On this page
-
Text (2)
-
June 23; I860.J The Leader and Saturday ...
-
ALLEGED LIBELS IN NEWSPAPERS. rpHERE are...
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.
The Papal Question Solved By Napoleon Th...
This report was accompanied by the minutes of three decrees . The first referred tor the future government of the Eternal City , aud was sketched out in the following articles : — " Art . 1 . Rome is a free Imperial city . _ "Ait . 2 . The palace of the Quirinal , with its dependencies , is declared to be an Imperial palace . ¦ i . . _ " Art . 3 . The confines between the territory of Borne and pur kingdom of Italy are to be determined by a line , which , starting from Arteveri , passes through Baccano , Palestrina , Mariuo , Albano , Monterqtondo , Palombara , Tivoli , and thence , keeping always at a distance of two miles inland from the sea , returns to Arteveri . " Art . 4 . The lands of all communes intersected by the above line form the territory of Rome , excepting all lands that lie between the line aud the sea coast . ' •' Art . 5 . A Senator ftnd a Magistracy of forty Conservators are to form the Government of the city and its territory .
" Art . 6 . The executive power resides in the Senator ; the legislative with the Magistracy of the Conservators . The Senator has the initiative in all projects of law . *• Art . 7 . The office of the Senator is for life ; that of the Conservators for four years . The Magistracy is to be renewed every year for one-fourth of its members . In the first three years , lot is to decide who go out ; afterwards , the members shall retire by rotation . " Art . 8 . Ten Conservators , at least , shall be chosen frojm the different communes which compose the territory of Rome . " Art . 9 . The Senator is always to be nominated by us and our successors . For the first election alone we reserve to ourselves the right of nominating the Magistracy of the Conservators . Hereafter , as vacancies occur , the Senator shall nominate the Conservators from a double list presented to him by the Magistracy .
" Art . 10 . The judicial functions are to be exercised in the name of the Senator , by judges nominated by him . Their appointment shall be for life . They cannot be removed , except for fraud or neglect of duty , recognised as such by the Magistracy , or on being sentenced to any disgraceful or penal punishment . "Art . 11 . Five Ediles , nominated after the same fashion as the Conservators , shall superintend the preservation of the ancient monuments and the repairs of the public buildings . For this purpose a special fund ( the amount to be determined by the Government ) shall be placed yearly : . at theicdisposal .- ^ " Art . 12 . Between > the Kingdom of Italy and the Roman Statethere shall be no intermediate line of customs or duties . The Government of Rome mayy however , impose an octroi duty on victuals at the gates of the city ; ; " Art . 13- For — years no ecclesiastic can hold a civil office in Rome or its territory . " _ The second decree declare * that the Papal States , with the exception of the Roman" territories above described , are irrevocably and in perpetuity annexed to the Kingdom of Italy , and that the " Code Napoleon" is to be the law of the land . The third is headed , " Dispositions with regard to his Holiness , " and disposes of * the Papal question in this somewhat summary manner : —? ¦' " We , Napoleon , by the grace of God and by the Constitution , Emperor of the French , King of Italy , Protector of the Rhenish Conf ' ederationr—— . ~ ^~ . —— , , —— . , ——— , , — - " Having regard to our first decree concerning Rome , have decreed , and decree as follows : — " Art . 1 . The Church and the Piazza of St . Peter , the palace of the Vatican and that of the Holy Office , with their dependencies , are a free possession of his Holiness the Pope . " Art . 2 . All the property of the Capitol and the Basilica of St . Peter are preserved to those institutions , under whatever administration the Pope may please to appoint . " Art . 3 . His Holiness shall receive a yearly income of one million Italian francs , and shall retain all the honorary privileges he has enjoyed in past times . , " Given at our Imperial Palace of St . Cloud , " this—day of Sept . 1808 . " In the midst of the Spanish campaigns , these documents were perused and approved by the Emperor , who wrote to Aldini , at that time in Italy , and told him to make private inquiries as to whether the time was opportune for the promulgation of these decrees , and whether it -was expedient to require the clergy to take an oath of allegiance to the new constitution . Ali > ini ' s reply contains the following remarkable passage : — " The Pope , who has never enjoyed the good opinion of the Roman public , has succeeded in these latter days in winning the sympathy of a few fanatics , who call his obstinacy heroic constancy , and wait every day for a miracle to be worked by God in his defence . " Except these bigots , and a few wealthy persons who dread tho possibility that , under a change of government , their privileges might be destroyed , an 4 the taxes on property increased , all classes are of one mind , in desiring a new order of things , and all alike long for its establishment . " I must " n 6 V' ^ wever , '''' cdnfteat "' froin" you that this universal sentiment is chiefly duo to two causos : —Firstly , to the idea that the payment of the interest on the public debt will be resumed , as in truth a great number of Roman families depend on those payments fortheir income ; and , secondly , to the hope that Rome will become the capital of a great state , a hope which the Romans know not how to renounce . " Under these circumstances , Count Aldini goes on to recommend that hopes should be held 6 ut of an early resumption of payments on the national debt , and that n provisional air should be
given to the proposed arrangement , so as to keep alive the prospect of a great kingdom , of which Rome should be the centre . He deprecates enforcing an oath , of allegiance on the clergy , on the ground that " priests will consent to obey the civil government ; but all will not consent to swear allegiance to it , because they consider obedience an involuntary act , and an oath a voluntary . act which might compromise ' . their' consciences . " He' filially recommends delay , under present circumstances , till some decisive victory has crushed the hopes of the priest party . This delay was fatal to the scheme . After the battle of Wagram , Hapoxecxn" resumed the project , and resolved to increase
the Pope ' s income to two millions of francs . Then , however , there came , unfortunately , the protests of Pirs VII ., the bull of excommunication hurled against the Empeeoe , and a whole series of petty insults and annoyances on the part of the Pope : such , for instance , as walling up the doors of his palace , and declaring , like his successor and namesake , his anxiety to be made a martyr . Passion seems to have prevailed over Napoleon ' s cooler and better judgment . The Pope was carried off to Savona . Rome was made part of the French empire , and Aldini ' s project slumbered till , fifty years afterwards , it has been revived , though without acknowledgment , by M . La Gttebboxieee , in his pamphlet of " Le Pape et le Congres . "
June 23; I860.J The Leader And Saturday ...
June 23 ; I 860 . J The Leader and Saturday Analyst * 589
Alleged Libels In Newspapers. Rphere Are...
ALLEGED LIBELS IN NEWSPAPERS . rpHERE are certain disadvantages in being free , and it is perhaps J- impossible altogether to neutralize them . All we can do is to keep them to a certain extent suppressed , and to be on the watch to apply the remedy as soon as the mischief appears . Among these disadvantages , one is , and probably ever will be , the abuse of freedom on the part of the press . A free press is so important a part of our institutions , it serves so many and such momentous purposes , that we all watch with the most righteous jealousy over everything that even seems to threaten it ; and in a country so enlightened as ours , we are as careful to rebuke its occasional excesses as we are to protect it from oppression .
In general , the tone of an English newspaper is singularly gentlemanly and temperate : it rarely imputes unworthy motives ; it abstains ( except in the case of what are called religious newspapers ) ¦ from publishing details of private life and personal scandal . It judiciously separates individuals from bodies corporate , and pronounces on acts without deciding- on character . When we regard the extent of the surface over which its commentaries extend , the depth and philosophy of many of its disquisitions > its calmness on political questions , some of which are of the most exciting character , and -its singular avoidance of offensive matter / we may well be proud of the fourth estate , and rank it as the first of influences for good among us .
But it is impossible to publish news without impugning the character of those who do evil , and it sometimes becomes the dutythe disagreeable , but not the less bpunden duty—of the journalist to put the public on its guard against those who prey oil its carelessness . In what way this may be done , and to what extent , is a question of no small interest at the present time , and as it may be looked on from two totally distinct points of view , we shall devote a column to its consideration . Everybody knows that more than ¦ ¦ hhif thfl , misnhief done in the world is to bo traced to private slander . Falsehood and malice can find no more convenient weapon than the tongue of the' unscrupulous ; and if the press be employed in the same cause , the mischief is of course greatly increased , Our law of libel does what it can to apply a remedy to this evil ; but the ex- pressive- advice , " Only throw plenty of dirt , some of it will be sure at the
to stick , " finds a vast multitude of followers present , just as it has ever done in all past time . The respectablo Scotch clergyman who commenced a sermon on the text , " I said in my haste , All men are liars , " with tho trords , "Ah , David ! gin ye had forgathered wi' my parishioners , ye might ha' said the same very much at your leisure , " was not a whit more severe than the state of most parishes would warrant . It is , therefore , quite right that character should bo protected and slander punished , as far as such objects can be obtained , by legal enactments . Wo have spoken so highly , and yet , as we believe , so justly Of the fourth estate among ourselves , we compare it with so much satisfaction with the French and American press , that we may presume to give—and the conductors of the periodical press may afford-to hear—a little sentence of qualification . Our journalists are not perfect ; they are not all gentlemen , nor are those who are gentlemen always in tho right j and hence there are many actions brought in the course of a year
against tho conductors ot newspapers for libels on personal character . A skilful and practised writer will avoid giving any handle to such—he will know how to castigate fraud and to satirize folly without laying himself open to a charge of libel ; and it generally happens that , when an action of this kind is brought it fulls to the ground . . ,, We have such an instance before us . A dealer in " marine stores published a bill , announcing" what prices ho was willing to pay for certain articles in which ho dealt . Among these figured candlefinds , tallow . snerm and wax . drbpinfir . kitchen-stuff , rags , gluss bottles
old metal , and many other things which domestic servants are apt to consider as their perquisites . This bill fell into the hands ot a not particularly wise magistrate , who commented on it with perhaps more zeal than discretion ; his remarks were taken up by a morning paper , and an article was founded on them , setting forth the great incentive to crime which was furnished by shops like the one in question , and taxing a majority of their proprietors with being very little bettor than receivers of stolon goods . The individual whose
-
-
Citation
-
Leader (1850-1860), June 23, 1860, page 9, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_23061860/page/9/
-