The Sun.
London, England, 1857-01-13 00:00:00

ITALY.

A letter from Milan, of the Bth, says :—" The
municipal authorities have this morning posted up,
at the corner of every street, a large placard an-
nouncing officially the arrival of their Majesties for
the 15th, with a statement of some of the arrange-
ments made to celebrate that event. The followilla
are the principal :—llluminatinn a giorno of La
Scala theatre, which their Majesties will honour
with their presence in the evening. In the night
of the 18th a corso notturno, a favourite amusement
of the Italians, and which consists of an incessant
promenade of carriages, brilliantly lighted up, and
accompanied by bands of music, through all the
finest parts of the city and in the midst of a general
illumination. In the night of the 21st a grand ball
will take place at La Scala, in which will be intro-
duced an allegorical ballet composed expressly for
the occasion. Lastly, a distribution of a sum of
50,700 Austrian livres in different works of
charity."
In the sitting of the Chamber of Deputies at
Turin, of the 9th, M. Cadorna, the new president,
took the chair, and in an appropriate speech, in
which he alluded with pride to the services of the
Piedmontese army in the late war, thanked the
Chamber for the honour it had conferred upon
him for the third time. He then, in virtue of his
power, appointed M. Buffa to draw up an address
in answer to the speech from the throne. M.
Brofferio, the leader of the extreme left, announced
his intention of addressing an interpellation to the
President of the Council touching the state of
Italy. Count Cavour declared himself willing to
answer it, provided the hon. member would wait
until after the presentation of the budget of 1855,
which was agreed to.
A letter from Milan, of the 7th, in the Opinione
of Turin, says—" We are informed that the Minis-
ters Buol, Bach, and de Bruck have been summoned
to Milan by the Emperor, and are to stay there dur-
ing the whole time of his visit. The engineer Broggi,
who was arrested the other day, is the brother of
the insurgent of that name who fell in the insur-
rection of 1848. The cause of his arrest is stated
to be an observation of his to some friends, to the
effect that in coming to Milan the Emperor would
run the risk of being fired at. This, it seems, was
overheard by some of the new police, enrolled for
the period of the Emperor's stay, and immediately
reported to the authorities. This new force consists
of upwards of 600 discharged soldiers, mostly
Italians. They are dressed as civilians, but carry
a medal about them, on producing which all the
police authorities and military posts are bound to
afford them aid. They go about the town, visit
coffee-houses and wine-shops, and report all the
conversation they pick up ; in case of irreverent
language towards the Emperor they are authorised
to arrest the person who has uttered it, and in this
way many have lately been taken up. The censor-
ship is very severe just now. The last number of
Canta's ' History of the Italians' has been stopped,
on account of a passage relating to the history of
Piedmont of the last century. M. Schivardi,
Brescia, having in his ' Scientific Facts' used some
expressions hostile to the existing state of things,
he has been arrested on a charge of high treason.

MR. KIN

'ETTPORT.

Mr. A. W. Kinglake, the author of "Elithen," has
addressed a numerous body of the electors of Newport,
Isle of Wight, as a candidate f,r their suffrages. In the
course of his speech, after arguing for the extension of
the franchise, the ballot, the abolition of Church rates,
a national system of secular educat;on' &c., he observed :
—" I am strongly of opinion that the high offices of this
country are unduly distributed amongst persons of par-
ticular families, and belonging to a particular class in
society, without due regard to their qualifications for
holding them. And what is the result ? Why that in
a country abounding in intelligence and business-like
power there is always one firm which is breaking down,
and that is the firm of the government. Here is a coun-
try where there aro men who at a few months'
notice will throw a railway from one city to another
—who will c ,rry the electric wire along the depths
of the ocean from one continent to another, and perform
all those marvels of that description which have made
this age a wonder to all. You cannot go to any
foreign eountry but you find Englishmen engaged in
great works of this kind. In every foreign enterpris
you find an English engineer and English workmen em
ployed ; and yet, in a country abounding in marvellous
intelligence and business-like power, we find that of
such materials is the Government of the country com.

posed that the ministers are positively unable, with their
united abilities, to feed an army of a few thousand men,
encamped at a distance of eight miles only from a seaport
occupied by their own ships. What is the cause of all
this evil I The cause is that the Ministers and persons

high in office are selected from too small a number.
(Hear.) If any of you, in conducting your business,
were to make to yourselves a law that you would only take
persons whose names began with the letter A, or persons
in a particular street, bow would your business go on
Yet this is the kind of restriction which is practically
going on in the selection of men chosen to fill the high
offices of thd State. If you will bear with me I will
go for a few moments into this important question. As
you know, all the high officers of State are taken either
from the House of Peers or the House of Commons.
The House of Peers consists of, I believe, 346 men, and
the House of Commons consists of 658, so that, in round
numbers, you have 1,000 people from whom the Minis
ters of State have to be selected. Very well. Now o
the 346 peers, almost all, except our right rev. friends
the bishops, and two or three law lords, are selected by
the mere accident of birth. There remains, theo, the
House of Commons from which to find the selected
talent of the country. Now, I am going to venture
upon telling you a home truth, an unpalatable truth. I
do say that the constituencies have been wanting in their
duty with regard to the selection of those whom they
send to the House of Commons, and I do say that it is
from this failure of duty on the part of the constituencies
that there has been so much difficulty in finding men
to fill the high offices of State. Why, really, gentle
men, we must confess, even though it may be an unpalat-
able thing to know, that the sprinkling of able men
which you have in the House of Commons, although it is
selected by the people, is not very much greater than the
sprinkling of abler men in the House of Lords, where the
only test is the mere accident of birth. I have told you one
cause leading to the inadequacy of public men. I think
there is another. I think there is an undue laxity in the
members of the House of Commons. The duty of a
member of the House of Commons is of a double cha-
racter. One of his duties, and that is the one which,
perhaps, you are most accustomed to consider, is that o f
making laws, or refusing to make laws, and taking part
in legislative discussion. But another and a most im-
portant duty of every member of the House of Commons
is that of watching the formation of the successive
governments who are from time to time selected. Ido
say that in the performance of that duty the House of
Commons has been too lax. There exists the practice
of asking men to give what is called confidence to
the government, and the effect of that is that a go.
verninent, though not consisting of men sufficiently
able to govern—a government which would not bear
criticism, when you came to inquire whether one
man or another is fit for the office he holds—is
enabled to secure a space of toleration, because there
is a feeling that there will be an inconvenience in a
change of Government. That is the threat always held
out to induce men to avoid a vote rendering necessary a
change of Government. Many men have a great dread
of a. change of Government. If they change so fre-
quently, it is said, the time will come when England will
be without a Government. Now, what they really mean
when they say that is, that England will be without a
Government selected from the accustomed class—(hear)
—and when the day comes that England is to be with.
ouk a Government of that kind it will be a fortunate
day, and not a day of danger ; for depend upon it you
can never have good government or economy at home
—you never can have that foresight and management
which will bring success in war, until you withdraw the
exclusive right of government from a few families, and
seek for ability, combined with high character, where-
ever you can find it, from all ranks, from all classes,
and from all conditions of men."
Mr. Charles Seeley has withdrawn from the contest,
his views on the Sunday question being at variance with
those of the majority of the electors. Major Cooke is
at present the only other candidate in the field.