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Leader (1850-1860), 19th November 1859, Edition 2 of 2, Page 15, EDUCATION IN ITALY. Dukikg the time occu...

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      Thje Italian Regency And France. Tiihitn...

      by their abstinence from useless commotion ; but Lord Brougham still condemns Sardinia for offering them a better chance of liberty than Mazzinian revolutions could afford . If England will do her duty there is no reason to believe that the general peace of Europe would be imperilled even by another Italian or a Hungarian campaign . We can , without danger to ourselves , make it safe for France to continue supporting Italy until Italy is strong enough to take care of herself , and if we maintain the rights of nations to self-government , we need not grudge to . Napoleon III . the honour of overthrowing the wicked work of 1815 .

      3fo. 504. Nov. 19, 18590 The Leader. . 1...

      3 fo . 504 . Nov . 19 , 18590 THE LEADER . . 1275

      The Archi-Diaconal Revival. Archdeacons ...

      THE ARCHI-DIACONAL REVIVAL . Archdeacons are a mystery . How , or why they exist at all—what they do , or are expected to do —where they come from , or where they go to , are are . all mysteries . Theological Dodos , they can be accounted for by no recognised system ; and classified under no generic specification . _ They wear no distinctive dress , occupy no distinctive residence , and perform no distinctive duties . We all know what niajestv , stripped of its externals is , but

      an archdeacon has no externals to strip hnn of , neither lawn sleeves nor cassock , not even a shovel hat . If , therefore , an archdeacon be a jest * he is still an abnormal jest , a sort of clerical Joe Miller , the point of -which has been lost by age . Like the Mayor of Garrat , or the Three Kings of Brentford , an archdeacon is an abstraction , an idea , not an entity . Junius was only the shadow of a , name ; but an archdeacon is the echo of a sound that has died away .

      an announcement that -we shall " learn something to our advantage . " The third proposition is not argumentative , but enunciative . All persons , it is stated , who buy or rent property do so knowing it is subject to church-rates . Nobody disputes the fact . The admission of the fact , however * does not establish the . inference that the holders of property have no right to complain . If our archdeacon ever goes on a railroad , which we do not believe , he takes his ticket subject to the risk of accidents , but we doubt whether this consideration would deter him from claiming compensation in case of collision . The fourth proposition contains the remarkable conclusion that , therefore , the legislature is bound , not to repeal , but ; on the contrary , to maintain church-rates in full

      integrity ^ . Now , if this is all our friends , the extinct archdeacons , have to say , we really think the sooner they go to sleep again the better . We dispute their first statement ; \ re dispute their second ; we don't see the force of their third , and we utterly deny their conclusion . Evidently , logic is not their forte . They sliould think better of it , and go to bed . WTien they next wake up they will find that church-rates are forgotten and that religion gets on as well , perhaps better , without them . Who knows if l ) y that time . the use of archrdeacons may not have been discovered , and the end of their existence made intelligible to themselves ? Who knows , indeed ! " Chesara , sara . ¦

      Thus our feelings of astonishment are not unmingled with apprehension when we learn that the archdeacons of England are alive and stirring . Rip Van Winkles of theology , they have aroused themselves from their life-long slumbers . The course of the archi-diaeonal resurrection is obvious enough . If , by any chance , a cargo of jmtediluvian Methuselahs , ~ escaped from the flood , were to turn up some of these odd days , the first thing we should expect them to do would be ijo protest against in the

      the existence of the rainbow . Exactly same way , the resuscitated archdeacons make use of their brief return to existence in order to protest against the abolition of church rates . The Church is in danger , and three-score-andodd archdeacons have rallied round her rates . In solemn conclave assembled , they have made their protest . They hope , rather thau expect , that this protest may be of use ; but , having made it , they have discharged their conscience , and are content . Faithful to the traditions of -a

      forgotten existence , they know of no compromise . Walpole and Miall are alike hateful in their eyes . They are for rates , full rules , and npthing but rates . The master hand of the archdeacon of Taunton , that " last of the nrelideaeuns , " , we fancy , be traced in the composition of the protest . If the reasoning is of ordinary clerical calibre , the language is surely of Dcnison—Pcnisonian . _ J The protest is contained 'in four pithy propositions . The language of the first seems to i \ s too irreverent to quote . If ever there wus a controversy which was of the earth it is thnt of church rates , and the

      less the inline of ( ho Doily is dragged into the controversy the better . The argument , howevor , when deprived of its spiritual terrors , comes simply to this : —Churches are built for the-purposes of religion : church rates are used to repair ' churches ; therefore the rate is necessary to the existence of religion . You might argue with equal justice that omnibuses wtkild never run if nobody tipped the . driver , or that letters would never be delivered if nobody guvu a ^ liristinafi-box to the postman . The second proposition is renlly a stroke of genius . Wo learn that church-rates are especially the

      inheritance of the poor . Many u time have wo searched in vain through the columns 61 ' the Times to sco it" wo wore not . advertised for , at * heir to somobotly , ami now we leurn tlVat we , too , lmvo an inheritance . Like Esau , wo might have sold it unawares to some designing Jacob . It is true , we never had a sixpence from the church-rate iund . Somehow wo liiunt luwo been defrauded of our rights . Hope Uuiurrcd has long made us incredulous . If the arch-deacons will only show us a way to enter into our inheritance , why wo will out-Denison Doninon in ouv vehemence for

      churchrates ; but , till then , avo must really look upon the proiniuu an tlio advertisement of a clerical " Josoph Ady . " We are too old to bo caught by

      Education In Italy. Dukikg The Time Occu...

      EDUCATION IN ITALY . Dukikg the time occupied in bringing the Zurich Conferences to a close , and pending the European Congress , which report savs is to be held at Paris , the " Sardinian and Central Italian Governments have been far from idle . The Legations have made vigorous preparations to oppose their return to the Papal authority , and arrangements have been made there , as well as throughout the rest , of Central Italy , to carry out the general armament of the country . The Tuscan Assembly has met at Florence , in the famous Palazzo Vecchio , the beautiful hall constructed by Cronaca in the

      fifteenth century , and appointed the Prince Savoy Carignan as Regent of Tuscany . The most ardent desire is manifested on every hand for the union of Upper and Central Italy . This passion increases in intensity every day , and was unmistakeably proved at the meeting of the Tuscan Assembly by the fact that one sole dissenting vote was given to the Regency . Though Prince Carignanohas been withheld , doubtless in obedience to high authority , from actually accepting the Regency , he virtually exercised the power conferred upon him by delegating another to fill the oiliee . The Chevalier Bonconipagni , whom he

      named as his substitute , undertook the administration of the affairs of Tuscany as the Commissioner of the King of P iedmont after the flight of the Grand Duke . Having at once assumed the Regency offered to him , at the instance of Prince Cnrignano , it is to be hoped that his efforts will materially tend to the consolidation of the union of the Centrul States with eacl ^ other , and with Upper Italy . The Piedmontese Ministry « have published the changes ntid reforms to be introduced into the organic laws of the country , in order to adapt them to the increased territory of the Sardinian kingdom , and regulate the union

      between the old and new States . TJjfat " these changes are simply temporary and provisional , and that the laws will soon have to be prevised again to adapt them to a more extended sphere , of action is greatly to be hoped , and desired . Though the ohnnge * s made in existing laws are rather noiniual than real , they have kept in view municipal traditions . In the division oi Piedmont and Sardinia into ten provinces , and Lombardy into seven , tho possibility is recognised and the probability provided for , otVthc f

      law , about to be promulgated on . university teaching . He wished that any individual should be at liberty to open a school ' / or teaching the higher branches of science , provided he is furnished with an academical degree , previously granted by any university of the State . On the other hand , the committee , which drew up the law , declares the faculty of teaching shall only be valid in the city in which the professor took his university degree . Some mutual concessions were made ; the city of Milan was » added to the other university cities and the minister ' s scruples were overcome . Count Casati is a Milanese , a highly honourable and honoured citizen , who rendered his country good service in 1848 , and

      the father of the talented author of " Milan and the Princes of Savoy . The provisional governments have occupied themselves energetically with university reforms and appointments . Oae great improvement to be looked for in the suppression of the tyrannical rule to which Central Italy has been subjected is the spread of'education , hitherto kept down to the lowest possible ebb by the mean spirited desire of the Austrian princes to suppress intelligence and thought , and the dread of the clergy lest their influence should be lost if learning became general among the masses . Fears are entertained that the temporal rulers of the Duchies will be

      found to have gone into the opposite extreme , and appointed so many new professors in the universities , that they will almost outnumber the students for some time" to come . But this is a difficulty whi h will remedy itself before long . Let freedom of action be the rule here as in every other branch of administrative and social economy , and Supply and demand will quickly be found to correspond , and strike . " even balance . 'The ' , autocrats of Italy have avowedly and unbhishingly acted upon the principle that the mental darkness of their subjects was essential to the stability and permahave known and

      nence of their own rule . They confessed that , as a matter of necessity , brutal ignorance must be maintained among the people , if they would preserve their thrones . ' The intellectual powers and thinking faculties of their subjects have ever been their terror , and they have exhibited the utmost jealousy of any institution whose tendency , direct or indirect , was to raise men above the level of brutes or idiots : The fears of the despotic princes , and the want of enlightenment and the bigotry of Rome , have reduced systematic education to the lowest grade compatible with the inevitable laws of" progress , which

      can never be wholly suppressed . The north-west portion of the Peninsula has , for years past , offered a notable contrast to the rest of Italy . The attendance at the minor schools is one of the most manifest symptoms of the tendency of Piedmontese people towards advancement and greatness , In 1850 , after ft period of great political agitation , the numbers of children who attended schools in the Sardinian slates amounted to upwards of two hundred and sixty thousand . Five years later the amount had nearly doubled . Nor can this augtationwhich still continuesbe ascribed simply

      men , , to increase of population , since it is nearly in the proportion of five to one greater than the latter . At the present rate of progress , in a very taw years , Piedmont will equal Switzerland , Bavaria , Saxony , and Wuvtcmburg , and it will be the exception "to meet wittea person who cannot read . These figures would not , however , serve for / the island ofSardinia if taken separately . Unfortunately , tin ' s portion of Victor hinmanuele dominions h n * until lately been held in the grossest ignorance by the priests , who have-boon more ortion to the populatio

      munoroiw hero , in prop n , than in almost any other of the Italian states . JJut . ( he nro . rress made of late years is most striking . Count favour * * admirable laws bearing upon education , finance , international treaties , and the reduction of duties , have worked wonders m tho island . To introduce progress nnd enlightenment into this obscure and ignorant corner ut huropo was little short of performing ft miracle . It was oioooHsnry to undo everything and begin afresh , whilu iunoranco , united to prejudice , opposed a now obstacle at every stop . . Yot . such has been uel

      tUo determined march of Victor Emman ana his advisors in tho path of progress , and improvement in everything connected either with moral or material development , fchat tho changes wrought in this benighted priest-ridden island are most marked . When tho settlement of tho

      present--revival of the ancient centres ' of municipal reedom in a united and indbjrfendent kingdom of Italy . Tlio distinct existence or Lombardy is recognised , and this renders tho change of tho law , notwithstanding its transitory c'lmvaotor , ono of g reat importance . The concessions which tho ministry were obliged to make in deference to tho wishes of the nowly annexed , province may not unlikely become the bnBiH of the reorganisation of Italy . A ministerial orisis was , for some days , thought to bo imminent at Turin . Count Casati tendered his resignation on account cf a clause in the now

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 19, 1859, page 15, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_19111859/page/15/