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Leader (1850-1860), 25th April 1857, Edition 2 of 2, Page 14, f 398 _____ THE LEABER, JJSTo. 370, Satu...

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      The Sifcle And The Timjes. We Have Obser...

      hand , the purest and m 6 st elevated of those men who look for a , better future for France , were often disgusted by its hollow reverberations of la ffloire , la vietoire , lauriers , and guerriers , and all the stalest echoes of Chauvinism . The purest liberals in Prance know too-vrell what this worship of glory and victory has cost to liberty , and ubi libertas Hi patria . They do not forget that the victories of the Empire of Napoleon , like the conscriptions of the Empire of the

      C-SSA . BS , were more disastrous and more fatal than the terrors of the [ Republic , and that hecatombs of patriotic youth , and manhood , sacrificed to the godless ambition and the delirious vanity of one man , -were ill repaid "by diminished frontiers , by two invasions , ty the foreign imposition of a despised dynasty , by the domination of hostile armies , and the submission of an exhausted people . They do not forget the irreparable perversity of the Republicans of 1830 , who , for eighteen

      years , wilfully confounded the cause of the devolution , with the idolatries of the Empire , and brought back with tears and acclamations the smouldering ashes of usurpation , and oppression to consecrate anew a spurious title , and adorn a more degrading servitude . They have been taught to forget the impious cant of " holy bayonets . " Holy bayonets , forsooth , which , after enslaving Europe in the name of Liberty , have garrotted Prance in the name of Napoleon .

      If the Siecle is content with an apotheosis of stock-jobbers , and an apoplexy of stones and mortar , well and good , let it frankly recognise Imperial "blessings ; but in tlie name of that freedom , which , in England , at least , we do not hail as a tocsin of insurrection , let us not hear any more of the odious and absurd cant of France being the " Polar Star of Nations , " the "Apostle of Liberty , " and we know not what besides . " We lore and honour ! France and the French

      nation ; we count at our highest privilege and honour to have won many friends among that gallant and generous people ; we are persuaded we shall not forfeit the friendships " we so clearly prize by refusing to descend to false and fruitless flatteries . "When the Siecle compares France to a luminary subject to occasional eclipses , we are moved to respectful pity by a comparison we feel to be in one sense just . But we must remind our contemporary that the eclipse of France is as universal as her light : if all Europe reflects the rays , all Europe is darkened by the eclipse .

      F 398 _____ The Leaber, Jjsto. 370, Satu...

      f 398 _____ THE LEABER , JJSTo . 370 , Saturday ,

      Switzerland " Sold " Again. It Is Unders...

      SWITZERLAND " SOLD " AGAIN . It is understood that Mr . Disraeli has been priming himself for the Foreign Secretaryship , in the event of a Dekby Administration being formed . That contingency is possible ; it is possible that the earth may melt in the heat of the comet of June . But "we must be pardoned for treating Tory di lomacy as a matter rather of the past than of the future . " We have a memento of it in the Iffeufchatel protocol , signed by Lord Mamojbbttry . It is true that the protocol contained direct

      no recognition of the Prussian claims ; but , when Chevalier Bunsen made his statement , it was indiscreet to record , simply , that such a statement had been made . Lora Malmesbtjuy , whose only title to the Foreign Secretaryship consisted ma very indifferent reputation mado by one of his ancestors , committed a gross diploma-« ffir £ ^ V ^ * ° ¦ Stewed the Prussian affidavit to be filed without a reminder It was he that encouraged the demands against Switzerland j he was cither ignorant or weak or both , but he displayed a decidod sympathy with the monarchical cause as opposed to that of the Swiss Federation , and his

      instincts were , as usual , unnational . The political change which took place in Neufcliatel in 1848 was a means of strengthening the Federal Grovernment , ' eradicating the causes of an old quarrel , and fortifying the interests of the Liberal party in Europe . These considerations had no weight with Lord Malmes ? duet . We hope that Mr . Disraeli , should

      he ever become Foreign Minister—we say again , the comet may eat up the earth—will be on his guard against Q-erman snares . Otherwise he may as well return to his former levities , which were much more entertaining than the sententious affectation of statesmanship and decorum exhibited last session—and of quite as much importance to the House of Commons and the world at large .

      Lord Maimesbuby having compromised us , Xord GiiAEENBON seems not to have adopted any very lionest principle as the clue to extricate him from the Swiss and Prussian difficulty . It seems that there is to be a compromise ; that is , the weaker party is to be sold ; ' the stronger party is to be complimented on its moderation . Aeistotle says , " Between unequal powers there are rarely equitable settlements ; " , between the King of Pbussia and the Swiss

      Republic there is a settlement promised which will sacrifice the rights of the one to the vanity of tlie other . It is easy to maintain that equity lies as often in a compromise as in an absolute decision ; but the King of Pjtussia has no real lien upon , the principality of Neufchatel . The Treaty of Vienna has long ceased to be the law of Europe ; and lie lost his treaty rights just as Holland lost

      Belgium , and Turkey Greece ; and it was for the Congress , had diplomacy been just , to repeat the judgment pronounced in the cases of Greece and Belgium , and ratified the judgment of the revolution . Supposing-, however , the Sui / tan had been permitted still to enrol himself as Lord of Grreece , and the Dutch king as Prince of Belgium , would that have satisfied Europe ? Yet England seems to be content that Fbedemck "Wiixiam

      should retain his title as Prince of Neufchatel , though without power to interfere in local affairs . Switzerland is to be gagged by a half-concession ; Prussia is to be conciliated by the nominal admission of her sovereign claims . That is , the point in dispute is to be decided in favour of Prussia . And this is the result of eight conferences , presided over by the Mephistopheles of French diplomacy . It only remains for Prussia to approve of the bargain , and for Switzerland to acquiesce in the juggle .

      A Great Act Of Faith. The Nineteenth Cen...

      A GREAT ACT OF FAITH . The nineteenth century burns books : we should not like to trust it with men . ; otherwise heretics might faro worse than young wives , whose limbs are broiled in the Marquesas . " We can easily imagine Father AftonAisraE piling the fagots of conformity , stripping the rebellious sons and daughters of the Church to clothe them in the San JSenito , painted with devils and ilames , and watching them at the stake as the American

      daguerreotypist watched the convulsive attitudes of a poor wretch who clung for three days to a rock amid the thundering waters of Niagara . This Archange is the pastor of a French parish ; for some days , inspired by Catholic fervour , he occupied himself in drawing up a list of guilty boolcB and journals . Voltaikk and the X > 6 bats , Gtasouai ; Sand and the Siiide , Balzac , Dumas , and Eugene Sub . M . Tirnms also fell under what

      Siieridan would have called tho superhuman anathema , with M . de Lamahtink- Having ancrificod his own bad property , tho Father ordered all persons in tho pariah to give up any writings by tho condemned authors

      that might be in their possession 7 mighty open chest was placed at the church door to receive the tribute . In the even ' ing the people came skulking to give ivn their books , shamefully and furtively ai mothers come to abandon their new-Wn infants at the turn-table of a foundling hos pital . On Holy Thursday , at nine o ' clock iu tlie evening , the auto-da-fe of 1857 took place m France . There was a pompous ceremony the books were formed into a pile ; - —tw-o copies of Jocelyn , one of Za Chute cVtiliAnqe one of Thiees's History of the French HeJ . b

      lution , novels "y Baxzac , Dtjmas , and Sue M & RiMisE ' s Colopiha , two volumes of Micnilet , and Jules Simon ' s Natural Religion with an enormous number of comedies , vaude « villes , and illustrated newspapers . Therein the solemn evening light , the clergy approached in procession ; two choristers preceded them carrying crosses covered with black veils- ' other attendants bore torches ; and in the siglit of an immense crowd ,. ' A ^ change lighted the pile and offered up the incense of his idolatry . When , we speak of tlie civilization and intelligence of the age , it will be necessary in future to state what postal district

      is alluded to . What is the civilization of a country in which torture is practised , or tlie intelligence of a country inwhich a literary auto-da-fe takes place ? It will not do to say that King FEitDiNAND is a monster of despotism , and Father Arqua ^ ge a miracle of stupidity , there is many an . Ajichange and many a Febdiitand doing the work of cruelty and fanaticism in Europe .

      " The Word >> In The Streets. Edwatid Su...

      " THE WORD >> IN THE STREETS . Edwatid Suiener and William De : ntso 2 V gentlemen of middle life , persons of irreproachable character , habited in a black costume that generally commands respect , were placed before the magistrates in . -the Liverpool police-court on Monday last , charged with an offence not entirely new , but very strange in this Christian land . They had undertaken " to go and preach the " Word of the Son of God" in the open air ; and

      literally their attempt to do so constituted tho offence for which they were first taken in custody by the police , then lodged in tlie Bridewell , and then placed before the magistrate for judgment . Of course , in the first instance , there is an impulse to suppose that the police had been over zealous in their vocation , hut nothing is more clear than tho fact that Inspector Chew felt himself " compelled to execute a very disagreeable duty . " He pleaded the orders of the Stipendiary Magisbut h there

      trate , Mr . Mansfield ; ero appeared to be some mistake . In November last there bad been street preaching at the same spot in Liverpool ; the preaching collected persons of bad character ; much ribaldry was current ; a disturbance ensued ; and Mr . Mansfield gave orders that if the peace were interrupted , or the xmblic thoroughfare obstructed , the police should take those who occasioned the interruption into custody . Tho place is near a large lamp-post , opposite to tho railway station- The missionaries , who are well known in . the Liverpool mission ,

      declared that they were " ordered , in a certain sense , to begin again , as the weather got fine . " Accordingly they recommonccd on Monday ; a crowd was assembled ; there was " an obstruction ; " , on considering that fact , Mr . Mansfield " could not say that the police were wrong . " In reality , howover , there appears to have been no difliculty in . passing the spot ; there was no rioting , except in consequence of the foreiblo removal ot tho missionaries ; and it is difficult ; to understand what offenco was committed . Nevertheless , thero was a reason for tlio

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), April 25, 1857, page 14, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_25041857/page/14/