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    is almost criminal to shed young and valuable Wood in Italy , unless the chances of victory be almost overwhelming . , . As will be seen , we do not affect—it is impossible we should affect after what we have written—to have any sympathy with the governments against which the abortive insurrection was chiefly directed . "We leave to others the miserable task of deploring the calamities of Italy , heaping contumely on its princes , playing on the generous feelings of an excitable people , assuring them of our sympathy , urging them in fact by pity , by scornby admiration , by condolence , by every

    , art that rouses passion and stimulates resistance , to take their place among free nations ; and , then , when a mistake is made , a false move , a premature manoeuvre , of siding with the abominable machines called governments , because they hare not been overthrown , and calling on the executioner to do his work . We have scarcely yet heard a word of compassion expressed for the noble youths—who at worst can only be called misguided fanatics —who have fallen in various proportions into the hands of the victors in the three or four principalities which have been disturbed . It seems to be taken as a matter of course that

    they must all be executed and that they have deserved their fafce . Yet this will surely not be an English termination of civil strife ; and it would not be unbecoming for the press of this country , where we have so often had to fight for liberty , to assure the unfortunate persons we allude to at any rate of our sympathizing pity . There is one very delicate episode in this unhappy outbreak . " We meau the oecurT

    rences at Genoa . Ko one can regret more than we do that it should have been thought necessary to trouble that city , or any part of the Piedmontese dominions—where comparative liberty exists . This was a fatal mistake in policy , if the conspirators , at any rate , eared for the good opinion of England , where the Sardinian constitution ^ so carefully copied from ours , happens to be admired . Perhaps the ludicrous failure of our demonstration

    against Naples and our fast alliance with France have destroyed all respect for us in the minds of Italian patriots . At any rate , what has happened must create a prejudice against them in many minds disposed to be favourable or lenient towards them . "We know that Genoa chafes , or is supposed to chafe , under the Savoyard yoke ; bat evidently the revolutionary feeling is weak there , and this the conspirators ought to have known . extreme

    We hear with feelings of sorrow that the Piedmontese troops—imitating , but with even less excuse , the ferocity of French Pretorian guards—actually shot their prisoners in cold blood . An officer is mentioned who * secured a man , and handed him over at once to be killed c" la this horrid practice , then , to be introduced definitively into Europe ? Is not the scaffold sufficient ? Must we have preliminary fusilades also P We trust that as an atonement for this barbarity we shall hear of no executions , in Piedmont at least . Even the man who shot the sergeant must be let off with imprisonment . Another man who once shot a

    sergeant , ' under exactly similar circumstances , now occupies the highest aud most brilliant throne in Europe .

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    PALL-MAJjL REFORMERS . We said that Mr . Roebuck ' s meeting at the King ' s Arms would come to nothing . To nothing has it come . Every one saw the futility of the attempt . Thore has , therefore , been a second move . A meeting was called by circular at the Reform Club on Monday last , which was thinly attended , and projects

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    OH ! NO , DON'T I Mb . Roebuck was quite mistaken , just now , in proposing to abolish the IJord Lieutenancy of Ireland . It will certainly last out the present reign . We have a Government prepared to adopt all reforms' for which there is a public demand . They have opened a shop for popular ' improvements , ' but comparatively little interest is taken , in the Lord

    Lieutenancy , especially in our day . Ifc i 8 thought to be a fancy of the Dublin people ; and at a time when country-town attorneys , and Members depending upon the votes of country lawyers , are rather willing to grant a railway here and a bridge there , a park in that place , and a harbour in that other , few will be found willing to take from Dublin

    its favourite toy . It is true that a park was refused to Finsbury ; but there were reasons for that . Parks have been given to other metropolitan constituencies ; an example was wanted of stem economy ; and Fiusbury was made the scapegoat , Wiscount Williams , of Lambeth , being the Leonidas of that passage . For Wiscount Williams does not represent Finsbury . There was inconsistency in refusing a park to Finsbury , after granting it to so many other metropolitan constituencies ; but that only gave a zest to the refusal .

    There is a peculiar difficulty in abolishing the Lieutenancy just at present . The office is of no advantage . It costs 100 , 0002 . a year , more or less , without any return for the money . But the House of Commons thinks as little of 100 , OOOZ . as it does of a shilling , except when the hero of economics , like Wiseount Williams or Mr . Henley , makes out some grandiose case . Besides , the present Lord in Dublin is a model Lieutenant ; he is ' the right man iu the right place . ' The Brummagem King is supported by the

    ' shamocracy' of the city : —Wanted , therefore , a gentleman who cau treat the spurious court with as much gracious distinction as if it were a real court ; who can deliver speeches with all the relish and curl of viceregal dignity ; and where wilL they find such a man as the noble essa 3 'ist ? Mr . Roebuck , and Mr . Maguire , who ought to understand the subject better , insist that the Lord Lieutenancy is supported by ' the millinery interest' of Dublin ; aud it is a great thing to have a man like Lord Carlisle to lend his

    countenance as a support for the bonnet ol the season . Besides , the Lord Lieutenant should be a man that can impart a grace to any Icind of official manoeuvre in the way of electioneering ; that can make a Whig cause look like a popular , almost a democratic cause ; and where can they find a man who cau be more faithful to his party , and more pleasant to the people , than that truly accomplished author ? Wanted , also , a man who can have all the appearance of a statesman , —cau turn oft' official phrases with a

    rounded voice and something more than oflicial grace , and will yet have no iustiuct to set up for himself ; but will defer to his superiors , his official makers . Aud really there is not a man in the whole kingdom who could so furnish the personation of independent diguity with a really deferential submission ; no man who could so impress all that approach him with the idea that he is almost king , and yet on every occasion consult tho Home Office , — being literally moved as a robed puppet by the wires of tho telegraph .

    In fact , Lord Carlisle ia just tho man to be tho Viceregal King in the hands of Ministers ; and how . could wo forego tho opportunity of having something so like" a royal reality ia Dublin at < only 100 , OOOZ . ?' It is quite settled that the Lord Lieutenancy ia to be pulled down ; but that Bill will

    Pall Mall -Rftwrmfrcs Jtm&Lt;O ™ Er ?

    of political organisation were discussed . It was agreed that operations should be planned at once , and two really trustworthy Liberals were solicited to act as ' whips . ^ What followed was a positive demonstration that Mr . Roebuck is not considered a leader . A committee of five members was appointed to conduct the movement ; but we fear we must say of this , as we said of Mr . Roebuck ' s , it will come to nothing . . ' ..

    _ „ Do not these gentlemen understand that if a Liberal member of Parliament gives a direction to public opinion , he will necessarily take the lead of his colleagues ? They must follow him or be left among the stragglers , and it is because there is no man among them who has hitherto proved his ability to lead that they are like a fleet in a fog , where there is nothing but shouts , collisions , and

    confusion . They meet at the King ' s Arms , and fail ; they meet at the Reform Club , and fail ; they talk about a new club , ' and fail ; they move resolutions in Parliament , and fail . They accomplish nothing , and plan nothing , because they have no policy ; and they have no policy , because whatever genius and courage lie among them are as yet undeveloped . But they do not occupy a common level . There are men among them

    who , before next session , will stand conspicuously before the nation , and if there be others as bold and as ambitious ^ let them put their own qualities to the test , and not throw a sop to mediocrity by discountenancing leadership , and nominating Committees of Five . These gentlemen-degrade politics to a mere personal interest . Otherwise , when they desire tolnitiate a public movement , why not invite the co-operation of every member of Parliament who is known to share their

    views ? "Why be jealous ? Why be secret ? Why imitate the Ballot Society , which , we regret to say , is composed of another set of Reformers chargeable with hole-and-corner predilections . All is shrouded from the light of day . The agitation for the new He £ brm Bill is rehearsed dingily in New Palace-yard , and then in a private room of the Reform Club , where some great boroughs are represented , while the representatives of others are cautiously kept in the dark . Of certain

    Liberal members of Parliament it may be said that they look upon popularity as a private estate , and are only anxious to secure the largest shares . But this will not do . The public will discover the sham . The gentlemen themselves will have to acknowledge their own error , and unless a more wise and manly course is adopted , the Whigs will have their own way next session even more completely than this . The National Gallery debate brought out some remarkable exemplifications of libeissu raised between

    rality . An e was a gross job and the principles of honesty and economy . Lord Eloho , Mr . Con nr an am , Mr . Cox , and others , showed admirably . But it was with deep regret that we found General Thompson , Sh * Arthur Elton , Mr . Butler , of the Tower Hamlets ; Mr . Hackblooic , of Reigate ; Mr . Intcuiam , of Boston , Mr . ' Eothon' Kingslaice , Mr . Macjuire , Mr . HabdoastijE , and Me . Neate , identif y ing themselves with a case of jobbery so scandalous . The other ' Reformers' who voted for the abuse of tho

    National Gallery Fund wore ATUjaitxosr , Black , Blake , Bucha . nan , Caird , Crossley , Hanbtjry , 1-Luirts , Hastie , Hgadlam , Hindle y , and Westiikad . What will tho constituents of theae gentlemen say P And what is the use of concerting a . reform agita .-tion in Pall-mall , and then ' going down , to the House' to mnko up a majority in favour of extravagances and plunder ?

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    ^ THE LEADER . [ No . 381 , Jtoy 11 , 1857 . 662 ¦ ¦ . ¦ . ¦ __ , - • . ' i

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), July 11, 1857, page 662, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2200/page/14/