Star.
London, England, 1821-04-06 00:00:00

TURIN, MARCH 26.

Great numbers of troops still continue to arrive in
this capital from those contingents of the army who,
not being in active service, 'sere allowed to return
home, till called to their standards by an order of
the Government. They are. immediately equipped,
armed, (leered, and sent off to the fi ontiers. The
greatest bustle, from this cause, prevails at the Arse-
nal and the Bureau of the Minister of War. As the
National Guard now perform the ordinary military
duties of this and other places, a small number of
troops only are required in the interior. A notice
was yesterday posted up in the University, purport-
ing to proceed from the " Council of a Confraternity
for the Independence of Western Italy," apprizing the
students that there were some vague reports of at-
tempts 1,
to be made for a counter-revolution, and call-
ing upon them to form a corps, and Offer their services
to Government, to prevent so great a calamity. A
great number of names were enrolled in the course
of Saturday and this morning. Whatever effect the
Revolution may have on the patriotic feelings and
social happiness of the people of this country, it has
produced no diminution of their religious fervour
or zeal for superstitious observances.
Yesterday, being the day of the Annunciation, was'
observed as a .great festival in all the Churches. The
morning was spent in processions of the Holy Sacra-
ment to different Churches; numerous masses were
said at the different altars ; warm panegyrics were
pronounced from the pulpit to numerous congrega-
tions, on the Blessed Virgin ; and, in the evening, a
general and brilliant illumination took place in her
honour. The illuminations, indeed, began on Sa-
turday night, the eve of the festival, but they were
neither so general nor so brilliant as last night, when,
the mass of light, though without tasteful decora-
tion, exceeded that by which the public joy is dis-
played with us for the most celebrated victories. The
time has gone by when a new love for civil freedom
is necessarily connected with hostility to religious in-
stitutions ; and the general illumination of last night,
though.to our Protestant notions rather an odd way
of evincing devotional feeling, was sufficient to de-
monstrate that the Church is likely to be in no dan-
ger from the establishment of the new order of
things. I saw one of the processions with the Host
pass through the Square of the Palace in the morn-
ing, and it is truly edifying to see the testimonies
of reverence and awe with which it was saluted.
As soon as the little bell which announced its ap-
proach was heard, every one pulled off his hat
and put himself in an attitude of devotion. Market
women, carmen, and haCkney coachmen, fell down
on their knees in the streets. The company on guard
at the Palace of the Government was called out, and
grounded arms, the drum beating, and the Officers
remaining in a half kneeling posture all the time that
the Priests were in sight. It is well known that the
piety of the faithful people of Piedmont was at first
rewarded and has since been fostered by the acqui-
sition and possession of one of the most precious relics
in Christendom, namely, the winding-sheet in which
the body of our SAVIOUR was wrapped, when it was
delivered to Joseph of Ai imathea. This inestimable
pledge of heavenly favour, called the Holy Winding-
sheet, which is preserved in the richest Chapel at
Turin, built for the express purpose of receiving so
sacred a deposit, has performed many miracles, and.
has been visited by many Sovereigns. Francis 1. of
France, after making peace with the Swiss, under-
took a pilgrimage on foot from Lyons to Chamberry,
where this relic then was, to pay it his devotions. In,
addition to this and other causes of Piedmontese su- '
perstition, their Sovereigns have always been re-
markable for their attention to the interests of the
Catholic Church.

During the domination of the French, festivals
and relics lost much in public estimation. The
Monks, those regular troops of the Church, were
driven from their strong holds, and their influence
was destroyed. The beautiful Capuchin Convent, on
the other side of the Po, was converted into a caba-,
ret, or low public-house; and an image of the Vir-
gin, in the Chur,Fh of Superga, which, before that
time, I was assured by the Concierge, had been
molto miraculous, ceased, during the stay of the
French, to produce any miracles at all. With the
late King returned the old regime, the old calendar
of Church Festivals, and a proper assortment of
Monks and miracles. Though tithes have been abo-
lished, and could not be restored, and though the
Church is consequently not •rich, the number of
Priests that appear in the streets is almost incredible.l
The Capuchins have again taken possession of their

Convent, and 1 heard a bearded brother yesterday, in
the Church of Madonna del rilon; mix Up the praise of
the Virgin Mary with that of the Spanish Constitution.
The beautiful church of Superga, on the top of the
hill of that name, on the other side of the Po, abcut
five miles from Turin, erected to commemorate the
raising of the siege of Turin, in 1706, is at once a splen-
did monument of the piety of the then Duke of Sa-
voy, Victor Amadeus H. and of the military talents
of Prince Eugene. It was from this hill that the lat-
ter made that reconnoissance of the movements of
'pre French army, which enabled him to defeat it I
'and this spot the former afterwards'appropriately se-
lected for a church to the Virgin, by whose aid the
victory was supposed to have been gained. There
cannot possibly be conceived a more commanding
situation for surveying one cf the best portions of
Italy than the summit of this church ; and if the Vir-
gin, to whom it is dedicated, has ceased to work
miracles of defense, the view itself ought to woi k a
miracle in every Italian bosom. You see the exten-
sive plains of Piedmont and Lombardy, watered by
the Po and its tributary streams, spread out below yeti,
like a magnificent garden, surrounded on nearly three
sides by the lofty snow-covered walls of the Alps.
At one glance you see the most celebrated moun-
tains of Europe—those of Savoy and Switzci land;
Mont Blanc, Mont Ccnis, Mont. Viso, and the gl e:it
St. Bernard—rising like the towers of this immense
wall, the ornamental pinnacles of this eternal fortifi-
cation; and the thought immediately occurs, why
have these ramparts been forced, and Italy enslaved,
by a stranger to her language, her arts, and her ge-
nius? Has the garrison been asleep, to be thus sur-
prised? What right has Austria to command in the
plains of Lombardy, or among the isles of Venice ?
Can this subjugation be perpetuated if the Italian
States acquire, as they are likely to do, in optosition
to all the efforts of the Holy. Alliance, the pride and
energy of Constitutional freedom ?

Every person who speculates on the consequences
of the establishment of Constitutions in Italy, must
conceive one of the most striking of them to be the
abolition of all foreign sway south of the Alps.—
Therefore it is that Austria conceives social order
menaced by the establishment of a Constitution in
Naples, while it was not menaced by the existence of
the same Constitution in Spain and Portugal. If, on
the other hand, Naples be subdued, and her Consti-
tution destroyed, Austria will possess more influence
in Italy than was attached to the Iron Crown of Na-
poleon or Charlemagne. At present she has in the
territory of Lombardy and Venice four millions of
subjects. Parma and Placentia are as much at her
command as Lombardy. or Venice. Tile Grand
Duke of Tuscany is one of the faniily, and exists only
by her permission. To her the Pope's triple Crown
is nothing more than a Bishop's mitre: the States of
Modena and Lucca are nothing more than dust in
the balance of power, but still they are in her own
scale; and the Kings of Naples and Sardinia, with
Austrian garrisons in their fortresses, will be merely
her Viceroys. Let England look to this. Let Eng-
land consider the effect of this state of things on her
trade with Genoa, Naples, Leghorn, and Palermo.
The peace of this capital is still preserved, notwith-
standing every effort on the part of certain interests
to compromise both it and the tranquillity of the
kingdom. The new King, Charles Felix, has ap-
,,ointed General Latour to the chief command of the
army, and that General transmitted some days ago a
Proclamation to all the towns in the kingdom, abo-
lishing the order of things established after the abdi-
cation, and restoring the old regime. As the exist-
ence of the Junta has not been acknowledged, this
dispatch was addressed to the Authorities of the City.
A Meeting of the Junta was immediately called ;
the new Ministers attended; and it was,resolved that
no notice should be taken of this dangerous docu.
ment. There is not the least doubt that tumult,
bloodshed, and perhaps conflagration and pillage,
have immediately followed its publication.—
The citadel commands the capital, and the citadel is
in the hands of parties decidedly for the new order
of things. What effect this Proclamation will pro-
duce in the North it is difficult to say, but the attempts
to comply with the King's commands concerning it
have already produced disastrous consequences at
Genoa, as will be seen by the following letter :
[The writer here gives a summary of the events at Genoa, pub-
lished in the STAR of Wednesday, and thus proceeds:]
Such are the effects produced by the conduct of
that weak 'young man whom circumstances called to
the Regency. Weakness, however, is not his only
demerit; treachery, I am afraid; must be added to
the collection of his offences ; for I am assured, from
a quarter on which you may rely, that on the 21q,
two days after he had given his authority to abolish
the new order of things at Genoa, he Was professing
the greatest zeal for it at Turin. Up to the time that
he fled he professed himself a zealous and courageous
Constitutionalist.