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April 28, I860.] The Leader and Saturday...
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THE DUTIES OF COl/NTllY LANDLOHDS. rnilJ...
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.
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The Sicilian Revolt. T He Eyes Of The. R...
ci-iiel and severe treatment of the people . This was truly a period of trial ami despair . The police and their hired spies had everything so completely in ' their own hands that no one knew , when lie . retired to rest at night-that he should not be arrested before morning . Fekdinaisd If .- a-ewarded the Sicilians , who had twice offered him shelter as a fugitive , by taking from-them the Constitution which he . had sworn , and which'England had guaranteed to them . The act was equally impolitic and dishonest . In order to render Naples and . Sicily a single kingdom , and maintain it in a state of tranquillity , the latter should have had its own constitution , as had been the case during seven centuries imder thirtyone kings . But the Neapolitan Government , confiding in foreign arms , and aided by diplomatic arts , reduced the island to the condition of ' a province , with the exception of a few prerogatives ,
which it was suffered to retain merely as .. deception . The consequence was that Sicily not only lost entirely whatever liberties she had previously enjoyed , but that to ancient contests and recent disputes were added the most implacable : hatred between the two peoples , arising from the full and painful persuasion on the part of the Sicilians that the King was urged to adopt such measures by the ministers and Neapolitans from revenge that they would . not retain him and support his heavy-handed despotism when lie took refuge in their island . They thus lived in continual and mutual siispicion , until 1837 ,. when the cholera added to the previous horrors , of the situation . The medical men jivere accused , of having introduced it intentionally '; political insurrections and disturbances , - arid numerous lioyal . condemnations , were the result . Trom 1 S 31 to 1 S 47 , Fehdijtand BouiiBON" condemned one hundred and thirtv-four of his subjects
to death for political offences , without ever thinking that the love of their country really influenced these brave . and generouslieartcd men , or bestowing / a . thought of pity on the thousands confined iii dungeons and chains by his direct and explicit Orders , or by his tacit consent . When he had slain , and imprisoned hundreds . ; , and the country was unable from sheer lassitude and exhaustion to protest any longer against his tyranny and falsehood , he was wont to say exuitihgly , " Onler nugns in Naples , and I reign . " in truth , ' the order of the kingdom of the Two Sicilies is the ordtu- of desolation and death .
The important revolutionary rising of 18-18 seemed to give Kiiig Ferdinand the very first faint glimmering notion that his people . might have some shadow of cause for dissatisfaction . The six previous revolutions of his reign had found him and left him inflexible and . unyielding . He now felt some aljxrm , agreed to make some concessions , again promised the Constitution , and once more perjured himself . The present sovereign fully carries out his lather ' s combination of tyranny and bigotry . It is said , that when the troops were about to embark the other day to suppress the present Sicilian outbreak , Francis II . appeared amongst them in person , encouraged them by flattery , find reminded tliom it was their duty to act as in ISIS , and fight for their king against hi 3 enemies and those of Christ- Such language is characteristic of the Neapolitan Bouuijons . They have over boon accustomed to blond things snored and profane ;
and , while upholding-tQnipor . nl tyranny , have made themselves the Paladins of the Antonkllian party , and the humble followers of its Austrian policy , Every effort is made to drown the present popular Sicilian tumult in blood . The royal troops have once more conquered , as superior , brute force always must and will . But though the revolution may have been put down for this time , the causes which led to it still exist , and will assuredly , sooner or later , produce their natural fruit . Their own sufferings , and the happier fate of Italian's in other parts of the Peninsula have been most vividly presented to the eyes of ( he Neapolitans since the election of J 3 aron Pojemo to the Picdmontose Parliament . To see one of themselves , whom they justly deem descrying" of the highest lovo and honour , restored to social life and political activity after years" of unrighteous imprisonment , may well be accepted by them as a presage that brighter days await their country .
April 28, I860.] The Leader And Saturday...
April 28 , I 860 . ] The Leader and Saturday Analyst . 395
The Duties Of Col/Ntlly Landlohds. Rnilj...
THE DUTIES OF COl / NTllY LANDLOHDS . rnilJEBli ! in a remarkable difibrenoo betwoon the villages of tho poet J- nml the villages of reality . Auburn mid Tyburn are strangely different places , as difloronfc as the sheep-breeding- counties of England and the Arcadia of sovonteonth-oentury romances , where the happy pennants wear Binnllolothos of pink and blue satin , and curry shepherds' crooks fashioned of poliahod satin-wood , lllletod with Aintnstio and graceful knots of peach blossom ribnnda . Tyburn has a brook , but it is black with the filterings from a fbvor-breoding eowor , whilo Auburn ripples with oascadew of bubbling- milk and streamlets that , fretting over golden gravel ,. bear a charming resemblance to cold sherry and water . It is a pretty ulo in Auburn , with the nightly danoo round the Maypole garlanded with roses , whilo the old people oit under the shade of the village tree ,
and the lover presses his suit under the hawthorn , that perennial head of cauliflower , which remains perpetually in blossom for that useful purpose . That ' pretty pastille house , the village church , the exact colour and texture of an old Stilton cheese , forms a picturesque object through the trees . Observe the smooth irlossy hair of the village youth , their lavender jerkins , the roses in their shoes , and the scarlet cloaks and unspotted white aprons of StrEand GiCE ^ y , whom Mr . Absolon and Mr . Fisk have painted so often for us with that innocent meretriciousness peculiarly their own . Alas ! and a si < j : h is fitting 1 so poetical . a dream . This charming 1 village of Auburn is to be found now only in stage " drops . " CrOi , Dsmith's village is indeed deserted , and a railway " station , a lunatic asylum . and grand workhouse cover its site . ; The exquisite old peasant
of the Royal Academy who plays with his grandchildren , and sports such an immaculate blue coat , has become srtdly rlienuiiitic , or is now a pauper , who grumbles ungratefully over his cheerful gnu . *! .- '\ -. The " Tytirc tu patuhe " can neither read nor write , and is more than suspected of poaching ; his daughter ha 3 been arrested for poisoning her illegitimate child , and his wife drinks harder than any one in Auburn . The itinerant soldier of Goldsmith is seized ns a vagrant , and the schoolmaster , whose one small head " contained too much , has just been . transported for funrery , " ' which all eo / nes of your d- reading and writing , " as Farmer Oldbtok severely remarks . To tell the plain truth , village , life looks all very well in the poets , but i . n reality it is not so charming-. It is hurd ' to keeji loyal , and sober , and respectable , and bring up seven ehiltlren . ou ten sliillinsrs a week , one of the ten "ohm for rent . It is hard to . work
iiine hours a . day seven days in the . week on ¦ " kettle " broth , and no meat but a slice of bacon on Sundays . It is hard to live worse than the squire ' s dogs , and ten times worse than his phoasnnis , or the pampered horses he never uses . It is hnrd to pig in a small stone hut of two rooms till you grow rheumatic , and your legs dwindle to the size of pipes , and j-oii are driven -off to the work house as a worn-out hunter is . driven to the knacker ' s . It is hard to ' grow up a mere unreasoning animal , unable to read or write , unable to assert one ' s rights , doomed to a slave's work without a slave ' s enjoyments . JoiiJf Jon ! es . claiming relief before the hard-hearted , insolent guardians , is about as unlike the 'Auburn pen-san . " niei'rymaking in the olden time /' as the- lion-of a second-rate liu-navjerio is unlike the rampant lion of the desert printing- off proof impressions of his feet oil the Arabian sand , as can well be conceived .
Boorish ignorance , a murk ihidnig-hfc of stupidity , reigns over Auburn now . The maypole is cut down for railway-sleepers—no archery meetings or merry wrestlings oh the green now—the beershop is the only amusement , and wife-beating the only pastime ; A brutal fight is the only event that rouses the Auburn mind , except it is a club procession or a funeral . Except now and then , when . , a black sheep iinds the place gets too hot for him , and runs to sea or enlists , the Auburn people live and die where their fathers diod , beqneathini' nothing . but the besotted intelligence they have inherited .
How unlike that dream-village that G | oi . i ) SMlTiT once wandered into , and whose name is to be found in no English Guide-book;—its nightly dunces , the simple , decent cottages , woodbined and honeysuckled , are vanished into " air , thin air , " like the rattling ; Stage-coach and other interesting fossils . Happily for ns the ballet retains memory of those dances , and our -painters traditions of the Auburn costume . Long may it be before the Academy forget that happy village and that Happy race . Fallen , indeed , will England be . when she is xnclifltiront to the charms of stage villagers .
We much fear too that about the time that some unnoticed earthquake swallowed up Auburn— -the model village—that . model landlord and fine country gentleman , Sir Hoax : it vr Covkulby , must have departed this life , deservedly lamented . Since ho left this transitory scene , the hair of the model peasant , giving up the constant use of Rowland's Macassar and the frit of bonrn , has grown , tarry and woolly and stringy ; and , generally neglected , his silvery smock has grown patched and dirty ; he lias , losing all care for his appearance , given up the rosoa in his shoes to grow cabbages , but
neglects the woodbine and the honeysuckle , llo drubs bis grandchildren , and no , longer dances Ilium on his knee—his checks are less pink'and fat , and his eyes of a less heavenly blue ; if be has grown a bettor , ho has grown a dirtier man than when the flattering * poets and defective-sighted painters knew hiin . Ho docs nut slap his thigh ns lie used to , nor throw back his head anil laugh , and bend his white neck , show bi . s whilo teeth , and behave gcncriilly in such a serene and jovial and well-fed way . liliuimmtitnii is not a thing to grow very fat on » and the Squire " don't care about his poor people . " obvious would ronnnd
Now the moral of all this is tolerably . We landlords of their duties . Thoy are not like clergymon or officers who , neglecting their duties , arc literally obtaining money under false pretences , and obtaining incomes for duties unperformed . Hat landlordH still havo duties which in the oyuw of God and rnqn arc imperative : and binding . They may not bo down in the stone tables , nor ontered in Blackstono , but « till thuy must bo performed , or nature exerts her uwfnl ponnltigs on the offender . ' Can it bo called happiness to live nmid perpetual mlsory P C ' im (» man ' s smirking anoeators in the picture gallery oonsolo him for his tenants' hatred P Is it n pleasant thought from ovor the wine to think of tho poverty and slnrvation In the hurnlut oulHido tho pnrk gutow P Does it not make a rich man tremble Homotiiuos to think what slight links restrain tho sturdy bondsmen ho employe * from helping thcniHolvcs to tho wealth Fortune ho unequally and oft on ho unjustly distributes ? Is it not juntico , is it not pudynoo to compensate n » much as possible for Unit unjust distribution—to quiob
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), April 28, 1860, page 7, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_28041860/page/7/
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