The Sun.
London, England, 1866-11-05 00:00:00

LIBERIA', IN MODERN ITALY.

Before the outbreak of the recent war the Florentine
Government, which claims to be the emanation of popular
opinion, enacted a law for the purpose of terrorising all
persons suspected, for whatever reason, of not sympathis-
ing with the new Government. This law, called from its
originator the " Legge Crispi," armed the Government
with the most arbitrary powers, in virtue of which any
person, however respectable and blameless, might be
dragged from his or her home—kept without a reason
given or any juridical inquiry in the strictest isolated con-
finement in prison, or relegated in a distant province far
from their families and their business, and there to be sub-
jected to regulations and restrictions more stringent by
very far thln those applied in England to " ticket-of-
leave" felons. _ _ _

The prefect, thus empowered absolutely and without
appeal or inquiry to imprison and condemn to forced do-
micile whomsoever he thinks fit. is generally in Italy a
native of some distant province, dependent for his local
information upon the local commissary of police, or a ca-
manilla of strong, unscrupulous political fanatics who have
gathered round him at his arrival, and whose denuncia-
tions are based upon the tales of their own menials, the
loud-voiced " patriotism". of the Radical cafes and low
wineshops. Imagine for a . Moment what the state
of affairs would be even" in England, if, in moments
of political excitement, the gin-shop and pot-house
intimidated the authorities, and dictated to the
police magistrate ! Far worse, however, is it in Italy, a
country at all times famous for private vengeance and
secret denunciations. Any. observant Englishman
who has lived in that country, and marked tho defects
of the national character, can judge—and will shudder
to think—to what vile ends such a stringent law is
likely to be abused, and can vividly picture to himself
the reign of terror which it imposed in that country, which
claims neverthess to be held as a very model of free and
fearless constitutional development. _ _

Hardly was this law published, when self-constituted
clubs of ultra-Radicals wore formed, with the avowed pur-
pose of denouncing all those whose political opinions and
predilections differed from their own. The most harmless
and respectable citizens were dragged from their homes,
their lawful private avocations, their families, and their
business, and consigned to distant forced domiciles, or even
conducted manacled to prison - conducted like malefactors
through remote towns, where they and _ their respectable
character being unknown, they were submitted to the scof-
fing, nay, even the actual violence, of the populace, armed
with bludgeons and paving stones.
Without being allowed to communicate with their
families, those arrested were detained in the strictest pri-
son seclusion, and then handcuffed like common criminals,
marched off in broad daylight through the streets to the
railway stations, surrounded by a howling pack of the
worst rabble. With unpeu de bonne volonte it is so easy al-
ways for the "constituted authorities" to get a mob any-
where, to cry down with the just, and hurrah for Barabbas.
Two sash cases in Modena excited the indignation even of
the Radical newspaper Il Panaro.
In Bologna forthwith numbers of most worthy people
belonging to the Catholic Association were thrown into
prison and their houses ransacked ; among them the Advo-
cate Fangarezzi, President of the Central Committee of
that association, and several worthy priests. The well-
known Advocate Casoni, secretary of the association, who
attracted so much attention at the Catholic Congress of
Malines, was fortunate enough to escape to Rome the day
before his house and papers were ransacked. The domici-
liary visits and searches were mere matter of form to give
a colour to these arbitrary proceedings; for the warrant
of arrest was in all cases already in the hands of the
police ; nor did any of these perquisitions afford matter to
justify the pretext; but bundles of innocent private letters
and private papers were carried off for sham examination.
In Reggio, a town of some 16,000 inhabitants, no less
than 40 persons were arrested and carried off to forced
domiciles : among them the Rev. Don Antonio Lanza, the
11w. Don Rinaldo Servini, Rector of Marmirolo ; the Rev.

D. Guiseppe Bertoli, Rector of La Tagliata ; the Rev. D.
Marcellina Frattini, who was on intimate terms with the
Bishop; the Provost German', Doctor de Medici, Advo-
cate Eugenio Ro-ssi, Advocate Campana. The bishop, who
has died since, would, if it were not that he lay on his
deathbed, have shared the lot of the Bishop of Guastalla,
who on the 13th of May was sent off to Turin.
In Modena, among the first whose house and papers
wore searched, and who was arrested, was Count Guiseppe
Bartolomasi, a most inoffensive and estimable nobleman.
For 24 days ho was kept in strict cellular confinement, and
then, in consequence of his delicate state of health, confined
to his own house. Among numbers of inhabitants of all
classes of the city of Modena who were arrested and sent
to Ounce, or the Isle of Elba, were the Rev. Don Dome-
nico Galvani, parish priest of Gombola ; the Rev. Don
Marco Roncoccioli, archpriest of Pavullo ; Countess Stoffi,
a much-respected lady ; the Signori Violi, Albinelli, Grappi,
Amadessi, Mislei, &c. Doctor Goldoni and Count Tende-
rini were carried off to prison, and for a short time were
under arrest. Simultaneously a vast number of indivi-
duals were officially, or officiously, menaced and warned ;
among them. Countess Poppi, an aged lady of distinction ;
Signor Zerbini, &c.
The Italian Ministry of Finance deals still more freely
with the purses than the Italian Ministry of "Justice" deals
with the liberty of the subject. A comparison of the past
and present financial credit of the various States of Italy
speaks plainly in favour of the wise frugality of their old
rulers, and trumpet-tongued proclaims on every money
market of Europe the reckless, headlong course of the
squanderers of the national wealth who for the last seven
years have brought " Italia Unita" to the very brink of
national bankruptcy.
The interest of the debt of the Modenese States which,
unde'r the Ducal Government, amounted to scarcely 7d. per
head, under the new Piedmontese regime amounts to
nearly 12f. for each individual of population:
The portion of this year's forced loan which falls to the
share of the old Modenese States, with a population less in
numbers, and far inferior in wealth than that of Yorkshire,
and equal to about that of the county of Cork, amounts to
no loss than 11,166,238 f nearly £450,000 sterling, more
than the whole State debt of the Modenese Government
up to 1859.
Under the Ducal Government the taxes amounted to
about 14f., •or say lls. per individual of the population.
Within seven years the new Government has increased
them, so that they amount to 25f., or £1 sterling per head.
And now comes this fresh forced and oppressive loan to
increase the individual burthen still more.
The railways sold, vast Church and State property sold,
the private property of the Italian Sovereigns, the kinsmen
of the House of Savoy, sold or sequestrated, their palaces
pillaged, and all, all squandered.
"11l got, ill gone !"

A NEW FIRE ALARUII.—We find in the Union
Medicale a paper by Dr. Duffay, on a curious and
useful invention, due to the ingenuity of a celebrated ex-
conjuror, M. Robert Houdin. The object in view is to
give the alarm of fire at the very commencement of the
threatened catastrophe, and the following description will
show how this is accomplished. Suppose a copper lamina
and a steel one to be soldered together by their. surfaces,
so as to form a single blade, copper en one side and steel on
the other. Let it be fixed vertically by one of its extremities
to a board, without, however, quite touching it, in order to
avoid friction. The arrangement will be best understood
by supposing a knife to be brought close to the board as if
with the intention of cutting it through. Now, suppose a
metal knob to be fixed on the board, on the steel side of
the blade, and at a short distance from it. This knob is
connected with one of the poles of a voltaic battery, the 1
other pole of which communicates with the screw which
secures the fixed extremity of the blade, and with ono of
those bells or alarums which we see used in the telegraph-
offices to prepare the clerks for the reception of a message.
Now let the blade be warmed: as the dilution of copper
by htat is greater than that of steel, it follows that the
blade will be bent, the concave side being the steel one ;
and if the heat applied be sufficient, a contact will be
effected between the blade and the knob. No sooner does.
this take place than the bell begins to ring, and continues
doing so until the contact is interrupted. A very small de-
gree of heat will bo sufficient to produce the requisite cur-
vature of the blade ; even a burning cigar will ,do so at a
distance of about three inches. This facility might in
many cases prove rather a drawback were it not that the
sensitiveness of the apparatus may bo diminished at plea-
sure by increasing the distance of the knob from the blade.
A STAR SHOWER.—Last November a suspicion
that it might occur prompted observers to keep a sharp-
look out, and a very large number of meteors were c
b
served. At the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, a thousandorn-
at least were seen between midnight and vein
h .t.de
en l
and
• ing of the 13th of the month ; whil°
at
leier „leireg noted
other places, proportionately laTe
during portions of that intehr,vl
year's display, it is generally
.t, i
will take place this year, during
%v e dNntitianwtiatlistanding last
grand shower
the night of either the
12th or 13th of this month of November.ie The day is a
little uncertain, but if the shower occurs at allot will bo on
ono of those two dates, and it will be during the morning
hours of the night—that is, after midnight—that there is
the greatest probability of the phenomenon taking place.--
Nee a Week,
•