Europe has been interested this week, rather than dis- turbed,
by a " revolution " in Canton Ticino. Whenever 7,000 electors in that Canton demand it. the Government " may " refer the question of a revised Constitution to the popular vote. The Liberals, who believe they have a majority, have been out of power for fifteen years, owing, as they believe, to an unfair distribution of the electoral districts. They therefore demanded that the Ultramontane Government, which had made itself unpopular by screening some defaulters, should sanction the Referendum. The Government evaded the demand ; and the Liberals, hoping nothing from Berne, whither they ought to have appealed, called their followers, secretly collected in Bellinzona, to arms. They seized the arsenal, Government House, and the members of the Govern- ment, five in number, and placing the latter under arrest, pro- claimed a Provisional Government. This was on the 11th inst., and on the same day the Federal Council at Berne despatched 1,900 soldiers, under Colonel IC iinzli, with orders to arrest the Provisional Government, and reinstate the old one. On arrival at Bellinzona, however, he was informed that the Liberals would not resist the Federal authority, but would fight if the Ultramontane Government were revived. He therefore, after obtaining permission from Berne, dismissed the Provisional Government, and himself presided over a new Council of four, two selected from each party, which decreed the submission of a revised Constitution to the people on October 8th. Since then, though the Ultramontanes are full of threats, order has been maintained.
