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seek for examples of . foolish statesmanship abroad , where they undoubtedly abound , —as the condition of Italy , -Hungary , Austria , the small states of Germany , and Spain , testifies—for they are numerous at home , and . the week supplies its usual specimens . " . ¦ ¦ ¦ "In the last generation the symjsathies arid admiration of the world were roused for Mexico the rich and magnificent , the treasury of her former masters , and the hope of the enterprising . " Now , " Mexico is in the lowest depth of degradation ; her Government alternate tyranny and " anarchy ; her people sinking yearly lower
into the slough of ignorance and helplessness ; her o-lorious capital , with its palaces and churches , " oing slowly to decay , and her land returning to a state of nature . " It was the . boast of a muchhonoured statesman of that sympathising generation , that he had " called into existence a new world to redress the balance of the old . " It is of little importance that Mr . Canning ' s vain boast was a plagiarism from a Colonel . Davies , then one of the least honoured speakers of the Liberal party , who , in the same words , had recommended some time before , only then to be despised , the policy adopted by Mr . Canning ; but it is of consequence
to observe , that there have followed , from Mr . Canning ' s interference with the Xew " World , very disastrous consequences to all its then rising republics . In every case , too , we regret to say that the evil influence of the unfledged ' or bankrupt representatives of Mr . Canning and his successors at the Foreign Oflice , over the unfortunate fate of these republics may be traced . They never ceased to find in their own superior wisdom , and in the superior wisdom of their employers , a justification for interfering with the governments of these republics . The very one in question , now- a . signal mark , according iothe description of the Times ,
is a special proof of this . Mexico has never , since 1 825 , been without a very meddling English representative , nor without numerous English residents , merchants ,, mine-owners , and others who have continually harassed , the Government of Mexico by the influence of the English Government . We can say , with some knowledge of the subject , that there h ; is been no political disturbance there in which our agents ami several of our countrymen have not taken a part . They sufler now ; England suffers in her trade ; and Mexico suffers ; and all the republics of South America suffer , from the interference of Emrlish statesmanship . ¦ Under the
pretext of protecting trade it has weakened and degraded these Governments , just as interference in Turkoy weakens and degrades the Sultan ' s Government . Lt has contributed very much , we believe , to bring about the general anarchy in which at length all security for persons and property has disappeared . If ' Air . Canning called the new world into existence , it was somewhat after the fashion of infanticides , to starve or strangle it before it could bi'coino a rival . The present condition of Mexico , and the other republics of America ( brined out- of the old Spanish colonies , is an unanswerable comment on Mr . Canning ' s
plagiarised wisdom . The papers this week , too , full of instruction as they always atv when they record the facts of our daily lives , haw published a circular of the . Admiralty , dated December 10 th , iinposingsome restrictions on I lie iwl' ' lhu' - cat "in the Royal Navy . The sonmou him to be divided into two classes , men of an established good character , tmd of men whose conduct has not entitled them to a certificate of good character . All men on first entering the laced in the first clans
navy or- lvscrvorf aiv to be p . This is a step , therefore , to relieve all seamen , hereafter , from Hogging . Our youthful maritime population will , bv-imd-bye , not be deterred by a dread of the horrid punishment arbitrarily inflicted , or by anything—except the diabolical reputation , which pui'suvurinjjf in Urf uao , so long lms naturally acquired for the navy—from entering the service . Hero nftur , as this reputation tlios out , and as the new hands and thogood hands predominate over tho old and tho denuded hands , tho nnvy may
become an agreeable and desirable employment lor tho multitude , ami the aoandiil will Uwupi > ear , pO < her Majesty ' s naval xurviuo boing tho only service of tho ' entire empire which over wants , and cannot got , an abundance ) of men . Wo highly and cordially approve of this abolition of flogging « IS farasitgooH ; butwoniustadd , thatretainingllogging for any purpose , ovon whon sanctioned by a court martial , is inconsistent . Tho order docs not go
far enough to satisfy justice , though it may , on that account , meet less opposition from the tyrants of the old school . We fancy that many difficulties and even quarrels may be engendered by the division of . a crew into classes , subjected to different laws , ^ and yet messing and living together . The disciplinarians , however ,, have had the matter all their own way , and will have it still , and we must wait for time to teach them the folly of retaining c 6 rporeal punishment at all , as it has at length taught them the folly of applying it to men who hereafter enter the navy . That they now so far give it up , because they cannot otherwise get men , is a proof of consummate folly in having so long continued it . We make this accusation with some knowledge
of the facts . We have a pamphlet lying before us , published in the year 1813 , in which the effects of naval discipline , arbitrary punishments , flogging , &c ., in keeping men out Of the service , are pointed out . It shows that this system is a consequence and remnant of old barbarity , and that it also is the cause why the fleet does not , at any time , get as many men as it can require . We know that , this pamphlet _ attracted some notice , and that its recommendations were enforced both in the Morning Chronicle and the Times . The author ' s opinions found favour with the Edinburgh Reviewers , and the Whigs , though when they were in office they maintained , like the Tories , the old usages .
About 1813 , the first restriction was placed , on the previously quite-unlimited power of every naval captain to flog or punish the seamen at his discretion . Since the end of the great war the subject has been continually adverted to in Parliament , Reason , justice , humanity , have all pleaded for the abolition of arbitrary flogging , and by the disciplinarians , in spite of these appeals , it has , till now , been obstinately preserved . The effects continue ; they outrage our youth , and the navy cannot get men . The present circular tardily , acknowledges the wisdom of the principle which all preceding Admiralties have resolutely pooh-poohed . Through half a century the to
Admiralty has been deaf and blind every just and human sentiment . Notliing could rouse the fossilised disciplinarians , and convert them into living parts of civilised life . They found dignity in doing wrong , and to convey a conviction of error to them was impossible till they suffered personally . The moral cufTs they have received from the press have at-length prevailed , where the sense of humanity and honour ha * no force . They were permitted by the Legislature to do wrong , and have degraded the naval service and dishonoured the nation in the eyes of the world , as well as wasted millions of money . They supply another example of statesman ' s follies .
" When we reflect on the mischief statesmanship has done , we can but dread that what it is now doin <> - with our approbation , is just as foolish and mischievous as what it did with the approbation of our fathers and grandfathers , —just as foolish as what Bonaparte did with tho applauding shouts of all France . Lord St . Leonards has published , and the Times has repented his profound conviction that the men on strike foolishly followed a foolish leader to do wrong . The men are prone to an infirmity which seems universal . I hey follow asonable like
leaders in a most unre manner , just the French and the English , into evil courses , lo go wrong is common to all mankind . To go m flocks , or after a fashion , or after some hero , is as natural to men as to sheep ; and when a leader goes wrong—a clique or society , bo it of builders or carpenters—a whole community goes wrong too . Calm reflection may make Lord bt . Leonards and journalists a little chary in stigmatising tho infirmity of the builders , lest , they hit a very glaring vice of their own , and a custom of tho mass of mankind .
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DON NEUI COUSIN ! , MARCHESE DE LA . JATICO . < Tiiw recent death of the Marquis do Lujutico , Special Envoy of tho Provisional Tuscan Government , is an evont greatly to bo deplored at the present critical juncture of Italian affairs . -Uespiitched to London by his c ountrymen on an Uonorablo mission , ho has fallen a victim to a loathsome a nd contagious disease m this capital , whore sanitary measures and regulations absorb a larger amount of attention and oxppnso than in any other city of tho civilized world . Without
looking at secondary causes , however , but treating the event as one directly under the control of " Providence , we may yet be permitted to express our deep regret that Italy should have lost a son sprung from one of her most illustrious families at a moment when , according to human views , she has the utanost need of ail the talent , influence , and patriotism which can be brought to bear upon her political deliberations and the conduct of her foreign and domestic diplomacy .
The Corsini family have shared largely in the glories and reputation , the vicissitudes and reverses of Florentine history during several centuries . They trace their ancestry hack to the eleventh century but were not established at Florence until the thirteenth . Fifty-six Priors and eight Gonfalonieri of Justice were furnished by them to the Republic . The last to fill the latter office was Neri Corsini in 1295 . Born in 1244 , he was a citizen of great importance in the Republic . He belonged to the popular or Guelph party , and constantly opposed the magnates or Ghibillines . In pursuance of this
object he caused the erection of the fortresses of San Giovanni and Castelfraneo in the Valdarno , against the Ubaldini and the Pazzi . According to the usage of the period and country , the Corsini entered largely ' into commercial affairs , and the riches and influence which they thus" obtained were almost unlimited . Matteo , who lived in the fourteenth century , was oiie of the most opulent of Italian merchants . He also occupied himself with letters * and left a book of " Domestic Memoirs , " still preserved in manuscript in the Corsini library at Rome . A work written by him , called "Da Qucestionibus" is no longer extant , but one bearing
the title "Rosaio della vitla , " was published at " Florence in 1845 , under the supervision of Sig . PoJidori . The brother of Matteo , Tommaseo , was one of the greatest citizens of Florence , and may be numbered among the wise and great merr , who co-operated in rendering the Republic powerful and respected at that period . lie was professor of civil law ; His political life terminated in 1353 . He assumed the device of Knight of Santa Maria Gloriosa , devoted himself , during the latter years of his existence , to religion , and died in 1360 .
Some of his legal consultations exist m manuscripts in the Magliabecca Library . A legal treatise written by him , " Consilium Matrimonialc , " was printed at Frankfort , in 1580 . Three sons of Tommaseo each left a name to posterity ;—Pietro was bishop of Volterra and Florence , and also wore the purple . By the Emperor Charles IV . he was empowered to transmit to his episcopal successors the title of Prince of the Sacred Roman Empire , which had been conceded to him as a reward for his talents and services in restoring peace
between Charles and the other German princes . He had been held in high esteem by Gregory XL , and took a very active part in the new Papal election which was very near conferring upon him the pontifical dignity , but which resulted in the choice of Urban VI . The great western schism followed , and the opposition election of tho anti-Pope , Clement VIl ., jwhom Pietro accompanied to Avi < mon , was mainly due to him . For the part which he took in this transaction , he was cxcanimunicated by the Roman pope , and deprived of his cardinnlnte . Repenting of this error , or at least professing to do so , ho endoavoured to repair it by writing " Do Soliismnto Jugulando . He was present at the conclave at which Benedict Alii . was elected , and himself convoked a conclave at v ; n « nmiw » . npnr Avio-non . in 1405 , where ho laid
down tho principles which were afterwards adopted by the Council of Constance . Giovanni , his brother , wns grand seneschal to the King of Armenia , and afterwards governor of Rhodes . In 1374 the Grand Master of tho Order of Jerusalem conferred upon him all the possessions held by the order in that city . Filippo , tho third brother , was a oelobratod iuris-consult , Knight ol the Golden Spurs , and Count Palatine . He honourably fulfilled at least twenty-six embassies on behalf of the Florentine republic , and died
universally regretted m 1421 . Another Filippo Corsini , who died some seventy years later , was one of tho brightest ornaments ot the famous Aoadomy of tho Orti Orioollarj , as attested by the letters addressed by him . to Lorenzo tho Magnifioonf , preserved in tho Moiucean arohivos . We have now reached the sixteenth century , tho last century of Italian freedom , and the beginning of tho lengthened period of sliwery
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3 SToi 508 . Dec . 17 , 1859 , ] THE LEADEB . 1371
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 17, 1859, page 1371, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2325/page/15/
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