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she had performed fifty times before . In answer to inquiries made , a reply was given ¦ with great nonchalance , that , if the friends of the young anan were at all distrustful , good security would be accepted for the payment of the money after lie had been inducted into the place . The offer was not accepted ; but if any one doubts the authenticity of the facts , we shall he glad if he will supply us -with some other key to the advertisements about uDq vcettrs" "which are constantly appearing in the public journals . That is the way of it .
Toung Sampsons fresh from , the arms of St . John ' s Wood Delixahs , rend the British Lion , and eat the honey out of his entrails . Everywhere it is the same . Prom landerseicretaryships to tidewaiterships , kissing goes hy favour . In the army it is rife as ever , in spite of Mr . Layab : d , whom we could supply with matter for a series of new Philippics . Here is a gallant young major of five-and twenty , who has gathered all the laurels of the Crimean campaign without ever running the risk of a bullet , a youth who has been rocked
and dandled into a warrior , who was made a sharpshooter in spite of a glass eye . And why ? For no better reason than because his sister bad the luck to make a good match . One more case , and we have done . It is an humble incident compared with the rest ; but sufficiently indicative of the existing state of things . A country squire of great interest had a son , who ( whether through the force of example , or of original sin , or of a natural defect of intellect ) manifested from his early youth , the basest and most degraded
tendencies . After having been , expelled from several schools for the most ingrained and incorrigible wickedness , the lad was sent to the navy . Some cousin of his commanded a seventyfour , and the opportunity was not to be neglected for converting that noble service into a reformatory for scoundrels . As might have been expected , the experiment was not successful . With an indulgent relative for a ^ driver , young Hopeful was not long in kicking over the traces . In a short time , he was disgraced apparently bey ond redemption
not even cousinship could screen him . The offences of which he was convicted were , indeed , unusually shameful . Having robbed his messmates , he had contrived by means of false testimony to fix the crime upon an innocent sailor , who was flogged and dismissed the- service in consequence . "When his own culpability was discovered , of course there was nothing for it but to cut his epaulets and buttous off , and set him upon tlie nearest shore . Surely one would have thought this enough to blast the prospects of any man
, Iiowever great his interest ! But no ; the squire , his father , was a wise man in his generation , and bided his time . Fnder ^ vhat disguise do we next find this young felon , — as unmitigated a felon as may now be found in Millbank Penitentiary ? Why under the uniform of an officer of the British away ; belonging to a profession whose proudest boast has ever been that its members are imbued with the untarnished soul of honour . After being drummed out of one branch of
the public service , this son of Dives is permitted to creep into the other . The sequel might have been expected : drunkenness , insubordination , falsification of the roster , breach of all laws and principles of honour ; such wore the natural results of such a career , and once more jjn ignominious expulsion from an honourable position . The youth is d « ad now—drink and debauchery killed , him ; but the crime remains , and those who connived at it are chargeable with it .
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THE NEW POINT 03 ? HONOUR . Some new point of honour has been . adoptc < among gentlemen . Will any of our cor re spondents inform us what it is ? for the be haviour of gentlemen before the public ha completely thrown us out in our reckoning Our difficulty is the greater , sinco those gen tlemen should bo gentlemen par excellence for they are all soldiers , and some of then
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persuading the English people not to concern itself with the politics of the Continent . The despotic governments are too powerful , the liberal governments are too insincere , the liberal party is too weak , to render probable any satisfactory result from a renewal of the great conflict suspended in 1849 . It is not very clear whether reasonera of this class would recommend that England should have no foreign policy at all , or whether they insist on a policy of mere submission . The more logical of their representatives explain
themselves by the simple formula " Hands off ! " implying the old idea of intervention for the sake of enforcing non-intervention . It would seem a , very intelligible proposition that England should abstain from all action on the continent of Europe until challenged by an aggressive course on the part of other Powers . It is difficult , however , to define the beginning of aggression . When did the Russian aggression upon Turkey begin—when she uttered her menaces , or when she crossed the Pruth ? In the first instance , a vigorous
intervention on the part of the Western Powers might have been , so successful as to seem unnecessary ; but then it would have been denounced by Quietist politicians as premature . Being delayed until the Russian and Turkish Empires were in actual collision , ifc was too late to prevent a war . At present has Austria made any aggression on Sardinia , or against what remains of the national independence of Italy ? If she has , it is time , even according to the rationalistic pacificators , to exclaim " Hands off ! " if she has not ,
she must continue strengthening her forces , increasing her preparation , lengthening the line of her intrusion into Italy , and a . war must arise in Europe before a liberal government can interfere in the interest of peace . This would be a strange policy . So with Naples . We hear the scheme of intervention complained of . But on what grounds- ? Is there a possibility that Naples , as its affairs are at present administered , can long enjoy , or rather endure , its abject peace ? You must cast the world into a trance before it can be tranquil under torture . If , then , an insurrectionary movement is inevitable in the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies—a movement
that will spread through the peninsula—the question for English politicians , even the coldest , is , whether it is for their interest , or for the general interest of Europe , that the movement should fail , and be succeeded by still more infamous excesses of despotism , which , in their turn , must lead , finally , to revolt after revolt , until the nation is ruined or the Government reformed . Whatever England may determine to do France will meddle ; Austria will work her way . down the centre of the peninsula , and fortify the Adriatic coasts ; the Italian people will be forced more bitterly into antagonism with , their rulers ; Piedmont will become more and
more isolated ; and the national party will recognize its only hope in a general revolution . Then will conic interventions from all sides , and it is not difficult to foretel the result if Quietism is to stifle the intellect and the humanity of the English nation . The vain struggling ^ of diplomacy have shown that Europe has nothing to hope from the voluntary actions of the several military Governments . After 1849 there was a loud
should make a sullen protest against his authority . The municipalities of those cities have been invited to vote money , which they had steadily withheld ; and many a Lombard and Venetian noble lias been warned that his absence from the Opera on the night of an Impei'ial ' bespeak' will be construed into a hint of treason . .-. ' . > Between the Western Powers , Naples , and Russia , between Austria and Piedmont , between Piedmont , and Rome , and Tuscany , between the people of Rome , and the
Legations , and France , between Muratism . and the National Party , such irreconcilable differences exist , such a play of contending interests has arisen , such passions are at work , that it seems to us utterly fatuous to count with any confidence on a prolongation of the peace of Italy beyond next spring . It appears to us , then , that the initiation of a public movement at Newcastle-on-Tyne , in favour of Italy , has not been pi * e-
mature . The Government is active , and the nation , should be active also , in order that the Government may feel the pressure of real liberal opinion . We may do some service , at the outset , by stating the exact views of the National Italian Party , after which we may explain the position of those who , friendly to the Italian , cause , hesitate to promote the new movement , on account of the imperfect understanding between M . Mazzini and Count Gavotte .
The National Party has not , in this instance , made the first appeal to England . It has been invited to accept English assistance ; but it affirms that the first period of English agitation ought to be now closed . Even diplomacy has paved the way for an agitation of a positive character . That the Italians are a wronged and oppressed people , that they feel their oppression , that they are actively preparing to emancipate themselves , " lias been publicly and officially acknowledged by friends and foes , "b y the European Governments , as well as by the European press . " That they can only emancipate themselves bv insurrection is the central
maxim of the party . The wants of Italy are political and national , and these wants no local and administrative reforms can satisfy . " Neither Pope , nor King , nor Emperor , can grant anything without turning regicide . Every concession would now be a weapon in our hands ; and they know it . It is too late . They must be tyrants or fall . " These words will bo recognized by some of tho Friends of Italy . The whole burden of the national
movement cannot he thrown upon Piedmont . That kingdom , ' forming an integral part of the European system , bound by treaties , and limited by circumstances of territory and population , may bring an army to the support of . the Italian cause , "but cannot be expected , alone and unassisted , to stand forward and confront Austria , at tho risk of being confronted by France . With reference to her future position , it should be known that a compromise has been effected betvVeen the different sections of the Italian party , which hare agreed to leave nndiscussed for tho present all questions connected with forms of government , and to assert tho one principle of Tho Nation for the Nation .
POLITICAL QUIETISTS . A ximioted but respectable section of politicians have set themselves to the task of
report of reforms in Hungary and Lombardy , undertaken by Austria . The illusion has vanished , and the Concordat in one country , and military violence in another , are in convulsive conflict with the national spirit . Austrian Italy has beon converted into a vast camp ; tho frontiers are armed , ns if to oppose an invasion ; tho Emperor Fkancis Joseph is in terror lest Venice and Milan , upon , tho occasion of his projected visit ,
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October 4 , 1856 . ] THE LE AD E It . 949
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 4, 1856, page 949, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2161/page/13/
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