The Sun.
London, England, 1859-08-16 00:00:00

DISCOVERY OF BOIITBS AT MILAIV.

A very mysterious affair, having reference to the
discovery of " Orsini bombs," has recently occupied
the public mind at Milan. It will, perhaps, be re-
membered that a short time ago, immediately after
the departure of Louis Napoleon from Turin to
Paris, it was reported that a magazine, containing
no less than 700 of the above missiles, had by
chance been discovered in the capital of Lombardy.
Upon inquiry it was said that their fabrication had
been traced partly to Milan, partly to Genoa. The
first impression, of course, was that a renewed
attempt at taking the life of the French Ruler had
been contemplated. This opinion gained the more
strength from the circumstance that he who had
overthrown the Roman Republic in 1849, again
had appeared in 1859 upon the stage of Italy as a
traitor to the interests of that country. In the
Lombard and Piedmontese Press the fact of a great
,number of bombs having been found was alluded to
the next day to the discovery, but, as will be un-
derstood, with that caution which the Sardinian
Press law and the presence of French authority
imposed upon the editors, both at Turin and Milan.
Since then, however, the discussion of the subject
has suddenly been dropped. The occurrence is no
longer treated in the journals, though it continues
to be spoken of, as we are informed, in private
circles—at least, in such where the ears of the spy
are supposed to be absent. The solution of this
riddle is now piiblicly given in an interesting com-
munication !rom Turin, and we hasten to lay it be-
fore our readers, exhibiting, as it does, the police of
the Imperial Government in its true light—viz., a
huge institution for agens provocateurs.
It appears, then, that the existence of the maga-
zine of bombs is an authentic fact, but that the ex-
planation is a very simple one. The missiles had
been fabricated in January and February last on the
first news of an intention of the French Government
to wage war against Austria ; but so far from there
being any desire to employ them against the life of
Louis Napoleon, the real object had, on the contrary,
been to make them serviceable for an insurrection
against the hateful rule of Austria. However, the
French police, in consequence of the sudden change
of Imperial policy with regard to Italy, wished to
make use of the discovery of the bombs for the
furtherance of reactionary designs. It tried to
make it appear as though a new plot had been
found out for the destruction of their Imperial
master. The little trick was to be managed in this
way. A Piedmontese carabiniere, i.e., gendarme,
happened to have been the first to discover the
depots of the war missiles at Milan, and immedi-
ately made a report thereon to the local authorities.
The fact was forthwith communicated to the chief
of the secret French police, M. Pietri, who there-
upon had the Piedmontese gendarme summoned
before him to find out whether the man could be
made useful in the concoction of a certain design.
M. Pietri, a Corsican by birth, is himself an old con-
spirator, well versed in the intricacies of political
craft, and therefore ready enough to turn his ex-
perience in such matters to the benefit of the Bona-
partist cause. Now when the Piedmontese cara-
biniere came into the august presence of this ci-
devant,conspirator, and present chief of the secret
police, he was at once startled from his propriety
by a very significant proposal. M. Pietri, without
further ado, offered him the handsome sum of
21)0,000 francs if he would renounce the honour of
having discovered the magazine, and leave both the
discovery and all further procedure to the French
authorities. The puirport of the proposal is plain

enough. The magazine of war missiles was to be
converted into an arsenal of assassins ; and in order .
the better to do so, the French police had nothing
for it but to buy at its own price the silence of the
original detector of the bombs.
Fortunately, the Piedmontese earabiniere proved
an honest man. He refused the bribe, and de-
nounced the proposal to his superior. A formal
protocol was drawn up on the matter before the
competent Sardinian authorities—a protocol it
would be most interesting to see published
verbatim. It would shed such a light on the
means of government employed by French Im-
perialism as would startle public opinion through-
out Europe. It is true we cannot hope at the
present moment that the world will be favoured
with such a revelation from official Sardinian quar-
ters, albeit the time may yet come when the hatred
against the Traditore will bring to light many a
strange occurrence, the record of which lies as yet
hidden amidst the leaves of official Turin portfolios.
As it is, the bomb affair has been hushed up at the
request of fir! French police. They had no interest
in giving the matter greater publicity, and they
therefore instructed the Sardinian Government, and
the journals of Milan and nirin' to drop the subject.
Happily, however, there is still a free press abroad
which cannot be influenced by Napoleonic agencies.
That press will ever and anon reveal some of the
secret doings of the despot who has worked his way
to the eminence on which he sits by a course of con-
duct of unparalleled profligacy.
The whole affair recalls to mind the sham con-
spiracy by which the Napoleonistic Government
tried, a year or two ago, to involve the name of
Ledru Rollin. It also brings to recollection the
forged Orsini letter, with the aid of which the
same useful Pietri, whom we have already men-
tioned, gained the adherence of a portion of the
Italian democrats for a war which was to end in
the betrayal of the cause of Italian independence.
Here we have the Imperial system, as represented
by Napoleon 111. and his associates, developed into
a regular " school of escrocs." If we remember,
moreover, that even the peace of Villafranca, as is
now proved by the concurrent testimony of Prus-
sian, English, and Russian statesmen, has been
brought about by means of a forged mediation
scheme which the French Ruler, in his personal
interview with the Austrian Despot, foisted upon
the latter, a conviction forces itself upon us that
the Government of the great French nation has
fallen into the hands of an unprincipled set of
sharpers, who are carrying out on a larger stage
the practices of the haunts in which they passed
their noviciate. It is a degradation of the govern-
mental principle such as has not yet been witnessed.
When Chancellor Oxenstierna sent forth his son,
recommending him to " see by what men the world
was ruled," he alluded to the ignorance and folly of
the crowned heads of his time. But sadder and
sterner would have been his parting admonition
had he lived in an era that allowed a Napoleon 111,
to become the arbiter of Europe.—Morning Ad-
vertiser.