The Sun.
London, England, 1860-03-30 00:00:00

7'HE ANNE27.I.7'ION OF SAVOY.

(Front the Correspondent of the linus.)
ANNECY, MARCH 25, EVENING.
Here I am, another Jerome Paturot, started fairly
in search of the " Savoyard movement." Full of
faith, like my prototype, I am by no means discour-
aged by the little success which attended my re-
searches in the southern valleys of Savoy, and am
now turning my course northward, undaunted by
rain and hail and wind and snow, warmed by the
hope of finding at last the object of my travels. It
is the day of the elections, and the members of Par-
liament chosen will express the wishes and desires
of Savoy, and seal the future fate of their country
with their vote. What a solemn moment ! what a
responsibility! and what a chance of seeing all this
and observing, it on the road! These are the ideas
which press themselves on my mind while I look out
at the windows of the railway carriage which takes
me to Aix-lea-Bains. These ideas make me almost as
solemn as if I were myself a Savoyard patriot, and
had one of the votes which are to fix the destiny of
those mountains and of that reedy lake which I see
to the Left, and of those hills, with their vineyards
and thatched•roof cottages, which pass quickly to
my

The train stops; the guard calls out " S'hain
s'hain ' and I take my bag and wrapper, resigned
to carry them myself, at any rate, from the railway
station to the town, as I cannot imagine that any
free Savoyard citizen intent on making up his
mind what he would like to be in future would
find time to attend to an insignificant railway
traveller and condescend to carry his bag. I was
rather agreeably surprised, however, when I heard
that well-known clatter of voices which persecutes
you in these regions in summer time, and which I
thought had gone with the storks and the swallows.
Par ici, monsieur; voulez-vows la diligence ;
Voulez-vouz une voiture ; Voulez- vows aller a l'hotel?"

and numerous other offers. I happened to be the
only promising-looking individual who had ar-
rived by the train, and was assailed like the un-
fortunate traveller who gets into a bed in Italy
which has not been occupied for a long time.
Having authorised the most lively of the corn-
. petitors to attach himself to my heels, I saun-
tered towards the town, determined to use my
eyes and ears as much as I could during the
time a carriage for Annecy was getting ready.
The disappointment I felt at the shockingly
thoughtless manner in which so many free citizens
could behave on so solemn a day gave way some-
what when, looking through the row of poplars to-
wards the town, I saw a large number of people
walking about in the most solemn manner in the
main street. There are careless and bad patriots
everywhere, but they are only a minority in this
good town of Aix. This I thought, but not long,
for I was undeceived the next instant. May be
they took me for their new sous-prefet, my Inver-
ness wrapper for my uniform, and my umbrella for
the visible sign of my dignity; at any rate their
solemnity was considerably disturbed by my ap-
pearance. I was decidedly more interesting in their
eyes than French annexation or Sardinian separa-
tion ; they seemed to look eagerly in order to dis-
cover whether I had the intention and the means of
spending certain pieces of cent-sous. I was a god-
send in this unprofitable winter time; every one
seemed to have forgotten separation and annexa-
tion, only to find out whether I could separate some
loose piece of silver from my pocket and annex it
his. It was distressing. I asked about their sen-
timents, and they aske me whether I wished to
dine. I asked about their candidate, and they
asked me whether I wished to see the Roman re-
mains. Had my faith not been strong I would
have returned immediately to Chambery ; as it was,
I philosophised on the demoralising influence of
foreign gold on the simple, unsophisticated minds
of these happy valleys, wrapped myself up in my
cloak, and ascended the cart which was waiting to
carry me to more primitive regions.
We jogged along the muddy road and toiled up
the heights of La Biolle, the only changes of inte-
rest being the alternation between rain, hail, and
sunshine, and here and there a person passing on
the road. We had to halt on the top, and were
soon in the midst of badauds, whom the extraor-
dinary event of a traveller at this time of the year
attracted. Most of them looked so respectable in
their jeekets and wide-awakes that I plucked up
courage and asked them about their candidate, and
whether he had been elected. "111-a foi ! we can-
not tell," said the spokesman ; " the weather has
been so bad that we did not go down to know what
the people in the town have done." I consoled my-
self again by thinking that here the people are
again too primitive; and, the horses having got
their breath again, on we jolted on the high road
towards Albens and the Capo del Mandamento.
Here there was quite a crowd in the street near
the post and the tobacco shop, a solitary gendarme
(a Piedmontese) being the most prominent figure.
I stopped at the inn and ordered some wine for the
coachman, and asked for the news. " You must
know that, sir, better than we do ; they say the
French are at Chambery." " Well, how do you
like the change ?" I asked. A grin was the answer,
accompanied by the words, " It is not us poor people
that they will ask whether we are pleased or not."
" Fouttez cocker," was the involuntary answer of
a disappointed enthusiast, and soon we galloped
down the steep road and across the steep bridge
into the picturesque little village of Alby, where we
changed horses.. Indefatigable, like my prototype
Jerome, I again returned to the charge, and
engaged in conversation with the idlers which
the Sunday afternoon had collected before
the Auberge du Pont Neuf. I might just
as well have asked the one-eyed, noseless
cretin, who tried with all his might to attach
the horses to the carriage; he would have under-
stood my questions equally as well as his more pro-
mising compatriots.
I was fairly discouraged, and had it not been for
an opportune snowstorm, which diverted my atten-
tion from the great subject of the Savoyard move-
ment, I should have considered myself fairly beaten.
As it was, the movement in the skies revived my
energies, and giving up questioning poor, ignorant
peasants, I resolved to take my chance at Annecy,
the most active of Savoyard towns, which boasts of
a real cotton mill actually at work, of glass and
paper manufactures, and of coal mines in the neigh-
bourhood. It was still daylight when I saw some
very respectable tall chimneys, which I greeted
like old friends whom one has not seen for some
time.

Nor was my expectation disappointed. There
were deci4dly more traces of a movement than
anywhere else, not excepting Chambery, and my
object was to find some movement or other—whe-
ther French, Sardinian, Swiss, or any other, no
matter. As every one was full of the thing there
was no difficulty in getting them to talk. The first
thing I heard were complaints about the Piedmon-
tese Government, which, intent on an Italian
po-
licy, had forgotten altogether its most ancient here-
ditary possessions, only to remember them when it
wanted men and money. Very little if any of this
latter was spent for the country. The railway
branch to Annecy, so long promised, was not even
begun, and all the articles of manufacture had to be
carried by expensive carriage to Aix, in order to be
transported to Piedmont. The Government has
thus alienated all feelings of attachment from this
its stepchild. It was this which encouraged those
who were working in the interest of France.
But then," I said, " you must be satisfied now
that you will be annexed to France, and have the
promise of your railway." "We are ruined, Sir,"
was the answer ; " our markets for glass are in
Piedmont, where they cannot equal us; we have
even branch establishments in that country. We
can have no pretensions of competing with France,
which will be now open to us, and we shall pro-
bably end by shutting up our establishments.
Besides this, we shall have to pay dearer than
before for our colonial goods, which we have hitherto
received from Geneva." Indeed, in the foresight
of coming events, not only dealers but even private
persons have made large purchases of these articles
lately, to be able to go on at least for a time.
" Then you have large dealings with Geneva ?"
was my question, to which the answer came :
" Geneva exports from 7,000,000 f. to 8,000,000 f.
worth of goods into Savoy, chiefly English, German,
and Swiss goods." "Then you must desire to be
united to Switzerland ?" "No, because it would
equally shut us out of our market in Piedmont."
" Then, what do you wish ?" "We have given up
wishing for anything, as all is now decided, an d
the Government has given us up," " But did you
not try at least to-day to get a candidate named
who represents your views ?" "No ; our own has
abandoned us, and is with the deputation in Paris.
You see, all these lawyers and the native func-
tionaries are now on the other side, where they
hope for well-paid places and decorations. One has
been promised a sous-prefecture ; another the place
of prefect ; again, another that of a substitute. It
will rain crosses."
This is evidently a frondeur. I thought he was
connected with the cotton mill.
Let us see the revers de la nzedaille. You can find
it if you talk to any one connected with the coal-
mines or the exportation of wood. He will tell
you, first, that he is not accustomed to hide his feel-
ings, and that he is in heart and soul, as well as in
language, a Frenchman ; that he is not prepared to
submit any longer to the Italian policy of Pied-
mont, and help to take the chestnuts out of the fire,
which another is to ent, that the industry of the
country is crippled, that it has no outlet but into
Piedmont, where, in consequence of the expense,
the raw produce, which is the chief wealth of
Savoy, cannot be well taken across the Alps, while
there is a good market close at hand into France

IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT.

HOUSE OF LORDS-(YESTERDAY.)

Lord REDESDNLF., as Deputy-Speaker of the House of
Lords, owing to the absence of the Lord Chancellor, took
his seat on the woolsack at five o'clock.
CHURCH RATES.

The Bishop of LONDON presented a number of petitions
against the abolition of church rates.
The Bishop of CHICHESTER presented similar peti-
tions.