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Leader (1850-1860), 30th July 1859, Edition 1 of 2, Page 893, Untitled Article

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      the pretended motive , but the , ^ motive ^ of ^ reconstruction , is that i j »;? m «^ y Han . aver , « g » ^ SS 3 S ^ g £ SS r 6 f » r £ ' ° f the . P ^| " ^ fcX « i f " ™ se " ^ ^ system , married men will oe e ? ceni r , i r -ji v flCCeDt this the landwehr . The married men mil ^ V f ™^™* boon or tone . They , as may easily be conceded , are tne most obstreperous just now , ^^ a m <^ totti Ma oo-o . - nif ?!„> nponle who have caused them to Dearaggea

      % evelloperchez d ' autres peuples . " Thetjenc * nation has once more done , great injury to the progress of civil liberty on the continent of Europe , blie mayliave allies among the princes , she has none among the nations . She will never again influence J * e masses by her example , nor the rich and educated by her literature-bbth have become a laughing stock . Jh * £ now nothing better than a horrible nightmare , equally oppressive to tyrant and slav .

      fi-A project of mediation , attributed to Pr'issia , and very unfavourable to Austria , has been circulated in the German papers , with the view , it would appear , to render Prussia responsible for the hasty and abortive peace that has been concluded . With reference tothis , the Prussian aazettc of the 22 nd inst . says : - " The manifold errors which have been propagated lately respecting the objects of the mediation proposed by Prussia , have induced the Cabinet to address the following explanatory despatch to all its Embassies in Germany : — Berlin , July 20 , 1859 .

      Immmediately after Count Rechberg returned from Verona , he informed the Prussian Ambassador at Vienna that AuBtria had accepted the preliminarie * of peace at Villa Franca chiefly because it was made evident ^ tnat the conditions which would have been proposed by Prussia , England , Russia , would prove more unfavourable for Austria than those to which the Emperor of the French would agree . The Imperial manifest of of the 15 th July , held a similar language . To a despatch of Count Recliberg's , read to me in confidence a few days ago , a project of mediation was annexed , said to have been addressed by England to France ; and Prussia , it was said , had agreed to the seven paragraphs which it contained . This project the Mny . ence Journal published to-day .

      Your Excellency is authorised to declare most positively—1 . That Prussia herself has not drawn up any such conditions , nor agreed to any conditions of a like nature drawn up by any other power . 2 . That the Prussian Cabinet is totally ignorant of the project annexed to the Austrian Circular , since published in the newspapers . Schleinitz . This has been met . by a semi-official reply in the Aifstrian Corre $ pondenz , to the effect that the contradiction which exists between the second part of the Prussian declaration and the authentic communications which have been received . All Europe is witness that the moral influence of Prussia was thrown into the scale against

      Austria . It is true that Prussia proposed terms ot metlition , in conjunction with England and France that would have led to a surrender of territory by Austria . Prussia refused to enter the lists for the integrity of the empire , to maintain the treaty of Vienna , or to guarantee the Italian possessions . She was in close connexion with England aad Russia , and well knew that a refusal to guarantee was equivalent , in the eyes of those powers , to an expulsion of Austria from Italy . As Prussia went hand in hand with those powers , who were known to be desirous of seeing Austria driven entirely out of Italy , Austria was justified in believing she had no more to expeotfrom Prussia ' s mediation than from theirs . It is

      best now to discontinue a barren dispute upon what has been done and cannot be mended . They would not have replied to the Prussian despatch , but that it wns necessary to maintain words uttered from the throne of Austria free of all doubt , This reply is regarded ( is a very lame ones Austria ' s influence in the intelligent parts of Germany is null . The Regent is reported to have exclaimed to Count Rechbere at parting : , " The Emperor has deeply wounded my heart by concluding such a peace . " The Bavarian Chambers are open , but beyond a discussion respecting an address to the throne nothing has taken place . Indeed very little interest is now taken by the people in these sham parliaments .

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      Intelligence lias boon received at Liverpool of the loss of the Alma , bound from Calcutta to London . The news is dated from Calcutta , Juno 14 , and etatea that tho Alma had been totally wreoked , and that the pilot ( one of tho oldest on tho rivor , who was juet going his last trip , previous to retirement ) , leadsman , Captain Munce , wife and child , and a lady passenger , together with fourteen of tho crow of tho iu-iUteu vossol , perished . The Alma was a flne vc 8 sel , and was owned by Mr . Sinclair , of ¦ Liverpool ,

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      1 ^ - ON the 19 th , 20 th , and 21 st inst . the library of Wordsworth , consisting of nearly 3 , 000 volumes , was offered for sale . The auctioneer manifested no little tact in the manner in which he expatiated on the volumes and the associations connected with them . There was a large attendance of booKsellers from London , Manchester , &c , and other towns , also of clergymen and private buyers . Among the latter were Lady Cranworth ; Sir John Richardson , of Arctic fame ; Dr . Davy , the brother of the inventor of the safety-lamp ; and the Rev . J . Wordsworth , a ,

      grandson of the poet . The first day ' s sale seemed somewhat affected by the weather , the rain pouring in torrents , and preventing a thronged attendance . On the second day there was more animation in the biddings ; and on Thursday , tlie concluding day , when the books sold were principally in verse , the bulk of them being presentation copies from , their authors to Wordsworth , there was much competition , some of the lots bringing remarkably high amounts . The autographs inserted in most of the books gave , them great additional value in the eyes of the bidders . _

      The City of Paris has just bestowed on Latnartine a pleasant house in the Bbis du Boulogne . The Paris papers inform us that the impover ished poet still possesses three estates in Burgundy of goodly extent and rich pasture—Saint Point , Monceaux , and Milly . Some verses of his in praise of poverty are dated from Saint Point , and others , on his contempt of riches , are written at Monceaux . By a curious circumstance ( says a correspondent ) , every complaint against , liis countrymen for allowing him to remain in that poverty , he praises , and for not bestowing upon his declining years those riches he so much despises , is written at Milly . Perhaps the air of the place must be good for the appetite—too goodindeedand induces an unnatural craving .

      , , It is feared that the grand archaeological expedition to Greece , projected by M . Alexandre Dumas , i 3 stifled in the bud . He had chartered a frigate , to be called the Monte Cristo , Avliieh was to explore the coasts of Greece , Asia Minor , Syria , and Egypt . A large staff of men of letters , artists , and photographers was retained for the voyage . "Part of the plan was to anchor the Monte Cristo , on her return from her adventures , in the Seine , hear the Pont Eoyal , and to have a grand photographic and artistic exhibition on board . But the Monte Cristo was a Greek vessel , which sailed from Greece for Marseilles two months ago . She has hot since been heard of , and it is therefore feared that she is lost . Association

      The date of the meeting of the British at Aberdeen is fixed for the 14 th of September , when his Royal Highness the Prince Consort , the president for the year , will deliver the opening address . Among other celebrated persons -whose attendance at the meeting is expected , Professor Agassiz is mentioned . A deputation from the Royal Horticultural Society , on the subject of the proposed garden at Kensington Gore , had an interview with Earl Granville on Monday at the Council-office . The deputation consisted of the Earl of Ducie , Sir J . Paxton , Mr . Blandy , Mr . Henry G . Bohn , Mr . T . Grissell , Mr . Godson , Mr . Clutton , and Professor Linilley . ' . British

      The short debate upon the vote for tho Museum ( says the Critic ") will serve once more to remind the country of the unjustly low salaries paid to a class of public servants , from whom more solid and rarer acquirements are expected than from any other . The gentlemen employed in tho library of the British Museum must be men nob only of education , but also linguists of cpnsiderableattainment ; and yet these gentlemen are supposed to receive the maximum value of their services when they have reached tho munificent salary of 300 / . per annum . Such , a state of things ought , not to be suffered to continue , and the admirably efficient stato in which every department of the Museum is now to b ^ found constitute * in itself a claim for a more just and liberal scale of payment .

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      y which , it has been ignorantly distorted . I-iady Shelley accordingly has -wisely felt it necessary and proper to remove all possible misrepresentations , as far as she might , by a truthful statement ,. and to " clear away the mist in which the errors of foes and professed friends have obscured" his living lineaments . Her ladyship well describes a , late work , though dedicated to herself , as " a fantastic caricature . " Here , at least in the book before us , is a fair and consistent picture , in which a resemblance may be traced to the departed thinker and singer , and which may be accepted as a portrait , though perhaps little more than a photograph , with such disadvantage as a too-literal transcript always entails .

      Faithful to a certain extent it is , though with a few unintentional exaggerations , which may be readily allowed for . We have , at any rate , the prosaic life of Shelley here , if not altogether the poetical . The biography before us does not enlighten us on any of the secret passages of the poet ' s life , which , with a prurient curiosity so many desire to look into . His First Love , Harriet Groves however , receives early notice . Letters passed between them , but Shelley expressed so incautiously . his speculative doubts on serious matters , that the narpntsofthe vounir lady were alarmed ; and so

      the match was broken ofF . His expulsion fi-orn Oxford , on the same account , soon followed . 1 he pamphlet that excited the anger of the authorities consisted only of two pages . It was a mere challenge to discussion , beginning with certain axioms , and finishing with a Q : E . D . It was but , in fact , the questioning of an Inquiring Spirit , which the heads of the college , being men of narrow and disingenuous tempers , sought to crush-Mr . Hogg , his Mend , was also expelled . So foreign is intellectual activity to the habit of offieefiolders , whether Italian or Anglican . And this dishonourable transaction took place in England , so late as Lady-day , 1811 . On the conduct of the poet ' s father we need not make much remark . He would not suffer his son ' s residence at home ,

      unless he ostensibly conformed to the orthodox belief . Lady Shelley enters an apology for the old man . " Let those , " says , " who utterly condemn him , ask themselves hoy they would like the presence in ' their houses of a disciple of Spinoza or of Calvin , whose enthusiasm never wanes , and whose voice is seldom silent ; who , with the eloquence of conviction , obtrudes his doctrines at . all times ; who seeks the youngest daughter in the schoolroom * and the butler in his pantry , to make them converts , in the one case to the moral excellence of materialism ; in the other , to the aesthetic comforts of eternal punishment by election ; and , if they can conscientiously say they would like it , they may condemn the elder Mr . Shelley ; but

      not unless . " The same apology might be made for the Pope himself , and justify excommunication . There is as little defence for domestic tyranny as for national The household should be as open to reason as the Vatican ; if either shut its doors against truth , the father , whether of the less or larger family--whether holy or profane—is the despicable slave ot prejudice , and would impose the shackles he is not ashamed to wear himself on his sons and daughters , to the manifest injury of the latter , and the disturbance of his own peace . In England , _ however , only fifty years ago , the reign of prejudice was strong , and a lord-chancellor could bo readily found to act quite as absurdly as cither tho Pope

      SHMLLKY MEMORIALS 5 from Authentic Sources . — Edited by Lady Sholloy . To which iu added an Mostly on Clu-ietlaujty , by l ' oroy JJyseho HUelloy s "ow unit l > rlutod . —Smith , Ifildor nnd Co . We arc not surprised to find that the Shelley family should bo dissatisfied with the memoirs tLmfc hav « boon recently published of the groat poet . They have , indeed , most unfeelingly desecrated tho memory of tho most spiritual of our bards , and have , ns ffttully as foolishly , rogarded his mental [ uul moral character , not in its own pure light ,

      or old Mr . Shelley . , , Meanwhile , the ' poet partook of tho darkness against which he " struggled , and had to win liglit for himself as well as lor others . Ho had been thoroughly persuaded that ho was an Atlioist , ones even ISodUe proud of tho title Jiut he was nevertheless under a mistake . A candid examnation ofliis writings would entirely relievo . him from tho charge . . In fact , Shelley was simply a bad theologian ami an incomplete philosopher « and such ho remained , unfortunately , to his death . It was not Athoiam that « The Revolt olIslam , or oven " Queen Mab" contained j but simply ProthQlenii—U . Thofcm , prior to and independent oUny systoin or creed ; the simple acknowledgmont , ropoatodly made in his works , of aa Eternal Love , independent of its . impersonation in on ideal deity . His denial of a divinity was therefore only a denial of those gods of tlua world , those creatures of tho popular theology , that could

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      LITERARY NOTES OE THE WEEK .

      Liter At U R E. ^ ' • " ' • : '

      LITER AT U R E . ^ ' " '• : '

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      through carnal media or capricious prejudices b ¦ o Tit . v 30 . 1659 . 1 THE LEADER . 893 —————~—¦^^"' ^^^^ ^^ + > ii »/ - > ito-Vi r » nrnnl mAflia . or ttanriirious Trremdiftfis Irw

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), July 30, 1859, page 893, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2305/page/17/