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No 484. July 2, 1859.] THE LEADEB,, , 79...
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SATURDAY, JULY 2, 1859.
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|)-u.Mi4 ^-fl airs.
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There is nothing so revolutionary, becau...
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MINISTERIAL TALK. Electioneering busines...
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S. OLFERINO. ( In ouc of hits brilliant ...
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Transcript
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
No 484. July 2, 1859.] The Leadeb,, , 79...
No 484 . July 2 , 1859 . ] THE LEADEB ,, , 793
Ad01307
SUBSCRIPTION TO " THE LEADER . " ONE GUINEA PER YEAR , UNSTAMPED , PKErATD . ( Delivered Gratis . ) OFFICE , NO . , CATHERINE-STREET , STRAND , W . C-
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Saturday, July 2, 1859.
SATURDAY , JULY 2 , 1859 .
|)-U.Mi4 ^-Fl Airs.
gubli ^ ^ fl airs .
There Is Nothing So Revolutionary, Becau...
There is nothing so revolutionary , because there is nothing so unnatural : md convulsive , as the strain to keep things fixed when all the world is by the very law of its creation in eternal progress . —Dr . Arnold . ¦ ' ' - ? : ¦ '
Ministerial Talk. Electioneering Busines...
MINISTERIAL TALK . Electioneering business has given several members of the new Cabinet an opportunity of expressing . their sentiments upon public affairs , and on the whole the result is not unfavourable to the reputation of the yet untried administration ; but there are important exceptions . Lord John Russell has done good service by honestly declaring the cause of the war to be , " not the ambition of one man , of two men , or of three men , but the grievous misgovernment of Italy , which has now lasted forty years , and which the Italian people have at various times endeavoured to throw ofl . " Uc also expressed a hope that the contest would terminate in a manner favourable to the " independence and liberty of Italy . " This , with a declaration of a desire to preserve neutrality , and offer tjood advice all round , Was perhaps as much as we " could expect the new Foreign Minister to say , without a wider departure from diplomatic secrecy than a statesman of the old school would be likely to indulge in . Sir C Wood added a bit more to our slender stock of knowledge , and expressed a hope that the Germans would , with the " aid of the advice ire have given them since ice came into power , abstain from hostilities . " If the great ** ? re , " of which Sir C . Wood forms so important a portion , are justified in expecting the German Powers to act in a rational and peaceable way , the Right Hon . R . Lowe would appear not to be allowed to pick up many crumbs that fall from the Cabinet table , for he alarmed the poeketborough of . Calnc by affirming that without a miraculous interposition of " One who ruled the hearts of kings , it was impossible that another month should . clap . se without war being declared between France and Germany . " The honourable gentleman appears to have had his prophetic soul on , for he declared , contrary to existing fact , that Ivossutli and Klapka were already sent to Hungary to stir up a revolt , and pictured a state of things in which our participation in a European war would be unavoidable . We hope with Sir C . Wood that the German Powers will act upon the advice ho tells us Lord Pahncrgton's Cabinet have given , and that ho is justified in expressing an anticipation to this effect ; but what can wo think of him as a statesman , and of LordPalmorston ' a conduct in accepting him as a colleague , when wo read other passages of his extraordinary speech . After reiterating assurances that no efforts should be spared to keep those nations out , of the war who nave not { rot engaged in it , Sir Charles astonished his icarers by declaring , "Wecannot slnit our eyos to the possibility that if Germany should engage in war this country may also bo drawn into tho vortex in defence of those intercuts which our national treaties bind us to uphold . " In reply to an exclamation of dissatisfaction with this statement , Sir Charles continued to maintain his iissortion that our duty would bo to Ii # ht for some u treaties " whoso nature ho did not condoscond . to explain . It would bo of no earthly consequence what views Sir C . Wood hold about those alleged treaties , if wo could bo euro that he sat in tho
Cabinet merely as the representative of his own folly ; but it is believed that other members of the Whig party have similar Austrian leanings , and , like this most incompetent gentleman , are ready - to make our participation in the war entirely contingent upon the caprice or miscalculation of tlie German Powers . Lord Pabnerston bas just assured the country , in reply to an address on the subject , that be = could foresee no probable events that -would justify our appealing to arms in this quarrel , and Ids declaration in Parliament on Thursday ivas equally explicit . If the Premier is sincere , there must be an important difference betwee n his views and those of Sir C . Wood ; and it is not likely that Mr . Lowe , sitting by favour of the Marquis of Lansdowhe for the rotten boroug h , of Calne , would utter sentiments which his political patron would feel inclined to disavow . Mr . MiLner Gibson spoke in a far wiser strain , and we trost Mr . Cobden will accept office and assist bina in defeating the machinations of the Sir C . Wood kind of whigs . —Mr . Gibson said , " Above all , I am desirous that it should be no fault of ours that there is not a cordial and friendly understanding with our nearest neig hbour , France . " Sir C . Wood mustbe a ware thatno treaty exists which binds this country to place life and treasure at the disposal of the German princes , and it will be well if they take heed to the words of Mr . Milner Gibson , and cease to calculate upon receiving assistance from British folly or British , gold . If , as we hope , Lords Palmerston and J . ltussell are anxious to preserve the French alliance intact , whatever course the German princes may take , they deserve , and will need , the strongest aid public opinion can g ive to bear them up against the intrigues and pressure to which they will be subjected by the Austro-German party in this country . : It is clear that the Cabinet is not united upon tliis great question , and we learn from the speeches of Lord John Russell and Mr . Gibson that , practically speaking , nothing is yet settled about parliamentary reform . We entirely repudiate Mr . Gibson ' s theory , that " " a Government cannot t # expected to be in advance of the people , and that we shall never see an administration prepared to do more than public opinion requires , " but we certainly do not expect the existing Cabinet to occupy so noble a position . For tlie present , the order of the day must be for the people to lead and the Government to follow ; but the * , time will come -when . Englishmen will te sick of the rule of mediocrity , and desire to be . led in affairs of state—as they are now in matters j of medicine or engineering—by men capable of . doing far more than public opinion has learnt to ; require . It is not long since Sir Richard Bethel ¦ rightly declared his conviction that no reform : bill could be final , until the progress of society : demanded complete enfranchisement ; but it would be impossible to look upon the inevitable growth of democracy with otlier feelings than those of aversion and alarm , ware it not for the belief that it is possible for national aspiration to dignify popular power , and for a people to recognise ; the ' legitimate authority and appreciate the true ; functions of itd greatest men . i
S. Olferino. ( In Ouc Of Hits Brilliant ...
S . OLFERINO . ( In ouc of hits brilliant lectures on the History of ' j Modern Philosophy , Victor Cousin describes war . " as nothing else than a bloody exchange of ideas j ^ a battle , nothing else than the combat of error 1 with truth , " He also tells us , " When the idea of i a nation has served its time , this nation disappears ; t but it docs not easily give up its place , it is neces- i Bary that another nation should dispute with it its t place and wrest its place from it ; hence war . The 1 defeat of a nation that has served its time , the victory of a nation that has its time to aervo , and j is called to . empire—behold the certain and in- 1 ovitable oifyct of w » u \ " There may bo in this ' . and other passages in which the same celebrated r writer has expressed tho almost universal seiiti- t inents of his countrymen , too much worship of a success and too ready a belief in tho doctrine c that right is always coincident with might , but \ tho philosophy is surely applicable to the defeats c wlkioh . Austria has sustained . Substitute for a 11 motion" the word " empire , " and wo at once a perceive that tho Austrian idea " has served its e timo , " and its disappearance would secure an in- ^ > ovitable consequence of that providential logio of n facts which tho philosophic historian traces in the s <
j sequence of human affairs . The " Austrian idea " was perfectly manifested in the battle of Solferino . There was an exhibition of its power to oymld and crush masses into the forms of a system with which the component parts have no natural affinity . Inreligion , in politics , and in war , the Austrian idea seeks to make society into a machine that shall grind out in an ignorant mechanical way the i-esults pre-ordained by its masters . The Austrian army just defeated came thoroughly * up to the pattern ordered by its Imperial proprietor . Men wheeled this way or that way precisely as they were told . They shot and were shot at with admirable precision ; and when the time came for retreat they moved back as accurately as a railway train when the engine-driver reverses his wheels . The perfection of the Austrian idea consists in the absence of spontaneity , the French idea abounds in it ; the French army is full of it , and it is remarkably exhibited in the Zouaves , every one of whom , fights as if the skill , the daring , and the final glory were exclusively his own . Thus contemplated , and leaving out for a moment the Italian element engaged in it , the struggle will not seem one between Louis Napoleon and Francis Joseph , but between two ideas ^ one which the world wants * and another of which it desires to be quit . Let jealousy doits worst in cowardly depreciation , and envy its most malignant powers of detraction against France , still it will be impossible to deny that the French idea is far above the Austrian ; and when the two came into collision , civilization rejoiced because the lesser was depressed . In a strategical point of view , Solferino is a battle of little consequence . If the French bad lost it , their plans might have been seriously deranged ; but in gaining it ttey obtained possession of no territory , won no strong position , but simple the opportunity of fighting another battle a few miles further on . Morally , however , Solferino will take a high , rank , because the relative value of the two ideas , or systems , was tested on a gigantic scale and under equal conditions . A space about as far as from Primrose-hill to Croydon , was occupied by each part •; for sixteen hours the conflict raged ; ponderous artillery swept away opposing ranks ; muskets and rifles kept up a hailstorm 5 f death , and sabre and bayonet proved sanminary ministers of wroth and ferocity excited to lie highest pitch . The very elements seemed to ihare the frenzy , and a terrific thunderstorm uade its voice heard and its light seen among-the moke and uproar of the crimson field . For a ittle while we shall seem to hear the shrieks , and ee the ghastly wounds of this grim contest , and mmanitarian arithmeticians will compute how arge a town the killed and injured would have illed ; but in a few days we sliall be able to talk is coolly of Solferino as of Salamis , and estimate he battle , not by the physical suffering it proluced , but by the results it will leave behind . Che friends of Italy will rejoice that the Italians ind their patriot king nobly and fairly divided the langers and the honors with their gallant allies , uid those -who have blamed them for seeking breign aid may learn from the immense dimenions and perfect mechanical order of the Austrian irmy , how vain would have been the hope that an unprepared people , assisted by a single small State , ould have wrenched their own country from the ; rasp of suoli a gigantic foe . In 1848-9 the Austrian army was in a very inferior position to rhat it now occupies ; and popular movements hen practicable in Italy would now have bean usane attempts . Solferino proves that oyen the reat military empire of France has mot an oppoient that tasks his utmost might ; . and tins wot is n answer to those who thought the Italians should ave acted alone . , , . ., Another change of opinion which this battlo should iroduco is a diminution of those fears of oonquest y which tho German people have been misled , "lie first Napoleon won some of his most lmportnt victories with from half to a quarter of the nny now opposed to tho Austnnns , and it bis accessor hail attempted to carry on the present ampaign with tho fbrood engaged at Marongo lie ould lirtvo encountered instantaneous and thorough ofeat . In Italy tho French have the advantage of friendly population , and they fight against an my destitute of nationality and without a single inobling soutimont to add vigour to their arms . r they to mako an unjust invasion of Gernny , feelings of patriotism , nationality , and pernal interest ought to bo sufficient to raise tho
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), July 2, 1859, page 13, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_02071859/page/13/
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