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Leader (1850-1860), 17th September 1859, Edition 1 of 3, Page 1062, Untitled Article

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    • MTEEATURE.
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      Untitled Article

      part of the world any members may be found , I know not what will .: But surely you have no cause to doubt . You know the sentiments , and you have heard the eloquence , of many of bur public men ; the people , speaking by the Press , shoyr very tmmistakeable signs of their ardent sympathy ; nor would they , if appealed to , " pause longer than might be necessary to consider in what way they could best give effect and expression to their feelings . -

      «« You hare suggested the formation of a committee consisting of natives of bath countries , in which the " English element should preponderate . This committee would , I conclude , be empowered to receive such contributions as the people ot England might be induced to give in aid of the efforts made by the people of Central Italy to maintain their rights , and defend themselves against every form of aggression . whatever

      This line is safe and just , for misgivings might have been entertained before the late events of the policy or hopefulness of struggling for freedom , the thing has been achieved ; and the Emperor of the French , true , as we hope and believe , to the principles he has avowed , and the issue he has sought , must , if he be sincere ,, rejoice to see that sound and independent action of the people whom it is his glory to have liberated . ¦' .,,. to the lanWhatever might

      "I see no objection p . be contributed would be received by the Italians more as a . mark of sympathy than as a material help in the difficulties that surround them . Let , however , the question of the chairman stand over for the present . It is most desirable that one should be appointed who would be best able to conciliate friends among all classes , and to disarm opposition . If , after due search , no better man can be found who is willing to serve you , I shall then be ready , entertaining a firm belief that it will please God to bless your endeavours with a happy issue , in accordance with their beginning . "

      Untitled Article

      M- : LEDIOJ ROIiUN GN THE AMNESTY . A better has been published by M . Ledru Rollin , who gives a rather remarkable reason for the silence he had observed in respect to the recent French amnesty , namely , that it does not include himself . The amnesty , it seems , would have been applicable to him if he simply remained in this country as one of ± he exiles of the revolution of 1848 ; but , like Mazzini , he stands condemned by default on the charge of plotting against the life of the Emperor , and on that account would be amenable to the law if he returned to Paris . He say-s : —It is . even only

      by dint of the most forced , the most outrageously impudent of all imaginable political fictions , that such , an offence was raised in the scale of penalties to the height of parricide . £ The man of the 2 nd of December a father of his subjects !] Let me add , in fine , that { deportation , the very punishment inflicted on me , is a penalty exclusively political . Therefore , accusation and penally clearly characterising the offence , such a crime , in supposing it had ever existed in substance , never was , never could be , anything else but a political crime . I challenge any and all French lawyers to deny the strictness

      of this conclusion , without even excepting such as have , through their baseness , now disgraced that respectable title- ^ -a Dupin , a Baroche , or a Troplong . Now , the fraud being unveiled , what remains in reality ? Two political enemies , face to face , the one of whom thinks it useful to visit the other with ostracism . As for me , but for the powerlessness to twhich I am reduced in serving the cause of liberty , I have no occasion to complain of this new blow . I am served the same policy I applied myself to Mr . Bonaparte , with this difference , however , that I noted qpenly , frankljr , Without organising falsehood as a system ,. and setting to work the most perfidious machinations . Minister ot the Interior , I ordered

      the body of Mr . Bonaparte , yet an outlaw , to be seized : member of the provisional government , I svoted against repealing the laws that banished his family ; member of the Executive Commmission , I was entrusted with supporting-, in Parliament , the preservation of those laws . One thing , at any rate , I am forthwith entitled to affirm , as being manifestly evidenced : If Mr . Bonaparte had been far away from France—if all hope of . returning had been closed to him for ever—he would neither have had the leisure nor the means of preparing , in concert with the reactionary party , those bloody and nefarious days of June , 1848 , that entombed the republic . '

      Untitled Article

      UTERARY NOTES OF THE WEEK .

      Untitled Article

      rnHB twenty-eighth congress of the British Asso-JL ciation was opened at Aberdeen on Wednesday , when the Prince Consort assumed the Presidentship and . delivered his inaugural address . to an audience of upwards of 2 , 000 persons " . His Boyal Highness began as follows : — " Gentlemen , — -Your kind invitation tome to undertake the office of your president for the ensuing year could not but startle me on its first announcement . The high position which science occupies , the vast number of distinguished men "who labour in the sacred cause , and whose achievements , while spreading innumerable benefits , justly attract the admiration of mankind ,

      contrasted strongly in my mind with the consciousness of my own insignificance in this respect . A simple admirer of science to take the place of the chief and spokesman of scientific men of the ^ day assembled in furtherance of their important objects —• the thing appeared to me impossible ; yet on reflection I came to the conclusion that , if not as a contributor to or director of your labours , I might still be useful to you—useful to science—by accepting your offer , Remembering that this association is not a secret fraternity of men jealously guarding the mysteries of their profession , but inviting the

      uninitiated public at large to join them- ^ -havmg as one of its objects to break down those imaginary and hurtful barriers which exist between men of science and so-called men of practice—I felt that 1 could , from the peculiar position in which Providence has placed me in this country , appear as the representative of that large public which profits by and admires your , exertions , but is unable actively to join in them ; that my election was an act of humility on your part which to reject would have looked like false humility—that is , like pride—on mine . But I reflected further , and saw in my

      aceptance the means , of which necessarily so few are offered to her Majesty , of testifying to you , through the instrumentality of her husband , that your labours are not unappreciated by your Sovereign , and that she wishes her people to know this as well as yourselves . Guided : by these reflections , my choice was speedily made , for the path of duty lay straight before me . " His Royal Highness then paid a high compliment to Professor Owen ; alluded to the wide field for study , more particularly to the geologist , the north of Scotland afforded ; and remarked on the

      beneficial influences of science , and the consequent good which meetings like the " present conferred on human kind . After pointing out in eloquent language , which drew forth frequent applause , the objects and advantage of science , the Prince noticed the gratifying fact that the association had met with liberal patronage from the public , and expressed his satisfaction that there should exist bodies of men who brought the wants and claims of science before the public and the Government , " who will even hand round the begging box and expose themselves to refusals and rebuffs , to which all beggars are liable

      with the certainty , besides , of being considered , great bores . Please to recollect that this species of bore is a most useful animal , and well adapted for the ends for which nature intended him . " Having noticed the great genius and labours of the late Humboldt , the anniversary of whose birth by a singular coincidence happened that day , his Royal Highness thus concluded : " Philosophers are not vain theorists , but essentially men of practice ; not conceited pedants , wrapped up in their own mysterious importance , but humble inquirers after truth — proud only of what they have achieved or won for the general use of man . Neither are they daring and presumptous unbelievers - — a character which ignorance has sometimes affixed to themwho would , like the Titans , storm Heaven by placing tain mountain

      moun upon till hurled down from the height attained by the terrible thunders of outraged Jove j but rather the pilgrims to the Holy JLand , who toil on in search of the sacred shrine—in search of truth , God's truth , God's laws , as manifested in His works , in His creation . " His Royal Highness was loudly cheered throughout . —Sir Benjamin Brodie then , in a . few words , moved , and the Lord Provost briefly seconded , a vote of thanks to his Royal Highness the Prince Consort ) , which was heartily given , the whole company rising and cheering . j > The address occupied an hour in delivery . An invitation has been forwarded to Lord John . Russell , now at Abergeldie , to bo present during some period of the British Association ' s sittings , and it is exceedingly probable that his < lordship will comply with the invitation . The Right Hon , Benjamin Disraeli , M . P ., will visit Manchester during the last week of October .

      He has promised to address the members and friends of the Institutional Association of Lancashire and Cheshire , embracing 110 Mechanics * Institutions and to distribute the prizes and certificates to the " successful candidates at the late examination held at the Manchester and Blackburn centres of the association . Mr . Charles Dickens delivered the prizes last year , Lord-Brougham the year previously it is fifteen years since the ex-leader of the Commons addresseda public assembly in Manchester .

      We have news from Munich of a deplorable accident that has happened to Justus Liebig . The great chemist , who basrbeen travelling in the interior of Bavaria , was unfortunate enough , whilst passing through a small village , to fall down and break his kneecap . He was at once conveyed to the town of Passau , where two of the most eminent physicians of Munich are attending him . M . Jacques Coste , one of the oldest journalists in Paris , and a chevalier of the Legion of Honour , has just died at the age of 62 . M . Coste was the founder

      and director ofXe Temps , a paper of considerable influence under the reign of Louis Philippe , to which Leon Faucher , Merruan , Pages ( de l'Arriege ) , Ch . Nodier , and other well-known names , Avere contributors . He was one of the forty protestors whose life was to be sacrificed if Charles X . had succeeded in enforcing the July ordinances . "When Casimir Perrier was minister , the Hotel Bonaparte , which was then occupied by M . Coste , became a point of attraction for the chief politicians , journalists , and litterateurs of the day .

      The Bombay Times mentions the appointment of a second expedition from . Bombay to North Eastern Africa , to carry out the discoveries of Captains Burton and Speke . Mr . J . Kennelly of the Indian Navy and secretary to the Bombay Geographical Society , and Dr . Silvester , compose it . The former is said to be an accomplished astronomer and meteorologist , and the latter a draughtsman and naturalist . They will prpceed at once to the great lake district ; and endeavour to circumnavigate the northernmost of the lakes . They are to set out in November next .

      Untitled Article

      SOME MEMORIALS OP RENEE OF FRANCE , Duchess of Ferrara . .. Bos worth and Harrison . The author here submits to the public an interesting memoir of the Princess Renee , Duchess of Ferrara , and youngest daughter of Louis XII . of France . , The work is admirably conceived and executed , at once securing the sympathies of the reader in behalf of this highly g ifted , but strangely unfortunate scion of royalty . TPlaced at an early ao-e under the immediate tuition of Madame de

      Soubise , a woman of powerful intellect , and unimpeachable morals , and who , moreover , was endowed with a lively sense of the responsibility thus imposed upon her , the Princess Renee may be said to have possessed advantages above those enjoyed by most of her contemporaries . Deprived by a premature death of both her royal parents , she grew up under the superintendence of lier admirable preceptress to be the boast and ornament oi the Parisian court . Many were the eulogiums unon her wit . eloauenceand superior mental

      , attainments ! But intellectual and high-minded as she was , she could not escape the penalty oi being born a princess of the blood royal ; and on Sunday , the 28 th of June , 1528 , she wns given in marriage by her wily and political brother-in-law , Francis I ., to Ercole d'Este , eldest son of Alfonso , Duke of Ferrara . The inequality of this marriage will be perceived from the following extract : — " The "French nrincess deserved a bettor _ fate , for character

      Ercole did not inherit his father ' s noble The history of Alfonso I . is that of a grea j roan struggling with adverse circumstances and nnauy mastering them . The history of Ercole IIjatww of a feeble prince who chose to purchase a Pangea term of luxurious ease by any means , llowe . ' ° V ° i ' temptible . Such was the husband provided »» Renee by the selfish policy of Francis I . f heww interesting by her youth , not having at t Jim w « J completed her eighteenth year , and in addition ^ her illustrious parentage , she appears to have db « endowed with every good gift except tha j ot per sonal beautv . With all due allowance for the ^ oxw

      intellectual acquirements were considerable , ev « for an age which numbered many a learned worou ampngst the ranks of the highborn . Her origin * powers had been developed by severe exercise . * _ refined trifling , which sometimes in this later * b usurps the name of- ' study , ' you Id have » et despised by Renee ; and assuredly , It would nev have achieved for her the great pwflel ? noy * n * She . attained in mathematics , astronomy , p }» wjj history , and languages , both ancient and ¦ fJJJJ , Norwas she Jess distinguished for her ™ WH lence t in her noble nature were combined bw »

      Untitled Article

      Mb . Anstey owr CHiwA .- ^ -Mr . Cbisholm Anstey publishes a long letter on behalf of the " much wronged empire of China . " He argues that there was no idea that the recognition by the Emperor of , the abstract right of embassy was to pave the way . to the capita ) , for a British plenipotentiary in 1859 , or even in 1850 . On , the contrary , "the Chinese envoys appear , throughout to have understood that < the obnoxious apparition would , for the present , be averted , by . the mera ^ acknowledgjnent on their part of its right % q appear by « ancUbye /'

      Mteeature.

      MTEEATURE .

      Untitled Article

      1062 THE LEADtETt . [ Mo . £ 95 . Sept . 17 , 1859 ,

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 17, 1859, page 1062, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2312/page/18/