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AUSTRIAN CONFEDERATION IN ITALY . { From a Correspondent . ' ) It has recently been intimated by more than one of your German contemporaries , that the journey of the Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian , brother to the Emprror of Austria , into Italy , has a politico-military object ; and if we are to believe informants who are seldom quite unofficial , that object is nothing less than to unite , on the model of the Germ « n Confederation , the kingdom of the Two Sicilies , the Grand Duchy of Tuscany , the Duchies of Parma and Modena , and the
Lombardo-Venetian provinces . Each of the confederated states would be required to furnish a contingent of money and of troops ; the supremacy to devolve upon the King or Naples and the Austrian Emperor in turns ; the Diet to assemble alternately at Milan and at Naples . However inconsistent and difficult of app lication this project may appear , there is , perhaps , in the mere rumour , a key to the tortuous hesitations and expectancies of Austria . The project itself dates as far back as 1815 ; since then it has been the topic of repeated diplomatic and confidential pourparlers , but its realisation has been arrested by difficulties hitherto
insurmountable . After the fall of Napoleon , Austria hoped to become dominant throughout Italy , and it was a subject of bitter jealousy to her to find the man who had held the Pope in hostage , seeking , at the last gasp of his power , to re-establish the Papacy in the States of the Church . No exertion was spared to prevent the annexation of Liguria to the Sardinian States , and the strengthening of Piedmont : and amidst the vaster schemes of
aggrandisement , the immediate possession of Lorabardy and of Venice , and the investiture of the states of Tuscany , Parma , and Placentia , seemed a trifling acquisition . It was to deprive Piedmont of all influence in Italy , and to station Austrian garrisons in every fortress of the Peninsula , that Austria devised the Italian Confederation , to which not only the King of Sardinia and the Court of Rome objected , but all the European Powers , and Russia , herself .
When Prince Schwarzenbkrg proposed that Austria sliould enter into the German Confederation with all the component elements of her heterogeneous empire , he meant to bind to her all the Italian States , so that she might be dominant over the whole of Germany on the one side , and over the whole of Italy on the other ; and thus she would be able to employ the one against the other in the event of national insurrections . The execution of this project was , however , prevented by the other German Courts , and by the Frejnch and English Governments .
At present , the alliance of Piedmont with the Western Towers , the discredit into which Austria has fallen from the failure of the Vienna Conferences , the reduction of her arniyat such a crisis , her equivocal attitudo of quusi-neutrality , and the conduct of her troops in tho Principalities—these and other considerations make her more than usually anxious to strengthen her position and to consolidate her resources in the Italian peninsula .
But the moment seems ill chosen for tho resumption of tho project of 1816 : if it were effected , it would amount to an indirect and virtual declaration of war against Piedmont , whom France and England are bound to assist and protect . Besides , aa tho Popk is necessarily excluded from
this partial compact of one only of the-Catholic Powers , and as France has still a footing in Borne , such a confederation would be dissolved by the landing of a French corporal ' s guard upon the Neapolitan frontier , or by the apparition of halfa-dozen British line-of-battle ships standing on and off Naples or Leghorn . It is believed tlat the extraordinary mission to Paris and London of the Marquis Massimo d'A zjegjlio , accompanied by M . Negri , Chief-Secretary of the Ministry of War , is partly , if not chiefly , directed against this new encroachment of Austria .
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DEVELOPMENTS . " Evil communications corrupt good manners . " The Pbince Consort has employed a British ambassador to bring down a quasi-official warning on the Journal des Debuts , of all journals in the world , for an article on his recent manifesto at the Trinity House : an article written with all the good taste , perfect moderation , and refinement for which our admirable French contemporary is justly celebrated . The Prince Consort has not , that we are aware , interfered even indirectly with the free speaking of any English journals , but only , it will be supposed , for the best of all reasons—that the " morbid satisfaction" we feel in
free speaking will not permit interference . On Sunday and Monday last the police , acting under the instructions of Sir George Grey , assaulted inoffensive men , women , and children , indiscriminately , just as the soldiery of a certain Potentate , for whom the Prince Consort has conceived so recent an admiration , assaulted the citizens of Paris in December 1851 . With this
slight difference , that the London police only break heads , the praetorians sabred bodies and blew out brains . The misconduct of the police is arraigned in open Parliament ; the devotion of the praetorians is merged in the Empire . Certainly , as his Royal Highness remarked , our constitutional system is undergoing a trial . We have still some progress to make—towards a silent press and an imperial police .
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SABBATARIAN ISM . ( To the Editor of the Leader . ) Sir , —Between your principles aud mine there can bo no compromise and no surrender . But in the mode in which our views might be stated , probably a greater degree of fairness might be the result , il' the opposing parties came , in one form and another , more in contact . Your recent articles on " Sabbatarianism , " editorial and reviewing , seem to m e to involve the dangerous error of extemporising opinions out of one's particular province . Probably clergymen ( I prefer the scriptural word ministas for myself ) -would not edit newspapers well ; witli equal probabili ty may we suppose that editors and litorarv asaistantB in journalising may co > iumit errors , when , with little reading on theology , they ^ e nturo to express sentiments of a theological kind .
Sabbatarians , say you , in reviewing Sir W . .. Doiuville ' s book , are past reasoning' with . Is this either true or fairf You must know that sucli men as Dr . Guthrio and Hugh Miller ( that foremost of working mon ^ in Scotland , my native country , not to speak of men equally able , and equally well known to tho general public , whose birthplace is to tho south of the Tweed , aro thorough defenders of the Fourth Commandment . It uuiy be cany and ( for the moment ) even pleasant thuu to pooh-pooh Sabbatarians ; but doea your causo require such " argumentr" You seem to suppose thiu it ifl . see deader , Juno 30 ) merely nunctimonioua in th © Methodist" ( are Wosloyun * th « ., only Subb ^ anans ?) to keep the Sabbath flttfi < % . Could , you . nnd no other epithet ? Your , vocubujary is riyh nud choice pn other topics . Do , < tfr , justice to yours ^ '¦• » y greater temjpor in future , ( utpAuto on u * . Qa « i
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« nces , but that motive ought to be a reason , not for granting , but for assisting , or even heading the inquiry . The cases of violence are very numerous ; the particulars are given with extreme distinctness ; the persons injured can in many cases prove their totally inoffensive character , their casual presence in the place where the disorders arose , and the -purely gratuitous aggression of the Police . Mr . Roebuck stated one case ; Mr . Thomas Buncombe was prepared with others ; several
more have come within our own knowledge , the name and address also being easily accessible . These cases , so far from lying -within any one set of people , belong to various classes of society , and have nothing in common except the fact of unmerited injury on the one side , and wanton attack upon the other . That would be sufficient cause fox inquiry . If soldiers had been employed instead of police ,
and if any of the privates had fired without orders , or had rushed from the ranks and used the bayonet , the civil power could have interfered in the event of actual wounding or death ; but are we to suppose that any commanding officer would have neglected such examples of gross discip line in his men ? The inquiry is demanded , not only for justice to the persons injured , but for the character of the force . It is most desirable to show
that the particular individuals who did the wrong were culpable individually , and that the force retains that character which on former occasions it has deserved . There is a motive , however , for endeavouring to fend off inquiry , though the motive , we repeat , ought to be an additional reason for granting it . " We have reason to believe that the character of the force is very seriously deteriorated . Many men have been drafted from it to the Crimea ; the place has been
supplied in a hurry , and a number of loose Irishmen have been admitted . To be a policeman is better than to be a haymaker ; and there are many Irishmen who can come up to the standard in point of height and can get inquiries as to character answered , but who belong to the old generation of Celts , and not to that which is rising under the influence of extended education . It is no reproach to Ireland to say that the force has
been deteriorated by admitting the refuse of that country ; for it is well known that the police in Ireland itself is superior , at least in stature and appearance , to our own , and consists of a more picked class of men . Now , it is important to the public to know how far the force established by Sir Robebt Pee : l , and preserved in a high state of discipline for so many years , has deteriorated under the new kind of recruitment .
Another reason for deterioration is , that the pay is not -sufficient to attract the proper class of men ; though by a proper graduated scale' of pay and steady promotion for wellconducted men , it would be possible to make the attraction powerful , without very burdensome expense to the public . Ministers may desire to prevent attention from being drawn to the actual state of the force , and we can understand the motive for the discretion ; particularly as it may be mingled with some desire to shield
Sir George G-eey , after too recklessly placing liia deteriorated machinery at the service of his noble friend Lord Robert GrBOflVBNOB . If , however , the police is still to retain a repute for good conduct and good management , it is most desirable that any ruffians who may have b een connected with the brutality should be identified , and cast forth * in order that tho infamy which they have justly incurred may not attach to the whole force . On many occasions we have Had reason to observe with satisfaction the good feeling which was preserved between
the police and the people . Ministers are now giving a reason why the people should regard the police as gendarmerie , whose ruffianism is to be shielded by official obstructions to inquiry . "We are no adulators of Government ; but it is in no unfriendly spirit we say that the mistake thus coinmitte d is very serious .
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IN THI 3 DKTAUTMENT , AS ALL OPINIONS , HOWEVKK KXTUKV . I ' , A . . ALLOW KD AM KXl'JfKaSlON , THE KDITOB NKCK 33 AUILV KOLJiaUlMSEI . V KKSrONSIDLK FOli MOKE . ] There is no learned man but will confess he hath much profited by reading controversies , his sena « 3 awakened , and his judgment sharpened . If , then , it be profitable for him to read , whvjj-should it iiot , at least , be toitraolefor his adversary to write . —Mn . i'Oii .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), July 7, 1855, page 648, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2098/page/12/
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