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alike their enemies and yours . Until they have fallen , you will have neither independence , liberty , or justice ; and their fall can only be brought about by a sincere and fraternal union of all those who now suffer and pray , aDd will combat their double oppression . By some of the races by which you are surrounded you have been too long forgotten . They now stretch their hands to you . Others have been unjust towards you : they can be so no more . They are learning justice and equality in common suffering- Do you the same , and let the strength , of all be increased by this mutual reconciliation .
Grave territorial questions are still in agitation among you . Adjourn their solution until after the defeat of the common enemy ; and declare that this solution shall be peaceful . The future belongs not to the Kings , who by brute force arbitrarily partitioned the Peoples at the Congress of Vienna . The future belongs to the allied Peoples , to the Congress wherein all shall be equally represented , and by which the map of Europe fihall be remodelled , in accordance with the will of the Peoples , in harmony with their geographical conditions , their
language , thak traditions , and their peculiar capabilities The future beloBKS to Universal Suffrage , the highest law of Democracy , which all will accept . Fear nothing then for the future . "Whenever the voice of the People shall peacefully and unanimously declare— " Such is our will , " —that will shall be accomplished . European Democracy will guarantee every right sanctified by duties fulfilled . . . „ . Organize yourselves : make common cause with all the Peoples oppressed by the Emperor or the Cear ; by these means you will enter the European Alliance and destroy an isolation which , if prolonged , would condemn you to
impotence . The great Danubian Confederacy will be a fact of our epoch . Let all your action be governed by this idea . The extremities only of the Bridge of Trajan remain on the shores of the Danube , symbolical of the present condition of things . To reconstruct it and build new arches across , is your task for the future . To the Central Democratic European Committee . Joseph Mazzini . Arnold Huge . Ledru Rolling A . Daurasz .
Who are the Roumains ? what is this " imperishable race " ? are questions which ninety-nine Eeglishmen our of one hundred might be fairly supposed to put , on reading the above appeal . Our foreign secretaries , however , have been compelled to know something of them , and will be so again ; and if we would exercise that influence upon the Foreign-office , which we do employ to some purpose in reforms at home , we also must seek to gain some accurate notions of the Peoples as well as of the Governments with which we have to deal in Europe .
But if we have not heard of the Roumam Tace , we have at least some dim recollection of questions and difficulties between Russia and Turkey , about certain Danubian provinces , in which our Foreign-office has had something to say . Well , these Danubian provinces form part of the territory populated with some foreign admixture , by the Rouraain race . The Danubian provinces are known by the names of Moldavia and Wallachia ; they may be found in the map of Turkey , separating it from Austria and Russia ; they pay tribute to Turkey , but are under the protection of the Czar . If
we now turn to the map of that incongruous collection of states whidh is still dominated by the House of Hapsburgh , we shall find , in the south of Hungary and bordering upon Moldavia and Wallachia , two other provinees , of which we have perforce heard something during the late Hungarian struggle , called the Banat and Transylvania . And turning our eyea eastwards across the frontier into Russia , they will fall upon the name of the border province of Bessarabia . Within the whole of this compact territorial circumference the Roumain race is the predominant , where it is not the exclusive element : and it numbers some 10 , 000 , 000 souls .
The history of this people is peculiar and interesting . Our readers may have guefised , if tbey did not already know it , from their mime , that they claim to be Romans , their country being the aeat oF the ancient colony of Dacia , and their language , to this day , bearing almost as great a resemblance to the ancient Latin as does the modern Italian . Indeed , in some respects the identity i « more complete . It is said that the language contains about 25 , 000 words , of which 20 , 000 are of JL »» tin ori g in . We have the authority of Mr . M'Culloch for declaring that a stranger speaking in Latin will generally be understood by the natives . in the earl of the
It will be remembered that y part Hungarian ntrugRle , some of their greatest difficulties were the resistance of the population of Transylvania , until they were reduced by the consummate skill , daring , and energy of Bom . The Roumains of Transylvania resented the claims to supremacy of the Magyars , and ranged themselves with Austria , though huring her sway . Here i » one of the instances in which Austria has hitherto successfully , pursued her strategy of preaerving her own unnatural authority by playing , one ngaiiiHt another , the antagonism of her rival subject races , and deluding them in turn . and these claimsin
It is time that these jealousies , - consistent with true ideas of national independence and of democracy , should ceaHe . And the Central Democratic Committee has accomplished a noble and useful work in publicly recognizing the righteous claims of the Hot-mains , in pointing out to them the true conception of their future mission , and in paving the way for auch an understanding between the subject Peoples of the House of Hapsbtirgh , a « muy at least defeat the iniquitous policy of keeping together a fulliiiK «™ P' ™ U Y < iiH 8 cmtnatinK hatred and jealousies amongst diflerent races , which cannot exist to any useful purpose , with any prospect of their own national development , or of common progress , except through an enlightened and permanent accord .
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LAST MEETING OF THE IRISH DEMOCRATIC ALLIANCE . Next in importance to Organization is the man . ner in -which Organizations are reported . The public should have reason to believe in the earnestness , modesty , clear purpose , and business ability of all associated political and social bodies . Th | matter is not too often thought of on this side the Channel ; but it is pleasing to find that some attention is indirectly being drawn to it in a sister country . One of the ablest of the Irish newspapers lately gave the report , which is subjoined , of a meeting of the " Irish Democratic Alliance . " The report is given precisely as we quote it . When it appeared , the paper was taken up and read in an English metropolitan club by a person not unfriendly to democraoy , but who is given to doubt the capacity of the people to emancipate themselves . The comments he made as he went over it , the present writer took down at the time , and they are annexed in brackets at the places at which he made them . The reason for giving the remarks here is to show to those who think this kind of reporting the right sort of thing , what others think of it—others upon whom it is desirable to make a favourable impression . If reports are written merely for personal gratification , there can be no objection to what is said ; but if they are written for a public end , as we assume they should be , then the manner in which they are composed is of consequence . The
report in question commences : — " The usual weekly meeting of the ' Irish Democratic Alliance' took place on last Monday evening , the 2 nd instant , in their spacious lecture and reading rooms , 17 , Suffolk-street . It having been announced that a motion for the adjournment of the body would be brought on for discussion , there was a large attendance of members . Shortly after eight o ' clock , the chair was taken , amidst loud cheers , by Mr . John Iverach . [ The " attendance of members" could not have been " large" usually , or " adjournment" would hardly have *> een thought of . They assembled largely to adjourn , but not to carry on , the society . ] " The Chairman then returned thanks for the honour
conferred on him . [ It might be a duty to preside , but hardly an " honour' * to take the chair at the public confession of the society's incapacity to carry out its objects . ] " The Secretary read the minutes of the last meeting , and also an anonymous letter , inclosing one shilling as a month ' s subscription , which was ordered to be iBserted on the minutes . [ The enormous sum of " one shilling " being received froru some nameless democrat , the letter is read in public , and drdered to be insetted on the minutes . ] " Mr . John Dillon then rose , pursuant to notice , to move the adjournment of the body for three months . Mr . Dillon proceeded to say , that the pecuniary circumstances of the body compelled him to bring forward this
resolution . " Mr . Fannin said it was clear that the body could not exist much longer , for that the collections were inadequate to tiefray the expenses . He then asked , what was the use of men saying that they wished the association to exist , when they did not come forward and support it ? This bod y has been before the country more than nine months . [ A society of comparatively unknown men , who had existed only i ; ine months , had done nothing todeserve support . And a society which contented itaelf with •? calling" upon the Irish people from a lecture-room , could not expect a people to come who had so often been called to so little purpose . A disappointed people must be impregnated individually . No amount of culling will
reanimate the Irish people , and they who attempt to restore them to life by it mistake their work . ] We have repeatedly called on the country ; and , as the country did not respond to our call , we would be justified in dissolving the association . I am against adjournment . If ) ou adjourn , this body will be a stumbling-block in the way of any new association ; therefore , he would move , as an amendment—' That , inasmuch as the Irish Democratic Alliance ha * not received Bufficieht pecuniary support—thereby proving either a want of confidence , or an Immovable apathy , on the part of the Irish Democracy—we , therefore , deem it our duty to dissolve this body . ' " Mr . M'Xeevcr seconded the amendment .
* ' At this stage of the proceedings , the policeman who attends the meetings regularly , entered ( having previously gone out ) , and , addressing the members , said—Mr Chairman and gentlemen , — I am sorry to have to disturb you , but my duty compels me take one of your members prisoner ; and I call on the secretary to give me his name . " Secretary : I will not . [ What objection could there be to give the name when the policeman had got the man ?] " Snv . rral Voices : What did he do ?
" Policeman : He uood treasonable language . He iiald ' To Hel ! with the Queen . ' ( A laugh ) I , therefore , arrest you Haying hin hands on a man numed William Olynn , 78 , Bride-street ) . " Mr . M'JCeovi-r said that Mr . Glynn being the first victim of the Irish Democratic Alliance —[ The idea of culling this man a " victim , " whose rude tongue , deserved rebuke or contempt , i * the veriest burlesque of the language of martyrdom]—that we aiiOuld not dissolve : the more a tyrannical and despotic Government tried to crush Democracy , the more determined and resolute « rr should be . [ Why , this " tyrannical and despotic" act
was politeness itself . The policeman who addressed the meeting , must have been exercised in Chesterfield . Why should the Government crush a dying movement ?• Hoir could they crush what the speakers declared no longer existed ?] Therefore , let us , in God ' s name , build the bark , ana plant her once more on the troubled waters of agitation . [ A bark which had never floated , and which in nine months had never made a single ripple on the waters of independence !] " Mr . Fitzpatrick « aid the words were used in a pri « vate conversation before the chair was taken , so that the body was in no way implicated therein . ( Hear . ) " Mr . Dillon then withdrew bis motion for adjournment , and Mr . Fannin withdrew his amendment ; after which . Mr . Thomas Furlong was moved to the second
chair , and a vote of thanks passed to the former chairman for his dignified conduct therein . Akthuk M'Keeveb , Hon . Sec . " [ It does not appear that the Chairman had done anything except allow a vulgar brawl to be exalted into a public cause , at the expense of good taste and the self-respect of the Irish Democratic Alliance . So this society resolves to continue . The greatness of the Democratic principle could not animate it ; the spirit of proselytism is dead within its members ; the cauae of their distracted and degraded land is insufficient to keep them together . The broken bond of union is only retied in antagonism to a courteous policeman , who respectfully asked the name of William Glynn , of 78 , Bride-street , who disgraced himself and lowered the character of the meeting , by bawling " To hell with the Queen . " ]
The eminent service rendered to Irish liberty by the newspaper from which we have taken this report , renders only one theory probable--namely that it was inserted as Punch would insert it , as a pleasant satire , intending to teach , through & ludicrous picture , what might be taken as * n offence if expressed didactically . As it may be useful in Albion as well as Erin , we have ventured to reprint the instance . The scorners of the people are active enough in inventing cases upon which to exercise their vocation , without the people themselves supplying the scorners with material . Iox .
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NEW LAW OF . ORGANIZATION . [ A gentleman , a member of one of the learned professions , has addressed to " Ion , " from New York , a letter which is subjoined . It affords a glimpse of the internal life and the progress of Free Thought in America , somewhat different from the popular impres * sion , and we are inclined to think more accurate than the public of this country are aware . It offers , also , some explanations of a new doctrine of Progress , or Science of Society , which has lately excited interest in a few thinkers in this country , and of which we shall hear more in the future . ] New York , Sixth Avenue . No . 239 , June 19 , 1851 . My dear Sib , —I make no apology for writing to you , perhaps not for the last time , some information concerning Social Progress in America . I came to this country , as you are aware , intending to join Cabet's Icarian community at Nauvoo ; and for _ this reason mainly—that in the old country to a man obliged , whether from conscientious scruples or from want of success , to quit the profession in which he has been educated , no resource is left , save in exceptional cases , of which mine did not prove one . I arrived in this city not without expectations , even as far as the country itaelf was concerned ; when I met with so kind and flattening a reception on all hands , that I cannot help feelings of gratitude towards a people who present , also , much indeed—far more than I expected to find—that extorts the warmest admiration . The conviction was made in my mind , and has since been deepened by all I have seen , that no writer who has described this city and nation to Europeans has done full justice to the progress made both in Idea and Realization by this youngest—but , to my thinking , greatest—of the Peoples .
The progress * made by the leading thinkers here in the great questions of Social Reform , would naturally be the object of my deepest interest . I was remarkably fortunate in this respect . I had been here but a few days when I had placed in my hands an original brochure , entitled " Moralism and Christianity , by Henry James , " any account of which , however , I cannot now give . I was indebted for this to perhaps the boldest speculator and most audacious free-thinker I ever met , at all events of the female sex , and on the ancient side of fifty years of age ( at the least ) . But then she was a Swi denborgian , and , although I really know nothing of the writings of Swedenborg , yet , to judge from the character of his
disciples , one would think there niUHt be something m ^ them worthy of more attention than they have yet received in Europe . The religion of these people seems to produce on them effects most widely different from those of any of the orthodox with which I had hitherto been acquainted . It seems to render them devoted partisans of Progress in every form ; and all manner of reform , coming from whatever quarter , is hailed b y them with religious enthusiasm as a new proof of the descent of their New Jerusalem ; while , so far from dreading inquiry , be it ivtrso Radical , they hail it with fraternal interest and the profoundest faith , in the impossibility of its resulting in ought but tin- truih .
The great questions of Social Reform have certainly elicited infinitely more Attention lure than in England . Public opinion is far more advanced upon thcae , as , indeed , upon nearly all other matters . But the political iiiHtitutions under which the last few generations of native Americans hare h « d the happim-ns of living , havo certainly rendered impossible the extension amongs t theih of either institutions or principles which involve the sacrifice of the individual to the Association . The lot * of personal freedom ia an ineradicable instinct of
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POLITICAL AND SOCIAL . ^
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686 fPftf ¦ ¦**«**«? ' [ SATtmtoAT , % __ . _ . -. __ . . .. '
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Leader (1850-1860), July 19, 1851, page 686, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1892/page/18/
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