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72 The Leader and Saturday Analyst. [Jan...
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LETTER FROM GERMANY. : Hakqver, January ...
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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Transcript
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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 [City Has Shrunk Up, Until Its Preci...
about Rome is that all these trades seem stunted m their development . The cobbler never emerges as the shoemaker , and the carpenter fails to rise : into the upholstering line of business . Booksellin" -, too , is a trade which does not thrive on Bomansoil . Altogether there is a wonderful sameness about the streets . Time after time , turn af ter turn , the same scene is reproduced . So having got used to the first strangeness of the sight , you pass on more quickly . There is no lack of life about you now . At the shop doors whole families sit working at their trade , or carrying on the most private occupations of domestic life . At every corner groups of men stand loitering about , with hungry looks and ragged garments , reminding you too forcibly of the Seven Dials on a summer Sunday . French soldiers and beggars , women and children and priests , swarm around Therewith their
you . Indeed there are priests everywhere . , long black coats and broad-brimmed shovel hats , cornea score of young priests , walking two and two together , with downcast eyes . How , without looking up , they manage to Wend their way among the crowd , is a constant miracle ; the carriages , however , stop to _ let them pass , A Roman driver would sooner run over a dozen children than knock down a priest . A sturdy , bare-headed , bare-footed monk , not over clean nor over savoury , hustles along with his brown robe iastened round his waist by the knotted scourge of cord . A ghastly-looking figure , covered in a grey shroud from head to foot , and with slits for his inouth and eyes , shakes a money box in your face with scowling importunity . A fat , sleek abbe" comes sauntering jauntily alongpeeping into the open shops , or ( scandal whispers )
, at the faces of the shop girls . If you look right or left , behind or in front , you see priests on every side . Franciscan friars and Dominicans , Carmelites and Capuchins , priests in broadcloth and priests in serge , priests in red arid white and grey , priests in purple and priests i-u rags- ^ -standing on the cliurch-steps , stopping at the doorways , coining down the alleys , looking out of the windows , you see priests everywhere and always . Their faces are , as a rule , not pleasant to look upon ; and I think at first , with' something of the " bogey "belief of childhood , you feel more comfortable when they are not too close to you . But , ere long , this feeling wears away , and you gaze at them and at the beggars with the same stolid indifference . You are getting by this time into the
heart of the city . Ever and anon the streets pass-through some square or piazza , each like the other . In the centre stands a broken fountain , moss-grown and weedy , whence the water spouts languidly . On the one side is a church , on the other some grim old palace , which , from its general aspect and the iron bars before its windows , bears a striking resemblance to Newgate gone to ruin . Grass grows between the stones , and the piazza is emptier and cleaner than the street—but that is all . You stop and enter the first church or two , but your curiosity is soon satisfied . Dull ' andbare outside , the churches are gaudy and dull within . When you have seen one , you have seen all . A crippled beggar crouching at the door , a few common people kneeling before the candle-lighted shrines , a priest or two liiiitnblmg at a side altar , half a dozen indifferent pictures btale
and a great deal of gilt and marble everywhere , an odour of incense and mouldy cloth , and , over all , a dim dust-discoloured light . Fancy all this , and you will have before you a Roman church . Oil your way you pass no fine buildings—for to tell the . honest truth , there are no fine buildings in Rome , except St . Peter ' s and the CoWseuiu , whifh lie away from the town . Fragments , indeed , of old ruins , porticoes built into the wall , bricked-up archways , and old cornice atones , catch your eye from time to time . Soon and on , over broken pavements , —up and down endless hills , —through narrow streets and gloomy piazzas , —by churches innumerable , —amidst an ever shifting motley crowd of peasants ,. soldiers , priests , and beggars , you journey onwards for some two miles or so . You are come at hu . t > to the modern quarter , where the hotels are found , and the English mo » tly congregate . Here , in two streets , the ¦ " Corso" the " C . ondotti ' * there are foot-pavements , lamps ait night , and
windows to the ahops . A fair sprinkling of second-rate equipages rolls by you , bearing the Roman ladies , with their gaudy dresses , illassorted colours , and their heavy , handsome , sensual features . The young Italian nobles , with their Euglish-cufc dress , saunter past you listlessly . The peasants are few in number now , but the soldiers , and prietittt , and beggars , are never wanting . These streets and shops , however , which seem brilliant by contrast , would , after all , be only third rate onus iu uuy other European capital , and will not detain you long . As you pass the " Piazza di Spagna" you look curiously at the arLists' models , who loiter about there , and seem , to recognise every face as » iu old * ' Academy" acquaintance . A few ateps more , and iheu you full again into the narrow streets and the decayed piu / , / . as : j ou are come to another gate . The French sentinels arc chanttiug fc uajrd . The dreary Cainpagna lies before you—and you have pubtted through Rome .
And , when our stroll wasi over , that sceptic and incurious fellowtraveller of mine would surely turn to take a last look at the dark heap of rtmfn , and chimney-pots , ana domes , which lies mouldering in the valley at his feet . If I were then to toll you , that in that city of some hundred and seventy thousand souls , there wore ten thmiMind persons in holy orders , and between three hundred and four hundred churches , of which nearly half had convents and schools attached : if X were to add , that , taking in novices , deacons , scholars , chorittt er « , servitors , and beadles , there wore jprqbably not far short on forty thousand persons who , in some iorni or other , lived upon and by' the Churuh-rtl » at h , \ n plainer woi'ds ^ Qi ng no labour ftltemeelve * , lived on the labour of oUjerjGh—you , I think , would answer then , that u vity so prjjesMnlf'e & ted , iwieftt-ruled , «» d DriesWicUen yKmUi be much such a oity as you had eeen- ^ suoh a city as Rome u now .
72 The Leader And Saturday Analyst. [Jan...
72 The Leader and Saturday Analyst . [ Jan . 21 , I 860 .
Letter From Germany. : Hakqver, January ...
LETTER FROM GERMANY . : Hakqver , January 16 th , 1860 . T HE opening of the Prussian Parliament and the . Prince Regent ' s speech occupy the foremost place / this week , in Gernian , as Well as in Prussian news . As these addresses are generally limited to internal affairs a careful perusal of them will afford the foreigner the clearest insight into the national life of Prussia . Only ^ one or two paragraphs , it will be seen , are devoted to the Peace of Villafranca and the apparently abortive Congress . I give your readers a literal translation of the speech , which , compared with that oi last year on a similar occasion ; will enable them to form a pretty correct idea of the Prince and his ministers , and the prospects of civil liberty during the rule of the three liberal Prussian estatesi each professing the fullest confidence in the other . . . from
The Prince Regent said : — " When , last year , I relieved . you your duties , we implored God to restore our beloved king and master to health . To the great sorrow of myself and the nation , it has not pleased the Almighty to alleviate the severe sufferings of his Majesty . Events of pregnant meaning have been accomplished in Europe . The war in Italy at one time approached with rapid strides the borders of Germany . The gravity of this state of things had to be confronted by a conduct equally grave;—1 ordered the mobihsar tion of six divisions of the Army . The order was being carried into effect , in conjunction with other Federal allies not concerned in the war , when the war was suddenly brought to a close . The pre iminaries of Villafranca have begn followed by the conclusion of a treaty ofpeace . Upon the invitation made in common by Austria and France my Government has declared its readiness to take a part in a Congress , whose task it would be to consider the best means of settling the affairs of Italy .
" The desire of a reform of the Federal Constitution has been manifested of late in a variety of ways : Prussia will ever regai-d herself as the natural representative of the endeavour to increase and concentrate the powers of the nation by suitable institutions , as also by measures of really practical tendency , to lu it her effectually the totality oi' Germanic interests . My Government vvill be guided by the wish to confine the activity of the Germanic Federal Assembly , in its relations with the Constitutions of the several-Slates , to the stridtesfc limits of its competencei My Government has therefore , in the affair of the Electorate of Hessia , considered it a duty , to advise a return to the Constitution of 1831 , —removing at the same time , as most consonant with-that principle , the points which are in opposition to the acts of the Diet .
"In conjunction with riiy German Federal allies , it is my constant endeavour t 0 obtain for the German countries united under the Danish sceptre a guaranteed constitution , in accordance with existing agreements and the acknowledged rights of the country . Ifc will be no less my aim in the Germanic Diet to settle the pending affairs of the Duchies in a satisfactory manner ; " The events of the past year naturally produced great disturbance in commercial affairs . My Government has beeu employed in counteracting these effects as much as possible . Public works have been prosecuted without restriction , and the railway works undertaken by private individuals have been protected against stoppage ;
trade and manufactures are beginning to recover from the consequences of that disturbance . The Mission now destined for Eastern Asia , will , I trust , conduce to the furtherance of manufactures and navigation , by the commencement of a trade based upon treaties with those newly opened countries . A squadron of our navy which , by the extra means placed at our disposal by you , will receive a considerable increase , accompanies this mission . An additional convention to . the treaty of commerce and navigation of 23 rd of June , 1845 , was concluded with Sardinia on the 223 th October last ; this will be submitted to you for your acquiescence according to the Constitution .
" We have reason to look back with satisfaction to the financial condition of the country , in spite of the evil effects of tlio military events of last year . The year ' s budget { vorjiihrigeii Stqatshaushaltsetats ) we may anticipate will suffice without ^ recurrence to extra means . This year likewise the revenue and iexpeuses have been so arranged that benideti the demands of the public service , internal improvements and pressiug requirements will be proceeded with . ¦ ' ' . ,. '¦' " The State loan in accordance with , the grant of the Chambers for military purposes was obtained without difficulty . The satisfactory result of this operation affords evidence of the patriotism of thy people , as well as of the confidence which our financial situation enjoys . As to the employment oi' the loan granted , an account will bp immediately given . A considerable residue is still in the treasury . A proposal respecting its employment will bo made to you . For the present the sum of twelve million thalera has been delivered into the treasury .
' ' The general interests of the State demand an curly solution of the laud-tax question . The bills not disposed of lu & t sesuion will again bo laid b & ibro you . I recommend them to your eonweiontious attention . M Government has had under its sorious consideration tho town mid , rural municipal relations , and the development of the district and provincial regulations promised by the Legislature of 1853 . Most probably the , draft of a law with reference to the districts will be submitted to you . The draft of a law ibi determining the oleptorul districta is intended to remedy' inanilold evils . " The Divorce Bill will Again be . laid boibro you , I truly wish tioat this iinpovtujnt and pressing 1 reform may be decided upon . " Several drafts of Bills intended to relievo the loDg' -lVlb wants of several dietrict » will be laid before you .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 21, 1860, page 20, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_21011860/page/20/
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