“If, instead of cheering Austria on to crush little Piedmont, whose great crime was to support the principles of civil and religious liberty, England had stood by those principles as she ought, do you think Napoleon would now stand as high as he does? “Austria would never have dared to act as she did, had she not been encouraged by the then English Government; and the war which has given Savoy and Nice to France would never have taken place if England had done something for the cause of freedom. That position which now Napoleon occupies would have been occupied by England to her manifest advantage, and to that of mankind. “When the Protestants were hard pushed at La Rochelle, Elizabeth did not stand by looking on, nor did her Parliament talk so much as ours does. When the poor Vaudois were persecuted by the Duke of Savoy, Cromwell was not so squeamish about non-intervention, but sent word to Mazarin to make the Duke understand that the persecution _must_ cease—and it did cease. “Compare those times with ours, and then laugh, if you can, at my political notions. When do you return?” Two months after the date of the last-quoted letter, Panizzi received an interesting account of Southern Italy from Poerio, which is subjoined:— “Turin, June 1st, 1860. “My dearest Friend, While I have been waiting for an answer to the letter which I wrote to you from Florence, new and unexpected events and new complications have arisen, demanding the prompt and energetic co-operation of everybody who is devoted to our cause. Therefore I am forced to have recourse to you as one of those few who, to a fixed determination of aiding their country, add by their own personal importance the capacity of doing good upon an extensive scale. Palermo has fallen, and the National idea is triumphant throughout the island. Of course there are many obstacles to be overcome. Nevertheless before long that noble region will be irrevocably lost to the Bourbons, and regained for Italy. But what will become of the seven millions of Italians who still groan beneath the detestable tyranny of the Bourbons? It is now said that the Government, in order to gain time (as it did in 1848) intends putting on the mask of liberalism, and retains the Count of Syracuse as the principal actor in this impudent farce. He has a few adherents, and is not wanting in desire to represent a Louis-Philippe in miniature. In the meantime the Mazzini set are agitating because they know that of the whole Italian territory the Southern Provinces of the peninsula are best adapted to their designs. Neither are the partisans of Murat standing idle, but are working effectually in the army with the most seductive promises.