Italy. 23 July 1848
Italy.
* Turin, 14 July. The freedom of the press is in fact suppressed in Naples. Mobs of soldiery storm into the printing works and devastate them; the journalists are mistreated and killed by them. It is the “Unione”, one of the most moderate papers, that tells this story. It reports at the same time that it is prevented from continuing to appear by that infamous procedure just described. We are, says this journal, on the eve of a state of siege which will be far more terrible than the one recently lifted; to express ourselves more clearly, we fear a repetition of the scenes which preceded the Five Days of Milan. After further describing the present conditions in Naples and discussing the uprising in Calabria as well as the threatening movement in the five confederated provinces, La Concordia, from which we take these words, concludes: “this is the state of things. Perhaps at the moment we write these lines, the insurrection in the five confederated provinces has fully broken out. Perhaps the final struggle is now being fought in the streets of Naples. May so much calamity at last come to an end, may such shedding of fraternal blood cease, by the removal of the infamous cause (Ferdinand ‘by the Grace of God’) and by the complete victory of the arms of the citizens.”
(That we in “free” Germany are in no way behind the sabre censorship of the Neapolitan soldiery, the reader can convince himself under the heading: Germany.)
* Turin, 14 July. Yesterday the two deputies Paleocapa, Pietro and Reali, arrived here from Venice, bringing the resolution on the incorporation of the Republic into the new Italian kingdom. – In Genoa yesterday there was again a large popular demonstration against a monastic clergyman and superior of a monastery. It might have had serious consequences had not a padre, very popular with the people on account of his outspokenness, promised the speedy departure of the hated man of reactionary views. The latter is said to have left both the monastery and Genoa the following day.
* Turin, 14 July. – The Chamber of Deputies yesterday occupied itself with Bixio’s motion: concerning the demolition of the forts in Genoa, which are directed solely against the people. Bixio first takes the floor and reads out the report of the commission set up to consider his proposal. Among other things it says: Machiavelli wrote in his time: “That prince who fears his people more than the foreigner must build forts; but he who fears the foreigner more than his people must leave them alone. ... The best fort is not to be hated by the people. For if you have forts and fortresses, and the people hate you, they will not save you, for once the peoples have taken up arms, foreign help is never lacking.” At the present time, the rapporteur continues, when various princes of Italy have undertaken to fight for freedom, it is obvious that all forts which are not intended for defending the towns against external enemies must be converted into establishments that will be of benefit to the citizens. As regards the two forts inside the city of Genoa, the commission considers their immediate demolition necessary; as for other forts in the vicinity of the city, an exact investigation should be carried out and as much of them altered and destroyed as is deemed dangerous to the freedom of the citizens. Regarding Fort San Giorgio in Genoa, the commission is of the opinion that the western side should remain as a bastion, while the remainder could be fitted out as a barracks, but this must remain open and accessible from all sides so that it can never again be used as a fortress for oppressing the people. The commission therefore proposes a law in 3 articles, according to which all forts not intended for the defence of the towns against an external enemy are to be put out of a state of defence and converted into establishments of civic utility. This is to be done immediately with the “Castelletto” in Genoa, which is to be converted into a barracks and handed over to the Civic Guard for its own use. The Fort San Giorgio will be partially demolished and, on the other hand, refitted for defence against the exterior. As regards all other forts in the whole state, a commission to be appointed from officers and citizens is charged with investigating and making proposals on their demolition, alteration, or retention. One member desires adjournment of the debate until the new ministry