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Leader (1850-1860), 17th December 1859, Edition 1 of 2, Page 1373, Untitled Article

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      way I can se £ , of explaining the state of Tuscan politics , with any credit to the Italians . The Lorraine rulers of Tuscany . were Germans in heart , . and face , and language , and as such , they were distasteful to the Tuscans . They won no love , and as for loyalty , the very idea seems absurd here ; but still , some how or other , they governed the country fairly . The task was not , perhaps , a difficult one , but sucli as it was , they deserve credit for performing it . The classes who suffered beneath this foreign Government , were the merchants , the professional men , and the

      nobles * In consequence , these classes were , and are bitterly hostile to the Grand Ducal family , but . the agricultural classes , who , form the great bulk of the population , do not share these feelings of hostility . The revolution in Tuscany is not really a national movement ; it is the revolution of a class , not of a people . The enthusiasm for unity and independence , is confined to the educated class . There are plenty of officers , but a sad want of soldiers ; a host of deputies , and but few electors . The movement , alas , is all soul and no

      body . Prom all I can hear and learn , the revolution _ is much more of a national and popular one in Parma , Modena , and the Legations , than in Tuscany . This fact , according to my view , is natural enough . The Ducal and Papal governments were not only infinitely worse than the Tuscan , but were far more oppressive and annoying to their subjects . The Gazettes of Parma and Bologna have been publishing of late extracts from the private official papers of the deposed governments . The glimpse thus afforded into the rule of these

      petty tyrannies is really appalling . Fancy , within the last ten years , three men being arrested in the streets of Parma for singing a patriotic son < r , and being sentenced thereupon to twenty day ' s imprisonment and fifteen blows with the stick , and ordered to leave the country on the expiration of their punishment ! Fancy this decree , too , being signed by the Duke , who , in his great clemency , remits the boating and ten days' imprisonment of the twenty , in the case of one of the offenders , because he was an old man of seventy ! Fancy this instance being only one of daily occurrence , and then call out with horror at the murder of

      " Auviti" as at a crime -without excuse or palliation . The . Papal Government , however , is _ a long way a-head , in cruelty i \ nd disregard of justice A girl of seventeen is arre sted while working at the door of her father's shop , because some gendarmes passing by , observe that she has on a tricolor ribbon . There is no taint upon the girl ' s character , no suspicion of Liboralism against her parents , no evidence that she attached any political meaning to the colours ; every probability , in fact , that , in accordance with her own story , she only wore the jjny eoloui'cd ribbon out of girlish vanity , and yet , nix application to Rome , only brinn-s back the answer that the offonce is to be

      treated as a political , not a criminal one . Again , a student at Forli applies fur leave to finish his medical studies by a year ' s residence at Bologna . The application is refused at Rome , coupled with the comment , that the student has peen seen in the street speaking to young men suspected of Liberal sentiments . The permission is at once refused , on this ground alone . The last case , however , I observed , surpasses all . A man at Forli is arrested on a ehnrgo of disreapeutful language to a Pftpnl gendarme . After a long time , the following sentence is sent down from Home , viz ., that , considering the length of time the accused has been in custody , and _ that

      there ia no evidence nt all of the offence ho ls accused of having been committed , he is to bo released from prison , but that the Govornor is to warn him that , if , hereafter , he should be accusod of any oH ' oneo whatever , ho will bo sentenced , forthwith , to fivu years hard labour in addition to the flpociiil ' punifllmiuut allotted to his oflenoo . Tho niortt damning judgment lover hoard pnssod on tho priust-jmlo of tlio Papacy lies in tho fact , proved in these- papers , that , after 1848 , the Pontifical Government gmw unonsy about tho continuance of tho Austrian occupation of tho Legations , for funr tho inhabitant should request tho " AuBtriims " to add them to their Italian

      possessions . By this time , you probably know ninro than we do about tho quoation of tho Regency . Baron RioRBoli has gone to Turin , and the Minister oi the Interior rules over us in his stood . Evon , in

      the absence of the virtuous Dictator , the Provisional Government seems incapable of existing a single day , without signalising themselves by some appropriate decree , and so , to-day , we have a proclamation in which the Minister of the Interior states , that , as he considers it one of his chief duties , to sustain , the moral feelings of the country , and to do homage to all that dignifies our human nature , he has resolved to give prizes to the persons who took an active part in assisting their neighbours during the late inundations , and therefore publishes a graduated scale of prizes , which descend from a gold medal , through various grades of four pounds , three pounds , and one pound prizes , ' to an " honourable mention . " Our Provisional Government is decidedlv too good to live .

      Leghorn , 1 Otlrijeceinber , 1858 . The six weeks that I have passed in Tuscany have left upon me an impression not altogether favourable to the prospects of Italian independence . Before I pass to other scenes , it may be interesting , perhaps , to recapitulate the general result of my stray observations . I do not-pretend to any peculiar sources of information , or , indeed , to have learnt or seen more than any traveller of ordinary intelligence and some knowledge of the Continent might easily have done . I own , however , that I attach but slight value to the more elaborate communications of " Our own Correspondents . " In the first place , looking , as these

      gentlemen inevitably do , solely at the facts which come under their own notice , they form a local , and not a " general view of the position of affairs . In the second , their channels of information are very limited . If I choose to quote the opinions of my grocer and my barber , and of an "highly intelligent " operative I stood under a doorway with during a shower of rain , I suspect that ray authorities would be equally good with those of the personages mysteriously alluded to in the Foreign Correspondence of our daily papers . I was much struck with the fact that till within a day of the . meeting of the Tuscan Assembly , not one of the London correspondents was able to communicate the news that Prince de Carignan

      was to be nominated as Regent , though the secret , such as it waft must have been in the possession of some hundred persons . Be that as it may , I feel as great confidence in the correctness of my own observations as if they had been endorsed by every special correspondent in Italy . In fact , according to the language of sporting journals , I think the readers of The Leader , who are kind enough to rely upon my " special information" will be able to make a safe book enough on Tuscau politics .

      Tuscany—and this fact should never be forgotten—is neither a commercial nor an intellectual country . Both the trade and the intellect of Florence itself have , I think , been exaggerated , and Florence is not Tuscany , All the Tuscan railways have been built by English or French skill and capital , and the-shareholders are French and English—rarely Italians . Few of the great mercantile houses are Italian—fewer still of the manufactories . The trade of Leghorn is in the hands of Greeks , Jews , and Frenchmen . The Italians , and Tuscans especially , are an eminently stay-at-home people . Every effort at education for

      has been systematically discouraged years by the Government , and the consequence is , that in the small towns there is no intellectual life whatever . There are no local newspapers—no local book-shops—rarely even a theatre . With all this thero exists great material comfort and prosperity . Tho peasantry of Tuscany are , as far as I have seen , the most comfortably off of any country in Europe . The whole policy of the- Government was to favour tho " Contadini , " at the expense of tho educated and trading clas , s . As long as a countryman wns content to grow fat—not to use his mind—and not to spoculate cither practically or theoretically , ho had no cause to complain . For him , and such as him , the Grand Ducal Government was neither a harsh nor an illiberal one ;

      and , fte tho bulk of tho Tuscan population is agricultural , tho great majority had no personal grievances against the House of Lorraine . Unfortunately , the Austrian Grand Dukes had no power of winning tho affections even of tho clnss they fostered and favoured . Tho sort of attachment which tho soum of tho Neapolitan people leel for their royal patrons was unknown in iusoauy . Tho German rulers offended nil classes alike by their German manners , and language , and

      sympaof its weakness . The people still remain hopelessly indifferent . The Provisional Government has , I believe , heen a very good and a proper one . As yet there have been no heavy taxes ; no conscriptions , nothing to cause the country to calculate the price of liberty . All , hitherto , has been smooth sailing . If the Great Powers allow Tuscany to incorporate herself with Piedmont , and if any independent national government is established peacefully all will go on well to the end . If , however , things should turn out otherwise . If France and Austria , for they are the real arbiters , should resolve to force foreign rulers upon Tuscany , there will be no choice for the leaders and authors of the

      thies , and by their constant disregard for Italian prejudices and tastes . As soon as the war broke out , and the Grand Ducal Government was left face to face with its subjects , the whole intellect and energy of the country rose up against their hated oppressors . The ' agricultural classes looked on with passive sympathy , and were quite willing to ^ et rid of the Grand Dukes as long as there was no fighting required . The Revolution , however , was purely one of the educated classes . The people looked on and shouted " Viva VItalia" and that so far has been their whole part in the performance The cause of the prompt success of the Revolution is also the cause

      Revolution except to submit . The people will not fight or make any great sacrifices on behalf of their independence or their liberty . The Austrians are so personally offensive to every Italian of every class that any Austrian attempt at invasion would meet with a decided though ineffectual opposition ; but-French interference would pass unopposed . The Emperor Napoleon is the real master of Tuscany . There is not only no force that can , but no force that will oppose his decision . The chance for Tuscany lies in the varied and contradictory interests the French Emperor has to study , but most certainly she herself will , I fear ; not work out her own salvation .

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      BOOKS RECEIVED .

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      ]^ o . 508 . Dec . 17 , 1859 . ] THE LEADER . 1373 ' \

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      Ubi-hal or two Papbh Dutv . —A moot jig of tlio committee of' Tho Newspaperand Periodic * Prose Association , " waa hold on Thursday at Poole ' e Ooflbo Houio , wlion it was dotonnlnpd that atape should bo tnkon for a largo and inuuontlai : doP utation to wait upon the Chancellor of tho Exohoquor , prior to tlio mooting of Parliament , to prosa tho consideration of tide tax upon his attention .

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      SERIALS . " Boswdl ' s Life of Johnson . " Nos . 7 , 8 and 0 . John " McfoiVsYife of Lord Byron . " Nos . 1 and 3 . John " ClJldTHnrold ' ttPll ff rimnffu- " By Lord Byron . Tho snnif Illiistrutod . John Murray . « TlioPootlcniworIt 8 ofTlioa . Moor « . '' PartO . Long" Moor " 4 lNaTioTi ] l * "I ' lra . " No . 7 . Longman and " TafoTfroin Buntluy . " Vol . 2 , R . Beiitloy . « A S mpSioniivo Hl 8 topy of England . " Nos . 2 C and 20 . Hlackio and Won . " Tlio Black Danus . " J . H . nnd . ) . Parltor . « Kingston ' s Mnffiwlno . " No . 10 . Boaworth and Harrison . , „ " Tlio West of Scotland Mnpfnzl . no . ' " Liv l ' emnio . " Hntolrctt and Co , " Everybody ' s Journal . " Part 2 . Thoa . Barton .

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      " The Diaries and Correspondence of the Right Hon . George Rose . " Edited by the Rev . R . V . Harcourt . R . Bentley . " The Autobiography of a Seaman . " By Thomas , Earl of Dundonald , G . C . B . 1 vol . R . Bentley . " Notea on Noses . " R . Bentley . "A Tale of Two Cities . " By Charles Dickens . Chapman and Hall . "A Dictionnry of English Etymology . " By H . Wedgwood , M . A . Trqbner and Go . " The Day of Small Things . " A . Hall , Virtue and Co . " Tlio Reliques of Father Prout . " By Oliver Yorke , Esq . 4 Ne \ v edition . H . G . Bolin . " The Whiskey Demon . " Simpkin , Marshall and Co . " The World of Ice , or Ad ventured in tho Polar Re-Kions . " T . Nelson and Sons . " Chronicles of an Old English Oak . " By Emily Taylor . OroombridftG and Sons . " TheJ Poat [ Office London Directory for I 860 . " Kelly and Co " Tho Post Office Directory of Hants , Wilts and Dorset , 1800 . " Kelly and Co . " " The Post Office Directory Map of London , 1800 . " Kelly , and Co .. ,, . „ r " The Education of Mothers of Families . " W . J . Adams .

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 17, 1859, page 1373, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2325/page/17/