Italy. September 6, 1848
* According to reports brought to Genoa by a steamboat from Leghorn on August 27, the people have come to blows with the military, the latter having got the worst of it. Meanwhile, a deputation which hurriedly set off for Florence is said to have obtained redress of the grievances presented and, in return, to have guaranteed the cessation of hostilities on the part of the people. Russia has declared in a note presented to the British Cabinet that it recognises Austria as the sole lawful possessor of Lombardy, that consequently, in the event of any Franco-British mediation, if not the whole, at least the greater part of the territory it has hitherto held in Italy must remain to it. Radetzky has received the Order of St Andrew from Nicholas, as well as several Commander’s crosses and other decorations for the army.
* Turin, August 29. By a decision of the Council of Ministers, all members of the Lombard Consulta have been summoned here for the entire time that Lombardy remains in Austrian hands, so that they may hold their sessions in Turin. The official gazette is at last compelled to give the lie to its earlier statement that Garibaldi had committed atrocities. In Genoa, the work of demolishing the two strongholds is proceeding briskly.
* Rome, August 25. Latour was to become Minister of War and declined; the portfolio was then offered to Count Lovatelli and accepted by him. Yesterday he too tendered his resignation, and Gaggiotti is provisional Minister of War. Yesterday in the Chamber of Deputies, the latter had an all the more difficult position vis-à-vis Sterbini’s interpellations, as the facts alleged against him could not be glossed over even with the finest phrases. Gaggiotti, who is at the same time Minister of the Interior and whose circular concerning the cessation of all further defensive measures exposes him before the whole world, is precisely supported by the party that is customarily called the Austro-Jesuitical party here, and in whose interest he is active in every direction.
* Reggio (in Modenese), August 23. In Modena the tricolour flag flies in the great square and the civic guard has retained its tricolour cockades; here, however, this is forbidden by the town commandant, who is an Austrian. All the newspapers that came into existence under the provisional government continue. The Duke constantly strives to make himself popular. He has declared that he wishes to forget everything that has passed; moreover, he knows how bitter exile is; he also wishes to forgive the devotion to Charles Albert. A deputation was sent out to welcome the Austrian troops. When they arrived, the Bishop of Modena and the officers of the civic guard found themselves obliged to sleep in the same quarters as the soldiers, because the Austrians believed that a betrayal against them had been hatched and that they would be attacked and murdered during the night. Moreover, the local civic guard has been left only 30 muskets, which they must not even take home with them. The patrols are always led by an Austrian, so that the latter gives the watchword.
* Piacenza, August 26. In this Sardinian town, Count Thurn gives orders as though it had belonged to the Austrians for centuries. He has had all the arms taken away from the citizens, and thus the inhabitants are now defencelessly exposed to the brutalities of the Austrians.
* Rome, August 25. A Sardinian steamer has arrived in Civitavecchia with about 300 Venetians, who have been fighting in the ranks of the Piedmontese army and have now been disarmed by the generals, who have long been known among the people as traitors and instruments of reaction. The baseness of the Sardinian government is all the greater since it did not even convey these Venetians as far as Ancona, from where they could easily have returned to their city. Now they have been put ashore stripped of all means and far from home. It is said that they have even been refused passage through the Papal territory to Ancona by the ministry here and that their application to join the Roman volunteer corps has likewise been turned down. Thus, everybody who has taken up arms for the independence of Italy is treated as an enemy by the Italian governments themselves. – The day before yesterday, the proceedings of the ministry in regard to the first Roman legion were discussed in the Chamber of Deputies. The commander had submitted a complaint, in which he