The Sun.
London, England, 1861-10-29 00:00:00

TUESDAY EVENING, OCTOBER 29, 1861.

boast a greater variety of generous wines than
nature bestowed upon Piedmont.

The only Asti wine which is extensively known
is the white effervescing beverage, which is by no
means to be despised when it is the real thing, but
which, in the late dearth, has been so extensively
adulterated that the common specimens in trade
are hardly above the worth of average cider. The
Asti champagne, however, is far from being the
most valuable wine in that province. The native
place of Alfieri is the great emporium of Piedmon-
tese wines, and that old country will certainly take
the lead in the Italian wine trade if ever that trade
looks up again after its long unnatural depression.
Against the chances of any very extensive expor-
tation of Italian wines various circumstances are
alleged. In the first place, the Italians are said to
be, with good reason, very unskilful wine-makers.
They have too implicit a faith in the pure juice of
the grape; they detest any mixture of alcohol for
themselves, and hesitate in using it to please other
people. The growth of grapes in ordinary years is
immense. Most of these wine-growers labour under
a scarcity of vats and casks and other cellar imple-
ments. The wino is made hurriedly and carelessly ;
it is intended to supply the home market from year
to year, seldom meant to last through more than
two or three seasons. Hence common Italian wine,
when kept for any length of time, is often spoilt in
the country itself, and more generally unfit to bear
any land journey or sea voyage. That, if properly
managed, Italian wine can go through any distance
of space or length of time is, however, proved,
first, by the fact that hardly a private gentleman
in Piedmont but has it in his power to produce
bottles which his father or grandsire corked,
then by the other fact that, for instance, some
of Baron Ricasoli's Chianti may be had at
Fortnum and Mason's as free from any inju-
rious consequences of a sea-voyage as the Madeira
that has gone ten times round the Cape. To quote
my own experience, I prevailed upon a friend of
mine at Asti to part with about 100 bottles of fine,
dry, high-flavoured, deliciously fragrant wine from
his vineyard. I sent it by rail to Genoa, and by
steam to London, where not only was it found as
sound as it was on my friend's own table, but was
considered by good connoisseurs to be as fine a wine
as any Rheinish wine which 12s. or 15s. a bottle
could purchase. The price of such wine in Piedmont
in the scantiest year is only 2f. a bottle, and it may
be had for lf. a bottle. All that is wanted is a start
in the trade. It is necessary that English consumers
should be made acquainted with the article this
country can supply, and that these people should
find it worth their while to grow and make wine
intended for exportation. The attempt was made at
Marsala, and was crowned with success. These many
years' peace, the increase of international inter-
course, and the good feeling between England and
Italy ought to encourage fresh experiments, equally
tending to the benefit of both countries.

Only between Italy and England there is by land
that jealous barrier of France, still wedded to
egotistic notions of commercial jealousy and ex-
clusiveness; by sea, a long_ circuitous navigation,
either with not very regular but extremely expen-
sive steamers or with uncertain and slow sailing
vessels. There is no prospect more chilling to one
than that of having to send anthing heavier than
a half-sheet French post paper letter from Italy
to England. The charges of the French railway
companies and agents are exorbitant, and the
freight of the ill-managed Mediterranean steamers
is also outrageously high. Though nominally
leaving London and Liverpool for Genoa and
Leghorn at stated times, these boats almost
'invariably contrive to deliver their parcels
months at least after booking. The steam naviga-
tion along these Italian coasts, whether French,
Italian, or English, is miserable, and is generally
thrice as dear as it is on board the coasting steamers
of England. On the 3d or 4th of November the
./Emilian railway line will be opened to Ancona,
when the direct route from London to Corfu,
Alexandria, all the Levant, and overland to India,
will be through France, across Mont Cenis, to
Turin, Alessandria, Piacenza, Bologna, Rimini,
Ancona ; but all the advantages arising from this
extraordinary and truly laudable effort of the
Italian Government will be of little avail unless
a good line of steamers be established to ply be-
tween Ancona ana Corfu, Malta, or Alebbanarta,
there to join the excellent Peninsular line. The
whole of the Italian coast is a field to be ex-
ploited by stirring steam enterprise. Even between
Leghorn and Genoa, with all the traffic occasioned
by the Florence Exhibition, only two steamers (the
Stella d'ltalia and Principe Umberto) have been
started by the Government which are at all fit for
a man having a proper regard for his safety and
comfort to travel in. The old private com-
panies, French, Sardinian, and Neapolitan, are
daily getting worse. The higher their prices, the
more crowded their boats, the worse their manage-
ment, the more shocking their tirt, the more
wretched their service. Expert() creak.

2HE lONIAN ISLANDS.

-0, ,

A letter from Corfu, dated Oetober 22, says :
The Emperor of Austria left last night, and her
Majesty the Empress proceeds to-morrow in the
steam-frigate Adria to Venice, where she purposes
spending the winter. It is in consequence of the
improvement in her Majesty's health since her re-
sidence in this island that her medical advisers have
given it as their opinion that she may venture to
pass the coming season at Venice. All intention of
wintering here or proceeding to Cairo has, there-
fore, suddenly been abandoned, and no doubt the
Emperor's anxiety that her Majesty should remain
in some place in the Austrian dominions has in-
fluenced this sudden departure from an island the
genial climate of which has worked so beneficial a
change in the Empress's health. The Imperial
lady's departure is a cause of great regret to both
English and lonians, who all took a lively interest
in her welfare, and her elegant appearance on the
promenades surrounding Corfu will be much missed,
while the little opera-house loses one of its most
regular attendants, and its principal ornament and
attraction.

Although the Emperor's visit to Corfu was
strictly private, and he preserved a semi-incognito,
never appearing but in plain clothes, which is in
itself an abnormal condition for an Austrian
monarch, his military tastes and habits of mind
nevertheless transpired in repeated visits to all the
objects of military interest for which Corfu is cele-
brated. On Wednesday last he proceeded, in com-
pany with Sir Henry Storks, the Lord High Corn.
missioner, Major• General Sir George Buller and
staff, and two Austrian Generals, Counts Paar and
Crenneville, to visit all the fortifications, strongholds,
and barracks which are occupied by the garrisons of
Corfu. Commencing with the citadel, where he en-
tered every battery, and the rooms occupied by the
men, he inspected the hospital, cookhouses, and
other establishments, and proceeded then to visit
Foot Abraur, which is being reconstructed, the
Sanandario, and fort Neuf, making most minute
inquiries into the systems of our service, and ex-
pressing himself highly gratified with all he saw.
The good conduct and good shooting marks worn by
many of the soldiers especially attracted his notice,
and the penny a day extra pay drawn by the fortu-
nate wearers, the cleanliness of the men's rooms,
and the arrangements of the cookhouses met with
expressions of surprise and encomium.
The day following his Majesty the Emperor of
Austria visited her Majesty's ship the Queen. The
Royal salute was dispensed with as on the cccasion
of the Empress's visit ; every other formality was,
however, observed to which a crowned head is en-
titled. The yards were manned and the Imperial
ensign hoisted at the mainmast. On the approach
of the boat containing his Majesty and suite it
was, however, replaced by the Imperial Austrian
standard, which was unfurled as his Majesty
stepped on deck. Captain Hylliar received the Em-
peror, and on reaching the quarter-deck the guard
of honour presented arms, and the band commenced
playing the Austrian national hymn. After
graciously acknowledging the salutes, his Majesty
conversed with Captain Hyhiar, and proceeded to
make an inspection of the vessel. His Majesty,
after leaving the quarter-deck, inspected the lower,
deck and sick-bay, and expressed his admiration at
the great cleanliness observable there And eyery-.

where else in the internal orrangemens of the ship.
The Emperor, after remaining two hours on board,
took leave of the captain and officers, and pro-
ceeded to the island of Vido, which is considered
to be the key to the fortifications of Corfu. Here
his Majesty was shown over all the works, and spent
a considerable time in their inspection, not returning
to Corfu until a late hour in the afternoor. In the
evening he visited the Opera, accompanied by the
Empress.

Sir Henry Storks, Sir George Buller (Major-
General Commanding), Captain Hylliar, and other
persons in command and of note have had the
honour of dining with his Majesty during his brief
stay at Corfu, and in commemoration of the event
one of the principal fortified outworks has been
christened "Francis Joseph."
In order to give the Emperor an opportunity of
seeing a British regiment at drill, Sir George Buller
suddenly ordered the 2d Battalion 2d Queen's for
inspection on the 19th instant, and at half-past 10
o'clock last Saturday morning this battalion, under
the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Robert Bruce
was formed upon the esplanade. The Major-General
was received in line. Afterwards, breaking into
open column right in front, and opening out to
double distance for inspection, the battalion marched
past in slow and quick time, reformed line on its
original allignment, went through the manual,
platoon, and a series of battalion movements, firing
in line, forming square, &c., and other review exer-
cises, which were all performed with great celerity
aid precision, and I am informed somewhat unde-
ceived the Austrian General officers, the Emperor
especially, with regard to the short time employed
in executing complicated and combined movements,
which British troops were thought to carry out
most effectually with great steadiness and precision,
but not with great celerity. The quick movements
performed, however, by this battalion opened the
eyes of the Emperor and the Austrian officers present
to the fact that a greater combination of celerity, pre-
cision, and steadiness could not have been displayed
by the troops of any other nation. There is nothing
of any political interest to report from Corfu: