DISTURBANCES IN ITALY.

Lyttelton Times, Volume VI, Issue 388, 23 July 1856, Page 5

DISTURBANCES IN ITALY.

The Times correspondent at Genoa writes from that city on the 31st March.—The commune of Parma has been delared in a state of siege, which is thus accounted tor by persons in this city. After the riot of the 22 id of July, 1854, when it will be recollected, the military were allowed to commit great excesses wit:> the most perfect impunity, aud which arose from the dearness of provisions, and was quite devoid of all political aim, the persons arrested were generally punished with gre r <t severity by the sentence of the Military Commission. "This uncalled for severity naturally bred an ill-feeling: towards the Government, which hud done much to conciliate the good-will of the people after the death of the Duke a few months hefove; but unfortunately, the Duchess give way to foreign counsels on that occasion, and sanctioned hard sentences against what she was led to believe was incipient revolution. The consequence was, that the Government lost its nascentpopularitv, and the friends of those condemned vowed revenge against the member; of the commission who pronounced sentenc ■. Whether this vendetta be a reality or not, it is a curious eoiueidenccUhat Lanati, who was President of the Commission, was assassinated ; Gobbi, who was prosecutor, was attacked and severely wounded ; and now Broil!, who was Judge Advocate, has been murdered, at seven o'clock in the evening, when walking along a not unfrequented street, with an orderly following him at a short distance. All three persons warning letters of the fate intended for ahem, as had also Count Magawly, who was assassinated not long sim c, and it is'said others have received similar notices. The Sardinian Government having reason to believe that these murders were perpetrated in consequence of some politha! conspiracy, has strengthened till the pcs'.s along the Parmesan frontier, and one or two persons have been arrested in Turin, I understand, on suspicion of connivance. The vigilance displayed, hv this Government in strengthening the iiands'of its neighbour against the machinations of its enemies, without interfering in its domestic affairs, is no doubt highly commendable, though the policy which allows Austria continually to meddle in the interior arrangements of ' the minor States of Italy, as "the friend of the family," is more tlnn questionable. If it should be fotttul that these Parma murders are really the result of some political plot, it certainly tends to prove to the world that the surest way to repress such horrors in Italy is by supporting the .principles of the

Piedmontcse Government, for Austria has always proved herself a bad adviser iv these matters, and the example of her Government in her own provinces is by no means encouraging for others to follow. In fact, it is much lobe feared that if something to this effect he not done at the present Peace Congress we may expect to hear of far worse crimes than these before many mouths are past.