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Leader (1850-1860), 27th August 1859, Edition 2 of 2, Page 17, A STORY by Mr. Charles Dickens, which ha...

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      Ai42ssandro Manzoni

      Chevalier Maffei ? " then asked aloud " Is the £ 3 era Milanese ? " "He ^ is . * Tyrotese ^ Jour Highness . " Such were the Lombardian celebrities whom the Austrian governor was in a £ OVit 5 n to present to distinguished forei gners when they visited those provinces . Happily , this wiU no longer be the case from the Varo ta the Mincio , ° thanks to the inauguration of the national government , whose mission it ^ is to < f / 1 . th ff Sisgi-ace of past times . But , alas for the fate o the former fiueen of the Adriatic ! She is still left to groan beneath the yoke of the foreigner . nf , 11 t > , « T ^ eonle of Italy and Europe , the

      Venetians have always been the most persevering defenders of their own independence . Their traditions of liberty are pre-histonc . They united themselves to Kome voluntarily , not by compulsion . Upon the fall of the Empire of the Csesars , they protected their freedom and Latin civilisation in the Lagunes of the Adriatic , and there founded their glorious Venice . For thirteen centuries the Venetian Republic kept aloof from foreign contact , was the mistress of civil and political science , and famous in arms , arts , letters , commerce , and riches . Faithful to the glorious and virtuous traditions of their ancestors , and

      morally strong in the legitimacy of their claims , the Venetians have never recognised the domination of Austria , and although compelled to submit to it have always shown their aversion . How boldly they asserted their right to independence in 1848 will be well remembered , and the defence of Venice in 1849 is oae of the most glorious pages of their military history . Hard indeed must it have been for the poor Venetians to have received intelligence of the rejoicing and festivity of the Milanese on their happy exchange of foreign

      oppression for the patriotic and fraternal rule which they may confidently hope to enjoy now that they are united to Piedmont . The good king , while paying a visit to the hospitals , uttered a few encouraging words to a Venetian volunteer , and concluded by observing , you must hope for the best . Repeated already many a time by the poor man and his fellow-sufferers , we trust they may reach the ear and calm the agitation of his fellow-countrymen , who are almost incredulous that while Loinbardy is rescued they are to be left to their fate .

      No. 492. Aug. 27, 1859-1 The I.Eader. M

      No . 492 . Aug . 27 , 1859-1 THE I . EADER . M

      The Irish Mall Subsidy

      the act of its predecessor , and repudiate a state commercial agreement , thereby , destroying private mercantile interests , and injuring public credit . Suppose an ocean postal mail contract entered into , and confirmed by the usual seals , signatures , and documents * Steam-ships are immediately ordered and constructed , wharves and warehouses are built , leased , and purchased ; transit , coaling , and other arrangements are made ; stations and depots organised , officers and servants are appointed ; and lastly , shares are taken up by those in whom still greater confidence than they might otherwise have felt , is created by the Government grant . We are of opinion , that were such a thing to take place , as the repudiation by one government of the contracts of its predecessor , the law would supply a remedy , concernedBut in

      of a nation are not involved ; and , secondly , it is a renewal of a contract at a distant period of time . Four new swift steamships are already , we understand , being rapidly constructed for the Gal way line . But , after all , this is a . lesser evil . If an act of repudiation on the part of a Government should cause even the disasters of the British Bank , it is nothing in comparison with the indignation and odium that would be evoked in Ireland by a course so fraught with folly and peril . We anticipate no such calamity , but the sooner that an official announcement is made of a nature calculated to set the minds of Irishmen perfectly at rest on this subject , the better , we are inclined to think , it will be for all parties .

      so far as individual persons are . the case of the Gal way grant , no legal indemnification of the losses of a company , its shareholders , and all immediately connected with it , would satisfy the people of Ireland they had not sustained a last deadly wrong by the arbitrary suppression of a conceded right . No ministry could stand against the storm that would be raised . No Irish constituency ; not even , we believe , that of Limerick , would return a member unpledged to oppose the Government that had dealt so deadly a blow at Ireland , as the repudiation of the Gal way contract . There would be no precedent for such an act save among some of the repudiating States of America , which alleged that their legally elected government was corrupt , and that consequently the agreements into which they had entered were ¦¦

      void . : ' ' . ' ' . The pen of a Sydney Smith , which characterised this conduct on the part of some of our American kinsmen , might well be employed in the defence of Irish interests , were a similar repudiation to be similarly defended . The King of Portugal has just granted a subsidy to an English ,- Portuguese , and Brazilian company , of which the Duke of Saidanha is a director : What would be thought if his Majesty should quarrel with the Duke , and arbitrarily set the contract aside ? It is needless to dilate on the outcry that would ensufe . t

      Although , however , but little imporance may be attached by sensible and well informed men and the mercantile portion of the community to the threatended disturbance of the Irish mail postal contract , it is a pity that afinal assurance lias notbeenmade , ere the rising of Parliament , since the disturbing question has been once mooted . The Irish are credulous by nature and mistrustful by habit . They were slow to believe that such an act of justice would be conferred on Ireland , and difficult to persuade that it really had been done . No sooner , however , had the grant been confirmed by a British Governnient , and the last doubt of the least confiding Irishmen been on the point and verge of diswhen

      THE IRISH MAIL SUBSIDY . Irishmen are , naturally enough at this moment , somewhat in a ferment on the subject of the Mail Contract Committee . It has been hinted and suggested , and , in some select coteries , positively affirmed , that the Gal way subsidy is in danger of repudiation by a too virtuous Government . Consequently , grand juries , boards of guardians , and all the various corporations , and local associations throughout Ireland , with few exceptions , have been speechifying , memorialising and petitioning against so rampant an injustice and preposterous an exhibition of impolicy as interference with a grant , which constitutes the most popular act of grace ever conferred by tho hands of the Saxon , since the establishment of the Union , and we need hardly specify for how how long a time before .

      We do not think that the Irish people , have any real occasion to be alarmed . , Certainly , they do right to exhibit sotne degree of sensitiveness , while there is still any scintilla of a doubt about the matter . Had the merchants , landowners and pro-. fessional men of Ireland shown the same zeal , energy and unanimity formerly—had they interested themselves as they now appear to do , there would have been an Irish steamship line long ore tho undertaking was started , and carried put by an enterprising Manchester individual , which bids fair to inaugurate a now era of prosperity and consequent tranquility in Ireland . We hold it to bo impossible

      to disturb this contract , in spito of tho hint thrown out by the late committeo , that they wore desirous that tho other contracts should undergo the ordeal of Parliamentary investigation . Let them do so , by all means , wo say , if any good can possibly arise . But beyond an indiscreet hustings speech of angelic purity , compared with Sir James Graham ' s vehement orations , wo do not believe , from what we have seen and heard of the circumstances under which the Gal-tray subsidy was granted , that there exists a single fact which ought to militate against its stability . Even in an ordinary case , the proof of fraud or corruption , of bribery and connivance , should be clear ana undeniable , before a Governnient can annul

      missal to the limbo of O'Cpnnellite glory , a fresh contingency arises , which invests the whole matter with uncertainty again . "I told you so " is the cry of chronic distrust . " Ireland is still to be the victim of cruel impolicy and wrong . " Then comes an article of our contemporary , the '' leading " journal , whichspokeof the hard-earned money of the Englishman being lavished on the Celt , in the most barren and reckless manner , and speaks of Ireland as if she were an unprofitable colony , or rather a n alien country ; as if the money to be given for the subsidy were scattered over the Goodwin sands , or sown upon some rocky island in the uttermost part of the world . Whereas , the benefit

      likely to accrue to this country and her exchequer , from this act of bare justice to Ireland , is incalculable . We may count it in specie , or estimate it by the blessings of pacification . We are at present paying about 600 , 000 * . a year for an Irish constabulary . The amount spent in prisons , in trials , and the organisation and maintenance of the coercion system , can scarcely be estimated . England will gain by increased and more rapid communication' with her best market—the United Statos , and her most irnportant colonies of North America . She will gain commercially , by improved „ and more frequent postal and telegraphic communication . Is it possible that any one can be really blind to this , or must we reluctantly attribute an advocacy so

      unpatriotic to something beyond prejudice ? We cannot for a moment yjold to the belief that in this most " exceptional" case anything will bo really done to violate tho engagement into which the late Government entered with the Gal way Lino Company and tho Irish people . If so , it is a pity that any doubt should be allowed to remain in the . public mind , either in this country or in Ireland , as to the stability—wo will not say confirmation—of the grant . Xn the Dover contract affair there is a groat and striking difference in the circumstances , without roferring at all to the merits , or demerits of any of the parties concerned , either on one side or the othor-j . the late Government or the contractors . That difference lies in two facts : — Tn the Dover case , flfstly , the Interests , the loyalty , and the prosperity

      Literature.

      LITERATURE .

      Literary Notes Of The Week. — : ?

      LITERARY NOTES OF THE WEEK . — : ?

      A Story By Mr. Charles Dickens, Which Ha...

      A STORY by Mr . Charles Dickens , which has been long talked of , has at length made its appearance in the New York Ledger . It is called " Hunted Down , " and is intended for an illustration of life assurance . The American critics do not seem much struck with its beauties . The New York newspapers positively announce that Mr . Dickens has engaged to give a series of readings in the principal American cities for a consideration of 10 , 000 / . We believe it is true that an offer of this nature has been made to our illustrious countryman , but we are not aware that he has accepted it . Lord Brougham is at pre sent staying at Tynemouth , enjoying the fresh breezes of the North Sea-It is the intention of several Of the mechanics' institutes and working men ' s institutes on the Tyne to present addresses to his lordship . The Siecle , speaking of the prizes proclaimed on Thursday at the annual sitting of the French Academy , says : — " M . Gilbert , who received a prize two years ago for a remarkable eulogium on Vauvenargues , obtains this year the prize for one on Regnard . M . Gilbert is the young man whose romantic marriage was at one moment a subject of conversation . Although a poor teacher , and the son of a workman , he married the wealthy Madlle . Schneider , whose brother he had educated . The prize for poetry has been carried off , against 140 competitors , by a young female of twenty-five , a child of the people , a teacher , living on the produce of her lessons in the midst of her family of artisans . She has written a charming piece of poetry , full of simplicity and devoid of all declamation . It is M . Legouve who is charged to read these two prize works . The name of the young woman is Madlle . Ernestine Drouet ; she was pupil of Beranger , who took great pains with her , and at the age of eighteen she obtained the diploma of superior instruction . Mr . Laurence Oliphant is expected to deliver a lecture , on China and Japan , in Dunferinline about the end of October , a subject on which , from his opportunities as private secretary to Lord Elgin , he is peculiarly qualified to instruct Jiis hearers .

      The library of the late Baron de Humboldt , bequeathed by him to his old valet , has been purchased for 40 , 000 thalers , the Vienna journals state , by Lord Bloomfield , Minister of England at Berlin . The prospectus of the lectures to be delivered during the ensuing Michaelmas educational term by the several readers appointed by the inns of court ; has also been published , . We find the following in the Critic : — Mr . Bohn is shortly about to publish a new edition of the complete works of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu , edited by Mr . Moy Thomas . We have already had occasion to notice very favourably tin ? gentleman s literary labours in connection with sofne of the most interesting volumes in the eonos of Aldino poets . Theforthcoming edition of . tho works of the glover nnd eccentric lady in question will contain , wo believo much new and curious matter concerning Self and many ot her con temporaries . Th « editor , as we know , possesses a very accurate knowledgeof this period cif literary history , and we look forward with curiosity to the froah light which she wil probably throw upon many 11-undowtood passagqfin thei We and times of Lady Mary . '' Messrs . Sampson Low and Son , of J . udgato-hill , informs us that tlioy intend to publish by subscrip-Jion an Index to current literature . Thq first part " m probably appear on tho 15 th of next October , and the sorios Ve continued monthly or quarterly JJcorXff to the wish of tho majority of suiGscribera . The subscription has been wisely fixed at the very low sum of 4 « . per annum . Wo have examined tho four specimen pages of the proposed mdox $ and heart By approve of its plan . It is to « on tain , in alphabetical order tho titles of all books and pamnlUcts , published from time to time . It will probably al « o include extracts from tho leading reviews

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 27, 1859, page 17, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_27081859/page/17/