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    No. 451. November 13,18581 THE LEADER. ¦...

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    Tjuk Eve.ni.vcj Skhvicks at St. Paul's. ...

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    BIOGRAPHIES OF GERMAN FRINGES. No. I. TH...

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    The Emperor Napoleon's Letter. The Emper...

    England , however , has refused to enter into these niceties of the question , has resolved not to lay too much stress upon the circumstance that the witndrawal of labour might ruin the West Indian planters , not to be too much affected by the wretchedness and mortality amongst races winch came professedly by their own free will , not to admit any consideration as countervailing her resolve that under no circumstances should a migration from Africa be permitted lest it should be nothing better than a slave trade in disguise ; and uv retracting a certain sanction given to the plan ot tree +

    tXUVUUlM *¦ w « - v » - w T - - ill African emigration the Emperor Napoleon actually submits to the reclamations of England . He has , indeed , at tlie present moment only directed his Cousin and Minister , the Prince Napoleon , to inquire ; but he does so in terms which justify the expectation that on the evidence of the notorious facts he will finally condemn the African emigration as wanting every guarantee of freedom ; while ho already intimates his acceptance of the proposed substitute for African labour in the persons of the Coolies .

    There is no disguising the importance of this concession ; but rather a serious question remains— how far the retrograde step taken by France in this affair will necessarily be copied by other countries , or will be effectual in restoring confidence to the system hitherto maintained for the forcible suppression of the slave trade . Tin ' s doubt suggests a measure which would indeed demand sonic moral courage on the p art of the English Government , ' but which would be at once a handsome return for the concession of

    the French Government , and a wise step in itself . There certainly remains a very imperfect ' understanding on the subject of African . emigration , and its treatment by several oilier countries in alliance ¦ with our own . " The state of Cuba , and the courtly classes in Madrid , raises ( lie greatest doubt as to the good faith of Spain iii observing her part of the the whole compact . On the other hand , public events have given testimony to the thoroughly good faith of Brazil , in using her best exertions to check the traffic , while the most estimable Government of Southern America remains under the ban

    of measures taken in London for the very purpose of insulting and injuring the Brazilian Government . The demand for labour in the West Indies , British as well as French or Spanish , is notorious ; the question , how far the present modes of supplying it give rise to greater evils than an importation of Africans , has in no degree been elucidated by the hostile recriminations that have passed on the subject . The Government at Washington has shown considerable impatience at some excesses committed by our cruisers . The sanction given , even temporarily , to the transport , of free Africans in French ships , has exposed the fact that any Government which is really independent could at any moment make its escape from the slavetrade suppression compacts by the back door which certain clover Frenchmen have discovered . On the

    whole , the system of forcible suppression has been cast under a shade of doubt , as well as the system of substituted labour . It is a question how far the chivalrous efforts of this country on behalf of Africa really serve the children of that continent ; how far they are executed at the cost of injury to other races not less helpless ; and how far they involve us in political complications scarcely consistent with the general bearing of public law . Under these circumstances no course , perhaps , could be better , as a practical rosponsc to the concession of tho

    French Government , than one which wolild render the inquiry desiderated by the Emperor Napoleon even more thorough-going and complete . It would , at nil events , be a groat concession to the public opinion of this country if the -whole subject were entirely roviowed by a full and unrestrained inquiry , winch should embrace the aotunl stato of tho West Indies imd of other sugar colonies , tho present methods of supplying labour , with tho results , and tho present disposition of tho Powers parties to tho shivc-tnulo treaties .

    No. 451. November 13,18581 The Leader. ¦...

    No . 451 . November 13 , 18581 THE LEADER . ¦ 1227

    Tjuk Eve.Ni.Vcj Skhvicks At St. Paul's. ...

    Tjuk Eve . ni . vcj Skhvicks at St . Paul ' s . —Tho firmngol montfl will lio completed by tho X 7 tli . Evury procaiition hua boon tnkoii to avoid tho incmivcnioJico arising IVom noiHo , tho on tiro suiTntio ol' tliu floor undor tlio dome being povorod with a now Kind of clustiu floorcloth pi mnttlug , onllod "knmpUilloon , " mudo cxprosuly fur the purpoao by M « b « in * . Troloar . ol Ludtfiito-ljil ] , tho pattern * having boon designed by Mr . Puiuqso , surveyor to the Doan And Chapter .

    Biographies Of German Fringes. No. I. Th...

    BIOGRAPHIES OF GERMAN FRINGES . No . I . THE GRAND-DUKE OF BADEN . Among those German duchies which , in spite of their insignificant dimensions , are invested with considerable importance , the Grand-Duchy of Baden takes a foremost place . Its geographical position , renders it tlie centre of great interests , political and military . Situated with its western frontier towards France , and its southern side towards Switzerland , it cannot do otherwise than play its part in the event of any popular rising on the

    Continent , or of any armed conflict between France and the German Bund . It was in the Grand-Duchy of Baden that the Paris revolution of 1848 was first responded to . The cry which there arose for German unity and freedom soon flew on the wings of the wind throughout the entire Confederation . It was in Baden , again , that the standard of a German Republic was first unfurled ; and Baden also witnessed the closing scene of the revolution of 1849 , when , after many a bloody battle , the cause of liberty was smitten down . It may not be that Baden will once more become the theatre of similar

    terrible dramas on the outbreak of any fresh continental movement . Still we are sure that , in such a contingency , the democratic spirit animating its population * would act as a lever throughout the south-west of Germany . ' Let that be as it will , in any case the military importance of the country will remain the same . Only a few months ago this was again felt to be the case , when t he question of the standing bridge between Kehl and Strasburg , which . had bccii projected at the suggestion of the French ruler , was brought before the Federal Diet at-Frankfort .

    Moreover , tlie Grand-Duchy of Baden has for some time been the chosen battle-ground for the rival influences of Austria and Prussia . In the expectation of a crisis in European affairs , and in the uncertainty of the turn which French matters would take , Austria has garrisoned the Federal fortress of Rastadt with more troops than , according 1 to treaties , she is entitled to lodge there . Upon this , the Court of Berlin , laying full stress on her military services of 1 S 49 , has demanded the right of stationing in the fortress a number of her own troops equal to that of the Austriaus . The question is still on the tapis , and has led to much mutual acrimony . The policy of Austria is supported in Baden by the Ultramontane and high aristocratic factions of the country . Prussia , on the other hand , strives to gain her object through the influence of the young Grand-Dnchcss , the daughter of the Prince Regent of Prussia , which latter , as we have shown in former articles , has re-established the throne of the Zahringen by an overwhelming force of arms and by a roign of terror , unequalled since the days of Aiba . To the people of Baden themselves , it need hardly be said , the white ooat of the Hapsburg , or the uniform of t-ho Hohenzollern , is an equally distasteful sight ; in their country . They desire German unity under a democratic constitution ; but have no wish to convert a Baden fortress into an aviary for royal and imperial birds of prey . The Granct-Dukc , in these questions , has assumed but an undecided attitude . Married to a Prussian

    Princess , himself a relative of Louis Napoleon , and surrounded at Court by a noblesse many of the members of which , lean to the interests of the Government at Vienna , ' his position is complicated enough .. His enra are by turns assailed , now by the partisans of his Imperial , Royal , and Apostolic Majesty , then by Prussian counsels conveyed in curtain-lectures , and anon Russian advice comes creeping in for its slmro of attention , for tho Baden dynasty has ever been in elosc friendship , and is at this moment intimately eouncetod by ties of marriage , with tho Court of St . Petersburg . Last , but not . least , the cousin at . Paris makes his voico hoard

    through " her Imperial Highness" tho Dowager Grand-Duchoss Stephanie , Iliu adopted daughter of the first Napoleon . This latter lady , now verging on seventy , is kno \ yu lo I jo in continual correspondence . ' with Loui . s Napoleon . Her prolonged visits to tho F roach metropolis nru always in connexion with soiiio deep political object . At , ono period , from 1 SMJ-51 , tuic rejoiced in ' the sobriquet , m Paris , of ( hi ! Efjcriu oi tho Presidency . A yotoran in intrigue , she forma tho link between tho Tuilcrics and Iwirlsruho , though iu ono respect she may bo said to bo iulluoueod . agninst tho lattev

    Court by some feelings of jealousy , winch have originated from the care that has frequently been taken to exclude her from governmental affairs in Baden . After this general survey we may speak more ? especially and ~ personally of the Grand-Duke Frederick . Still a young man—thirty-two years of age—his life has already been a chequered one . In 1849 ,. when his father Leopold reigned , he was a personal witness , and a dramatis persona in the scenes of popular revolution which resulted in the overthrow

    of the Grand-Ducal throne . On the evening of the 13 th of May of that year , some of the troops in the capital itself rose in insurrection against monarchic government , proclaiming German unity and freedom as their political object . In the streets of Karlsruhe a sanguinary struggle ensued , duringwhich , in the dead of tlie night , the royal family fled , escorted by a few artillerymen and their guns , through the dark paths of the Haardt Forest . Prince Frederick himself , the present Grand-Duke , had oil that occasion a narrow escape of paying with hisown life the penalty of the treacherous policy of

    his father ' s government . Hearing of the ¦ outbreak , of the mutiny , the Prince had hastened to one of the barracks to harangue the soldiers in person . But so little impression did his eloquence make on the excited soldiery , that one of the troopers , brandishing his sword over the Prince's head , attempted to cut him down on the spot . It was with difficulty he was rescued by the intervention of another private , who besought his comrades to spare the Prince ' s life , saying that " lie was yet too young to be guilty . " Frederick had the premoment of

    sence of mind to take advantage of the indecision that followed , and leaped out of the window into the barrack-yard ,.. speeding back to the castle as fast as his legs could carry him . He _ and lus family subsequently made the forlorn midnight journey through the forest , some of the High . . Mightinesses , being glad enough to effect the retreat on foot , whilst others rode on the gun-carriages .. Jn this fashion they took their departure from a country whose constitution they had laughed tpscorn , and whose , inhabitants , weary of them and theirs , had resolved to try a government on a republican basis . - . During the campaign that followed on tlie part of the Prussians against the democratic ca-iise of

    Baden , we do not find Prince Frederick in the field . It is true , he worked assiduously by means of secret agents to ruin the republican cause by intrigues ; but in the 'hruaxt of battle he was not found . When monarchy was , ' however , re-established , thanks to a royalist army of eighty thousand men , the voice of Prince Frederick was loud enough in calling out for vengeance . No bowels of compassion did he then possess , although court-martials were daily sending their victims to a bloody grave . Nay , it is reported that the very man to whom he owed his life , in the incident above related , was executed without any interposition on his part .

    It may be conceived that a man of this hardened oliaracter was not likely to show much delicacy of feeling when the question came to be settled whether on his own or his older brother ' s liead the crown was to be placed . The elder prince , Louis , it should be observed , had been for some time afllicted with a species of mental aberration , the result of excesses that had for years boon the scandal of tho country . Now , on tho death of the old Grand-Duke , hx 1 S 51 , the question arose of what was to be done with the invalid successor to tho

    throne P Tho second-borii prince , however , found a speedy solution by carrying out a little coup d ' etaS on his own private account . Ho shut up his brother , or rather imprisoned him , in a wing- of tho castlo , and then and there made himself iicgeut . A , ftcr a while , the locked-up lunatic—whom , byllie-by , many persons alleged to be not nearly so \ x \ i \ t \ as represented—suddenly gave up tho ghost . Prince Frederick , meanwhile , had changed his title of ltcgont for tfar . t ; of Gnuul-Diiko iu proprid persona . The whole proceeding wore tho unpleasant complexion of a Juiajmr llaiiser . iiHuli \ viin wliicli , it will bo reinenibcuml , Ilio rritfuniff * «» W of Btulon were commonly supposed to have also hud something to do . , , In internal policy the prflsonr prineo has distinguished himself by his violent reactionary lnaniiiirs Now and then , it- in Inio , tor the sake ol dissoiubliiiff , ho has iiuulo a protoncc ot granting a po-JiLioiJ amnesty . But though ho has issued somp

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 13, 1858, page 19, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_13111858/page/19/