The Sun.
London, England, 1866-09-18 00:00:00

VENETIA.

(Froyn the Times Military Correspondent)
PADUA, Sept. 12.

:Verona is a place of many beauties, and its loss
will be almost as painful to Austria as that of
Venice, for, while the latter is the fairest seaport in
Europe, the former has charms of the land that
cannot easily be matched. Seated at the junction
of the mountains and the plains it combines the
beauties of both, while one finds there some of the
most perfect Roman remains in Europe, excellent
mediaeval architecture, with frescoes and pictures
worthy of being placed in such a situation. Before
leaving this morning I walked up the spur of the
mountain that hangs over it to see how the forts on
that side are built, and what they command. The
way lies over an iron bridge that spans the river in
one of its windings,
and is defended against the rush
of the stream by wooden breakwaters. The Adige
is a good obstacle, not only on account of its consi-
derable breadth, but also because of its rapidity of
movement, which would render swimming impossi-
ble, and oppose great difficulties to the construction
of a military bridge. If late summer showers cause
its waters to hurry along as they do to-day, during
the melting of the snows or in time of storms it must
become a torrent. Like most continental rivers, the
force of the stream is utilised by placing watermills
along its edges, where the movement, checked by the
friction of the banks, is slower than in the centre ;
but they are completely detached from the shore, and
never cease working. The houses on each side take
possession of as much of the river as they can, creep-
ing over it upon arches, and peering down upon it
from balconies, whence are scattered the dying
flowers that hang over every balustrade.
We are justly proud of our English green lanes,
but Verona has lanes also, and green enough to
please the most jaded eye. Passing over the bridge
and crossing the Trent road the way lies immediately
through one of these, paved under foot, unfortu-
nately for the picturesque, but fortunately for the
pedestrian who has to toil up the steep ascent. Rough
stones, like the pavement of a country inn yard,
line the greater part of the road; but in the centre
runs a narrow strip of smooth flags easy to walk on.
At first there are walls on each side fencing off the
gardens that lie beside it, but soon the built-up
stones give place to solid rock of a delicate sand
colour, out of which burst with a vitality that nothing
can resist rock plants, sucE as ferns and capers, while
from above creepers and trailing vines hang over
to clothe the rudeness of the almost perpendicular
scarpe. Italy is so rich in vegetation, and so
temperate in climate in the north, that every
chink in the rock sends out its contribution of leaves,
and these remain green during the whole summer.
Fig trees, acacias, myrtles, oleanders, even honey-
suckles, hang over the edge, rooted in the gardens
above, and cool with their grateful shade the path
below. If tired of mounting you throw yourself on
a little pitch of green sward at the corner of crossing
paths, the air is fined with fragrance from the plants
that you have crushed. Dragon flies and butterflies
flitround you, and bright-eyed lizards rustle through
the leaves or glide up the perpendicular wall of rock.
The whole scene seems a paradise till you are
awakened by seeing clean, smooth, lately-built
walls blocking up the path, and black-muzzled can-
non grinning at you from embrasures just across the
way. As you ascend higher, forts meet you again,
everywhere the road either passes between batteries
on each side, or is turned out of its way to sneak
round a fort that bars the passage. The guns
mounted in these batteries look downwards towards
the town, and could shell the whole of the enceinte
if it had fallen into the hands of the enemy. They
overawe Verona, and would afford protection to a
garrison or an army driven to retreat by this road.
The Italians have long complained of Austria's mili-
tary preparations in Venetia : they have now, or
soon will have, possession of Verona, and again the
qustion arises, what will they do with it ? The for-
tress, strong against Italy, is weak to resist an army
descending upon it from the hills, and if Italy does
not acquire the Tyrol she will have to make new
dispositions of the fortified places. The warklike
spirit has been kept alive by the constant presence
of the hereditary foe, but Italy has again and again
been charmed into repose by her own beauty and
riches. The barbarians who first took possession of
her fertile plains soon sank into indolence and were
unable to resist the fresh hordes from the north. At
a later period the armies of the republics fled before
the French, because the latter gave no quar-
ter, killing the cavaliers they had unhorsed,
instead of holding them to ransom, and,
though the Piedmontese have shown themselves
brave and skilful soldiers, it is difficult to believe
that the whole Italian people can become what they
crave above all things to be—a really warlike people.
At present antagonism to Austria is preached by the
public press, and called for by the people, but wiser
counsels may perhaps sway them hereafter, and they
may learn not to despise the alliance offered them
by their warlike neighbour.
From the heights above the forts Verona and the

whole plain are seen spread out like a map. The
windings of the Adige, the fortress itself, the de-
tached works, the low range that includes Somma
Campagna and Custozza are very distinct, and, if
you mount high enough, Peschiera becomes visible
at the south-east corner of the glittering Lago di
Garda, and in the blue distance the heights of Sol-
ferino. The whole plain, covered with mulberry
trees and vines, dividing the fields of tobacco and
maize, looks like a garden, and there is no difficulty
in comprehending either the lust of the barbarians
to possess the fertile soil, or the reluctance of the
Austrians to resign their hold on " Schone Venezia."
Free communication is not yet established be-
tween the Quadrilateral and Venice ; the railway is
not broken up, but trains do not run between St.
Bonifacio and 'icenza, and many English people
were disappointed to-day in their wish to go from
Verona to Venice. The whole distance is only about
70 miles, but what with changes from rail to road
and the non-agreementof trains, itis always a chance
if it can be got over in one day ; but is is no great
hardship to be detained on a road rich with the
buildings of Sanmicheli backed by the MPS, and
which passes near the famous bridge of Arcole, the
scene of one of Napoleon's fiercest struggles with the
Austrians. It is curious enough, too, to travel
through a country which really does not belong to
anybody at present, for the Austrians have resigned
it, the French have not a man in it, and the Italian
army is retiring to its very borders, nominally for
health's sake, but really, it is said, to leave the
people free to vote without constraint. At Padua a
farewell dinner was given to-day to some of the
officers who leave to-morrow.
The newspapers are still full of complaints at
having so much delay thrown in their way. The
Giornale di Padua asks plaintively, " Who is to
keep the peace and look after the elections?" blam-
ing the unfortunate Government for not relieving
them of their suspense. No doubt Victor Emmanuel
would like very much to take all the control and re-
sponsibility into his own hands, but the fact is that
he has no more right to make arrangements than
the Queen .
of England, unless he chooses to defy
the French and their Emperor. He is said to have
been indisposed, but to be recovering.

SEPT. 13.
A letter from Venice to the Corriere della Venezia
asserts that the plebiscite will be a mockery, because
in the first place no one under 21 years of age is to
vote. This will, as the writer says,
and cut r
ready
that part
of the population most vivacious
re-
ceive new ideas. Secondly, the lists are to be com-
piled by parish priests, who will avoid the houses of
those not in the pale of the Roman Catholic Church.
" Does liberal and progressive France count non-
Catholics as excommunicated dogs, to whom civil
rights are to be denied ?" The Corriereitseevlefls_
lively enough, with its articles headed, .
nla
tions," " Austrian Lies," " Austrian Violence."
Those who complain so bitterly that there is no one
to keep order at the elections might, perhaps, be
wiser not to add fuel to the excitement already pre-
vailing. The King Victor Emmanuel is still here,
but it is supposed that he will leave this morning
for his castle near Alessandria.

A NEW COPYRIGHT BILL, under distinguished
patronage—as provincial managers tell us of a now play—
will 150 produced next session.

IRELAND.

DUBLIN, pt. 17.

The death of Mr. J. B. Dillon, member for the
county of Tipperary, which occurred on Saturday
evening at half-past 7 o'clock, bis given a great
shock to the public mind. The hon. gentleman was
in his usual health on Monday last. It is stated that
the disease to which he has fallen a victim was Asiatic
cholera. lle felt indisposed on Tuesday, but paid
no attention to the symptoms till Thursday, when
he became alarmingly ill, and gradually grew worse
till he succumbed to the terrible malady. lle died at
Druid-lodge, Killiney, where he had been staying

for some time. Mr. Dillon, though he had extreme
views on Irish politics, was respected by all parties

as an honourable, upright, truthful, and earnest man.

Every one who knew him felt that he acted from
_ _

conviction and from a sincere love of country. Mr.

Dillon graduated in Trinity College, where he ob-

tamed a moderatorship, was called to the Irish bar
in 1841, and soon after distinguished himself in the
agitation for the repeal of the Union, joining the
Young Ireland party, who repudiated O'Connell's
doctrine that no political gain was worth the shed-
ding of one drop of Christian blood, and that moral
force could accomplish all that the Irish people de-
manded. When the two parties separated in 1846
the Young Irelanders established " the Irish Confe-
deration," which held its meetings in the Music-hall,
Abbey-street, where the platform was generally occu-
pied by Dillon, Doheny, O'Gorman, and Martin.
The object of the Confederation was not war, but, if
possible, to render war unnecessary " by the force
of opinion, by the combination of all classes of Irish-
men," &c. They were especially anxious that Pro-
testants should be united with Roman Catholics in
the movement. Resolutions to this effect were
adopted at a great meeting in the Rotunda, when
John Mitchel moved a revolutionary amend-
ment. This was rejected. after a stormy de-
bate, which lasted three days. This led to
Mitchel's secession from the Nation newspaper,
and the establishment of the United Irishman,
in which he openly advocated rebellion, and de-
nounced Lord Clarendon as " her Majesty's Execu-
tioner-General and Butcher-General of Ireland,"
inviting ladies to throw vitriol on the troops and
fling bottles from their windows under the horses'
feet. This state of things went on for months.
Meantime the Irish Confederation sent Messrs.
Smith O'Brien, Meagher, and O'Gorman on a de-
putation to the President of the French Republic to
ask aid on behalf of "the oppressed nationalityof Ire-
land." Lamartine returned their high-flown com-
pliments in kind. " The children of that glorious
Isle of Erin" would always find sympathy in France.
" Our diplomatists," he said, " are nations, our
treaties are sympathies." The sympathies, however,
were barren in this case. At last the patience of the
Government was exhausted, and when the necessary
measures were adopted for the suppression of the
rebellion, rewards were offered for the arrest of the
principal conspirators—£soo for W. S. O'Brien, and
£3OO each for Meagher, Dillon, and Doherty. Dil-
lon made his escape from the country, and remained
au exile for many years. Soon after his return he
resumed his practice at the Bar, and was little be-
fore the public till the establishment of the National
Association, of which he was secretary and may be
said to have been the founder. His labours in con-
nection with this body pointed him out as a suitable
colleague for Mr. Moore in the county Tipperary,
and he was returned without expense at the last elec-
tion. It was through Mr. Dillon that Mr. Bright
was invited to a banquet in Dublin, to him the let-
ter accepting the invitation was addressed, and the
last public matters which occupied the mind of the
deceased were the arrangements for the reception of
the English champion of popular rights. The pre-
mature decease of Mr. Dillon in the midst of his
labours will cast a mournful shadow over the fes-
tive proceedings in which he had taken so deep an
interest.
There were several deaths from cholera in Dublin
on Saturday. Dr. Mapother, medical officer of
health, obtained from Mr. Allen, police magistrate,
an order for the immediate interment of a man who
died in hospital of a _contagious disease, and whom
his friends wished to " wake," which was the first
application of the kind under the recent act.
The Committee of the Donnybrook Dispensary
District of the South Dublin Union sat at the Dis-
pensary, Ball's-bridge, on Saturday, to investigate
a charge of neglect of duty brought against Dr. Mur-
doch, one of the medical officers, by a man named
Aspill, whose wife died of cholera a few days ago.
Attention had been called to Aspill's account of the
neglect, and of delay in procuring him a shelter
after he had been temporarily ejected from his home
in order that it might undergo the process of disin-
fection, by a letter written by the Rev. Mr. Chad-
wick, and published in the Daily Express of last
Wednesday. After a lengthened investigation the
committee separated with the understanding that
there must be a Poor-law inquiry on the subject,
having unanimously passed a resolution to the effect
that great credit was due to Mr. M'Donnell, Sani-
tary Inspector, for the attention he had paid to the
case from the time it came under his notice.
The Kingstown correspondent of the Express
states that recently a sailor died on board a schooner
bound from Liverpool to Wexford, and now lying
at Holyhead, as supposed, of cholera. Before he
died the entire crew abandoned the vessel in a panic,
and left him to his fate. They have been arrested
and confined in Holyhead gaol, pending an inquiry.
The schooner is said to hail from Arklow. By order
of the Central Board of Health in London the body
of the dead man was shotted and committed to the
deep off the Holyhead Breakwater.
On Saturday afternoon the Lord-Lieutenant
visited the Royal Hibernian Academy's exhibition
of painting and sculpture in Lower Abbey-street,
accompanied by Lord John Claud Hamilton, M.P.,
Aide-de-Camp in Waiting ; the Hon. Luke Gerald
Dillon, private secretary; Lord James Butler, State
steward ; Major Hayes, and Captain Everard.
His Excellency was received by Mr. Catterson
Smith, President of the Academy, and several of
the members, including Mr. M. A. Hayes, Mr.
George Mulvany, Mr. B. Mulrenin, Mr. Watkins,
&c. Among those also present were Sir Robert
Shaw, Mr. Thos. Deane, Mr. R. J. T. Macrory,
Col. Meadows Taylor, Dr. Mapother, and Alder-
nt
IliTO ngt Swiney. His Excellency was conducted
the exhibition halls by Mr. Catterson Smith,
and examined several of the pictures. He expressed
himself highly pleased with the exhibition.
On Saturday the boys of the Royal Hibernian
School, Phcenix Park, attended in the private
Lodge to be reviewed by
At 11 o'clock they took up
grounds of the Viceregal
ao
df
yt hAe
bheoruesoer.n
the Lord-Lieutenant. k
a position onatelciemnlapwannieidn front h.
Hamilton
Histhe
LEaxciceielslenGceyo'rgina, Maud, and Albertha
and Lords Ernest, Frederick, Ronald, and George
Hamilton, and attended by Lord Claud John Hamil-
ton, A.D.C., the Hon. Luke Gerald Dillon, private
secretary, Major Hayes, and Capt. Everard, A.P. S.,
appeared on the ground, and was received by the
boys with a Royal salute, the band playing the
National Anthem. He passed along the line, ac-
companied by Col. Wynyard, and minutely in-
spected the boys. This terminated, the young sol-
diers broke into columns of a quarter distance, and
performed a series of evolutions with great steadi-
ness and precision. At the conclusion of the re-
view the boys marched past the Viceregal party,
after which they proceeded to the Viceregal Cricket
Ground, where the Zingari match was played, and
gave three hearty cheers for the victors.

A COSTLY MESSAGE.—An American paper says :
" The Emperor Maximilian's European despatch for the
Atlantic cable, to his wife in France, cost $15,364 in gold,
and was nearly 700 words in cypher."
" There is no shame to our manhood if we distrust
our own ability to endure the anguish of the body. . . It
is no secret that of late local anocthesia has been produced to
such a degree that the patient, retaining his consciousness,
can watch the surgeon's knife as it cuts to cure, and yet be
without the slightest sensation of physical suffering."—Daily
Telegraph, July 13, 1856. "To none is the public more in-
debted than to Mr. Day."—lllustrated News, page 826, June
IL "Mr. Day has succeeded in robbing tooth extraction of its
horrors, and we think we are only fulfilling an act of duty in
giving publicity to the fact."—Court Journal, p. 582, May 26.
Painful teeth, or diseased stumps extracted without pain.
No chloroform, and perfectly safe. Every description of
teeth, combining the latest inventions and improvements in
dental mechanism, may be procured irom Mr. DAY, dentist
(late principal assistant to Mr. Eskell, of 8, Grosvenor-street,
W.), 291, liegeht-street (3 doors from the roiyteghato).