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The . document is of considerable lengths and is thoroughly character jstic of all French literature . There is i clear and logical division of the subjects ; each point is accuratelystated , traced from general principles , and fiDally illustrated froin past history . In fact , the line of argument , and the method in which it is drawn out , are equally deserving of admiration ; so admirable , we fear , that all its candour arid impartiality will fall powerless and unvalued in the quarter where it is directed . Though couched in all possible terms of respect , the subscribers to the address do not hesitate to speak with entire frankness ; and it is rather a remonstrance , than a consolatory exhortation , such as one would have expected--- " their devotion , " as they well say , " consisting not in flattering-, but in assisting . " It is rather a fall for the Infallible Church to be assisted by anybody , and the offer of help is probably with his Holiness , as with other people , a sign of weakness . We shall have another illustration of the old proverb , that Heaven helps those who help themselves ; the feebleness of the papacy at the present time is a token tli at it is no longer a self-helper , and that Heaven has left it to itself . But to return to the address . It opens by stating generally that tliev wish to see the Pope place his Government on a footing consistent with a condition of things which the papal power cannot control : they do not require abdication—heaven forbid!—but . they venture to suggest one of those actions rich inconsequences , actions ¦ which save whilst they renew powers . They then set forth two principles which ought henceforth to be sacredly observed in the govern incut of the States of the Church . The first is , that , inasmuch as there is a fundamental difference between the property of the Church—which must always be inviolable—and that society of then which various circumstances have placed under the . government of the Holy See , therefore the Holy Father is bound to recognise the civil ' . rights , which Catholic doctrine has never ceased to admit in the civil community , rights which are as justly claimed at Bologna as at Piiiis . It was by the exercise of these ri g hts that the temporal power was first conferred : "The real founder of the temporal power of the Popes was the JELdmaii people ; Pepin and ^ Chaelemagne only gave that power the sanction of their swords . ' * ¦ " Through all epochs , " they addj "the consent , expressed or nofe of the national will sanctions the temporal power in its various developments , and supports while it legitimises it . " The secoivd principle is that of the Italian nationality , which is . illustrated by divers historical events . _ 'There is thus a double basis of Reconciliation between the Pope and the States , ( 1 ) , the assurance to the people that they shall enjoy the application of those principles which constitute i \ t the present day the political life of all nations ; ( 2 ) , an organisation which allows this , people to remain in communion with the general life of the Italian nation . Unless this reconciliation is effected , the subscribers see nothing but disasters for the religious world ; then follows the remarkable appeal : ¦' " Never , Most Holy Father , has a more solemn crisis come upon the Church or the world . Upon the resolutions that your Holiness shall adopt ; will depend the pacification of Italy , nay , may be the religious destiny of the nineteenth century . " To turn from grave to gay ; there is ' a representation in one of the illustrated papers of Paris of Mr . Gladstone laving his budget before the English parliament . The right honourable gentleman is evidently drawn from imagination , and a very fervid imagination the draughtsman must haye , for I doubt if Disbaeli himself would recognise his chief opponent . "Xe Budget " is a most portentouslooking roll , The French people just now are loud in their admiration of Gladstone and his financial scheme . Fortunately for them , they have no income-tax to pay ; . . There are distinct symptoms of a temporary Anglomania setting iu in Paris . The Parisian swell is astonished to find himself a clotheshprse for coats and trousers of Bullish cut , and even that strange garment , the Inverness cape * , has made its way across the channel . Tea is becoming a common beverage , which it certainly never has been hitherto . English words and phrases are getting move fashionable , and English books are being translated into French with an enormous accession of vigour . I also observe , that my amiable compatriot , the British " bouledogue , " is becoming . prevalent ; which , I believe , is an unmistakable sign of an increase of good feeling towards the nation to whicli that delightful animal belongs , and whose chavucljeristips he is supposed so accurately to represent . Action and re-action are always equal , so no doubt ; the present fHondljness towards Engljind— " that accursed , triumphant > beast , " as Mxchelet styled her—is the natural corollary of the late bitter and violent dislikes which it supersedes for a time , and foiv ' a time only . What would Mill or Buckle : say to a case like that which has just been tried at LyonP In the early part of the month a person of the name of RiyoiBE was prosecuted before the authorities for haying taken the communion on Christmas-day in a state of intoxication , and having disturbed Divine worehip . The defendant was convicted , and sentenced to two , months ' imprisonment . Upon tins , the public minister , dooming the punishment utterly insufficient , appealed tp , a , higher chaw her , where the sentence has been changed from two to twelve mouths . Hanover , February 27 , I 860 . Tecb chief domestic topic of the week has been the proposed military reform in Prussia . Tl » o liberals do not appear td be quite decided whether the change is deserving of their support or their opposition . The circumstance th « t journals wxth supposed Russian , i . e ., despotic tendencies , are in favour of the scheme , may ho the cause of this doubt and hesitation . Besides tho official journals ,
tli . e ministry enjoys for this reform the hearty concurrence of the jtreuz-Zeit ung * the mortal foe of liberal progress ; But this paper piques itself upon being the organ of military Prussia , and is , therefore , naturally prepared to countenance any measure having for its object the increase of the army , - and the extension of the" period of service . The de facto abolition of the Landwehr , or militia—the hitherto presumed bulwark of Prussia ' s cavil liberty—and the adoption , in its stead , of a system somewhat resembling that existing just now in France , it is . feared ,- will place the Sovereign , and his ministers beyond the influence Of public opinion . The measure may be justified by the signs of the times ; but , even should Germany be spared fromthe evils of war , a long period of pure military rule must be the fate of this and-- most Continental nations . The question of the two or the three years' term of service will probably form the subject of a serious debate in the . Prussian Chambers . The most important alterations in the military organisation of Prussia will be briefly as follows : —From the age of seventeen , years , every Prussian subject , till his forty-ninth birthday , is bound to perform military duty . The armed force is composed of the army proper , the marine ( sailors and coastguard ) , and the Landsturm , or general call to arms . The army is divided into " active " army , land-inelir , and marine . The Landsturm comprehends all men bound to serve , who do not already form part of the army or marine . The numerical strength of the army and marine are regulated by the requirements of the state . Tlie active army and marine are to be always underarms . The term of service is eight years , to date from each man ' s- entry into the army , the entry to take place on the 1 st of January of tliat . year in which he completes the twentieth year of his age . During these eight yeai-s , the men are bound to serve—in the cavalry , the first four years ; in the infantry , the artillery , and the marines , the first three years ; in the " Train" the first half-year . The remainder of the eight years' term of service , they go , on furlough , into the reserve , unless the requirements of . tlie service demand their recall . During the furlough , the men -will not be . regularly , recalled , but twice a year- ^ -those of the cavalry but once—to the annual manoeuvres . The reserve and coast-guard' are intended to second the active army and the marine . . The reserve is only to be called out in defence of the country within the borders ; at the same time the Government may employ , if need be , this branch of the armed loree beyond the frontiers . On the e \ piration of the eight years' term of service , the men enter the LandtveJir , to which they belong till they have readied their thirtyririutli' birthday , whereupon they are entirely free of military duty ; - The distinctions hitherto known as the Landwehr of the first , and the Landwehr of the second ca . ll are abolished ; but the privilege accorded to young men of education , of serving actively one year only ,, " on passing an examination and equipping and maintaining themselves , is retained ; and this one year is to be counted as thitee in-the infantry , and four in the cavalry . Thereupon , according to their abilities and rank in life , they will be proposed as officers in the reserve , the Landwe 7 irt - and the marine . Hereby it seems that the present exclusive system , as regards officers of the line , is to be retained . The mem of the army and the marine on -furlough will remain during their furlough under military control , but without being circumscribed in choosing their place of abode , that is , within the Prussian territories . The regulations of this new military law . regarding the duration of the conscript service in the several branches of the service , apply only to times of peace ; in times of war the requirements of the sovereign will alone be consulted ; and all the corps of the army and the marine under arms will be filled up from , the older or younger classes of conscrip ts in proportion to the reductions made duringthe pence : tho Landsturm to bo called to arms only in the event of an invasion . It is tho general belief that , if this law bo carried out to the letter , the annual conscription of recruits will be sixty thousand men , instead of forty thousand as hitherto , and oust at least sixteen millions of thalers more per annum . It has been proposed in the Federal Diet by the Committee for the Affairs of Holatein-iiuuenburg , to demand from Demnarlf the fulfilment of the promises given in 1851 anc ( 1 , 852 , viz ., to ooiivolcQ a conference of delegates ; to respect the rights of the Duchies in all affairs of a special or general nature , and hot promulgate any generallaws without the acquiescence of tlie Duchies . The voto upon this proposal is deferred till the 8 th March . The agitation in the Duchies is waxing hotter , and motions for the accusation of Danish ministers , freedom of the press , the use of the Germau language in schools , &c . are the oi'dor of tho day , A now Danish Ministry has just been formed , after much difficulty , It comprises tho following personages ; Hail , President » of tho Council , and Minister , ad interim , for Foreign Affairs ; Fe : ngkb , Finance > Mqnbap , Education , ' and Minister , ad interim , for Homo Affairs ; Casse , Miniater of Justice ; Tweswoi , Minister for War ; BiiiLB , Marine ; Wqlitshagen , Minister fi > r Sohloswig ; Raaslobev Minister for Holstein . Two of these gentlemen , namely , Hall and WoLffSHAeuaN , are most unpopular in the Duchiea , and their appointment will not tend to allay the present excitement according-to all appearances . The attention of the . Federal Governments has been attracted to the large exportation of horses , and tho transmission of arms from and through Germany of late \ and negotiations are on foot relative-to a prohibition to be published uppn the subject . The Federal Diet has received and roferrod to committees the proposula of the Wuraburg Conference States relative to tho introduction of a general system of woiwhts and measures , «« d
Untitled Article
214 The leader and Saturday Analyst . [ March 3 , 1860 .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), March 3, 1860, page 214, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2336/page/18/
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