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240 ' The Leader and Saturday Analyst. [...
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Hanovee, March 5th, 1860. IF Mr. Bright ...
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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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Foreign Correspondence. (Special.) Rome,...
nies As the time approached the streets began to fill , as oh other years , with carriages and footfolk in holiday attire . Their faces , however , were turned from , not towards , the Corsp . By some mysterious system of communieatioa , which seems ever to floui-ish beneath despotic governments , it became known , without proclamation or notice , that the rpad beyond the Porta Pia was the spot fixed on for the city ' s rendezvous . Along this road , which leads to the Mows Sacer , whither the plebeians went forth in olden time in behalf of freedom , the Roman people poured out in numbers , to show that they also were not forgetful of the past . Throughout the Carnival hours , there was one long string of some four or five hundred carriagesstretching from the gate to the convent of Saint
, Agnese . The footpaths were densely lined with thousands of -welldressed , respectable Roman citizens ; ' the class , in fact , whom you looked for in vain amongst the Gorso ' s mob . There were no shouts , no crowding , no demonstration of any kind , save that conveyed in the presence of the vast orderly multitude . The day was one of the few Spring days we have had this year . The Campagna looked fresh and green ; the distant hills , snow-capped and shadowstriped , shone out bright ; and clear in the rich evening light ; and the people around you seemed to enjoy the . scene , quietly , if not boisterously . It is true there were neither confetU nor mazzol & iti , but then there were no French soldiers , and few
gendarmes . , ,. On the Saturday , the demonstration was repeated , with much tbe same features , save that , this being a working day , there were fever people on foot , and the carriages were of a more aristocratic character . The great event of the day , however , was the appearance of the public executioner . The feeling all over Italy about the " Carnefice" is one which we cold-blooded Northerns find it difficult to comprehend . He is always at Rome , a criminal condemned to death , who has consented to purchase his life by the acceptance of the loathed office . He is forbidden to pass the river , or indeed to leave the " Rione , " or district of St . Angelo , where lie
lives , except on duty , and never does so for the best of all reasons , that , unguardedi he would ran the greatest risk of being torn to pieces by the mob . : Vtfith that ; petty spite and silly petulance which characterises our Papal rulers , they resolved to insult the crowd at the Porta Pia , who refused to coine and amuse themselves hire good , children in the Corso ; and no more appropriate or refined insult could be conceived than sending up the " Carnefice " to drive along the road , protected by a dozen sbirri . Even this insult failed to produce the desired outbreak , which would have given the Government a plea for dispersing the crowd . The next day , a pasquinade appeared ; thanking- the Governor of Rome , in th e name of the Roman people , for ha-ving sent his Secretary to the Porja
Pia , as he was not able to come himself . This was all the outward sign ; but when the heavv day of reckoning comes between the priests and their subjects , the " hangman ' s mission " will neither be forgotten nor forgiven . On the last day of the Carnival the Porta . Pia road was full as usual , and the Covso filled , as usual , with soldiers , and spies , and rabble . An order was published , that any person appearing out of the Corso with lighted tapers would be arrested , and , therefore , the idea of an evening demonstration outside the gates was dropped , | Not all the efforts , however , of the police could light the moccoleiti in the Corso . House after house , window after window , were left unlighted . The crowd in tlie street carried no candles , and there were only sixteen carriages or so , all filled with strangers . Of all the dreary sights I have ever witnessed , that moccaletti illumination wns the dreariest . At rare intervals ,
and in English accents , you heard the cry of " Senza moccolo , which used to burst from every mouth as the tiny flames flickered , and glared , and fell . Efefore the sight was half over ,, the spectators began to leave , and while I pushed niy way through tlio dispersing crowd , I could still hear the faint cry of " Senzn jnoccolo . '' As thq sound died away , the cry still haunted me ; and , in my recollection , the Carnival of 1860 will ever remain as the dullest and dismnllest of Carnivals- — the Carnival without mirth , or sun , or gaiety—the " Carnival senza moccolo , "
240 ' The Leader And Saturday Analyst. [...
240 ' The Leader and Saturday Analyst . [ March 10 > 1860
Hanovee, March 5th, 1860. If Mr. Bright ...
Hanovee , March 5 th , 1860 . IF Mr . Bright is justified in his condemnation of tho war alarm or invasion panic in England , then , most assuredly , the entire people of Gormany- ^ -the jjvofoundest thinkers in the world , according to many learned English writers , have become as superficial arid siUy as those whom Mr . Bright so loudly ridicules ; foi » I doubt whether a doaen men could be fo \ md in this country who do not fully shore your doubts and fears ; nay , move , you are absolutely charged with apathy nnd political blindness by all journals excepting those in tlie interest of Russia , which , singularly enough , are disposed to qlap vou on tho back for tho good sense you evince in your foreign policy . Your indifference } or shortsightedness with
regard to tho net which is spread before you , is the constant theme of , all the Gorman journals . As may bo imagined , it is very anausjng to hoar you blamed by Mr . Bright mid others hi Bnalmid for your impolitic suspicion ni > d groundless fears , whilo all tho journals of this country lire exclaiming 1 : " Mistrust ! mistrust ! thq more peaceably inclined , the more moderate the Emperor of the French appears , mistrust him eo much tho move : but not mjstrust alpno—courage , eournge , cournpjq . " The progress made by Buonapartism in iCuropc , says tho Jf eser Gazette , is watched with fcho liveliest nnxiuty . Tho CabiMets make qftbrts now nnd then to stem tho progress , but no sooixor has thq Cabinet of the TujUorjes a success , an accomplished ftiot ' to show , than these efforts instantly
cease , till another Napoleonic idea is brought forth , and then the efforts recommence , to be , however , set at rest again by another success , another fait aecqmpli . Thus it is that , in spite of- all warnings and representations , the French Emperor is permitted to remove ^ one obstacle after another that stands in the way of the accompiisUment of his views , and to approach nearer and nearer to the grand objent of his life , which object is nothing less than ¦ French supremacy in Europe . . It is the general belief tli . afc the war in the Crimea and tlie war in . Italy were undertaken for the purpose of sowing animosity among the other nations , breaking alliances , isolating his rivals , and accustoming his troops to fight preparatory to the grand swoop upon the Rhine , where one . victory will enable him to laugh all
efforts to scorn . The people of this country are m despair to observe at this eventful period the disunion existing among the confederate princes . At this moment Germany is divided within herself . Even in a matter of such importance as the reform of the army the States are opposed to each other . The arguments advanced by Prussia in the proposals lately made for a revision of the German Federal army have been formally replied to by Hanover in a lengthy note . All things considered , the Hanoverian Cabinet declares resolutely against the division of the Federal army into two parts , as propbsed by Prussia ¦(«' .. ., the absorption into tlie
Prussian and Austrian armies of all the different contingents ) . Hanover perceives in tlie realization of this scheme the destruction of all the middle and smaller states , whose independence Hanover- is anxious to maintain , not only in her own particular interests , bufcin those of all Germany . The Hanoverian Government is of opinion that although , the Federal military organisation is open to improvement , ' the system upon which it is based , is , for the ivhole of Germany ; the best that could be devised , and that nothing ; further is required but a uniform , and sound system of discipline in the several contingents , and patriotic self-denial on the part of the confederate princes . The iiote is signed Platkn Haij . eehund .
In the affair of the coast defences also Hanover still declines to enter into the plan of Prussia , or to . adopt any measures in concert with that-country which have not the acquiescence and support of alt members ofthe Coiifederation , i . ., the . Diet . As a maritime Federal power Hanover considers , herself not equal merely , but ; superior to Prussia , and regards the initiative adopted by that power in a question of naval defences , as an attempt to establish a supremacy over the Confederation . In this view . Hanover is seconded ' by Austria , Bavaria , Saxony , Hessia , and ,, several of the lesser states .
According to . private letters from Flensburg the Banish Government is taking somewhat high-handed measures against the members of the Provincial Assefnbty . " Their houses are entered and searched by the police , and letters addressed to members are detained at the post-office , and afterwards read by officials in the presence of the parties to ¦ whom the letters are addressed . Letters addressed ¦ " Sohleswig-Holstein , Germany , instead of " Schleswig " or " Holstein , Denmark , " are immediately returned , marked by the post officials , " False address . " The animosity between the German and Danish or Scaiidinavian party is , constantly on the increase , arid an intriguing foreign foe might , without much difficulty at this moment , fan this smouldering hatred into a flame . It is incomprehensible to the impartial observer , how , in the present day , two
kindred nations like the Danes and Germans , with France and Russia on their flanks , and threatening their very existence ., can continue to cherish and encourage a hatred of each other so unchristian and imprudent- Tlie tyranny , actual or pretended , ol the Punish Government ; is not . sufficient ground for tho bitter enmity evinced by the Germans . The . King of Denmark or Duke of Holstein is quite -as much'a German prince as tho sovereigns ' of Hessia and Saxony , who , heaven knows , grant , their subjeets but little liberty , and whose people are quite as deserving of compassion and sympathy as tho Holstemers . That thq' Dunish Government is guilty of the greatest folly in not granting the fullest liberty to the inhabitants of the duchies , as regards the conduct of theii internal affairs , thq use of the German language , the choice of their
officials , schoolmasters , & c , is evident by the effects . The duchies nre burning for an opportunity to revolt , and the Gevmnu people , who ought to bo the friends and allies and bulwark of JDamnarl ; against Russia , arc its most inveterate enemies . It is evident that the people , as represented by their writers , . whatever mny bo said of tho Governments , have no clear conception of their trno interest with refovenco to t \ ieir internal and foreign policy . . The Germans , while watching with fiyverish anxiety every move of Louis Napoleon ' s , and firmly persuaded that it is his aim to inulvo the Rhino thq " natural" boundary of Franco , take no care to conciliate either Danes or Dutch , far less tlie Slavonians ; Instead o /
endeavouring 1 to make allies , or , at any rate , friends of tho people of Dennmrk and Holland , tlie mnritimo countries of geographic Germany—and who by origin , religion , and hing-imgo nro part nnd parcel of themselves—they huvo by thoir writings rather tluin by their actions thrown those bravo seafaring 1 nations into tho anus of Germany ' s mortal foes . This must bo apparent to every Oevmnn ; and yefc ' Mofc one voice is vuise , d to effeot betimes , boforo the evil day overtakes us , a reconciliation botween tho kindred people . Press an , d popple , the writton and the spoken word , are devoted to \ videninjj tho bronoh .
On the 21 st ult ., when , the motion of Count IJauoissin roflpecting freedom of the press was to havo como on for disoussion in tho Provincial Assembly , tho Government committsionor read a paper oinanutingr from tho Danish ministoi' Baron J 5 i . ix . KNrFisBCKKX . In this writing all the nets n , n 4 political tendencies of tho members
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), March 10, 1860, page 20, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_10031860/page/20/
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