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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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the consequent obstruction of the natural process by -which unity is obtained . But we have now no Heed to make any reference to past times , or to conjecture from the conduct of a few cities how valid are the claims of the Italians to the enjoyment of their own beautiful country , and the management of their own affairs . Nearly eleven millions of people in Sardinia , Lombardy , Tuscany , and the Duchies , . have exhibited a steadfastness of purpose , a moderation in the use of suddenly acquh'cd power , and a unity of feeling which has won the respect and commanded the admiration of Europe , even more than the chivalrous valour
ances of honourable conduct which have been so repeatedly given . He may wish to see a Bonaparte occupying a throne in Central Italy ; but , unless forced into antagonism by the misconduct of other powers , it is . improbable that he will incur the general hatred of Europe by forcibly OYer-ridhig the declared wishes of the people . His interest is to come handsomely out of theTtalian war . This Villafranca peace satisfied nobody , and in France as well as out of _ it , produced the impression of incompleteness , if not of entire failure . Now , there is a chance that diplomacy , well backed by force , may induce Austria to make further concessions , and recognise a settlement of Italy which , if not final , will be good in
itself , and show the way to further progress . It is in vain to hope anything from the good feeling or the honour of the Hapsburg Court . Its conduct in the Venetian territory is that of shameless tyranny and spoliation ; it behaves like a burglar hi temporary possession , notlike a sovereign at home in his dominions , and no 1 > otentate ever fathomed a deeper gulf of disgrace than did Francis Joseph when he offered to drive an Imperial jew bargain with the people of " Venice , and promised them liberty if they would become parties to the compulsory restoration of the deposed potentates of Tuscany and the Duchies . N " dynasty has violated so many promises as that of Austria , and the Italians know full well that they can enjoy no
safety while the power of overthrowing the hands of their unscrupulous foe . Some security might indeed arise if the character of the Austrian Government were changed by the promised reforms , but no one believes any valid improvements will be effected until popular power has grown too strong . to he withstood . In the army of Sardinia , in the League of Central Italy , and the forces under Garibaldi , we see the commencement of a strong physical organisation that may make Austria pause before she renews a conflict that could not for the second time be restricted within such narrow limits ; and
if the Emperor of the French is earnest in his proposal for a European Conference , it should he regarded as a sign , of sincerity , as Russia and England would he pretty certain to support the rights of the Italians against the pretensions of the Court of Austria arid its adherents , while Prussia , could not oppose their constitutionally declared will without establishing a principle inconsistent with her own hopes of becoming the head of a United Germany . The conduct of the Emperor of the French will be more bewildering than ever if he should follow up his unconditional amnesty by a flagrant attack upon the liberties of Italy , such as would be involved in the forcible imposition of rulers whom they refused to accept . Had a republican outbreak occurred instead of the moderate monarchical course adopted in the Chambers of Tuscany for
and Modena , he would have had an excuse putting it down , but not the faintest pretence can be sustained that the cause of order has been injured by thp patriotic and prudent coui'se' which the Italians have pursued . To invite back to France thousands of deeply-injured individuals who will publish throughout the lnnrt the horrible stiffcrings under which so man y of their companions perished in the deserts of Algeria or the swamps of Cayenne , and to give vigour to their complaints by plunging the Empire into a new sea of crime , would bo tin act of aimless folly not reasonable to expect . The unturaL anticipation is that the amnesty is intended to be the commencement of proceedings calculated to remove some of the odium attached to the Imperial rule . Our Government is justified in thus regarding it , and the French Emperor is additionally-entitled to frank and fair treatment in hia Italian policy .
ITALIAN PROGRESS . Before the recent Italian war it was the custom with those sham friends of liberty who deprecate all great changes , whether right or wrong , to speak of the Italians as unfit for freedom , and destitute of those moral qualities on which national independence must rest . The behaviour of Venice and of Rome during the struggles of the last revolutionary period ought to have been proof enough of the absurdity of this defamation of a race to which civilisation is so profoundly indebted * and whose misfortunes could be clearly traced to the prolonged meddling of extraneous powers , and
displayed in battle , or the dignified modesty with which their military glory has been worn . Not less , worth y of commendation has been the attitude of 'the sadly disappointed Venetians , and of the inhabitants of Papal legations , still smarting under atrocities that might have oxcused the outburst of a wild spirit of revenge . The whole of Northern Italy has proved its capacity for , and right to self-government , and most wisely have all old jealousies boon forgotten , all visions of republics put aside , in order to dp the best practicable thing of the day—effect a union under a King who has made himself the legitimate centre of Italian hopes . It may be said that Victor Emmanuel is ambitious , but surely it is a ' good thing to find a king who
in a time of suffering and danger does cherish the noble ambition of being the political saviour of his race . No man who was not ambitious could be fit for the occasion , and tho sort of porsons who blame the Sardinian sovereign for the kind of ambition that ho has displayed would , if they had lived in othor times , have blamed the ambition of Alfred to rescue England from the Danes . The Italians and their chosen King are clearly entitled to the support of Europe , in order that tho doctrine of non-intervention , which has boon so long talked about , shall at length be carried ou . t ? and , if England , Russia and Prussia can agree to mnin-, tarn the cause of piblio justice , no circumstance u ?« ot OCCurred to warrant the expectation that tho French Emperor will depart from the as « uv «
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Palmer , in which the criminal inoves through circumstances of mystery , surrounded by what vulo-ar niinds take for a halo of romance , and keeps brains puzzling , 'and hearts throbbing , and betting books going , until the verdict is given , the sentence passed , and the convict is suspended upon society ' s great educational . apparatus which is to mollify hearts and dulcify manners until the reis-n of force is at end . reign 01 lorue is & ** em ^ ..
The Smethurst case scarcely came up to the mark in the minds of those who suffer under a moral jail fever , and look out as eagerly for an exciting murder as a Murray-taught tourist watches for a . sunrise among the mountains , or a well mounted squire for a dashing fox . Some sense of disappointment with the case will account for much of the ferocity with which judge , jury , doctors , and chemists have been abundantly attacked . It was not easy to make a pet of Dr .
Smethurst , for , most of the assailants of the legal machinery brought to bear against him unite in believing him guilty , and not a single circumstance was elicited at his trial to indicate a redeeming feature , or the faintest suspicion of palliation . His conduct was not that of a fond admirer , " loving not wisely but too well ; " bis crime was not the abex-ration of a noble nature , nor could he plead the excuse of brutifying circumstances , such as surround the dwellers in unveritilated courts and alleys , who are exposed from birth to an atmosphere of physical and moral filth ; and thus the only thing lefl ; for those who were discontented with this cause celebre , was to assail various details in the process by which the decision was obtained .
The most absurd piece of fault-finding is with the promptitude of the jury at the close of the scene ; the ' writers strangely ignoring the days of patient attention , which there is no reason to doubt were followed by anxious nights of thought . Other grumblers pour out their wrath upon the Lord Chief Baron , who may , in one or two particulars , have been guilty of inadvertence , but whose summing up was , in the main ,. both fair and able , although it undoubtedly showed plain enough the bias of his own mind . Some of these critics appear to mistake vacuity for impartiality , and
would have judges either to form no opinion at all , or hypocritically conceal it' It is a fair ground of complaint if a judge substitutes rhetoric for logical arrangement of facts , or if he omits important incidents or pervertsevidence ; but it is impossible to sum up a long complicated case in a clear , intelligible way without forming an opinion of some kind , and efforts to conceal such opinion would not leave the case without prejudice in the hands of the jury , but would infallibly throw into it elements of bewilderment and confusion .
It is not difficult to see the process by which the jury arrived at their conclusion , and it will appear the best they could adopt . The scientific evidence was incomplete . Twelve ordinary men could not implicitly rely upon portions of Professor Taylor ' s a nalysis where lie was probably right , af ter the awkward confession that the arsenic he found in one bottle had been supplied by himself in the copper which he used . The quantity of arsenic usually present in copper does not appear to be sufficient to affect the result in the ordinary operation of what is called Reinsch ' s tost , part of which consists in boiling the liquid suspected to contain
MURDER AND SCIENCE . Db Quinoy considered murder as a fine art , and , thus contemplated , gave the palm , not to those skilful notices to quit this vale of tears which mediroval poisoners served upon their unconscious victims in tho shape of aqua to / ana or some similar compound , but to tho brutal and torrifio catastrophe that overwhelmed the family of Mr . Muor . Tho spread of polite learning 1 ms unhappily not yet deprived us of tho class of atrocity to winch tho last-named ovont belongs , but tho favourite article for homo consumption , wmoh sells tho largest number of penny papers , and demands its separate editions and conies by the million , is a good poisoning onso like tuat of
arsenic with a little muriatic ncid and a piece ot bright copper . A professed analyst , however , ought to have remembered , and especially in a case of life and death , that many substances would dissolve the copper fast enough to vitiate Ins conclusion , and to us it appears noxcusab e that any impure article should have been used m an extremely delicate inquiry , upon winch each awful consequences depended . Whatever excuses Professor Taylor and his friends may make , the cb , emioal evidence , aftoiv-ono important adnussion of " ° a \« fl 1 (> nt nnd blundering , could only be
rogarde as affording a probability that reou . rca corporation from other facts . Tho medical evidence for tho prosecution , although free from any stain Uco that which rests upon the chemical portion , could not in itself be deemed conclusive , and , separated from the conduct of Smethurst , would not ~ cortainly ought not—to have been hold sufficient to establish the main fact that a pojsonina had taken place , although it . would have juri ^ edla very high degree of Buupioion . In spite of the opinions of certain doctors who did not soo the oaso wo must believe that tho symptoms did not coincide with known forme of disease ; but , on , tuu
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NOTICES TO COBRESPOSTDENTS . No notice can be taken of anonymous ^ ZtStioate 6 Whatever is intended for insertion must be a 1 utll 0 "" n a i , ^ bythe name and address of the writer ; not necessarily for publication , but as a guarantee of his good faitli ^ ^«^ S « S owi ^ io a ^ els of matter -and when omitted , it is frequently from reaboi £ quite independent of the merits of the communica-We cannot undertake to return rejected communications .
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OFFICE , NO- , CATHERINE-STREET , STRAND , W . C .
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SATURDAY , AUGUST 27 / 1859 .
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There is nothing- so revolutionary , because there is nothing so unnatural and convulsive , as the strain to keep things fixed when all the world is by the very law of its creation in eternal progress . —Dk . Arnold . .
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No , 492 > Aug . 27 , 1859-1 THE LEADER . 985
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SUBSCRIPTION TO " THE LEADER . " ONE GU I N EA PER YEAR , UNSTAMPED , PREPAID . ( Delivered Gratis . )
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Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 27, 1859, page 985, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2309/page/13/
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