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    33^ The LeaderandSaturday Analyst.-/ ¦ [...

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    FOREIGN COHBESPOlSrDENCE, (special.) v ;...

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    Gleanings ' Fbom Fobbigrn Books. Immokta...

    unanswerable questions , All tliat . it cares for is to exercise itselrou problems which excite universal interest . , A later and wore cautious generation aiay be disposed to determine , first ot all ,, wliafc human energies are capable of achieving : —but the fresh spirit of the world ' s youthful time it becomes well to dare , and . to regard nothing as unattainable . When , however , science raises its head , doubt begins to stir . The scientific maturity of nations draws after it the host of scruples , hesitancies , despondencies , whereby immortality is assailed . Shall we ebnseq . ueii . tTy- trust the convictions created by a simple impulse of the uncultivated understanding of a the h ?—

    faitli child-like , but altogether dominated by pantasy . or shall we follow the doubt which scientific reflection calls forth , armed with the arts alike of speculation and reflection ? Certain it is that as soon as scientific inquiry lias arisen , it is no longer possible to lead men back- to the honest steps of simple faith . It is not a prying' temerity which , inspires doubt : from the nature of things does doubt spring : it is a result of the ripening- mind of nations . If , therefore , the questions which doubt asks are not to be -wholly disregarded , they must be scientifically answered . —Mi tier s Immortality- THE COMHOIf—THE . SUBLIME . The highest , the purest is the commonest , the most intelligible ; therefore . elementary geometry is higher than the so-called higher geometry . The more difficult and complicated a science becomes , the more it wanders from the true human path , and is mixed with impure elements . —Novalis .

    33^ The Leaderandsaturday Analyst.-/ ¦ [...

    33 ^ The LeaderandSaturday Analyst .- / ¦ [ April 7 , 1860 .

    Foreign Cohbespolsrdence, (Special.) V ;...

    FOREIGN COHBESPOlSrDENCE , ( special . ) v ; Rome , 31 st March , 1860 . . , ¦ " ST . JOSEPH'S DAY . " JTIHE columns of a daily paper are , I think , more fitted than those ¦¦ ¦*¦ of a wee . kly journal tor the passing narrative of" current events . My wish , indeed , in tliese letters of mine to you , has been to treat of those subjects ' / which ' - have something more than a momentary interest , rather than to chronicle the trifling changes which vary the monotony of Roman life . I have therefore- abstained from ¦ sending you any account of oil r recent entente till 1 was able to satisfy niyself that it possessed features worthy of move especial notice and more permanent record . The general character of the event you have doirbtless learnt ore this from the reports of -your daily contemporaries ; and . probably in the busy round of news at hoi ' ne our poor little cmeiite—our one-ewe lamb of an event—lias been by this time well riigh forgotten . At any rate , it is not my intention to trouble you with a repetition of a " thrice-told '' tale . The peculiar aspect of the event to which I wish to call your attention relates to the accounts which the Government has thought fit to put forward concerning the occurrence .

    The Papal authorities , have , as I believe , been guilty of gross iilogsility , ot" deliberate cruelty , and of systematic perversion of truth ,. Theso are heavy charges to bring against the self-constituted Vicegerents of Christ on earth ; and if these charges be true , they constitute offences of no common magnitude . By the official statements of the Government , by the confessions of their © wiv partisans , ' out of then * own months , in fact , I hold they can bo convicted . "We all know the French proverb , Quis excuse s ' acduse . In virtue of this proverb , the very fact that the Papal authorities have taken measures to explain their conduct shows that there is something which needs to be ' explained away , and if in their explanations facts are wilfully and . deliberately mis-stated , we may not unjustly assume that the acknowledgment of the truth is felt by the offenders themselves to convict them of wrons > --doing \

    Now , thero have appeared two accounts of tho occurrences on St . Joseph ' s day , which may bo regarded as . the ; ofticiul version . One is in the Government Gazette , tho Qiornalo dl Roma , the other in a French , journal , the Monde . You will perhaps remeinber , that when tho Univers was suppressed in Franco on account of its vehement pro-papal partisanship , the Monde was ( started at once as its uvow-ed successor . Indeed , if tho defunct Unhev $ niny be regarded as the clerical " E 14 JA . 11 , "' the Monde is certainly the " Klisha " of the { Church . Wenring the prophet ' s mantle ot the Univers , the Monde is tho acknowledged champion of tho Papacy , tho organ of the Ultramontane party . The account of tho arifilto given in this paper is by far tho fullest of the two ; and , whatever may bo said as to its oifioial woiyht , is undoubtedly intended to placo tho wholo affair under tho wont favourable light'for the Papacy . Let 1110 show first what that nccounfc is .

    Tho Monde commences with u . stuicment , that tho luctof a grand revolutionary niovoinent being intended to take place on tho day in question hud long been known to the Government , both from tho private inforiimtion of important personages , jmd from tlio fact tlmt placards wore- placed on tho walls " oxciiinjj to revolt . " Now , the " important porsonugos , ' if they have imy oxistpnee at nil , must bo spies , nnd tho statement that placards were stuck up publicly is ( luliborutcOy liaise . In a few instunoos papers Nyero posted up nnd torn down at onco , with the words Viva Viltorh JSmmanucle writton on thein ; but no placard , unless put up us » decoy- by uGovernliiunt spy , could contain an incitement to revolt , as all tho revolu-i tioimry party , iw tho papur stylos them , are t »> a man opposed to any attempt at n riivolt , under present nirtuuustnuews . Tho mure important point , however , isthiss By this admission tboGoverniuunt ore proved to huvu Imd liill knowledge of tho probability of a disturbance beforehand , ami in tho words of the jounml , " jirnwyomouta were m ( ttlc i ' ov maintaining 1 ordoi \ ' * Why , then , I nek , did uot tho

    Government , for the sake of common justice and humanity , issue a proclamation ordering well-disposed people to keep quiet , and not to join in any crowd , at their own peril ? The Government have an undoubted right to disperse a crowd , however peaceable a one , if they think fit . The legality of such ajrocecding cannot be questioned , whatever ma 3 be thought of its wisHom . There is , and can be no excuse for a Government which , knowing there was to be a crowd , and knowing they intended to disperse it by armed force , took no precautions * to hinder women , children , and casual strangers , from falling victims to the brutality of their soldiery . The account then tells a " cock and bull " story about a number of students who san" - a " Te Deurri" in honour of the annexation , at the church of " La Sapienza . " The story is quite new to us , and even if true , is no excuse for cutting down other ' people , hours afterwards , in an entirely different place . The Papal . story then runs as follows : — -

    " The assemblage proceeded to the Oorso . The leaders of the gathering divided the persons present into groups , and marched in . military fashion . It was easy to see that the crowd was chiefly composed of the very lowest class ; in fact , one group consisted entirely of butchers , tanners , & c—all persons ready in using the knife . Two brothers , named Barbeim , of violent character , who have already undergone condemnations for crime , seenied to be in command . The . Roman gendarmes , considering the presence of these two men dangerous , arrested them . The mob ,

    on that , became excited ; cries of ' Executioners' ( J 3 oia ) were raised , and the gendarmes , were hooted and hissed , and had diffiuultyiu forcing their way through the crowd , but at last succeeded in arriving safely ° wit-h their prisoners . The aftair . might have gone no furtlrer , but the rioters hooted and insulted a patrol of gendarmes who had ordered them to disperse . In the meantitne . detachments of French soldiers paraded the Corso . By -about six the crowd increased still more , arid the excitement became , greater ; and , in fact , the demonstration assumed a character which it was necessary to combat . "

    There is hardly a line in this statement which does not contam a misrepresentation . The Corso / was filled with one dense in ; iss of carriages passing up and down , while the pavement was crosv . led with bystanders ,: who circulated with ; . difficulty . Beyond 11 few young in en who walked arm in arin together , there was not , and could not have been anything approaching to . inarching ¦ in military .-fashion . .- ' The crowd was composed of the most respectable classes ,, dressed out in -their holiday attire . The presence of a double line of carriages , soine niile in length , is a-saffieiunt proof as to the chin-ncter ol" the assemblage . Tlie crowd was hot of the class that weui- knives * or else , in the affray , some of the gendarmes would most Vei'tairily have been stabbed , which was not the case . The two brothers Bakbeki are not known of here , and , like the

    Corsican brothers , are to be found alone in the brain of a . romance writer . One young man , who was arrested for bearing a violet in his coat button , was , it is true , hustled out of t \\ G gendarmes' haudsj but no injury whatever was inflicted on tiro ri . ukli «; r . s . Tim idea , indeed , of the liberal parly at ' Rome being led by butchers ov taiiuei-H , is too absurd to need refutation here , A whole nation of . malcontents hardly requires loaders , but such leaders a . s there itiv , are avowedly men of education , position .,- ' and Tank .- For obvious ruuons I must ' not give their , names , though it would be easy to do so . There was never any attempt to attack the police , and on . only one

    occasion th . it Icould learn was a low hiss raised a . s they iju . ssc . c 1 . . No Order was ever issued ; or at any rate issutd audibly , i ' l . r thu- mob to disperse . Indeed , so little disturbance Was there oi any kind , at tho " Piazza Colonna , " a square bpeniivg on the Corso , that the cruvvtl down ti ' 10 street were utterly unaware of anything * having oucurivcl , and the only . reason , that tho assonvblage yrew bigger twwards six o ' clock in , tii at -at-this hoar , ns usual , the drivers and walkers on the Piiicio pronieuudo passed through the street on their rot him hoino . There neither was , nor could have been , any French patrol font to clear the street ; nnd , in faqt , till thti draguons charyvd , the crowd woro entirely itjiior ' ant that anything hud occurred , or else . thu crowd

    would have dispersed at once . " Thereupon , " X read , " tho Assessor of Rome , M . 1 ' Ascir . vLO . vi , an advocate , a man of great iirn-iuoMs and intelligenoe , u . iMered tho f / endanncs on lout and horseback , who had cullectod in the-paluce , to disporso tho crowd . This was dono witli great rapidity , \\ f the armed force , in spite of Lootings and Jiissiugs , rushed on the rioters und struck therm with tho Hat ot their swords . Son . o lew wero woundod , and some persons who were present from mure cin'iosity received . scratched orbruises . " It is really childish to suppnoo that a lawyer , whatever his " firinnoss or intelligence" might ue , woiwa give orders to an tinned force to charge , unless ho had m'oivoa previous instructions , or that any body of soldiers would take in « structiona to uso force from an unauthorized civilian . M . Pasql'A "

    ioni may chOoso to offer hiinself as tho scapegoat lor the Cn ; vur «* mojit , but tho public will rofuso to boliovo in his claini t" tho doubtAil honour . If tho soldiers only used tho flat of their wwordH , how is it that between quo and two liuudroil persons were , wounded , that a child was cut down in its mother ' s arms while nho svas fitting in lier oarriage , that liftoon persons were carried to tlio husjiiUiiSi and that , in more than three instances , the scratches or bruises received have proved , fatal P . Tho account published in the . Giornale dl Roma is identically tho b ' iuuc as thi » in bubstunce , except that very 1 ' ew details <> ' » n / kind are given , uud no names lnuiUlouod . In both , an attempt is made , by implication , to inainuato tlmt tho French und l ' rtpul « ol « io » y ftcted totfotfior"in tlio outra , gos committod ; an insinuation * ^ *"" oiontly disproved by tl » o fact , tluU General Gvson has thought « - nocetisary to publish n , letter in yesterday ' s Gazette , dun , Yutg t » fl report tl » at the French soldiom had rescued priaonera nviii cue

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), April 7, 1860, page 18, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_07041860/page/18/