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Leader (1850-1860), 19th November 1859, Edition 2 of 2, Page 16, 1276 THE LEADER. [No. 504. Kov. 19, 1859...

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      Education In Italy. Dukikg The Time Occu...

      political difficulties shall Jiave been effected we do not doubt that the King -will again ardently as ever pursue his onward cour = e , mindful only of the highest and best interests of his subjects and exposed to fewer impediments than heretofore from his Austrian and Papal . neighbours -who , we . will hope ,, willhave learned from die past struggle and actual anxiety and disquietude that it is not their interest to interfere iu the domestic concerns of a State -which has-so manfully shown its determination to j-esist their menaces and attacks , whether military or spiritual . The amount of crime varies in different parts of Italy , just in proportion to the predominance of priestly influence ,

      and the consequent ignorance or instruction ^ of the populations . The diminution of criminal offences ¦ under comparatively enlightened vule , and their excess where popular ignorance is most o-ross , abundantly prove that want of education and crime go hand in hand in Italy as they are shown by statistics to do in other ' countries . . Take , for instance , the crime of brigandage .. It is most rife in those parts of Italy where the masses are most uneducated , and the southern stales of the Church being almost wholly without the means of popular education , it . follows that this portion of the Peninsula is most exposed to highway robberies . The attacks made upon travellers by banditti in _ the Koma ^ na are exceptional and comparatively

      miniature affairs viewed beside those of the Cainpagna Koniaan , and the Frosinonese , because the state of education is higher in the former than in the latter , The provinces of Bologna ami i'ieena which , until a comparatively recent period , had u separate government , have never suffered from brigands . But when you enter upon the patrimony of St . Peter , doAvn to the Neapolitan borders , the want of education is almost total , and there brigandage is at its height ; there primary schools ^ and educational institutions for the people are unknown , and it is declared oil competent authority that in this portion of the Pope ' s domains the number of those who can read and write , even imperfectly , is on the average , one in a thousand . The want of education involves . the want of well-directed and intelliirent

      industry . Though this is one of the richest and most charming districts of Italy , the soil is scarcely cultivated , and agriculture is in a perfectly barbarian state . Trade and 'manufactures do not exist , because it is against priestly interest to allow them . The population , being engaged neither in agriculture , commerce ,, nor in any other way , to earn an honest livelihood , must of necessity steal to obtain the means of satisiYing the wants . of nature . But this is only one of the amenities and privileges appertainining to the good government of Pius IX .., so highly vaunted by orators of the Cullen school . We fully agree with the

      Emperor of Franco , that it will be n . happy day for Europe when the Powers feel with him that the temporal rule of the Pope offers no obstacle to the prosperity and progress of Italy . . Only let . his theory become a proved and incontestable fact , and we will cordially join him in felicitating Europe in general , and tho Italians in particular , on the advantages and benefits resulting from the paternal rule of the Vatican . Meanwhile , we think the people of Roiuagna are doing well in . making renewed efforts to secure their permanent separation from the states of the Church .

      1276 The Leader. [No. 504. Kov. 19, 1859...

      1276 THE LEADER . [ No . 504 . Kov . 19 , 1859 .

      Letters From Italy, "[From A Special Con...

      LETTERS FROM ITALY , "[ from a special coNTBinuTon . ] irjLORKNCE , NOV . 12 tll , 1859 . S 5 om « six months had passed since I-was last in Tuscany . We wore then on the ovo of tho revolution , and tho ilL-fated house of Lorraine hful only a few weeks more of misrule before them . Their time was short , and they made the worst of it . Tho fact , which is bore universally believed , of tho Grand Duke having given orders to botnburd the city before his departure , scorns to weigh more

      against linn in popular estimation than all his previous years of potty despotism and Austrian satrapy . It -was , indeed , the one unpardonable sin . Daute tells in li ' ia "Inferno , " that tliesinaoflAirina-tu of the " Ugbortl" were forgiven , because ho alone of the Ghibelines opposed tho domulition of Florence , after tho bnttlo of the Arbiu . The old JDnnte feeling still holds good , and far heavier sins of the Grand Duke might bo forgiven moro readily tlinn the more imputation of having thought of Injuring Florence .

      wisdom , and therefore have no cause to grumble . Leghorn itself presented one little difference . The national tricolour floated over its walls in lieu of the Grand J > ueal standard , and the Via Leopolda" was re-baptised into the " Via Emmanuele . " Passing down the said street I noticed one small circumstance which struck me at once as very curious and painfully suggestive . A well-known hotel stands there , the name of which—* ' The Vittoria "—was engraved in large letter on the wall-. Times change , ami-even the names of inns change with them . The landlord of the ' Vittoria" resolved to take advantage of populaT feelirie :, and call his hotel the " Vittorio

      or a great change passed over the country . Certainly lie would never fancy that the nation was going through a great crisis of their history—on the eve , perhaps , of u civil war .- At Leghorn , the boatmen bullied , the porters cheated , and the beggars whined much the same under a free government , ' as under a despotic . There was the same wearisome detention as of old , after we entered the harbour under the same imaginary fear , that coming from the west , we might be bringing , the plague from the east , and if 1 do not wrong him , the same government official cheated me in exactly the same way as he did six months ago , by giving me short change . However , if he had not lenrnt honesty , I had not learnt

      offered to Garibaldi , there would have been no need of this waiting upon telegrams . I trust that the re solution to stand or fall by themselves may arise ere it be too late .

      Emmanuele . " A common man would have painted the old name out , but the landlord in question is evidently no common man . He had n lar . ' " . O " painted on a board , and a little ¦ " ¦ Emmanuele" on a smaller one . and lie nailed the former over . the final " A '" in " Vittoria , " and stuck the latter in -a corner beneath . The transformation is complete , and tlie advantage of the process is bbvious . If things should change , five minutes' work will suffice to pull out the nails , restore the old name Vittoria , and obliterate all traces of his political frailty . Every contingency is foreseen and provided for . According to the fortunes of Italian liberty , the board will remain up or come down .

      At Florence , itself the symptoms of the change are more apparent . On every house almost , out of the fashionable streets , one sees small woodcuts of Victor Emmanuel , with a moustache of preternatural length , and of the " Bombastes Fnrioso" character , beneath which are inscribed the words , "To Acelamo Vittore Emmanuele , " " Nostro lie , " or some similar sentiment . The new arms of Tuscany , the White Cross of Savoy , or the tricolour , are stuck iip everywhere , and some wag has painted them on the

      statue of the Lorraine Duke , which stands in the grand- square of Florence . The shop windows are filled with patriotic prints , patriotic pamphlets , and patriotic melodies . Tho cafes are crowded with young officers in uniforms of becoming cut and painful novelty . There is a perfect swarm of cheap papers hawked about the streets , rather bare of news , certainly , and entirely devoid of advertisements ; but , considering the excellent moral ami appropriate sentiments they contain , they would be cheap at any price .

      llus , however , as far as I have seen , is all . I haA'e known something of " intelligent foreigners . " in our own country , and therefore attribute but little value to the correctness of a stranger's observations . AH I can say is , that I have not seen what I hoped to see' —that is , any earnest and active preparation for tho coming struggle . Thore may be , and probably is , much going on privately , of which I have no idea . There are not thoso outward signs of resolution and readiness for the battle which I observed in Piedmont before tho outbreak of tho war . If good behaviour and generous feelings and logical demonstration are enough to work out the freedom of Central Italy , I have no doubt of tho event ; but if something more , if hard fighting and stern resolution are required , I coufosa that then 1 have my fears . , .

      The great political ovent of the week has been , as you are ' by this time aware , tho nomination ot ' Prince Ciirignan " to 1 ) 19 Regency of Tuscany , Parma , and Modona . Wo aro nil now waiting anxiously to learn whether tho Prince will accept , or , moro truly speaking , bo allowed to accept , tho post . The stop is ono in the right direction ; but I own that 1 should have preferred soeing tho Italians nominate some ono who took his Authority from themselves alono . Tluiy soem to mo to rely too much on othors . They trusit in tho moral souse of Europe , in which I have but little faith . Thuy still bollovo

      Louis Naipoloon will siicriflcotill , oLhorconsiderations to an abstract sense of justice , and thoy roly entirely on thp King of Sardinia , forgetful that ho is in duty bound to look first to tho interests of hid own subjects . They look to everybody , in fact , before them solves , riiorewfts groat exultation In tho paporeliore the other day becauao a telegram reported that tho I ' artie , suicl the Morning Post , said that tho French Government would not , probably , oppose the Sardinian cabinet , allowing Prince Carlgium to accept tho regency . If tho Tuscan assembly had decreed that , in default <> i the Prince ' s aoooptanco , tho regency should be

      X much question whether n stranger of an uno & Borvant character would bo aware , in passing turougn Tuscany , that a revolution bad oaourrod .

      Literature .

      LITERATURE .

      Literary Notes Of-The Week. I Ast Saturd...

      LITERARY NOTES OF-THE WEEK . I AST Saturday . Mr .-Gladstone was elected by the 1 matriculated students to the important office of Rector of the University of Edinburgh . Ho had a , majority ot 11 G over his opponent , Lord Neave . s , one of the judges of the Court of Session ; the numbers for the respective candidates being- 043 and 507 . The election of Lord Hector of the University " Glasgow took place on Tuesday , when Lord Elgin was chosen-by a majority of all the nations ; The total numbers being , Elgin , 55 : 3 : Disraeli . 411 .

      The total number of residents in Cambridge University during the present term i . s I ;() ry 2 , 1 , 007 of whom reside within college walls , ;> 5 i > in lodgings , and live in Dr . Humphry ' s Hostel . . The nuinber ' nui-trkiuh-vtions this term was 308 , the matriculations In 1 S 5 S-having been 364 . Mr . Thaekcniy ^ s circular to tho contributors tcf his forthcoming shilling monthly mii !> : izine , though , we believe , intended for the present to be as it is marked , 11 " private " paper , has found its way into

      the columns of one of our . contemporaries ,. The new -periodical is to be called The Coniltill jHaynzinc ' . From the circular we learn that there is ' - ' hardly any subject'' which will not'be . treated of in its pages . The magazine will start with the new year . Its staff of contributors already engaged . includes Mr . Snla , Mr . Ihmnay , Mr . Thofnlmry , Mr . IIollingshead , Mr . Moy Thomas , and other names familiar in the magazines . Its proposed scale of payment to contributors is said to be liberal , in- return for a complete renouncement of eopvrieht .

      . At the beginning uf the . year . M . . M : i . i | uof , the author , brought an action before the Civil Tribunal against Mj Alexandre Dumas to have himself declared tlie co-author of eighteen 01 the principal works bearing the name of the latter gentleman , and as such entitled to half the sums -which they have realised or may realise . aJut the Tribunal , after hearing what both parties had to say , cuine to the conclusion that though Maqvut ' had - ' undoubtedly .. " collaborated " very largely in the works of Dumas yet that he had voluntarily entered into an engagement not to require Ins name to bo published as one of tho authors , and that ho had entered into pecuniary arrangements with Dumas which prevented the latter j . iu-t of his application from being granted . writer

      The death of . Colin ? , the French socialist , has created a vacancy in the ranks of the champions of the weak against the Mrong . C ' olins was a retired officer of cavalry , who hnd left tlie- su-viro tit an early age , dlsg . us ' ted with the fnlschoed of the military career , to devote himself exclusively to the search after truth in the great question of tlie rights nnd privileges of . the working classes . The energy and industry ho displayed have left as tlu-ir record more than forty voluiiicfl of nuuuisiriiit . Those aro not to bo published for sonic years to cudu-, the times not being ripo for the disclosures hiv-hns-imulo therein . -An Englishman has borne the expenses of tho previous publications issued hv CuMns , anil is left sole legatee of his unpublished works . It is generally thought that he will cause them to nppenr in English translations .

      , . , Professor Tisoheretlorf , tho Leipzig suhol . ar , has , v on the philological exploration ol Asia Minor , originated by the Kussian Government , limited upon a codex , which' by him' and other competent J »» tf Ci j has been acknowledged to be the oldont of the JSew ,. Testament in existence . The treasure trove w «\ s discovered in one of the Siunitic monasteries . I lios > e who have boon fortunate enough to inspect thu precious parchment aro quite ovorwholnie'd will' ll * importance for tho correction of the most iiiutiitiu-a text of-holy writ . lul

      Professor Do we , of . Berlin , has publi »« n pamphlet on the \ iso that may be made uflhu mU'itsco it In detecting commercial or literary forgoncs . »' , Hays tho professor , an original document and a copy of it , bo placed together in tliu instruuu'iit , mt slightost variations will become Instantly apparent . The test ia iipplleablo to MtfS ., liihonm |» li * , witf """ ings , printed books , bank-notes , mid nil hIiihIim i > joduetibns . 'riio rofleoting stcrobcopu of Wlii'Jl ««™ is that which lvaluesor Dowo recoiniiuind . s lor i "" purpose f . The following nnnounconiontu a |» pi'ar m n Critic :- * - At the time of his deuth , 1 * Ih 1-i lllint "' , collecting a complete and final edition of hi * poftimi works . Tlio greater portion of thwn rouclviw » flnishing touch only a mouth proviouttly to In * uo ' "

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 19, 1859, page 16, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_19111859/page/16/