On this page
-
Text (3)
-
Pebbuaby 10, 1855.] T H E "L E A !D E R....
-
WHY WE SUPPORT SARDINIA. No difference c...
-
TO BOMARSUXD AND BACK. What is the truth...
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.
-
-
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.
Revolution By The Aristocracy. How The T...
the utter incompetency of the hereditary governing c lasses has " been made manifest . The middle class and the people , shunned by the Court and excluded from power , have at length their opportunity . Plebeian courage already has a chance in the army . Capacity in every rank will have a chance also . A revolution effected by the aristocracy will prove to be the forerunner of greater , changes than all the revolutions attempted by the people .
Physiologists have for the last eighty years warned us that the new forms of unmitigated factory slavery , introduced by manufacturers of this age , would produce physical deterioration among the people , and lower the stamina of the race . Distracted attention or derisive denials were all that greeted the warning . Young England , out of antagonism to Cotton England , did begin to foster country games ; but the nation was not given to physiological speculation , and Xoung Englandism proved an inefficacious remedy . At length the
recruiting sergeant reported that hundreds , with the spirit to enlist , had neither the stature nor the strength which enabled them to serve . Now , the eyes of the people , as well as of the Government , are opening ; in addition to political , we shall have , what are more important , practical and quiet social revolutions . We shall get something out of the war besides the double income-tax , and we have to thank the incompetency of the aristocracy for more than their competency ever yet conferred or was ever likely to concede .
Pebbuaby 10, 1855.] T H E "L E A !D E R....
Pebbuaby 10 , 1855 . ] T H E "L E A ! D E R . * 133
Why We Support Sardinia. No Difference C...
WHY WE SUPPORT SARDINIA . No difference can exist between the Italian patriots and their friends in other countries , except in regard to the instrument and method by means of which the objects of the Italians may be gained . The perfect independence of the whole peninsula , the selfgovernment of the people , and the popular institutions , instead of autocratic , are the objects which they , and which we , and which all patriot parties throughout the world ,
desire to attain . The only question is , how ? In this country we have strong feelings upon that question of liow , because we have already attained the same objects that the Italians desire to attain ; and at the same time some departure from the standards amongst ourselves has recalled our attention . . practically and vividly to that how for ourselves as well as others . Moreover , as we have observed
this Aveek , and often before , the same objects have been attained by other countries in our own day ; by our own colonies most effectually and completely ; and in all cases , notwithstanding diversities of opinion and of secondary circumstances , the objects have been attained , we conceive , by exactly the same means . The how , therefore , is a primary consideration .
Now in this country we have all of us , of all parties , a strong feeling that the Piedmontese are actually proceeding in iA \ e right path to obtain the instrument by which peoples are enabled to declare and to execute their own purpose , whatever that purposo may be . Wo agree with the Italians in desiring independence- and unity , whether by federation or otherwise , but we hold mucli more distinctly to the prior principle that
the people must declare- their own will ; and before they can do that they must have the means of declaring and of working it . A revolution can free them from a superincumbent oppression ; but does not-, in any but a small proportion of cases , give them the ^ instruments for securing their liberties . In many caBes we beliovo a revolution to bo necessary in order , to get . rid of the weight which prevents the action of the people j
but , like a surgical operation , although it may free the people from a feebling or controlling disease , it is not the constructive act which will make them strong ,: —will clothe , feed , or lodge them , or put them in the way'to . govern themselves . . Revolutions have nothing to do with the government of a people , but only with the getting rid of tyrants . A people may proceed to
independence with or without a revolution - — seldom entirely without it ; but it may be modified or disguised . Gur own revolutions in this country were partial conflicts , rather between classes already sharing the internal power , than the revolt of an entire community against a separate oppressing Government . But still more important than the revolution is it to get hold of the
instruments . That , we think , the Piedmontese have done . They have got a representative Government . Communities , therefore , can speak , and do speak ; and the action of Government is at once modified , strengthened , and enlarged , by the co-operation of the people . We see the result in two most important acts of the Government , one of which will perhaps scarcely be appreciated by Italian patriots , because it is not exclusively political ; the other , we are
aware , is little liked by them . The most trusted leaders of the Italian patriots know , that we who write as we are now doing , are faithful to the common objects , to the personal friendships , to the individual aid which we have rendered , and which we should be prepared to render again , collectively and individually . But not the less are we anxious to make our distinct English opinion well understood by Italians striving for objects that we possess . .. — —
The Piedmontese , by the aid of their Government , and by the means of their Parliament , are rendering themselves independent of an alien Government—not the less oppressive because its armies are clothed in black , white , and grey , instead of black and yellow . Piedmont has undertaken to deal with its ecclesiastical property . It was a defiance of the Pope , and the Pope has
accepted the challenge . He has declared the law , ab initio , " null and void . " It is a distinct J ; riaL . ofpoj ^ er __ between . Piedmont and the Church—between national indepeiidence and spiritual oppression . Piedmont , we believe , will win , because the People , the' Parliament , and the Qfown are sturdily acting together . Could the patriots have done this alone ?
Secondly , Piedmont has taken her position amongst the Governments of Europe in alliance with France , England , and—word hateful in Italian ears !—Austria , But what is the effect ? The effect is , that an immense accession—incalculable in its moral influence —has been made to the- councils of Europe . Piedmont has acquired the power of taking her atand in that council , expressing her sentiments , modifying its action . She , at all events , out of all Italy , stands independent ,
\ alued by other European Governments . She is , if not technically , virtually , a power in Europe . Small as she is , yet with her courage , her representative institutions , her combiuations between Crown , Parliament , and People , and the army which is governed by those three , she has secured exactly those things which the Italians desire , and witli them the instrument for developing her liberties , her independence , and her self-government , as she develops her own capacity for tho same .
We . arc ; far from saying that Piedmont presonta a 'perfectly popular constitution ; far from believing that the views or interests of the Court cau bo identical with those oi the Republican party . But we do say , that
the wisest patriot in the world , with the finest constitution for Italy , and the one most likely to command the assent of the whole peninsula , would find himself reduced to the position of a closet philosopher , Unless he possessed-the means of . bringing out the body of the people and giving them a handle > by which to hold public affairs . Now , in Piedmont they have that handle , and we in England , who have gone through the same labour ourselves—who have seen the labour
performed in our colonies—are much disposed to think that there is a greater advance towards political power for the entire people in Piedmont , than in any other part of Italy . Nay , that in Piedmont , if the people have sufficient intelligence , will , and fidelity , they have already acquired so much as must be with perfect certainty the means of procuring them all the rest . And the
public spirit already shown by the people of Piedmont , by the Parliament , and- —let us say it without any ungenerous qualifications —by the statesmen and by the King , convinces us that Piedmont only wants sons worthy of those parents to be henceforward a free country , a power in the world , independent alike , by her own strength of head , and heart , of Pope and Emperor .
To Bomarsuxd And Back. What Is The Truth...
TO BOMARSUXD AND BACK . What is the truth about Sir Charles Napier and the Baltic expedition ? The plain truth we do not know : truth is always difficult to arrive at ; and Sir Charles ' s recent explosion has introduced new complications and obscurities . But we will state a few facts , in the simplest manner we can , and the reader will form hi * - own opinion . Sir Charles Napier sailed from England on the 9 th of March , having made a very foolish speech at the Reform Club , which was not improved by his signal at Copenhagen" Sharpen your cutlasses . " The blockade ^ was proclaimed shortly afterwards , and maintained , as closely as ever blockade was , till the end of November . Ten vessels , we believe , actually got up to Cronstadt , but these were small coasting vessels , which manage to crawl up inside the reefs , and with cargoes of ~ soJittlej \ vorth _ that .. jthe J ^ ' et ^ eclined to exasperate the Finns by seizing them . TKe oiily manner in which the blockade has been
ineffective , has been through the overland Prussian trade , and through the blockade being entirely suspended in December and January . In May and June the fleets were principally off Hang-o and Baro Sound . At the end of the latter month the French squadron joined , and the united fleets proceeded to Cronstadt . The cholera having broken out , it was thought best to withdraw from so perilous a neighbourhood . In July each of the fleets was divided , nine French line-of-battle ships and ten English proceeded to the Aland Islands ; nine English and one French liner went to Nargen , an island
about seven miles from Revel , and about twentyseven from Holsingfors . Here our squadron lay for three months —Revel on one side , with a camp above it containing some 20 , 000 men , and Helsingfors just in sig-ht from tho mastheads . Frigates and steamers of the allied fleets were continually cruising off the latter port . No Russian liner , no frigate , lett either port till November , when a small squadron reconnoitred tho anchorage the Allies had kit at Nnrgen , and then proceeded to Cronstndt . Tho other section of the allied fleet , under Sir Ciiakles Napieb , proceeded to J 3 oni : irsinwl , which , with tho aid of 10 , 000
French troops , was captured in a very expeditious and easy manner . In October , tho twe squadrons united , tho French troops having previously retired , the fleets withdrew to Kiel
-
-
Citation
-
Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 10, 1855, page 13, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_10021855/page/13/
-