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No. 401, November 28,1857.] THE LEiDEE. ...
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INGUSH ENGINEERS AT NAPLES. Lobd Paxmeks...
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THE MUSTER-llOLL OF INDIAN HEIIOISM. The...
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A VENERABLE CONVERT. "Out of the depths ...
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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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 Tiedmontese And Belgian Elections. C...
to say , knew how to deal with M . G-aliiEisroA , and agreed to make a 'bygone' of him in earnest . Count Aifie-ri's return for Alba is significant , perhaps , of a new development of the Liberal opposition in the Chambers . One characteristic of the elections was remarkable . After the first ballot some members of the extreme left were without an
absolute majority , and a second election became necessary . Thereupon every fraction of the Liberal party united to support them against the reactionary candidates . Thus , the entire constitutional press recommended tie return of Brofferio , opposed by Count Rdvel , and the candidate of the Armonia was defeated . Genoa , however , republican as she is ,
returned four reactionary members out of six . A coalition of Mazzinians and the Church is said to have defeated G-autbaldi , who , in that case , lias been punished for being a practical politician . A triumph even more distinct was obtained by the reactionists in the quadruple return of their chief , Count Sol , a . ro DELtA Mabgebita . Will not this
event , with the check sustained by G-eneral Mabmgea at Pancalieri , recal the Liberals to union ? Although not so victorious as had been hoped , the elections have given them a clear majority , and to this new Parliament is committed the task of advancing the position of Piedmont among constitutional kingdoms .
No. 401, November 28,1857.] The Leidee. ...
No . 401 , November 28 , 1857 . ] THE LEiDEE . 1141
Ingush Engineers At Naples. Lobd Paxmeks...
INGUSH ENGINEERS AT NAPLES . Lobd Paxmekston has given , no satisfactory explanation with respect to the two engineers imprisoned at Naples . The official letter rea < i at the great Newcastle meeting amounted to no more than an evasion . The question is , why two Englishmen have been allowed to lie for five months in foreign dungeons without being brought to trial or even formally arraigned ? If Lord Palmekston were now to fetch them out of their captivity in a lineof-battle ship , he could not redeem his character as a British statesman . Itis a mere
insult to our understanding to pretend that the Neapolitan law has been infringed . There ia practically no law at Naples , but , in place of it , a vulgar despot , who gratifies himself by confining and torturing two of our countrymen who are so unfortunate as to have trusted to the manliness of the English Government . But , even if the men were amenable to law , why were they left untried , cut off from all communication-with their consul , and abandoned to such maltreatment that they have
partially lost their senses ? Is it to he understood , that the authorities in any part of the world are privileged to arrest an Englishman , keep him for half a year in a loathsome prison , and then , if they please , discharge him ? This is the privilege laid down in the CiiA . RENDON letter , and the people of Newcastle have bitterly denounced it . Parliament will hear of the proceedings , and Lord Pal-MKitSTON will not escape censure , the effect of which he may have reason to regret .
The Muster-Lloll Of Indian Heiioism. The...
THE MUSTER-llOLL OF INDIAN HEIIOISM . The Indian struggle has brought out some of the best qualities of Englishmen . It is unnecessary to ask whether they be Nevilles or De Buhghs . We know from what race , what national blood , they have sprung . They are our countrymen . It is not a question between aristocracy and middle-class . We all know that enrls may be cowards , and that tenth transmitters of foolish faces may be brave as lions . Therefore , we have not thought it necessary to discriminate between the sons of barristers and the scions of old gentlemen patricianly called ' houses ; ' but wo have seen rising in India a pleiad group of reputations , brilliant as the sunrise of Asia . { Some
have died in the flower of their new fame , and others live to be rewarded ; but all have found their ^ vay to the English heart . The perplexity is to distinguish the name of the ' gallant' good , ' and not to be invidious . But we have a safeguard . The roll lengthens hourly , and it is never too late to recal
an act of "heroism . At one glaaee we find ourselves in the presence of at least thirty men who , if we had a Homee , would be heroes of an Iliad . They are our demi-gods in battle , our Rustums and our An tars . "We have forgotten St . G-eobq-e- —that bacon-dealer of Cappadociaand we have no need to remember the models
of FitoissABT , for our own chivalry stands higher than that of the Crusaders , or the Seven Champions , or the knights who lit the lambent flame on the rock of St . Elmo . Our Knights of the G-arter are almost the only persons in the realm who are wanting in heroism . And yet it is scarcely possible not to compliment a nation commanding the
valour of an army in which the blood of every rank is as heroic as that of the oldest barons and belted earls . "We may be as solicitous as possible to avoid comparisons between classes , but when we are told that our peers are lords because they are great , we search for the pedigree of the three non-commissioned officers who walked like Chkistian
througli the Valley of the Shadow of Deat \\ to hang powder-bags on the gate of Delhi , that blazed like a volcano . We cannot pretend to present the musterroll complete . But a moment ' s reflection brings before us a Pyrrhic phalanx of the valiant , ' whose names are memories . ' Sir John Lawrikce , Crrand Cross of the Bath , has not led an army to battle , but no man
celebrated by history could have displayed conduct more splendid than his since the outbreak in Upper India . Earl GhRANViT / TDE , indeed , has told us that he combines , in a higher degree than any other individual , the genius of a soldier with that of a statesman ; but he neglects to tell us why La"w hence is not Governor-General of India . Perhaps this Punjab Pitt is not strictly a hero . Then , what is Havjblocic ? A baronet—and the
Wellington of the > var ; the Crown , under protest , has raised him a step above Sir Joseph Paxton , and even allowed him to take rank with Alderman Moon ! The fountain of honour which shakes its loosening silver in the sun—it is from Leigh Hunt ' s jewel-case that figure of speech is stolensprinkles Havelock , but there is some other fountain which splashes favourites with eait d ' or . Well , the nation has in its mind ' s eye a columnar monument , which will raise Havelock liicrherthan the arch of Khosrou . And
Wilson or Delhi ? Not a dashing great captain , but wary and intrepid , conquering , and worn-out by exertion . Of Nicholson and Neill it ia difficult to speak . The people do not speak of them , except with tears . They disappeared in a ilaine of glory , and another Neill and another Nicholson are upon the scene . Colonel Giieathed is the man for whom public opinion will next claim a title ; and near him stands the Muwat of the Oude battles , Brigadier Chambehlai . it , whom England cannot willingly forget . The theatre of His exploits recals two mournful but illustrious deaths—that of Sir Henuy
Lawrence , at Lucknow , and thab of Sir Hugh Wheeler , at Cawnpore . They died like two liomans in the best days of ifcome . To tho snmo memorable ranks belong Salkeld , Home , Carmiohakl , Smith , and Buitcjess , tho two lieutenants aud three sergeants who blew open the Cashmero gate of Delhi , WiLLOUaiiBy , who exploded the magazine , Henhy , who died as ho exclaimed "Forward ! " and Skeene , who showed
the Bajpoots that an Englishman might have all their pride aad more than their constancy . The history of the war will also cast radiance upon the names of Montgomery , who made the noble march from Agra ; of Eyre , who has been like a flying Vengeance in Bengal ; of Van Cobtlandt , who held the country above Delhi while the capital was assailed ; of Hodson , . whose troop of horse has been a terror to the
rebels ; of Bateman , Cowpeb , and Paicenham , who died iii relieving jLucknow . TSut there is one man of whose achievements no justice has yet been done - — Pnglis , the protector of a thousand Europeans at Lucknow , who stands on the same pedestal with Henry Lawrence and Hugh "Wheelek . These incomparable soldiers must be rewarded , if they survive , and if they fall , the guardianship of those who are near and clear to them must be transferred to the nation .
A Venerable Convert. "Out Of The Depths ...
A VENERABLE CONVERT . " Out of the depths of my heart , " M . Dtjpin said , in 1852 , " arises a great scruple . " He was Procureur-Greneralof the Court of Cassation ; but when the spoliation of the O & eeans property was committed , he flung off his robes , and denoun ced the Government as felonious , shameless , and unchristian . Since that day , M . Ditpin has studied moderation . Seventy-five years of life have cooled his principles . liicli beyond the temptation of
venality , aged beyond the allurements of ambition , he had passed six years in dignified obscurity when the Emperor learned that he had become weary of self-sacrifi . ee . M . Dupin , like an actor who has said his last farewell , yearned for a reappearance , and is once more on the stage . No one blames the old ' . man , but no one refuses him his pity . So devoted an Orleanist might wisely have died without provoking the scorn of the family at " Claremont . He had but one thia < r to enhance in
his own character , and that was honour . Instead of enriching himself in this respect , he has chosen to be a bankrupt and a beggar , and the grey-headed judge who arraigned the Emperor is now the Emperor ' s most humble servant . This is not well . And yet it is hardly surprising . We knew M . Dupin of old when he published his Memoirs , a garrulous juinl / le of commonplace and conceit , exhibiting a nature without balance , a
soul without nobility . Nicknamed ' the Peasant of the Danube , ' lift resembled in many respects the peasant of the French provinces . His common sense was rough and strong ; he was cunning and tenacious ; his wit was coarse ; he was hardheaded and hardhearted , highminded by iits . " We speak of him in the past tense . He is historically dead , but not like Napoleon ' s famous
soldier . ' for the honour of France : ' itVnnpn soldier , 'tor the honour ot Prance ; ' . Franco regrets his apostasy . But tho profound legist , who denounced tyranny in 1814 , cannot sacrifice his convictions and himself without extorting a groan even from those who least sympathize with Orleanisl pretensions . It was Dupin who , five year * ago , wrote tho letter of a stoic to Louis Napoleon : it is he who has so often lectured hit
countrymen on their want of virtue , and now it is M . Dupin at whom the cynic smiles and the political atheist shrugs his shoulders . Honest men mourn him ; "but baseness and indifference rejoice . A fter all , are tho French , as Voltaire described them to be , a nation of valets ? Will they soil themselves for wages , even at the age of seventy-five ? Younger men mig ht without compunction servo tho Empire . Thoy have no reminiscences to defile , no oaths to forswear , no obligations to violate , no principles to disavow . They might pursue their ambition unashamed under tho Empire ; but M . Ddtin ,
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 28, 1857, page 13, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_28111857/page/13/
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