A. Belgian paper publishes what purports to be a note
addressed by Lord Palmerston to the Neapolitan Minister in London. So many apocryphal state papers have appeared of late, that the authenticity of this document may be doubted. If genuine, it would appear that Prince Castelcieala has been instructed by his Government to request that Lord Palmerston would transmit its reply to Mr. Gladstone's charges to every court to which he had forwarded that gentleman's pamphlet ; and that the Foreign Secre- tary declines the task, adding an expression of his belief in the truth of Mr. Gladstone's representations.
Italy appears to be sinking from bad to worse. The recurrence of the 14th of October has set the Romans to ()entreat the position now occupied by Pie None with his ovation on that day four years ago. The Roman Government, in its treatment of political pri- soners, emulates that of Naples ; the latter perseveres unrelentingly in its persecution of Liberals; Tuscany has sunk into an appanage of Austria; and even respecting Sardinia, the last stay of the Italian Constitutionalists, there is a rumour that she is on the eve of replacing her present Minister at Rome by a devoted partisan of the clerical party. Yet all the Italian Governments except the Sardinian must be conscious that nothing upholds them but the presence of French and Austrian troops. Of late there have been frequent arrests of officials in Rome' and refugees in England are in constant communication with the inmates of the Roman state prisons. The Italian rulers cannot rely even upon their own agents.
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