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Leader (1850-1860), 28th May 1859, Edition 1 of 2, Page 674, Untitled Article

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      Untitled Article

      WmieclasB Jias an interest fin / perpetuating tlieaiiiribrtunate repugnance . We are taught ta believe , ¦ b yrthe remarks of ^ the Times , ' that the Adnbirajty iteelf— -ihe appointer , patron , and protector of all the * tyrants and all the tyranny that have ever . existed , iiy the Navy 1 ^ is free from blame . In . ¦ truth ,. however , the Admiralty was the author and upholder of the system in past times , the efieets of ^ whichoiovrcause the " unfortunate repugnance . " Mad the Admiralty pushed its inquiries to their appropriate end , it would have ascertained this fact . Having known its existence for many years , iw& roust suppose that the Admiralty ought to have

      correct the evils which flow from . its , own enactments . Naval men will not readily resign-the power of flogging ; it niust be withheld . Lords of the Admiralty will not easily forego the delightful , privilege of providing for their / relations and friends without regard to merit ; the legislature must impose strict limits on their patronage , and devise a scheme of equitable promotion , to ensure a sufficiency of good officers , instead of having , as at present , a inueh greater number , of doubtful efficiency , than can ever be employed . The Royal Navy belongs to the nation ; it is formed and regulated entirely by the authority of the Legislature , and it is consequently the business of the Legislature and of the public to deal with it justly , and make it what it ought to be .

      known it , though it did not avow that its ¦ own . conduct was the cause- of the unfortunate Tepugnanee . I < n private ¦ life when an individual ¦ finds an xmfortwnate repugnance in another to deal with him , or have any communation with him , and he wishes to . conquer this repugnance , he endeavours to ascertain whether it . be the natural and necessary consequence of his own conduct . If it bey he frankly avows his error ; or his fault , as the first step to obtain what he wishes . Does the Admiralty act rationally in this manner ? No . Sheltered behind its official dignity , it cannot think € f £ acknowledging error , and say , as a man would

      sayy it "wiH do so ho more . It still keeps the old tyranny in its hand , prides itself on its old error , and implies that it is still at liberty to be as it has been , stupidly tyrannical . It does not brand impressment and the lash ; it preserves the use ¦ of : the latter , and intimates , through Captain PSm , that it may again possibly have recourse to the former . It contents itself with deprecating smartness * in the officers ; it instructs them to be careful int ^ aching . thenew men their duties ; how to lash their hammocks ; stand steady at quarters , and submit quietly to all the fiddle-faddle—tantamount to pipe clay and chokers for the army—« which

      Admiralty martinetism . calls disciplinism . So , instead of removing or lessening the unfortunate repugnance , it will , in ali probability , continue it , in spite of its admissions ; and the present great experiment -which is sure to be followed , according to the Tiines , hy important consequences , is likely , unless the old and scandalous injustice be distinctly disarvowed and publicly given up , to end in disappointment . There is just now no-question of more importance than thVmanner of treating our seamen . On this depends whether we ' shall freely have their services or not when most required ; and on it , therefore , depends the safety of the country . According to the system adopted to obtain and govern ' them , will be their character . Officers and men ,

      though m different directions , are influenced if not moulded by it . The former are made careless and tyrannical , and kept ignorant of the most useful facts ; and the latter , tainted with' all the vices of slaves , are so . much governed by others that they rarely acquire the art of governing themselves . The system atFects the whole of our maritime population , and the captains and seamen of merchant sliips acquire the tyrannical and slave-like habits that are . formed in our' men-of-war . After the experience we have had of the slowness of the Admiralty in acquiring useful knowledge , and of fiho fl 5 ln +. r > i » inf » SB of' fl . li ' ofHoinl nifvn in mvinnr nffaot .

      to trutlis with which the public are inmiliar , this great oauso cannot be entrusted implicitly to their care . For the benefit of the seamen the public must continually goad the Admiralty forward hi the right path . Into details it cannot enter ,, but it can enforce' on the reluotant officials an adherence to sound principles . The oircular admits , by , implication , the necessity of compelling the captaLns to bo just ; but who snail . compel the Admiralty or the Legislature to be just , if the public neglect the task P There is no other nieans of accomplishing this essential work , and if the public neglect it , it will not bo done .

      Session after session the- Mutiny Act is passed ' as a matter of course , and this Act is yet tninted with all the vices that were pi'ominent in the legis lotion of the last century . In ordoy that justice bei-done * to the seamen , and the naval service rendered agreeable to our population , the Mutiny Aot must Ue amended . The root of the ovil is in our ignorant legislation . To amend this the publio nwwt'lnterfbi'e . ¦ It ; oaunot interfore with stowing hammooks , giving men bogaj and placing them in ft «*> WM 5 BB $ > ' but it can tell the Legislature that itVmuBt -no lougor- entrust the Admiralty and admiral ® and captains with undefined arbitrary : power . It must call on Parliament to

      Untitled Article

      FERDINAND II ., KING OF NAPLES . NO . I . The long , protracted sufferings of the King of Naples have at length terminated in death . Sunday , the 22 nd of May , 1859 , witnessed his final struggle . At half-past one , p . m ., his spirit departed . Well for him that the judgment and condemnation of his fellow creatures are now powerless against him ! The execration of men has done its worst . He has lived a stranger and died estranged from all but a very few with whose will and inclinations his own did not happen to clash . By the unthinking

      and ignorant : —a large proportion of the subjects of every " sovereign— -who were quite content to live , for the present , unmindful of any higher aim or destiny than the mere enjoyment of animal gratifications and love of ease , he was enthusiastically beloved . Yet the news of his death will occasion an universal sensation of relief , as if mankind at large , and his own subjects in particular , had obtained release from a frightful incubus . The following sketch will enable our readers to appreciate the kingly and domestic character of the departed tyrant .

      The biography of Ferdinand II . naturally divides itself into two distinct parts—his public and his pz'ivate life . Perhaps it never was necessary , with regard to any man , to keep the two phases of character so widely apart , to render the distinctions between them so cleaz-ly defined . It is , in fact , utterly impossible ^ to form a correct idea of the sovereign and the private individual without be- ^ coming ° familiar with details only accessible to those who have had the opportunity of personally

      studying his contradictory characteristics . In Jb erdinand were united all the virtues of a private man , as husband , father , and mastei ' , with the regal iniquities of Caligula , Maximilian , Diocletian , Pomitian , and Antonine . It was impossible to approach Ferdinand without loving him as a man . As a kingi every clay , every hour , every minute , every thought of his reign is marked in history as an era of blood , falsehood , and abomination . We shall therefore treat of his . public and his private life as if two distinct individuals wore in question . ¦ M V V v \ J ^|^^ t r fl . . f i ^^ w ** Jfc V Mm V * v » fc » fc ^»» 9 ^ ¦ » ^*** *^ ••••••¦ ^ ¦ — ^ -v w * r — -r ¦

      JPBIVATJE IiirJS . Ferdinand was born Jan . 12 th , . 1810 , at Palermo , the ca pital of Sicily—a kingdom independent and constitutional , from the days of Roger the Norman . His supposed father was Francis I ., hereditary prince ; nis mother was the famous Isabella Bourbon of Spain , That Paolo Monti was in reality his father can be proved by a variety of facts each and all decisive and irrefutable , and all borne out by the extraordinary similai'ity existing between the King and Monti in person , voice , and manner . The first ycai'S of his life passed like those of nil other royal princes . At the age of six he was authoi'ised by his grandfather to ropvesont him in the uroceesion ' of the Immaculate Concentioiv-r-a

      nand ^ . ; tyrajmicaL sportsman , the preside nt of the Congress of Laybach , the founder of the new kingdom of the two Sicilies , reposed his . W ? 2 his grandson , because his vulpine wiliness diamT vered m him the qualities necessary to reaSe a fusion of two different legislations , to suppress I constitution sworn to by the kings of Sicily ft * seven centuries , and which its suppressor hiiasdf had not the hardihood to extinguish at a blow ^ The educators ^ of Ferdinand IL were the famous Scina , Nasi Michelangelo Monti , Monsi gnS Balsamo , Padre Piazza , Nicpold Cacciatore Fer dinand IL , of an ardent imagination , lively concen " tion , ready utterance , masterly tergiversation and

      with extraordinary powers of persuasion , so far from disappointing the hopes of his inst ructors surpassed their utmost desires and expectations ' At the age of nineteen he was quite competent to govern . The counsellors selected by hun afford proof of his intelligence . Nunziaute and Andrea , men of sixty or seventy years old , well known for their attachment to the royal cause and for their governmental capacity , were the friends of the heir presumptive to the throne and chosen by him from amidst the crowd of courtiers who surrounded

      him . Monsignor Code was his confessor ;—con - fessor of' the king ! That is , under ordinary circumstances , an exterior method employed to feign religion in those who do not feel it , and who in fact , disbelieve it , but who are obliged to maintain its appearance . At the age of twenty Ferdinand H . was king of the most beautiful part of southern Italy , and of the queen of the isles of the Mediterranean—Sicily . So gentle in his manners , so easy of access , and so fascinating was he , that he inspired the most paternal and friendly regard in those about him , and his inferiors saw in him not a

      king , but a father . To the insane prodigality of his grandfather and the stupid administration of his father succeeded a wise and just economy which , regulated , by himself , made the royal administration a type of the useful combined with the pleasing , and filled the sovereign ' s private treasury , which had been impoverished and embarrassed by the two former kings . In 1835 Ferdinand II , had paid all the debts contracted by liis immediate predecessors ; his exchequer was improved , and the royal possessions , instead of being'an expense

      without profit , brought in large sums of money . The carbonisation of the woods of JFicuzza , the plantations of olives , almonds , and vines of Favorita , Boccadifalco , Portici , Castellamare , all ; royal domains , and various other sources of revenue uncared for previously , were turned to account by Ferdinand . His race of horses and his mules for the artillery trains , the resumed activity of the silk machines of San Louco , and of the cloth manufacture of Sava , the excavations of Ilereulaneum and Pompei , and the Casale railroad , l > i ; ought him in immense treasures , and rendered him one of the

      richest capitalists of Lurope . In 1832 Ferdinand married Christina of Savoy , a beautiful and good Italian princess . The virtues of this lady were true and striking . Equally beautiful and modest , she loved Ferdinand 11 . with sincerity and tenderness . Ho was loss tue king to her than the young husband of twontyfive , born beneath a meridian sun , beautiiul as a Pixlernutan landscape , gay as the bright sky beneath which he was brought up . She Avas coUeu to her eternal repose Jan . 19 , 1 S 3 G , three days af ter having given birth to Francis , tho heir presumptive to the throne . Ferdinand II . sincerely lovqcl his wif ' q as a young husband loves « young ' , good , and beautiful woman ; awl truly ^ d no mourn her loss .

      The dreadful ravageH of the cholera in 1837 inaugurated his second marriage with an ^" ™" Archduchess . Hers is such na tho Gorman character ever is in Italy . Her natural disposition is reserved , and she is vindiotivo and avaricious . A very numerous family has been tno result of this second marriage . lerUiwvna always personally superintended the educationi « his children , and had his instructions m rettrcnoe to it earned out under his own eye , «» children were treated by him with trulv P ftt < f ? £ affection , and are , in the strict sonso of the ten , " « exemplary family with regard to union and lomes

      tic concord . The royal princes oocupicc w «« Q ; apartments iinmcdiatoly contiguous to the kum bed chamber , and with him led a Ufc ^ PJ 3 and familiarity like tho most humble puvww familiee . Attention , care , and thoug htftUnoss wore the characteristic qualities of Ferdinand xx . »»

      festival in which the Coui't is obliged to follow the statue of the Madonna on foot . Tho mother and fathen of the winter have repeatedly described to him the remarkable appearance of this child of six , clothed in the uniform of a colonel of tho Lancers , decorated with the order of St . Januarius , marching in step , with head erect and stately bearing . The people who took part in tho religious function wore solely occupied in watching this child who j at so tender an ago , could thus replace the sovereign and piny hia part in a manner to leave nothing to be desired . I have uoon tho representation of this ciroumetariQe in the dressing-room of Ferdinand I . in tho villa of Real Favorita , painted bv tho celebrated Patanid , and bearing the short inscription , ordered by Ferdinand I ., " My Hope . " Ferdj-

      Untitled Article

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  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), May 28, 1859, page 674, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2296/page/18/