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442 The Leader and Saturday Analyst. L^a...
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PROTESTANTISM IN ITALY. THE regeneration...
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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.
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The Volunteers. 7t1he Volunteers Are "A ...
succeeded in landing on our shores would have met for some time with little resistance worth mentioning ; now , more than a hundred thousand trained and disciplined men . are ready to co-operate with the regular army in its' resistance to any foe who may be mad enough to assail us . Has it ever occurred to any one to ask to what man or body of men—to what journal or number of journals- * -we are indebted for this great result ? We fear not . The man who originates a movement of this kind has to fight , in the commencement , against
obstacles which seem almost insuperable . He is derided or refused a hearing ; pooh-poohed as an impracticable dreamer , until something occurs which makes everybody a convert to his views , and then he is deliberately ignored . Everybody professes to be struck by the same idea at the same time , and takes credit for his own genius or patriotism in putting it zealously forward . However usual this neglect may be , it is not the less discreditable , and we are not willing to see the man to whom England is mainly indebted for this revival of a martial spirit and provision of a sure and cheap defence deprived of the credit to which he is
entitled . Eight or nine years ago , Mr . Alfred B . Richards , a gentleman well known as aa earnest and able advocate of popular rights , urged upon the Government of the day , in different organs of public opinion , the importance of encouraging the people to take up arms in their own defence . The time was not propitious . The world was then wrapped in a dream of universal peace j and when , two or three years afterwards , ¦ that dream was rudely dispelled by the Russian war , our alliance with Prance
indisposed people to a measure which was principally necessary as a precaution against the ambition and hatred of that country . When , however , the addresses of the Trench colonels , at the time of the Conspiracy Bill , had warned Englishmen of the danger to which they were exposed , Mr . Richards , who took a prominent part in the public agitation which led to the defeat of that measure , renewed ; his efforts to awaken the people to the importance of taking up arms , and the Government to the duty of encouraging them by facilitating ^ the establishment of rifle clubs . Mr . Richards ' s eloquent appeals , in the columns of the whi ch has been the
Mormng ^ dvertiser--tLJovirxial consistent and zealous supporter of the movement all along , and which gave the cause all the benefit of its influence , whilst it was sneered at in other quarters , must be familiar to many of our readers . But Mr . Richards did not content himself with urging his views through the press . He called a meeting at St . Martin's Hall , in March of last year , over which Sir Charles Napieu presided , and when the necessity of the measures he had so long advocated was strongly affirmed . That meeting launched the movement the great results of which we now witness . The
subject was at once taken tip in ~ t"lre ~ eo 1 tim ^ s"ofH ^^ -5 Vw <> s-and other leading journals , and the Derby ministry issued the famous Circular to Lords Lieutenant , inviting the formation of rifle clubs . The invitation was at once responded to , and the movement , which was stimulated greatly by the differences which appeared to exist between the policy of England and France during the autumn , has gone on increasing throughout the country . So far as we are aware , the great services of Mr . Richards have never been recognised . He originated the movement , and the men the movement caught up seem to look with complacency upon themselves as its founders .
We think the enthusiastic advocates of rifle corps might find some way to show their recognition of these merits ; for ourselves , although no indiscriminate admirers of the movement , we feel bound to give our testimony to the claims of Mr . Richards to be regarded as its originator , anxious all the more to do bo because that gentleman has , with rare modesty ; refrained from pressing them himself upon public attention .
442 The Leader And Saturday Analyst. L^A...
442 The Leader and Saturday Analyst . L ^ ay 12 , 1860 .
Protestantism In Italy. The Regeneration...
PROTESTANTISM IN ITALY . THE regeneration of Italy , dear as it has been to the hearts of many English poets , orators , and reflecting men , has hitherto been rather an aesthetic dream , pertaining to a few , than a political aspiration pervading the body of the English people . That the Italians were worthy of freedom has been believed with sufficient readiness , and we have accepted the fact on the evidence of travellers and authors , that the Italian peasant is a
possible hero—that he shows it in his mien and gesture , in his flashing eye , and in his fiery passions . Only one condition was needed to their complete emancipation , arid that was that they should concur in the expediency of union , nnd show to their tyrants an undivided front , thus bringing all their strength to bear on the great contest for liberty . And now the time has nt length come when this indispensable condition has been fully observed 5 nnd all Italians , under one king , have proclaimed their willingness to be regarded as one nation . This proclamation ,
moreover , they have made with becoming ardour , the warmth of which was only last week demonstrated to be proof against disappointment and the wet weather . The feeling within the breast despised the outward inelemency of the skies , and consoled the owner for the loss of pageant and illumination . It did even more—for when superstitious priestcraft would represent the aspect of the elements as unfavourable , it scorned the sinister accident
augury , and refused to be depressed by the season ' s . The Bolognese reflected that the same rain that drenched them to the skin , also saturated the citizens and denizens of Rome , and threatened as much Pio Nono as it did Victor Emmanuel . Meanwhile the English people have read of these things , and tacitly approved them ;—but our sympathy has not been demonstrably expressed . We have assumed the attitude of spectators , not that of actors in the scene .
The reason of this apparent apathy is traceable to the difference in religious faith . The Protestant intelligence of England credited little the assurance of Civil liberty when unconnected with Religious ; and with the latter , being of a different creed , it would not assume that it had a right to interfere . Very different would be the feeling of this countiy , were there any probability that the chains of St . Peter would erelong be " east off from the consciences of men . Individuals have , indeed , thought it a good opportunity to assail the unity of the Catholic Church in Italy , and attempts were very lately made in Rome to procure toleration for various forms of worship ; but these were of a sectarian
kind , and manifested more of fanatic zeal than pious discretion . Rumours , however , are now afloat that there is an undercurrent in Rome itself of Protestantism , and that when the downfall of the Pope ' s temporal power has been achieved , such Protestantism is sufficiently strong in numbers and conviction to declare itself , and assert , at least , equality with the now dominant belief . Such rumours , it may be conceded , are not strongly confirmed ; , nor even abundantly bruited;—they consist of a line or two in foreign correspondence , or a parenthesis * in a newspaper sentence;—they are intimations rather than assertions , introduce themselves by the way rather than in a direct manner ; but peraccount
haps they are all the more significant on that , being , as it were , indiscreet revelations which have escaped __ the lips unintentionauy , and suggest to the close observer the state of the heart , which 4 iad an interest in keeping so important a secret unspoken . When the curb from the mouth thus falls of itself , the least broken accent is a discovery , and-tends to the full disclosure of the mystery it so imperfectly symbolizes . Curiosity and suspicion are awakened;—hope kindles in the slave , whose , freedom is at hand , and fear trembles in the tyrant , whose power is threatened . The second-sighted already perceive the cloud no bigger' than a man ' s hand that prognosticates the
" "tempest : " ~ " ¦ " * ~ " ~ - ' - ' : ;*— : — ' - * - " - —¦ While , therefore , we think that too much importance should not be given to these hints of an underlying Protestantism among the Roman population , we are far from saying that no notice should be taken of them . It is reasonable that murmurs and whispers should precede the decided announcement of a movement so momentous in its character , and which must be so pregnant with consequences of the greatest weight , both in the Churcli and the world . We know not whether the Evangelicals ,
whose doings were some time ago tolerated , have any connection with the alleged secret Protestant sentiment , and acknowledge that we have been acpustomed to regard religious reform in Italy under a different aspect from either . Catholicism , we knew , had long been separated from Papalism in that country ; and , considering the artistic nature of the people , we had thought that the course that religious reform would take would be that of separating these in fact as well as in idea . We had thought , indeed , that the gorgeous ceremonies of the Church would be retained > while the infallibility of the Pope would be denied , and thus a
more free and ample arena obtained for doctrinal discussion . What might follow on this , in the course of time , we could not conjecture ; it might be ultimately a purification of the priesthood and ceremonial rites , and an entire deliverance of the great body of believers from a degrading superstition . But if Mariolatry , in the secret hearts of the people , have already lost its power , and the severe spirit of Protestantism have indeed entered into the souls of worshipping men and women , the " consummation so devoutly to be wished" is nigher than we had contemplated . We need not say that we shall rejoice
at it . There are , certainly , some overt corroborations to these covert signs of a coining ecclesiastical reformation . The existence of this underlying current may be one of the reasons for the reluctonce of the French Empehok to withdraw his troops from the Romagna , and his willingness that General Lamokicieue should undertake the conduct of the Papal army . The extent of the influence cannot , however , bo suspected by the ' French , general ,.
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), May 12, 1860, page 6, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_12051860/page/6/
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