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738 Q£t)e 2LeaH$t* [Saturday,
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THE BERBER. The Berber; or, the Mountain...
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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 Lombard Insurrection. Royalty And Re...
ness on account of his good intentions . But the great exile , grand in , defeat and erect in adversity , commands our reverence and compels our love . Far happier is his destiny who was vanquished with Mazzini than his who was victorious with Oudinot . Great efforts have been made to inspire the public with the conviction that the Italian insurrection of ' 48 was the criminal work of an anarchical faction ; and , granting , as some have done , the holiness of a war of indepe ndence , still stronger have been the attempts of the reactionary press to calumniate the
Italian republicans . The object of Signor Mazzini , in publishing the above work , being " to correct public opinion in England , which has been misled on several important points , " he very properly takes up the latter question , and most convincingly shows that the republic i s the natural form of government for the Italian nation . " The Kepublican party in Italy , " he writes , " is not the offspring of a system , a governmental theory , originating in the brain of one man , or of several men ; it springs from facts , it is the offspring of tradition , and the exponent of the vital conditions of Italian society . " Speaking of
himself he writes : — " I am by principle a Republican , that is to say , rationally speaking , there are for me but two legitimate masters , Qod , in heaven , and the People—the country guided by the best among them upon earth . The system which , instead of seeking to acknowledge power where it really exists , that is to say , wherever God has given the highest amount of genius and of virtue , places it arbitrarily in aristocratic privilege or hereditary royalty , is to me but the materialism of chance substituted to an enlightened choice . But the fact that a thing be true in le cannot the riht of suddenlenthroning it
princip give g y in practice . Conviction brings with it the duty of a peaceful apostolate ; it does not create the right to realize in application . Humanity is not created here below , we but continue it . Truth is eternal as the stars , but man only discovers the stars in proportion as the {> owe r of his telescope is enlarged . The telescope of mmanity is its progressive education . The ground must be prepared . Truth must not be the monopoly of a few , but the aspiration , the desire , the prevision of the masses . Is it , or is it not so in Italy ? This is the question .
That the masses do desire the republic he proceeds to show . Italy has no aristocracy , like ours , for instance ; an aristocracy which has a powerful influence , " because it has a history ; well or ill , it has organized society ; it has created a power , snatched from royalty , by conquering guarantees for the rights of the subject ; it has founded in part the wealth and influence of England abroad . " France , too , has her strong monarchical element , now rapidly decaying . But Italy has no great monarchical or aristocratic elements or traditions . Her monarchies spring from the dismemberment , her aristocracies are bound up
with the servitude of Italy . She has sovereigns who are compliant viceroys ; and nobles who are igroble courtiers . It is not so with the democracy . " In Italy the initiative of progress hos always belonged to the people , to the democratic element . It is through her communes that she has acquired all she has ever had of liberty : through her workmen in wool ^ or silk , through her merchants of Genoa , Florence , Venice , and Pisa , that she has acquired her wealth ; through her artists , plebeian and republican , from Giotto to Michael Angelo , that sh « has acquired her renown ; through her
navigators—plebeian—that she has given a world to humanity ; through her Popes—sons of the people even they—that until the twelfth century she aided in the emancipation of the weak , and sent forth a word of unity to humanity : all her memories of insurrection against the foreigner are memories of the people : all that has made the greatness of our towns dates almost always from a republican epoch : the educational book , the only book read by the inhabitant of the Alps or the Transtevcrin who csm read , is an abridgement of the history of
the Ancient Horn an Republic . This is the reason why tlie same men who have so long been accused of coldness , and who had , in fact , witnessed with indifference the aristocratic and royal revolutions of 1820 and 1821 , arose with enthusiasm and with a true power of self-Bucrifioe at the cry of ' St . Mark and the Republic ! God and the l ' eopla ! ' These words contained for them a guarantee . They awoke in them , even unconsciously to themselves , the nil-powerful echo of a living past—a confused recollection of glory , of strength , of conscience , and of dignity . "
By the people , and by the people alone , con Italian independence and unity be accomplished . The Moderates have tried for thirty years to effect it by opposite means , by relying on royalty and aristocracy , and repelling , suspecting , and rejecting tho support of the people . The kings huvo only dared to dream , in a hypocritical fushion , of national freedom , coupled with Rome very distinct visions of self-interest . When they have acted they have failed . " From tho Picdmoutoso conspiracy of 1821 down to that of Ciro Mcnotti , all who have uttempted this have expiated their error by tho order of tho princes
themselves , in exile or on the scaffold . " Yet , in 1848 , their infatuated generosity or weakness led them to try a war upon the same system over again , with the same result . The Republicans actually " gave way before the programme given by the Moderates , " and loyally supported the royal war , whose successful ending must have brought with i t the monarchical
Italy of the North , And it was not till the royal army was beaten , the national cause betrayed in the dynastic interest , and Charles Albert in flight for Piedmont , with perjury on his soul , that the Republican party raised their banner , and resolved to carry on the war . They did so ; and Venice and Rome have now histories to attest what the Italian people can do in conquering their nationality from the Austrian .
Mazzini , upon these grounds , concludes that out of three methods—a sincere union between all the various Italian Governments , a single prince who would combat Austria and all the other Governments , and a war of the people for independence and unity , the last i s the only one possible . " The people must rise , combat , and conquer by its numbers , and by the inexhaustible resources which it has
within itself . The National party says no more than this . The Republicans , who form the majority of the party , express their faith , as is their duty ; but once upon the theatre of action , they submit themselves to the country . They have said , snd they say again , without taking advantage of the favourable position in which events have placed them : — ' Let the nation arise ; let her make herself mistress of her own territory ; then , the victory once gained , let her freely decide who shall reap the fruits . Monarch or People , we will submit ourselves to the power she herself shall organize . '" And he asks : — " Is it possible that so moderate and rational a proposition should be the object of such false interpretations , in a country which reveres the idea of right and of self-government ? Is it possible that its leaders should be the object of so much calumny ? It is time that these calumnies should cease . " He declares , in answer to these calumnies : — " It is immoral to say to men who have preached clemency throughout the whole of their political career , who have initiated their rule by the abolition of capital punishment , who , when in power , never signed a single sentence of exile against those who had persecuted them , nor even against the known enemies of their principles—• You are the sanguinary organizers of terror , men of vengeance and of cruelty . ' It is immoral to ascribe to them views which they never had , and to choose to forget that they have , through the medium of the press here and elsewhere , attacked and refuted those Communistic systems and exclusive solutions which tend to suppress rather than to transform the elements of society ; and to say to them—* You are Communists , you desire to abolish property / It is immoral to accuse of irreligion and impiety men who have devoted their whole lives to the endeavour to reconcile the religious idea , betrayed and disinherited by the very men who pretend to be its official defenders , with the national movement . It is immoral to insinuate accusations of personal interest and of pillage against men who haveserenely endured the sufferings of poverty , and whose life , accessible to all , has never betrayed either cupidity or the desire of luxury . It is immoral continually to proclaim , as the act of a whole party , the death of a statesman killed by an unknown hand , under the influence of the irritation produced by his own acts and by the attacks of another political party , many months before the Republican party recommenced its activity in Italy . ' The voice of all honest men should cry to the Times , the Quarterly , and the slanderers who imitate them' Hold ! combat loyally , discuss the principles of these men , judge their official acts ; but do not calumniate them , do not ascribe to them intentions which they repudiate , acts with which they have no concern ,. '"
Having thus placed the Republican party in its true position , we reserve further notice of the work itself until next week .
738 Q£T)E 2leah$T* [Saturday,
738 Q £ t ) e 2 LeaH $ t * [ Saturday ,
The Berber. The Berber; Or, The Mountain...
THE BERBER . The Berber ; or , the Mountaineer of the Atlas , A Tale of Morocco . By W . J . May , M . D . II . G . liohn . It is difficult to take breath while scampering through this *• parlous" romance , consequently so difficult to criticize it as to be almost impossible , unless after a second leisurely reading—to which we cunnot in all conscience buckle just at present . But is not that criticism enough ? Do you wish to know more of a novel of adventure than that it is " exciting . " Idle would be grave objections against improbability to
one who in writing has never troubled himself about the matter ; idle would be all analysis of character in a work where the characters are , mere puppets—received types somewhat worn in use ; idle would be all talk of art in a work whore the only art attempted is that of rapid narrative of wild adventures , What wo say is that those who are fond of " stirring incidents by flood and field , " rendered a little more interesting from the comparative freshness of the scene in which these incidents occur—will find in the Berber a book difficult to lay down . The Moors are
very romantic to us ; we know enough for interest , and not enough to interfere with the imagination of the romanciBt . So that although , perhaps , every incident and every character in the book will be recognized as an old familiar friend , yet the costume , so to speak , gives a freshness to the whole . Tell you the story we cannot—it is so crowded with perilous situations and miraculous escapes . But as a taste of its quality we will extract two passages : — HOW THE BERBER STOLE HIS HORSE .
" ' The sheik of Arbazza was a shereef and a saint , ' began the rais , in a low but distinct voice . ' He was of a pure Arabic stock , and a bitter hater of the Berbers . He was also the wealthiest man in all the kingdom of Fez ; and among his riches he possessed one thing that he valued more than all the rest—a mare of the most famous blood of Duquella . Her pedigree could be traced back for ages , and the fame of her beauty and her speed filled the whole land . She was a thorough-bred ** deafener " and " wind-drinker . " She was as the apple of his eye ; and proud was the sheik of Arbazza that he was the owner of a creature that for beauty , fire , speed , and endurance , could not be matched , travel the world over .
" The sheik of Arbazza was at feud with several of his neighbours , both of plain and hill ; and numerous attempts were made by his enemies , and , if the truth must be told , by several of his friends , to dispossess him of his favourite . But the sheik was a very wary man , and vain were all the efforts of his treacherous friends and open enemies . He was also a boastful and an arrogant man ; and he prided himself not a little in his ability to defeat and punish any attempt to carry off the descendant of the famous Maha el Bahr , or " steed of the sea . " Already had several gallant and adventurous spirits perished , and more had failed , and been driven back in disgrace , when the vanity of the sheik slipped the bridle of prudence , and galloped off with him without check or restraint . He published an invitation to all who felt disposed to steal his famous mare . He announced a defiance to the
boldest and most adroit horse-stealers in all the empire . He even offered , in his vain sense of security , a reward of a thousand gold metcals to whoever should succeed in carrying off El Hassaneh , or the Beautiful . Of course , after this , the watchfulness of the sheik was not relaxed , or his precautions decreased . Each night the mare was picketed by the door of his tent . One end of an iron chain was put around her leg , and locked , and the key deposited in the sheik ' s girdle ; the other end of the chain was brought within the tent , passed under the sheik ' s bed , and fastened to the tent pole Within reach of his hand stood his loaded gun , the match always burning—and the sheik was the most famous marksman of the tribes . Without the tent a pack of the largest and fiercest dogs threatened every intruder with instant death .
" Among the enemies of the sheik the principal one consisted of a portion of the Bcni Mozarg ; and , of course , nothing would have delighted the Berbers more than for one of their number to have achieved the feat of carrying off the sheik ' s famous mare . On the one hand was every inducement to attempt the adventure—pride , revenge , the love of glory , and an admiration of horse-flesh ; but , on the other hand , there were too many obstacles in the way—the distance to the plains ; the difficulty of approaching the douah ; the canine guards ; the chain ; and more than all , the watchfulness and prowess of the sheik . These obstacles had been found by repeated experiments insurmountable , and the very bravado of the sheik , while it was looked upon as the worst of insults , helped to deter the boldest of the Berbers from undertaking the adventure .
" At that time Casbin , son of the amekran of the Bern Mozarg , was scarce turned of thirteen , but already had he killed the king of beasts , and acquired the name of el subah , or the lion . It was noticed that the young prince was for days busy in constructing a strong basket , or rather cage . The holes in it were jus ' t wide enough to admit a hound ' s nose ; and the withes were of the stoutest kind , and wound with strips of untanned hide . The basket excited much curiosity , but not a word did the young chieftain vouchsafe as to the purpose to which it was to be applied . But great was the surprise when catching a common cat he enclosed her in the basket , and securely fastened the door .
" It was in a terrible storm of snow that Casbin , with his cage and cat strapped behind his saddle , set out secretly from the kassir . Towards night he reached the lowland and the neighbourhood of the tents of the sheik . Under cover of the storm , which had changed as he descended to one of rain mingled with sleet , he approached quite near to the douah . Here he remained until some time after midnight , when mounting , he rode boldly up to the sheik ' s tent . The dogs were wide awake , and in full chorus , but they were busy with some other object of alarm , and did not perceive him until he was within , fifty yards . He stopped , uttered the cry of a jackal , and instantly the whole pack came bounding towards him . Casbin lowered the cage to the ground and retreated . the
The attention of the dogs was wholly engrossed by cat . They thrust the points of their noses into the meshes of the basket ; they rolled it over and over ; they shook it and tried to pull it to pieces with their paws and teeth ; they fought with each other in their eagerness for a bite . They had no eyes , ears , noses , or mouths for anything except the cat . ' Making a de * tour , Casbin came upon the tent from the other side . At a proper distance he slipped from his horse , secured him in a moment , and advanced to the tent slowly . Noiselessly , with his breast to the ground , tho young prince crept up and put his head in under the curtain . All was dark , save a faint glimmer that came from the women ' s apartment . The sheik was asleep . Casbin drew his body into the tent . The first thing he
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 26, 1850, page 18, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_26101850/page/18/
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