It is stated,—we cannot confirm it, but believe the account
-to be substantially correct,—that a desperate attempt has been made to upset the Italian Ministry and substitute for it another amore devoted to France. The attempt was made by General La Marmora, who first published his own account of the recent war, supporting it by documents he had no right to disclose, --and then attempted to reject the Tobacco Bill, on the ground that the concessions were extravagant. The truth about that point is that the tobacco farm can be better managed, that it ought to be better managed, and that the profits of such manage- ment ought to go to the State ; but that the State wants money too much to think of the future, and raises it in the way which presses least upon the industry of the people. So formidable -was the attack that the Ministry summoned its supporters from Venice and Naples, but they came, and the concession was affirmed by a majority of nineteen.
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