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Leader (1850-1860), 27th September 1851, Edition Town of 2, Page 910, Untitled Article

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      Untitled Article

      monthly mail-scheme is a sample of what Govern ' ment thinks it necessary to do . This week , too , we have by way of Hobart Town the protest of the Anti-Convict Association of Australia , delivered on the arrival of two more ships with felons , to be added to the population of Van . Piemen ' s Land . The proceedings of the Anti-Convipj ; Association will derive a double impetus from j ^ e additional danger which a gold mania would ini » part to the noxious qualities inherent in a fe ) oft population , and from the impulse which the sengp of integral wealth will give to the political importance of the Australians .

      Untitled Article

      THE ASPECTS OF EUROPE . The hurly-burly of factions and the Babel-like confusion of principles in France increase in violence as the expected crisis approaches . The Assembly will meet again in the first week of November , and every party is busy in preparing combustibles enough to blow up a thousand Parliaments . The relative positions of the Monarchical factions and of the Republic are becoming more salient every day . The former do not more cordially laud the Republic than they dq each other ; the Legitimists are now triply divided ; the Orleanists form two sections ; the Bonapartists are composed of the hungry

      " Coquino " of the 10 th of December , and of the timid bourgeoisie of the status quo ; the Legitimists are represented by men of the world , like Berryer , who -will keep his royal pet dallying with an idle hope at Frohsdorf , while he plays into the hands of the Elysee at Paris , and remains the darling avocat of the noble Faubourg ; the Orleanists , by the Burgraves , who would sacrifice honour , country , reputation , to their own restless intriguing ambition of place and power ; the Bonapartists , by needy adventurers , to whom the Elysee is nothing less than bed and board ; and by the most contemptible of political apostates like Faucher and Baroche ; the Fusionists , a mere

      impossible coalition of fallen grandeurs , by models of austere improbity , like M . Guizot , who is ready to begin again the game of corruption and demoralization , under the disguise of Constitutionalism , which exploded in ' 48—having learned nothing , forgotten nothing , but the nobler and severer doctrines of his earlier life . In the presence of these factions , which their own personal recriminations are daily exposing to public scorn , the Republic is being silently consolidated by the patriotic convictions of its leaders- —by the necessity of a closer union against the crusaders of the reactionby a common persecution , and by a common hope .

      The Republic has the Constitution , or so much of it at least as the reaction dare not touch , on its side : it has Law , and Right , and Fact , and the one grand Principle : it has the great advantage in the eyes of the possessing classes of being the established form , and the only solution of ' 62 which can override the apprehensions of civil war . It is the government of all for all : the present quasi-dynasty is merely a passing cloud ; but , without universal suffrage in its completest expression , civil war becomes inevitable . It is more than probable that the law of the 31 et of

      May will be abandoned by general consent before the close of this year . Even of its warmest promoters , to whom these sudden revulsions are an every-day occurrence . The Constitutionnel has been battering bravely at this outwork of the Burgraves , to the admiring applause of La Presse I Evidently enough thero is a backstairs Ministry at the Elysee who are looking out for squalls , whilst the oifieial Ministers are doing the vigorous , " throwing dirt in the eyea of their motley supporters , and inundating the departments with self-gloriiicutiona by the telegraph .

      The war against the press is carried on a I outranco , and reminds us of the last days of the Restoration . The papers have been dragging into light a subscription by L . Bonaparte in ' 32 to the lottery which -was established in that year to pay the fine imposed on the Democratic journal , the Tribune . The now President of the Republic gavo a richly-ornamented word , with a cap of liberty and the " fauces of the Re public engraved on its Damascus blade" : an offering in behalf of the liberty of the press . M . L . JJonftpnrte indignantly rejected any supposed connection of that sword with the Empire 1

      The first number of the Avdnqmcnt du Peuple , the glori " * successor of the tivtinement , w « b pounved upon by the authorities for an article by ita chief editor , and n letter by Victor Hugo , udmirablc for itB S ^ ern moderation and hopefu l courage . La Pr / ivse o * the next day was al ^ o seized for publishing the by E . do Oirardin , repeated pora ' ecutioiiH recaln the fact that the * *" oarneHt P « rimal 8 t '" K ; though , as !} of the two papers onmcnt - Yut tJ > c ¦ Elvt ^ , Constitution , ftn < l exciting i i ^

      to civil war , are net merely unpunished , but patronized by the legal authflritfes . M . de Girardin had given the Paris jury a pl * in warning of the consequences of such a . verdict . They may live to learn them practically . The vexation Qf the Parisian police are rivalling th « exploit ef the Roman skirri . They take their seats in estatninet * , hobnob with unsuspecting citi * tens , whom they seduce into political discussions and then denounce ! The Democratic representatives of the People are harassed by the gendarmerie wheir

      pvertwo or three electors are met together to hear their " member" speak . The other day , M . Pascal Duprat , one of the most moderate and able men of the Opposition , was insulted by these coarse agents of your modern Caesar , in the private garden of a friend , when in the act of exhorting to patience and to calmness , in the presence of all provocations , a large and orderly assemblage of citizens spontaneously met to give him a respectful welcome . But his dignified and resolute demeanour seems to have abashed even the gendarmes . All these incidents

      would be ludicrous , if they were not , in Franc ^ especially , pregnant with disastrous symptoms . The triumphant entry of that bilious pedagogue , the newly-decorated M . Leon Faucher , into his own department is a chef-d ' oeuvre of the mock heroic . May his exit from power be equally triumphant ! He had just been created " Commander of the Legion of Honour " without having passed through the preliminary stages . He was anxious to exhibit his blushing honours , but a persevering rain seems to have made the whole ?? solemnity" a perfect •? damper , " all the more absurd for the magnificent reception announced by the complaisant prefet .

      From Frankfort we glean a pleasing evidence of the Protectorate under which Austria and Prussia are " developing . " For an example : —The Augsburg Zeitung publishes the following answer of the Emperor Nicholas of Russia to the notification of the reassembling of the Diet of the German Confederation at Frankfort . It was delivered to the President of the Diet by Count Gortschakoff , the Russian Minister at Frankfort : — ? ' We , Nicholas I ., &c , to the Diet of the Germanic Confederation . —It is -with great satisfaction we have learned from the notification made to us , that the Federal Diet , instituted by the treaties of 1815 , and whose

      labours were interrupted by the events of 1848 , is again united on the invitation of the Imperial Court of Austria , acting as Presidial Court of the Federation . We offer our sincere felicitations to the Germanic Confederation , the more that the reunion of the Diet , established on the principles solemnly consecrated by European treaties , is to us a guarantee of the internal peace of Germany , and in consequence of the general peace of Europe . For what concerns us , in entertaining a constant wish for the welfare and glory of the Confederation we shall have nothing so much at heart as to cultivate with it inviolable relations of peace , and a good understanding , even as we accept with pleasure the assurances which in this respect are conveyed in the letter of notification .

      " Csarkoe-Selo . " Nicholas . " At Berlin , as elsewhere , the reaction is assuming ludicrous shapes . Read the following , and imagine the scene transferred to London streets , and London policemen : — - ? 'The offence of ' abusing officials in the discharge of their duty' is on the increase ; ten charges are reported in the last number of the legal journal . The officials have become more sensitive , or the public less guarded . In one case a man ia sentenced to three weeks' imprisonment for accusing a watchman of 'hiding himself when he was wanted , ' which , considering that if you have no door key you are dependent on that functionary for admission , and half an hour on a door step on a rainy night ia something of a provocation , seems severe .

      Another citizen is condemned to a month ' s confinement on a charge of telling a lieutenant ' not to make an ans of himself ; ' the said lieutenant having refused him passage through a barrack-yard , by drawing his sword and pointing it at the defendant ' s breast , the officer being at the same time in the citizen ' s debt for cigars . The man denied uning the wordN , natural ue they would appear , and two soldiers swore it was a brother officer who gave the friendly advice as he came up and put the sword aside . But the ' comrade ' declared it was contrary to military etiquette to interfere in such a case between a soldier and his wrath , and , uu somebody must have used the epithet , tho citizen iu imprisoned fur it . If the non-interference principle is the rule , tho lierliu military code is of a ' nice morality . ' "

      At Vienna , ditto ditto . Iu a list of political condemnations , publiHhcd by the Wiener Zeitung of the 10 th iimt ., for ofltiiiceu committed between the [ Wat of Auguet and the 8 th of September , we find tormH of impriHonuu'iU varying from one year to six days , with hard labour , and " to fast one day in tho week , " or " three days of the six "—for " une of inflammatory expressions "—fourteen duyn in prison , in irons , oc (; n-Hkmully varied by corporal punishment of ten or fifteen luahc'H , for concealing a weajmn y three weeks ' imprisonment in irons , and fifteen liisheu ; or " to faafc once , u week ; " for abusive language und riotous conduct ; twelve days' imprisonment , irons , and to fattt one day n week , for u publu : uu keeping his houHO open ufter tho hour ; and Himilur lmnishmenttf , only differing in degree for •' refusing to work . "

      What a delightful 8 t « te of society under the paternal Government of a young man , aged nineteen ! Many persons have lieen lately arrested in Lemberg ( Galicia ) who were already , in 1846 , p olitically compromised . Domiciliary visits were likewise made in Cracow , in order to discover some proofs of a connection with the Central Committee of European Democracy . The official denial of Mr . Gladstone ' s charges by the Court of Naples we have dwelt upon in another place . A-S " official " it deserves attention , and is a real coup de grace to the battered reputation of the Christian King it professes to exculpate .

      From Rome we have received private letters , describing the situation of the ' Holy City " as even more intolerable than that of Naples . It should not be forgotten that Bomba , who ( if Mr . Macfarlane will permit us to say so ) is the bosom friend of " his Holiness , " has lent a few superior agents of police to the Cardinals , to aid and instruct the sbirii of their duties ; so that the ' form of government 1 ' is much the same at Rome as at Naples . In Piedmont , the one bright spot in the map of the peninsula , free institutions are slowl y but

      steadily ripening ; whilst some of the immediate advisers of the Court are closely watched by the patriotic susceptibilities of the People . A recent article in the Progresso , on the address of the Sardinian workmen to the " Friends of Italy , " condemns the officious attempt of certain officials to control the movements of these distinguished artisans , and to prevent their expressing natural sympathies , or conversing , with any of the exiled patriots , on the common hopes of Italy . From Genoa a correspondent writes as follows : —

      " The opera had scarcely commenced the other evening in the theatre of Carlo Felice , when a murmur of dissatisfaction arose , which was at first not understood by all the audience , until it was perceived that it was directed to a box in the second row , where sat the Couutess Gherardi , an Italian lady of the Tuscan Court , notorious for having , at a public ball at Florence , snatched a feather from the hat of the Austrian general , Radetzky , and placed it in her bosom . "A voice thundered forth the well-known verse of Berchet , invoking curses on the Italian woman capable of allying herself unto the foreign tyrants of her country : — ' Maledetta chi d'ltalo amplesso II Tedesco soldato bed . '

      " The storm of indignation at her presence became universal ; and the hisses and the shouts for her withdrawal continued with increasing fury , until she was compelled to quit the theatre and return home under the escort of the police , to protect her from the insults of the crowd which had already gathered outside . " Italy , too , is becoming one , whilst the young Emperor of Austria is dancing and carousing , amidst the acclamations of mercenaries , on its volcanic soil .

      Untitled Article

      THE FRIENDS OF ITALY . The Society of the Friends of Italy is resolved to make its existence felt , at home and abroad , by a judicious and active propaganda . It believes in the dignity and consequence of its appointed task , and in the sacred and serious obligations of its mission . In the heart of a free country , in the last asylum of European liberties , it labours to purify public opinion from the calumnies and aspersions of the hirelings of absolutism , unceasingly disseminated against the exiled patriotism of Italy . And in this interval between past defeats and coming struggles , it in re garded , of neeessity , as a living and active testimony to the awakened sympathies of England .

      In our last number we gave the address of sixtyfive of the Sardinian workmen , who were recently on a visit to our Exposition . This hearty and spontaneous recognition , coming from the flower of the working classes of Piedmont , the only Italian stuto which ban consolidated its endeavours ufter a free ( Jovcrnincnt , is doubly interesting and valuable ; as a proof that tho society is known and acknowledged by Italy , and that the subjects of Victor Emmanuel arc , before all and above all , Italians , und the cuusu of Italian riationulity and independence as dearly prized at Turin , an at Venice and Rome . It is the curnest of an aspiration after national unity ; a « 1 ( l ° 11 iia ultimate realization tho fortune of Italy depends . Tho reply to the address wu » read to a deputation of the workmen by Mr . James Stanafeld on the part

      of the committee of the society : — " ( icntlemen , —The Society of tho Friends of It « lv desire to cxprevs to you the profound satisfaction wit " which they have received your address . .. " It will form an admirable testimony of the truth <> J the convictions which they soek to imprcsu upon tuc lirititm publio . •? It . is honourable to yourselves ; because it proven that , in the enjoyment of your own liberties , you do n <> forget your common brotherhood with your enslavM * countrymen . Jt contains u presentiment of a providential future for your whole country , which , yhW deeply seated in tho breust of a People , juHtifieH til " anticipation of that futureand assures its realiz »<> ' -

      , " It in tho profound sentiment of your common nationality , and of tho dutioH which spring from it , whic » have constituted the peculiar and . hopeful ohuracUiriHlifM of your emancipatory struggles , mid which comniuH " our highest admiration .

      Untitled Article

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      Untitled Article

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  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 27, 1851, page 910, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1902/page/2/