On this page

• Departments (1)
  • 
• Text (3)

  Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

  • 

    Untitled Article

  • 

    Untitled Article

  • 

    PROTESTANTISM IN ITALY.

• Transcript

  • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

    Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

    Untitled Article

    succeeded in landing on our shores would have met for some time with little resistance worth mentioning ; now , more than a . hundred thousand trained and disciplined men are ready to co-operate with the regular army in its resistance to any foe who may he mad enough to assail us . Has it ever occurred to any one to ask to what man or body of men—to what journal or iiumher of journals—we are indebted for this great result ? We fear not . The man who originates a movement of this kind has to fight , in the commencement , against

    obstacles which seem almost insuperable . He is derided or refused a hearing ; pooh-poohed as an impracticable dreamer , until something occurs which makes everybody a convert to his views , and then he is deliberately ignored . Everybody professes to be struck by the same idea at the . same time , and takes credit for his own genius or patriotism in putting it zealously forward . However usual this neglect may be , it is not the less discreditable , and we are not willing to see the man to whom England is mainly indebted for this revival of a martial spirit and provision of a sure and cheap defence deprived of the credit to which he is

    entitled . Eight or nine years ago , Mr . Alfred B . Richards , a gentleman well known as an earnest and able advocate of popular rights , urged upon the Government of the day , in different organs of public opinion , the importance of encouraging the people to take up arms in their own defence . The time was not propitious . The world was then wrapped in a dream of universal peace ; and when , two or three years afterwards , that dream was rudely dispelled by the Russian war , our alliance with France indisposed people to a measure which was principally necessary its a precaution against the ambition and hatred of that country .

    When , however , the addresses of the French colonels , at the time of the Conspiracy Bill , had warned Englishmen of the danger to which they were exposed , Mr . Richards , who took a prominent ~ part in the public agitation which led to the defeat of that measure , reneived his efforts to awaken the people to the importance of taking up arms , and the Government to the duty of encouraging them by facilitating the establishment of rifle clubs . Mr . RiciiardFs eloquent appeals , in the columns of the Morning Advertiser— a journarwhich has been the consistent and zealous supporter of the movement all along , and which gave the cause all the benefit of its influence , whilst it was sneered

    at in other quarters , must be familiar to many of our readers . But Mr . Richards did not content himself with urging his views through the press . He called a meeting at St . Martin ' s Hall , in March of last year , over which Sir Charles Napier . presided , and when the necessity of the measures he had so longadvocated was strongly affirme ' d . That meeting launched the movement the great results of which we now witness . The 5 irbject-was-at-once'teken-up-in-t 4 ie— colimxns ~ of ^ lxe _ JZ ^ J 2 i ^ ia » d _ , other leading journals , and the Derby ministry issued the famous

    Circular to Lords Lieutenant , inviting the formation of rifle clubs . The invitation was at once responded , to , and the movement , which was stimulated greatly by the differences which appeared to exist between the policy of England and Fiance during the autumn , has gone on increasing throughout the country . So ' far as we are aware , the . great services of Mr . Richards have never been recognised . He originated the movement , and the men the movement caught up seem to . look with complacency upon themselves as its founders .

    We think the enthusiastic advocates of rifle corps might find some way to show their recognition of these merits ; for ourselves , although no indiscriminate admirers of the movement , we feel bound to give our testimony to the claims of Mr . Rtchards to be regarded as its originator , anxious all the more to do bo because that gentleman has , with rare modesty , refrained from pressing them himself upon public attention .

    Untitled Article

    moreover , they have made with becoming ardour , the warmth of which was only last week demonstrated to be proof against disappointment and the wet weather . The feeling within the breast despised the outward inclemency of the skies , and consoled the owner for the ; loss of pageant arid illumination . It did even more—for when superstitious priestcraft would represent the aspect of the elements as unfavourable , it scorned the sinister accident

    augury , and refused to be depressed by the season ' s . The Bolognese reflected that the same rain that drenched them to the skin , also saturated the citizens and denizens of Rome , and threatened as much Pio Nox o as it did Victor Emmanuel . Meanwhile the English people have read of these things , and tacitly approved them;—but our sympathy has not been demonstrably expressed . We have assumed the attitude of spectators , not that of actors in the scene .

    The reason of this apparent apathy is traceable to the difference in religious faith . The Protestant intelligence of England credited little the assurance of Civil liberty when unconnected with Religious ; and with the latter , being of a different creed , it would not assume that it had a right to interfere . Very different would be the feeling of this country , were there any probability that the chains of St . Peter would ere long be cast off from the consciences of men . Individuals have , indeed , thought it a good opportunity to assail the unity of the Catholic Church in Ttaly , and attempts were very lately made in Rome to procure toleration for various forms of worship ; but these were of a sectarian

    kind , and manifested more of fanatic zeal than pious discretion . Rumours , however , are now afloat that there is an undercurrent in Rome itself of Protestantism , and that when the downfall of the Pope's temporal power has been achieved , such Protestantism is sufficiently strong in numbers and conviction to declare itself , and assert , at least , equality with the now dominant belief . Sueh rumours , it may be conceded , are not strongly confirmed > nor even abundantly bruited;—they consist of a line or two in foreign correspondence , or a parenthesis in a newspaper sentence ;—they are intimations rather than assertions , introduce themselves by the way rather than in a direct manner ; but

    perhaps they are all the more significant on that account , being , as it were , indiscreet revelations which have escaped the lips unintentionally , and suggest to the close observer the state of the heart , winch had an interest in keeping so important a secret unspoken . When the curb from the mouth thus falls of itself , the least brpken accent is a discovery , and tends to the full disclosure of the mystery it so imperfectly symbolizes . Curiosity and suspicion are awakened;—hope kindles in the slave , whose freedom is at hand , and fear trembles in the tyrant , whose power is threatened . The second-sighted already perceive the cloud no bigger than a man ' s hand that prognosticates the

    ¦ tempests- — . — , . — . <___ . . . . . . . .. . . . _ - . l , While , therefore , we think that too much importance should not be given to these hints of an underlying Protestantism among the Roman population , we are far from saying that no notice should be taken of them . It is reasonable that murmurs and whispers should precede the decided announcement of a movement so momentous in its character , and which must be sa pregnant with consequences of the greatest weight , both in the Church and the world . We know not whether the Evangelicals , whose doings were some time ago tolerated , have any connection with the alleged secret Protestant sentiment , and acknowledge

    that we have been accustomed to regard religious reform in Italy under a different aspect from either . Catholicism , we knew , had long been separated from Papalism in that country ; and , considering the artistic nature of the people , we had thought that the course that religious reform would take would be that of separating these in fact ns well as in idea . We had thought , indeed , that the gorgeous ceremonies of the Church would be retained , while the . infallibility of the Pope would be denied , and thus a moic free and ample arena obtained for doctrinal discussion .

    What might'follow on this , in the course of time , we could not conjecture ; it might be ultimately a purification of the priesthood and ceremonial rites , and an entire deliverance of the great body of believers from a degrading superstition . But if Marioltttry , in the secret hearts of the people , have already lost its power , and the severe spirit of Protestantism luwo indeed entered into the souls of worshipping men and women , the " consummation so devoutly to be wished" is Higher than we ' had contemplated . We need not soy that we shall rejoice

    fliHE regeneration of Italy , dear as it has been to the hearts of JL many English poets , orators , and reflecting men , has hitherto been rather an aesthetic dream , pertaining to a few , than a political aspiration pervading the body of the English people . That the Italians were worthy of freedom has been believed with sufficient readiness , nnd we have accepted the fact on the evidence of travellers and authors , that the Italian peasant is a possible hero—that he shows it in his mien and gesture , in his flashing eye , and in jus fiery passions . Only one condition was needed to their complete emancipation , and that was that they should concur in the expediency of union , nnd show to their tyrants an undivided front , thus bringing all their strength to bear on the great contest for liberty . And now the time has at length come when this indispensable condition has been fully observed ; and all Italians , under one king , have proclaimed their willingness to be regarded as one nation . This proclamation ,

    at it . ' There are , certainly , some overt corroborations to these covert signs of a coining ecclesiastical reformation . The existence of this underlying current may be one of the reasons for the reluctance of the French Emperor to withdraw his troops from the Romngna , nnd his willingness that General Lamoriciehe should undertake the conduct of the Papnl army . The extent of the influence cannot , however , he suspected by the French general ,

    Untitled Article

    442 The Leader andSaturday Analyst . [ May 12 , 1 $ 6 ( X .

    Protestantism In Italy.

    PROTESTANTISM IN ITALY .

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), May 12, 1860, page 442, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2347/page/6/