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GERMANY . April SO , 1859 . The following rhyme , which appeared in a French vaudeville just before the revolution of 1830 , describes exactly our present state : — Jc nc sais comment on l ' appelle L ' etat present ; est un chads ; Nous avons l'hiver Bans qu'il g-clc , Xriatranquillitc satis repos . C ' n ' est pas la paix , c ' n ' est la guerre , C ' n ' est pas dti froid , c ' n ' est pas dii cbnud , C ' n ' est pas richessc , c ' n ' est pas misere . : Je ne peux pas . troiivcr lc mot .
As I cannot pretend to be in the secrets of Cabinets , or rather those Cabinets upon whose wisdom the peace of Europe depends—viz . those of France and Sardinia , the others being-in reality of no consequence at all in this matter— -I must draw upon public opinion and ruinour for the subject matter of my letters ; and I think I may assert that , if your readers learn little from me , they never have anything to unlearn . To read some correspondence in " English newspapers , one would imagine that the writers were the confidante of Kings and Ministers or had other sources of information open to them quite unattainable by other students of public events ; and , indeed , if facts were found as easily as ideas , the journals would be teeming with historical knowledge . But alas ! how much have their readers perused , and
how much are they forced to forget ! It is wonderful to observe how these rumours of war have banished every other subject of a political nature from the public mind . We began the year with an economical Congress , a liberal Prince Regent of Prussia , and a liberal Parliament in a nation of philosophers , according to Sir Ei Xytton . Before three months had elapsed we had hoped to see Germany peaceably and gloriously revolutionised . The columns of the newspapers were teeming with ideas , all Of which have vanished as though they had never been , nor do the people seem much the worse for it . People are beginning to cry for less p aper and more facts . Our public teaehers at present fairly bewilder us , and we know not whither our rulers are going or whither tliey are leading us .
I have nothing to report of the Prussian Parliament , which , ever since it settled down to business , has been dozing over the marriage laws . The nation , however , is perfectly satisfied , for the Parliament is a liberal one , and the Prince is also very liberal . The only liberal act that I have heard of is the restoration of civil authority to the town of Minden . Since 1849 the police authority has been in the hands of special officials —a , , sort of spy police , who held supreme command in the town ; at least it appeared so to me when I was detained there one night under pretence of my passport ' s not being in order , although I had been permitted to enter and remain some time in the' Prussian . ' territory with it . Being there caught like a rat in a trap , I was not in the most pleasant humour , and told , the Commissioner what I thomrht of his insolence and the tyranny of his master .
Tliis led to . my being taken charge of by six soldiers by command of the commissioner or chief spy . I discovered this msm was accountable to one in the town for his conduct , and that he was free to stop and incarcerate any one with whose appearance or papers he was not satisfied . By the restoration of the civil authority this tyrannical police system is at an end . The people of Minden . will , no doubt , bo grateful for this liberality . It is reported that the Archduke Albreeht of Austria , who has been staying at . Berlin some time past , has prevailed upon the Prince of Prussia to station , in conjunction with Austria , 380 , 000 men upon the Rhine . This report is , I believe , spread by Austrian agents , who are very busy just now in all parts of Germany . They aro to be' nuit with in hotels and coffee-houses arguing in favour of Austria , and stirrine : ud the ' hatred' of the people against the
French . Berlin lias been filled with petty Princes during the past three weeks . It would seem they had received special invitations to meet there the Archduke . Austria is striving to impress the world with the idenishiit she has the whole Germanic confederation at her buck , ready and willing to aid her in maintaining her clutch upon Italy . But , whatever may be views of the Princes , I think I may say that within the last three woeks there has been a great revulsion in thq sentiments of the inass of the people . At the commencement of the quarrel the injudicious letters published in Franco , more particularly the pamphlet by M . le G ' uerrpniere , excited the national vanity of the Germans beyond-all bounds . Louis Napoleon has certainly most indiscreet friends . Had it not been for these letters and pampleW , I nun not sure but thnt he might have had tlje sympathies of till Germany with him in thia Italian question . The Protcntnnts of Germany are , however , now cooling down , and begin to perceive that the coming struggle
ia not one of race—not the Gorman against tho Italianbut a wnr of principles j It ia Protestant France . ' and Italy , and against Pnpul Austria ; it is civil hurt religious liberty against despotism und spiritual blindness . I tin the general opinion now that tho German Confederation will hold / ast to tho principle laid down in tine 40 th Article of tho addltlonul Federal Act of 1820 , according to which the Federation do not pledge themselves to aid any state In support of its foreign possessions , and will therefore lonvo Austria to tight her buttle with Sardinia alone . Tho proposal to disarm before tho meeting of tho Congress is regarded as a more feint . What arc wo to understand by tho term disarming 7 Do those kings and princes think we are ho egregioualy blind and foolish as not to know that they have been arming * for these ten years past , and that , too , not ho much against a possible foreign foa as against their own suhjoocd ? Do we not know that these lirniamants become more and moro needful to them , ns your ui ' ter year rolls on , and brings Louis Napoleon nearer to tho grave or deposition . What docs
thereby on no better terms , but rather . worse . The Hamburgians are pausing in their contest between the Senate and the Oberatten . Nobody beyond the walls of Hamburg paysthe least regard to it , deserving as it isof attention as a political study . There has been more wisdom displayed in the government and maintenance of these old Hanse towns than politicians dream of . That wonderful combination called the Hansa , is still in want of an historian . The Congress of Political Economists , whose transactions I reported last autumn , has apparently foundered for want of sympathy amongst the people . To the liberal , who has had opportunities of observing the self-sacrifices made by some noble and truly patriotic men in the endeavour to raise their country and . enlighten the people upon their true interests , this apathy and absence ot all public spirit on the part of the great mass of the German people is very disheartening .
it signify whether the war be deferred now—it must come , either with or without revolution—but come it must . We have been waiting for it these ten years past . Your readers must not regard these views as mine individually ; they are the views of the people around me , not uttered aloud , but nevertheless confirmed . The doings of the Federal Diet at Frankfort are enveloped in mystery , except in matters of trifling importance . It is expected that the Prussian Government will call upon the Parliament for a credit of 50 , ( 00 , 000 of tlifliers , after the Easter recess , if war appears as imminent as at this . moment . As I have already observed , all questions referring to national progress are entirely overwhelmed by discussions upon peace or war . The Bavarian crisis is past , the obnoxious minister having been dismissed . The King and his Parliament are however
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SEW SOCIETV OF PAINTERS IN" WATER COLOURS . Tins twenty-fifth exhibition of this now no longer juvenile association— who are of sufficient importance , by the wav , to have appeared before Parliament as claimants " tor a exit at the Burlington House cake—is progressive and very interesting . Of the three hundred and sixty-four works exhibited , so many are worth placing on the pleasing , satisfactory , charming , and improving degrees of the critical scale ,-that we can hardly attempt here to catalogue tliem , much less to dilate upon their respective merits ^ To begin with the artists whose names ¦ we first encounter on the catalogue . Mr . S . Cook contributes excellent hmdscapes . His " Close of
Day—Coast Scene" ( No . 2 ) , " Early Summer" ( 6 ) , " Clpvelly " ( 205 ) , and a grand one , on -which a page might be written , " River Lleder Vale of Dolwydellaii , " must be carefully looked at and admired . Mr . J . H . Mole has a great number of interesting and . enjoyable domestic pieces . His little " Devonshire Well" ( 213 ) , " At Hampstead" ( 237 ) , *• Gathering Mussels " ( 321 ) , "Highland Shepherd " ( the last a " beautiful work ) , " Gipsies " ( 334 ; , " The Grandfather" ( 250 ) , are , we fancy , the best . Mr . L . Hughe ' s " Cromwell , " an illustration to Scott ' s "Woodstock , " is a superb painting , but the Protector is far too refined and theatrical to our taste . We incline fur more to the Dolaroche version ,
which is decidedly neither the one nor the other . The , " Emeute at JLou ' vain , " by the same gifted hand , is the best picture of a meUe we ever saw . A space before the fine town-hall of L . ouvivin , and the steps of that edifice , which forms the background and is drawn with the artist ' s accustomed facility , are crowded with elaborately-drawn groups of combatants hard at work . From the large foreground figures to the minutest ones in the extreme back , every face is sufficiently , and no more than sufficiently , denned . Not a point , is missed , of course , in costume or accessories ; the colour is in perfect harmony , and , in a word , the stirring picture is an exhibition in itself . Mr . Win . Bennett gives three firm and real-like
river pieces ( 58 , 67 , 104 ) , in which we revelled ideally . They are all from the Greta , and tell you so themselves , for they faithfully give tho character of that delicious seeneiy . Mr . McKowan ' s brooks and feUs , of which there are many , will arrest all lovers of tho wilderness . H is " Borrowdalo " ( 111 ) , " Mill and Stream " 0 > ° )> " Mountain Torrent" ( 04 ) , are his best in our eyes , for we know and fuel their truth , which we may not say of tho Levantine efforts by the same hand . ' Mr . Warren , tho ' President , has not been happy inhis illustration to Moore , called " The Pen " ( 73 ) , a , stout , and inexpressive and unotheriivl blonde , ( Unity in more than one point of drawing . Tins
artist's " Flight into Egypt" ( 233 ) is a lino study ot night effect , and a flir more successful conception . Passing Mr . M . II . Welinort ' s " fountain at Rome " ( 80 ) , an academic study , wo come to tho " 1-osfc in tho Woods " ( 88 ) , a superb and photographically - accurato study of treos , by Mr . Edmund G . Warren , son , wo bolicvc , of the President . This work j " The Avenue , Evelyn Woods , Surrey " ( 228 ); and " Robin Hood in Morric Sherwood ( 8 * in-- ( tlio last , wo hear * purchased by her Majesty )—will ralso tho gifted palntor to tho highest rank among landscape artists . Tho second picture is , we may say , the most remarkable and tho most remarked in tho room . Without « v trace of the offensive peculiarity termed
" Pre-Raphaehtism , " a degree of effective truth and yet minute finish has been attained by Mr . Warren , which " the brethren " often try for in vain , and which no oil painter but Mr . J . P . Pettitt has yet come near to . We have seen chequered light in pictures a hundred times , but we never before saw the play of it . Here there is not only , it seem to us , the light upon stone and leaf , but the gleam round , about them . The luminous little peep in the background , where the sheep Ia 3 r , is wonderful . Each tree is of course a portrait ; each patch of lichen , too , the observer feels was painted on the spot ; and , as if to show his hardy adherence to local truth , the painter has given us even a desolate bare stem , that shoots up straight and leafless as a ruler , parallel to the frame pn the proper right of the picture . This work will repay two or three visits , and especially a twilight one . The " Dream of Fair Women " ( 212 ) , by Mr . E . H . Corbould , has found as many adverse judges as the woodland scenes of Mr . Warren have admirers ; and here , too , we are certainly with the public . The long passage from . Tennyson is no excuse for , and little explanation of , this waste of vast technical power upon a purposeless parcel of studies , some of them remodelled from old productions by the same hand . In " Bold and Bashful" ( 240 ) , Mr . Corbould has given the head of the mounted knight an impossible twist ; but the horse is full of power and spirit , and the wavy golden tresses , and the indicated , rather than outlined , face of the bashful maid are sweetly conceived and coloured . Of Mr . T . L . Kowbotham ' s eighteen w-orks there is not one that will not find admirers , and , we may . venture to say , eager purchasers . They are of an essentially popular style , and , to a great extent , variations of the same song . Nearly all have blue sky , blue water , and chalk houses . So many of this pattern are charming that to number them here were impossible . Their sweetness is cloying , and one turns with pleasure to the artist ' s accurate and firmly-drawn beach scene , "At Bonchurch" ( 225 ) , a-wonderful bit of shore " stuff ;" the most legitimate of all " The East Cliff , Hastings " ( 268 ) , and the " Killin , Perthshire" ( 201 ) . The most successful figure piece here is Mr . Tidey ' s " Feast of Roses " ( 171 ) , which evinces -high-class , talent in drawing , and conveys the calm , subdued effect of evening very effectively . When we have drawn the reader ' s notice to "An Oxfordshire Village " ( 178 ) , by James Fahey , a large and admirable English , landscape , with an excellent group of peasant children ,, we must for the present conclude our remarks on this delightful collection . SOCIETY OF PAINTERS ' ' IX WATER COLOURS , TALLMALL EAST . The treasures of " The Old Society" will be opened for private view lliis day week ; the exhibition promises , we hear , though perhaps not so strong in point of numbers , to be excellent in quality . With the exception of Mr . Carl Haag , who' is in Egypt , it comprises many fine figure pieces by Messrs , Hunt , Tayler , Topham , Burton , and Fripp . The renowned Gilbert , too , contributes one of the finest works he ever produced . Among the landscape painters , Messrs . Harding and Holland ' are conspicuous ; the former contributes two large drawings in his best manner , and the latter some half-dozen of those brilliant morceaux for which he has a celebrity . Mr . Newton shows an admirable snow scone-, and Messrs . Joseph Nash , Duncan Finch , liichardson , Dodgson , Callow , and George Jfripp will all command admiration . The water colourists of this association , as well as of the younger one , have cither made signal progress within the last twelvemonth , or they have made a vigorous effort to prove themselves worthy of State recognition . We have again und again expressed ourselves utterly against the Crown protection of any one Fine Art Corporation . It is useless unless iniquitous , that is , partial . Could such small natters ns tho true advance of tho fine arts , and tho general well-being of their ten thousand professors , fall within the scope of Royal Highnesses and high-born Ministers , they would sec what undue advantage the world ' s folly gives to those who wear their livery , and would either deny it to all , or throw open the boon to tho universo of competitors . Let every society , every man , woman , and child in tho realm bo " Hoyul " ( n' » t please ) , my we : wear n rose in its hat or button-hole , mid put n lion and unicorn over its door ; but tho commonwealth . demands Hint tho use of tho word and insignia should ccaso to carry with it sudi extraordinary privileges us nro-now churned by the Acadomy . In tho . mutter of Burlington House we adhoro to our old proposal that certain public galleries should bo built , in which tho various artistic fratornities might exhibit , in harmony or discordantly as they pleased / but without rights of property , in tho plnee . Tho alienation of » vny part ot that priceless piece of public ground to this , that , or tho othor floeioty , on any pretence , or for a , ny consideration , will be neither moro nor less them « public wrong .
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Hq . 474 , Aprii , 23 , 1859 , 1 THE LEApB , 533
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Leader (1850-1860), April 23, 1859, page 533, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2291/page/21/
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