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Leader (1850-1860), 5th November 1859, Edition 2 of 2, Page 15, W «e... Nov. o, ism.! TME LEAggB. 122 7

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      The Italian Duchies. The Documents Recen...

      former agreed to pay ^ ty miHions instead of Ae SSbitaS sum or t 4 ee hundred * j 5 « £ " ** g demanded . By the temporary recognition cLJtiie treaty of 1834 w ith regard to contraband ^ gpods , Piedmont obtained considerable . permanent bwaefit . Among these a dvantages may be ^™ f % * L % abolition of duties on wines ; her j *^*™ V government suffered no check ; she freed herself from restrictions of tne press ; was no longer obliged to incur the lavish waste of her military resources ; was free to contract leagues ; ^ enabled to afford hospitality and protection to the exiles of the other Italian provinces , and displayed the tricolour on the battle-field as her flag of state , and the symbol of national warfare against foreign

      domination . „ , _ , , And what was the conduct of theFreneli government at this . period towards Italy , to whom it had repeatedly promised protection from foreign oppression ? The French Government bestowed not even a passing thought upon Italian liberty , nor sought in any way to rescue it from the eagle s talons . On the contrary , the only anxiety rt manifestedwas that the sub-Alpine Government should accede with all despatch to the hard terms proposed by Austria ; and while French soldiers , serving under the republican standard , levelled their guns at the breasts of the Italians , and made the Romans submit to the unwelcome dominion of the priests , France intimated to Piedmont that she ^ would do well to humour Austrian pretensions , for though the sword of France was at the service of Piusix ., it would not be drawn in favour of Victor

      Emmanuel . Surely , after the verbal protestations and substantial aid afforded to Italy recently by the Emperor of the French , his forces will hardly be suffered to repeat the part played by the soldiers of the republic in 1843 . The principle of the restoration of the Dukes appears , whether sincerely or feignedly , to be made a point of the utmost importance by France , nor does Louis Napoleon seem t of

      inclined to give up his pet projec embracing the tottering power of the Popedom in the confederative union of Italy . But whatever may be the result of the congress which it is now confidently declared is soon to meet , it is to be hoped that the staunchest opposition will be offered to tie renewal of Austrian predominance in the Peninsula , the extension of the miseries of Papal misrule , and the revival of the insolent tyranny of the petty sovereigns of the Duchies .

      W «E... Nov. O, Ism.! Tme Leaggb. 122 7

      W « e ... Nov . o , ism . ! TME LEAggB . 122 7

      The "Great Ship" Nuisance. The " Great S...

      THE " GREAT SHIP" NUISANCE . The " Great Ship " is fast becoming a great bore We all know you may have too much of a good thing . Whether the " Leviathan " is a good thing or not is unfortunately not so certain as the fact tLat we have too much of it . We have always entertained a strong fellow-feeling for that much misrepresented Athenian , who voted for the ostracism of Aristides , because lie was tired of hearing hina called " the Just . " Apart from this general and abstract consideration , we have some direct

      tended to ply from England to America . Under whatever name , however , the great vessel remains as great a bore . For weeks we were burdened with accounts of how it would not launch ; then we were kept uneasy because , when launched , it would not sail . When it did sail , its engines blew up , and the columns of the newspapers were filled with the ' reports * of an inquest as long as the vessel itself . When at last it got to Holyhead , we hoped there was an end of the matter , and that , at any rate , till the Vessel got to America we should hear no more about her . Our hopes were premature . Alas ! she is coming back to Southampton , and then going on to Bristol ; or possibly , if the water is calm , she talks of a trip to the Mediterranean . We shall be grateful if things turn out no worse . We live in daily dread that she will be brought up by rail to London , and floated on the Serpentine .

      Without joking , there has been a great deal too much talk about the " Great Eastern , " It has been all play and no work . There have been no end of dinners and deputations and congratulatory speeches . The time has not come for all this . When the " Great Ship" has proved herself to be of nautical use or commercial value , there will be some sense in boasting about her . -At present she has only proved herself to be immensely large—a fact of very negative importance . We have always looked upon the Thames Tunnel as a gigantic instrument of British folly as well as of British enterprise ; and a great ship thet sails nowhere bears an unpleasant resemblance to a great tunnel that leads nowhere .

      As things are at present , Barnum should be sent for , and appointed sole manager of the concern . " Howes and-Cushing ' s" circus could exhibit at ease in the saloons . The sides might be decorated by the longest pictorial panoramas of the longest rivers in the world , and the great sea-serpent might be stretched oat at full length upon the deck . No doubt the great ship has owed no small . part of its undesirable notoriety to the general dearth of news which has prevailed for the last few months . We met the other day with a French

      newspaper which had just reappeared , after a suppression of three months , and candidly informed its subscribers that they had no heed to regret its temporary eclipse , as during that period it could not possibly have produced anything worth reading . Without going this length , we confess that the newspapers have had very little to say of late , and have , therefore , talked a great deal more about the great ship than was necessary . This time has now happily gone by , and till the Leviathan has sailed somewhere , or carried something , or paid somebody , the less said about her the better .

      grounds for voting the " great ship " a grievance . For the last two years the huge vessel has lain upon us as a mental nightmare . Like another Sinbad , we have groaned in vain beneath the weight of the superincumbent monster . We n over could get rid of it . Thoro was no shaking it off , no launching it , no floating it , and , alas ! no sinking it , A nautical Juggernaut , it crushed its victims on ite path , and floundered on , notwithstanding gonernhinn ni \ m- n-onerfttion of shareholders have arisen rUblUIl UibUl liUMUX » l * JU * A \ JX OII « IVUV *« UAW ' M « TV « V « . « M' - ' «*

      and flourished , and gone the way of all stock . They have had shares allotted ; they have paid deposits ; they have attended meetings and perused reports ; thoy have asked for dividends , and received a call instead , which they have paid or not , as the case may be ; but whether defaulters or solvent , they have nliko passed out of eight and mamory . " JDe mortuis nib nisi honum . " May they rest in poace , in that quiet bourne whore Bhweholders ni < o at vest , and directors cease from troubling .

      Three times , to the best of , our belief , has the vessel ohangod its name . It first loomed ^ darkly on the stocks as ] the modern " Leviathan . " Whether in deferenoe . to the susceptibilities of the Record , which objected to , its name , on the ground of biblioal associations , or from whatever cause , it next figured as tho " Great Ship , " and now . on the luoua d non luoendo principle , it is designated the " Great Eastern , " because it is in-

      Own. There Are Two Sides To The " Brass ...

      own . There are two sides to the " Brass Band Nuisance " question , as to inost others . There is , first of all , the side of tho indignant householder—tho respectable resident in a genteel vicinity , with the story of whose wrongs we ai'e so familiar . It is not pleasant to be disturbed when you are reading tho newspaper , or to bo woke up from an afterdinner ' s nap . It is not gratifying on a oold , raw day to bo pestered for a penny by some popr rascal of a Savoyard organ-grinder when your groat-ooat

      WANDERING MINSTRELS . After the Revolution of 1848 , one of the oldest republicans in Paris -was seen to look dejected and melancholy . On being questioned as to the reason why he failed to share in the triumph of his party , he replied , that having been all his life accustomed to defeat , he could not' help sympathising with the . cause of the defeated ? We plead guilty to a like weakness . ' We have an irresistible and unchangeable conviction that the oppressed have always something of justice on their side , and that the weak have a good deal to say for themselves , if they had only courage . to speak . It may seem far-fetched to extend this principle to so poor a class as street musioians ; and yet wo believe that this much-enduring and much abused body have a real grievanoe of their

      that in a well-regulated community beggarboys would not be allowed to look in at a pastrycooks window while respectable people were eating tarts and cheese-cakes . In our ideal commonwealth , paupers should be kept carefully out of sight . On the other hand , " organ-boy bunting " is not an altogether unattractive sport . There is a pleasure in writing indignant letters to the papers , and in boring your friends with the narrative of your correspondence . We , ourselves , are acquainted with a gentleman who , for three vearspast , has acquired asort of mysterious literary reputation amongst a circle of admiring friends from having once written a letter to the Times about some act of extortion in a Margate lodginghouse . There is , too , a class of persons who derive intense satisfaction from the reflection that

      they have acted in a public spirited manner , put down a public nuisance , and caused some unlucky vagabond to be sent to prison . They sleep the better for it at nig"ht , and eat their breakfast wrfch a greater relish . Unfortunately , the other side to the question is not so pleasant a one . In spite of Cardinal Richelieu , " people must live . " In their eyes the necessity is a painfully clear one . If they cannot live honestly they will do so dishonestly . -New , even the most zealous of " organoclasts" will

      hardly pretend that the life of a " wandering minstrel" is idle or an easy one . It must be dismal work playing the " Libiam di lieti calici " when your fingers are frost-bitten and your teeth chatter . " Pop goes the weasel" can scarcely be exhilarating when your stomach is as empty as your pocket , and " Cheer boys , cheer " must lie a bitter moxikery when your night ' s bed is likely to be a door-step or a roller . Very few of the street musicians make more than a bare livelihood , and yet we believe the foreign organ-boys , against whom the especial outcry is raised , to be a frugal and honest class . They are seldom , brought the

      before our police-courts for offences against law , and bear a good character of their own . It is also an important consideration that the great bulk of the population like street music . Musicians play for other people ' s pleasure , not for their own ; and , therefore , the very multitude of street players we see about is a conclusive proof- that people like to hear them . The streets of London are xiull enough , without driving away the onl y thing that gives them life . Street music , too , is about the only amusement that the lower classes have at their command . The real question resolves itself simply into this : —Are we , for the sake of certai

      increasing- the comfort ot a n numoer or bilious and dyspeptic householders of respectable position to take away the means of livelihood from a hardworking and half-starving class , and to deprive the poor of an innocent enjoyment ? In our opinion , the answer is obvious . We have had too much lately of this sort of thing . We have seen apple vendors driven from their stalls ; street tumblers cuffed off the pavement , and flower-girls hustled ofF their stand , jusfc to save some respectable and pompous householder from a temporary annoyance . " There is nobody so selfish , " says the author of the " Friends m Council , " « as your father of a family . most sincerely trust that neither aldermen nor policf magistrates—neither Binghnms nor foir 1 eter Lauries—will succeed in " putting down our wandering minstrels .

      is tightly buttoned up , and you aro hot disposed to take off your glovos to find a copper . It is not cheerful , also , to ' hear a broken-down fiddler strumming for hours before your door at night , and thereby creating am unpleasant montal confliot between your conscience and your principles of economy . Wo quite admit the foroe of the nuisance . Wo have always been of opinion

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      France. Paris, Thursday Evening. Tiieke ...

      FRANCE . Paris , Thursday Evening . Tiieke is always talk of war with England , and wagors nre now constantly being made , whether or not tho poaco botween tho two countnes will last .. Tho thvco points upon which thero sooma to bo a diireronco of opinion between the Governments oi lYanco ami England arc :-h Tho war between Spain and Morocco . 2 . Tho settlement of the Italian Question by a congress , and tho restoration of the di po soasod sovereigns ; and 3 . Tho format on of a a ip-canal through tho Isthmus of Suez . Upon tho first question some of tho daily organs of the Pans press Spatiato in torms very ortbnsivo iind unjust towards IMr iand , » ccu 8 ing her of supporting tho cause of the lllff pira-toa , and of having eccrotly supplied the Sultan of Morocco with a largo quantity of arms ond ammunition . I noticed a translation from a Spanish paper , Z'lberia , in tho Gazette de Frame stating that thoro is an ancient prophecy in Ireland , that at about this present period a . chieftain of Irl & b

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 5, 1859, page 15, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_05111859/page/15/