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September 6,1856.] THE L E A D EB, 853
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ITALIAN PARTIES. The national aspiration...
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THE NIGHTMARE OF THE HEAILT. Teceue is n...
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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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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La Mas™?W5$S3& R ?J °* ™> Soho0lmas1er ....
as that since 1832 ; look at the improvements in various things connected to the town ; look back and . you -will be astonished ; it is with amazement your to ^ vn has arrived to the present position , as It is at this day . ( Cheers ^ Though it is an old town , it was granted ¦ when the privilege—I just mentioned that your father was our representative , and it is one of those towns which was given in the reign of Edward tie Eighth . ( Roars of laughter . " ) I beg pardon ; it was one given in
the reign of Edward the First . ( Applause . ) And look from that privilege which was given at that time , and look at those other towns which had the same privilege granted to them , and draw the comparison betwixt this town . Look at Lancaster , which , ought , if properly managed , to be the capital of the world . ( Laughter . ") When you . compare with that privilege , or those privileges which the sovereign gave at that time—compare the prosperity and improvements of the town of Preston . ( Cheers !) Xook at the difference betwixt those oldfashioned towns and -what the town of Preston has
arrived to . { Cheers . ) What can that be the cause of ? It must be from some cause-or other that the improvements , and the buildings , and the greatness of the towns has arrived to at this present time . ( Cheers . ^ Now , my lord , there wants the hanswer [ answer ] . There is a question , to draw a comparison betwixt what will take us near the connexion , connected as we are to Lancaster and Preston . ( Cheers . ) Here you will go over to Lancaster —you "will find Lancaster almost the same as it . was twenty yeais ago . Here , our noble chairman , when his father represented us thirty years ago—look at the difference in the improvements , which has taken place in towns , and draw the comparison . What is the cause of all that ? What & the cause of all that ? It Is the
inhabitants—it is the energies of Preston—it is the people of the town which has made those great improvements in the town as it is at the present day . Look back that we had scarcely a church in the town , we lad scarcely an institution in the town , we had scarcely ( which I have lived in the town , near sixty years ) scaicely a place to put out heads through to worship that God we are depending upon . Look at the great improvements , at the town what it has arrived to in that way . Now , gentlemen , I have said sufficient about the town ; now is the trade . ( Laughter ?) It is not a very pleasant thing to make a speech at the fag end of a meeting . { Boars of laughter . ) I know my friend Colonel Patten knows
that very well by experience . ( Continued laughter . ) Now there is the trade . What / would you do without your trad * ? You have got your town—the town must be made lefore you can bring your trade 5 and the town , and the tTadesmen of the town , that is the question of those great improvements which we know to are arriving in at the present day . "— -In the same strain , the speaker plunged iato an obscure expatiation on the qualities of the tradesmen of the town , but was precipitated to a conclusion by unmistakable symptoms of impatience . He thus wound up : " May I long live to see my noble friend here ; let him come here again , and I shall be happy to return you thanks to the town and trade of Preston . " ( Laughter and cheers . )
There is- . no suggestion that tlxe speaker was not perfectly sober , -when he delivered this extraordinary oraele ; indeed , we have no doubt -whatever but that upon tins occasion the honourable gentleman was quite as logical / and as lucid as he ever can . be . But let us reflect for one moment upon these two startling facts ; firstly , that this quality of intellect is not incompatible with business ability : and secondly , that it is -upon such men as these that the welfare of many thousands of our operatives is dependent .
September 6,1856.] The L E A D Eb, 853
September 6 , 1856 . ] THE L E A D EB , 853
Italian Parties. The National Aspiration...
ITALIAN PARTIES . The national aspirations of Italy have been developed since the commencement of the present century in several different forms . First , the Carbonari , mystical humanists , spreading from Naples over the peninsula , were sworn to a crusade against the rule of the Po pedom and the Stranger , whether in the first or second degrees . Their political plan included the establishment of the Ausonian Republic , distributed into
twentyone provinces , each qualifying a representative in the Central Assembly , and the election of two executive kingB , one to assume the administration of home affairs , the other to conduct the business of diplomacy . These kingSjAviththe general body of representatives ., would hold their offices for twenty-one yeara —the masonic combination of three with seven to produce twenfcy-ono being the basis of the arrangement . A scheme of this character was , of course , impracticable ;
probably , however , its authors would have assented to any fortuitous result that seemed to promise liberty and peace . The remarkable feature in their programme , however , was this ; that while declaring the Papacy irreconcilable with the national life of Italy , they incorporated the Christian , faith in their programme , and at first even contemplated offering the Pope the direction of religious affairs .
In 1814 s , while a Congress of Kings sat at Paris , while Napoleon meditated over his defeats , while Prince Eugene intrigued for an Italian kingdom , the National , party announced tliat , Spain and Germany having thrown off the French yoke , Italy would spurn it also ; and some historical critics have avowed their belief that this outcry opened the way to Austrian usurpation . It is true that the National party failed , that it had
miscalculated its forces , and misconceived , its proper object ; it was a sect , " not then a nation—and Italy was carved into pieces by the Congress of Vienna . Though no longer Emperor of the Romans—that title no Congress would have dared to revive ;— -the Emperor of Xttstbia was more powerful than ever in his own Italian dominions , and . tlie semi-independent states . Centralization i bureaucracy , and police government had been introduced from France . Nothing good had gone out from Paris to Italy .
It is true , also , that all the brilliant hopes which had animated the Italians in their resistance to Bonapaute were disappointed . England refused to guarantee , against the perjury of the Bourbons , the Sicilian Constitution of 1812 . On the contrary , she abandoned liberalism everywhere . The Carbonari became a proscribed sect . Spies , confessors , anathemas , prisons , and scaffolds constituted the weapons of the Eeaction , which armed itself , in addition , with the zeal of the Society of the Holy Faith . Every member of that murderous association was thus sworn :
" I swear to have no mercy on any person belonging- to the infamous Liberal Society ; I swear to have no mercy on old men . or children ; I swear that I willslied their Hood to the last drop , without regard to sex or condition . " This being the new form of power established in the Italian peninsula , several writers have regretted the eipulsion of the French , and the destruction of the hopes of Eugene 3 $ eatjiiabnais . Giuseppe Monta-NELLi , * in particular > considers that it would have been wise to construct from the wreck
of the Napoleonic empire an Italian Tealm for Beauiiabnais , who might have held the peninsula against all invaders . But is Italy for ever to be the sport of foreign dynasties ? Can no deliverance arise except beyond the frontier ? Montanei / li is eloquent ; , and profoundly acquainted with the complex movements of Italian history ; and he is forced to admit that the kingdom of Italy had then become impossible . A real National party had arisen , as firmly opposed to French as to Austrian influence , and its principles
struck deep roots into the soil . Above the mysticism of the Carbonari rose the virtue of Pepe , the intellect of Santakossa , the eager patriotism of Confa ^ oniebi . In 1820 the movement was considered ripe ; but the Italians had not learned how easily n king may bo forsworn . "When Febdinano IV . exclaimed , " Almighty God , who knpwest the secrets of all souls , and of the future , smite me this instant with thy thunder , if thou seest that I lie now , or can break my oath hereafter ! " — when he uttered with profane emphasis this dreadful oath—the Neapolitans were so simple as to bo per-* Revue de Paris ( July ) . "Lo Parti National Itnliea ; sea Vicissitudes ct BesEspe * rances . "
suaded;—for did notthe King call Heaven to be his witness , sis though he were a President swearing to guard a Republic ? He was then preparing for the reception of fifty thousand Austrians to suppress the Constitution . That was one cause of the alienation of the Italian people from monarchy . The Piedinontese King supplied another , by ac-Austrian
cepting aid against the Constitutionalists . Thus was the National party driven at once into a n irrevocable feud with The Stranger , and into a tendency towards the old republican aspirations . Beechet wrote their lyrics ; the Carbonari sang them ; bat for ten years the reaction went on victoriously , and scaffolds and prisons enforced silence throughout the peninsula .
In 1831 a new attempt resulted in a new failure , Austrian bayonets overpowering the whole force of the National party . Then it was that Carbonarism seemed to disappoint the people . They despised its timidity , they almost distrusted its zeal . The chiefs of Young Italy , Mazzini and Guekazzi , held forth , a popular hope , and the national
movement began to take its directions from them . Chaiixes AiBEBT mounting the Piedmontese throne , they invited him to become the champion of Italy . He rejected and resisted tlie idea . Hewas the scourge of the inert insurrection : he planted in the national mind hatred which was never eradicated , and some of his tergiversations are not unnaturally repaid in suspicion to his successor .
Three great developments of the National principle in Italy remain to be studied ; but the history of the first alone suffices as an explanation of the schisms that have given strength to The Stranger . The great Liberal party has had its confidence in a monarchy destroyed , yet a large number of Italian pa ^ triots refuse to act , except in the service of monarchical traditions . This is the complaint
of Mazzini , and it is a just complaint , for even now Giuseppe Montanel : di is the apologist of Napoleonic intrigue . As long as any Italian , whether a simple political leader or a . reigning Icing , manifests an inclination to reconcile the National with the Bonapartist Idea , the nation , educated'by the events of the last forty years , will suspect his propositions and reject his counsels .
The Nightmare Of The Heailt. Teceue Is N...
THE NIGHTMARE OF THE HEAILT . Teceue is nothing so ridiculous as the arising of the absurd in the midst of a tragedy ; the most painful melancholy is startled at once to a deeper consciousness of itself and to a keener sense of practical wit—the ¦ union of remote ideas—when , in the midst of a calamity , it encounters some ludicrous incident . A few days back there were living in Dudley , Aun Babb , the daughter of a tavernkeeper , and John Dance , the son of another tavern-keeper . The two were cousius . Thegirl is said to have borne a very high character lor conduct as well as disposition . Her cousin was in love with her , but he was not encouraged cither by her family or herself . They had "been to some extent separated , and not long since , on returning to her , he wrote a letter persisting in the declaration of his affection , and intimating that he hoped for a more cordial return of it . It seems that ha was again doomed to disappointment ; for the next fact known is , that with two small pistols he first shot her in the face and neck so as to endanger her life , and then shoots himself effectually , dying ou the spot . Nothing can bo more tragic . " Yet , who can Tcad the letter that is left behind him , and refrain from laughter at more than one passage ?—Dear Ann , —I now right to you hopcing that it will find you quite well in health as it loaves me at this time . You may think that I had forgotten you , but I have not , nor can I forget those who I have oncoliad the pleasure of folded in my arms , and X think X had tho pleasure of
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 6, 1856, page 13, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_06091856/page/13/
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