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Leader (1850-1860), 19th April 1851, Edition Town of 1, Page 360, Untitled Article

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      Untitled Article

      nistry of Coups d'Efat , " a «« Ministry of Exclusion , " an " Impossible Ministry , " and , lastly , a ** Decapitated Ministry" ! It appears pretty evident that this new Ministry is Bonapartist in construction and intention . Leon Faucher has a month before him to determine what he will do in respect of the great questions—the prolongation of the power of the President , and the revision , by fair means or foul , of the Constitution . There are those who affirm that the latter is the keystone of the real programme of the Elysee . The law of the 31 st of May will , at all risks , be also strictly maintained . Meanwhile there are some Tough rocks not far ahead ; and among them is Pascal Duprat ' s motion relative to the street sale of newspapers .

      Taking advantage of the recess of one week the Democratic Socialist members of the Mountain , after appointing a committee of twenty to remain , enpermanence , in Paris , have set out for the departments to carry out the republican propaganda . It is said thatpolitical and social banquets are contemplated , and that means will be taken to provide for the circulation of Democratic publications . The Socialist journal , Le Vote Universe ! , will if possible be again established , it is said , on hostile authority , by subscription . Lyons still suffers under the " rude " treatment of General Castellane , who interprets " funeral concourse" to mean " revolutionary review , " and puts down such anarchical proceedings !

      Untitled Article

      GENERAL CONTINENTAL NEWS . German politics are exactly as they were , except that the return lq the old Diet , and even to the old members of the Diet , at Frankfort seems finally determined on . A despatch from Schwarzenberg to Manteuffel reached Berlin on the 11 th instant , of the contents of which nothing is known but that Austria falls in with the Prussian proposal for falling back upon the old diplomatic machinery . The Diet is expected to be formally reopened within a fortnight . Is not this endeavouring to strike out three years from the pages of German history ? Some of the small states are not so pliant as was anticipated to Prussian , dictation , but they must succumb .

      vincke has been beaten agaia and again in the Prussian Chamber . One of the debates gave rise to a notable incident . M . Manteuffel was called to order for saying that he had no doubt the arrows about to be aimed at him had been duly envenomed . A question arose , certainly very grave , as to whether the President had a right to call M . Manteuffel to order , who ¦ was speaking , not as a member of the Chamber , but as Minister of the Crown . Count Arnim Boitzenburg , in conjunction with several other members of

      the Royalist party , entered their protest against the proceedings of the President , and a discussion on the subject was commenced , but soon cut short by the leaders of the Opposition , who objected that the matter did not stand on the order of the day . The Chamber must , however , seek an early opportunity of settling this point ; for if it be established that any person , in whatever character , may sit and speak in the Chamber without being amenable to its rules of order , parliamentary authority would be at an end at once .

      With respect to the incorporation question , the scmi-omcial Vienna News Bureau takes it for granted that it will he accomplished ; and it announces that the Austrian Government will issue no further law of general importance till the affairs of the Germanic Confederation shall have been settled , " in order that the new legislative enactments may be applicable to those dependencies which did not hitherto belong to the Confederation . " On the other hand Russia is said to have advised lit leant the postponement of tho incorporation , in deference to the opposition of Kn <> lund and France .

      The Diet of Saxony is closed . The King of Wurtembcrg continues his reactionary enmade . The I ) uko of Suxe Gotha openly deiies the Danish Government , who take not the least , notice ; of him , by distributing decorations to those troops who were engaged in the capture of the Gelion and the destruction of tlm Christian V 1 I . 1 . at Krkenliorde in 1 H 49 . lie actually went , to Kiel to distribute Home of these rewards in person . The Prussian Government , ban uiriiin been defeated

      in Cologne . Dr . Becker , who was indicted at , Cologne last year for political offences , mid acquitted , caused tho speech which he delivered in hiN defence to be published , and it was sold in immense quantities . For this ho was tried at the hhhi / . oh on the 10 th for lose irmjeHte ! Afraid of the public the police were held in readiness , and the military prepared to turn out tit the first alarm . Even the doors ot the court were closed , the trial was snug and private , and the rchult was again acquittal .

      S |> aniHh uffniiH have not much advanced ninee last -week . OiMiiiin-als and resignations tiro the order ot tin ; day . IJiuvo Murillo , at lenHt , nets with energy und promptitude . Why all this is done rtppiuiH evi - dent , enough when we relleet that though Itravo Murillo and his friends occupied the Cabinet , the udheiL-ntH of Narvae / . garrisoned tho public ofUces , uud nioiiopoliHtd ull patronage . Tho now Minister , seemed to lour that they uIho wcro the majority in the

      Cortes ; and to make a , clean sweep of the military faction , he dissolves the Cortes and purges the bureaus . This , it is said , has been done at the instigation of Queen Christina and " the Munoees ;' but they risk a great deal by a general election . To secure a majority , if possible , the high officials throughout Spain will be changed where such a step is necessary . Altogether it is a pretty mess . Strange as were the conditions of the settlement of the debt offered by Murillo , they were clearly too good for the Cortes ; and the bondholders must be on the alert to get any settlement at all . The Ministry is not yet formed .

      In the Papal states Austrian cruelty continues unabated . At Ancona , for instance , two men have been beaten with sticks , in order that torture should extort a confession of alleged political guilt which evidence had failed to prove . The English consul was implored to remonstrate with the military tribunal who ordered the infliction of torture , which he did without effect . The affair of the Phcenix remains in statu quo , attempts being made to fix the blame upon the pilot . Throughout the Romagna military executions are frequent , under the pretext that the sufferers sheltered brigands .

      In S'cily General Filangieri , the " firm , ' is perf orming his customary operations upon the people , namely , shooting them first and publishing their trials afterwards , by placards on the walls . It is reported that Prince Ischitelli will shortly succeed this bullet-and-bayonet ruler . The American steamer Mississipi was at Naples on the 4 th , and expected to sail for Constantinople to take up Kossuth . The Piedmontese have been immersed in business

      legislation . The Times correspondent ( who must have been a great man at one time , since he reports himself as having lost " much popularity" last year at Turin by saying that the country was Piedmontese and not Italian ) , tells us that the representative form has entirely succeded , but that the King is resolved to concede no more liberty .

      Untitled Article

      DEMBINSKI IN PARIS . A correspondent of the Daily News , writing from Paris , April 11 , gives a very characteristic account of the old warrior : — " I had to-day , " he writes , " the good luck to find the brave old General Dembinski at home . It is not easy to get a glimpse of him , for the concierge ' s wife of the house where he lodges in the Rue Miromesiul , told me that he got up at seven and went out at ten , and rarely returned before nightfall , a piece of intelligence which gave at once an expressive idea of the general ' s activity , so that I despaired of seeing him .

      " His address is singularly gentle and yet frank . He had a long white beard , and struck me at once with his extraordinary resemblance to Titian ' s portrait of tho Farnese Pope Paul III ., saving the feeble and decrepit expression of the latter , Dembinski ' s features beinj ? manly , his shoulders broad , and his form upright and military without the least stiffness . His bushy grey eyebrows overhang his grey eyes like little bunches of feathers . His nose is long and largens towards the end . His expression is intelligent , manly , and benevolent . I thought him strikingly handsome , and a capital subject for a portrait painter . He was dressed in a blue braided military frock , with a scrupulously white waistcoat .

      " In speaking of the Hungarian war he said that he had seen through the designs of Gorgey from the moment he refused to inarch on Vienna before the entrance of the ituRsians . The Hungarian cause might have triumphed from the 15 th March , 1849 . He himself had published a manifesto when he entered the Hungarian cause , which appeared in the Augsburg Gazette . This set forth the principle on which he warred against Austria . His detestation of the treachery of the Austrian Government , in stimulating communism in Galicia , and insti-Katiii ^ a . jacquerie against the nobles , seemed among his most active motives . lie desired to see the slave race

      independent of Austria . " I saw at once that Dembinski had not the least sympathy with the Kedn , and thence gathered that he was not on particularly good terms witli KosflUth . The Turks , he eaid , had behaved nobly . For them , in their weak Mate , to stand out against the menacing demand of Austria , backed by Rimsia , wan a wonderful proof of energy . : w \ " His residence at , KVtayeh , as fur as the lodging and living went , was satisfactory enough . But the place was a desert —a yellow treeless land , glaring drearily , and drying up the heart .

      " 1 asked him if ho had seen Longworth . Yes , Longworth had been through the whole latter part of the war . lie himself had received a griiKing wound from a ball on tho top of the right Hhouldcr at . S / egedin , which made the blood rush to his head ; when Longworth approached and took him in his arms out of the melee . He had a great , heard , he said , and was as cool before the fire of the infantry , which win playing on them then hot , ah if he had been smoking m narghllch in his lent . Long worth was now writing the history of the war .

      " The Reds hero at l ' nrm wnnted to fete him , and offered hint u banquet , mid ovation through ( Jharli 8 Lagrangc , but , lit ) declined the compliment , lit ; had lived for many years quietly in France , respecting the hospitality afforded to him . He knew that sueli an ovation as the dcmociatic pnity contemplated could not . fail of giving umbrage to the Government . lie was grateful to them for their good opinion and well wishes , and felt highly complimented by their appreciating bin services to the democratic cause . But the fact waft , that hi « exertions

      as ft soldier had been dictated by * n ardent love for hH country rat&er thaa any peculiar political tendencies , and he thought that to accept this compliment would expose him to misinterpretation , and exhibit him in th e light of a political agitator , whereas he had bow but one wish , which was to live in quiet and retirement . He , therefore , with all gratitude , declined the proffered ova" The General smiled to me . and said : —* He thought , because I had fooght for the liberation oF my country that I was a demagogue . I hare no feeling of hostility to the democratic party , but I would rather not be irrti ^ mate with them . But , although I feel that the French can do nothing for us , I hive every reason to feel friendly

      towards the French . I have been brought up among them . I have fought under French colours . I had three brothers in the imperial army . I know they are brave soldiers—none face the enemy ' s fire with greater courage . But they will never do anything towards a just solution of the galling and unnatural complications of Europe . They will never , in my lifetime at least , have sufficient freedom of arms themselves to be of any sf rvice to us or to our case . Therefore I stand aloof from all parties here . I have been to pay my respects to the President . I expressed my thanks to him for the civil treatment which I had received at the hands of General Aupick , at Constantinople . He

      shook hands with me very cordially , and told me that he should endeavour to render my stay in Paris as pleasant as possible . He talked of giving a review in honour of me . But why Bhould I go and spend a louisd ' or for horse hire to figure as aprndant to General Narvaer on the other side of the President . The inference would be that I was a vain and servile man , fond of shows , vanities , and compliments . No ; 1 ^ wish to live here during my short stay quiet and unnoticed , the object of demonstrations to neither party . I do not court ostentation at the side of persons in power , nor do I wish , to expose them to the suspicion of earning a little cheap popularity by paying attentions to a known martyr in the cause of freedom . '

      " It was known already at the Elyse ' e that the Mountain had offered me an ovation . Prince Czartorygky was charged to dissuade me from accepting it . I told the Prince the facts , and begged him to state them as they occurred . An idea seemed to have been formed in that quarter ( the Elysee ) that my presence at Paris might become a source of disorder and annoyance to the Government . I wished to set them at ease on that score . I said that I had lived in France eighteen years under Louis Philippe , and the only opposition I had made to the Government during that period was to decline the pension offered to me as a Polish refugee .

      • ' He was surprised at being recognized in Paris by strangers . A person had come up to him as he was walking in the Palais Royal , and seized his hand with a gesture of enthusiasm . Voila le brave General Dembinski ! Voila la terreur des aristos , l'epe ' e et le brae de la democratie , l'espoir de l'Europe democratique et sociale ! ' The general , with a polite smile , returned gently with his soft palm the pressure of the rough , convulsive grasp , and thanking the republican for his warm recognition added , ' Chut ; mon ami ; point de demonstration , deja on nous ecoute : voila un sergent de ville qui s ' approche de nous ; je suis sur que vous ne voudriez pas exposer un vieuX general u la honte d ' etre mis ^ en deroute par un agent de police . ' My friend took the hint , and muttering against the gredin policeman , passed on . Sic me servam ' t Apollo . "

      Untitled Article

      PROTESTANTISM AND POPERY . Apparently the Catholics hud great hopes of the conversion of Sir Robert Peel . His speech on . tho Ecclesiastical TitleB Bill has evoked a sh ^ rp commentary from an old acquaintance , Monsignor Lnquet , Bishop of Hesebon , and upoatolic nuncio in Switzerland , at the time of the war of the Sonderbund . Tho bishop reproaches Sir Robert for tho disrespect he has ehown to that religion which he is said so much to have affected while at Berne . Tho

      bishop remembers a conversation «* on the great question of the Christian verity" with Sir Robert , then Mr . Peel . " I recollect , " he writes , " that after having , I do not say sounded the depths , but only commenced a discussion on this point , the consciousness of the truth which I laid before you agitated you profoundly , and you uttered to mo these words which I shall never forget : — ' Let me alone , let me alone ; don ' t talk to me any morcabout that : you would

      muko me a Catholic . ( Laissez-moi , laisHCK-moi ; ne me pnrlez plus de ccla , vous me voudriez Catholique . ) " The bishop intimates very distinctly that the aggression of Pius IX . i « tlio same as that of Gregory I . For the freemen of England the single hut ardent desire of Pius IX ., un of ull of us , ia to break in pieces tho chains under which , in the name of liberty , Protestantism , crutthcn your houIb . " He flatly contradicts tht ) aguertionH inado by . Sir Robert relative ) to the war of the Sondorbund . The Vicar of Leeds and thirty-nino other clergymen of that borough havo signed an address to the IHnhop of Ripon expressing their opinions relative to tho " unhappy secession" of the clergymen who lately officiated at St . Saviour ' H , lit which neither the vicar nor hifl co-signatories are ut all surpriHed . Tlioy trust that those clergymen hereafter to he licensed to tlutt churuh " will not countunancf ) the introduction of unauthorized ceremonies , a morbid nppetito for which hfin ho rniimfcfltly tended , Among other things , to lead men to tho corrupt worohip of the Church of Rome ; " and they express thoir determination neither by excetm nor defect to break in . on tho uniformity or relax tho authority of ritual ob-

      Untitled Article

      360 &t > e Qtatttr . [ Saturdav ,

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), April 19, 1851, page 360, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1879/page/4/