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Ko. 493. Sept, a, 1859.1 THE LEADER. *ai...
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THE STORY QF ITALY. By the Author of " M...
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THE ITALIAN WAR, 1848-0, AND THE LAST IT...
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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.
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The Principal Occurrence Which We Have T...
females of the poorest condition for the admirable fulfilment of their duties towards their families . Inthe BtSSy department two ladies were victorious . The SSJ terminated by the reading of the poem which had gained the honours'of the day , entitled " The Sister of Charity in the Nineteenth Century , " bv Mdle . Ernestine DrOuet . -,.-,,. In the Stockholm state library a number of highly curious MSS . from the hand of Svredenborg have been discovered . They are , most of them , diaries or dailv records of his inner and outer life . In that referring to the year 1734 , the famous mystic alleges very natural , and not altogether delicate reasons as the cause of his visions . Two Edinburgh papers ( the Daily Express and Weekly Herald ) ceased to exist on Saturday—their decaying remains being handed over for interment to their venerable neighbour the Mercury .
Ko. 493. Sept, A, 1859.1 The Leader. *Ai...
Ko . 493 . Sept , a , 1859 . 1 THE LEADER . * ai 3
The Story Qf Italy. By The Author Of " M...
THE STORY QF ITALY . By the Author of " Mary PovrclL" Richard Bcntloy . The late stirring events in Italy have drawn all eyes to that glorious , unhappy , and now hopeful country . Not o ly have the sympathies of every ot constitutional
people enjoying the blessings government been enlisted in its behalf , biit the great and concentrated interest felt by the literary world in this last memorable struggle for freedom and nationality is sufficiently proved by the piles of thick volumes so suddenly issued from the press , having for their common subject the history and sufferings of the Italians , together with dissertations on the causes bf their decline , fall ,
and subsequent degradation . The authoress of " Mary Powell" has with others entered the field . Her work is a neat little volume , prettily written , and of course well-intentioned . -Without aiming at any grand display of rhetorical powers , which is frequently found to be more tedious than edifying , she approaches her subject with equal distinctness and brevity . She relates in graceful and fluent language the main historical facts , one by one , as they occurred , studiously avoiding all tendency to lengthy comment , or wordy spinning out of unimportant details . Thus a great deal of information is conveyed in a comparatively small space ; while
hie more the reading of a romance than a volume of dry historical lore . We can heartily recommend this work to that section of the reading public who seek to combine instruction with amusement . Of the style the following episode in the story of Naples will afford an appropriate example ;—" While the injured people were ready to burst into maledictions and violence , warning friendly vbices from other quarters besought them to be temperate , to do nothing by their rashness to arrest the otherwise inevitable march of events . They listened , and bade , their bursting hearts be still . They held meetings , but npt illegal ones , in which they shouted their King ' s name , and , in the same breath , that of the Pope .
' At length , a petition to the King of Naples , to Bhow mercy , and favour mild reforms , was drawn up and signed by Count Balbo , the Marquis D'Azeglio , Count Cavour , and Silvio Pellico . The answer was highly unfavourable . In consequence , the Sicilians sent the King word that unless liberal institutions were granted them before his birthday , January 12 th , they should take up arms . Which they did . " The King terrified at the magnitude of the insurrection , made some ineffectual concessions ; and the n , on hearing that 20 , 000 men wopo about to march against him , he suddenly changed his tone to one of entire sympathy with his poople , and promised them a constitution !
" It was no fault of the Neapolitans that they believed In him , especially as his new ministry included Bozzelli , a known liberal . In a few days , the new constitution , drawn up by Bozzolli , appeared j but before it could take effect , events were complicated by the revolution in France , and the abdication and flight of Lo uia Philippe , " Three hundred proscribed Italians , including the venerablo Pope , joyously returned to their native land on hearing of the amnesty . " What wows awaited them ! On landing at Genoa , they heard with transport that dospotism had been overthrown in Vienna and Berlin , that the Milanese had thrown off their yoke , and , though almost unarmed , had driven out 22 , 000 Auetriana , and that Venice was free 1 It eoemed like a drenm .
put himself at their head , and' led ,, them to the governor ' s palace . Sad to relate , there were wretches among the populace who fell on the Hungarian sentinels and stabbed them , to death . It was -a bad omen . - - ' . _ ^ " The governor saved himself by flight , leaving ' supply his place Count O'Donnel , who cried , " I will do what you wish ! I will do what you wish !" " Down with the police ! A civic guard ! " cried the mob . " Yes , yes , the police shall be set aside for a civic guard—" " You must give it us in writing !" "He did so trembling ; and in a little time , the decree was published at the municipality . Then they patrolled the streets , crying" £ . ong live Pius the Ninth ! Long live independence and Italy !"
• ' But the day was not won . The Austrians under General Radetzky yet possessed the castle , the gates , and many strong positions in the city . It remained to be proved , therefore , who should be masters of Milan . " Delicate women and tender children were seen tearing up the paving-stones and carrying them into their houses to cast on the heads of their assailants . Some prepared oil , some boiling water , some sharpened their knives , brought forth their fowling pieces , or a stick with an iron point . Hundreds of barricades were constructed in the streets . " Meanwhile , the cannon boomed heavily from the castle , and were answered by the bells from thirty church-steeples . of Bohemian infant
" Suddenly a strong body ry dispersed the crowd and carried off many prisoners . Two days the strife continued , and the Milanese obtained and kept possession of the , Duomo the great square , and the viceregal palace . They attacked the police barracks : the contest continued a day and night . "On the 20 th , the municipality formed themselves into a provisional . government . passed several revolutionary decrees . The city was a complete battle-field , where balls , shells , and various missiles , fell on both sides . The Milanese felt the want of assistance from other cities , and threw urgent appeals to them Over the walls . They even sent them up in balloons , some of which fell in the Swiss confinesothers reached Sardinia and Piacenza .
, "In consequence , thousands , of volunteers flocked to Miliin ; and from the tops of church-steeples they might be . seen winding their way among the r ice-grounds and now and then falling on a body of Austrians . Within the city , every one did what he could . Astronomers observed the motions of the enemy through their telescopes from churchsteeples ; chemists prepared gunpowder and guncotton ; others melted lead for balls , or prepared cartridges . Xadies fired guns and carbines ; beardless boys wrenched bayonets from surprised soldiers . A citizen whose right hand was disabled , fired his gun with his left , —a dying man wrote on the wall , " Courage , brothers ! " with his blood . these five
. " The charity shown during days among the Milanese was universal . In many houses , the wounded wore collected and carefully tended . Ladies prepared lint and bandages—the rich gave wine and food . " , Radetzky ' s palace was taken , his soldiers disarmed but not hurt , his plate and furniture handed over to the provisional government . Towards dusk , on the fifth day , the humiliated marshal drew off his forces from the city , and , to conceal his departure , had all his artillery , consisting of sixty guns , continually shifted from place to place , and fired from difierents points , to conceal his whereabouts . A ball , howevor , discharged from one of these cannons , sot firo to a great mass of straw and hay ; and a glare of light , as brilliant as it was transient , illuminated * the retreat of the
discomfited general . " These five days had cost Radetzky five thousand mon . He retreated towards Lodi . Meantime , the provisional government of Milan took suitable measures for public safety and order . The Lombards were free ! " . It would perhaps have been well if hove and there the principal events had been extended and dilated upon , giving the reader a more enlarged arid detailed conception of the motives and springs of conduct which actuated the- leaders of tho more glorious and conflicting periods of
Italian history . The fact it * , so much is given , and with such evident skill and ability , that wo naturally crave for more ; though probably for tho general publio tho book will be more , popular in its present compressed anil unassuming form . Wo cannot close our mention of this production without alluding to one remark , worthy of notice , by the writer . She cannot believe that nations aro either nblo to appreciate or worthy of tho benefit of freedom that is achieved for them
through the energy and capacity of others , without any exertion of their own . This is a proposition in which we believe our readers will readily acquiesce . Napoleon the First gave a semblance of liberty to the Italians ; great was their joy at being restored to liberty . But , " mind you , " adds our authoress , " they had not restored themselves , and were unworthy- of it . What we don ' t earn , we don't value , or at any rate we don ' t deserve . Nothing improves our characters but that for which we have striven ; and that improves us most for which we strive with blood , and tears , and prayers . They did not deserve liberty ; neither did they have it . " Another opportunity is now given to them ; and there is reason to hope that they will use it better .
" This was In March , 1848 . On tlio 17 th , news of tho insurrection at Vienna had reached Milan . U was Hko a spark to gunpowder : crowds assembled In tho squares , shouting " Arms , and a civic guard J" ftnd demanding a leader . The podeuta
The Italian War, 1848-0, And The Last It...
THE ITALIAN WAR , 1848-0 , AND THE LAST ITALIAN POET . Three Essays . By the late Henry Lusbington , Chief Secretary to the Government of Malta . With a Biographical Preface , by Georjye Stovin Venables . —MacmiUan and Co . . Thc deceased author of this work has been compared , and justly , with the son of Mr . Hallam , in whose honour Mr . Tennyson composed his In Memoriam . Henry Ijushington was also the son of a distinguished father , and the friend both of the poet and of the friend whose life he had so memorialised . The biography before us is admirably written . Our essayist nundbered forty-three years of a life usefully and honourably spent . He was born in 1812 , and died in 1855 . The son of an eminent barrister , the parental example beneficially
influenced his character in its early formation . He was educated at the Charterhouse School , whither he was sent with his elder brother , Edmund Law Liushington , now Professor of Greek in the University ° of Glasgow . - His friend and biographer bears testimony to his instinctive love of verbal truth , and his single-minded directness in all things . " The purity and simplicity of his nature repelled every-form of vice without any apparent effort . " Henry Lushington became a student of Trinity College , Cambridge , in 1829 , at the early age of seventeen ; but his progress wafrstajsd ^ in llso by an attack of internal inflammation ,-which left hi in weak in constitution , and so produced a permanently deleterious effect on his health and strength . " He never recovered his appetite or his bodily vigour . " The whole of his future life was modified by this accident .
Henry Lushingion was nursed for two years at home , in the vain hope of restoring his former energies , and returned to Cambridge- in the autumn of 1832 . He resumed his social habits * but-no longer took any active interest iu tho objects of University ambition . Yet in that year , and again in 1833 , he obtained the Poison University Prize for Greek Iambics ; in 1834 , graduated as Senior Optime , with a first class in the classical Tripos ; and in 1836 was elected a Fellow of Trinity . In 1837 he finally ceased to reside at Cambridge , and shortly afterwards he entered himself at the Inner Temple , where he was called to the bar in 1840 . Previously to that he had distinguished himself by the composition of some essa >' sand of a pamphlet against " Follow
Com-, moners and Honorary IX'groes , " and olherwiso showed n disposition to literary production . Ilis studies were desultory , and his habit . H irregular , but his memory was wonderfully retentive and Ins taste fine . He preferred Sliclluy , Keats , Coleridge , and Tennyson to the followers of Prydun and lopp , and the artificial school of poetry . Ho was also an admirer of Thomas Cai-Iylo and Mrs . . Austun , urn I preferred tho Odys . soy to the Iliad . ^ Imktsspoiiru and Milton he knew by heart . His associates were Kkoinintlod with himself ; one of hid most valued beinn- Mr . Monckton Milnes , whose tosthnoniul to his memory follows the biography . lonnyson dedicated the « Frincoss " to him , in ooinmeinorutioh of the cordial intimacy which followed the matrimonial connexion of the families .
Mr LusJu ' iiffton ' s conversational powers were extensive , and ho was fond of society . H < a ""* was on politics , public economy , literature , art , mesmerism , und Egyptian magic . Ho contributed to a volume of " Joint Composition * by himself and Mr . Venablcs some nooms on domostio politics , entitled " Swing , " " The Coronation , " and " Cobbott ;"—versos which they wore in tho hubit of making together as they rode or walked out . With East Indian politics he was also fuwjUar , «>» fumily having been closely connected with tho
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 3, 1859, page 17, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_03091859/page/17/
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