THE STATE OF LOMBARDY. (From the Times, April 25.)

New Zealander, Volume 4, Issue 242, 23 September 1848, Page 4

THE STATE OF LOMBARDY. (From the Times, April 25.)

The Provisional Government of Lombardy h«s published a manifesto to Euiope, which ha* the defect, common to modern Italian composition*, of such inordinate prolixity, that the journals of Europe would be much embarrassed to publish the whole of it. Our correspondent at Milan has, however, furnished our readers with the most important paisaget in this document, which we printed yesterday. We undoubtedly feel that sympathy which our correspondent has powerfully expretsed for a people combating in the* cause of national independence, protesting against the authority of a foreign nation, and defending in arms the soil of their country. But we cannot wholly lose sight of the fact thai this national independence and autonomous government of Italy is at present no more than the conception of an enthusiastic people — that it has not yet stood the brunt of foreign hostility, or survived the perils of internal division— and that It is not easy to forsee what sort of government will ultimately supersede that which hai been overthrown. We do not in the least question the patriotism, the courage, and the virtue of the men who form the Provisional Government of Lombardy, but neither there nor in Naples bas any man stood forward in this crisis of Italian freedom who can claim the political confidence of his countrymen or of Europe. The circumstances are immeasurably greater than the men. Hence we have no security that these very men will not be carried away by the force of events, and that the last condition of that province will not be infinitely worse than itl former state. There, as well as in other parti of Europe, the government will eventually have to deal with an anarcbial faction, which is absorbed at present in the common struggle for independence ; and this tendency to more democratic institutions and to republicau fonni of government will, of course, be fomented by the revolutionary party in France and by the Swisi Radicals. We believe that the Provisional Govern* ment of Lombardy feel* this difficulty ; and they nre probably disposed to take tbe earliest opportunity of placing an Italian prince at their head. It is by no means probable that Charles Albert (aspires to unite in his own person the crown of Lombardy with that of Savoy, but as the cause of independence does, in reality, rest on the support of his Piedmontese army, he, perhaps, intends to exert his influence in favour of hit second son. Be this as it may, the attack of the Sar* dinian army on the dominions of a neighbouring Power with which Charles Albert bad hitherto professed to live in strict amity has excited the censure of Europe. At St. Petersburgb, the Emperor of Russia has thovght fit to mark his sense of this breach of faith so strongly, that he ordered the Sardinian Envoy to take his panports and to quit that capital in 24 hours. The real turning point of affairs in Northern Italy will be the acion which must ere long be fought between the Mincio and the Adige : the delay which bas occurred is more favourable to the Austrians than to tbe Italians, and Marshal Radetzky has it in his power to choose his own time and place for the battle, in concert, probably, with the reinforcements which are marching to his assistance. A corp» of 15,000 men, tinder Count Nugent, must ere this have reached the confines of Italy, and much larger detatchments are also on their wtgr, Tbe intelligence of the capture of Peschiera wit altogether prematme. The king of Sardinia directed in person a rtconnoittance of the fortress, and some ammunition was captured in a neighbouring position ; but the place itself is one which ought not to surrender without a regular ieigeof thirty days, and this delay may prove highly prejudicial to the Italian army. It must, however, be observed, that the resistance of the Austrians hai every wheie been less effectual than might have been anticipated.— The passage of the Minco, for instance, at Goito, was accomplished with far less difficulty than when Brune and Dupont forced that line at the head of the French army in December, 1800. And we are assured that the great citidels of Verona, Mantua, and Leguano, on which the Austrian Government hai at all times rested the defence of Italy, have been left, with an incredible want of foresight, very ill«provided with stores and ammunition. If that be the case, their resistance mutt, of course, be uncertiin. But Charless Albert, with an Army of 40,000 men, is not in a condition to carry on more than one of these seigw at a time, and the volunteers from other parts of Italy are probably wholly unat for that duty. We still, therefor*, enter, tain great doubti of his being able to past the line of the Adigc , unless he should have the good fortune to annihilate the Austrian army in a pitched battle. If, | on the other hand, the Italian forces should be deflated, Charles Albert w II have great difficulty in regaining the position to which he has now advanced.— The Austrian! would then resume offensive warfare, and in spite of the heroism of the people of Milan, it is utterly impoisible ttat a large open city should hold out against an army in possession of the adjacent country and the roads. We repeat, however, that the whole queition turns upon this expected battle. In the mean time the Cabinet of Vienna has not been idle. General Zanini, who has been appointed ta the office of Minister of War, and who seemt for tbe moment to be the leading personage in the councilt of tbe empire, it a man of ability and resolution. He hat worked his way up to hit present exalted positon from an humble condition in life, and hat displayed ia various occasions considerable adminittrative talents. We hope that the Austrian government will recognize the necessity and the justice of offering such condition! to the Provisional Government of Lombardy at may lead to a pacification of the province on equitable terms ; but no terms can be offered to, or accepted from, a foreign sovereign who hat marched with hit forces into the heart of the Austrian dominions in Italy -, and againtt Charles Albert tbe Imperial Court hat no alternative but the prosecution of the war.— Supposing even that concessions were to be made, and the independence of Lombardy and Venice recognited, ihe fate of the whole territory lying east of the Adige, and between the northern extremity of the Adriatic and the Julian Alps, would remain to be decided, in nhich the German and the Italian races are more near, ly blended than in the north of the Italian peninsula. The inturrection has extended to Udine, in Frioul, but there, we have little doubt, it will shortly be suppressed. The manifesto of the Lombard Government contain! no precise information on any of these points. It does not state by what limits the pretensions of Italian independence are bounded, and it does not point to the precise political system by which they are hereafter to be defended. Yet, in a state paper of this nature, they were indispensable conditions \ and we must still await the determination of the events, or the appearance of tome Italian Statesman who may speak with greater authority in the name of hit countrymen.

This Post-office Supebsßded. — The Postmwter General, Colonel Maberly, and Mr. Rowland Hill, may set their house* in order and prepare to eradiate St. Mardn's-le- Grind ; for they will have to exclaim with Othello, " Our occupation's gone !" It seemi, indeed a hard case, ofter co much trouble to improve the noBtal_communicationg of the country, and after tteam

of the kingdom, that the well planned arrangements and excellent machinery should come to nought ; but even the; muit submit to fate and scientific invention. Not many months hare pnised since we noticed Mr. Bain's ingenious Marking Electric Telegraph, by meani of which symbols representing letters of the alphabet are maiked on paper by electricity ; and we predicted that meani would soon be found of transmitting along the telegraph-wires exact copies of written communication!. What we then deemed probable has now been realized. We have this week seen a specimen of writing by the Copying Telegraph, invented by Mr. F. C. Bakewell, wherein words traced from the original were legibly copied on paper by an instrument that had no connexion with the one to which the transmitted message was applied, excepting by the usual wires from the voltaic battery. The letters traced on tbe paper appear of a pale colour, on a dark ground formed by numerous lines drawn cloie together. The communications thui traced, we understand, may be transmitted at the rate of 500 letters of the alphabet per minute of ordinsry writing j and were short-band symbolt employed, the rapidity of transmission would be quadrupled. When this meant of correspondence is in operation, instead of dropping » letter into the poit office box and waiting days for an answer, we may apply it directly to the Copying Telegraph, have it co« pied at the ditUnt town in a minute or leis, and receive a reply in our correspondent's handwriting almost as soon as the ink is dry with which it wai penned. There are various means, too, for preserving the secrecy of the correspondence; the most curious of which is, that the writing may be rendered nearly invisible in all parts but the direction until its delivery to the person for whom it is designed. The operations of the Copying Telegraph are not limited to the tracing of written character. Letterpresi printing may be copied with even greater rapidi'y than writing and fac-simile copies of the morning papers may thus be transmitted to Liverpool and Manchester long before the papers themselves are delivered to their reader* in ] London. The means by which these astonishing effects are produced we are not at present permitted to state, as the invention is not yet protected ; but we are aia sured that the method ia simple, and that the median* j ism is neither costly nor likely to get out of order.— It it, indeed, one of tbe peculiar features of the Copying Telegraph that it cannot commit errors, because the communication! it transmit! arc fac-similes of the original writiug. — Spectator,