The Sun.
London, England, 1859-08-11 00:00:00

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PRICE 4D. STAMPED, SD•

fall of the Sardinian King as a national leader can
hardly fail to bring Mazzini once more in the
ascendant. Already we hear loud threats against
the life of the Duchess, " if she dare show herself,"
and still darker menaces are hurled against a far
more exalted personage, who is looked upon as the
author of all the miseries of • Italy. I know full
well that " a threatened man lives long," and that
" these dogs do not bite as often as they snarl," but
I can tell you in sober truth that in a public cafe,
called the Caffe Violi, a list is now open, the sub-
scribers of which bind themselves " to shoot or
stab" any person who ventures to propose. or in
any manner to abet and promote, the Duchess's
restoration. I can also assure you as honestly as I
value my good name as a faithful and impartial
narrator of Italian matters as they are, that wise
and sober men in great numbers, even among those
who are known as faithful partisans of the Ducal
Government, anticipate the greatest. evils, and even
the most tragic scenes, if the restoration of that Go-
vernment is brought about by such means as are
now in contemplation. I have no hesitation in
adding that the same and even more startling ex-
cesses are to be apprehended in Modena, in
Bologna, and throughout the Romagna, I must
also express my conviction, from old personal
knowledge, that there is no people in Italy
more humane, gentle, and abhorrent of blood-
shed than the Parmesans—that nothing is easier
than to lead and curb them with a silken thread,
so long as their feelings and wishes are not
too rudely trampled upon and thwarted; and
I can allege, as an incontrovertible proof, the very
fact that Count Pallieri has hitherto been able to
keep the peace and maintain the most admirable
public order, not only without regular armed
forces, but even after the departure of the Dragoons
or Gendarmes, and other police agents, who were
sent to swell the ranks of the mountain Gendar-
merie of the Sardinian King during the Lombard
campaign. All this apparent calm, however. will
give way to terrific storms as soon as 'the last hopes
of the people are extinguished, and the hated
" past" is forced back upon the reluctant multitude.
Why the Duchess's Government, in spite of the
less unpopular character of the Regent herself, is
viewed with such animosity by a vast majority of
her subjects is what I hope to be able to make clear
after a brief retrospect of the state of this country
since the restoration of the Ducal Government in
1814.

AUGUST 5.

The mission of M. Reiset may remind us Of a
certain anecdote in old Helvetian history. At a
time in which the forest cantons were at war with
Lecerne, the leaders of the Uri forces sent as a
scout one of their bravest mountaineers, with a
view to explore the nakedness of the enemy's lands.
'lhe valiant youth, accustomed to fair dealing with
either friend or foe, went straight up to the gate of
Lucerne and sounded his horn as lustily as his
lungs would let him ; and when the warriors of
Lucerne, peeping out from behind portcullis and
drawbridge, challenged him with their " Who goes
there P" he shouted in aeply, " The Uri spy" (Der
spion von Uri).
Count Reiset, blowing his honest trumpet
with all his might on his starting from Paris, an-
nounced to the world that the purpesa of his mission
was to make out the real wishes, hopes, and fears
of the inhabitants of Central Italy, and, at the same
time that he assured them they might lay aside all
apprehension of an. armed intervention in behalf of
their runaway Sovereigns, to try all his powers of
persuasion in the name of his Imperial master,
" voluntarily" to submit to the sway of their
Princes, and welcome them upon their return.
Preceded by all this loud flourish, and by the repu-
tation, well or ill founded, of being a French
Royalist, and a man of very moderate ability, the
Count went through Turin, endcayouring in vain
to bring Dabormida and his colleagues of the Sar-
dinian Ministry to put forth their influence so as
to,forward the object of his mission. Foiled in this
attempt by the firm and dignified behaviour of the
Turin Cabinet, he arrived at Parma yesterday
morning, had a long interview with Count Pallicri,
the Sardinian Governor, and this morning he sum-
moned before him a few of the " notables" of the
town to worm outsuch information as they might
be willing to impart. As a matter of course, the.
town, alarmed by the great importance attached to
the Count's mission, assumed a very decided attitude
and gave him " a bit of its mina" in as clear a man-
ner as the envoy could desire. Ten thousand bills
at least were stuck up at every corner of the streets,
at every house and shop-door, bearing the inscrip-
tion, " Viva Vittorio Emmanuele, nostro Re!"
Wherever the Count's carriage stopped—at the Go-
vernor's Palace, at the Town-riall, &c., huge portraits
of " our King" were hung up behind, and at each
panel of the vehicle ; and as to the " notables," the
Count was destitute of all acquaintance in the place,
and had to send for such men as were pointed out
to him by M. Paltrineri, the French consular agent
resident in Parma. This morning, then, at Paltri-
neri's suggestion, Count Reiset saw the Advocate
Torrigiani, Professor Riva, and other perfectly fair
and henest men, who told him, what Napoleon 111.
full well knows at Paris—viz., that the Duchess has
but few secret partisans here, and that even these
would, by all arguments and entreaties, deprecate
her restoration, as a desperate Measure, fraught
with the utmost danger, and sure to lead to such
deeds of civil dissension and bloodshed as would
put even the tragic events of the 24th of July,
1854, to the blush. Satisfied apparently with this
information, Count Reiset leaves to-day at two p.m.
for ,Bologna, unwilling, as it seems, to try his luck
at Modena.
The Emperor's envoy, if, indeed, his mission was
intended for a serious one, was utterly void of
effect as a means of bringing the stiff•necked Par-
mesans to reason, and was even a greater failure in
so far as it was intended to get an insight into the
real state of affairs in this country.
I believe, without presumption, I am in a better
condition to convey to your readers the bias of the
public mind here at the present moment. Not-
withstanding the real attachment of the Parmesans
to the Government of King Victor Emmanuel, and
their eager desire to be united to the Kingdom of
Northern Italy, it is very clear that the hopes of
honest patriots no longer keep pace with their
desires. It begins to ooze out that the Sardinian
Government has been unable to obtain France's
consent to annex either the whole, or even the least
part, of this Duchy to Piedmont, and that the
whole point at issue is now whether or not the
citadel of Piacenza ,not the place) is to receive a
Piedmontese garrison. The Parmesans are there-
fore not unjustly indignant against the Pied-
montese authorities, who only a fortnight ago so-
lemnly asserted that the destinies of the Duchy
were cast into one with those of Lombardy at the
peace of Villafranca, and that Parma should re-
main, as it is, annexed to Piedmont ; they are sur-
prised, and not agreeably-, to see a Piedmontese
Governor, an Intendente, 8.:c., continue in the dis-
charge of their functions, as if no ultimate change
were contemplated, while an Imperial French
went is despatched all the way from Paris to con-
vey the 'Emperor's advice—an advice which has
nine-tenths of the strength of a threat and down-
right coercion—to the effect that Parma " ought"
to prepare to welcome back the exiled Duchess.
The honest partisans of Piedmont in Parma begin
to look blank and bewildered ; the most influential
of them draw back from a Government which po-
pular opinion is tempted to charge with double-
dealing. Count Cantelli, the Governor's Secretary
General, and M. Giuseppe Gallenga, the Comt-
mander-in-Chief of the National Guard,
in beensen
in their resignations, and their offices have
Manfredia
filled up respectively by the Advocate oncown to belong
and by M. Pontoli, who are we
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and confusion, and confess their inability to avert
Their only hope of success lies in the prompt retire-
ment of the Sardinian authorities; for, were the
town and State left to themselves, they would pro-
pose the union of Parma with Modena, under
Farini's dictatorshp, as by that movement they
might come, in for their share of the
other regular forces now collected at
!rep:
anthelnd
Modena, by the aid of which they would feel equal
to'the task of maintaininr, order. Count Pailieri,
who is altogether destitute of all public forces, has
been in vain soliciting a posse of Gendarmes from
his Piedmontese Government, and even a few hun•
dred muskets to arm the soundest and best inten-
tioned part of the National Guard. As it is, only
the lowest and most mischievous classes are armed,
and their ranks have become more dangerous, owing
to the vast influx of volunteers flocking to them
from the Sardinian army. Public order has been
hitherto maintained almost by a miracle ; it will so
continue as long as a spark of hope is, either upon
just or false grounds, kept up; but when the cry
arises that " all is lost" the Republicans will be sure
to have their "fling," ushering in by their mad
freaks the reign of terror which must needs mau-