Star.
London, England, 1813-10-28 00:00:00

Pnrct sixPSZitIT itAt.FPENItt.• • •
their place, and therArpreventing those deri-uctive
tumults, which, in nations &flew], cnostituted,
regularly arise at every interrupt) -11 in the adriVni.
stration of the laws. O*ing to this grand peetiii .rity
in the political constitution of Ifaly it has i happen.
ed that none of the' revolutions diffa.nt Go.
sentiments, republican, imperitl and papal, hive ever
'jai to any.provincial risings among the peopfe, ei.
cept when the contests' betwec,. the diity-ent candi.
'4s es for the supreme power were transferred from
..the capital to the provinces. The Italians appear to
'halve early' discovered -that the good and evil of Co-
t
'aliments is more dependent on the hereditary cha.
tenter of the nobilitk that) on those who happen to -
become invested with 'the monarchical power. And
while they left the metropolitan demagogues and the
candidates for place to discuss and arrange the ap-
pointments of the Regent and the Regency, they
i.eententecl.thenselves with paying that deferetwe.
their loCal atiperiots which ensured to them the fruits
eisheir labour, and the safety of their persons. The
consequence of this has been, that no country of Eu.
rope can boast of a nobility so ancieat,iso 'numerous,
and; historically considered, so illustrious, at: that of • •
Italy.' = Though the country has been, in almost
every century; for more than two thousand year'-,
overrun by armies, acid thotigh rulers at rapidly as
the casualties of human life -have been successively
elected to the supreme dignity, the Italian nobility
have remained unaltered, ever the same revered pro-
tectors of their immediate commonalty—ever appear-
ing, aftef ach lavision end revolution, t. those
venerable towers and landmarks which Stand Secure
on their deep fOnadations in ibe midst et floods an 4
deltges. .
The general practical principle of the italiin con.
stitution is atistocratic. The feelings, the habits, thd
sentitnents of the people have produced this, and re-
quire that it should remain so*. Some mat think. it
improper that we should speak efi. Me Coutittatiai"
of Italy, but we know not a more appropriate phrase
by which we could designate ih..t kind of organize.
Lion which the frame cr society in the country has
assumed, and by which all the distribution of publiii
authority is administered.

On this great,• broad; and tonsolidited basis of
aristocracy, the often altered superstructure of the
metropolitan governmer:t has always been raised
Sometimes the strength and vaetriess of temekeindais •
tions have been hidden by the temporary ethical of a
military iii*..;:on—rnd sometimes align at height has
been lost in the Babel which individdal tyrants hare
attempted to build ; but the deluge has as often sal):
sided, and the fabric of ambition has tumb:ed to the '
earth, leaving the tiniest edifice to. appear again ht
•
all its due pr4ooaes. • •
Of the iadeittiacitrie aristocratic nature oT the con.
stitution of Italy,. no Man is more sensible•than he
•
who conceives himself the most interested in it,-Na-
POLiON. It *as, indirect hiinself who first made the
observrition.oit which these remarks site fonnded.----.
Early irifiis career he discriminated that feature which
distinguishes the politic3l feetings,4 the Italians from •
those of the French ; and he still remembers how
much he Was teazed, its his first campaign, by the
inflexible habit which the people of Italy Lad, ot ap-
pealing to their local superiors, , instead of the new
tribtinals ; and how ellen his genius was rebuked and'
thwarted by that deep-rooted prejudice: He ii
even then discovered; that while the French yielded
implicit obedience to the mandateg of authority, the, •
Italians universally seemed to seek a modification of.. .
the tame mandates, by the inierposeiZon of those
whore they vr..re accustomed respect. It is owing
to his contiction of this constitutional feature of the
Italian subject, that he has meddled less with the
civil institutions of Italy, than with those of any .
any other country that has submitted to the French.
arms. At first he thought that by getting rid of the
priesthood—that by demolishing the ecclesiastical de-
partment of the Italian constitution, lie should he
Able to bring the inhabitants to a more flexible state I •
but. he has.found himself deceived, and that the Ita-
lian charatter retains its ancient prejudices. If Italy
was the first country which he overtran, it has been
also that in which he first felt his genius foiled.
The Russian climate has convinced him that na.
tune sets bounds to military enterprise ; but the ha.
liar mind had taught him before, that decrees cannot
alter the political dispesition of nations ; and that
the violenze of his attempts to remodel Italy, were
only like the effect of a stone thrown into water,
agitating fur a moment, but haring sunk to the-
ground, leaving the surface and the substance in the
same state in which they were before.
In no respect has the general frame of society in
Italy been changed by the.conquests of BONAPARTZ.
The palaCes and churches have, it is true, been pH.
laced—commerce has been almost destroyed—and
many, who formerly eajoyeil great affluence, are now
in abject poverty—such are the common sufferings
which afflict all nations that happen to be the seats of
sai ;—but the great class of the nobility remains

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