The Sun.
London, England, 1861-08-05 00:00:00

THE CAREER OF M. .NIGIZA

The Debats bas an exceedingly long article on
the career and qualifications of Commandeur Nigra,
the Minister-Plenipotentiary of the King of Italy
at Paris. We take from it the following extract :

" This young diplomatist, who already occupies
a distinguished place among the statesmen of
his country, is not unknown in Paris. He is
not only a diplomatist, but has displayed ability
as soldier and administrator, and, what spoils
nothing, has made excellent classical studies in
the University of Turin, and has not ceased to
cultivate literature and science. When the great
national movement of 1848 commenced, M. Nigra
had not terminated his studies, but he placed

himself in the first rank of those serious young
men who displayed patriotic enthusiasm, and
preceded by conflicts in the press the strife of.
battle-fields. As soon as war broke out between
Austria and Piedmont, M. Nigra became a soldier,
and. fought bravely at Pastrengo, Saint Lucia,
Calmasino, and Rivoli, receiving at the latter
place a grave wound Which obliged. him again to
become a student. In 1849 he obtained the de-
cree of doctor ill law, and after a public compe-
tition was admitted to the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs, which was then directed by the Chevalier
d'Azeglio. Count de Cavour about that time made
the Piedmontese Chamber adopt the principle of free
trade, and it was necessary to enter into treaties of
commerce and navigation with most of the Great
Powers of Europe in order to render the new system fe-
cund. M. Nigra took an active part in the labours those
measures necessitated, and he thereby became known
to the future Prime Minister of Victor Emmanuel. Be-
tween Count de Cavour and NI. Nigra relations of
esteem and affection were established, and they
ripened into a close friendship which was only
broken by the death of the illustrious statesman
whom Italy deplores. M. Nigra, under the direc-
tion of Count de Cavour, took part in the negotia-
tions with France, England, Austria, Belgium,
and the German Zollverein ; and those negotia-
tions ended in the treaties of commerce which
now form the basis of the public law of Italy in
all that concerns economic interests. Somewhat
later the Chevalier d'Azeglio made M. Nigra one
of his secretaries, and confided to him the re-
served correspondence—a great proof of kindness,
by which N. Nigra was greatly honoured. The
protection of NI. d'Azeglio has never failed him,
and M. Nigra is profoundly grAeful for it. When
Count de Cavour accompanied King Victor Em
manuel to Paris and London, in the visits which
his Majesty paid to the Emperor Napoleon and the
Queen Victoria, N. Nigra attended him as secre-
tary, and when Count de Cavour returned to Paris,
in 1856, to take part in the Congress, NI. Nigra
assisted him as chief of his chancery. Up
to that moment Count de Cavour, President of
the Council of Ministers, had only directed the
Ministry of Finance; but on his return from the
Congress at Paris he also undertook the Ministry
of Foreign Affairs, and, as the burden of the two
offices was very great, he gave the direction of
his cabinet to NI. Nigra, who thereby became
acquainted with the most secret thoughts of his
chief, and associated in his acts. After that time
M. Nigra did not separate from Count de Cavour.
Previous to the war of 1859 he aemmpanied him
in his frequent excursions to Paris, and was re-
marked by the Emperor Napoleon, who treated
him with kindness. During the war he was at
the head quarters of the allied Sovereigns, re-
doubling his efforts to render lighter the execu-
tion of the immense task the latter had imposed
on himself. And after the temporary retirement
of Count de Cavour, who would not accept the
responsibility of the conditions of the peace o
Villafranca, M. Nigra was sent to Zurich with the
Italian Plenipotentiaries, in order that the
opinions and policy of Count de Cavour might
be represented. The return of Count de Cavour
to the Ministry took place very shortly after the
signature of the treaty of Zurich, and NI. Nigra was
sent to Paris with the title of charge d'affaires,
which, however, was soon replaced by that of
Minister. Subsequently grave events took place
in Italy, and the position of Sardinian Ministers
at Paris became excessively delicate. M. Nigra,
however, displayed great moderation and pru-
dence, and when he had to leave France, after
the rupture of diplomatic relations, he was re-
gretted by those to whom he was known. At
the end of last December, Count de Cavonr charged
M. Nigra to accompany Prince de Carignan to
Naples, where the King sent him as his Lieuten ant-
General. The task was a thankless and a diffi-
cult one ; NI. Nigra was surrounded with dan-
gers, and he had to choose between two systems
—that of conciliation, and that of revolutionary
means. It was the former he adopted, but it did
not succeed. When the Prince de Carignan
and NI. Nigra saw the failure of their plan, they
solicited, and obtained, their recall from the King.
M. Nigra then wrote for the Government and the
public a long report on his management of
affairs at Naples. King Victor Emmanuel, in re-
appointing NI. Nigra to his former post, has
accomplished one of the last wishes of Count de
Cavour, who only waited for the recognition of
the King of Italy by the Emperor Napoleon, to
re-establish friendly relations between the two
Governments. NI. Nigra is peculiarly adapted
for that task, because he is intimately acquainted
with what interests the two countries, and pos-
sesses, in the highest degree, the confidence of the
two Sovereigns.

THE POLISH NATIONALI2Y AND ITS
DETRACTOR 4.

In the number of the Revue Conteinporaine just
published, M. de Calonne vindicates the Polish
nationality of Posen against the attacks of a Prus-
sian pamphleteer, who contends that there are now
so few Poles left in Posen that they are not worth
mentioning. The Revue says :
" Official statistical documents give us in 1840,
for Western Prussia, a population of 517,000 Poles;
18 years later, in 1858, they only announce 174,408.
What has become of the 342,692 others ? What
frightful scourge has swept over that people ? By
what horrible cataclysm has it been buried alive in
the entrails of the earth? Those figures are so
grossly absurd that they must deprive Prussian sta-
tistics of all value ; and the cause lies in the mannerl
in which the census is taken. All Protestants,. l
a
Jews, all those that have German namesi..fatreen IP
n°
facto metamorphosed into Germans.
order to render the metamorphosis more easy, the
authorities by degrees modify the Polish names,
and when these reach the military conscription list,
they are completely
Germanised. The funcfrtieotanhs-ee
aries entrusted with this business aret
htPrussians,
desirous of
ingratiating themselves with their
superiors, and thaeerremfoarnesnaengdleedtinmoitnhisinh g
the number of
poles, knowing that promotion and favours are
only- accessible in that way. And thus it is that
the German element, according to the Prussians,
tends to suffocate the Slavonian element ; and thus,
ohpauvl ea t
ibeene nofk it lhl ea dt
pro"in
ein i
glee
Pt
hoel e sp
vince has never ceased to increase."

" The news of an approaching interview be-
tween the Emperor Napoleon 111. and King Wil-
liam I. gives serious importance to the unionist
tendencies of Germany, of which Becker's crime
was an evident consequence. For a longtime past,
the Revolutionists have been exciting Prussia to
become the Piedmont of Germany ; they are endea-
vouring to dazzle Portugal with the same hopes ;
and, without doubt, they do so in virtue of the new
logic which has overthrown the old and changed the
terms of the axiom Major pars trahlt ad se m?2zorem .
r elength
with thes whicha resolutionsaei Church.
compari-
sonh aub roci.
lil
At that rate France has everything to fear from
Belgium, which some day might be disposed to make
annexations. But for the moment we speak only of
Germany. It is desired that the King of Prussia shall
terminates es
n hisd at
Piedmont,mar
remarks
s take the direct ion of the German revolutionary move-
ment, and what Becker said in a brutal way, the
National Verein or National Society has repeated
in more becoming terms in its meeting at Dantzic.'
has
v Theot e
betweend ,
writer
and
d then
Prussia gives
t
iv a
one of the most forced and far fetched we ever re-
m e m
"Theber ,
pgoisvietni 0
n o
i n any
i.
psreursisoivas jhoausr naa l . lats, runsfor
analogytml itoirse:
with that of Piedmont. Prussia, aProtestant Power,
is naturally hostile to the Roman Catholic Church ;
Provinces. The revolutionists desire to take advan.
'..7.0 e.!' 7 iation of l'ilisiti is similar to
.that or
Piedmont,
than
Piedmontten
years, a
hadßoman
sa
beenv Catholic Savoy
; the
Prussic
enemy
f the
the Rhenish.
h great m
- =.-z..-. ____ t it I emains to IA; seen if William 1.-
will be pleased to. plav the part of 'Victor Enunao tie!,
,- ad if Europe, dil 1 v v,•arned, will allow to be done
in Germany what is permiLied to be done in Italy. '