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No. 475, April 30, 1859. ^m^ ^^A^Sy M^ S...
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TUSGAJST COKEESPONDENCS:. TriE cause of ...
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street police-court on a charge of steal...
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A Calcutta, University Examination.—At t...
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EXHIEITION OP THE SOCIETY OF BRITISH; AR...
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Transcript
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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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No. 475, April 30, 1859. ^M^ ^^A^Sy M^ S...
No . 475 , April 30 , 1859 . ^ m ^ ^^ A ^ Sy M ^ S 63
Tusgajst Cokeespondencs:. Trie Cause Of ...
TUSGAJST COKEESPONDENCS :. TriE cause of order and national independence are both running serious risks at this moment in Tuscany , and may before , long require strenuous exertions and all the influence of upright and conscientious men to prevent the people from falling into the snares which are laid for them on all sides . Hitherto order has been maintained by the good sense and self restraint of the people , but it is not to be supposed that this state of things can be indefinitely prolonged . The excitement of the public mind , the anxiety for the future , the longthreatened approach of war , and the mutism an d double-dealing of the Government gradually but surely will undermine the principle of order in
general . The Constitutional party have openly and with manly straightforwardness in many ways declared their desires and requests : Nothing was required of Government to conciliate these men and obtain the confidence of the country but a slight modification of the ministry . This would necessarily have been followed by some measure of concession , which would have relieved the effervescence now kept up by the Republicans , and have rallied round the throne all the best and most reasonable men of the Grand Duchy . ^ Instead of thisj however , the Government maintains a stolid silence , and manifests ill-concenlcd contempt for the Constitutional party ; petty manoeuvres are even employed to excite , instead of to quell , disorder .
It is deeply to be regretted that a member ., of the British ministry should lend a hand in the ruin of a country , instead of using his influence ; to induce the Government to retract past errors , and regain the confidence of the population .. This cannot be called , neutrality '; ' it is , in fact , the abetting of disorder . The retrograde party readily yield to it , as they did in 1848 , with the hope ; having a good excuse for bringing in an armed intervention " , of Austrian' troops . The Government , while assisting emigrants to embark for Piedmont , on the one handj are abolishing , on the other ,, the small" remnant of liberty of the press which remained in Tuscany , and daily threatening to leave the country to its own devices , well knowing what must follow . Were such . men as Corsini , Ridolfi ,
and Ricasoli called to take a share in the Government , these moderate Constitutionalists would keep things in oiiler . The Grand Duke played the same gamo in' 48 ; swore to the Constitution , and let into the ministry the Radicals , who soon accomplished ' what , he wished- This is what the Times will call leaving the Italians to themselves ; but they are not left , to themselves so long as a British minister is playing into the hands of Austria , by supporting the Government against the legitimate desires of the people , and advising and encouraging the head of that . Government to persist in his obstinate refusal to meet the views of his people , as
expressed by the most respectable and intelligent among them . How much wiser and more English would it be to urge upon thro Grand Duke now to grant what he will ultimately be obliged to give ,, and thus save the country from passing through a stage of peril and bloodshed . , Wo had written thus far when tlio telegram appeared , announcing that an open revolt had taken place , and that the Grand Duke had fled . As we expected , the entire army refused to aid Austria , or even to remain neutral , and have hailed the proclamation of Sardinia . We musfc wait the opening of the second act of the droma for further and more defined intelligence .
Street Police-Court On A Charge Of Steal...
street police-court on a charge of stealing , a bracelet from a jeweller ' s shop . There was nothing of any particular interest about the case , except to the unhappy culprit . The evidence of the theft was clear , and the fraud was not even rendered interesting by any peculiar dexterity of contrivance . It was a purloining instead of common thef t . The only fact that made the case at all remarkable was that the prisoner was supposed to be of good parentage and education . The name he bore of Sinythe ' was known also to be an assumed one . It needed no great perception to tell that his was one of the thousand versions of the Old story of the
" Prodigal , " He , too , had spent his substance in riotous living ; but alas ! for him the doors . of home were closed . Fi-iends looked aside , and relations stood aloof . Alone and friendless , he was convicted and condemned . Alone and friendless , he was removed to prison . Alone and friendless , he pined there , and died . Ho friend came near him ; no word of love was spoken to him ; no hand was held out to save him . God , however , in His mercy , left him . not altogether comfortless . There was some poor girl whom he had known in his days of dissipation . She had been his partner in pleasure , and , woman-like , she was true to him in sorrow .
Prom time to time she came to visit the prisoner , and , if ought of faith in man ' s charity , and God ' s love , was still left in the dying convict ' s heart , it was due to that woman ' s love , and that love alone . The other day , the girl came again to see her lover , and found him dead . The story of his death is _ buried in the prison walls . Poor lad ! he must have suffered fearfully , for the worn , emaciated body was covered with the marks of fearful blisters . That solitary death-bed of agony within the dreary cell is a thing , not pleasant to think upon . It is pleasanter to think that the cares of his burial were not left entirely to the mercy of the prison officials . The girl asked for
the body of the friend she Jiad loved so greatly ; and , for the credit of common humanity , we are ashamed to say , the body was given up to her without a rag to cover it . Scarred , and blotched , and naked , the corps of ; the convict was returned to the woman ' s arms . By her instructions , and at her expense , the body was taken to Shillibeer ' s . The coffin that covered him , the shroud that enclosed him , and the flowers strewed over him , were paid for by the girl ' s earnings . God knows how dearly earned . There is many a man who dies surrounded with the odour of sanctity and the pomp of respectability , who has had no such worthy tribute of regret as these few worthless flowers .
We own that we cannot Join in the unreasoning cry which has been raised , as if all the officials of prisons were monsters of inhumanity ; but this we do say , that the sort of petty parish parsimony , which grudges a prisoner the decencies of Christian burial , is a disgrace to a Christian country . Our indignation is more raised against the relations of the ill-fated prisoner . No doubt they are respectable and respected . Truly , iu this world , they have their reward . From them it is idle to expect anything ; "but , surel y , public benevolence might do something for that poor and forlorn girl , who was faithful even unto death . ' ¦ '
A CONVICT'S FUNERAL . We know of no sadder reading than the records of our police courts . To all , not unacquainted with the "Mysteries of London , ' theso glimpses into the dark vicissitudes of the world , outside the law , opon up prospects of dramas far more exciting than those acted on any scenic stage . What talus of diesipatlon j ' and misery , and sin—of for"tunes ruined , of reputations blasted , and of broken hearts—can
one nob form , for one ' s own perusal , out of those brief and barren records ¦ whicn the police reports lay , day b y day , before us P Of all tfieso broken stories , without a beginning and without an end , which it has been our lot to road , yvo remember none more melancholy than that of the poor convict livd who diqd last wook in theprison of Coldbath Fiolds . It is a story worth tolling , aud not without a moral . Some six months ago , a very young man was committed at tli « Bow-
A Calcutta, University Examination.—At T...
A Calcutta , University Examination . —At the examination for entrance into tho CalcuttaUniversity , on the 8 th March , a ludicrous incident occurred . The examination was hold on tho lower floor of the Town Hull , whore between four and fivo hundred of the Calcutta candidates were arranged at desks . On tho upper floor the Municipal Commissioners-wore holding their court for appeals against the assessment . A Bengali , who * had come to appeal to tlio latter , was , by his own mistake , included among the ontranco students , and set . down at a desk with all no coBsnry appliances , and a copy of . tho questions . While his soul was filled with anxiety regarding the
tax , ho was startled with tho question , " What is satiric poetry ? " In vain did he attempt to answor it , and thoso that suoceodod it , lie know nothing of Johnson ' s " Vanity of Human Wishes , " save that ho hlmsolf was likely to servo as an illustration . At last , in dospnir , ho duly entprod nftor every question tho stntemont , "I cannot answor itj , " and , ' in tolerable English , wound up his paper by a statement of his right to a reduction of tho aasoasmont . ¦ 'X'ho aetonishod examiner was appealed to by the poor man in person to romit a part of tho amount , and then tho mistake was discovered . It was too lato ; tho Court hiul boon closed fortlwt day . . «
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Exhieition Op The Society Of British; Ar...
EXHIEITION OP THE SOCIETY OF BRITISH ; ARTISTS . ( Second Noticed ) Mr . Cobbett is in full force this yea ? , , with more variety than usual . No . II , " Heather Bells " ( bellies ') , Is in Ms best out-door style ; the sunshine and shade , and tone of colour , are excellent . No . 488 , " A Bit of Luncheon , " is equally good aa an interior , luminous , true , and very pleasing : and No . 159 , " A Peasant Family of Brittany , " totally different in
style , excites admiration by its simple domestic truthfulness and beauty . Mr . Herizell , in " The Mountain Path" ( 108 ) , treads close on Mr . Cobbett ' s heels ; he chooses the same kind of subject , works from the same models , and uses the same colouring ; and though the result be good , he would do well to remember that , as mannerism—even if original—is to be avoided , so also is a style when open to the easily made charge of being borrowed . There is no doubt he can see nature with his own
eyes when he pleases . lit " Home , Sweet Home ' ( 413 ) , he has painted a cat—a thing which , to most painters , has , for some unexplained reason , been a ports asinorum ; the black and white pussy at the door , and chanticleer in the yard , are perfect . The picture is worth buying for . these alone . Mr . Vicat Cole ' s " Springtime " is a delightful picture , so equal that it is hard to select points for special remark the careful drawing of details in the foreground ; the tints , which are rich and varied , but never " p ' erstep the modesty of nature ; " and the retiring distance , niay , however , be mentioned . The oak growing on the bank > and the barked tree lying in
across , are finely drawn . No . 82 , A boy asleep a cornfield , and a beech wood ( 300 ; , struck us by their good intention and truthfulness . Mr . H . Moore , in " The Seabird ' s Summer Home " ( 44 ) , sustains his well-earned reputation ; the figures are peculiar , but good— -the boy ' s cautious action especially , and there is a fine contrast between the deep blue sea and the graduated buff tints of the sandstone rocks ; but , unfortunately , the artist has chosen a point of sight too near to his canvas , and the consequently rapid diminution in size of the foreground objects lays it open to the charge of disproportion , which we were sorry to hear ignorantly , but too plausibly , urged against it by an observer . v
Mr . J . P . Pettitfs love for torrent sculptured rocks has carried him to a wonderful perfection in painting them . If he loved trees as well as lie does stone and water , and had attained an equal power over foliage , No . 87 would be in all respects a magnificent picture of the subject , though we fear there are few with a sufficiently simple love of nature in all her forms to do it sympathising justice . No , 445 has some more of the inimitable Svater-worn stones ^ in the foreground , and a cool * shady , and refreshingdistance . 406 must be noticed as a clever little picture in a very different style , a sunset view , in which the evening light is excellently represented , and " The Blackpool" ( 562 ) will secure general notice treatmentthe
by its very original and forcible ; bright light on the tree cutting the deep transparent shade of the background produces an imposing effect . E . A . Pettit exhibits " A Welsh Mill" ( 340 ) . This young artist has yet to acquire a wholesome " horror of blaolc and white ; " at present his tree shadows seem to be painted over black , and the bluish gray and white lights he indulges in have a chilling effect . However , with good drawing and light and shade to begin with , warmth and true colour will come iu due time . Mr . Syor ' s sea-piece , " Near Tyncmouth ( 102 ) , is marked by good composition aud pleasant sober colour ; and No . 13 ? ' is a picturesque and bright Welsh landscape . Next to it hangs " A Mountain I ' astoral , " by Or . Cole ( 14 G ) , in which sonic water in the corner showing tho pebbly bottom , and nt the ood
snmo time indicating surface reflexion , is very g . Some boulder-stones partially immersed aro also cleverly done , except that tho break of lino caused by refraction , seems to havo escaped tho painter . Wo must not omit to mention Ko . 2 ; i , a pleasant little river scone , with some capital felled timber in the foreground !' and 081 , a very ehoerful viojv on tho Conway , with . bright sunlight und a purtioularly nico eky . Mr . J . 1 ) . Frauols , in 1 * 7 , shows us a Scotch girl returning from gleaning , by the Hgnt ol tho sotting sun , with a bundlo ofoats on Ucr liea , a , and knitting as she goes , the loculily is liidiciitoa tor plaid « nd tWetlps , as well as by tho buott sli , though soft and pleasing features of tho miiidoii . It is decidedly effective and natural , and has attracted a great deal of notieo among artists as well as
Mr W WoBfs picture of tho " North Coast of Devon—Storm Clawing oil " ( 200 ) is vary fine ; tlio Blolro of fluiwliiiio on tl » o oWfe . und the tbrms wwi colours of tho rocks and wavos , arp truo and foroLbio . Tlris palntov also exhibits a very romavkublo NorwoSiifi ploturo- ' Grid viingor Fiord" ( 348 ); a « d his « Wtttorfull , Invorsnuid " ( 4 Q 8 ) 1 b excellent In water
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), April 30, 1859, page 19, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_30041859/page/19/
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