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    LETTER FROM GERMANY.

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    Untitled Article

    about Borne is that all these trades seem stunted m their development . The cobbler never emerges as the shoemaker , and the carpenter fails to rise into the upholstering line of business . Bookselling-, too , is a trade which does not thrive on Roman sod / Altoe-ether there is a wonderful sameness about the streets . Time after time turn after turn , the same scene is reproduced . So having got used ' to the first strangeness of the sight , you pass on more quickly . There is no laeic of life about you now . At the shop doors whole families sit working at their trade , or carrying on the most private occupations of domestic life . At every corner groups of men stand loitering about , with hungry looks and ragged garments , reminding you too forcibly of the Seven Dials on a summer Sunday . French soldiers and beggars , women and children and priests , swarm around you . Indeed there are priests everywhere . There , with their long black coats and . broad-brimmed shovel hats , come a score of young priests , walking two and two together , with downcast eyes . How , without looking up , they manage to' wend their way among the crowd , is a constant miracle ; the carriages , however , stop to let them pass . A Roman driver would sooner run over a dozen children than knock down a priest . A sturdy , bare-headed , bare-footed monk , not over clean nor over savoury , hustles along with his brown robe fastened round his waist by the knotted scourge of cord . A ghastly-looking figure , covered in a grey shroud from head to foot , and with slits for his mouth and eyes , shakes a money box in your face with scowling importunity . A fat , sleek abbe comes sauntering jauntily along * peeping into the open shops , or ( scandal whispers ) at the faces of the shop girls . If you look right or left , behind or in front , you see priests on every side . Franciscan friars and Dominicans , Carmelites and Gapuchins , priests in broadcloth and priests in serge , priests in red and white and grey , priests in purple and priests iu rags—standing On the church-steps , stopping at the doorways , coming down the alleys , looking out of the windows , you see priests every where and always . Their faces are , as a rule , not pleasant to look upon ; and I think at first , with something of the " old bogey " belief of ehildhood , ^ you feel more comfortable when they are not too close to you . But , ere long , this feeling wears away , and you gaze at them and at the beggars with the same stolid indifference . You are getting by this time into the heart of the city . Ever and anon the streets pass through some square or piazza , each like the other . In the centre stands a broken fountain , moss-grown and weedy , whence the water spouts ' . languidlv . On the one side is a church , on the other some grim old palace , winch , from its general aspect and the iron bars before its windows , bears a , striking resemblance tp Newgate gone to ruin . Grass grows bet ween the stones , and the piazza is emptier and cleaner than the street—but that is all ,. You stop and enter the first church or two , but your curiosity is soon satisfied . Dull and , bare outside , the churches are gaudy and dull within . When you have seen one , you have soeh all . A crippled beggar crouching at the door , a few common people kneeling before the candle-lighted shrines , a priest or two '' mumbling- at a side altar , half a dozen indifferent pictures and a frreat deal of gilt and marble everywhere , an odour of stale incense and mouldy cloth , and , Over all , a dim dust-discoloured light . Fancy all tins , and you will have before you a Roman church . On your way you pass no fine buildings— -for to tell the honest truth , there are no fine buildings in Rome , except St . Peter ' s and the Colosseum , which lie away from the town . Fragments , indeed , of old ruins , porticoes built into the wall , bricked-up archways , and old cornice stones , catch your eye from time to time . So on and on , over broken pavements , —up and down endless hills , —through narrow streets , and gloomy piazzas , —by churches innumerable , —^ amidst an ever shifting motley crowd of peasants , soldiers , priests , and beggars , you journey onwards for spine two miles or so . You are come at hist to the modern quarter , where the hotels are found , and the English mostly congregate . Here , in two streets , the " Corso" and the " Condotti , " there are foot-pavements , lamps at night , and windows to the shops . A fair sprinkling of second-rate equipages rolls by you , bearing the Roman ladies , with their gaudy dresses , illassorted colours , and ; their heavy , handsome , sensual features . The young- Iiuliuu nobles , with their English-cut dress saunter past you listlessly . The peasants are few in number now , but the soldiers , and prie « trt , and beggars , are never wanting . These streets and shops , however , which seem brilliant by contrast , would , after all , be only ,, third rate onus iu uuy other European capital , and will not detain' you long . As you pass the " Piazza di Spagna" you look curiously at the artists' models , who loiter about tljcre , and seem to recognise every face aa an old " Academy" acquaintance . A few steps more , and then yon fall again into the narrow streets and the decayed piuzzaa ; jou arc come to another gate . The French sentinels are changing- # ward . The dreary Campagna lies before you—and you have passed through Rome . And , when our stroll was over , that sceptic and incurious fellowtraveller of mine would surely turn to take a last look at the dark heap of roofs , and chimney-pots , and domes , which lies mouldering 1 in the valley at his feet . If I were then to tell you , that in that city of some hundred and . seventy thousand souls , thqro were ten thousand persona in holy orders , and between three hundred and four hundred churches , of which nearly half had convents and schools attached : if I were to add , that , talcing in novices , deacons , acholars , choriatuiH , servitors , and beadles , there were probably not fur short ot forty thousand persons who , in pomp form or other , lived upon and by the Church- —that is , in' plainer words , doing no labour themselven , lived on the labour of others—you , I think , would answer then , that u city bo priest-infested , priest-ruled * and prioat-ridUcn , would be much suck a city as you had seen- ^ -such a city-as Home fa now . i i

    Untitled Article

    . ilAUOVJEB , tianuaiy J- pcii , xopu . THE opening of the Prussian Parliament and the Prince Regent ' s speech occupy the foremost place , this week in German , as well as in Prussian news . As these addresses are generally limited to ; internal affairs a careful perusal of them , will afford the foreigner the clearest insight into the national life of Prussia . Only . one or two paragraphs , it will be seen , are devoted to the Peace of Villafranca and the apparently abortive Congress . I give your readers a literal translation of the speech , which , compared with that of last year on a similar occasion , will enable them to form a pretty correct idea of the Prince and his ministers , and the prospects of civil liberty during the rule of the three liberal Prussian estates , each professing the fullest confidence in the other . ~ ' ' ' The Prince Kegent said : — " When , last year , I relieved you from . your duties , we implored God to restore our . beloved king and master to health . To the great sorrow of myself and the nation , it has not pleased the Almighty to alleviate the severe sufferings of his Majesty . Events of pregnant meaning have been accomplished in Europe . The war in Italy at One time approached with rapid strides the borders of Germany . The gravity of this state of things had to be confronted by a conduct equally grave;—1 ordered the mobilisation of six divisions of the Army . The order was being carried into effect , in conjunction with other Federal allies not concerned in the war , when the war was suddenly brought to a close . The preiininaries of Villafranca have been followed by the conclusion of a treaty of peace . Upon the invitation made in common by Austria and France my Government has declared its readiness to take a part in a Congress , whose task it would be to consider the best means of settling the affairs of Italy . "The desire of a reform of the Federal Constitution has been manifested of late in a variety of ways : Prussia will ever regard herself as the natural representative of the endeavour to increase and concentrate the powers of the nation by suitable institutions , as also by measures of really practical tendency , to lurther effectually the totality of Germanic interests , My Government will be guided by the wish to confine the activity of the Germanic Federal Assembly , in its relations with the Constitutions of the several Slates , to the strictest limits of its competence . My Government has therefore , in the affair of the Electorate of Hessia , considered it a duty to advise a return to the - . Constitution of 1831 , —removing at the same time , as most consonant with that principle , the points which are hi opposition to the . acts of the Diet ., ¦ .: . " ¦ In conjunction with iny German Federal allies , it is my constant endeavour to obtain for the German countries United under the Danish sceptre a guaranteed constitution , in accordance with existing agreements and the acknowledged rig hts of the country . It will be no less my aim in the Germanic Diet to settle the pendiug affairs of the Duchies in a satisfactory inaiiner . "The events of the past year naturally produced great disturbance in commercial affairs . My Government has been employed in counteracting these effects as much as possible . Public works have been prosecuted without restriction , and the railway works undertjken by private individuals have been protected against stoppage ; trade and manufactures are beginning to recover from the consequences of that disturbance . The Mission now destined for Eastern Asia , will , I trust , conduce to the furtherance of manufactures and navigation , hy the commencement of a trade based upon treaties with those newly opened countries , A squadron of our navy which , by the extra means placed at our disposal by you , will receive a considerable increase , accompanies this mission . Au additional convention to the treaty of commerce and navigation of 23 rd of June , 1845 , was concluded with Sardinia on the < J 8 th October lastj this will be submitted to you for your acquiescence according- to the Constitution . " We have reason to look back with satisfaction to the financial condition of the country , in spite of the evil effects of the military events of last year . The year ' s budget ( vorjahrigenStaatshaus ' haltsetats ) we may anticipate will suffice without recurrence to extra means ; This year likewise the revenue and expenses have been so arranged that besides the demands of the public service , internal improvements and pressing requirements will be proceeded with . . " The State loam in accordance with the grant of the Chambers . for military purposes was obtained without difficultly . The satisfactory result of this operation affords evidence of the patriotism of the people , as well as of the confidence vvhioh our financial situation enjoys . As to the employment of the loan granted , an account will bo immediately given . A considerable residue is still , in the treasury . A proposal respecting 1 its employment will be made to you . For the present the sum of twelye million thalers has been delivered into the treasury . " The general interests of the State demand an early solution of the laud-tax question . The * bills not disposed of last session will again be laid before you * I recommend them to your conscientious attention . "My Government has had under its serious consideration the town and rural municipal , relations , and the development of the district and provincial regulations promised by the Legislature of , J . 858 . Mosfc probably the dvaft of a law wi , tU reference to the districts will bo submitted to you ., The draft pf a law for determining * the electoral districts is intended to . remedy munifold evils . " The Divorce Bill will again be luid before you . I truly wish that this important and pressing reform may be decided up < m . " Several drafts of Bills fotondod to relievo the long-felt wants of several districts will bo luid before you .

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    »* '¦ 7 % eLeaderandSaturday Analyst . [ Jan . 21 , I 860 .

    Letter From Germany.

    T ^ ETTER FROM GERMANY .

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 21, 1860, page 72, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2330/page/20/