Turin, Sept. 4, 1864. AFTER two years' absence I find
myself again in Italy. In old countries two years are a period too short to be attended by mani- fest changes, but in a country in the condition of Italy they are a period sufficient to be productive of great and above all striking effects, for Italy is in its teens, when features spring naturally with rapidity into relief, and transformations are created with magical swiftness. Besides, these last two years have been marked with events calculated to stimulate irresistibly development whether for the better or for the worse. The great discovery at Aspromonte of that so-called party of action has occurred—a party the real strength and proportions of which was until then a matter of vague calculation and apprehension—and this was followed by the equally signal breakdown in Parliament of that hybrid coalition headed by M. Rattazzi which by a series of underhand intrigues had succeeded in grasping for a season the reins, I will not say of power, but of office, and the enjoyment of salary. I have been too short a time as yet here to venture on a detailed estiauate of the present state of the country and the respective positions in which parties stand to each other at this moment. Depend upon it that whoever takes upon himself to arrive offhand at an estimate of Italian conditions does not really know the country, and has no larger insight than that of some one particular party. There is one thing, however, which I venture to speak to already without hesita- tion, and that is the universal testimony borne to the practical progress, both materially and intellectually, of the country by all I have spoken to, however free they may have been in censure of this or that measure that has been adopted, and by everything that has met my eye. At this season Turin is comparatively empty. The prorogation of Parliament, has sent to their country homes that humming swarm of politicians who throng the arcades of Turin during the session, and render it almost a labour to force one's way through them. Still there is always a sprinkling to be found in the town,—men who from their connection with some of the many serious industrial undertakings which are being so zealously promoted in the Peninsula have to resort to the seat of adminis- tration, and who are intimately acquainted with the feeling of the country. Now what I have observed in these men, and in a degree that has astonished me, is their growth in calm appre- ciation of what is commanded by prudence, their abandon- ment of the feverish impatience which a short while ago made it almost be considered high treason not to be in a state of in• cessant fret for the invasion of Venetia and the possession of Rome. The change which I see is the change which distinguishes petulant boyhood from earnest and tempered manhood. The very first novelty which met my eyes in the streets of Turin is a practical illustration of this modification of feeling. When Piedmont ex- panded into Italy, the building which had sufficed for the old Legislature was found to be too small to accommodate the sudden accession to the number of legislators. Accordingly a wooden building was hastily constructed and fitted up to serve the purpose
• at the back of the old House, which, like all such improvised edifices, was as inconvenient as it was mean. Now I remember Well how over and over again the complaints about the inadequacy of such a building for the sittings of an Italian Parliament always ended in the remark, universally concurred in, that it was out of the qUestion to expect that the sum of money necessary to erect a fitting edifice should ever be expended in Turin, so certainly but for a very short while the seat of Government. To my astonish- ment I find on my return all the scaffolding raised for the rearing of a large palace in adjunction to the old one, which on inquiry I learn to be intended for the abode of the Legislature, and to be erected at the cost of the Turin municipality. In my opinion the decision to erect this edifice typifies completely the general altera- tion in people's manner of looking at the immediate fature of Italy.
Two years ago it would have been as impossible for men here to have resolved on such a step as it is impossible to hush a baby's violent crying out for a toy beyond its reach. But now it is seen and felt, not that Rome and Venetia must be lost sight of, but that to get them Italy must first strengthen herself, that this re- quires organization, and that such organization can be attained only by severe and united labour. I am not afraid of falling into hasty judgment by giving expression to this opinion. On this head I have already seen enough ever since reaching Susa to be overwhelmed with evidence. The Italians have lost none of their determination to acquire Rome, but their temper has acquired that soberness of experience which is an additional strength, for it is the antidote to eccentric passions. So much for general matters to-day. for I reserve to myself to give you afterwards more detailed accounts as to the actual progress of the country and the particular feeling in its various parts when I have examined both on the spot: The matters which form the immediate subject of political gossip at Turin are the dissolution of Parliament which has been advocated by a certain party, the report of modifications in the Cabinet, and the flying rumour of Prince Humbert's marriage. I am convinced that there will be no dissolution just now, and for the very reasons that make it be called for by some persons. Next year Parliament expires. What has the Government to gain by dissolving just now? Nothing whatever, while it would expose itself to considerable difficulties by doing so. This is due to the general position of the Ministry, which having had to take in hand a series of organic measures, many necessarily contrary to particular interests, and to introduce a system of increased taxation, as neces- sarily always an unpopular thing, has been the object of personally bitter opposition in the House from a coalition of the old Pledmontese faction and the extreme Left, and would at the election have to contend against the same reinforced by the clericals, who are organizing themselves, and at the recent elections have shown their readiness to vote for candidates however Radical who would embarrass Government. To dissolve at this moment, when any irritation at the new system of taxation is at its first burst, would be gratuitously to court disadvantages. Of course it would suit particularly well the ends of the Opposition to force on a dissolution at the most favourable moment to themselves, and they have taken great pains to raise a cry, particularly through the press out of Italy ; but you may rest assured that there is no in- tention to play into their hands. I am myself not at all convinced that the Opposition is right in its anticipations, for I observe that in the recent elections to fill up vacancies in the House the Radical candidates have been beaten even in constituencies notoriously given to their views. The modification in the Cabinet is a more likely occurrence. In fact the Minister of Public Instruction, M. Amari, has tendered his resignation. This gentleman, one of the most high-minded patriots of Italy, a man whose whole life has been distinguished by a quite Roman disinterestedness and fortitude of mind, the very type of nature's best no- bility, has been, apparently from his indomitable rectitude and horror of jobbery, the especial butt of some virulent and pre- tentious individuals in Parliament, who have not blushed to com bine amongst themselves to asperse in a disgracefully personal manner a man whose literary reputation is European, and who enjoys the respect of every one who knows him. In one of the last sittings of the House, just at the fag end of the session, by a surprise these coalesced enemies of M. Amari took advantage of a technical point to raise a debate which, because it ended in sending back to a special committee by a very small majority his proposition for removing the schools for secondary instruction from immediate dependence on the central Government and putting them under that of local bodies, has been treated by him as a vote of want of confidence. There is no denying that although the point involved is small by itself, yet the animus of those who carried it was undisguisedly betrayed in the debate, and that M. Amari acted in a way which to a man of his high sense of honour could not but be natural when he asked to be relieved from office. It is.understood that if he still continues in the Cabinet it is only that he has consented at the urgent request of his colleagues to hold office for a short time, inasmuch as the public service would suffer if at this precise moment there were to occur a change in the Government. The particular measure on which the debate took place is one in which the Cabinet cordially concurs. The object is one of decentralization. At present the masters in all the institutions for secondary instruction throughout the country are named by the Minister of Public Instruction, a labour which requires a quite preposterous acquaintance with individuals. What therefore was proposed was to entrust the provincial and local authorities, who are in a position to be acquainted with the teachers in their own locality, with these nominations,—a measure manifestly wise for many reasons. But faction is never loath to pick a hole, and so the opportunity was seized to inflict a real blow on the country, which had the charm of involving humiliation for a hated adversary. As for Prince Humbert's supposed mar- riage, I need not say much, after the recent telegrams that the Murat family has actually sailed on its pilgrimage to the Holy Land, and that the Princess Dagmar is affianced to the Russian Grand Duke. Whatever foundation there may have been for the belief that a project was on foot for wedding the heir of Italy to Princess Murat, it has certainly been nipped in the bud, while the other Royal lady is irrevocably disposed of otherwise. There is a piece of news, however, to which am disposed to attach much importance, namely, the flight of the noted brigand chief Crocco from the Neapolitan provinces. The information I have received gives to this occurrence the character of an event, for Crocco appears to have been decidedly the most redoubtable of all the leaders, and his retreat from the scene of action will be attended with a general disbanding of the brigand corps. I can confidently assure you that the telegraphic reports to the Home Office in the last two days announce the successive and spontaneous surrender of numerous heads of such flying bodies, and it is considered that by the depaOure of Crocco brigandage has been reduced to a shadow. The imperfect notices of this daring outlaw's escape indicate an adventurous close, of a piece with his desperate career, for it would appear that, having dismissed his lieutenants after a council held in the depths of the forest of Sassani with the advice to make the best terms they could, he succeeded in the daring enterprise Borjes failed in,—to pick his way right through the heart of the country to the Roman frontier, where he gave himself up. This is not the case of one brigand more or less being abroad, but of the man who had the superior command evacuating the field and giving up the game. Such at least is the opinion here of men in office, and as far as I can venture to judge there appears no reason to assume that their anticipations are the exaggerated estimates of an over-sanguine
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