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    1226 THE LEADM [No. 602, Nov. 5, 1859.

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    THE BANQUET OF THE BAKMACIDES. The story...

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    THE ITALIAN DUCHIES. The documents recen...

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    Shipwrecks.—The Royal Charter. Ships Are...

    parat & vely new in form and material . Her . performances have proved her form to have been of the best description . IVas she equally strong ? Was she capable of hearing the rough weather and the mischances which all sea-going ships must encounter , considering the material of which she was composed , and the weight she had to carry ? She ¦ was a very swift slip , and the extreme rigidity consequent on great strength is not favourable to swif tness . Ships in war tune , chased or chasing , loose their rigging , give the masts play , and sometimes saw their beams , to increase velocity . We are inclined to infer , therefore , that the Royal Charter was not a very rigid nor a very strong ship . The iron , put together generally in , comparatively small pieces , is more fragmentary than the l < m ° - timbers and planks which bind the wooden vessel firmly together from stern-post

    to cutwater , and from keel to gunnel . Then the material , with all that it has to support , sinks at once whenever the water displaces the air—reasons for building iron ships peculiarly strong . The material employed being comparatively new , as applied to this purpose , requires to be closely watched , and of late it has been said to be subject in a variety of ways to destruction . We cast not a shadow of blame on either the builder or the owner of the ' Royal Charter , but the mere fact of employing a new material for the construction of ships , which has in itself no buoyant power , makes it necessary , to profit by every calamity , to enforce care and attention on shipbuilders , shipowners , and ship captains .

    1226 The Leadm [No. 602, Nov. 5, 1859.

    1226 THE LEADM [ No . 602 , Nov . 5 , 1859 .

    The Banquet Of The Bakmacides. The Story...

    THE BANQUET OF THE BAKMACIDES . The story of the Barmacide is known to us of old . We can remeinber still the heartfelt sympathy with which , as children , we listened to the tale df his gastronomic sufferings . We were hungry with his hunger ; we were glad with his joy , as the rich repast and dainty dishes were laid before his longing eyes ; and we sorrowed with his sorrow as dish aft ^ r dish turned out a delusion ; as the platters were found empty , and the goblets dry . Years have passed since we heard the story , but all its incidents rose before our memory as we read the narrative of the great Conservative

    thought , we must learn something . We were present at a solemn gathering of a great political party who but a few months ago ruled the state , and might well do so ere- long again . We waited open-mouthed to learn what was their profession of faith ; what were the principles they upheld ; what the policy they meant to pursue . Speaker after speaker arose , uttered the same platitudes , repeated the same compliments , and retired with the same self-complacency . There were no triumphs to point to , no record of great measures carried af ter long efforts , no mention of reforms to be made their own . We asked for a living

    promise and we are given a dead memory . We are told that Lord Derby and his colleagues are the bodily impersonation of Conservative principles . We never doubted that Conservatism had abody . What we wanted to learn was , whether it had a soul ? Our scepticism was rather confined than shaken . The body , indeed , was there , but the attributes of life are wanting . All we could gather -was the fact that the Conservatives were the party of resistance . Every great reform , every step in the path of progress , every popular measure they had

    resisted and delayed . They had done so from the beginning , and would do so to the end . We wonder that none of the speakers bethought himself of the scenes amidst which he stood . As the che . ering died away the audience must have heard in the streets the rumbling of the great cotton drays , the whistle of the railway engines , or the splashing of the gigantic steamers which are ever passing on the noble Mersey river . It is not resistanee which has created the great port of England . Liverpool has , indeed , a moral of its own , and that moral is not resistance .

    We are , in truth , sorry for this exhibition . We are no enthusiastic supporters of any political faction , and ' are- grieved to see the Conservative party doomed to a thankless and a fruitless cause . Like Sisyphus , they are always rolling up a stone which is certain to fall down , but , unlike the legendary hero , they are proud of their labour , and delight therein . The banquet was , indeed , a vanity . •' " We sat down empty and rose up hungry . Our only consolation lies in the reflection that every lady present wore bonnet strings of the correct Conservative colour . Half a loaf is better than no bread , and in default of principles we must put up with badges .

    banquet held in Lord Derb y ' s honour . We felt that we ourselves were political Barmacides . We had been invited to a feast of politics , to a refined repast of reason , to a very " saturnalia " of statesmanship . We came hungry and athirst . We had fasted for months , and were well nigh starving with political inanition . After the fashion of the boa constrictor , who gorges himself at one meal for weeks to come , we intended to fill our mind ' s , even to repletion , and to give ourselves a very surfeit of knowledge . What , indeed , could be more tempting than the aspect of the

    banquetmore exhilarating than the features of the goodly company ? All the leaders of the Conservative party , the professors of the orthodox creed , the expositors of the articles of Tory faith , were there gathered together . Everything about the affair was brilliant . The lamps sparkled . The Order of the Garter shone brilliantly on the ex-Premier ' s person 5 the very casket which contained the address was conscious of its position , and shone as in duty bound . Silver was the base substance of the box , but its mouldings were of gold , typifying thereby , the lustre which aristocracy bestows upon the vulgar herd . Seven thousand and odd good

    and true Conservatives , men who had never bowed the knee $ 0 the Bool of Liberalism , had feigned the address , and their language was brilliant as befitted the occasion . Pandora ' s box was not more rich in its contents , more fex * tile in promise , than this gold-encircled casket . , Female smiles , and . the charms of beauty wcro not wanting to grace the scone . Every lady present wore the correct Conservative colours . Yve are ignorant of the fashions of political millinery , but wo ask in confidence ¦ was that colour " mauve , " Wofelttho first premonitory pang of diaappointmentwhen we learnt that the viands wore mostlycold . Who , wo should like to know , ever got excited on cold roast beef ; whoso heart was ever cheered or whose spirit roused by cold fowls and tongue P The very idea of a cola collation is inseparably associated with a christening or a wedding—the two most melancholy events in life . Still ,, however , we honed against hope . There was much that wo wanted to learn . There was such an array oi ¦ Beakers , such a host of topics , that surely wo

    The Italian Duchies. The Documents Recen...

    THE ITALIAN DUCHIES . The documents recently compiled by order of Dictator Farini , from the archives of Modena , give a clear insight into the character of the governments of the recently deposed Dukes of Central Italy . That the ducal territories have not slipped from the grasp of their rulers without just and sufficient cause , is a fact rendered unmistakably apparent . In addition to the personal bad faith and double dealing of the sovereigns , and the atrocious cruelty and despotism which have been practised by their governments , the subjection of tho Dukes to Austria has been "such as of itself to

    g ive that Empire a power of interference in the Peninsula , totally at variance with the balance of European power , and the prevention of which has been one main object of various treaties . In 1848 Austria arrogated to herself the right to conclude peace in the name of the Dukes of . Modena nmd Parma . Thus , while she loudly complained in the face of European diplomacy , that Piedmont had violated the ti'eaties of 1815 , she unhesitatingly broke them herself by assuming sovereign supremacy , in opposition to them , over two States which were invested with full powers of sovereignty and independence . By the treaty concluded at Vienna , May 11 th , 1753 , between the Emperor Francis I ., tho Empress Maria Teresa ,

    and Francis IH ., Duke of Modena , with the mediation of George II . of England , the right of succession to tho sovereignty of the States of Modena was . conferred , in case of tho extinction of the male branch of tho Este family , upon tho third son of tho Emperor Francis . and Maria Teresa , destined to become the husband of tho Princess Mai'ia Kiocarda , niece of tho Duke of Modena . But tho fourth article of this treaty expressly stipulates that the Duohy of Modona shall never be united to Austria , but shall always , reiuaun a distinct ; State . By the seventh article , it was also agreed that , in case of the extinction of the male branch of tho Archduke deolared immediate heir , tho other brandies of tho arohduoal family , always excepting the

    reigning branch , should succeed one after anothpv to the sovereignity of the Duchy of Modena which was * however , always to remain indenen dent and separate from the Austrian domm ! onr By the forty-eighth article of the final act of the Congress of Vienna , the archducal family of Austria-Este was reinstated in the possessions it had lost , and by the last paragraph of the same article , the eventual right of succession of the House of Austria to the State of Modena was re-established , but in conformity with article seventeen of the treaty concluded at Vienna in 1753 * With regard to the reversion of the Duchies of Parma , Modena , Piacenza , and Guastalla , in reference to the Archduchess Maria Louisa the

    nineteenth article of the final act of the Confess of Vienna establishes that the courts of Vienna " Russia , England , France , Spain and Prussia shall agree as to the determination to be taken relative to them , regard being had , however , to the reversionary rights of Austria and Sardinia . In accordance with arrangements then entered into respecting the treaty concluded at Paris , June 10 th , 1817 , on the death of the Archduchess Maria Louisa , the Duchies of Parma , Piacenza and Guastalla

    would pass in full sovereignty in a direct male line to the sons and descendants of Maria Louisa , Iufante of Spain , with the exception of the territories included in the imperial States which were to remain in the full possession of Austria according to the forty-ninth article of the final act of the Congress of Vienna . With respect , however , to the reversion of these Duchies , in case of the extinction of the male branch of the Infante , Don Carlo . Lodovico di Barbone , it was decided to

    maintain the agreement already made in the treaty of Acquisgrana of 1748 , and'in the separate article of the treaty of May 20 th , 1813 , between Austria and Sardinia . In the above treaty it had been concluded , that in case of the extinction of the male branch of the Bourbons at Parma , that Duchy with Guastalla shouldrevert to Austria and Piacenza to ; Sardinia but by the separate article of the treaty concluded in 1815 between Austria and Sardinia it was established that in case of such extinction

    the city of Piacenza , embracing a circle of two miles , should remain to Austria , and that Sardinia , by way of compensation , should receive an equivalent taken from the Parmesan territory in proximity to its . own frontiers . Xhfe equivalent was eventually determined by the treaty concluded at Florence , Nov . 28 th , 1844 . between the Courts of Lucca , Modena , Tus ' cnnv , Austria , and Sardinia . Austria also concluded a treaty Dec . 24 th , 1847 , with tLe Duchy of Modena , and subsequently with the Duke of Parma , professedly of oifensive and defensive alliance . Thus , in reality ,

    Austria became possessed of the right to exorcise a control calculated to destroy the independence of these two States , ' which , by the Power . * assembled at Venice , bad been purposely constituted independent , in order that , with tho other Italian States , they might counterbalance Austrian power in Italy . In 1847 , Austria , consultintf . only her own good pleasure , transferred hor-military irontier beyond the Apennines to the confines of the twb Duchies , and thu' 3 destroyed the equilibrium . Tho princes of Modena and Pnnun voluntarily threw awav their independence by uniting

    themselves with the Austrian empire rather than witJi the free family of tho Italian peoples , and ot then ; own act and deed removed themselves beyond tho safeguard and protection of these treaties , ino Sardinian Government unceasingly pi-otostea against the arrangement , and in 184 H alleged tins , factns one of the reasons forgoing to wnrwUn Austria . Although Sardinia was conquered in I ™'?? still porsovoringly refused to recognise anil rfttuy , ¦ either explicitly or tacitly , tho right of Austria to sovereign supremacy over tho Duchies . Anotuei Austria in ti

    strange pretension advanced by «" V gotiations for peace was , that Sardinia should pay an indemnity for the war to tho Bourbons oi I m ' "» and the ' Estonsi of Modona . But for a long trine the Piodmontose ministry , with groat renaon , : resolutely refused tho demand , declaring thnt ns l »«*" raonthad never recognised any right of supremacy over tho Duchioa on tho part of Austria , noiu ™ would she , under any oiroumstjaneos whatever , pay over any sunv to the princes themselves , seeing it was not tho Piedmontese arms , but tho »»"'? " *" tion of their own people , which had driven tnem from their thrones . At length , however , oner much controversy , a treaty of poaoo was c , . " ? ; ?" between Sardinia and Austria , by which two

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 5, 1859, page 14, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_05111859/page/14/