is required is a minimum,
like our own forty.

AFFAIRS 1N 7HE SOUTH.

The Reconstruction Committee took the evi-
dence of Mr. Baldwin and Mr. Stearns of Vir-
ginia, as regards that State in connection with
Judge Underwood's Constitution. Colonel Bald-
win said that the people since the war had been in-
terested exclusively in the affairs of their own
State, knew little of Federal politics, and took the
Democrats' side as that which appeared most will-
ing to reconstruct their State, the inevitable negro
suffrage w ould be accepted as their organic law, not
voluntary, but because the nation had so de-
cided. The disfranchisement of fifteen thousand
whites, while not enough to affect the strength of
party, should be removed as a source of bitterness.
Before the war Virginians were divided on Seces-
sion, though they all joined when it was declared,
and however it was to be regretted, the fact should
not be overlooked by statesmen. They had suf-
fered as much as their worst enemy could desire,
and vengeance was not a motive they attributed to
the North. Ile challenged a comparison for Vir-
ginia with any State for order, peace, and justice since
the close of the contest. They had been harassed
during
the time by the Confederate Army de-
serters and Union Army scum claiming on the
plea of loyalty to thrust the native population from
office, and occupy their places, and these they de-
tested. Mr. Boutwell feared some thought looking
to Georgia that extreme men might secure power
in Virginia and oppress those they were bound to
protect, to which Colonel Baldwin replied that,
though he appreciated such a sentiment, there was
no hostile purpose towards any portion of the
population ; their earnest desire being to leave the
past behind and to pacify their State. These senti-
ments were confirmed as being those of the peop'e
of Virginia by Mr. F. Stearns of Richmond, a wealthy
and consistent Union man, who though a native of
Vermont had long been a citizen of Virginia.
Texas held a Presidential election in some counties,
and Seymour and Blair were successful ; but it was
not intended that the result should transpire unless
that ticket triumphed in the North, when their elec-
tors were to claim the right to cast the vote for
Texas in the Electoral College. Governor Clayton,
of Arkansas, is said to be a kind-hearted man, but in
earnest in putting down insubordination, and in
enforcing the laws of the State. The war at Augusta
is now at au end, and nearly all the State is settling
down to peace and order. If the accounts of
the Republican journals be correct Arkansas has
greatly benefited by the Governor's action, though
portions of it are still much disturbed. We
are, however, sorry to see that the Ku-Klux in
Tennessee have been carrying matters with such a
high hand that Governor Brownlow, by the advice
of the Legislature, has declared martial law in
several counties of the State, and the militia, en-
listed in East Tennessee, and under the command
of General Cooper, is to be entrusted with the
duty of wiping out the Ku-Klux, who have been
more than usually bold and aggressive of late.

COURSE OF EXCHANGE—Last Evenang.

Amsterdam Shortj ...1 11 191 12 f
Do
Rotterdam
•12 1 .. 12f 1f
Antwerp 25 33 25 40
Brussels
Hamburgh l3 10 13 101
Paris Short 25 121 ... 25 20
Ditto
Marseilles
Frankfort-on-the-Main ... l2Ol
Vienna — ... 12 25 12 32i
Trieste
... 12 25 ... 12 32f
Petersburg
...
Copenhagen — ~ 920 9 24
311
Berlin
Madrid..
48 481
Cadiz
481 ... 48
Leghorn
... 26 55 ... 26 60
Milan
Genoa "-26 55 26 60
Naples
Palermo
... 26 55 ... 26 60
. .. 26 55 .
... .. 26 60
Meigina
.. 26 55 26 60
Lisbon
"'s2f ... 521
Oporto —52 f 5.2 f
Rio Janeiro
New York