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Leader (1850-1860), 1st May 1852, Edition Country of 2, Page 5

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      Society Of The Friends Of Italy. Pnofess...

      wrftie I mean India . Not India mporticplar ,. And of India , ffiSll speak shortly ? ' The pldblem is unmense : the moral ^ mba n-aasments severe . We have done many things eminently SS ^ nsU tribunaU an 4 the presa . are free , arbitrary arrests ndsmef unknown , race has no distanctions , -the prdjnary ^ armies - « native But bureaucracy is absolute , malversations obscure , SS delays ' of the law distressinff , warS j frequent and : on the ^ ea ^ st scale , taxation oppressiye , the mdigenoas people poorer Elver ( at least through vast regions ) , ^ p olitic al career im . S e toNatives , and dfscontent certain toincrease with every P Ia »«« of knowledge . If we sincerely desire good government , j ^ S ^^^^ Bp ^ n ^ & erect an Indian iepresenfcativ ** Assembly in Engiand , antho-« zed to demand pubhcity , to debate , and to address the * Elective This one splendid but cheap act of justice to India would ' produce great moral effect on Europe , and ultimately on

      int ' I am thinking primarily of our Colonies . Me are apt to tiniittl © aware how disastrous bur glor ious Revolution of 1688 has been td the English dependencies . Previously the Crown £ bA no spare force to domineer over ' them , and did not attempt it 1 h £ doctrine of old prevailed , that every ; British settler arried a > Constitutionabout toithhim ; Our American plantations made their own Houses of Asaejnbly , as soon as they found they tiaedel them ; and pur Stuarts confirmedthe procedure minis-. teriaBV as of coiirse . But from the time when bond , fideFarliameiitary government was established in England , Qiir parliament began to act imperiousl y * and after the union with Scotland counted itself absolute over Ireland and the Colonies . In modern daVB we have indented : a title , descriptive of the usurpation : it is called ike imperial Parliament . Three Civil Wars haye been ^ used to 4 s by its encroachment : —that with the American and tnat

      Colonies ; that vrath Ireland m 1799 ; witn Canada m 1838 . The Irish Parliament had claimed to be co-ordinate with that of England , and the determination of the English ministry to evade and overbear this claim led to the embroilments and severities out of which the war at length issued . * As to the war with Canada , into Tirhioh the Colonial / Office plunged the nation unawarea and unwilling , it was so flagrantly unjust thaf ; our min isters , when successful , conceded to XJanada all that she had wanted ; iTevertheless , ' wi pe , ihii , in the last ten years , we have bv siniilar claims of dominion alienated the loyalty of all our more iecent colonies ,- —in the Cape , Van Diemen ' s land , Australia , and New Zealand . To judge by the past , we shall have new civil wars with these , and whether victorious or defeated , shall tjien at last concede that their parliaments are co-ordinate with our own : that British subjects do not lose citizenship by

      colonizing ; that our colonists are to have a country ; political freedom , and a political stage open to them ; that a colony is iiot a inere field for ' our ministerial patronage , but isEngland renewing heryouth . . : . . . . XJonsider the weight of this topic on Europe . Only a few months'ago , a coalition of the despots against English freedom was a danger not to be undervalued . .-. It is now past . Why ? Because ^ ssuth ha s roused America .: The despots now know that we can { jet an ardent American alliance , whenever they drive us to ask it ; and this is a risk-they will never bring on themselves purposely . If America is still such a strength to pur freedom , what woula she have been if our Parliament had never usurped power over he * , —^ if shej had been : allowed by us ¦ to develop her strength , and had remained a co-ordinate support to English royalty ? , Canada now enjoys full freedprn , and is rapidly eipanaing . If the Cape and Australia and New Zealand had the freedom of Canada , the world would soon swarm with

      ? puij g England !^ rivalling the mother ' s strength- Our Constiutional Royalty would no longer be a rare or weak phenomena , but would encircle lie earth and react on . Europe . ¦ "' . ¦'"' .-. '¦ We need only to return to old English freedom , enunciated in the excellent ancient fashion of declaratory law . Let our parliament simply and plainly aypwt that " the Colonies have a natural right to construct their own organs of self-governineritj provided only that the inalienable freedom of individuals , the integrity of the empire , and the lawfnl prerogative of the Grown , be not compromised . " By one such act we should cut tlie knot of all cur colonial difficulties , return to our old freedom , renounce tyranny , and come with a clearer conscience to help legality in Europe . ¦ ' ¦ ' : '' , '• I seem to remember an expression '' used by a late Minister , that the exchequer could not be relieved of the charge of oolonial garrisons , because . the troops wore necessary for the retsn-t

      tion of the colonies . If we dare not withdraw our armies , what is this lmt a confession : that our sway is tyrannical P But to protend that we dare not is a slander on the colonists , who hate only the bureaucracy of the Colonial Oflloe . This alone it is which undermines their Royalty to pur Queen . But a more immediate effect on Enrope is produced from our dependencies in the Mediterranean . Of our strangely arbitrary dealings jn Gibraltar and Malta I h » vo no time to speak , but the Ionian Islands is a truly grievous case . I do not refer solely to the government of Sir Henry Ward . The melancholy phenomenon js wider than one man ' s personality . Allow me to sketch the outline of the history . The Crown of Great Britain assumed the protection of these islands in 1815 . A constitution was riven thorn , for in those days the tide set that way , B , ut our Government had no intention of making their parliaments nunatwith

      oo-o e our own : they were to be nothing but a sereon to conceal a really irresponsible bureaucracy . The islands loarnt in time what English freedom woe , and found they had it not . Discontent and murmurs ensued . The press was not left wee . Ill-will inoreaaed . OIQoial pqople were displeased and suspicious . At length , pn , poonawn of partial and private onmo , the Government proclaimed martial law . The press strongly censured the p / opeeding . The Governor arbitrarily Ji ! iH a 6 " itor 8 > publishers , ana readers . And now , after jnirty-fl \ e years , our despotism is thoroughly undisguised . The ludecMia mark of tyranny is permanently displayed , to the triumph of tlio absolutists—foreign armies ana fleets orifshing wrooic liberty ! Until we miuntttin the internal peaoo oxolu * Bively by native Greek forces , our case is ostensibly that of tho KusBiana in Poland and of the Austriana in Lombardy . uur Parliament is undor a fundamental delusion : it has

      for-, „ ^ * oloso , the Irish Parliament w » P annihilated , and Irish representatives introduced into tho British Parliament , This hub not benefited Ireland , and haa enormously ombarraaeted m ? jK ! i ' ° 1 V 0 Pr ros Poot , except that of giving to the king one miniatry , and thereby ( ostensibly ) one policy in Europe . Its value , thoroforo , will / bo measured by tho value of this result . nfV" , okl d * ys , while our parliaments ware fighting the battle lh « w- " ? ' ^ woro f ° P « of broad moral truths . Hut now , «««« S i ' ° absolutism teaohea thoiu to ovado popular and SV * nu"oiatj « n 8 , whicTi tie up despotic discretion . , They whinl , T oi < 1 ° ea < jh matte * on its own separate ground , ih at tli « a J » wy « r -Mke Hubtldfcy < ian ivlways justjty whatever is 4 mw ; "V ™? * convenient . It is thought to indjeato an-un-Thn . J tl'onfbi'oed on for . deojsian . froodomV ? *} " ^ n «« ded to oonstruot « io machinery of liable ^ f * i ° 1 oolon y- KVory euoli hill ia todionH , elaborate , pU » bm «» ° f passing from numoroUs . causes , and apt to dis-WiXi n ,-i ? ° * . wlum PttS 8 od ' ' K thia is fco o tho wwy tIiat w 0 boforo ? ti , i in ° H ° - iiaured thttt "H * he eolwAw wiU liavo , revolted Burolvti , ^ whl f ?^ to do t «« m justice oau have pnssod . to . iteolF i * ^ / p arli wlll < tho Ho » ffl ParUwiiont shouW reaorvo '¦ I'hfcrwonirfW ? oiioqflrwfoff tUo oAanio work of tho oolonista . iMftfl hCr rt VotO ° n ttnyl » in B unopnetitutjpnal in now

      gotten its own origin : it fancies , like kings of old . that its rights come down froin heaven , and > are not derived from men ; but we know the authority of the Commons ia derived : from its electors , that of the Lords froin their baronies . Their inherent authority can Only be cbmmehsurate with the soil of Great Britain . Our Parliament is indeed greater than , yet it is only coordinate in rank . with , the Parliament of the Ionian Islands , which are united to Enghind solely in . the Queen . At present our Cabinet is constitutionalist in England , but absolutist in our depejidencies .: ¦ /¦ , ,. ¦ . ; . . ¦ . , ¦ .:. ' . ' . - / . ' . . - .. . ; . „ ¦ ' . ¦ BTow ! vital ihia subject ; is to the affairs of Europe appears in our heartless behaviour td Hungary . Early in the last century , when Austria was oiy ally , and we had aided her to the victories of Blenheim and Eamilies , we sent an ambassador to Hungary , with which she was at war , and we assisted , in 1712 to make the p eace of Satmar . In 1848 the Emperor of Austria abdicated in

      favour of his nephew . The Hungarian diet , on . constitutional grounds , refusea to accept the nephew as king , and a " national war arose . ( The details I purposely omit . ) Did , then , our Ministry retrace , their old precedent , and send an ambassador to Hungary , in order to mediate a peace ? No . Did they receive the Hungarian envoy ? No : Why not ? tord Pahnerston assigned as hja reason ( you ; may read it in the Blue-book ) , that England knew nothing about Hungary except as partpf the Austrian' empire!—So , we had forgotten the peace of Satmar ! We did noitknow that the kingdom of Hungary is eight centuries old , and that in BCungarianlaw Austria is a foreign country !* Why all this forgetfulness ? Plainly because the usurpation of an Austrian bureaucracy On Hungary was too similar to that . of English bureaucracy on Irela . ii 4 > and still

      more recently on Canada and on the Ionian Islands . , vPrince Sphwarzenberg well knew that the men who had abet ' ted the Canadian war might he insulted by him boldly . [ If they ^ would but have recognised Hungary as ( what she manifestly ; was ) a nation at war with ^ bt 8 tria , a , tid deserving from us simple ne u * trality , the Hungarians ^ could have- commanded any supply of arms from-England . I understand that a ship was laden and ready to sail ; but they played into the hands of unjust aggression , and we have reaped fronxlt'insult and danger . ] Our first business , you will admit , is to mend ourselves ; but as the indirect benefit toEurppe , thence to ensue , can come but slowly , this duty does not supersede more immediate action . I shall endeavour to approach , the question , " What we are to do , " from its negative side , which is the safer course . After seeing what is absurd or unjust , the choice of conduct is exceedingly narrowed ..: " :,. ' ¦ '

      [ We regret to be compelled , at the last moment , from extreme pressure on our space , to defer the concluding portion of this valuable Lecture till next week .- —Ei > . of LedderJ ] After Professor Newman ' s lecture , Mr . Masson , the secretary of the sbcietjr r made a few observations on some points arising out or the lecture ; and tHe proceedings of the evening were wound up by an address from M . Mazzini . M . ; "Mazzini , on this occasion ,: directed his remarks phiefly to two : objections ^ prevailing in some quarters in thia ^ country , against such movements as that of the Italian patriots—the objection that " revolutipn ^ is a sad thing , and calm progression much better ; " ^ i-nd the ob jection that in all revolutions life must be saenficed-on both sides . " The length to which our report of Professor

      Newman ' s ; leeture has extended , unfortunately prevents us from laying M . Mazzini ' s admirable answers to these obrjectibns before our readers . Two brief passages must suffice to indicate their tenor . Speaking in answer to the query of opponents , "Why do you not trust to the gradual influence of education F' M . Mazzini , after characterizing " Education , " as it is understood and practised in Italy by the priests , said :- — "Ah ! had I children of my own in Italy , and should I forget that their life is to be spent in bondage , I would , rather than to cramp Or pervert their intellect Under such a tuition , leave them , unlearned , untaught , to the untutored spontaneity of their beautiful Italian instincts , to the inspirations that come from our own blue radiant sky from our own Alps and sea ; to the mighty ruins situated around them , to the great everlasting

      book of God , and Nature , There , at least , they would learn what their country has been , what it is called to bo . In the Bohoola which you urge us to erect , they would only learn bigotry , servility , passive brutes-like submissivenoss—perhaps , to curse or denounce their proscribed father . " Speaking to those who object to revolutions on tho ground that they "take away life , " M . Mazzini said : " I must remind them of a simple , sad , prominent fact—that life in actually taken away , taken away by Austrian bullets—by slow Roman dungeon-fever— -by the miseries of exile—by unavoidable consequences , of often - renewed partinl efficacy , which no moral preaching or friendly advico will ever suppress , as long as tyranny shall be hateful , and man be born for liberty : I % . ' _ _ ^ l . S . a - ^ ta & . » " ¦¦ # — J \* _ aB » w ^ ii ¦ *^ A ^^/ - * ¦¦ ¦ l \ ^ v m » <^ m * H fea «^ «« TV ^^ » 4 k at I Ullice / wiion jiunuiim

      _ taitOn away , jiurnnpa jLi » H _ y ^ cura , um struggle first began—taken away from the best , the purest , tho bravest—taken ' away by tho wicked . Is the life of tho pure and brave to be lpft , for an indefinite period , at the mercy of the foul and wiokod r Are wo not bound to protect , by all meana in our hands , their lives , and leave God to provide for tho unavoidable consequences of this fulfilled duty ? And if wo can enthrono joyful , loving Peace , only through a short , decisive , final struggle r—if to this long , cruel , half-jjatont , half-ooncealod war , which exists , whioh we havo not originated , which appeals to us for our aid , wo can substitute a hotter , a single good loyal battle for the Itight—shall we not say , ' blessed bo tho battle which will cancel war during many generations to come , ' and Hght it bravely after a prayer , and in the broud daylight of QodP

      Society Of The Friends Of Italy. Pnofess...

      * So able a man aa Lord Piumerston oannot havo hoanimtor < f , nt as to those matter ** . Indeed tho nblo dospatahoa of Mr . UlaokwoU laid open the whole controversy to tho Foreign Oilloo aa earl / an February and Maroh , 184 « . It is maniloat that tho noble lord oondeaooudod . to boooiuo tho mouthfltyoo ° * >( 4 CompQtent oolleaguea .

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      Letters Feom Paris. [From Our Own Corres...

      LETTERS FEOM PARIS . [ From our own Correspondent . ] Letter XVII . Par is , Tuosdny Evening , 27 th April , 1852 . The event of tho week lias bcon tho Judgment of the Tribunal of Paris , relative to tho property of tho family of Orleans . Tho Stato luia rccontly taken possession of Neuilly juidMoncoaux , twoof tho domains of the house of Orleans . The , '' Administrators of tho property of tho Orleans family had protested against tho illegality of these proceedings , and hud brought tho matter before tho Tribunal of Premiere Instances of Paris . Tho Profoot of the Seine , in tho numo of tho Government , had opposed tho bringing of tho business boforo that

      tribunal , and required that it should declare itself incpift * petent . The terms in which this demand was couched were most tlireatening ; it contained the following words : —* ' the tribunals have no right to interfere in the acts of the Government ; by such conduct they expose themselves to the severities of the Government , and the tribunals are warned to consider the results to which their verdict might lead . " Notwithstanding these threats , the Judges , by an' act of intrepidity to which they have not lately been much accustomed , declared themselves competent , by a majority of eight to one , to sit upon the case .

      The decision produced an immense effect in Paris . The Judges are unanimously commended for this unexpected display of courage . As for the Elysee , it was dumbfounded at the intelligence . Its blustering and sanguinary hangers-on were for transporting the Judges to Cayenne forthwith . One of them said that for such an act of independence some promotion was due , and that all the councillors should be raised to the dignity of presidents—in the colonies . Another said , these fellows are playing at parliament : let us , then , like Louis XIV ,, invade the seat of justice with our riding-whips . A third , a reputed swaggerer , the Colonel Lepic , said , these gentlemen would cancel the Decree of the 22 nd of January ^ let them take heed we don't cancel them in their turn . M . Bonaparte re- ^

      ceived the intelligence much more phlegniatically . He was at the Opera , when M . Berger , the Prefect of the Seine , entered his box , and said , " Prince , we have lost our trial . " L * Bonaparte made no reply , but merely twirled his moustache , with that braggart air which he assumes since the 2 nd of December * What will the Government now do ? is a question which each person asks himself . It was imported , at first , that the affair would be brought before the Court of Appeal , but it now appear ^ that the case will be submitted to the Council of State . What the result would be in tho hands of the Council of State can easily be anticipated : the Orleanists would be defeated , and the Government would at one stroke rid itself of their claims . Truly the invention of a Council of State Was a capital idea .

      It would appear that M . Dupin , the spiteful expresident of the National Assembly , who organized the opposition of the magistracy , as soon as the verdict had been delivered , went up to the reporters' desk , and said , sufficiently loud to be heard throughout the court , ' * Gentlemen , you see in this verdict an act of great courage ; it now depends on the press to show as much—forward ! " As for that , the opposition is

      universal among all classes of society , excepting the peasantry , who persist in mistaking Louis Bonaparte for the great Emperor . TheArchbishop of Paris is hostile to the President ; the new National Guards , entirely released by the Government , are a source of serious alarm to him . This intelligent and enlightened class of republicans have recovered from the panic under which they were suffering , and now censure openly and publicly all tho acts of L . Bonaparte .

      The Orleanists are busy in tho north , the Republicans in tho south ; while the Legitimists have unanimously decided upon leaving Paris , and returning to their chateaux in the country , full two months earlier than usual , Even the constituted Bodies of the Stato attompt to thwart tho Government . Tho Council of State , for instance , to which tho constitution gave the right of precedence before tho Senate and tho Legislative Body , have been much annoyed by a decree which removes them from that position , and places them in the third p lace as to precedency . Tho Municipal Council of fcho city of Paris saw with evident displea- >

      sure that tho Government had taken upon itself to turn tho Place de la Concorde topsy-turvy without thoir acquiescence . They have consequently protested against the " encroachments of tho Executive . " Lastly , tho Legislative Body is secretly organizing- moans of resistance , and will bo prepared to demand , ( ino by one , the restitution of tho prerogatives of preceding Assemblies . It is marvellous how rapidly tho instinct of fellowship changes a man . M . Vcron , tho violent partisan of the Dictatorship , had no sooner been mndo a member of tho Legislative Body than , in spito of tho previously arranged plan at tho Elysc ' c , nob to submit

      the budget of tho expenses to tho legislature , ho demanded distinctly that , tho said budget , iib in constitu * tionnlly governed countries , should be submitted , with all its ( tetailrt , to the Legislative ^ SHOuSbly ; and ho moreover carried Jus point , Sinco then , fra * h game has boon stinted . L . Bonaparte , in his constitution of tho l < tth of Tiumury , declared that till tho amendments carried by tho Legislative Body should bo returned to the Council of Stato fov thoir approval or rojoetion . Now thoro a ^ e 4000 itomn in tho budget of expenses j tho deputies consequently might make < t 000 umondmonts , They maintain , thoroforo , thnt . it would b , © absurd to rotniiro that theso 4000 umondinonts should bo submitted , to thp Couucil of State , and they request }

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), May 1, 1852, page 5, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_01051852/page/5/