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placing upon a troubled throne , that the spirit which ia indicated in this measure could expand to its full proportions , and do justice to the glorious opportunity winch , lies before the descendant of Rudolf and of Leopold . We have no reason to anticipate that the favour will be received in Italy , in . Hungary , or in the G-erman provinces , with any thankless feeling . We do not suppose that advantage will be taken even of this mockery of a concession—for such it is—to mark the
to IRussia ,, he becomes liable to fall by revolution at home , and even the alliance of the " Western Powers does not save him from that feaT . Hence he " asserts his independence with 'bated breath . He might destroy that difficulty at a blow , he might crush the revolution for ever ; and he has precedents even in Austrian polity . Josept , JJeopold , and Stadion , have set him . examples that he might imitate ,, and transcend . He may
create an empire out of the wrecks of one which has never realized a full existence . Let him restore Hungary , and be it said that he is King on oath before God instead of being so by Russian conquest ; let Mm succeed to the affection , as welL as to the possession of Bohemia , by enabling Bohemians to stare in their own Government ; let . him vivify tie self-representation of the Italians and add Parliamentary representation to tlie excellent
municipal skeleton which already exists ; let Mm call but the Poles , that nation , of soldiers , —and thus he ; would by edict start into existence amongst the Powers of Europe the greatest which , the Continent has ever seen , The federation of all Austrian states at a grand Parliament at "Vienna would convert the central province , at present insignificant and battening only on official expenditure .
into a truly imperial state ; and the throne of Vienna , now tottering , now supported in part by " voluntary contributions , i of cold and treacherous allies , its tarnished hangings shaken by the gusts of the unceasing storm , would become firm , tranquil , hung , by ihe blessings of an united empire , and worthy to be the seat of the happiest couple representing the race of man .
struggles of a people whose chains are loosened but not removed . The Italians , indeed , might have a right to say that there is a species of insolenee in offering a boon by returning some few hundreds of her sons out of the thousands who have been destroyed , imprisoned * , and enslaved . No thanks , Italy might say , for this paltry return of our own ; give us back the armies of the Italians whom you have seized and swept to destruction ; give us back
our conscripts whom you have dragged abroad on the hated mission of keeping down the Hungarians , even as Hungarian recruits have been used to keep us dowa ; give us back our patriots turned into prisoners and galley slaves for the simplest declaration of the smallest rights which- the Italians—which men in any country—can assert . Italy would have aright to make this reclaim , an d still to take the . freedom whicli is acknowledged , but not satisfied , by the paltry boon . So far , however , as it is at all recognised , we anticipate that
its effect wil | be to soothe the just and undying indignation of the Italians . But if so much of concession is safe , if so much may tend to soften the turbulent approach of that storm which threatens to overthrow the tottering throne ascended by the newly married couple , how much greater would be the beneficial effect for the Emperor and his ' bride if more of the same boon were given—if the boon , in fact , were rendered complete . We cannot expect that any- such wisdom should be found in Vienna at this day ; and yet we remember , that since the first Rudolf raised the fam ily of Hapsburg to its power , there have been sons of that house not
wanting in the largest qualities of statesmanship . If Joseph — the Lord Grrey of Austrian monarehs — was crotchety , and wasted his abilities upon reforms which looked like despotism , Leopold has shown ^ his capacity for understanding the true difference between absolute Grovernment and free Government , between priestly despotism and church reform , between industrial protection and free trade , between corrupt
administration and perfectly business-like arrangement of the public department . Leopold found Tuscany languishing under official corruption , feudal land tenure , industrial " protection , " ecclesiastical control , and a popular feeling in the ruling classes opposed to all reforms . While yet a young man , like Francis Joseph , he grappled with all these things , reversed them all , and left Tuscany a
model of promising Government , with a church kept in bounds , a liberalized nobility , a happy peasantry , and a bright future . It is the opposite policy which has again overclouded Tuscany , but not until generations had borne witness to Leopold ' s reforms . The exertion , indeed—for it was tremendous —broke the health of the man ; and when he succeeded to the throne of Austria he waa
too near death to complete tho empire for those reforms in which he had tried his ' prentice hand on Tuscany . Hud he lived he would not have wasted his opportunity . No less an opportunity lies before Francis Joseph . Ilia great difficulty at this day consists in his being between two fires . Protected by Itussia , who has saved his throne at the expense of hia independence , he is in danger of becoming a vassal ; in offering resistance
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£ *;* £ T ? - tek ? the tBenml subject is thii . Both absolutism and republicanism or democracy are aggressive and meddling in their policy , m have Russia on one aid * and America on the other constantlrulustrating this , and if left to settlethe question of < nghtf letween them , according to you ? definition , of the word they would , by brute force , submerge the civilisation in th « continent of Eurone lying between them ;( and even then absolutism , front the greater strength \ reBulting' from unity , might be in the right . On tha contrary , the civilised voice of Europe says , ' War—that is , physical force—can
only decide questions of physical force ; it can never decide moral questions . The appeal to the swotd now has no more sense or justice in it than the appeal to single combat of rthe barbarouft ages . W « r is . oply destructive ; it is ; never reconstructive . Therefore the rale laid down-far our guidance in the monthly record of the Friends of Italy is , * I think , thetititi one , namely , to le&Ve every people free to -maiii&tit spontaneously that special lifewiiichis its evidence of natipnaUty ; to peroait w foreign , and , thereto unintelligent hand , to : crush its budding liberty , oc
rudely to hasten its tranaforination . ' , If it be rigbt and proper for one party in a state to caU in the ai 3 of thfe American , another would' as justly call in thd Russian , and brute force . ; must stifle fora time ^ he growing liberty , civilisation , and i moral po wer , i Nio , let each nation work out its o ^ -n salvat ion witjh'fetur and trembling , t . e . with careful'ahjue ^ ty imd w « tcfafulness . If , air , we have a moral law tbat may ^ oft said to be ' established , ' it ia that we should never do evil that good : may-: borne . ; This ,, as it appeairt { me , you have not sufficiently considered . ^ - ' , %
We have at present only a few observation * to make on this very fair repetition of fortt ^ ip argument .. i Oat corrQapoiident does aot controvert our definition of ; right , although upon a correct apprehension of a praCtioaL t $ a for righ * many vexatious qjleatifWlsisi&jit ^ settled in limine . Believing that ^ e jhaff ^ pushed the analysis as far as humait chemistry can carry us , we are induced to believe , likewise , that physical fore © does settle jutfral questions . It does so in two stages . . , IiX the
first stage , it is physical force that ; enfoncet the moral dictate ; and ^ thout the phywc ^ l executive the moral dictate r ^ inaina a , thdO »; retical proposition ; " right , " iiicei ^ in , casc « ceding to . wrong because conviction lacks ita complement — power . Right is entirely a human conception of a divine truth . ; In the divine code , bo far as we can penetrate its ^ Enactments , eight : and wrong appear to be lifo and death— -reproductive continuance «*! like form and cessation or transmutation Into a changed form j so that what we ahouldjCajj wrong perishes and is . cancelled . , > -,, r . \ r
THE JUDGMENT OF RIGHT . Our fair correspondent at Coventry , "A Member of the Society of Friends of Italy , " returns to tlie charge 3 and begs to say a lew words more ; to which w e readily agree , as the controversy touches a question vitally important atr the present day , and is conducted by our \ adversary with an able and a graceful pen . " The following case in point , from a very old book , shows that the principles of human action , as recommended by yourself , have not materially altered within the last few thousand vears : —
" ' And it came to pass after these- things , that Nabotb the Jezreelita had a vineyard , which was is Jezreel , hard by the palace of . Ahab , King of Samaria . , And Ahab spake unto Naboth , saying , " Give mo thy vineyard , that I may have it for a garden of herta , because it is near unto my louse , and I will give theo the worth of it in money . And Naboth said to Ahab , The Lord forbid it me , that I should give the inheritance of my fathers unto thee . . And Ahab came into his house heavy and displeased . And he laid him down upon his bed , and turned away his face , and would eat no bread . Bat J « ezebel his wife came to him and said , Why is thy spirit so sad that thou eatest no bread ? And he . said unto her , Because I spake unto Naboth the Jezreelite , and said unto liim , Give m * thy vineyard for
money : and he ^ answered , I will not give thee my vineyard . And Jezebel his wife said unto him , Dost thou now govern the kingdom of Israel ? arise , and eat bread , and let thine heart be merry : I will give thee the vineyard of Naboth the Jezreelite . So she wrote letters in Ahnb's name , and sealed them with his seal , and sent the letters unto tha elders and to the nobles that were ia bis city . And she wrote in the letters , saying , Proclaim a fast , and s « b Ntiboth on high among the people : And set two men , sons of Belial , before him , to bear witness against him , saying , Thou didst blaspheme pod and tho king . And then carry him out , and stone him , that he may die . And the elders and nobles did as Jezebel had sent unto them . Then they carried Naboth forth out of the city , and stoned , him till he died . '—( 1 Kings , chap , xxi . )
" Tina appears to me an exact parallel to the case of Cuba . A . hab is America , the vineyard of Naboth Cuba , and Jezebel the Order of the Lone Star . It is quite pathetic that picture of Ahab turning away his face and eating no bread ; he wanted a kitchengarden to grow his onions and pennyroyal , and his wife was evidently convinced he ought to have it . Says she— ' Dost thou govern the kingdom of Israel ?' Here was that union o ^ power and conviction which , according to you , ' constitutes tha nearest approach to a definition of right of which reason is capable . ' Russia , too , has exactly the same ' conviction , ' as respects both the Principalities und Constantinople . You say , however , that this question of Cuba has nothing to do with the main question ; nevertheless , you yourself give it as an illustration of your
mean-By the same test of force or aetivafetrength humanity is ; judged in the second stage . That nation which is the wisest and most virtuous—if : the distinction may be allowed * —is tlie strongest ; # ndit is ; part of duty to Beek that vigour which is at once the warrant and proof oi truth . The . wager of battle is il * this sense nob a false test ; If any nation
which is the depository of great truths , themselves elements in some great " rights ** neglects to preserve its virtueiu battle , that nation has forfeited its power for sustaining the right , and must even let a state , in other respects its inferior , once more tell the world that conviction , without power ia not enough to advance civilisation .
Virtuous states are the body guard of civilisation ; and when they lav aside their naili * tary power , they leave civilisation withoiifc a guard , to he ravished by the barbarian . G-reece , Italy twice , and Egypt also twice , have been witnesses to this truth , which individual generations may overlook , but is deeply engraved in scarred flesh of mankind . Oar correspondent has not amended tho
mistake in regard to Cuba , as an illustration of our argument . We < lid not say that A . mev rica was correct in proceeding to seize Cuba —though we think she is correct on technical , military , practical , and even philanthropic grounds ; but we said that tlie enterprise is a healthy example of a nation proceeding to put its conviction into acts . England too often presents the exactly opposite example ,
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April 29 , 1854 . ] THE LEADER . 4 # j
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Leader (1850-1860), April 29, 1854, page 401, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2036/page/17/
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