The Sun.
London, England, 1861-04-22 00:00:00

THE ITALIAN QUESTION.

The following is the text of a Despatch addressed
by Count Cavour to the Marquis d'Azeglio, Mini-
ster of King Victor Emmanuel 11. at the Court of
St. James's :

" Turin, March 16.

" Monsieur le Marquis—About the end of Janu-
ary the Minister of her Britannic Majesty at Turin
communicated to me a despatch from Lord John
Russell, of which I annex-a copy.
"In that despatch the Principal Secretary of
State for Foreign Affairs of Great Britain, attri-
buting but slight value to the vote by universal
suffrage given at Naples, in Sicily, Umbria, and the
Marches, declared that he reserved the examination
of the question raised by the political transforma-
tion of Italy for the period when the true intentions
of the Italian nation might be manifested in a re-
gular and solemn manner by the legitimate repre-
sentatives assembled in a freely elected Parliament.

" After this declaration, Lord J. Russell indicates
what are the conditions which the new kingdom
must fulfil, in order that England can continne to
keep up with it relations in conformity with the
friendship which she has always shown towards
Sardinia.

" When that despatch was communicated to me,

Italy was preparing to elect the members of the
National Parliament. I, therefore, abstained from
immediately making known to Lord J. Russell,
through you, the
,impression which his despatch
had produced on the King's Government. In fact,
it appeared to me useless to enter into a theoretical
controversy on the value of universal suffrage when
the moment was approaching when the event, on
which the English Government made its definitive
decisions depend, was about to cut short all dis-
cussion by doing away with or confirming
the result of the popular vote. I conse-
quently confined myself to assuring Sir James
Hudson as to the intentions of the King's Go-
vernment, and to making known to him my convic-
tion that the Parliament which would issue from
the elections would soon manifest, in a manner not
admitting of any doubt, the sentiments which ani-
mate all the populations of the Italian Peninsula
from the Alps to Etna.
"My anticipations on that subject were fully
verified, as the Parliament which has just assembled
contains the principal men of the nation. The
King has called to the Senate those personages who
by their science, birth, and wealth, reckon among
the great illustrations of the country. The people,
using their right with the most absolute liberty,
have sent to the Chamber of Deputies the most
well-known notabilities of all the Italian provinces.

" When assembled, the Parliament hastened to
give the most formal sanction to the votes of the
people. The reception given to the King at the
opening of the session, the replies of the two Cham-
bers to the Speech from the Throne, the manner in

-•,-hich the Preesidynt and the Dureau were nomi-
nated, and, lastly, the unanimous vote on the bill
relative to the new title which the King was to
bear, could not leave the slightest doubt to remain
on this subject. Universal suffrage has with us
been followed by a striking counter-proof. If the
abstract and theoretic value of this mode of mani-
festing the national sovereignty is open to discus-
sion, it must be agreed that, as regards Italy, it has
been the sincere, free, and spontaneous expression
of a sentiment which dominates all others, and which
has acquired an irresistible force.
" I moreover hasten to state that Lord J. Russell
has himself admitted and proclaimed the fact which
I have just mentioned in a manner as sympathetic
and kind for Italy as honourable for the King's
Government. It consequently only remains for me,
as regards the first part of his lordship's despatch,
to charge you to express our gratitude for the ener-
getic and brilliant manner in which, during a recent
discussion, he- re-established facts and vindicated
the King and our country from the insults lavished
on them by the violent adversaries of the great prin-
ciples of civil and religious liberty, the triumph of
which in Italy is now secured.
" The eminently national character of the Go-
vernment just founded being thus proved, I must,
in order to fully reply to the questions raised by
the despatch of the 20th of January, examine
whether this Government has at its disposal the
moral and material force necessary to fulfil its
duties both at home and in its relations with the
other Powers.

established, and
.‘ That the Government is firmly
that it possesses all the means necessary for govern-
ing, is a fact which cannot be disputed. In the
new provinces of Upper
and Middle Italy the
administration goes on with almost the same regu-
larity and meets with as few obstacles as in the
parts which for centuries past have formed a por-
tion of the kingdom of Sardinia. No symptom of
illegal opposition has manifested itself either in
Lombardy—a country represented as being so
difficult to govern—or in the Romagna, where
hatred to priestly rule had excited such violent
passions ; or in the Duchies, where it might have
been feared that the advantages procured to the
localities by the existence of petty Courts might
have been a cause of discontent.
As to Tnsuany, where it was supposea mat tne
ancient regime, less violent and less corrupted than
elsewhere, would have left deep traces and lively
regrets, it has been and still is a great element of

strength for the Government and of order for the
country. Nowhere in fact has the political fusion
raised less difficulties.. To prove this, it is only
necessary to mention a fact which the enemies of
the Italian cause in the English -Parliament are
probably ignorant of. It is, that for the last eight
months there has not been a battalion of regular
and that, nevertheless, the
special i
,n .eg thatincountry,
had existed there has been
troopsie
which
without
"There
shuapvpseinrgeteci
exist, place.akeeni,
it is true, very serious administrative
difficulties in Southern Italy, but no astonishment
can be felt at this, when it is borne in mind that
the Government of the Bourbons, which had en-
dured for more than century, and which itself suc-
ceeded the well known Government of the Spanish
Viceroys, had erected a system of corruption, and
endeavoured to sap the principles of morality and
patriotism in every branch of the administration,
and without which the best laws and the most per-
fect institutions can be attended with disas-
trous results.

" The influence of liberty and the powerful and
salutary action of the Parliament will soon apply
an effectual reniecay to this state of things. In the
meantime, if some embarrassment may be caused to
the Government, it is not a source of weakness for
it, for nowhere have those administrative difficulties
served as a pretext for real dynastic or illegal op-
position. Consequently, I do not think lam mis-
taken in affirming that the Government has had at
its disposal ample means for securing order at home
and regulating its relations with the foreign Powers
according to the duties imposed on it by treaties
and by the principles of the law of nations.
"This affirmation, however, only replies incom-