The Sun.
London, England, 1860-01-18 00:00:00

ITALIAN STATES.

The great struggle for Constitutional freedom
of which Italy is now the scene, claims the deep
sympathy of every man who believes in the right
of his fellow men to think for themselves, and
openly to profess their opinions. The conflict,
though local and limited in its scene, is universal
in its relations to the rights and interests of .
humanity. On one side we have the tyrants who
wish to throw their death-pall over the minds and
hearts of their fellow men, we have despotic Dukes
and Duchesses, the Pope acted upon by the crafty
Antonelli, and the Emperor of Austria the prop
and crutch of Rome; on the other, we have the
people in the Italian States who have embraced
the first opportunity to assert their freedom, and
are determined to maintain it, and rejoicing in the
shelter they derive from the King of Sardinia.
Of the position of the Emperor of the French it is
difficult, but unnecessary, now to speak ; but our '
present object is just to show by a most significant
fact that the real question at issue is, whether or not
men may call their souls their own, whether they
are to be trodden down by armed force and held in
priestly chains, or to stand up among free people
as those who have happily been rescued from the
grip of political and spiritual tyrants.
Let us look, then, at the present state of Flo-
rence, and at the largo concessions made to the
principles of civil and religious liberty since the
flight of the Duke of Tuscany from the country he
had so long oppressed. The day after the des-
picable tyrant fled from his irritated subjects—
that is, on the 28th of April last—the Provisional
Government proclaimed liberty and equality of
worship to all Tuscan subjects. There is, there-
fore,
no legal right in Tuscany to interfere with
any Protestant congregation, or with its open pro- •
fession of faith, and the people who have been
convinced that the purest form of Christianity is
something very different from that taught by the
priests, are now meeting in a thoroughly Protes-
tant
congregation, without the dread of being pro-
secuted for heresy. The position of this body has
been already represented to the public, but it is too
interesting to be dismissed in the report to which
we have already given insertion.
There is now in the city of Florence a temporary.
place of Protestant worship, consisting of a car-
penter's •,"
shop fitted up as a sort of meeting-house.
The peculiar form in which Protestantism ap-
pears in Florence it is important to notice. If
we were speaking of an English Protestant church,
or one of the acknowledged reformed churches, for
the accommodation of Protestant residents in Flo. •
rence, we should have no proof that the principles
of religious freedom had been adopted by the Go.
vernment. There, however, we have a congrega- fr"
tion more resembling the Dissenters of this country
than our national Protestant Church. The reli-
gious officers of this church are not regularly or-
dained and recognised ecclesiastics like those of
France or Germany. The only person who ap-
proaches to such a character is the humble car-
penter in whose workshop the congregation as-
sembles.
Nothing could be much more humble, or
destitute of any political influence. A synagogue
of wealthy Jews, whose monetary aid was felt •
to be of importance, might be tolerated simply
on the ground of expediency or necessity, without
the State being committed to the broad principle
that every man has a right to worship God in a
mode according with his religious convictions.
No greater test could have been applied to the
Government than has been applied by such a body
of Dissenters as that now under consideration, and
therefore no greater opportunity could be given to
the Government of Tuscany to assert that, so long
as it is allowed to remain, the principles of religious
as well as of civil freedom shall triumph.
This congregation, to which the aid of rank and
wealth are not accorded, is allowed to assemble in
open day, and really with open doors—for the
doors are left ajar—and any person may be ad-
mitted as long as sitting or standing room remains.
The only test that is applied by the congregation
is as to whether the applicants believe in the Pope.
Happily the faith of the Italians in the Pope is
rapidly on the decline, so that there are hundreds
who can conscientiously qualify for admission by
giving their reply in the negative. The only per-
sons refused admission are the lying informers, who
wish to enter that they might carry away false
reports to their patrons, and represent as political
and treasonable the meetings that are purely
religious.
Wonderful, indeed, is the fact that this congre-
gation, which now reaches three hundred, should
have been gathered so soon after liberty of worship
had been proclaimed, and that its members should
openly assert their confidence in the safety ac-
corded to them under the now regime. These
Evangelical Brethren," as they are termed, are
not under the slightest apprehensions as to their
safety: The confidence they display is the more
significant as they, from their social position, must
be well acquainted with the feelings of the people
as to the right of men to profess a religion different
from that of the Pope. Their language is, "Why
should the Government show uneasiness on our
account ? We neither humour the priests uor give
them any good reason for complaint." We have also
the remarkable statement of Barsali, the carpenter
and minister of the flock, that " the rage of all the
Tuscan priesthood could not find twenty-five per-
sons out of the very worst Florentine rabble willing
to do them harm, or disturb their peaceful and ex-
emplary reunions ;" and this confidence is justified
by the opinion of an intelligent observer on the
spot.
Meanwhile the Romish clergy are straining
every nerve for the purpose of depriving these
people of their newly-acknowledged rights. We
hope that the noble stand taken by the Govern-
ment of Tuscany will be maintained without flinch-
ing, and that the people of this country will not
fail to give to that Governmeat the whole of its
moral force. We have not the means of pro-
nouncing on the religious opinions and worship of
the Dissenting congregation in Florence. They
may be very orthodox or otherwise. Our position
is, that so long as they do not interfere with the
order of society, cause disturbance, or break out
into offences against morality, the people are on-
titled to'the protection of the Government against
all the opposition the priests may try to excite
against them.—. Advertiser.

THIS DAY'S SHIPPING.

LONDON) Jan. 18.—Wind this day at noon, S.E.
light breeze, and hazy.
The Caledonian, Chapman, from St. John's, N. 8., to
Crew arrived at Greenock.
iLoinve2r7poloyl., has been abandoned, waterlogged, in lat 46 N,
PORTSMOUTH, Jan. 17.—Wind, S.E.—Arrived—Her
Majesty's steam ship Perseverance, from Channel Islands.
CARDIFF, Jan. 17.—Wind, N.E.—Sailed—Benjamin
Sawyer, for Bombay ; Margaretha, for Singapore.
OFF DOVER, Jan. 17.—Arrived—Mauritius, from Lon• don for China.
FALMOUTH, Jan. 17.—Wind, S.S.W. ; fresh.—Sailed
Maria, for Rio Janeiro.
Conic, Jan. 16.—Sailed—Jeanne, for Barbadoes.
PLYMOUTH, Jan. 17.—Wind, S.E.—Arrived—Ells A.
Clarke' n from London for Port Philip, leaky; lio up from
lon 11 W.
CLYDE, Jan. 17.—Wind, S.E.—Arrived—Brenda, from
Demerara.
QUEENSTOWN, Jan. 17.—Arrived—North Briton (as.),
from Portland, U.S., bound to Liverpool.
GRIMSBY, Jan. 16.—Sailed— Johannes, for Hayti ; tha
Clara, for Havana.

HELIGOLAND ROADS, Jan. 18.—The Barnsley (steamer)
aground ; screw propeller broken ; assistance ordered from
Hambarg.
HAMBURG, Jan. 16.—The whole breadth of the river is
full of drift ice. The lightships off Scanlan, the Luhe, and
Krautsand have been compelled to leave their stations in
consequence of the ice.
BRUNSHAUSEN, Jan. 16.—1 n consequence of the south-
west wind the river hero is tolerably free of ice.

(BY ELECTRIC TELEGRAPH.)
LivzarooL, Wednesday Morning.

Wind S.
Arrived, Jan. 17—Lizzie Moses, from New Orleans;
Favourite, from Magaquadavic.
Arrived, Jan. 18.—North Briton Royal mail screw
steamer, from Portland.

V The
De Witt Clinton, for New York, and Charmer, for
Shanghai, were in collision last night in the river. The
Charmer received considerable damage.
SOUTHAMPTON, Wednesday Morning.
Wind S.S.W.

kr;i;ed—Hannah, from Neath ; Una, from Parehani.
Sailed.—La Plata, steamer, for St. Thomas ; Nepali!,
steamer, for Lisbon ; Capricolo, steamer, for Santander;
Sir George Grey, steamer, for Cardiff; Wonder and Ata-
lanta, steamers, for Jersey.

(EY SUBMARINE AND BRITISH TELEGRAPH.)
GRAVESEND, Wednesday Morning.
Wind, E. ; tide, ono hours' ebb ; weather, fresh and
frosty.
Arrived, Jan. 17.—Griesland, from Worcum ; Star, from
Seville ; Lima, from Boston ; Princess Clotilda, from Table
Bay.
Arrived, Jan. 18.—Spirit of the Deep, from Foo-chow-
foo ; Fiddle, from Emden; Antagonist, from tho North
Sea, with wrecked good ; Providence, from Gravelines.
Sailed, Jan. 18.—Vulture, for Genoa; Secret, for St.
Kitts.

DEAL, Wednesday Morning.