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

irAL r.

Ng. u.
ln No. I (gee STAR of the 6th instant) we give a
sketch of the causes which contributed to raise in the
public mind of this country, a straw and unfevour-
able prejudice against the inhabitants of Italy—and
we trust that, slightly as we then touched upon those
sources of a great errer, we did not 'fail to suggest
that there must, in spite of our national antipathy, be
something about the Italians, as a peoptes which de.;
serves the attention of Englishmen. We now propose
to direct the views of our Readers, to those circum-
stances in the political state of Italy which have, for
so many ages, prevented her from assuming any
leading part in the great military undertakings of
Europe. The first and most obvious undoubtedly is
the nature of her Government. The forms of Govern-
menu are modified by the habits of their people.—
The rule of nations may change hands, but the mode
of rule continues ever the same. It is of no conse-
quence whether the energies of a State be exercised
by five hundred men in the form of a convention and
under the name of a republic, or by one man with
the title of King, Consul, or Emperor, if there exis:s
In the people a habit of giving implicit obedience to
every decree of the supreme authority. The national
mode of acting will be always the same—and the
commotions that may attend tit.: transfers of power
from one
-class of men to another, or from a heredi-
• tory despot to a usurper, will only affect those in the
'immediate vortex of the revolution—towards foreign
States no change will take placer—an inflammation in
the brain May agitate and affect every member of the
body, but the consequ. quer to those whom the bands
may grasp or strike will be only more erless violently
felt. We shall not stop to illustrate the truth of this,
-.our Readers will at once make the application them-
selves, and assent to the justness of the principle.—ln
applying it to Italy we are necessitated, as in our
i•
former paper, to go bask to a remote period, and to
consider circumstances which might be supposed to
have long since ceased to operate.
' It has so happened that. Italy has never been sub-
ject to the government of a hereditary monarch, al-
'though it has been uniformly monarchical in the
:principle of its government. From the earliest ages
her supreme Ruler has either been elected by a small
and local number of persons, or by the tumultuous
cry of a rabble, or the still less respectable outrage
of military dictation: whether we consider the Con-
suls, the Dictators, the Emperors, or the Popes of
Rome, the truth of the general assertion will be found
indisputable ; and, therefore, it may be as safely as-
sumed as any probability can be received in evidence,
that there does not exist among the Italians any feel.
ing towards their chief Magistrate in the slightest
degree of quality resembling that which is cherished
by the inhabitants of those countries where hereditary
right is admitted to be essential to the stability of
governments. The effect of this on the general frame
f the Italian society is abundantly evident. It would
seem that while some peculiar destiny rendered eligi-
bility to the supreme office dependent on the suffrages
of inferior officers, if had been tacitly settled, through.
out the whole country, that in order to prevent the
anarchy necessarily consequent on a frequent change ,
of the Head of the State, a degree of respect should
be cherished for particular families, which would
render their local influence commensurate to that of

general laws; so that when the general laws were by
the change of the chief magistrate interrupted, this
local. influence should have the effect of operating in