10 JANUARY 1846, Page 2

Italy continues to send forth signs of the political fire

smoul- dering beneath the surface : Piedmont, Romagna, and Naples, are this time the states trembling with fear of revolt or invasion. Perpetual martial law, enforced by torture and espionage, fails to pacify the peninsula ; which has been in a state of suppressed anarchy ever since " the peace." Either the several Govern- ments are most laughably alarmed by mere handfuls of refugees, or the spirit of discontent is more widely and deeply rooted than the authorities will confess. Such, no doubt, is the case. The spirit of revolt is growing. If the Nationalist party in Italy had but a plan of action such as would command the respect and concurrence of Liberal Europe, this eternal contest between the meanest and most intolerable of tyrannies and the most aimless and hesitating of revolutionaries, would be ended.