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    Untitled Article

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    Untitled Article

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    ITALY.

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    " CHURCH" ASSOCIATIONS.",

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    Untitled Article

    guarantee for her liberal action in the future . The one desirable reform of the Federal Act would ' ' be its ¦¦ dissolution , or , at all events , the " restriction of the central power within much narrower limits ; If . each state were left to arrange its . o , wnconstitution , settle its own budget , and make its own ' laws , the people would soon obtain an amount of real freedom , of which a strong central power will always deprive them . Prussia herself has quite enough to do in putting her own house in order , in getting rid of her most execrable police and municipal systems , before setting up for a lawgiver to Germany . And no one need fear that the result of this removal of Federal , control would be a confusion of

    laws , moneys , and tariffs , or an inability to defend itself against any enemy . All these matters coiild be arranged by special agreement , as the occasion might arise . The Bund had nothing to do with the Zollverein ; and the states , which could form a customs' union when their own interests seemed to require it , could stipulate a mutuality of rights for their subjects , or form a defensive league whenever danger threatened any one of them . Let the earnest patriots of Germany take care that they are not again made the catspaw of princes , and remember that individual liberty would be a much more precious acquisition than a tawdry and temporary revival of the Holy Roman Empire .

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    TH E opening year , though offering a prospect by clouds , certainly dawns hopefully for the Italian Peninsula . Every misfortune has its corresponding advantage by way of compensation , and it may well be a source of consolation to the unhappy Venetian , Roman ; or Neapolitan , to know that he has reached the limits of his degradation and misery ; consequently that time , which naturally involves change , must bring him improvement , and cannot reduce him to a worse position . Previously to the late Franco-Sardinian campaign , the state of Italy —always excepting Piedmont and one or two minor states , so insignificant that they rarely obtain even passing notice—was looketl with

    such that , while the true friends of liberty a jealous eye upon the aid proffered by France , not a voice was raised to deter the Italians from its acceptance . That they could not be worse off was the general feeling ; and certainly the events which have resulted from the alliance , though largely combined with anxiety and uncertainty , have been of a nature to advance the Italian cause , ' even more than could have been anticipated . The comparative r ;* pose and liberty enjoyed in those portions of the Peninsula which shook off their rulers , have strikingly contrasted with the bloodshed and lamentation of the other parts . Self-government and order have gone hand in hand during the past few months , and may well put to the blush the policy of those who declare

    freedom and licence to be synonymous . The good understanding maintained between rulers and people in the Central States is truly hopeful when contrasted with the punitive displays which constantly take place in Naples . There the Government have so decided a taste for the administration of corporal punishment that even the grave must be rifled of its victims to afford subjects for gratifying the propensity of the rulers for the punishment of the stick . It is positively affirmed that the body of Vincenza Altanura was disinterred , beaten round the city" of Andria preceded l ) v a drum , with the crucifix carried upside

    down , professedly because she died impenitent . Notwithstanding Neapolitan ostentation of pious devotion to the Holy See , surely the Romanist doctrine of purgatory must be held in light estimation , where it can be felt necessary thus to interfere with Satan ' s province . The above is but one of numberless instances of the unreasoning and unreasonably severe conduct of the Bourbon Government , perpetrated too at a moment when it might have been thought that the . arts and blandishments of " hypocritical concession to popular feeling , would have been the sin to which it would have been far more liable from

    the instinct of . self-preservation , Francis jr . fully keeps up the reputation of his race , of whom it has been said , they n , ever learn and never forget anything . The unhappy subjiBQts of this king have drawn up a memorandum addressed to the European Congress of 1860 , in which they say , with equal force and justice , " We , upright citizens of this unfortunate kingdom , are ready to prove that the Neapolitan Government during the past eleven years has maintained constant warfare against the people , oppressing them in the most cruel manner , and , treating them not as a community of men , but purely as a congeries of , things . " Untaught by the past , and unmindful of the ruin by which its dynasty is threatened , this Government must . still be characterized , according to one" of our statesmen ,, as the negation of Qod , '

    been suddenly seized and incarcerated at Term , m Umbna . The governor of that city , after giving orders ^ for the arrest , was so overcome by fears of a revolution , that he immediately retired to a neighbouring ¦ ' town ' s Shortly . afterwards a mounted carbineer , arrived , in hot haste ; to inform him that the famous deed had been accomplished by the police and the political gensdarmerie . Learning , to his intense relief , that no uproar had occurred in the city , the governor immediately wrote to his superior in office , informing him that Victor Emmanuel , Cavouf , and Garibaldi were in his power , and intreating him to dispose of them without delay , as he himself neither wished nor dared to have the responsibility of taking charge of them . The fact might have been of more serious consequences , had it been those important individuals themselves , instead of their portraits , which were arrested and placed in durance . Friends and enemies alike seem bent upon the destruction of the temporal power of the Pope . The vituperation and complaints of" the powers and systems opposed to Rome , are not likely to prove half so deadly as the investigation and attention attracted by the undue zeal of its defenders . It is in vain that we are told by ^ British subjects of high standing , that the rule of the Pope is gentle and paternal , that his states are a pattern of good government , and his pebple contented and happy . Such protestations only induce the eye to dwell the longer upon the actual daily proofs to the contrary , which every where meet the gaze of the traveller , and obtrude themselves upon the reader of foreign journals . With regard to Pius IX . himselfj their statements may be more in consonance with facts . Separate the man from the system he represents , and we are willing to go a long way with them . That he is " a man whose character will bear comparison with that of the most exemplary sovereigns in ancient or modern times ; " that he " has proved himself the friend of liberal institutions , of art , education , and science , " and that " there is nothing in the conduct of Pius the Ninth at variance with goodwill for England , her . dynasty , and her people , " are . facts to which we / cordially give our assent . The " more readily do we accept and quote them , in that they support our proposition that the papal rule must inevitably be bad , whatever the private character of the individual by whom it is administered . Under a Pontiff so kind , amiable , arid liberal as Giovanni Mastai Feretti , the papacy is evidently seen in its best and most favourable aspect , and bad , indeed , is the best . A hard struggle will be made to keep things in their actual condition when Congress meets , with the addition of restoring recusant Bologna to his Holiness ' s happy flock , as a matter of course ; but should this , be done , the arrangement cannot possibly last long . Enlightenment and freedom of thought—those mortal enemies of Romanism—are as little susceptible of control as the winds and waves ; though they may be guided by wisdom and policy , they cannot be suppressed , and will infallibly eventually crush despotism , whether moral or material , unless despotism will consent to act in concert with them , and thus modify its character . For Austria , Rome , and Naples to pretend to govern Italy according to the rigid notions of the feudal ages , is about as reasonable as to try to make the world revolve on its axis rouud t , h « sun in the direction contrary to its wont , and thus bring back the chronological period for which , judging from their acts , they have so tender an affection . It is sheer infatuation on the part of these Powers to ^ persist in travelling , over the rough roads made by themselves in their crazy , old , retrograde diligence , which goes lumbering along , drawn by doltish " cattle " of multifarious kinds—horse , mule , and ox- —harnessed with shabby old ropes , occasionally spliced with rags , horribly jolting and shaking its uneasy occupants the while , who arecxposed to the effects of wind , rain , and cold in consequence of its gaping crevices , splitting pannels , ill-fitting doors and windows , and altogether shaky condition . Why not avail themselves of the smooth railway of political liberty , with its luxurious and elegant carriages , in which they and their subjects might bowl easily , along together in perfect freedom and comfort , with ample space and shelter , and opportunity for harmonious conference and good fellowship P Surely the journey of life must be more happily performed in the latter case than in the former , both by traveller and conductor .

    __ _ ........ We give another proof of the enlightenment of Italian rule . It may startle some of our readers to hear that the three personages most identified with ideas of liberty in Italy , King Victor . Emmanuel , Count Cuvour , and General Garibaldi , have

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    AT present there arc many dissertations on time past and to come ; but though it may be difficult , or rather impossible , to predict what is looming in the distance , it requires little foresight to prognosticate that , unless the experience of the past bo emp loyed to better purpose than heretofore , for the guidance of tho the ' future , the termination of Eighteen hundred and sixty will afford a retrospect neither satisfactory nor plcasurabje , But leaving these speculations for the present to those who may be more competent to deal with them , let us devote for *

    Untitled Article

    ( 5 The Leader and Saturday Analyst . [ Jan . 7 , 1860 .

    Italy.

    ITALY .

    " Church" Associations.",

    " CHURCH" ASSOCIATIONS . " ,

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 7, 1860, page 6, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2328/page/6/