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insurrection is highly probable , if once the league of despots to keep down the oppressed is broken . His fears are not that insurrection should fail , but lest it should succeed . To the last of . these objections—that English interposition may clash -with the leadership of Piedmont in the Italian war—we reply that the unavoidable revolution in Italy must he initiated by the people . Those who imagine that Piedmont can set Italy free without such popular revolutionary initiative , entirely misconceive her position . The King of Piedmont , bound as he is cy treaties , involved in all the diplomatic intrigues of Europe , allied with some of the powers now oppressing Italy , cannot suddenly tear to pieces all treaties , and the
map of Europe , and stand forth the etnhodiment of the revolutionary principle . He is , as a mere military power , weaker than Austria : how can he defy at once Austria , the Pope , and the King of Naples , and put himself at the head of a national . crusade , before the nation herself has proved thai she is Tipe for it ? AVould not his initiating action be un iversally interpreted as the sign of a usurping ambition ? Was not this one of the causes of the failure of the revolution of 1848 ? Had not the Romans , the Tuscans , the Ifeapolitans , forced their r « lers to arm and send them into Lombardy to fight tfce national war ? Had not the people expelled the Austrians from Lombardy and Venice ? What damped the enthusiasm of the volunteers ? " > Vhat gave the Pope and the King of Naples a pretext for the withdrawal of their troops ? The volunteers who came to
fight for Italy were dismissed by the King of Piedmont , who desired simply a northern Italy for himself , instead of a national Italy for the Italians . The other Italian princes did not care to see this kingdom of northern Italy so disposed of . They -withdre-w their troops , and the Austrians re-entered Lombardy . As it was in 1848 , so it must ever be ; and our hest hope for the Italians is in knowing that they comprehend the causes of their failure in 1848- 9 \ and that they believe not only in their right to nationality and their power to _ win it , but also in the certainty that unless they win it for themselves , they never can possess it . Deeming , therefore , an Italian Revolution to be a holy and inevitable necessity , we desire to do our duty in helping to make it successful , in shortening the war , and lessening the bloodshed as much as possible .
We , as a committee , charge ourselves with the duty of diffusing information , by means of lectures , public meetiiigs , and the pre 3 s , so * as , if possible , to -bring .. a strong public opinion to bear oh the British Parliament . Mean-while , we appeal to the British public to provide the funds which , as we have shown , while they cannot initiate , may greatly contribute to the success of any Italian movement . Subscriptions sent to the Office of the Fund , 22 j Sloane-street , Knightsbridge , London , are acknowledged from time to time in the J ) ailt / yews and Leader . Post Office orders may be made payable to James Stansfeld . .
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THE INSURRECTION IN SICILY . Some details of the revolutionary movement in Sicily are tlius given in the Moniteur : — "On Saturday evening , the 22 nd of November , the commander of the escort which usually accompanies the diligence from Palermo to Messina -was having its tollbar lowered between Bellefrate and Mezzujoso , ahout twenty miles from Palermo , when several shots -were fired at him . Thinking they proceeded from brigands , he took to flight , ordering back the diligence . The Syndic of Bellefrate , informed of the occurrence , sent immediately a detachment of militia to clear the road ; but it was attacked by about sixty insurgents , of whom about twenty were mounted , and the militiamen were obliged to retreat before superior numbers . The Sicilian Government at onc « took steps to stifle in its birth this
attempt at insurrection . Troops were sent against the insurgents , and the latter , surrounded in a wood , were compelled to leave sixteen prisoners in the hands of the troops . A portion of the insurgents succeeded , however , in escaping in the direction of Cefalii , on the coast , between Messina aud Palermo , at forty miles' distance from the latter . A detachment of eight hundred men was embarked on board a war-steamer to follow the insurgents to their retreat . After remaining three lioura before the town , the troops entered without opposition . " Great precautions were taken by the police and military at Palermo ; but insurrection spread all through the adjacent country . At Catania , placards wcro posted , bearing the words , " Long live the hereditary Prince !" " Long live the Constitution of 1812 ! " These were torn down by the police . The Italia e Popolo , the organ of Mazzini , says : —
"We hear from Palermo that the events we have so ardently wished for have commenced . The first step has been most favourable , as six hundred armed men were enabled to assemble at a moment ' s notice , led by men of talent and energy . Tho movement commenced at Mezzojuso , about two miles from Palermo . Although « t so short a distance from that city , tho police woro a Whole day inactive . All tho neighbouring districts—Villafrate , Bonnira , Vicnri , Cimina—have risen . FGtos , concerts , and illuminations have been held . The conduct of our brothers has been most sensible . There has
been no pillage , no effusion of blood , no act of violence , but ^ brotherly love throughout . At the moment I am writing , I learn that the insurrection is spreading , and we hope for success . The rallying cry is , Viva V Italia !' The flag is a tricolor , without arms or municipal device . " Some soldiers at Palermo , surprised in the act of distributing a national and liberal address to the King , have been arrested . The Opinion * of Dec . 2 , saj-s : — " The latest letters from Naples speak of attempts made to induce the army to pronounce for the constitution of 1848 . A proclamation has been circulated , which , it appears , has found favour even in quarters where it might have been least expected . " We read in the Corriere Mercantile : — The Corriere 8 icilia . no , which we receive from Palermo , speaks of an . insurrectional
movement , embracing Calatafindi and other large towns in the province of Palermo . The precise number of the insurgents is not known . Arms have been distributed , telegraphs cut , functionaries ousted , the flag of 1848 displayed , and all without effusion of blood . A provisional government has been established , with a member of the Sicilian parliament of 1844 at its head . The seat of the provisional government is Calatafimi , a town of 10 , 000 inhabitants . " This intelligence has not "been confirmed . Despatches received on Thursday state : —" The insurrection in Sicily has been put down . The chief of the insurgents , Baron Bentivegna , has heen taken prisoner . Palermo is tranquil . Everything is quiet , notwithstanding- the clandestine landing of a quantity of muskets on the coast . " Xater accounts represent that the revolt is spreading through the interior , and further risings are expected every day .
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CONTINENTAL NOTES . . ¦ . ¦ ; .. ' '¦ ¦' ¦¦ ' . ¦ '¦ ' . feasce . : . ¦ .. ' . " . ' . - •¦ ¦¦ ;¦; . ¦;¦ ' The Moniteur publishes the following : — " The Treaty of Paris has met , in its application , -with difficulties which have given rise to a , difference of opinion "between the contracting Courts , and has rendered necessary , a meeting of their respective representatives to hasten the complete execution of the conditions of peace . The majority of the Powers that signed the treaty have already agreed , with this object in view , to . the convocation of the Conference at Paris . It is , therefore , to be presumed that it will be able to meet before the end of the present month , and everything authorizes the hope that it will succeed in promptly re-establishing a perfect understanding on the points under dispute . " A treaty was signed at Bayonne , on the 2 nd inst ., between , the plenipotentiaries of th . e French Emperor and of the Queen of Spain , settling the frontier line between France and Spam . A report from , the Governor-General of Algeria has been published , announcing a successful expedition against the Hannian tribes , and a skirmish with troops on the Morocco frontier . M . Schwilgue , the inventor of the marvellous astronomicaldock , which all visitors to Strasbourg go to see in the cathedral , has just died , at the age of eight \ r .
A few particulars with respect to the reassembling of the Paris Conference and to the Bolgrad question out of which the presumed necessity for the reassembling has arisen , are communicated by the Vienna correspondent of the IHines , who says : — " On the map used by the Conference on the 8 th and 10 th of Maxch , 1856 , there is but one Bolgrad marked , and it is on the Akermann . road , about five kilometres to the north of the Lake of Yalpuck . On a German map , -which was copied from a Russian original , the Bolgrad just alluded to is thus marked , Tabak czantynie Bolgrad . ' Of a second place of the same name , lying close to the north-east extremity
of the Lake of Yalpuck—which , place is so unjustl y claimed by Russia—there is no trace . If M . de "Walewski was previously informed by Count Orloff that Russia meant by Bolgrad a town which was not marked on the map , he certainly did not communicate the fact to Baron de Bourqueney , for when the Frontier Commission began its operations , that diplomatist did not know that there was a new Bolgrad . If the information given me be correct—and it probably is so—it has been already settled what subjects are to be discussed by the Conference . Each Government will be represented by its resident diplomatic agent only . "
An act of supreme folly was performed on Monday at Paris . After a review of some regiments of the Guard and one of artillery , which had taken place in the Place du Carousel , a deputation from tho Grenadiers of the Guard proceeded to the Tuilerica , and presented to the Imperial Prince ( eight months old—or say eight and a half ) Ins livret ns enfant tie troupe—the small regimental book which is given to every private soldier ; for the Prince was made a soldier—one of tho infant-ry—a
week or two alter his birth . The following rather remarkable circular has been addressed by M . Billault , tho French Ninistcr of the Interior , to tho Prefects : — " Monsiour 1 < 3 Pvefet , —Decrees suspending Municipal Councils , and applications for their dissolution , arc becoming every day more numerous . This exaggerated tendency is not in conformity cither with tho spirit of the law of May , 1855 , or with tho intentions of the Government . Tho intention of tho law was to arm the superior authority against proceedings
which might lie prejudicial to order , or which might transgress the legal powers of the communal assemblies . It was with a view to extraordinary cases of this kind that Article 13 was framed , under which Municipal Councils may not only be suspended or dissolved , bat may be replaced by commissions whose powers may last till the next quinquennial election . But the greater part of the decrees of suspension which I receive are grounded upoa the opposition of the Councils to propositions touching the communal interests brought forward hy the mayors The administration too often thinks fit to interfere in these local differences , and improperly brings its authority to bear upon the conflicts which grow out of them ; I cannot too stongly recommend you , Sir , to leave the utmost latitude to the ^ Municipal Councils in everything relating to the discussion within the limits of the law
of purely communal interests . If these assemblies give a bad or unintelligent solution to the affairs brought before them , the population will know to whom the responsibility is to be imputed .: A bad local decision is less mischievous than a system wh | ch tencls to impose universally the action of central authority in matters not involving any general interest to require its interference . Administrators allow themselves too easily to be led away by the desire of crushing all inconvenient resistance , instead of using their personal influence , and encouraging that public opinion which , in the long run , is never blind to its own true interests . 1 have often regretted to observe this tendency to see in authority nothing but its rigorous exigencies , and to forget that the best way to serve the Emperor's government is to make it loved . " .
It is rumoured that CardinalMorlot ' s mission to Rome has relation to the coronation of Napoleon III . which , should peace be consolidated , will probably take place inlS 57 .
AUSTRIA .. Theofficial Gazetta di Venezia has announced that the communities of Venice , Burano , Malamoceo , Murano , and Palestrina will not be obliged to pay 13 , 052 , 800 lire -which they owed to the State . The debt dates from the yeara 1848 and 1849 , and the five communities were mulcted in the ^ sum mentioned in order that the paper money which had been issued by Manin during the revolution might be converted into Treasury bills . —Times Vienna Correspondent . .
In some gossip from Venice , with reference to the reception of ttie Austrian Emperor and Empress in that city , we read that " the official illumination of the Place of St . Mark was magnificent , but the windows of the surrounding hoiiseswere notlightedup . Their inhabitants , however , appeared on the balconies , and joined in the general acclamation with which the Emperor and Empress were received when they w alked out in the evening . Many _ Venetian nolili were present at the Theatre Pare ; but still thirty boxes tcere empty . " :
The Austrian Corresjtondenz has an article , the ohject of which is to- refute the assertion that a Franco-Russian note has been addressed to Turkey with reference to the occupation of the Principalities and of the Black Sea , as well as the other questions in dispute . " Writing to Marshal Radetzky , under date of the 2 nd inst ., the Emperor says : — " I have resolved to raise entirely the sequestration placed under date of 13 th February , 1853 , upon the property of the political emigrants of my Lombardo-Venetian kingdom . You will
at once take the necessary steps that the property still under sequestration shall be restored to those who can . prove their right to the same . At the same time I authorize you , for the future , to report upon the sequestrated property of the emigrants with a view to their reinstatement and their readmissiou to the qualit } ' of Austrian citizens when they shall have forfeited the same , atid to grant them the clemency they asked for , on condition of a formal promise on their part to conduct themselves for the future as loyal and faithful subjects . "
PRUSSIA . The Prussian Government , after according to Mr . Morris Moore a renewed permission to remain at Berlin , suddenly changed its mind , and ordered him to leave the country within four-and-twenty hours .
ITALY . The King of Naples ( says a letter from that country ) , on the 27 th of October , grunted a pardon to twentv-five political convicts , making forty-one pardoned since the 7 th of the same month . Of these one has since been arrested on a charge of having , three days after hLs liberation , tried to inveigle a certain number of soldiers into a conspiracy . Some accounts say that a greatei munbor have been sot at liberty , and that any one raaj
obtain his pardon who will sue for it . ' An attempt has been made to assassinate the King o Naples . There was a review on Monday , and , while thi troops wcro defiling , a soldier of tlio 3 rd Battalion o Chasseurs rushed from the ranks and struck tho King oi tho left side . The King was not wounded . The soldie was knocked down , and sei / . od by Colonel Latour . Th Oestcrrcic / iische Correspondenz says that the bayonet t tho soldier struck the King on the right side , abovo th wnist . UDSSIA . Wo arc informed hy tho MorsTcoi Slornik , that th garrison of the port of Aatrakan , on the shore of th
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December 13 , 1856 ] T HE LE A BE It . 1181 ' ¦ ~ " ¦ — . i —
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Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 13, 1856, page 1181, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2171/page/5/
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