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Leader (1850-1860), 3rd September 1859, Edition 1 of 2, Page 1005, Untitled Article

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    • INDIA, AND \ „ INDIAN' PROGRESS. ..
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      Untitled Article

      bottom of a political document ; what they wanted , and still want , is written with their blood . In spite of the promises and advice of experienced men , the streets of Venice were , on the 14 th of June stained with blood ; the prisons were nackel with youths , old men , and women . An Austrian-General , in the very town . in which he was iiaradin" all the luxury of an armed force that should have created witliin him a sen ? e of perfect security , wrote his own decree by saying— " I shall have no regard for person , I punish only the deed or the intention to act . I confide in none of you ! " There is not merely a personal feeling- expressed by General Urban , but an admission of Austria ' s thoughts as regards the Italians ; it is an admonition to the latter of what they have to expect from the Austrians , who , ever in dread , would always be in arms against their own fears , and their suspicions could not fail to arouse the suspicions of other powers . Attached to Italy as . to a prey , they would not only menace an unfortunate nation , but also the peace of Europe .

      The expenses necessarily incurred by Austria keeping continually upon her guard would augment the miseries of the country and her own misery top : this attitude , which could only serve to aggravate her weakness , would render her apparently formidable to other states , and sooner or later rear up a league likely to accomplish her ruin . Italy , oppressed , alone would be her death . Wc , Venetians , do not threaten nor dream of discord j but in the voice of the weak , who feel the dignity of their rights , there is a power that in the end will break both swords and chains .

      200 , 000 soldiers are encamped on Venetian ground ; the conduct of Government has not changed since the conclusion of peace . To the expression of sorrow of our citizens , and their disappointment without precedent—demonstrations which even the least paternal government might have excusedthat the enemy , least of all accessible to noble sentiments and enthusiasm created by the glorious victories previously , obtained as precursors of unhopedfor success , might have considered in the sanie light—the Austrian functionaries at Venice replied , on the 17 th July , with threats of unheard-of heartlessness .- . " ' . To recite one fact worth a thousand : —

      The prisons of Josaphstadt Were closed upon the Venetian landlords , peaceful men and endeared to the nation , by their talents and character , having been arrested without trial , as a mere precautionary measure of the police , who publicly avowed that they had in no way disturbed public order , but that the possibility of their doing so rendered thcirimprlsoinncnt an act of utility to themselves and desirable even to those that loved them . Ought it not to have been supposed that after the compact of Villafranca they should have been restored to their lamenting The

      families ? They are nevertheless still there . slowness of diplomatic proceedings ought to anticipate the feelings of humanity and justice , nor should there bo even an appearance of generosity or of any inclination towards those guarantees vaguely promised ? Is not this rigorous forbearance in the appearance of clemency , throwing defiance at the sympathies of the country and of all Europe , a return to the morals and manners of the least enlightened times , in an age that boasts of its elegance , and in which acts of the most courteous generosity should only bo considered as mere ordinary

      politeness ? Evon by reducing the domination of Austria over Vcnoda to its narrowest limits ; evon were it agreed to place nn isolated prince upon jthc throne , -without soldiers or functionaries belonging to his raco ; is it to bo supposed that that could satisfy Venetia , Europe , or Austria herself ? Would it bo possible to allow an Austrian jjrlnco to guard the Alps ? If ho wore supposed to be already so changed in nature by his now title as to possoss an entirely Italian heart , could it bo protended that nt a timo of war confidence would never be shaken cithor on the part of the nation or on that of foreign powers ? Evon in ordinary times to what embarrassments ¦ Would that man not bo exposed , who , seeming to obey tho will of thoso hois selected to rule—of a man , who to oscapo from this humiliating thought would ever be roady to encroach upon tho powers ho has sworn to respect V

      No man of fooling could , without a sentiment of rospoctful commiseration , look upon a prince condemned to govern in so difForont u mnnnor , tnoro whoro his ancestors , or his brothor , have rulod so , as to roiulor a murderous war inevitable und concessions so long niul so obstinatoly rofusoil . Unhappily indeed is the fate of a princo , when rodueud to bo pitied by his own subjootH , who under tufforont 'Circumstances would huvo loved' and honoured him with sincerity . Tho force of events oflers Austria a precious opportunity of retrieving herself and acquiring in moral strength , and subsequently In matoriul power , much more than she would lose in dominion . She

      could then say :- —After the occurrences , at Villa Franca there is neither victor nor vanquished . The honour of our arms is say . ed ; let us also save that of our family and the * nation , for . here the honour of the whole of Germany is at stake . We have left too many brave men on the soil of Italy ; let us forbear leaving more victims on her ground ; and if Austria were to hide these truths from herself , time would force them upon her some dreadful day . The undersigned need " not affirm that the vows that they now make are not isolated or solitary . The titles they append to their signatures will denote ' that they are the interpreters of a sentiment which is nourished by the intellect and the heart of all who consider that the word " nation " is not a vain sound .

      Diplomatic documents have just been published , giving the thoughts of Daniel Manin , not merely as a private man but as the chief of the Venetian Government . Venice possessed an assembly elected by the universal suffrage , which had bestowed unlimited powers upon it . A committee sat in Venice to represent the different provinces of Venetia ; the legions , composed of Venetians , who likewise voted at the election of the Assembly , contributed to render our resistance honourable as much by the order thev observed as by the firmness they displayed . Thus this voice , issuing from the tomb , is the voice of the nation itself ; and during his life Manin was regarded by Europe as the personification of an imexile he

      mortal right . Dictator of Venice , in his . was more than a king . Charles X . at Garitz , Louis Philippe in London , never received before or after death that homage of the heart that was rendered to the poverty , the sufferings , and the ashes of this advocate . Let then this voice be listened to as it reminds France and enlightened Europe of their duty . Finally , Austria pan no longer govern Italy . Even an Austrian' prince , unattended by an Austrian force , would be superifluous , and his presence would not only be a source of disagreeable recollections , but moreover of considerable danger to the Austrian Empire , the dignity of France , arid the tranquillity of Europe . ' __ .

      . The solemn hopes given to Venetia should not be eluded . Is . it possible that for this land of Italy " , still not free , 200 , 000 French mothers lived in anguish during ten successive weeks , hourly dreading to learn that their offspring had been stricken by Austrian grape ? ' " Would it be believed that for this land of Italy , still not free , Napoleon III . will have staked his .-life and his destiny , and that which is dearer to him than life , —the honour of France , and the heritage of a great name that weighs upon him like a heavy and resplendent burthen ?

      Let Europe , then , in gratitude for the peace which he insures her , assist him to cast away the load ot sorrow of that thought , and it will be for the forerunner of life to hear the blessings that will arise in this laud of grand ideas and great misfortunes . 17 th August , 1859 .

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      A Candid Judge . —Indian courts are not without their experience of the prevalence of clever lying and perjury , but their judges are seldom so frank as a district judge in Ceylon . He was giving judgment on a case instituted for the recovery of debt . "I wholly disbelieve the defence , but it is only just to the first defendant to record that I have never hoard a more accomplished liar in my life . His falsehoods dropped so softly and ( apparently ) frankly , that it was hard , indeed , to suppose that anyone could over have had the heart to fine him for giving false evidence . " Sir James Colville was sometimes sovero , Sir Mordaurit Wells -has begun a crusade against perjury , but neither have yet approached tho district judge of Ceylon .

      Ciuckbt in the States . —It is now arranged that twelve cricket players , selected half and , half from each of the " olovens , '' are to cross tho Atlantic to meet the twenty-twos of tho New World . Twelve aro to go , in case of accidents , and G . Parr , Jackson , Diver , Julius Ccosar , Hayward , Daft , Wisdou , Lillywhito , Caflyn , Lockycr , Grundy , and R . Carpenter are tho selected ones . They arp engaged at a largo sum to play four matches , and sail from Liverpool on the 7 th of Soptembcr , The Englishmen in tho United States and Canada have subscribed about 1 , 600 * . in all towards this project .

      r-OMTENEStt AND POOKKT PlOKINO . —A J 0 W , TOBiding at Lyons , lately lost his purse , containing l . SOOf ., and ho advertised tho loss in the usual way . The next day ho received this lottor : — " Amiublo Israelite , —It is I who have found your -1 , 200 ! ' ., and you may weep for them , for you will nover got them back again . I am loading t . ho life of a Sardanupalus . Hero Is an account of what I have this day had fur breakfast and for dinner . ( A detail of tho two meals was horo given . ) I shall continuo to live in this mannor , gracious Hebrew , until your I , 200 t . aro oxhauatod , arid 1 will flntoh by drinking u glass ot wine to your health . "

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      No . 493 . Sept . 3 , 1859 ] THE LEADER . ' " L ' __^__^__ ' ¦ 1005

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      PESHAWUR , PAST , PRESENT , AND FUTURE . When we first took possession of Peshawur in the year 1 S 49 , the prevalence of autumnal fever in the valley was well known , as it had long been found by the Sikh garrison most unhealthy in the autumn , while the inhabitants of the valley suffered from the disease nearly as much as the Sikhs themselves . On this account Sir Henry Lawrence strongly opposed the occupation of Peshawur by a large European force , proposing that it should be held by an irregular brigade of the three arms , as Kohat , liunnoo , and other frontier stations have since been . The late Sir Charles Napier , then coihmander-in-chicf , insisted that if we intended to hold the Peshawur Valley , the defence of this important frontier post

      could not be intrusted to natives , but must be held , if held at all , by a strong European force—and the present large cantonment was accordingly laid out . The force at Peshawur then consisted of two troops and two batteries of artillery ( twenty-four gulls )> with three or four reserve companies , two corps of European infantry , oiie corps of native regular cavalry , five regiments of native infantry , and two of irregular cavalry , or in round numbers a total of 3 , 000 Europeans and 7 , 000 , natives ; and'this strength was subsequently increased by a regihient of European infantry , a corps of native infantry , and an irregular cavalry regiment , stationed at the new station of Nowshaira , about midway between Peshawur and Attock .

      It was at first imagined that the Nowshaira cantonment would be more healthy than Peshawur , but the result has disappointed expectation . The site was so badly selected , that parts of the cantonment were twice overflowed and destroj-ed , once by aflood frorn the hills , and once by a Hood from the Cabul river ; until in August , 1858 , the" whole cantonment was submerged , and ,. " with the exception of the Pucka Government buildings , which withstood the flood , entirely destroyed by . the back-water of the Indus . Another catastrophe of -the ' same" kind is now again expected , and though the barracks are occupied by the officers and men of the 98 th regimen t , they are ordered to hold themselves in readiness to leave them at once , on any signs of the coming flood appearing , tents , &c \ , being stored in readiness on the sandhills beyond the paradeground . The Nowshaira cantonment was a mistake from the beginning , it serves no useful purpose , arid the sooner ic is abandoned the better .

      The determination of Sir Charles Napier and the Government to have a large European force stationed at Peshawur , was , under Providence , the moans of saving our Indian Empire in the great outbreak of 1857 , as the Europeans kept tho border tribes in check , and enabled us to use as allies those who would otherwise have been our most determined enemies . It is , moreover , but reasonable to suppose that the Punjab Irregular force , a great proportion of which were natives of Ilindostan , would nob have stood so true to us as they did , had it not been for the presence of this strong European force : on the frontier . ....

      It is believed that Sir John Lawroift-c loft tins . country with tho determination of advocating at home tho cession of our trans-Indus territory to Dost Mahomed Khan . His reasons aro chiefly , financial , and founded on tho groat expense of maintaining this largo frontier force at Peshawar . fair John ' s proposal is said to be to inuko the Indus our frontier , but it would appear that the lintf of hills botweon this and Cubul , which can only bo crossed by certain pusses , which might bo easily defended ^ is a far bettor frontier than tho lino of tho Indus , while the

      which can bo crossed at « my point expense of tho front lor forco is not fairly attributable to Poahawur , as a largo force would always have to bp kept up on tho frontier , bo It where It may . In the present stato of tho political horizon tho cession of our trans-Indus territory to the Allghan would bo an act little short of madness , as Russian gold would soon nurohnuo it of him , who , though now our profossotUriond and ally , has never cithor forgotten or forgiven his doposition by us in favour ot bhah Sooiah . and would only bo tooglft < l of an opportunity , that im

      of being revenged on uh by any moans « nu nrosont themselves . With tho Poahawur Valley and tho Dorujat in thojr pousoHsion as a baso ol operations , and Dost Mahomed as an ally , the Russians would havo an advantage they noyce can possess as long aB wo can kcop tho lino of h > ll » a 9 our frontier , After tho cxuninlo of their fidelity given by our

      India, And \ „ Indian' Progress. ..

      INDIA , AND \ „ INDIAN' PROGRESS . ..

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      FOREIGN INCIDENTS

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 3, 1859, page 1005, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2310/page/9/