The Sun.
London, England, 1859-12-14 00:00:00

ports which

of Brussels, " protests against the re
impute to M. Ricasoli ulterior designs of promot-
ing the formation of a kingdom of Central Italy."
A Turin letter says :—The deputies assembled at
Florence for the fusion of the customs of Central
Italy with those of the Sardo•Lombard kingdom
have terminated their labours, and what they pro-
pose will be carried out as soon as approved of.
Amongst other things, from the Ist Jan. next, the
central customs administration at Turin will notify
every month to the different provinces the amount
of revenue they will have to raise.
The population of Benevento is so wearied of the
despotic Papal regime that they are signing petitions
praying that they may be annexed to Naples.
The Sardinian Government has just suppressed
its embassy at Munich. For the future, the Sar-
dinian ambassador at Vienna will also be accredited
to the Court of Bavaria

LOMBARDY.
• (From the Correspondent of the Times.)
MILAN, DEC. 10.
'rho stagnation in general politics has thrown

back every one on home affairs, which excited only

small interest while the uncertainty and suspense

Lasted about the Congress and the affairs of Centra'

Italy. The lull which had succeeded to the excite-
ment, and which will probably not be disturbed
until the Congress meets, has come just in time to
allow people to bestow the necessary attention on
the elections. And certainly it is curious to watoh
how the interest, agitation, and movement in this
respect is daily growing, how by degrees the party

shades become more and more distinct, and how

more and more the mass of the people, rather in-
different in the beginning, is drawn into the sphere
of political excitement. If this increases at the

rate it has done within the last week, when the

municipal and provincial elections take place, I
think many of those who were talking about too
little interest in the Lombards will find the party
movement too much for their taste.

Considering the limited amount of self-govern-
ment which the municipal and provincial or•

ganisation allows in reality, the actual executive
being vested in Government officers, one would be
inclined to characterise this growing interest in the
elections as much ado about nothing, did we Rot
recollect the municipal traditions of .the Italian
towns,which, however vaguely remembered and mis-

understood, are by no means forgotten. It is true the
word "municipal" has been rather in bad odour since
the Unitarian movements began, and every one is

descanting on the dangers of a politique de elocher
but the disposition for self-government is in the
blood as it were, and makes itself felt in the narrow
circle to which it is confined by the new law. It is
free from all tinge of factiousness or petulance, for
which the Lombards have got such ample credit,
and the revival of which excited some apprehen-
sions in Turin. Although all the intelligent part
of the population saw that the new law gave very
little more than was possessed in this respect by
the Lombards under the Austrians, and although
most would have wished that the union had been

sought more in the political than in the administra
tive sphere, yet no one cavilled with the scanty
measure of international freedom accorded by the
Ministry, but took without a remark almost what
was given, and tries now to make the most of it.
With a good sense and a moderation which are
really extraordinary, the people seem to have in-
stinctively understood that freedom lies not so much
in the form as in the spirit which animates the
latter; and that if the seemingly liberal communal
system under the Austrian rule became a satire be-
cause the spirit was wanting, the same forms may
expand under different circumstances.
The electoral committees are still springing up
like mushrooms overnight; every kind of associa-
tion, political, literary, artistic, social, industrial,
however small, are all following the example given
by the larger ones, and almost every day we hear of
the existence of a new one never suspected. In fact,
whereever persons have a centre of meeting for one
or another purpose, they are busy converting it
into an electoral committee. With the exception
of that started by the Associazione Unitaria and
the Associazione Elettorale, the rest are not given
to propagandism ; every one of them being satis-
fied with coming to an understanding between the
members already united for some other pur-
pose. The National Guard is in this respect
a powerful-vehicle for spreading the electioneering
movement, which, as an article of conversation, quite
superseded Congress and Central Italy. Every one
is full of it. In order to instruct the lower classes,
and to instruct them in this subject, political lec-
tures are given, short pamphlets are published, and
the electoral laws placarded all over the town. The
journals contribute, likewise, their share. A new
journal, theElettore, devoted to this special purpose,
has been got up, and others are preparing to take
advantage of the moment when political life is
beginning for Lombardy.
All this stir, activity, and animation is like the
gradual warming of a crucible on the fire. The
heat has not come yet to the point to produce a
distinct result in this process of political chemis-
try. It looks only like the • chaos preceding the
attraction of homogeneous and repulsion of hete-
rogeneous substances. The confusion of colour
was such that it seemed but one. It was all the
white of the Cross of Savoy. Probably if one had
asked for a programme from any of the nume-
rous committees representing the numerous asso-
ciations, it would all have been strict union ,with
Piedmont, and through that union all over Italy,
and liberal policy in the interim. In fact, nothing
could be more unanimous than this double pro-
gramme. But only few had knowledge enough of
free institutions to be able to go beyond this vague
generality. Nay, there were some who believed
that this would and could continue as a new spec-
tacle of union to the world, without perceiving that
this would have been a proof not of union in ideas,
but poorness of political life. Their wish, whatever
its motive, is not to be realised, for there are the
indications of party colouring beginning to show
themselves.
I spoke the other day of the priestly element in
connection with reactionary landlords ; there is
another shade coming in just now, which, although
different from the former, still rather tends in that
same direction. •
One of the many marvellous features in this
Italian movement was the absence of vindic-
tiveness in the victors. Thera was scarcely a trace
of it here in Lombardy. Not only those who
had been socially connected with the Court
at Milan were loft unmolested, but even those
who had been in direct relation with the Govern-
ment seemed altogether forgotten. It seemed to
be a trial of tacit agreement that in this moment,
when union was so necessary, such souvenirs should
not be raked up. Nay, some of the electoral asso-
ciations went so far in their forgiving humour as
to put here and there a man on their list—respect-
able, well-educated, talented, but, who had, per-
haps, one or more little black spots on him. All
went on without remark, when yesterday evening
the Pangolo (Stinger), a little evening paper,
much read among the mass of the people, and
rather free spoken, gave a new turn to the affair.
It had not said a word about the elections yet, and
came out last night with an appeal throwing down
the gauntlet to all those who have the least black
spot. It calls on the electors to go back to the
last 10 years, and apply to their candidates the test
of courage and incorruptibility during that difficult
period. The Pangolo promises to guide them by
two infallible codes—the Official Gazette of Milan
and the ililuncia, the organ abroad of the Austrian
Government in Italy. It begins by reprinting the
address to the Emperor of Austria, congratulating
him on his escape from the attempt made on his life
in February, 1833, and gives the list of about 80
names which had subscribed that address, holding
them forth as haN tng, given a proof of servility and
moral cowardice which makes them unworthy of
being :representatives. Most of the names re-
produced belong to the first families in Milan.
The whole thing is cleverly put as an appeal, and
will have considerable effect on the masses. It con-
cludes by saying that the address was dated the 2d
of March, 1853, and on the 28th of February a sen-
tence condemned 23 Italian political offenders to
death, and on the 3d of Iktareh three of these were