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    Untitled Article

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    Untitled Article

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    GLEANINGS FEOM FOREIGN BOOKS.

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    FOREIGN CORRESPONDENCE.

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    Untitled Article

    A K . OBLE ROTHSCHILD . When , in the year 1792 , the French Army drew near to the territory of Hesse-Cussel , the Elector was compelled to flee . Passing through Frankfort-on-the-Maine , he became acquainted with . a Jewish banker there—3 Ioses Rothschild . The man was not rich , but on account of his . integrity and business ability had a high reputation ;— -by reason whereof the Elector intrusted to him gold and jewels to the value of several millions of thalers , —the German thaler or dollar being worth about three shillings . The Jew at

    first was not willing- to take charge of so large a sum ; but the Elector persuaded him and left the treasure with him without even taking a receipt . Moses had scarcely buried the treasure in . his garden , when the French marched plundering into Frankfort . To save the treasure of the prince , Moses abandoned all his own property to the mercy of the foe . As soon as tranquillity was restored , Moses Roths * child resumed his business as banker and money-changer . This was done first of all on a . small scale ; but with the help of the Elector ' s treasure he gradually extended his affairs , so that by and by he was regarded as a man of vast and solid wealth . When the Elector , in 1802 , returned to his states , he once more went to Franlifort , and called on Moses Rothschild : —

    " The rascals have no doubt stolen all the treasure which I intrusted to you , Moses ? ' * '•'¦ ' Not one thaler /* answered Moses solemnly . " What do you say V ' " Not one thaler . " " What 1 T was informed that the Sansculottes hacLrobbed you of everything .- I also read the same thing in the newspapers . " " All that was mine they certainly took : but your Electoral Highness ' s treasure I was fortunate enough to save . Your gold and silver I employed in my affairs , and I'am now in . a position to restore it all to you with interest at five per cent . "

    The Elector , astonished and grateful , gave back the interest as compensation for What the French had taken from the honourable Jew . / As reward for his unexampled integrity , he allowed him'the use of the treasure for twenty years morei at ail interest of two per cent . The Prince besides sought out every way of being useful to the noble Moses . At the Congress of Vienna , he was enthusiastic to the assembled sovereigns in praise of the Jew ' s spotless uprightness , whereby Moses Rothschild at once gained the confidence of the Emperors of Austria and Russia , and of other European rulers . The Jew ' s sterling honesty , furthermore , laid the firm foundation of the colossal money power of the Brothers Rothschild , his sons , at London , Vienna , Paris , and Frankfort , who reign as kings in every Stock Exchange of Europe . — German Anecdotes .

    Untitled Article

    Rome , 6 tli April , 1860 . THE ROMAN TEOPLE . " OENATUS Populusque Romanus . " The phrase sounds O strangely in our ears , like the accents of a lost language , or the burden of a forgotten melody . In those four initial letters is embodied an epitome of the world's history- —the rise and decline , and fall of Rome . On the escutcheons of the Roman nobles , the S . P . Q . R . still stand conspicuous , but where shall we look for the

    realities expressed by those world-fained letters r It is true the Senate is still represented by a single Senator , who is nominated by the Popej and ; drives in a Lord Mayor ' s coach on state occasions ; and regularly , on the first night of the opera season , sends round ices as a present to the favoured occupants of tho second and third tiers of boxes at the Apollo . This gentleman , by all the laws of senatorial succession , is the heir and representative of the old Roman Senate , who eat with their tog-as wrapt around them , waiting for tho Gaul to strike ; but alas ! the " Populus Romanus" has left no successor .

    Yet surely if anything of dead Rome be still left in ( he living city , it should be found in the Roman people . In the " ftfysteres du Peuple" of Eugene Sub there is a stovy , that to the Proletarian people , the sons of toil and labour , belong-genealogies of their own pedigrees of families , who from remote tunes have lived and died among' the ranks of industry . We have often thought t | iafc these fabulous families should have had their birth in Rome . Amongst tlie peasants that you meet praying in the churches , or loitering in the sun-light , or labouring in the deadly " Campflffna " plains , there must be some who , if they know it , descend in direct jfinonge from the ancient Plebs . It may be so , or rather it must be so ; but of the fact there is little outward evidence . You look in vain for the characteristic features of the old Roman face , such as you behold them portrayed in ancient statues . The broad low browthe

    , depressed scull , the protruding underjaw , and the thin compressed lips , are to bo scon here no longer . Indeed , though wo make the remark'with the fear of artists before our eyes , wo ( should hardly soy ourselves that tho Roman , people of the present dny wore a very handsome race ; and certainly , as a r < ico , they « iro inferior both to Tuscans and Neapolitans . The men are well-formed , and of good height , but not powerful in build or make , and their featm'ea are rather marked than regular . As for the women , when you have onco perceived that hair may bo bliidc as coal , and yet coarse as string 1 , that bright sparkling eyes may ho utterly devoid of expression , and t ) mfc an olive complexion may bo cwnsed by an absence of washing-, you grow somewhat sceptical ns to the reality of their

    vaunted beauty . AH this , however , is a matter of personal taste , about which it is useless to express much opinion . VTe must content ourselves with Saying that the ltomau peasantry , as depicted year after year on the walls of the Academy , bear about the same resemblance to the article provided for home consumption , as the ladies in an ordinary London ball-room boar to the portraits in the " Book of Beauty . " " The peasants * costumes , too , like the scarlet cloaks and smockfrocks of Old England , are dying out fast . On the steps in the f Piazza di Sp agna , " and in the artists' quarter above , you see some twenty or thirty models in the braided boddices and the folded linen head-dresses , standing about for hire . The braid , it is true , is torn ; the snow-white linen dirt-besineared ; and the brigand looks feeble and . inoffensive , while the hoary patriarch plays at pitch and toss . But still they are the same figures that we know so well , the traditional Roman peasantry of the " Grecian" and the " Old Adelphi . " Alas ! tbey are the last of the Romans . In other parts Of the city , the peasant dresses are few and far between . The costume , has become so uncommon as to be now a fashionable dress for Roman ladies at Carnival time and other state festivities . On Sundays and "Testas" in the mountains , you still can find real peasantsi with real dresses ; but even here Manchester stuffs and cottons are making' their way fast , and every year the original costume becomes : rarer aiul rarer . A grey serge jacket , coarse nondescript-coloured cloth trousers and a brown felfc hat , all more or less dusty and ragged , compose the ordinary dress of the Roman working : man . Provisions are dear here . Bread of the coarsest and mouldiest quality costs , according to the Government tariff , from two to--three baiocchi > that is , from a penny to three halfpence per pound . Meat is about a third dearer than in London ; and . clothing , even of the poorest sort , is very high in price . On the other hand , lodging's of the class used by the poor are elieap enough ; Tliere . is no outlay for iiring , as even in the Coldest weather , witli the thermometer below freezing point , even well-todo Romans never think of lighting a fire j and then , in this climate , the actual quantity of victuals required by the labourer is far smaller than in our northern countries . From all these causes we feel no doubt that the cost of living for the poor is comparatively small , though of course the rate of wages is low in proportion . For ordinary unskilled labour , the wages at this season of the year are about three pauls or three pauls and a half a-day ; in summer about five pauls ; and during the height of the vintage sis . much as six or seven pauls , though this is only for a very few weeks . We should suppose , therefore , that from Is . Gd . to Is . Sd .-a-day , talcing the paul at 5 d ., were the average wages of a good workman at Rome . From these wages , however , there are several deductions . In the first place , the immense number of " Testas " tells heavily on the workman ' s receipts . On the more important feast-days all work is strictly forbidden by the Government , and either employer or labourer who was detected in an infraction of the law would be subject to heavy fines . On the minor festivals , however , about the observance of which the Church is not ho strict , labour is equally out of the question . The people have g-ofc so used to holiday-keeping that nothing but absolute necessity can induce them to work save on working days . All over Italy this feeling is too common . We were informed by a / large manufacturer in Florence , that , having a great number of orders on hand , and knowing 1 great-distress to exist among his workmen ' s families , he offered double wages to any one . who came to work on a recent "festa , " but only one or two in a hundred responded to his offer . In Rome , where every moral influence is exerted in favour of idleness against industry , the observance of . hojydays is practised most religiously . Then , too , the higher rate of wages paid in summer is counterbalanced by the extra risk to which the labourer is exposed . The ravages created by the malaria fevers amongst the ill-fed , ill-clothed , and ill-cared-for labourers , are X'eally fearful . Tlie subject , however , of the malaria , and its influence on the population , jis too wide a one to bo treated of in this letter . An allusion to the fact is sufficient for the present . The greatest curse of all to the working 1 man at Rome , greater than the " festns " or the malaria , is the middle-man system , which is almost universal . If you require any work done , from sfcqnecarving to digging , you seldom or never deal with the actual workman . If you are a farmer , and wanfc your harvest got in , you contract months before with an agent , who agrees to supply you with harvest-men in certain numbers and at a certain price , out of which price the agent pockets as large a per-centago as he can . If you are a sculptor , and wish a block of marble chiselled in the rough , the man you contract with to how the block at certain day wages brings a boy to do tho work at half tho above amount , or less . If you wish to make a purchase ,, or effect a sale , you have a whole series of commissions and brokerages to pay before you como into contact with your principal ; and so on , in every branch of trade or business . If you inquire why this system is not broken through , why tho employer ( foes not deal directly with his workman , you are told that tho custom of tho country is against nny other method ; that amongst the workmen themselves there is so much terrorism and intimidation that any single employer or labourer who contracted for work directly , would run a risk of annoyance or actual injury- —of having 1 , for example , hip block of marble split , or his tools destroyed , or a Knife stuck » nto him as ho wont home at night ; and , mox * o than all , that , without tho supervision of the actual overseer , your workmen would cheat you right and loft , no matter what wages you paid , After all , it » 0 bettor to be cheated by one man than by a hundred j and , in tact , being- at Rome , you must do as tho Romans do . It inay possibly have been observed that , in tho foregoing para *

    Untitled Article

    35 g The Leader and Saturday Analyst . [ April 14 , 1860

    Gleanings Feom Foreign Books.

    GLEANINGS FEOM FOREIGN BOOKS .

    Foreign Correspondence.

    FOREIGN CORRESPONDENCE .

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), April 14, 1860, page 358, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2342/page/18/