The daily press. (Cincinnati [Ohio) 1859-1859, 1859-05-13
THE PRESS.
CINCINNATI, FRIDAY, MAY IS.
Italy : Civil Character of its People.

Italy = Civil Character of its People.
1t is question which, to an American
mind, it would seem almost superAuous
to propose Is the civil character of the
Italian people such as to render them ca
pable to erect and sustain system of
popular selfgovernment2 We are so apt
to solve - to our own satisfaction at least
all questions Of this description by the
universal "all men are created equal and
are endowed by their creator with certain
inalienable rights, among which are life,
liberty, and the pursuit of happiness"
that to suppose it possible for people to
be, either naturally, or by force of cir
cumstances, fallen into such state as
not to be able rightly to govern them
selves, would be to expose the harborer of
such an idea to imputations alike uncom-
plimentary to his sense and to his patri-
otism.
If left entirely without exterior inhu-
ences, it is probable that there is no
people who would not, IN the course of
time settle down into something like gov
ernment of their own, which would, ac-
cording to circumstances, be autocratic,
aristocratic, or democratic in its form and
administration. But it is by no means
every people who are capable to sustain a
national government in the sense which
we attach to the expression. There is
nothing in respect to which different
peoples are more widely unlike, than in
civil character governing property.
African nationality-if it is proper to use
the expression, where the centralizing
tendency is almost imperceptible-is one
thing; Asiatic nationality is another, and
European still another Every race of
men has its own civilization, which always
determines the spirit of its administra-
tive government, however much borrowed
ideas or foreign influences may have con-
tributed to fix the form of its political in
stitutions. If all the nations of christen-
dom should combine to give and guaranty
to the tribes of Central Africa national
polity, it would not endure: it could not
even begin to exist The rule of the ne.
gro, in his native condition must be that
of the family and the tribe - a state of
semi-anarchy, which, as it embodies all
his conceptions of government, is the only
one of which he is capable From this
lowest point to the highest, there is vast
distance, which is occupied by races and
peoples in all the different stages of ad-
vancement the Anglo-Germanic, to which
we belong, occupying gin our own not
very disinterested opinions - the topmost
point, so far, in the progress.
With a feeling of natural preference
for our own form of government, we are
prone to assume that it is the only one ir
which the native rights Of man can bt
securely enjoyed. AS a corollary from
this predicate, it necessarily follows thai
all other forms are wrong and tyrannical
and that it is the first duty of every people
living under such oppressive institutions,
to throw them of, and to establish others
more consistent with the original liberty
of the human race, 1t may be that we
attach too much importance to mere forms
of government. 1t may be that we esti-
mate as compared with Sthers, our own
administrations which is the practical
test of government too highly. While
there may be exceptional cases, it is, in
general, the safest advice to every people
to preserve peace; and in spite of the tes
timony of the American revolution, the
almost unanimous voice of all history
shows that true progress is gradual; ant
that 1t is better to bear existing ills thar
fly to those whose magnitude can not b,
measured except by the standard of mex
orable experience.
The Roman Empire sank in a sea o
anarchy, the result of perhaps the mos
A"Ahupio uuulAIuTG OI ruC6b uIlub eve
occurred upon European soil; and Ital
has been for many centuries, given owe
to discord in every sphere of her socia
existence. Tired of this seemingly enc
less state of civil disturbance, the peopl
of the Italian provinces of the North, i
the thirteenth century, adopted the Gu
tom of choosing for their lords or soy
reigns some powerful noble, prince {
potentate, thus giving the strongest
all assurances that, at that time, in the
own esteem, they were incapable to ere,
and administer and defend stable go
ernment The original claim of the Hou'
of Hapsburg to rule over the Lombard
Venetian provinces, came, we believe, b
the way of one of these donations; an
first in the Spanish and afterwards in u
German branch of that House, has
with the exception Of theperiOd Of Freuc