The Sun.
London, England, 1861-05-09 00:00:00

COUNT CA VO UR.

A Turin correspondent of the Paris Presse gives
the following lively picture of Count Cavour :
Count Cavour is, beyond dispute, one of the three
great statesmen of Europe ; Lord Palmerston and
the Emperor Napoleon 111. being the others. The
loss of this man, in the present circumstances,
would be for :Italy irreparable. Count Cavour's
strength does not lie in his principles; indeed, he
has no inexorably fixed principles ; but he has an
aim, a clear and definite aim, the greatness of
which would have turned the head of any other
man ten years ago—to make Italy one and inde-
pendent. The men, the means, the circumstances
have been and are indifferent to him. He has
marched straight, always firm, always alone,
sacrificing his friends, his sympathies, sometimes
his renown, and sometimes his heart. Nothing
has stood in his way. The suppleness of his
mind is astonishing. He divines every-
thing, and is seldom mistaken—not as to
the truth, but as to the success of a matter.
He unites the solid, calculating English tempera-
ment with the cold, unscrupulous, often ungener-
ous, political genius of the Italian character.
Count Cavour is a mixture of Sir Robert Peel and
Machiavelli. He has something Byzantine about
him—the stratagem, the subtle logic, whose conclu-
sions are sound, paradoxical as they may some
times appear. Read his diplomatic notes ; it is
impossible to be right, or even wrong in a more
brilliant, solid, and convincing fashion, One is
struck and dazzled even when one is not convinced.

Count Cavour, who unfortunately has not always
the art of understanding men, has always the art
of understanding a situation ; and it is this mar-
vellous faculty that has contributed to form the
Italy of to-day. As the Minister of a power of the
fourth rank he could not create situations like the
Emperor Napoleon, or reckon on the strength of a
great nation, like Lord Palmerston. Count Cavour
had to find a crevice in the policy of Europe, slip
in, spring a mine, and cause an explosion. It is
thus that he has conquered Austria and secured
the aid of France and England. Count Cavour
threw himself head foremost, after baying mea-
sured the depth and calculated the advantages of
the fall. The Crimean expedition, his attitude at
the Congress of Paris, the cession of Nice, the in-
vasion of the Papal States last autumn have been
the consequence of this vigorous temper of mind.
As the man of foreign affairs, he is strong, he is on
a level with the situation, with the men of his
time, and with the time itself.

The man of hemeffitii;is less complete, less
finished. Count Cavour has a general knowledge
of these affairs ; he has enlarged ideas, clear and
liberal ideas, but he wants the practical ability to
set them off to the best advantage. Besides, he is
often unfortunate in choosing men. Witness the
series of agents he sent into Southern Italy—Nigra
excepted. Count Cavour feels himself above detail,
which, however, is important in administration ;
this is the vulnerable side of his policy, for in foreign
affairs no one disputes his superiority.
There is yet another point which sometimes
startles one in Count Cavour's conduct, and that is
his self-esteem. Count Cavour knows himself, and
knows those about him ; he esteems them little, and
he makes the mistake of letting them see it. He
does not tolerate equals, not having been accus-
tomed to find many. Every one who is brought
into contact with him must bow, and resign him-
self to be moulded by that strong hand. The King
himself feels his magnetic influence. Now any one
that .does not consent to be absorbed by Count
Cavour is classed, without further ado, among his
enemies, or rather among his adversaries. Add to
this his sharp and abrupt manner, careless of other
people's susceptibilities, the sarcastic smile crystal-
lized on his face, his habit of giving orders, his
bourgeois appearance, which does not give him even
a chance of success in his little politenesses and
flatteries towards those whom he wishes to wheedle,
his abrupt or embarrassed way of speaking, his
sharp and metallic voice, which makes a bad first
impression, and his petulant, jerky gestures, and
you complete the picture of a man who would at-
tract you little if you were not attached to him by
other bon3s.

Count Cavour conducts himself in Parliament
absolutely as if the opposition had no existence, as
if he was in his drawing room among his friends—
especially when he is bored. He talks, he laughs,
he turns his back on his colleagues, he lolls, he
yawns, twists about the velvet table-cover with his
paper-knife, and makes epigrams! if he had Ame-
rican habits he would put his feet on the official
table. He sees no one there but the majority, that
is to say his faithful friends.
Count Cavour is not an orator in the French
sense of the word; he is rather, in the Eng-
lish sense. He has a difficulty in speaking because
he does not wish to
.say a word too much, a word
which has not the exact farce he wisl-es to give.
He does not speak for the Chamber, but for Europe.
He has a solid, connected, and lucid manner of rea-
soning; he always touches the heart of the question,
and if he is not always right, he at least never falls
into Platitudes and commonplaces.
I sum up—the diplomatist is a giant; the admi-
nistrator is inferior to the diplomatist ; the man is
an antithesis. You can never rest in an undeter-
mined attitude towards him. You must either obey
or rebel against him. He does not let himself be
led by his friends; he does not count his enemies.
He is the intellect of Italy in her foreign relations;
he is her heart in her home affairs. He is the soul
of the cabinet, which isidentified with him.

HEALTH OF LONDON DURING THE WEEK.

(From the Registrar-General' Weekly Return.)
The deaths in London registered in the week that
ended on Saturday were more than have been shown
in any previous return since the first week in March.
They rose to 1,261. The average number derived
from the returns of corresponding weeks in ten
previous years, 1851 60, and corrected for increase
of population, is 1,220. The number of persons
who died last week therefore exceeds the estimated
mortality by 41.
The births in the week exceeded the deaths in
the same period by 747.
The increase in the mortality is due chiefly to
whooping-cough, which carried off 124 children,
two-thirds of whom had not completed their second
year. Thirteen also died from croup. In April
whooping-cough was fatal on an average in 84
cases weekly. It was most fatal last week in the
districts on the south side of the river, in which 47
out of the 124 deaths occurred.. No less than 9
were recorded in the sub-district of Leather-market,
Bermondsey, 4; in that of London-road; 7 is
Westminster; 5 in the sub-district of St. James,
Clerkeuwell.

Eight deaths from small-pox were returned, 30
from measles, 25 from scarlatina, 8 from diphtheria.
There were 166 from phthisis, the corrected average
of corresponding weeks being 166 ; and 124 from
bronchitis, the average being 107.
The deaths of two centenarians were registered.
A female died on the 27th ult. at Windmill-hid,
Hampstead, at the age of 100 years ; and the widow
of a labourer on the 29th, at 3, Fort-street, Old
Artillery-ground, at the age of 102 years. The age
of the latter seems to be well ascertained, and her
daughter is now living at the age of 81 years. A
gasfitter died from ‘g apoplexy following lead palsy.''
Last week the births of 951 boys and 1,057 girls,
in all 2,008 children, were registered in London.
In the ten corresponding weeks of the years 1851-
60, the average number was 1,717.
At the Royal Observatory, Greenwich, the mean
height of the barometer in the week was 30.026 in,
The barometer rose to 30.16 in. OR Tuesday, and
fell to 29.83 in. on Friday. The mean temperature
of the air in the week was 46.3 deg., which is 3.7
deg. below the average of the same week in 43 years
(as determined by Mr. Glaisher). The mean daily
temperature was below the average on every day
, and on Sunday and Satur-
edxaycepitt
wWaesdanbeosduay
about
8
wind generally hi deg. below the average. The
--ew from the north and north-
west ; on the forenoon of Wednesday it was W.S.W.
A thermometer in the shade fell to the lowest
point in the week, 29.1 deg. on Sunday, and
rose to the highest, 64 deg., on Thursday. The
weekly range was, therefore, 34.9 deg. The mean
daily range was 21 2 deg. The difference between
the mean dew-point temperature and air tempera•
ture was 7-8 deg. The mean degree of humidity of
by 100.
gthree
aatierst
Though Saturday was cold, the
*h.aesat74i' complete saturation being repre-
sentedn
the sun's rays was 109 deg. Not
more rain than 0.13 in. fell in the week, newly all
of which fell on the last two days. There was hoar
frost on the morning of Sunday, and sleet and hail
fell on that of Saturday.

Well-informed Americans are confident that on
the arrival of the Great Eastern at Now York, the Northern
States will offer to buy her. The agents of the company
will probably feel themselves justified in making a provi-
sional sale upon adequate terms, which could subsequently
be referred here for confirmation, •