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Leader (1850-1860), 10th September 1859, Edition 2 of 2, Page 10, EDGAR QITINET AND FELIX PYAT O.V THE AMN...

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      The Forces Of Central Italy. A Letter Fr...

      Condition 01 ? Sicily . —Sicily is l'epresented to "be in a state of great excitement . Whole families arc leaving and taking refuge in Naples . There are constant telegraphic communications going on between the Government and the governor of the island . The feelings of the army are watched with the greatest care , and liberal rewards are promised to any who can give information of any plots . The notorious Mazza , the former minister of police and the originator of the bastinado system in Naples , has received a right good thrashing from General JSTunziante .

      The Fortifications of Antwerp . —The Belgian Senate continued on Tuesday the discussion on the Public Works Bill , and adopted Art 1 , which relates to the fortifications of Antwerp , by 34 votes to 15 . Four members abstained from voting . The INamur journals state that the demolition of the fortifications of that town will take place as soon as the new fortifications of Antwerp shall be sufficiently advanced to receive the siege artillery now at Namur . This , it is supposed , will be in aboiit two years . The Cholera ix Gekmany . —The latest advices from Meeklenburg state that the cholera is ; continuing its ravages there . In some villages half the inhabitants have been carried off . Agricultural operations are quite suspended , and the cattle are let loose in the fields , as there is no one to tend them .

      1030 The Leader. [No. 494. Sept. 10, 185...

      1030 THE LEADER . [ No . 494 . Sept . 10 , 1859 ;

      Edgar Qitinet And Felix Pyat O.V The Amn...

      EDGAR QITINET AND FELIX PYAT O . V THE AMNESTY . Though the amnesty granted by the Emperor of the French has given general satisfaction in France , the chiefs of the political parties for whom the proscription is reversed differ considerably in opinion as to what their course should be with regard to the Imperial act of oblivion . We have already published the declarations of Louis Blanc and Victor Hugo ; they both reject the proffered pardon ! the former , while refusing to return to France admits that , private circumstances ^ may justify many others in embracing the opportunity offered them of reassuming their citizenship . Victor Hugo will not cross the . French frontier till he can do so hand in hand with Liberty . ' Both prefer to remain in exile , protesting against the Empire and all its consequences .

      We have received two additional declarations drawn forth by the amnesty—one from M . Edgar Quinet , dated from Veytaux , in Switzerland ; the second from M . Felix Pyat . We give the substance of both , greatly abridged . M . Quinet denies the right of the Emperor either to proscribe or pardon him , and declines to return to his country , as his hands would be tied , and he would not be able to serve it . The exiles do not need the permission of any one to re-enter France , as they have the law in their favour , and they alone will decide on the proper time to return to the country of which no one had a right to deprive them . Law , having been proscribed with them ought to be re-established with them . Instead of accepting

      an act of favour for himself , he makes a series of demands on behalf of France ; unless so many years of exile , deportation , and death are to be lost to her and to humanity , he . clams , as just restitutions to )| his country , that the ordinary guarantees for security among modern nations be re-established for the French people ; that no man shall be arrested or deported by a mere act of the Administration , or ¦ without a regular trial and the verdict of a jury ; that trials shall be public ; that the sentences-of the tribunal shall not be altered or aggravated in severity by an arbitrary power ; that confiscated property shall be restored to the legal owners ; and , as thq , guarantee that includes all the others , that the freedom of debate and liberty of the press be restored to the nation . M . Quinet , therefore , like JLouia Blanc , declines to return from exile under the amnesty ; and , substituting law for liberty , appears to mean the same thing as Victor Hugo ; the

      political condition of France must undergo an entire change before thoy re-enter it . M . Felix Pyat , in precisely similar circumstances , takes a different view of the duty and policy of the political exiles ; ho does not agree with Louis Blanc or Victor Hugo , or M . Quinot ; ho doubts the "Wisdom and patriotism of standing aloof from Franco till Franco shall have changed , intimating" that if all tho proscribed wait for law or liberty to oross the frontier of their country with thorn , they may have to wait an indefinite period . Ho recommends action , as preferable in this oaso to suffering , though it is infinitely inoro difficult 5 and to act for tho benefit of Franco it is necessary to take advantago of tho amnesty and return thither , leaving tho rotor stops to time and circumstances . Tho quostlon A to . bo decided is , which is tho more worthy and ¦ useful course for tho oxilos to adopt—to remain in J ^ ngland , Belgium , or Switzerland , or to return to franco ? M . F . Pyat dooldos for roturning , and in

      so doing claims to represent the . opinion of the " great majority " of those to- whom the amnesty applies . " We protest , " he says , " for the eternal right of justice and reason , but would like to see the bravest and strongest carrying the protest themselves . " ¦ ' ¦¦ ¦' .. What follows is directed against the three leaders who have advised continuance in exile : — " We cannot concur with them , that to save France her most worthy sons ought to quit her ; that it is necessary to leave the enemy in possession of the position in order the better to expel him . " Those who can be leaders must not , argues M . Pyat , be contented with lecturing the people of France from a distance ; they must join them at their own risk and peril , or the people may say , " You reserve yourselves for victory , but shun the battle ; you counsel us to conquer , but come not to help us ; you would only ' re-enter with liberty , ' when we no longer have need of you !"

      As to the difficulties in the way of political action in France , M . Pyat admits they are great ; that the freedom of the press , one means of influencing the mass of the people , is destroyed ; but he asserts that even for the press there will be ' « liberty enough if there is boldness enough ; " and instances the case of Count Montalembert , who , under all the repressive laws applying to the journals ,. dealt through the press a heavy blow at the Imperial system . Shall the Liberals of France leave to the Royalists , the Catholics , and privileged orders the duty of exhibiting courage face to face , and fighting hand to hand ? Could not Louis Blanc do what has been done by Montalembert ? If Victor Hugo chould return and finish his Napoleon le . Petit , would not their trials make a greater noise than that concerning the Indian debate ? If the Liberals and Republicans do not act in France , what will they do ?

      " That which we have done during the ten years that we have lived and died herein dignity and freedom , while they 1 have lived and died as slaves in France ? What then ? Nothing—not even unity of action . Forward , then 1 A single act of devotion and boldness in France will have more influence on the French people than all the sheets of paper which it is possible to print in London . " Finally , in favour of boldness of action , ^ 1 . Pyat instances what was done by Mallet against the Great Napoleon , and by Louis Napoleon himself against both Louis Philippe and the Republic .

      Foreign Incidents.

      FOREIGN INCIDENTS .

      Foreign Incidents

      pure and spotless Carrara , transparent , polished , and hard as the real substance taken from the quarry This marble , which is to be prepared for the sculptors in a liquid state will , like many other artificial inventions , possess an immense advantage over the natural production itself . The invention which has created an immense sensation in the ' world of art , is due to a practical chemist of Brussels , of the name of Changy , the same skilful practitioner who discovered the divisibility of the electric light , and the miraculous draught of fishes by means

      of the Chemical light which is sunk at the bottom of the sea . M . Jobard , whose word cannot be doubted pledges his honour that the table on which he writes lias been composed by M . Changy ' s process , and possesses every quality of the finest marble—and that , after having submitted various specimens of the substance , both black and white , to every chemical test in use , he has come to the conclusion that the composition of marble is no longer a secret of Dame Nature , and that man has at length learnt to rival her in the most cunning of her works .

      Les Anglais pour Hike . — " Though our weather is none of the brightest , " says a correspondent in Paris , " . the practised Parisian requires no evidence beyond that of his own eyes as to the breaking up of the London season . '¦¦ Your countrymen are swarming over the Channel and thronging to this fair city as the first stage of their vacation journey . They are , for the most part , as grotesque as ever in regard to the outer man and woman . Paris is to them a larger sort of watering place . A Ifrenchman assures me . he saw- last autumn a party parading the Boulevards armed with long Alp staves surmounted by chamois horns- —English , cela va sana dire . It all goes down to the national credit for eccentricity . " The Schuyler Frauds . — -These nefarious

      transactions have again turned up m the American lawcourts . Mr . Robert Schuyler , president and transfer agent of the New York and New Haven Railroad Company in 1854 , confessed to having issued , without authority , stock amounting to nearly . £ 400 , 000 . In the litigation which ensued a decision was finally rendered , declaring that the company were not'responsible for the stock thus fraudulently issued . It still has to be settled what part of the issue was genuine , and what unauthorised . An arbitrary rule was adopted , that all the stock which was issued prior to October , 1853 , should be consir dered genuine . Mr . Holbrook , the accountant employed by the company to separate the authorised . issue from the unauthorised , at first proceeded on this basis . He became satisfied , however , that the frauds extended as far back as 1848 , and a year or two subsequent to the time when he made his original report to the company , he re-opened a corto make

      respondence with the directors , proposing further investigations . At first they authorised him to do so , but , when they found that matters would be thrown into worse confusion than ever , they politely informed him that ho need not take the trouble to present them with his conclusions . They , of course , believed that " Where ignorance is bliss , 'tis folly to be wise ; " but parties who looked at the matter from another point , and who owned both genuine and spurious stock , found that a settlement with the company on the basis wlncn Mr . Holbrook was about to propose , would enlarge their dividends considerably , and preferred thereiore to suo out an injunction to restrain the directors from paying the semi-annual dividend until it should be definitely settled what is false and what iB genuine stock . Thus the controversy is re-openeu , and it is considered that there is a possibility that the comrmnv mav vet be forced to assume tlio

      responsibility of the wholo issue . The Arabs under French . Rule . —Tho military tribunal of Constantina has just tried a marabout , named Si-Sadoq-bel-Hadj , and fifteen other Arabs , for exciting an insurrection in tho south oi Algeria . The marabout had played a principal part in a previous insurrection at Zaatcha , but wlion tnat town was taken by tho French , ho made nis submission . On the death of tho chief , in 1850 , o became tho . most important personage in v »« country , and in 1852 began proaching up wnat no called a holy war . Ho gradually collected n considerable number of partisans , and in JSovomDcr , 1858 , called upon his people to tako up arms , oa tno pretext that ho was persecuted by tho Ironoii . in nnownn + «¦» hlo < mmmnnu nrrrftn . fr . milllbOl' nSSOnQDlOU ,

      and tho superior commander was obliged to seuu forces to disperse them . Thoy resisted , ana a conflict took place , in which Si-Sadoq nnd fljwon others were taken prisoners . Tho court ioiina w » tho prisoners guilty , ana oondomnoa thorn todoain . PnnaKNTATioN jpok Gajuwu » tbt . — Tho Fronc'i Emporor has recently awarded a modal ot " ° noiu to Captain Paul , Commander of tho South-eastern Company ' s stoampackot Lord Warden , plying botweon Folkestone and Boulogne' for lulv L "? gallantly rescued tho orow of a Fronoh fishing uoai n iliatross in tho month of Novombor lust .

      Chemistry v . Mud . —Those Londoners who dislike the process in vogue in the streets of the metropolis , by which offensive dust is twice or thrice a day improved into disgusting , black , slimy mud , m ay ponder the following : —The new method of watering streets , invented at Lyons , is about to be tried in the Rue de Rivoli . A skilful chemist at Lyons , having observed that some hydrochloric acid , which had been accidentally spilt in the yard of his establishment , had hardened the gravel , and / Jn spite of the heat and the sun , had preserved a sort of artificial humidity about the spot , was immediately struck

      with the possibility of employing the same substance for the prevention of dust upon macadamised roads . The Place Bellecour and all the public promenades of Lyons have been watered in this manner during the whole summer , and the ground has preserved thereby a most grateful and refreshing humidity . The wind has no power to raiso the dust , and towards evening the coolness of the soil becomes most apparent . In tho morning the ground is found to bo hardened , wliile an appearance as of a whito frost covers tho surface , and seems to cleanse it from all impurities .

      A Fool Axtbopriately Mounted , —Undoubtedly iwoJjmve become tired of tho name of Blondin , but a recent feat which , , he has accomplished so far outstrips ^ hjs other performances that it is deserving of mention ; Tho other day he carried a man weigliing 182 pounds over the tight rope suspended across tho Niagara rivor , on which ho has performed his previous exploits . A bolt passing round his waist was supported by straps aoross tho shoulders . From tho sides of tho bolt padded iron bands projected , by moans of which tho rider ' s knoos wore supported . In orossing , M . Blondin was obliged to stop and rest

      seven times , the man on his back dismounting at each pauso , and remounting with but little difficulty when M . Blondin ' s strength was sufficiently recruited to allow him to proceed . Ono would think that a ropo susponded over a yawning chasm was not the most comfortable place to rostoro exhausted energies . Tho ontiro transit oooupied tlurty-flvo minutes . Tho performer , who assumes to rival Blondin , successfully crossed tho rivor below thq Genossoo Falls , at Rochester , a few days since . Auxii'ioial Maiium :. — -A Paris letter says : — " M . Jobard , of Brussels , has como out with his invention of artificial statuary marblo—not tho veiny , greasy stuff in use for chimney a and vases , but tho

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 10, 1859, page 10, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_10091859/page/10/