29 JANUARY 1848, Page 1

The news from Italy is of a kind to cause

not a little anxiety. Palermo and great part of Sicily are in the hands of insurgents. The King of Naples was so dismayed at the news, that he was struck with illness ; but he is obstinate, and will not yield. Troops are sent against the Sicilians : if their numbers are not in- sufficient, their fidelity is doubtful. Once let that give way, the throne itself may fall, and Italy is plunged into war.

The massacre at Milan has caused the most lively and meaning sympathy in Central Italy. At Rome, a funeral service was per- formed in public, and at the demand Of the people a high digni- tary officiated. Stories come from Turin, that the Kin" of Sardinia had re- pulsed a popular deputation of Genoese nobles, with the insulting command—" Vada afla menu, e poi a case : Let them go to mass, and then go home." We receive these anecdotes, however, with caution.

But the most important accounts are those which fepresent the Government at Vienna as beginning to make concessions. Prince Metternich, it is said, remains firm in the old faith, and depre- cated concessions as encouraging rebellion. He, is too old to learn that concession may sometimes prevent rebellion. But he was overruled. The account, though it cannot possibly be au- thenticated except by the event, wears an aspect of probability.