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Leader (1850-1860), 11th June 1859, Edition 2 of 3, Page 15, Affairs.] ___ THE LEADER; 723

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      * A Phy M? I?T?Tctwtvj A Xrr* I Muijrttaj. Lix U* J≫Fckx)Lnand H

      no demonstration on the 2 . 9 tli January ; TusCany , on February 17 ; Turin , February 18 ; Home , March 14 ; and France might perhaps at this hour have still had an Orleans constitutional king . From the 5 th of February , 1838 , to the 13 th of -Ap ril , diplomatic treaties passed between the Sicilian Government ; and the King ; but on that day Ferdinand and his dynasty were declared to be deposed from the throne of Sicily , by virtue of the 129 th Art . of the reformed Sicilian Statute of 1812 . The Sicilian Government declared that from that time it had nothing in common with the King of Naples and his infamous rule . The destruction of restored the relation

      Messina by the King ' s artillery s of sovereign and subject between Ferdinand and the Sicilians , on the 15 th May , 1848 . The Chamber of Deputies was again opened . The substance of the oath which the deputies were required to take was as follows : — " I swear to profess and cause to be professed the Catholic , Apostolic , and Roman religion . I swear fidelity to the King of the two Sicilies ; I swear to observe the constitution conceded by the King on the 10 th of February . " None of the deputies could take the _ oath . The first clause was not only destructive of liberty of conscience , but from the obligation it imposed , to cause the Roman Catholic faith to be professed , was , at the

      labour for terms varying from twelve to twenty-five years . All the prisons of Sicily were filled -with political criminals condemned , awaiting trial , or confined simply by way of precaution . Add one third more to these figures and you will have the approximate number of the condemned and incarcerated in the two Calabrias , Abruzzi , Puglia , Terra di Lavoro , and Naples . It is difficult to estimate the number of the exiles , but there was not a family who did not weep for one ; many mothers were deprived of their sons * who were guilty of no other crime than patriotism . But it must be confessed that the true martyrs of Bomba

      are not those who have been executed—not ' the condemned , imprisoned or the exiled , but the unfortunate beings who lived under the rule of a man , compared with whom Nero and Caligula were benefactory and tutelary guardians of humanity . Is it possible to ' endure such a system as that of the departed Bomba ? Is it possible , in 1859 , the age of the application of chemistry to ^ the artSj of steam and railroads , after seventy years' struggle between intellect and brute force , the divine right , the grace of hereditary succession , the preservation of a throne intact as it was transmitted by the father to the son , is any longer a law to be respected , a doctrine to be professed ? Is it possisince the world has DanteLocke

      sible that seen , , Gibbon , Voltaire , Rousseau , Cuvier , Liebnitz , Cabanis , Cousin , Gioberti and Romagnosi , humanity should respect kings as kings , and voluntarily declare itself brutal and not intelligent , material not intellectual , created for man instead of for God ? In the sight of the Creator of both , one man is equal to another— -one may voluntarily serve another , of course ; but Bomba never had willing servants , as a king . Cannon balls and prisons rendered his subjects taciturn and timid . None could weep his death , but all will pray to be preserved from a . successor who resembles him . Dr . T . G > Pagano , Notaro della Iteal Guerra e Marina in Sicilia .

      same time , odious and absurd . The second clause declared the duty of waging an infamous war against the rights which Sicily had enjoyed for eight centuries . The third clause involved a premature engagement . The Constitution of the 10 th of February had not been confirmed by the Chamber of Deputies , and was * consequently , not yet an accomplished fact . The indi gnation excited was intense . The deputies , who were already in Naples , amounting to about 100 , met at the Palazzo di Citta the same evening ; the National Guard declared they would defend and guarantee any resolutions which the deputies might make .

      Unfortunately , the courage of the deputies failed in this emergency , and their weakness afforded Ferdinand leisure and opportunity again to sIioav himself as he Avas in reality , and not what the force of circumstances had previously induced him to pi-etend . The subsequent misfortunes of Poerib and Pica induce us to throw a veil over the humiliating position in which , with Capitelli _ and Iimbriani , they placed themselves by forming a deputation to wait upon Ferdinand . Had ^ the Chamber been wise enough to adopt the proposition of the courageous , re solute , and honest Guiseppe Napoleone Ricciardi , Naples would not have suffered as it did ; Ferdinand would have lost his ascendancy over the army ; the war of Italian

      independence would not have experienced the defeat ofNovara , and Napoleon III . would not at this day have his head quarters at Alessandria . Ferdinand was victorious , and in the face of the world declared what he was as an absolute Sovereign . On the 16 th May , Prince Cariati , Ruggieri and Bozzelli formed the new ministry . The city of Naples , after having been subjected for twenty-four hours to the will of a brutal soldiery and infuriated populace , saw its constitutional guarantees vanish one by one . The Chamber of Dopiities was dissolved , the National Guard disarmed and suppressed , the liberty of the press suspended , preparatory to its abolition . At the same time the state of siege

      was declared , an extraordinary commission was instructed to institute processes against the numerous citizens who had been arrested . Among these were Gabriele Pepp , Poerio , and Pica . Naples being reduced to quietude , it was easy for Bomba to suppress the Calabrese movement . To overcome the weak , and crush them unexpectedly , to tremble before the strong—such was the ordinary practice of Bomba , such wore his acts in 1848 . The victories of May induced him to recall the army from Lombardy and enabled him to resume the occupation of Sicily . Sicily fell , but only after

      eighteen months' struggle , not by force of JN eapolitan arms , but owing to foreign aid . Sicily fell because it was in vain to strive against , lions—vain to resist the sensuous French . From this period the guillotine , the hangman ' s rope , the punishment of doath by shooting , the IiJrgastolo , transportation , and enforced emigration , have been permanent institutions . From" May 15 th , 1849 , to November 30 th , 1854—the period when the writer was obliged to fly to escape sentence of imprisonment , ii » irons , pronounced against him in Ins , absence—194 suffered , by guillotine in Sicily , of whom 101 were executed in Palermo ; 221 wore shot , 173 at Palermo ; and 792 wore imprisoned with hni'd

      Affairs.] ___ The Leader; 723

      Affairs . ] ___ THE LEADER ; 723

      Pur Vast Trade, Our Flourishing Pursuits...

      pur vast trade , our flourishing pursuits , our unparalleled industry , our legal ameliorations , and increasing comforts , to be exchanged for taxes of enormous weight , and horrible bloodshed , to support Austrian despots or German satraps , as aid bestowed on . the enemies of humanity , for which the minister who involves us in it will deserve the scaffold . The people of this country ai-e not such idiots as to be unable to judge a plain political question of such interest , especially as reading and writing , though admitted to be useful , do not appear to be absolutely needful to those who are to settle such an all-important question . Let us ,

      then , not be victimised by Lord Malmesbury , under pretence of proficiency in the art of diplomacy made easy , without writing and spelling . The dignity of such gentry , too , with their incomprehensible excuses for eveiy comprehensible mischief , in supporting a phantom called tlie " balance of power , " a manikin worthy the imagination of non-reading officials — a bugaboo to puzzle the multitude ! "Will Englishmen permit their rulers to make the pretence for letting loose the sanguinary dogs of war in behalf of such a cause , and the cause of greater brutes still ? Can the English people be thus duped . But perhaps Lord Malinesbury was only in jest ; and "Gentle duliioss ever loves a joke . " Moreover , ministers , and their plenipotentiaries ' , are eccentric people , to whom the welfare _ ot nations is confided , as I take it , on the hit-or-miss principle . Reading , writing , and spelling , may he of small importance in supporting the national honour , compared to palavering , and eavesdropping . The dignity of the diplomatist is the first ° point to be ' eonsidered , and the second is that of the State or Sovereign represented . " This chair is one too low down at the conference table ^ I shall not sit here—I must be nearer the top . My master ' s rank in Europe must be sustained here ; the prerogatives of mymaster must be respected ; they are superior in claims to any appeal of nations , or to

      ITALIAN LIBERTY . NO . V . I have said enough to illustrate the predominant virtues of the House of Austria . I say " Houso , " because under similar despotisms the ruler is answerable for all , and it' is baseness to charge upon counsellors what belongs exclusively to himself . Under a limited monarchy the sovereign it would be most unjust to saddle with the crimes of his ministers ; under a despotism all belongs to the ruler . So far as reputation extends he must pay the penaltyand most justly too . Lord

      Malmes-, bury ' s plea of our Austrian " brotherhood , " because Austria is German , is much the same as if Wales were to be substituted for the British empire in argument—just ' as much as that belongs to England , of Germany belongs in proportion to Austria . If it were otherwise , what is Germany to us ? The Germans always canting about brotherhood—we repudiate such brotherhood—and the highborn virtues , ami mysticisms they cannot comprehend , talking of freedom in 1848 , and ending by hugging their chains . They now want to aid in enslaving Italy —the negro slave always makes the most cruel driver . in ii

      Lord Derby , too , says , that a war begun itaiy , , ngland cannot look with indifference upon any occupation of the Adriatic or its shores , we presume his lordship means if any power but Austria hold them —and she may hold all Italy for Lord Derby . What cares England about the Adriatic , except to wish its shores may be held by its native Italians ! We ai ' e to waste thousands of millions of money , and tens of thousands of lives , to assist anew in enslaving mankind , and bolstering up despotism in Austria . Had such a speech dropped from the Chancellor of the Exchequer , judging from the past , it would not bo bo unnatural ; but ^ of T « ... ! TknnUir l- » rt + f « n 4 liiiirra morn nxnfifltnd . TllO

      shores of tlio Adriatic are Italian—at least , the shores alluded to—in race , language , manners , arts , glorious traditions , an < l , shame to the times , in Austrian chains . The German Pandemonium wills it so : and if Lord Derby remain in oflice we know what to expect—our " armed . neutrality " ripened will liavo proved a mask to conceal warlike preparations , and " Austria for over ! " will bo the Court cry . It is here the public must bo upon Hh guard . Trust not ministers who have so often oaten thoir own words for plaoo . . If war bo woloomo in corUiin quarters , who knows but they may make it tlio price of continuing in office 1 We view our wonderful commercial incronse ,

      the question of war itself . " Messengers are dispatched the whole length of Europe to the different courts . The important , prologue takes , weeks to repeat . The war rages during the delay , and men die by thousands—a waste of life these diplomatists had met to stop ; but thus a more important contingency has occurred . Two or three formal state ministers , not able to spell or write correctly , if of Lord Malmesbury ' s true breed , cause great mischief ; taught by habit and chicane to say an infinite deal about nothing and with inveterate volubility , after the manner eithcrof Chesterfield or Billingso-ate , as it happens : the battle-field all the while continuing to float in gore , they debate a ridiculous point of etiquette about a chair .

      Our safest and justest policy in the present case is rigid non-intervention . The people must bestir themselves and insist upon that point . Let it not be forgotten that when George III . secretly determined to join his German allies against France , that had , not provoked them , the allied hands reeking from the spoliation of Poland , and when the Duke of Brunswick set out to march to Pans in the plentitude of insolence , and wholly unprovoked , the English ministry openly declared England did not desire to force a King upon trance ; England would be neutral . She or her ministers soon after spent a thousand millions and twenty years of war to show the falsehood of the foregoing averment , and reseat a rotten dynasty , overturned for ever a short time subsequently . Our ministers made war only upon revolutionary principles , they said then , *"* Austria says now—in plain lun % \ ian upon popular freedom in behalf of arbitrary kings , and kingship by right divine . That game atiircsont is attempting to bo played by tho friontte ol Austria , or rather of Austria ' s Hovercign , m a manner nearly similar . It is tho fashion of Lord Deri > y , and hia supporters , to censure the French Lmporor for interbring in support of his ally , and through that ally the independence of nation * . Kuch Hoverc gns « s tho Emperor of Austria , nro the beau ideal of n Los with slaves , and men who think like hIavcs Lnie . i who boliove that everything should grvc Wnv to tho principle of divine right , nnd who can viov tho crimes of biicIi a wretch an tho latei king of Naples with indulgence . It is not good policy to o . valt despots in this way . There are none of the ? raeo entitled to tho grateful recollection of their subjects . Mofit of them have their day in this world , unfortunately . It exhausts human paticnco

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), June 11, 1859, page 15, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_11061859/page/15/