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    Ma^ch 7, 1857.j TEE £ E ADER. .____ 223

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    CON .TINENTAL NOTES. FKAKCE. Alexandrk D...

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    Sardinia, And Italian Nationality. A Mss...

    unceasing , provocating action from without . " This influence is attributed to a portion of the Sardinian press , which advocates insurrection in Austrian Italy , and even regicide . " Considering these attacks , directed with unusual violence against a friendly and neighbouring Power , the Sardinian . Government , by remaining perfectly passive , has , at the very least , laid itself open to the suspicion of not having wished to discountenance them . This iu not all . Appeals addressed to foreigners , with a view to

    induce them to join subscriptions publicly opened to strengthen the defensive system of Piedmont , which is not menaced hy any Power ; the official reception of pretended deputations from our Italian provinces to express their admiration for a policy disapproved by their own Government ; finally , the acceptance of a mouunient , offered , it is said , by subjects of the Emperor , to commemorate deeds of the Sardinian army , —all these are -so many offensive demonstrations , which , however calculated upon the too easy credulity of the public , nevertheless have their serious aspect . "

    The Austrian Government does not think it consistent with its dignity to avail itself of the reference by the Sardinian Government to the law courts of Piedmont , as a means of obtaining redress from the attacks complained of . The Sardinian revolutionary press , continues Count Buol , strikes at " the very principle of monarchy itself—at the roots of all social order . " The Sardinian Government , therefore , has an equal interest with the Austrian in putting clown these excesses . At any rate , tf the Emperor owes it to his own dignity not to leave the Sardinian Government in ignorance of the displeasure which its proceedings generally have caused him . " In Ins reply ( dated Turin , February 20 th ) , Count Cavour says : —

    " I shall not undertake to justify the national press against the reproaches of Count Buol . I do not hesitate to admit , not only , as that Minister says , ' confidentially , ' but publicly , honestly , as is my custom , that it often goes to lamentable excesses— -that It attacks the person of the Emperor in a manner I openly condemn . But what I think . 1 have a right to maintain is , that the criticism of the press of the acts of the Austrian Government cannot cause it any serious embarrassment ; and that , as regards the attacks against the Emperor , it would' be easy to put

    a stop to them by having recourse to the means supplied hy our laws for the suppression of offences of this description . . How can the journals which attack the Austrian policy impede the action of the Imperial Government , when their admission into the provinces subjected to the Empire is rigorously prohibited ? Whatever may be their influence in the interior of our country —and that influence is very small—their action is null beyond the Tessin . The statement in Count Bud ' s despatch of the reception , of the Emperor at Milan is an incontestable proof of it . "

    The writer proceeds to observe that" free discussion of the acts of the Government is one of the essential principles of the present political system of Piedmont ; " that the English papers had attacked the Emperor of Austria , with as much bitterness as any of the Sardinian journals ; but that Austria , nevertheless , had sought a friendly alliance with England " when it suited her interests . " The Sardinian laws against offences of the press , says the Count , are more severe and certain than in any other country where freedom of discussion is allowed ; and all foreign Governments which have made use of the legal means for the punishment of attacks against them have found the efficacy of those means . The Emperor of Austria had obtained a conviction against the Espero for an attack on him , but was dissatisfied with the smallness of the penalty .

    " In listening to the bitter complaints of Count Buol against the Sardinian press , it might be supposed that tho Austrian press is very reserved as regards foreign sovereigns and governments , that it never exceeds the limits traced by moderation and politeness . This , however , id not tho case ; far from it . The Austrian journals , moro especially those published in Lombardy , are full of insults and attacks upon the . Sardinian Government , and they do not spare the person of the King and the members of hid august family . I could easily support this assertion by numerous proofs ; but I shall confine myself to oalling your attention to the language of the journals of Milan and of Verona respecting an august princess , a near relation of the Emperor of Austria—language which , if I am rightly informed , led to cneryetic remonstrances at Vienna from the Court of Saxony .

    " If Count Buol is justified in com plaining of the violence of a perfectly free press , which is not admitted into tho Austrian States , what must bo aaid respecting u press submitted to a severe censorship , which xpams neither the institutions nor the political men of our country , and which circulates freely among u . i ? Iu Piedmont , if the attack is free , so is also the defence . Austria , attacked by a portion of the press , is defended not only by the journal . - * which come to us from the ; other side of the Tessin , but also by a corUin number of journal .- ! published in tho States of tins King . In Lombardy , on the contrary , only thu attack is allowed ; the journal . - ) there reproduce with impunity tho moat odious

    articles of the journals opposed to the Government of the King , and contain frequently personal insults and insinuations against the statesmen of Piedmont , and create as much' disgust as certain Sardinian journals cause to Count Buol . " But this is not all . Count Buol . accuses the Government of the King of remaining indifferent to the warm controversy of the newspapers . Truly this cannot be said of Austria . The articles of the official journals , inspired by the Imperial Government , prove that the Vienna Cabinet sanctions and directs the attacks against us . After reading a leader in the official Milan Gazette , the source of which cannot be doubted , and in which the Ministers of the King are compared to Robespierre and Cromwell , we may well be astonished at the bitterness of feeling whieli the toleration of the statesmen of Piedmont causes to Count Buol . "

    In answer to thu charge of tacitly encouraging publications which aim at the very principle of monarchy , Count Cavour observes that , since the years 1848 ^ 9 , when monarchy might have been somewhat shaken , that form of government has been so firmly re-established in Piedmont that the republican party is almost extinct : as a proof of which he alludes to the natural death , for want of subscribers , of the Italia e Popolo , " the sole organ of republicanism in the periodical press . " For the popular demonstrations in other parts of Italy , Sardinia cannot hold herself responsible . She called the attention of the Congress of Paris to the condition of Italy ;' ¦ ' but . Austria herself , by her recent concessions , has admitted that that condition required some alterations '

    "As regards the monument spoken of as to be erected at Turin in honour of the Sardinian army , I may first observe that the Government of the King has nothing whatever to do with it . Some persons having inquired of it whether it would accept a gift from the Milanese , it replied by a distinct and positive refusal . The offer made to the Municipal Council was accepted . The Government could not , and ought not , to have , prevented it , as it "was made unconditionally and anonymously . But if the'Royal Government could not prevent the gift of a sum of money to erect a statue in honour of the Sardinian army , meant especially to record the expedition to the Crimea , it will iivt allow any feature in this monument to hurt the susceptibility of - Austria or her army , nor an inscription to imply that it was erected by Austrian subjects . This assurance appears to rne of a nature fully to satisfy any complaints of Count Buol on the subject .

    " Having replied to the reproaches of the Imperial Minister of Foreign A ffairs , I might , in my turn , enumerate the annoyances caused to us by the Austrian Government , from the sequestration ; of ' the '' . property of the Lombards and Venetians who had legally become Sardinian subjects , to the violent and unwarranted expulsion from Milan of one of the most distinguished members of the Senate of the kingdom . But I prefer not following in the track of complaints of the minister of Foreign Affairs of Austria , * o as to avoid envenoming a dispute which we do not think can prove advantageous to cither country . "

    Ma^Ch 7, 1857.J Tee £ E Ader. .____ 223

    Ma ^ ch 7 , 1857 . j TEE £ E ADER . . ____ 223

    Con .Tinental Notes. Fkakce. Alexandrk D...

    CON TINENTAL NOTES . FKAKCE . Alexandrk Dumas and Victor Hugo . —M . Alexandra Dumas has addressed the following letter to the Director of the ThoYitre-Francais : " Sir , —1 learn that the " Courrkr" of the Figaro , signed Suzanne , is from Die pen of Mdlle . Augustine Brohim . I have such a friendship , and such an admiration for M . Victor Hugo , that I desire that a person -who attacks him in his exile should no longer act in any play of mine . I shall , therefore , "be obliged by your withdrawing from the repertoire Mademoiselle de liclle . M , ; , and the DanoixeHcs < 7 e Saint Cyr , unless you prefer to place in other JuimU the characters in these plays represented , by Mdlle . Brohati . Accept , etc . —A . Dumas . "— " This letter , " says the Belgian National ( and we heartily concur with our contemporary ) , " will remain a . s a " nobl < s protest against the insults of a heartless -woman , who has proved herself incapable of respecting genius , or fame , ov misfortune , or exile . " Sir Morton 1 ' , has received an invitation from the ISmperor . of the French to proceed to Algeria with tho view to the construction of n . niiliviiy in that colony . Sir Morton loft Suffolk last Saturday afternoon . The line to which attention is to Iju devoted in the- lirst instance Avill commence at ( Joiistnntinc , oim of the j » rincipal towns in tins colony , iiikI connect that place with another important point . Tim length of line at present projected is about one hundred milcw , i ^ i . M . JLivoiti , chief of the Fruncli missions in Cliina , has arrived in l ' aris , in order to ^ ive the Emperor full information with respect to the petition of the Cutholioj in the Celestial Umpire . A young Corniean has been arrested in the church of St . Charles , where he had coJiooaled himself , and broken open the poor-boxo * . _ A strange story is told in the French papers . Somo time ago , a bhupherd , mimed Murtin , in one of tho rural districts—a man of a sullen nature , reputed to bo on

    speaking terms with the devil—quarrelled with his wife , and threatened to kill himself in such a way that his body should not be found , and , ' consequently , that she should be unable to many again . The wife went to bed , leaving the husband sitting by the fire . Next morning he : had . -vanished . All the' doors and windows were shut and bolted on the inside , and the most rigorous search failed to reveal the body of the shepherd alive or dead . Several weeks passed by , and one day the widow lit a fire in a back kitchen , which was seldom used . The chimney smoked very much ; so a climbing- boy was sent up to sweep it . Iu a very little time , the boy came back , half fainting with terror , and declared that there was a man in -the chimney . Such -was indeed the case . Martin had climbed up witli a rope , a nail , and a hammer in his hand ; had made all the arraiigements for hanging ¦ himself , and had finally performed that exploit in the recesses of the chimney , first putting the hammer in his pocket . The rope was cut , and the corpse , horribly decomposed , tumbled down into the grate . The tale is not unlike that of a celebrated egotist of tho ancient world , who , to make it supposed that ho had been snatched up # bodily - to heaven , jumped down Mount Etna , and succeeded iu his design till the treacherous mountain disgorged one of his brazen sandals : a story which makes us wish that King Bomba would go and do likewise . The Leader has been again seized iu France , together with various other English journals , including the Tory Morning Herald and John Hull . AUSTUIA . The Emperor , last Saturday , appointed the Archduke Ferdinand Maximilian Governor-General of the Lombardo-Venetian kingdom . Count Gyulai is appointed . Commander of the Austrian army in Italy . The Frankfort Journal states that a priest would , not permit the body of an Austrian staff officer—an Englishman , of the Protestant faith—to be buried in a family vault which ho liad hud constructed in a churchyard , near some property he possessed in Moravia . As the diocesan of Brihin fully approved the conduct of the priest , the remaius of the officer were interred outside the churchyard .

    " A new and very important reduction in the Austrian army , " says a letter from Vienna , "is about to take place . It is sai < l that it will be of 49 G companies for the whole army , or nearly 50 , 000 men ; and that there will also be reductions iu the rifles , engineers , and cavalry . "

    ITALY . The Commander Caraffa , Neapolitan Minister for Foreign A"i » rs , i 1 ! XS addressed a circular to all the diplomatic agents of the King of the Two Sicilies in foreign countries , directing them to contradict , by all means in their power , the fact , falsely announced in foreign journals , that torture is inflicted on political prisoners conlinetl in ¦ the prisons of Naples . Signor Carafl ' a , in his circular , appeals to the Ministers of foreign Towers residing at ZSaples to prove the falsehood of those reports . . A monk , who had been degraded for some offences , has sent several anonymous letters to the Archbiahop of . Genoa . He has been arrested , and the facts were at first exaggerated into a report that the Archbishop had been murdered .

    The Minister of War at Turin has offered a reward of 4 . 00 A to the inventor of the be ^ t musket for infantry soldiers . -Foreigners arc allowed to compete . The amnesty granted hy the Emperor of Austria to Ins Italian subjects lius been regarded at IJonic with great disfavour . Count Colloredo , the Austrian Minister at tlus Papal r tty , complained to Cardinal AntoneUi that tlie am liesty had not been published in the Unman ollicial journal . The Cardinal at once caused its insertion ; but it was unaccompanied by a word of comment . It is said that Cardinal Antonelli is not pleased with the appointment of Cardinal Murlot to the Archbishopric of l'aris . Tho l'icdmonte .-ie have been enjoying the Carnival with an over / low of fun and animal spirits not common among those northern Italians .

    A very unpleasant sensation lias been t : reatcd in tho city of . Naples by the suicide of Captain liadiui , of tho artillery . It appears that , a short time before , hi .-j Majesty had given i \ receipt for tho manufacture of nignal rockets li > JJadini ; tlmt these rockets hud exploded unexpectedly in tho fortress near Portici ; and that Colonel AgoHtiniH , Hecretnry of the King , had drawn up nn unfavourable report , stating that they had been improperly made . The King was lately at Capua , and received M . liadiui with unusual ad ' ability , but after the interview AgoHtinis told him that this treatment of him would he very whortly changed . Badini went home and shot himself , leaving a letter for the King , ho snys the report , and another for Ills family . — Unify Nvws Na /> lcn Correspondent . The Queen of Naples gave birth , last Saturday , to a piinei ! , her ninth child .

    Tho Cattolko of Genoa publishes a letter from Naples of the 21 st ult ., mentioning another explosion -which took place three days before in the fort of Vigliuun , on the aua-sido between Napleu and Portici , but caused little damage . The letter adds , that upon examination

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), March 7, 1857, page 7, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_07031857/page/7/