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Ko. 508. Dec. 17, 1859J THE LEADER. I373...
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Leghorn, 10th December, 1858. The six we...
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BOOKS RECEIVED.
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"The Diaries and Correspondence of the R...
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SERIALS. "BoswclPs Life of Johnson." Nos...
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Kbi'KAL ov the Papbb Duty.-A mooting of;...
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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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Letters F R O M I T A L Y. (Fuom A Co . ...
way I can see , of explaining the state of Tuscan politics , with any credit to the Italians . The Lorraine rulers of Tuscany were Germans in heart , and face , and language , and as such , they were distasteful to the Tuscans . They won no love , and as for loyalty , the very idea seems absurd here ; but still , some how or other , they governed the country fairly . The task was not , perhaps , a difficult one , but such as it was , they deserve credit for performing it . The classes who suffered beneath this foreign Government , were the merchants , the professional men , and the
nobles . In consequence , these classes were , and are bitterly hostile to the Grand Ducal family , but the agricultural classes , who , form the great bulk of the population , do not share these feelings of hostility . The revolution in' Tuscany is not really a national movement ; it is the revolution of a class , not of a people . The enthusiasm for unity and independence , is confined to the educated class . There are plenty of officers , but a sad want of soldiers ; a host of deputies , and but fewelectors . The movement , alas , is all soul and no
the absence of the virtuous Dictator , the Provisional Government seems incapable of existing a single day , without signalising themselves by some appropriate decree , and so , to-day , we have a proclamation in which , the Minister of the Interior states , that , as he considers it One . of his chief duties , to sustain the moral feelings of the country , and to do homage to all that dignifies pur human nature , he has resolved to give prizes to the persons who took an active part in assisting their neighbours during the late inundations , and therefore publishes a graduated scale of prizes , which descend from a gold medal , through various grades of four pounds , three pounds , and one pound prizes , ' to an " honourable mention . " Our Provisional Government is decidedlv too good to live .
body . From all I can hear and learn , the revolution is much more of a national and popular one in Parma , Modena , aud the Legations , than in Tuscany . This factj according to my view , is natural enough . The Ducal and Papal governments were not only infinitely worse tlian the Tuscan , but were far more oppressive and annoying to their subjects . The Gazettes of Parma and Bologna have been publishing of late extracts from the private official papers of the deposed governments . The glimpse thus afforded into the rule of these petty tyrannies is really appalling . Fancy , within the last ten years , three men being arrested in the streets of Parma for singing a patriotic son ^ , and beina sentenced thereupon to twenty day's
imprisonment and fifteen blows with t he stick , and ordered to leave the country on the expiration of their punishment ! Fancy this decree , too , being signed by the Duke , who , in his great clemency , remits the beating and ten days' imprisonment of the twenty , in the case of one o f the offenders , because he was an old man of seventy ! Fancy this instance being only one of daily occurrence , and then call out with horror at the murdei-of " Anviti" as at a crime without excuse or palliation . The Papal Government , however , is ^ a long way a-hcad , in cruelty and disregard of justice . A girl of seventeen is arrested while working at the door of her father ' s shop , because some gendarmes passing by , observe that she has on a tricolor ribbon . There is no taint upon the girl ' s character , no snsmcion of Liberalism against her
parents , no evidence that she attached any political meaning to the colours ; evei * y probability , in fact , that , in accordance with her own story , ^ she only wore tho gay coloured ribbon out of girlish vanity , and yet , an application to Home , only brings back tho answer that the offence is to be treated as a political , not a criminal one . Again , a student at Forli applies for leave to finish his medical studies by a year ' s residence at Bologna . The application is refused at Rome , coupled with the comment , that the student has been seen in the street speaking to young men suspected of Liberal sentiments . Tho permission is at onco refused , on this ground nlone . The last case , however , I observed , surpasses all . A man at Forli i $ arrested on a charge of disrespectful language to a Papal gendarme . After a loupe time , ( Tic following sentence is sent down from Rome , viz ., that , considering the length of time the accused lias been in custody , and that there is no evidence at all of the oflonce he is accused of having boon committed , ho is to be released from prison , but that the Governor is to warn him that if ; horenfter , ho should be accused of nny ollcnco whatever , ho will bo sentenced , forthwith , to five years hnvel labour in addition to tho special punishment allotted to Ins oflenep . The xnorft damning judgment I ever hoard pnssod on the prioHt-rtilo oi' the Pnpncy lies m tho fact , proved in those papers , that , after 1848 , tie Pontifical Government grow uneasy about the continuance of tho Austrian occupation of the Legations , for fonr tho inhabitants should request the " Austrians " to add them to their Italian possessions . By this time , you probably know more than we do about tho question of tho Kogo-ncy . War on lticasoli lias gone to Turin , aiid the Minister of the Interior rules over us in lua stead . Lvon , in
Ko. 508. Dec. 17, 1859j The Leader. I373...
Ko . 508 . Dec . 17 , 1859 J THE LEADER . I 373 :
Leghorn, 10th December, 1858. The Six We...
Leghorn , 10 th December , 1858 . The six weeks that I have passed in Tuscany have left upon me an impression not altogether favourable to the prospects of Italian independence . Before I pass to other scenes , it may be interesting , perhaps , to recapitulate the general result of my . stray observations . I do not pretend to any peculiar sources of information , or , indeed , to have learnt or seen more than any traveller of ordinary intelligence and some knowledge of the Continent might easily have done . I own , however , that I attach but slight value to the more elaborate communications of " Our own
Correspondents . " In the first place , looking , as these gentlemen inevitably do , solely at the facts which come under their own notice , they form a local , and not a general view of the position of affairs . In the second , their channels of information are very limited . If I choose to quote the opinions of my grocer and my barber , and of an "highly intelligent " operative I stood under a doorway with during a shower of rain , I suspect that my authorities would be equally good with those of the personages mysteriously alluded to in the Foreign Correspondence of our daily papers . I was much struck with the fact that till within a
thies , and by their constant disregard for Italian prejudices and tastes . As soon as the war broke out , and the Grand Ducal Government was left face to face with its . subjects , the whole intellect and Energy of the country rose up against their hated oppressors . The agricultural classes looked on with passive sympathy , and were quite willing to ' gefc rid of the Grand Dukes as long as there was no fighting required . The Revolution , however , was purely one of the educated classes . The people looked on and shouted " Viva FItalia , " and that so far has been their whole part in the performance The cause of the prompt success of the Revolution is also the cause
of its weakness . The people still remain hopelessly indifferent . The Provisional Government has , I believe , heen a very good and a proper one . As yet there have been no heavy taxes ; no conscriptions , nothing to cause the country to calculate the price of liberty . All , hitherto , has been smooth sailing . If the Great Powers allow Tuscany to incorporate herself with Piedmont , and if any independent national government is established peacefully all will go on well to the end . If , however , things should turn out otherwise . If France and Austria , for they are the real arbiters , should resolve to force foreign rulers upon Tuscany , there will be no choice for the leaders and authors of the
Revolution except to submit . The people will not fight or make any great sacrifices on behalf of their independence or their liberty . The Austrians are so personally offensive to every Italian of every class that any Austrian attempt at invasion would meet with a decided though ineffectual opposition ; but French interference would pass unopposed . The Emperor Napoleon is the real master of Tuscany . There' is not only no force that can , but no force that will oppose his decision . The chance for Tuscany lies in the varied and contradictory interests the French . Emperor has to study , but most certainly she herself will , I * fear , not work out her own salvation .
day of the meeting of the Tuscan Assembly , not one of the London , correspondents was able to communicate the news that Prince de Carignan was to be nominated as Regent , though the secret , such as it was , must have been in the possession of some hundred * persons . Be that as it may , I feel as great confidence in the correctness of my own observations as if they had been endorsed by every special correspondent in Italy . In fact , according to the language of sporting journals , I think the readers of The Leader , who are kind enough to rely upon my " special information" will be able to make a safe book enough on Tuscan politics .
Tuscany—and this fact should never be forgotten—is neither a commercial nor an intellectual country . Both the trade and the intellect of Florence itself have , I think , been exaggerated , and Florence is not Tuscany . All the Tuscan railways have been built by English or French skill and capital , aud the shareholders are French and English—rarely Italians . Few of the great mercantile houses are Italian—fewer still of the manufactories . The trade of Leghorn is in the hands of Greeks , Jews , and Frenchmen . The Italiansand Tuscans especially , are an eminently
, stay-at-home people . Every effort at education has been systematically discouraged for year 3 by tho Government , and the consequence is , that in the small towns there is no intellectual life whatever . There are no local newspapers—no local book-shops—rarely even a theatre . With all this there exists great material comfort and prosperity . The peasantry of Tuscany are , as far as I have seen , the most comfortably oft" of any country in Europe . The whole policy of the Government was to favour tho " Contadini , " at tho expense of tho educated and trading class . As long as a
countrynmri was contout to grow fat—not to use his mind—and not to speculate either practically or theoretically , ho had no cause to complain . For him , and such as him , the Grand Ducal Government was neither a harsh nor an illiberal one ; and , as the bulk of tho Tuscan population is agricultural , the great majority had no personal grievances against tho House of Lorraine . Unfortunately , the Austrian Grand Dukes had no power of winning tho nfibctions oven of the class . they fostered and . favoured . Tho sort of attachment which tho scum of the Neapolitan pooplo feel for thoir royal patrons was unknown in J uscany . The German rulers offended all classes alike by their Gorman manners , and lungungo , and syinpa-
Books Received.
BOOKS RECEIVED .
"The Diaries And Correspondence Of The R...
" The Diaries and Correspondence of the Right Hon . George Rose . " Edited by the Rev . R . V . Harcourt . R . Bentley . " The Autobiography of a Seaman . " By Thomas , Earl of Dundonald , G . C . B . 1 vol . R . Bentley . "Notes on Noses . " R . Bentley . " A Tale of Two Cities . " By Charles Dickens . Chapman and Hall . " A Dictionary of English Etymology . " By IT . Wedgwood , M . A . Triibner and Co . " The Day of Small Things ; " A . Hall , Virtue and Co . " The Reliques of Father Prout . " By Oliver Yorke , Esq . New edition . H . G . Bohn .. " The Whiskey Demon . " Simpkin , Marshall and Co . " The World of Ice , or Adventures in the Polar Regions . " T . Nelson and Sons . " Chronicles of an Old English Oak . " By Emily Taylor . Groontbridge and Son ? . ,,-, „„ ,, „ ^ " Thej Poat JOffice London Directory for 18 G 0 . " Kelly and Co " The Post Office Directory of Hants , Wilts nnd Dorset , 1860 . " Kelly and Co . -, ann >* " The Post Office Directory Map of London , lbUU . Kelly and Co . , , _ . T " The Education of Mothers of Families . " W . J . Adams .
Serials. "Boswclps Life Of Johnson." Nos...
SERIALS . " BoswclPs Life of Johnson . " Nos . 7 , 8 and 0 . John . "MooSYife of Lord Byron . " Nos . 1 and 2 . John " ChUdTllurold ' a Pllgnmngo . '' By hon \ Byron . Thesnm « 11 ustrntod . John Murray . « Th 0 ffitJc ! S wor | caofThoa . Mooro . " Part 9 . Long" M » s ^ Bonal Air 8 . " No . 7 . Longman and "TaSrSSin Bontloy . " Vol . 2 . R . Bjjiilloy . « A Comprehensive History of England . " Noa . 25 awt HG . Hlnokle and Son . " Tho Black Danes . " J . H . nnd J . Fnrkor . " KlnisstoS ' s Magazine" No . 10 . Hoawortli and Hnrrison . , , „ "Tho Wust of Scotland Mngozlno . ' "Lal ' mnmii . " Ilntclicttund Co , " iJorJE ) " ^ ' " Journal . " Part 2 . Tiioa . Barton .
Kbi'kal Ov The Papbb Duty.-A Mooting Of;...
Kbi'KAL ov Papbb Duty .-A mooting of ; tho committee of" The Newspaper and 1 ' erlodiOMl Prow Assoeauon , " wm hold on Thursday at lWs Coffee House , wlion . lt was dqtorminod that stops Should bo taken for a largo and influent ui ; doputat on to wait upon tho Chancellor of the Exchequer , prior to tho meeting of Parliament , to r ros 8 tho consideration of this tax upon hia attention .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 17, 1859, page 17, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_17121859/page/17/
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