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Sept. 15, 1860] The Saturday Analyst and...
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THE DEATHS OF MR. WILSON AND SIR H. G. W...
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MERIT AND PATI*ONAG*,k rpHOSB who brouU ...
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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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.
King Bomba Ttjrned Protestant. Hhhe Last...
But let us tiirn to his Majesty ' s literary productions . His Majesty , in the character of protestant and historian , is certainly somewhat of a novelty . Indeed we are not sure that it will not turn out that he has developed a new species of . satire , of which the novelty consists in the author being the subject of his own ridicule . Let us turn to the view of recent events in Naples , as reflected from the mind of this enlightened writer ; ' The fortune of war" the royal historian says , " has proved contrary to us , " but this is not quite accurate ; the fortune of war cannot reasonably be said to prove adverse to him who does not fight at all , but turns tail and runs away , without however
the slightest claim to that discretion , which is said to be the better part of valour , or the remotest expectation that he means to fight another day . " The whole of Europe , " he continues , "' proclaimed the principle of non-intervention , and looked on with indifference , leaving us alone to fight against tlie common enemy , " in which last regard his Majesty has admirably shewn the way how not to do it . But the " indifference" " Europe , " by which his Majesty may be presumed to mean a few dynasties who hold Europe in thraldom , proves at least one thing—it proves that his cause was too bad even for his compeers to have a fellow feeling for him . But even the
strongest sympathy with his intentions could not have commanded assistance or countenance for one whose grossly illjudged acts were enough to damn any cause which might by chance become mixed up \ vith his . The royal doctrine of " blunders being worse than crimes , " was well exemplified in his Majesty ' s happy career . We are reminded , for great tilings will sometimes suggest little ones , of the sinking ship and the desertion of the rats . The barque of the Neapolitan Bourbons is half way to the bottom already ; and directly it began to founder , the rats began to sheer off , and wisely kept aloof . . There are some people so fond of joking , that
they will craclc jokes even at . their own . expense . The BqUKBON" rule has been one great practical joke from beginning to end . One of the Bourbons is said to have died with a . pun in his niouth . Whether lie u never said a foolish thing" or not , we are not sufficiently versed in royal biography to decide ; but that lie " never did a wise one , " is extremely probable . Now -when we find a potentate of King BoMBALiNo ' s notorious antecedents writing after the following fashion , we cannot but think he p ossesses at least one valuable quality which , upon the principle of better late than never , he is developing in the shape of a very original vein of comic humour—that in short he has turned satirist and
taken himself for a subject—now that his subjects will no longer take him for their Kin g * " After promising to do in words what he has negatived in deeds , his Majesty , it will scarcely be believed , declares his intention of " confiding in ' the loyalty and in the love of his . subjects , " This is what Mr , Samuel Weller would call " comingit rather powerful , " witli a vengeance . But his Maj esty folio ws up this home thrust with , the most terrific lunges with that formidable weapon which is to supercede the sword . For example , poor Victor Ema ^ uei . and Garibaldi will find all their labour lost , and all their efforts
vain . His Majesty the late J £ ing of NArivES , not content with discomfiting his foes in manner aforesaid , has annihilated their proceedings with one stroke of his pen . "We , " says the royal thundcrer—this Jttfiter Tonans of modern mythology , with all the oracular emphasis of the three tailors of Tooley-street ,- — el We declare solemnly that all the aforesaid acts and events are null and void and of no effeot . " It has been , hitherto supposed by metaphysicians that' to undo , what has been done , and to reverse the past , transcends the power of omnipotence itself , as it involves one of those contradictions which amount to absolute and utter impossibility . But this
is a trifle with such a monarch as ., His Majesty the late King of Naples . " Bagatelles ! " cries Soapin ( whose " Fourbories" are so amusingly represented by Moliehk , ) as difficulty after difficulty is propounded for him to surmount ; and Scapin ia a hero naturally suggested by the name of His Majesty the lute King of Naples . So much for " protestation , " now for proclamation /' From history liis Majesty effects a graceful and oasy transition to biography , without , however , relinquishing the
ironical element . After initiating with an aphorism about the " duties of Kings , " ( which he does not appear to have known much of , though ho is in the way Just now to learn something ) , he gives us to , understand that he is" blessed with " resignation free from weakness / " and , "¦" with a serene dud confident heart . " That he has " resigned" we all know , but that his " resignation" was " free from weakness , " is the contrary o . f what -we know . With regard to its being all " , aerene , " he fa'the best judge of his own feelings ; but how he iQau'be at all " confident" without hoping ngainsli hope , and
evincing a most unreasonable degree . of assurance / we cannot divine . This revelation of the state of the royal mind is very ciirious and instructive . . , <¦ ¦' . To be serious . We have waded thus far through these unexampled documents entitled " protest , " " proclamation , " " address , " & c , most ill-advisedly put forth on behalf of the fugitive King . But impudence and effrontery , however ludicrous they may sound at first , from their extraordinary incongruity , become literally sickening at last , and , after exciting our mirth , begin to provoke our indignation . The following words necessarily suggest to the reader the poetical ideal of a good King , the father of his people ,- —an Alfred or a Troja , compelled by adverse destinv to withdraw from the nation whom he had loved
and watched over like his children , pronouncing his benediction as he retires , and followed By the heartfelt regrets of a people in mourning . But the incongruity of such utterances from one of the cruelest and most flagitious despots that ever outraged humanity by their demoniacal rule , is at once so ridiculous and so revolting that we are too much moved by anger to laugh and too much moved by scorn and contempt to be angry . " The war , " says the king , '' is now approaching the walls of the city , and with unutterable grief I am now to depart with a portion of my army to betake myself where the defence of my rights call me . I call upon the honour and the civic feeling of the Mayor of Naples and of the Commandant of the said National Guard to spare this most beloved country of mine the horrors of internal discord and the disasters of civil wars , for which
purpose I concede to the above-named the widest powers that thev may require . As a descendant of a dynasty that has reigned over this continent for 126 years , after having preserved it from the horrors of a long viceroyalty , the affections of my heart are here . I am a Neapolitan , nor could I without bitter grief address words of farewell to my most dearly beloved people—to my fellow-citizens . Whatever may be my destiny , be it prosperous or adverse , I shall always preserve for them a passionate and affectionate remembrance . I recommend to them concord , peace . and strict observance of their civic duties . Let not an excessive zeal for my dynasty be made a pretence for disturbance , " Is it possible for hypocrisy to go beyond this ? Yet is it
possible for idiotcy itself to imagine it will impose upon the most simple-minded and credulous ? It seems that the late King has formed an exaggerated idea of the efficacy to be expected from that engine of superstition that had so long been resorted to for keeping the people in a state of mental non-age . Intellectual , and moral , and social development will goon , just as Gaixileo said the world would turn round , in spite of all that the wiles of priestcraft and the terrors of the inquisition can do to prevent it—in spite of spiritual despotism and secular tyranny . And the regeneration of Italy is a signal proof that human progress cannot be permanently obstructed , even by the most determined and powerful opposition ;
Sept. 15, 1860] The Saturday Analyst And...
Sept . 15 , 1860 ] The Saturday Analyst and Leader . 797
The Deaths Of Mr. Wilson And Sir H. G. W...
THE DEATHS OF MR . WILSON AND SIR H . G . WARD . SOME of our" contemporaries seem to mourn for India , as well as for ' Mr . JamioS Wilson , whose death all parties will agree to lament . Whether or not Mr , Wilson could have oarried his financial schemes into successful operation , will admit of very considerable doubt , and so far as our Eastern Empire is concerned , it lost more from the compulsory resignation of Sir C . Trevelyan ,, than from the cessation of Mr . Wilsoo's labours . '
_ ___ „ , ., ., , The decease of Sir II . Q . Ward affords another melancholy instance of the danger which Europeans run , from the ; unhealthy climate of India , and there must be a strong sense ot dutv as well us a desire for gain , to induce any man of talent to trust his fortunes in the East , who can afford to stay at home , , , £ Mr . Wilson ' s plans did not comprehend any measures foi extra
economising expenditure , and putting a oneck upon - vagance and waste , Some portions of his schemes being already in operation , must be sustained at any rate ior a nine , but it would be well for the Government to start afresh , and place the consideration of the whole subject of Indian revenue , expenditure , and finance , under the consideration of an able administrative mind . In this work the claims of Sir Ciiaw-bs Tuevj ^ yan should not be forgotten , ami neither India nor England ought to lose his valuable services—if lie is willing to render them—for « more question of etiquette .
Merit And Pati*Onag*,K Rphosb Who Brouu ...
MERIT AND PATI * ONAG * , k rpHOSB who brouU up smooth roads , even . ttoug h ^^ f ^ g I load to doatruotion , are not pnornl tw » W * ^ S" { 1 thU who rolUHoreon in ojg ^ jy « r « JB' « nd » »^ o t » mj ^
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 15, 1860, page 5, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_15091860/page/5/
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