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Leader (1850-1860), 20th September 1851, Edition Town of 2, Page 888

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      Untitled Article

      UNREPORTED INCIDENTS OF A LATE ROYAL TOUR . In royal progresses it is not often that these unwearied gatherers of inconsiderate trifles , commonly called " gentlemen of the press , " leave anything unrecorded . One or . two incidents , however , of a somewhat significant character , have escaped these lynx-eyed historians . In the course of his late tour , the King of Prussia stopped at Stergard . The burgomaster and other civic authorities were in waiting at the railway station , and respectfully invited the King to breakfast . To the astonishment of the worthy citizens , his Majesty opened' his paternal mouth and spoke thus : —

      " I will eat nothing here ; I will drink nothing here . I hate Stergard . I would not have come at all , had it not been that the railway passed here . Stergard has shown in the year 1848 that it indulges in the most revolutionary , in the most subversive tendencies . " His Majesty having paused to breathe , Mr . Burgomaster ventured to remark that the good town of Stergard had no doubt been very agitated in that remarkable year , but by no means so much agitated as the enlightened city , the residence of his Majesty , where things did not pass off with a merely bloodless agitation . The King , in a very excited tone , replied : —

      ** The officials of StergaTd encouraged the revolutionary efforts , and the loyal people were obliged to withdraw from the scene of action , and even to hide themselves . " The Burgomaster was about to offer some reply , ¦ when the King started up in a violent passion , clenched his royal fist , and was proceeding to clench the argument on the unlucky burgomaster's head , ¦ when the Minister Manteuffel and the King ' s adjutant interposed , seized his Majesty ' s arm , and spoiled a very nice little exhibition of royal pugilism . Tradition says that Frederick the Great was wont to chastise offending captains of grenadiers with his cane . The grandson of the philosopher no doubt imagined that he had a right divine to thrash a

      mayor . Throughout the whole of the late journey the King was in an extraordinary state of excitement . His Majesty was in a lovely frame of mind at Stettin . The police had ordered the people to rejoice for the royal visit by the display of flags , and the other tokens of civic enthusiasm usual when mighty potentates condescend to travel . The Stettin burgesses displayed their exceeding loyalty and great joy , as desired . A blacksmith , thinking to give a stronger

      proof of loyalty than his neighbours , displayed along with the Prussian flig , the flag of Germany , with its black , red , and golden colours . The honest fellow very likely thought of that memorable day in March , 1848 , when the King , after the bloody massacre of thecitizens of Berlin , rode through the streets with the German flag in his hand , loudly exclaiming that he had placed himself at the head of the German movement , and that thenceforth Prussia would lose itself in Germany . Be that as it may , this loyal son of Vulcan hung out the German flag .

      When the King passed and observed this disagreeable reminiscence of broken faith , lie fell into a violent rage , asked who had the impudence to display that flag , and ordered a gendarme to enter the house and remove it instantly . * ' If any one , " said the King to the policeman , " refuses to remove it , you must use the force of arms against him . " When the King heard that this black , red , and gold criminal was a blacksmith , employed in the Prussian marine , working himself up to a towering passion he roared out , " I will have no insurrectioniats—1 will have no revolutionists in my pay , " and ordered the poor fellow to be instantly discharged . This order was of course immediately executed .

      These two facts Bhow that the King of Prussia is not only in that state of chronic intoxication in which he has lived for a long time , but has already reached the stage of illness which medical men call delirium tremens ; that is to Bay , the intermediate state between tho enthusiasm of the opium-eater and complete madness . Late events have operated thus on the muddlod intellect of his Majesty , and have given to his ordinary hallucinations the wilfulness of

      u Persian Satrap . For only a Mahomedau Chieftain , ruling with tho Hword over a barbarous people , could act as this " Protestant King " has acted , over a people perhaps the most intellectual in the world . " Whom tho godH , " sayH Tacituh , " wish to ruin , they first strike mad . " This in not only morally truo of German despotism in general ,, but literally and phynicully true in the individual case of the King of Prussia .

      Untitled Article

      THE SARDINIAN WORKMEN AND THE FRIENDS OF ITALY . A small document , but of no small importance , appeared under the leading columns in the Times of Tuesday : nothing less than an official copy of an address from the Sardinian Workmen in London *« To the English Society of the Friends of Italy /* It is a sufficient rebuke to those who assert that the desire for Italian " nationality" is not a household aspiration among the Italian People : — " The Italian workmen who have come from the Sardinian States to admire the cosmopolitan industry exhibited in the magnificent Crystal Palace , erected by British genius for so noble a purpose , believe that they would neglect a sacred duty of gratitude if they quitted the shores of the Thames without addressing their warmest thanks to you , the friends of their unhappy country , oppressed by the stranger .

      " We , who , thanks to our statute , enjoy the advantage of free institutions , are yet but divided by the Ticino from those brethren the cry of whose long martyrdom is first addressed to us . May the great British nation be impressed by you in favour of the unhappy Peninsula , so that in the approaching struggle of the people she may meet with the powerful support of British influence . May the blessing of that God rest upon you who has marked out with His almighty finger the boundaries of our nationality . That nationality , opposed to foreign invasion , and by him who impiously and tyrannically arrogates to himself the right of representing the God who is the Father of the peoples on earth , will arise more rapidly if it meet the sympathy of free nations , and more

      especially of yours . " The Italian Workmen of the Sakdinian States in London . " September 8 . " We find the following letter in the Daily Neu >» of yesterday : — " Sir , —The detachment of forty-eight of the Italian working-men of the Sardinian States , which visited Manchester in the beginning of this week , have begged me to communicate on their part , through the press , the gratitude which they feel for the kindness with which they were received . They desire to express

      their thanks to the town of Manchester , and to its manufacturers , for the liberality with which the industrial treasures of the first manufacturing city of the world were freely opened to their inspection . To the mayor they feel especially indebted for baring addressed them in a discourse which moved them by the ideas of industrial progress which it expressed , and by the suggestions of hope for their unhappy country , based upon the greater liberties of the Sardinian States , which it contained . I am , Sir , your obedient servant , " David Masbon , Secretary . 44 Society of the Friends of Italy , 10 , Southampton-Btreet , Strand , September 18 , 1861 . "

      Untitled Article

      T II E KAFIR W A R . Sir Harry Smith ' s official despatches from the Capo were published in Tuesday ' s Guzotte . The gist of the newa they contain was given last week . We may , however , remark two points in Sir Harry ' s despatch . First , that tho cessation of hostilities is uncertain ; und , secondly , that lie regards the incursions of the Kafirs into the colony as a sign that tho wur is near its termination ; as , according to his experience , they lmve always made a rush into the colony previous to any final submission . In other rcspcctH the additional information in the published documents consists in details of the patrol among tho AmatoliiH ; und u good idea , may be formed of that from Lieutenant Corrigan ' s letter .

      Lieutenant Corrifr . , of the Seventy-fourth Regiment , has written home to his father , Dr . Corrigan , of Dublin , a npirited uccouut of one of tho incidents of a patrol in tho Amatol uh . Extracts from the letter have appeared in the Dublin Evening Post , and we append the account us an interesting personal adventure , and u sketch of Capo warfare . The letter is dated " Koomipo Kiver , July 10 , 1861 " : — " We hud it very i « v « re notion th « morning we UHtfofavd

      into the Amatola Mountains on our patrol with tome rebel Hottentots and Kafirs combined . We lost som * men killed and wounded , but we gave the enemy a mo « f satisfactory thrashing . We had eight men killed and seventeen wounded on our side , besides one of our officers who was wounded in the arm ( young Bruce ) , but he is getting on famously , and will be soon all right again I will try and describe the fight to you , as I think it mav interest you : —We marched into the Amatolas just as day was breaking , and halted on the top of one of the hills called the < Little Amatola '; thence we could see right down into an immense valley underneath , which is called the ' Amatola Basin , ' and where great numbers of Kafirs , in fact , almost all Sandilli's Kafirs , live . The

      sun rose just after we got to the top of the mountain , and such a magnificent sight I never saw . There was the ' Great Amatola Mountain' in front of us , and we saw the rays of the sun gilding the tops of the whole range one after another , until he mounted over the top of the mountain now before us , and threw a flood of light over everything in the valley . However , we were not given much time to admire the sunrise , for as the morning ' lightened up' we could see the Kafirs underneath us driving away their cattle , and we were ordered to descend into the basin and attack them . We had at this time a pretty strong force with us , consisting of ourselves , the Ninety-first Regiment , the Cape Mounted Rifles , and a number of Burghers . When we got into the basin we

      were obliged to separate , in order to surround the cattle . We went away to the left of the basin , and as Boon as we got to the extreme left of it we found ourselves under a very steep craggy hill , on the top of which about 700 Kafirs and Hottentots had taken up a position . They immediately opened agood smart fire on us , and wounded one or two of our men . We had nothing for it but to go at the bill , which we did ; and my company was thrown out in skirmishing order to cover the advance of the regiment . For the first four or five minutes , going up the hill . I expected every moment to get a bullet into me , for they were whistling about our ears , and knocking up the dust about our feet in a manner that was anything but pleasant . However , we

      drove the enemy back from the top of the hill , and we got to the top of it . On the top of the hill , and stretching away for about three miles behind it , was an immense wood , or rather bush , into which these Hottentots ( who , you must know , are all splendid shots ) and Kafirs had retired , and from the edge of which they kept up a fire on us . We then extended two more companies ( which , with mine , made three ) in skirmishing order , just under the crest of the hill , where we lay down . Orders were then given to us to lie still until we got the word from the colonel , when we were to jump up , rush over the crest of the hill and down to the wood ( a distance of about sixty yards ) , and then to fire away at the enemy as soon as we were under cover . We lay there about five or six minutes , and , certainly , they appeared to us

      to be the longest five minutes we ever spent . There were about 2-50 of us extended along the ridge , lying down in some long grass and rushes ; you could not see a single man ; the firing on both sides had ceased , and we lay there waiting for the order to rush over the crest of the hill and into the bush . I could almost fancy that I heard my heart beating , and you could certainly have heard a pin drop , ' so great was the silence . At last , the colonel gave the word , ' Forward . ' We all jumped up , rushed over the top of the hill , and away we went , 4 helterskelter' down the other side , as hard as we could go . As soon as we got over the hill , and were about half-way down the other side , the enemy gave us a volley , which wounded three men and killed two more .

      However , we never stoped to fire , but gave one cheer and dashed into the bush . From this time the fight was exactly similar to one of those that Cooper describes in hia novels as taking place between ' white hunters' the prairies and the ? Indians . ' When we got down to the edge of the bush we caught beven Hottentots in . a sort of sawpit , which they had not time to get out of , thanks to our having run down the hill so fust . We killed them all in the pit . The fight was then kept up for about two hours in the bush , we all covering ourselves in long grass , behind trees , rocks , and everything _ that afforded any shelter . Our men skirmished sp lendidly ,

      and we kept on advancing and driving the enemy back , every now and then coming on one of their dead bodies . I shot a Hottentot during this part of the fight . I wan lying behind a log of wood , when I saw a fellow put Iub head up from belaud a large stone , and then rise up on one knee aud take a steady aim at one of our men , who was standing behind a tree , aud whose side was exposed to him . Uefore he had time to pull the trigger I «« d at him , and sent a rifle bullet through his head . lie tossed his arms up in the air and fell dead immediately . I weut up with some of our fellows after the light to bcc him ; the bullet had struck him ^ ust over the ear ui « i gone through , bo he must have died almost instantaneously .

      Untitled Article

      THE INDIAN NEWS . Letters and papers from India reuohed town on Thursduy . They contain accounts of the discovery of a conspiracy to liberate tho Dewan Moolraj . A >" plan wus to ilre tko Arsenal at Calcutta , and in uio confusion , ovorpower the guards , and carry <» Moolraj in a . boat . Disturbances continue in tno Nizam ' s territory . Gholab Singh , it is »» id , J 1 UH been beaten by the insurgent hill tribe * . Intelligence from China reports that the insurrection in uploading far and wide .

      Untitled Article

      ADVENT OF BLOOMEKI 8 M . But a few weeks ago , wo heard of Mxs . Bloomet , who hud adopted the abort coat « uxd trowaera , mm * expressed her intention of p * w » evering in the ubo th « M guaumtf , wi * U foiling , of ouriowty « nd inters-

      Untitled Article

      LIBERATION OF KOSSUTII . A letter from Malta , dated the 12 th of September , says : —¦ 44 By the French steamer which arrived yesterday from CoriHtuntinoplo wo have received the welcome intelligence of the liberation of KoHSuth and law gallant companions from Kutujah on the 1 st instant . Tlio MisHibBimn had arrived safely at Constantinople .

      Its cabins were fitted up in the most elegant manner , so as to accommodate Kossuth , his family , and all his party . A Turkish steamer was to leave at once for Giemeleck to take them on board and to convey them to the Dardanelles , where the Mississippi was to be in readiness to receive them . Nothing could exceed the kindness , the attentions of the Turkish Government . The Pacha of Broussa , in accordance with orders forwarded to him from Constantinople , sent no less than fifty carriages to convey the exiles to the point of their embarkation . Among those mentioned as likely to accompany Kossuth , we find the well-known

      names of the two Perczels , of Vissowski , a general , and of Asboth . His secretary and physician will also go with ; him . Count Batthiany ' s movements are uncertain . His state of health is such that he is anxious to get to Paris , in order to consult some of the French faculty . The Countess Batthiany has been using all her endeavours with the French ambassador to obtain permission for this change in his destination . " By the Growler , which arrived this morning , we have heard that Kossuth and his companions were all safe on board of the Mississippi , and that she had left the Dardanelles with them oh the 7 th for America . " These are " glad tidings , " indeed !

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 20, 1851, page 888, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1901/page/4/