The Sun.
London, England, 1867-07-03 00:00:00

low forehead, straight, lank hair; small, black eyes.
He is said to be exact, regular, and abstemious in
his habits, not afraid of work; his only recrea-
tions are reading, riding, and playing at chess,
at which, however, he is not very strong."
A worthy citizen of Geneva, M. Revilliod, has
just made a donation of 100,000 f. to the town
towards the formation of a public museum and
library.

A letter from Turin, dated June 24, says :
The Ecclesiastical Property Commission con-
tinues very assiduously at its labours, sitting three
times a day. All its deliberations, however, are
wrapped in the profoundest mystery, which is a new
subject of discontent for the Florence journals,
who find it impossible to obtain any certain infor-
mation as to what is going on ; it is whispered,
however, that its disposition is to go. even beyond
any former scheme of spoliation. The President
and Secretary of the Commission had a long con-
ference with Signor Ferrara last week. Parliament
has only got through the votes on the budget of
four departments as yet, and it would seem im-
possible to get the whole voted in time for the
pressing needs of the State. It is said Government
is accordingly preparing a bill for obtaining a vote
of ad interim supplies.

Other subjects of debate of general interest have
been the revelation of mal-administration and
egregious abuses in the department of naval ad-
ministration by the Deputy de Cesare. A vote for
the support of colonies on two somewhat sterile,
but, nevertheless, not unimportant, though almost
unknown, islands in the Mediterranean, half-way
between Sicily and Africa, by name Linosa and
Lampedusa, which the late dynasty was at pains
to secure to the Kingdom of Naples ; the abolition
of the privilege of franking letters to deputies;
and a very hot and violent discussion on the
disturbances at Trani, which the Left made an
opportunity for angry recriminations on the clergy.
' The Florence Ministerial journal, Il Corriere
Italiano, has the impudence to assert it is informed
that the most influential members of the clergy are
resolved, under advice from Rome, to withdraw
all opposition to the Government schemes for the
conversion of ecclesiastical property. The Corriere
musthave little respect for the judgment of its
readers when it presents them with such nonsense.
The plague of locusts in Sardinia, to which I
adverted before, seems to have done fearful devas-
tation in the island. A letter of the 14th describes
it as in no way abated. The general distress is so
great from this and other causes that emigration is
going on to a great extent. Another difficulty is
puzzling the authorities at Naples ; what with
political arrests, vagabondage, and brigandage,
results of an unsettled Government, and the
stagnation of trade, all the prisons are full to
overflowing. They have 600 detenuti on their hands,
and no place to lock them up in securely. In a
large munber of cases, however, there is no need
of very secure keeping. The distress is so great
that they have no place to go to, and are thankful
for the shelter even of a lock-up. The Bolletino,
a masonic organ, was sequestrated in Naples last
week. At Florence the representation of a piece
entitled " Frh Paolo Sarpi " has been prohibited.
I do not know what exact ground of offence it con-
tained, but it was pronounced poco opportuna nelle
attuali .circostanze.

Count Rosario Messina has just sent 1,710 fr. as
the contribution of the Maltese to the collection
making here for presentation to the Pope on St.
Peter's festival. A touching offering, too, has been
received from the mission of Tripoli, which is en-
tirely under the direction of Italian priests. It only
amounts to 114 fr., but it is one of the very poorest
missions, and was in part made up by the "mites "
brought by children in the schools. A former
general of the army, who left it from conscientious
motives, has contributed some curious coins. One,
a gold piece called a marengo, struck in the year
nine of the French Republic, now rather rare,
bearing the legend " L'ltalie delivree h Marengo,"
and a still rarer gold piece, which Napoleon I.
had struck in honour of his son, with the inscrip-
tion, "Napoleon F.F.C. Roi de Rome, XX. Mars,
MD CCCXI."
It is now expected that the Mont Cents tunnel will
be completed in the eourse of 1869. Last year the
rate of progress was an average of five metres a day ;
this year it is six. It was announced that the through
line from Leghorn to Rome-would be opened to
the public on the 19th to do the. journey in nine
and a half hours without any change of carriages.
The works have been pushed forward, so that it
might be inaugurated in honour of the Centenary
of St. Peter. The Lyons Railway Company has
purchased the portion of the Victor Emmanuel
Railway which traverses the annexed Province of
Savoy.

THE RESTORATION OF THE RELIGIOUS

ORDERS IN SPAIN.

(From a Correspondent of the Westminster Gazette.)
What will the Independance Beige say of us
now ? Senor Claros has presented the petition
which, as a good Catholic and as a Narvarrese
deputy, he had been requested by the Bishop of
Pamplona to submit to Congress. Prim's rapscal-
lions in Brussels must have howled with rage when
they read that " not even a murmur " against the
proposal was to be heard even from the liberal-
union gentry; and that the Government had
actually promised their co-operation in carrying
out the long-desired restoration. The Bishop's
petition was a very modest one--it merely asked
that novices might be admitted into the Franciscan
monastery at Olite, to wear the religious habit,
and be trained up for missionary work in Spain.
But Senor Claros went a little further, for he
demanded the admission of all the religious orders
the prelates and the Government might consider
necessary.

Referring to the opposition raised in some
quarters against the monastic habit, the illustrious
orator said: " Admire, gentlemen, the eccentricities
of this self-styled age of reason and enlighten-
ment. The great question we are about to debate
may even be said to be reduced to one concerning
a dress, a habit, and nothing more ; for the reli-
gious orders are here already, living and working
in the midst of all, as the Government knows offi-
cially. But they are not permitted, forsooth, to
wear the habit ! .... But I tell you of the
religious orders what that General of the Jesuits
said when a reform was demanded in the constitu-
tion of that most perfect of institutes : Aut sint
ut sunt ; aut non sint.' And if the religious
orders are not good, drive them from the country.
But if they are good . . . . let the cries of
your children, the entreaties of your wives, the
wail of lamentation from your colonies, and ,the
void in your system of education which all your
pedantic jargon cannot fill up, move you to re-
store them as they are and wish to be. • • • I
declare that when I see the development of im-
piety and revolution in Spain, it is not as a Catholic
that my heart suffers, but as a Spaniard. The
manifestation of revolution in France was hor-
rible but it was grand. The assault upon the
Church there had all the attributes of a gigantic
crime
but amongst us the crime has been
changed purely and simply into mere pilfering.
Everything is, laid hold on ; the priest is stripped
and gagged ; and the nun who, being but a woman,
can give no cause for fear, is left contemptuously
to take charge of the rubbish that remains. The
former has Satan's greatness ; the latter is no
more nor less than pettifogging. • • • But
first let me remark that the venerable Bishop of
Panaplona says that these Franciscans ask no
help from Government, but are ready to main-
tain themselves. You arc now preparing to con-
sider the financial estimates. Calculate the num-
ber of eniplo!ids that are too many, and the smallness
of the means left to maintain them on. Think of
the shrines now falling into ruins, and for which
you will have to find repairs ; think of the other
obligations of,public worship . . . and say if
you should not b!,..tss that holy poverty which
sends you labourers asking nothing for themselves
or for their churches, save that you remember nei-
ther the one nor the other."
Adverting to the horror of poverty which is the
characteristic of the present day, Senor Claros went
on to say : "You have indeed reason to be afraid.
What think you is at the root of this aim