The Sun.
London, England, 1859-10-11 00:00:00

piazza." And he adds in words, which, notwithstand-
ing their intentional vagueness are only too fright-
fully
suggestive—" It is a painful fact that L one of
those hideous outrages which usually accompany
these acts of popular fury were spared on this oc-
casion, and the murder wants no single element of
atrocity. I spare you the loathsome details." Ex-
planation unhappily is needless to those who have
conned (and who has not ?) the records of those
epochs of glory and of shame, of sublime hopes and
of utter despair, when the rule in France was the
Reign of Terror, and when the insurgents of June
(1848) were fighting for three days at unnumbered
barricades all over Paris in a deadly encounter with
the Soldiers of ORDER rather than of the Republic
under the command of CAVAIGNAC, the heroic
Dictator, born of the Provisional Government.
Reverting, however, to the horrible crimes per- ,
petrated upon the person of the unhappy Colonel
ANVITI by the most brutal of the Parma populace
—while it is undeniable that this hideous atrocity
admits not of any syllable of palliation, of any
whisper of extenuation—(demanding, in truth, from
none more loudly than from the friends and lovers
of Italian liberty, expressions only of the uttermost
abhorrence)—it admits, nevertheless, it does abso-
lutely admit of Explanation ! Let us but read in
testimony of this what has but just now been
written from Parma, on the 6th of October, by the
correspondent already quoted from the columns of
our contemporary. Alluding to the population of
Parma, he writes thus recently from the very midst
of it, he writes, remember, fresh from the recol-
lection of the crime he has been relating: "Itis a
population at all times violent, goaded into habits
of outrage by the rule of a mediaeval monster of
tyranny in the late Duke, and it is the only popu-
lation amongst whom an armed conflict with the late
Government had in any way commenced. T fear,"
he adds, "the sinister elements then called forth
are not under the control of the actual Government."
Observing yet further, " Certainly an outrage like
that of last night requires a strong remedy, which
those ia power are hardly capable of exercising." But
now comes the Explanation we have referred to,
and which is thus gleaned from the evidence
afforded us through the truthful record of events
vouchsafed to us by this (in every way) uncom-
promising correspondent. "The people," he
reminds us, " are only a few years relieved from
one of the most incredible tyrannies in his-
tory. Men who have been bastinadoed, impri-
soned, and seen their wives, brothers, and children
murdered at the caprice of a Caligula, a mad-
man like the late Duke, have no common feelings
of execration towards his principal agents. Certain
it is that the indignation against this man is incon-
ceivable. They say, when in exercise of martial
law, hi shot, bastinadoed, and imprisoned men by
wholesale without the remotest form of trial, and
upon the occasion of an attempt upon his life,
executed his vengeance upon 30 persons who were
standing near the spot, as well as upon others taken
from a private list of suspects.' Man, woman, and
child utter his name with loathing, and the most
trustworthy persons have assured me that he was
the type of a military tyrant." That is the Explana-
tion. But having said this much of the murdered—
quoth the same honest heart in reference to Col. AN-
VITI'S blood-stained murderers—" Be this as it may,
his death blackens this city and this country, and
the grief and indignation of all honourable men of
this city and the sense of stupefaction and remorse
with which even the masses of the people reflect
upon the deed, and all the efforts which the Go-
vernment are making, will avail nothing to remove
the stain from the Italian banner". Alas ! he adds,
yet further, "Those who have seen it borne aloft
hitherto in honour must sorrowfully admit that the
iron has entered into their souls, and that their
fetters have to some extent corroded and poisoned
the frame, though the heart is still untouched and
the gangrene has reached no vital part." The
anguish caused by the news of this shameful mur-
der is the same among all the true friends of Italian
Liberty—it is literally the same as that which,
more than sixty-five years ago, drew from the
dauntless Madame ROLAND that mournful crl
which we have here already articulated.

Somebody has actually at last been proved, upon
official inquiry, to be really blameworthy ! It
may sound incredible, but the fact is so, neverthe-
less. The prolonged investigation which has been
recently winding its slow length along at the
Greenwich Police-court, with a view to the dis-
covery, if possible, of the actual cause of the wreck
of the unfortunate Alma, has at length terminated.
And the result arrived at is positively, for once,
distinct and comprehensible, and—so far, at least,
as the public are concerned—we cannot but think
also highly satisfactory. There is the cause of
the calamity explicitly stated. There is the finger
of Justice placed upon the Delinquent.
As to the circumstances under which the Alma
was lost those surely need not now be recapitulated.
The melancholy story of the wreck is by this time
tolerably familiar to the public. And it is not so
simply from its bearing a resemblance to one of
the popular fictions of Mr. NATHANIEL HAW-
THORNE by being entitled over and above
measure to be catalogued among the number of
" Twice Told Tales." The particulars of the whole
catastrophe have been very recently and very vividly
revived by means of the very official inquiry which
has now been brought to a conclusion—again, we
must observe, so satisfactory to the public, though
(of course) so peculiarly painful to one individual,
the person proved to have been blameworthy !
The investigation, it will be remembered, took place
at Greenwich, before Mr. TRAILL and Captain
WALKER—the two principal officers of the lost
Alma, Captain HENRY and Mr. DAVIS, the chief
officer, being represented by Mr. WILDE, Q.C.,
and the Board of Trade by Mr. CUMBERLAND.
The decision pronounced yesterday morning at the
close of the proceedings so admirably epitomises the
whole subject under scrutiny that we cannot pos-
sibly do better than repeat here the very words
in which it was pronounced by the worthy magis•
trate. Addressing himself to Captain HENRY and
to Mr. DAVIS —Mr. TRAIL thus expressed himself :
—" We have been considering," he said, " during
our absence, as indeed you may be sure we have
been doing throughout this inquiry, as to the
persons blameable for the cause of the wreck, and
I am sorry to say that we can come to only one
, conclusion, which is that the vessel has been lost
through a fault. The only question is as to whose
fault it is ; and it is our opinion that not you, Captain
HENRY, but Mr. DANts, the chief officer, was in
charge of the ship, and that in altering the corn se at
12.45, if he had consulted the chart he would have
found that the course was not altered sufficiently,
but that the vessel was nearly in a direct course to
run on to the rocks where she became a wreck. We
are also of opinion that you, Capt. HENRY, in gi 7in g
him directions to haul up, and referring him to the
chart, gave him all the information you possessed,
and placed him in charge of the ship ; and that if he
had notbeen in charge of the vessel it would havebeen
his duty to have consulted you. These are only some
of the points to which we shall have to refer in
making our report to the Board of Trade, and in
doing which we shall not fail to refer to the good
1 character which we have received of Mr. DAVIS as