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January 24,1857.] T?HB LEADEB. 75
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SIGNOR SAFFI'S LECTURES. Oir Thursday ev...
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PUBLIC MEETINGS. SIR EDWARD BTTtAVKR LTT...
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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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A Case Of •Conscience.. One Of Those Dis...
another . You must consider your duty to your mother , and ^ weig h th & t welL Bat if you feel bound , as a duty to God , to remain under Protestant teaching , -we trust you may have strength to act < up to your convictions . .. . . " Again , ire repeat , you are at perfect liberty to leave us , and in order to give you time to decide , and to knowwhat your parent has to say , you can , if you wish , remain with your mother in the adjoining room to talk over the matter , and if you determine to leave our school you . can return home -with her . " It was stated by the ladies who were present that , when the paper was read ov « r to her , the girl , in answer to the question whether she would go with her mother , distinctly answered "B " o , " , in answer to the question whether she would remain , she distinctly answered " Yes . "
The mother and daughter then retired to another room ; and , on coining out , the mother earnestly entreated the child , in presence of the committee , to leave the school . To these solicitations she repeatedly replied : —" Mother , I cant go ? I will not go . " A letter written by the girl to her governess , Miss Martha Hunt , about the 7 th of last November , is of interest , as showing the state of the child's mind . It ran thus : — ** My dearest Governess , — I love my mother very much , hut I must love Jesus , and must obey Hun before I obey my mother . If my mother comes for me , I cannot go with her . I will not go to the Roman Catholic school , for if I do I feel that I shall be disobeying Jesus . I -will not bow down nor pray to the Virgin Mary or other images , instead of praying to Jesus . I would much
rather not live with Roman Catholics . I would rather live with the Protestants . I hope Mr . Bickersteth and the ladies will keep me here . Mother took me to the priest in the Christmas holidays , and he asked me if I would like to go to his school , and I told Mm I would rather not , that I would rather stay here . I am very sorry that mother has taken the priest ' s advice . I hope my dear brother will not go to the Roman Catholic school . I hope you and Miss Clarke will not let me go . I went to the Protestant church when my father was alive , and I should like to do so always , for I think my dear father would like me to go to the Protestant church if he was alive . Will you be so kind as to ask Mr . Bickersteth to let me stay here ? I must conclude with much love from your affectionate pupil , " Alicia . Race . "
In answer to these letters , & c , the mother asserted that the girl ' s mind had been unduly influenced by the Rev . Mr . Bickersteth and the other school authorities , and that she " had been persuaded , contrary to the fact , that the Roman Catholic religion teaches that the blessed Virgin Mary and images are to be worshipped in preference to our Saviour Jesus Christ . " The arguments * on the legal point at issue having been heard last Saturday , judgment was postponed till Wednesday . On that clay , Lord Campbell gave judgment in favour of the mother ' s right to remove the child . Mr . O'Malley ( who appeared for the school ) theu applied that the judgment should not be immediately executed , on the
ground that the child had been constituted a ward in Chancery ; tbat an injunction was to be made that morning before Vice-Chancellor Kindersley , restraining the mother from taking possession of the daughter , and from suing out any future writ of habeas corpus ; that the bill in Chancery prayed for the appointment of a fit and proper person to be guardian ; other than the mother ; and that the mother had been heard to express her intention to take the child away to Ireland . Lord Campbell replied that the order of the Court must be at once obeyed . Mr . O'Malley said he was informed that an injunction had been granted , and an undertaking given not . to remove the child from her present custody ; to which Lord Campbell rejoined that the Court would take no notice of the injunction .
The girl was then delivered up to her mother , who received her with many kisses ; but it is said that the child looked pale and excited , and did not reciprocate her mother ' s caresses , though she seemed very glad to sea her brother .
January 24,1857.] T?Hb Leadeb. 75
January 24 , 1857 . ] T ? HB LEADEB . 75
Signor Saffi's Lectures. Oir Thursday Ev...
SIGNOR SAFFI'S LECTURES . Oir Thursday evening Sign or Sam ' s second lecture , given at the request of the " Italian Emancipation Fund Committee , " wua delivered at the Marylebone Literary Institution to a numerous audience . In his firat lecture he had shown the origin , of the evils that afllict Italy , i . e . the temporal powor of the Popes , and how the Italian Governments wero brought , through its influence , into hopeless antagonism with the nation . Ho liad traced back to its source the growth of national life , shown the influence of Young Italy on the feelings and aims of the nation , and spoke of Muzzini as " the great patriot to -whom Italy , when free , will owe tlie realization of her aspirations . "
He commenced his second lecture by answering admirabl y the often repeated question , " Would not a revolution in Italy plungo the nation in anarchy ? " defining the existing relations between masters and workmen , and among tho workmen
themselves , he proved that there could be no reaction of class against class , since all classes suffered equally from foreign oppression . In the Italian peninsula , he said , social misery is not the effect of any abnormal overgrowth of the industrial or manufacturing activity of any real injustice from class to class , but of the want of space for the natural growth of this activity . Consequently , the economical problem that we have to solve is not one of social revolution , but simply of social evolution through national and political
emancipation . He then sketched the state of feeling throughout Italy in the years that preceded 1848 ; said that the reforms and concessions that marked , those years were not gifts from generous sovereigns to their subjects , but conditions wrested by those subjects , at the price of their sovereigns' thrones ; that it was the people of Romagna who created Pius IX ., who imposed oa a pope the duty of being liberal . He described with , earnestness the great national gathering to the war of' 48 , and told what was the u Nemesis who stood over the Italian destinies in
those fleeting days of a golden opportunity for an . everlasting redemption . ^ The man called to head the nation ' s wax had other than a national aim in view . It waa Lombardy for himself , not Italy for the Italians , that Charles Albert wanted ; and this dynastic ambition he said it -was , leading to compromises with European diplomacy , and , later , to treaehery , that cost the nation her newly-purchased freedom . He praised the moderation of the republicans , did justice to Mazzini ' s efforts to induce the people to sacrifice all minor considerations for the sake of unity and independence ; told how the Committee of Defence , organized by him , did more in three days than the Government had done in three months . Yet once more , he said
, was all this hope and energy prostrated . Charles Albert entered Milan oa the 4 th of August with 40 , 000 men , and took an oath that he and his sons and soldiers would defend the city to the last drop of their blood . On the 5 th . the surrender of Milan to the Austrianswas made known . The King had capitulated with Radetzky before entering the city . TJie articles of that capitulation were in his possession when that solemn oath was on his lips- Wild , but impotent , was the people ' s rage . "It was as if Providence intended to seal into the hearts of Italians the lessons so earnestly , and hitherto in vain , inculcated by their greatest leader , that out of kings and princes ao help can come . By the people ' s own right arm
can Italy s salvation alone be achieved . " ( Applause . ") Step by step he traced the causes that led to the Roman Republic , that did not arise from the blood of Rossiwho fell by the hand of some unknown assassin—but from the Pope ' s desertion of his principles and his capital . This Roman Republic , he said , had a far higher meaning for the patriots and the people who created it than that only of a form of local rights and a selfish gratification of freedom . It had the importance of a great national fact , both in the present struggle of Italy for life and independence , and her future mission on civil and religious grounds . ( Applause . ) He told how the Republic was preparing to support Lombardy a second time in her struggle , when she fell ; " then came the infamous invasion of the
French , the Austrians , Neapolitans , and Spaniardswhen all was over for Italy . " Venice and Rome could only fight for the future , for a moral teaching to the nation , not for , any actual result . ( Applause . ) She felt it , and she fought . Her leaders well knew that they muBt fall—still they thought that it was their duty to save the honour of Italy by a noble protest against foreign violence ; to demonstrate how much a national militia , formed of elements styled irregular , may prove efficient evem against the best disciplined troops ; and , finally , to fulfil a great national mission , by baptizing the Italian people at the font of Unity ; by calling forth reverence for the future sanctuary of the Italian Nationality—Rome . ( Applause . } So she foughtand
, so she fell , as glorious in her fall as in a victory . And ( ho continued ) the memory of the man who gave bis heart and his intellect to direct tho great deed whose motives and aims are traced out in what I have now said , speaking of the Roman people—the memory of that man will remain shining to every Italian mind , now and for ever , on tlio solid basis of his woll-fulullod mission towards his country in the glorious defence of tho soul of Italy in Rome ; and whether ho live to realize , or die in tho attempt to win an Italy for tlio Italians , the gratitude of the nation will , in the first momont of her freedom , raise a monument to those who well deserved of their country at Rome , and the first name that the free Italian mother will teach her child to bless will bo
that of Joseph Mazzini . ( Enthusiastic applatumS Speaking of the deathless reBolve of the Italians not to submit to foreign domination , and expressing his belief that in tho next struggle the national party would prevent tho people from , falling a second time into tho error that the King of Piedmont , or any Pope or Prince could savo thorn , ho concluded : — " The actual , real , and living thing is that Italy , one way or another , will and shall bo an independent member of tho great assembly of tho nations , and march gloriously again in tho groat advance of human progress . I may truthfully say of ray country , in the faco of nil actual and possible reactions , what Galileo said of the motion of tho earth boforo tho Inquisition , « Eitur Hi muovk !'" Signor Sftfll retired amidst hearty applause .
Public Meetings. Sir Edward Btttavkr Ltt...
PUBLIC MEETINGS . SIR EDWARD BTTtAVKR LTTTOST , M . P ., AT GLASGOW . A FtrBLic dinner was given on Friday week , in the Glaugxvw Gallery of Art , to Sir Edward Bulww Lytton , in acknowledgment of his distinguished literary-attainments . The Lord Provost was in the chair , supported by a brilliant company . His Lordship having proposed the health of their guest in a highly- eulogistic address Sir E . B . Lytton replied . Parodying the speecb . of the Roman Emperor , who said he wished Rome had a single neck , -that he might strike it off with one blow , be remarked that all he wanted to hi 3 satisfaction was that Glasgow should have only one hand , that he might clasp It in one gTateful pressure . He regretted that he had not time to make the acquaintance of the Glasgow operatives , but was determined to visit the town again on some future day , if only for that purpose . While eulogizing- the city -which had so magnificently entertained him , and dwelling on its rapid advance from comparative insignificance to the position of the second city of the empire , and one of the greatest seats of commerce , industry , and learning in the world , he remarked that he could not , as an Englishman , " desire to inculcate a sentiment of national bigotry , so as to confine the pride of a Scotchman exclusively to his native heather , or to make him forget that he is also a member of that great United Empire over which extends the sceptre of the British monarch . " Still , he thought the Scottish character a great fact . In Glasgow , scholarship and commercial industry were seen side by side ; the result being that learning is now more distributed among ¦ the masses than it -was formerly , while , on the other hand , the schools admit more of the knowledge of mankind . " Now , I think that , in these conditions of our society , collegiate institutions increase in the value -which to some they seem to lose , because it is in the interest of all among whom knowledge is diffused jealously to guard those institutions which bring together men who are habitually guardians of tbe standards of the knowledge actually existing , and the most searching critics of every method by which new knowledge can be added to the old . That you perfectly appreciate that truth ia shown by the pride your citizens take in your scholars . I am
sure that pride is reciprocal , and that your scholars are not less proud of the noble citizens of Glasgow . " Sir Edward concluded by proposing " Prosperity to the City of Glasgow , " to which the Lord Provost briefly replied . The Earl of Elgin , in proposing , the toast of ¦ " Our Universities , " dilated on the peculiar advantages of the Scotch , system of classical and scientific education . He remarked : — - "We have been long in the habit , in this country , of boasting—perhaps sometimes a little too freely—of what has been' effected in the general intelligence of the people through the instrumentality of parochial schools ; and most assuredly I should little envy
the feelings of any Scotchman who would be slow or reluctant to acknowledge the obligation we owe to these admirable institutions . " { Loud cheers . ) He pointed out that they are more democratical than the English universities ; that they are open to all classes , and have the effect of fusing them into one homogeneous mass . The result is , -that there is less communism than in England , and that , although there is plenty of theological sectarianism in Scotland—indeed , he might eay , an excess of it—the people are not at the mercy of ignorant religious teachers , as in tlio land south , of the Tweed .
After the delivery of some other speeches , the company partook of coffee , and broke up .
HIE UNEMPLOYED . Another meeting of unemployed artisans connected with , the building trade was held on Monday in Smitlifield-market , for tbe purpose of considering their depressed condition , and to adopt measures for its melioration . There was a much larger attendance than on tho previous occasion , it being computed that there wctg not leas than 16 , 000 persons present during tlio proceedings , which were conducted throughout with tho greatest decorum and good order . Mr . Hugh Pearco was again unanimously voted to the chair , and the proceedings were opened by a long speech from the chuirman , much to the same purport as that delivered on the previous Monday . Mr . Charles Murray then moved tho following resolution : " That this Meeting , consisting of operatives unemployed by causes for which wo are not responsible , demand of the
authorities that tho means of existence bo oxtended within our reach by useful and profitable employment ia agriculture and manufacture ; that until fresh , employment bo afforded wo fall back upon our ancient and indisputable right to parochial assistance , unaccompanied by the insulting , debasing , and infamous conditio ns at present persisted in . " In support of the motion , Mr . Murray spoke at great length , complaining of tho arbitrary manner in which tho working classes wero treated by their rulers . The resolution wna carried unanimously ; after which , Mr . M'llcath , the honorary secretary , road a long address , calling on the employed not to -work any overtime wuila one man waa out . The address waa adopted , and a resolution pledging the meeting to sapport the Nutional Association of the Unemployed of Groat Britain waa olao carried ; after which , the meeting udjoumod .
Tho . speeches were rather more political than tm th « first occasion , aud several of thoao who acldresaod tho meeting denounced tho privileged clusaca as th « oppres-
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 24, 1857, page 3, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_24011857/page/3/
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