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    Affairs] THE LEADBB, ^__ 6&T

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    TTArTAV mJTV xxa.Lj.lajn jjXX-j Jilt, J. x no. iv.

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    Ferdinand, King Of Naples

    extremity , a hopeful future may dawn for us . Our hopes of a better fate , however , if things go on as at present , consist alone in the force of amis . But before that terrible day arrives it is necessary that you and the civilised world should listen to our protest . We would rem you df what we have done from 1820 to the present time for the regeneration of our country , and how much onerous blood has been shed upon this unfortunate fand ; we will show yourself and Europe what you what

    are , what your court is , and are your ministers ; what the errors and crimes committee in every branch of the administration . We shall display ail our festering and bleeding wounds and make known our insupportable and incredible grievances , and at the same ti me we protest that when the moment arrives for our ill-restrained fury to burst forth , not a soul will be found to inculcate or practise moderation or prudence . It is the sword alone which can cut out the cancer which , if not uprooted , must prove our destruction . " read the

    tyrants , changed the penalty of death for perpetual imprisonment in dungeons equal in horror to the famous Speilberg . While these facts were occurring in Calabria , Sicily—^ and Palermo more especially ^ were preparing to strike a blow , which , from its motive , object , and the means employed to effect it , was well calculated to produce the result which , in fact , followed . The Sicilian movement began on the 27 th of November , 1847 . This insurrection of Palermo Avas the true programme of the Italian revolution .

    Though Ferdinand promised to manuscript and give his opinion upon it , no communication was ever made by him respecting it . It may be presumed that it was as the effect of its perusal that he gave orders to the famous Marshal Vial , as a measure of policy and precaution , to employ the bastinade in the open streets against pickpockets and gentry of that class . It is a , well-known fact that , in reply to the diplomatic remonstrances made to him by the European princes , to the effect that he must reform his state , Ferdinand II . said that he had nothing to reform in his kingdom , for every thing was perfect ! .

    It was in September , 1847 , that Ferdinand first showed what he was-in reality , without subterfuge , ambiguity , or fiction of any kiiuL ¦ Fifty-two victims perished upon the scaffold in 1847 . A price was set upon fifty heads , dead or alive , in the same year . Prisoners were shot eiimasse ^ to the music of military bands in Catania ; others perished in the same way , after the massacres and incendiarism at Syracuse . All these were deeds executed by his proconsuls Del Carretto and Kunziante , and lie took ho direct part in them ; but since September-, . 1847 , not an act of any description was executed except under his immediate orders .

    We now proceed to depict him as he showed himself subsequently to that period . A vast conspiracy had been organised at that time in the kingdom . The Chief of Cal abria was the immo rtal Domenico Romeo , a man of great mind but still greater heart . Whether the plot was . well plannedwhether the subordinate agents were not fully agreed among themselves , or whether , in fact , the conspirators of Messina and Reggio feared discovery if they deferred the execution of their project —certain it is that the movement began in those two towns before the time agreed upon . Ferdinand , upon receiving the information by telegraph , sent

    numerous troops over by steam , and the insurgents , few in number , were compelled to flee and take refuge in Calabria . The troops of Ferdinand , as usual , took advantage of their superiority of numbers , after having bombarded Reggio , to commit acts of unheard of barbarity . At this period the Gencrul Nunziantc , having subdued the disturbances of Geraci , personally presided at the execution of five young men greatly beloved in the country , among whom was Mazzam , who , but a few days before , had saved the lives of several agents of the Neapolitan Government who had fallen into his hands . Nine executions took place at Iteggio , eleven in heroic Messina . The eleven shot in the hitter city formed part of the thirty who attacked the Neapolitan troops within the

    city , and avIio , for an horn * , continued to drive them back , until they obliged them to station themselves in the immense plain which divides the city from the citadel . Here were encamped four regiments of the lino , a squadron of the 2 nd royal dragoons , three batteries , a company of gonsdarmes , and a battalion of chasseurs to oppose thirty men . Attacked by the thirty , the troops performed the feat of arresting eleven . lho others escaped , and though a price was not upon their heads , none of them were taken . The next day tlic cloven wero slain by the shot of Ferdinand . . The arrests made in Calabria wero numerous ,

    and nt the moment when Domonioo Romeo was murdered , many other sentence ^ of death wore pronounced by . tho court-martial . Forty-six ¦ wer o condemned to bo beheadod \ but Ferdinund II ., with tho refinement of cruelty peculiar to

    Affairs] The Leadbb, ^__ 6&T

    Affairs ] THE LEADBB , ^__ 6 & T

    Ttartav Mjtv Xxa.Lj.Lajn Jjxx-J Jilt, J. X No. Iv.

    and Prussia , were in accordance m regard to Piedmont . They remonstrated , and no more . Austria defied them all . She knew too well their jealousy of each other . She gauged the value of their diplomatic blustering , bade the weaker power , only a province to her in magnitude , throw away its arms of defence in three days , when it had most need of them , or she would scatter ruin and destruction over its fields . The Piechnontese Avould have deserved the curses of Italy and her posterity had she done -so , and the greater Powers ought to have insisted on Austria restraining herself . The result affords an instructive lesson to

    the lesser States of Europe , how vain is any trust On their part in the protection of the greater Powers , when one of them finds the oppressions of a weaker State tend to strengthen its interest or satiate its malevolence . The four or five great Powers are quite ready to make themselves obeyed by petty States that can cause them no jealousy . They had no objection to violate the Treaty of Vienna , and separate the Dutch and Belgians , and in the treatment of Poland

    . ' ' ' ITALIAN LIBERTY . no . iv . "• . The political character of Austria has ever been cold , calculating , selfish , and cruel . As ^ far as his ' . ' narrow interests permitted him to go , Frances . II . was an adept in the virtue so peculiar to Austrian rule , while Prince Metternich had to father the graces of his master ' s system of government—a system hereditary in the imperial crown , of which we have the extant example . But Metternich was not cruel , he was no more than a wily diplomatist , who circumvents by ' misusing language . The dungeons of Speilberg were the Emperor's own playthings , and the noblest minds of the Italian land were lus victims . The Austrian policy was ever full of dissimulation , clever , deep , obscure

    in its ends , concentrated m self , wearing many faces , never saying what it thought , nor thinking what it said , ready to sacrifice the whole human race to its objects , having no pity for the butchery of its own any more than for the subjects of other rulers , tricky , supple , ready to seduce by flattery , and pervert law and relig ion to serve its views , but itself ever obedient to the law of interest , —in fact abusing everything . While the other four greater Powers were urging peace and a congress , and the Austrian council wished to protract , and try what peaceable means would produce , the despot at the head of the Government ordered march the icino

    his Croats and Slaves to across T , desolate Piedmont , p lunder private persons , and respire carnage . This " ¦ paternal" ruler , who instructs his subjects to obey him , as their father , lets slip the dogs of war in the name of Gpd ! then bids them to the battle to show his love for them . They fall by thousands ; others obey the affectionate call of the fatherly chief , and they , too , manure the field of combat ; not one , perhaps , of the stolid victims thus sent to destruction having taken it into Ins his head to ask the reason why he is sent to commit the murders in executing which he will afterwards perish . Verily reason and

    philosophy are justified at not comprehending such a mystery in humanity . " War is a game , that were their subjects wise , kings would not play at , " says the poet . How comes it that subjects appear so much greater fools than their rulers , without being really so ? Here is a problem it would puzzle La Place to solve . One thing is certain : the subjects of Austria live only for their ruler , and he for himself alone . It was Ilonry IV ., of France , whom existing ignorance delights to traduce , that proposed to settle disputes between the

    great nations of Europe by a species of arbitration . That prince knew what the calamities of war were , of which snoaking councillors and princes in the recesses of their cabinets know nothing . They play their game on the ensanguined plain , at a distance , and one of their number now and then overlooks the , field from some ea / c eminence , contemplates the game of destruction as ho would his chessboard at home , and , flushed with victory or depressed by defeat , still deems lumself the rightful chief ; the heaven-endowed arbiter of national destinies !

    Such is the power which seeks to enslave Piedmont . Austria has no idea of retaining her own frontier ns a homer defensively . She will permit no neighbouring nation to be free , because the example will excite her slaves . A little while Hgo she was in a rage with Switzerland , because the frontier of that free country gave her jealousy ; now it is Piedmont . . She has intrigued to get troops admitted into the Legations and other Italian states . Naples was hers by brotherhood in the system of rule , by sympath y in dungeon and divine right , but Piedmont had spirit enough to be free ; in ' fact , to be as the powers of Europe had afl ' ected to consider her , and therefore she bqenmo obnoxious to Austria . Here wo see tho utter worthlessness of congresses of the great Powers . Russia , France , England ,

    they did not make much of the . spirit or letter of that'treaty . They cannot , therefore , plead it in the present contest , in which Austria is already exhibiting her usual brutalities in warfare , while site illuminates her capital for the victory she has obtained at Montebello , and no doubt had a Te Deum sung for what it will be some time before her people will find out to be a defeat . In the meanwhile she is endeavouring to interest the petty German States in the way of a diversion on the side of France . ' But what interest has the

    Germanic Confederation in supporting Austrian atrocities in Italy ? The circumstances of the war show no ground of alarm for Germany , any more than for England , the latter Power professing neutrality , perfectly free of fear for her own integrity , and yet encouraging corps of idle persons to practice with the rifle and play , at . soldiers , as was the case last war . The true defence of England is her navy ; on land , in peace or war , it consists in a wellorganised militia , portions of which * according to circumstances , may be always in activity when required . The militia has never been mtich liked by the Crown . It is too constitutional—not exactly German enough in its nature . Its numbers as yet

    called out have never been proportione d to the augmented population , or it would have supplied more volunteers to the line . The numbers for each county should now be double what they were at the Peace of Amiens , the population having doubled since . They were the men of the militia who had volunteered , and were never before in action , that decided the sanguinary and , as to the commander , blundering day of Albuera . Kept well organised , and the rolls perfect , and no other defensive force is needed , for all idea of an invasion is ridiculous . Our regular force must always be disposable . I should liko to hear from what ( matter invasion is expected .

    The truth is , that the , present silly alarm is a German echo , certain' to be heard here , in quarters where the wish is parent to the will . What a sea of blood , and what countless treasures have not the alliances with Germany cost England , from the time , more particularly , when Hanover hung a millstone round England ' s neck—to borrow a sentiment of the great Earl of Chatham ! What sympathy have we with the petty despots of Germany ? a country itself showing in its free cities the uninful contrast between citizenship rule , . ana

    satrapship . The well-clothed , well-fed lookmg people of the one , with the abjectness and penury of the other . To what else but this spirit have we to ascribe our increase of armuinenta , only adopted for offensive , because no defensive contingency can possibly occur . The truth is , that the present Ministers of England do not , any more than the rulers of the Continent—although the experience of the lirst French Revolution " should show t-poi ; ceivo that the time is approaching . when "afons w , l no more tne

    be driven about , as » oopu > <» « " » " •» « " - driven , Uko swine . ' They will not see thai tho people _ - " the giant that knows not his own strength — embruteTl by their rulers for ages , must in the end ri " o , when his giant power is at last mind-ripened and llumined by " that glorious spirit which animated Sons in America to prefer liberty to sordid chains and gilded affluence , " to quote a great EnoliHh churacter during a war against right . There is no downfal more certain than that oi the lcsnotic ruler in those days . It is only a question of

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), June 4, 1859, page 15, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_04061859/page/15/