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to say , knew how to deal with M ; G-ailxenga , and agreed to make a 'bygone' of Liin in earnest . Count AiiFiERi ' s return for A-lba 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 the return ofBitOFFEBio , opposed by Count Revel , and the candidate of tlie Armenia was defeated . Genoa , however , republican as she is , returned four reactionary members out of six . A coalition of Mazziniaus and the Church is said to have defeated Garibaldi , who . in
that case , has 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 Soiako delxa Margebita . Will not this event , with the check sustained , by General Mabmoea at Pancalieri , recal the Liberals to union ? Although not so victorious as had been hoped , the elections have given them n clear majority , and to this new Parliament is committed the task of advancing the position of Piedmont among constitutional kingdoms .
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ENGLISH ENGINEERS AT NAPLES . XiOHB PAtMinsTON has given no satisfactory explanation with respect to the two engineers imprisoned at Naples . The official letter read 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 Paimeesion were now to fetch them out of their captivity in a lineof-battle ship , he could not redeem his character as a British statesman . It is a mere
insult ; to our understanding to pretend that the Neapolitan law has been infringed . There is 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 . Bub , 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 be understood that the authorities ia any part of the world are privileged to arrest an Englishman , keep him for half a year ia a loathsome prison , and then , if they please , discharge him ? This is the privilege laid down in the CiiAMNDON" letter , and the people of Newcastle have bitterly denounced ib . Parliament will hear of the proceedings , and Lord Paemerston will not escape censure , the effect of which he may have reason to regret .
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THE MUSTER-ROLL OF INDIAN HEROISM . The Indian struggle has brought out some of the best qualities of Englishmen . It is unnecessary to ask whether they be Nevilles or De Bukgiis . "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 . Wo all
know thafc earls 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 we have seen rising in India a plcind group of reputations , brilliant aa 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 way 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 glance we find ourselves in the presence of at least thirty men who , if we had a Somei , would be heroes of an Iliad . They are our demi-gods in battle , our Rttstums and our Antabs . "We have forgotten St . G-eokge —that " bacon-dealer of Cappadocia- — and we have no need to remember the models
of Fboissabt , 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 Garter are almost the only persons in the realui who are wanting ia 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 bai'ons and belted earls . We may be as solicitous as possible to avoid comparisons befcweea classes , but wlien 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 Christian
through the "Valley of the Shadowof -Death to hang powder-bags on the . ' gate / of-Delhi , that blazed like a volcano . We cannot pretend to present the lnusterroll complete . But a moment's reflection brings before us a Pyrrhic phalanx of the valiant , ' whose names are memories . ' Sir John L awbence , G-rand Cross of tlie 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 GtBa : nvit / le , indeed , has told us that he combines , in ahigher degree than any other individual , the genius of a soldier with that of a statesman ; but lie neglects , to tell us why Lawbunce is not Governor-General of India . Perhaps this Punjab Pitt is not strictly a hero . Then , what is Havjelock ? A baronet—and the
Wellington of the war ; the Crown , under protest , has raised him a step above Sir Joseph Paxton , and even allowed him to take rank with Alderman Moo : n ! The fountain of honour which shakes its loosening silver in the sun—it is from Leigh Hunt ' s jewel-case that figure of speecli is stolensprinkles Havdxock , but there is some other fountain which splashes favourites with ca \ i d ' or . Well , the nation has in its mind ' s eye a
columnar monument , which will raise Havelook higher than the arch of Khosrou . And Wilson of Delhi ? Not a dashing great captain , but wary and intrepid , coiunieriug , and worn-out by exertion . Of Nicholson and Nkill it is difficult to speak . The people do not speak of them , except with tears . They disappeared in . a flame of glory , and another Neill and another Nicholson are upon the scene . Colonel G-reatiied is the man
for whom - public opinion will next claim a title ; and near him stands the Mtikat of the Outle battles , Brigadier Chambeulain " , whom England cannot wiLlingly forget . Tlie theatre of his exploits recals two mournful but illustrious deaths—that of Sir Hen by Lawrence , at Lucknovv , and tliab of Sir Hugh "Wheeieu , at Cawnpore . They died
like two Romans m the best days of Koine . To the same memorable ranks belong Salk e ld , Home , Cahmichaex , Smith , and Burgess , the two- lieutenants and three sergeants who bl ( iw open the Cashmere gate of Delhi , WiLLOuanij y , who exploded the magazine , HiSNiiY , who died as he exclaimed ' * Forward ! " and Skeene , who showed
the Rajpoots that an Englishman might have all their pride and more than their .- constancy . The history of the war will also east radiance upon the names of Montgomery , who made the noble march ' from Agra of Eyre , who lias been like a flying Vengeance in Bengal ; of Van Cortlandt . 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 , Cotvper , and Patcen-HAST , ' who died in relieving Lucknow . But there is one man of whose achievements no
justice has yet been done — Lnglis , the protector of a thousand Europeans at Xiucknow , who stands on the same pedestal with Henry Lawrence and Hugh Wheel eh . These incomparable soldiers must be re-r warded , if they survive , and if they fall , the guardianship of those who are near and dear to them must be transferred to the nation .
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A VENERABLE CONVERT . " Oft of the depths of my heart , " M . Dupin said , in 1852 ,: " arises a great s cruple . " He was Pi'ocureur-Geneual of the Court of Cassation ; but when the spoliation of the Orleans property was committed , he flung off his robes , and denounced the Government as felonious , shameless , and unchristian ^ Since that day , M . JDupin has studied moderation . Seventy-five years of life have coolec ^ his principles . Rich beyond tlie temptation of
venality , aged beyond the allurements o £ ambition , he had passed six years in dignified obscurity when the lEmperor learned that he had become weary of sett-sacrifice . M . Dupjn , like au aetor 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 thine : 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 niost 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 jumble of commonplace and conceit , exhibiting a nature without balance , a soul without nobility . Nicknamed ' the
Peasant of' the Danube , ' he resembled in many respects tlie 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 , higlnniuded by fits . We speak of him in the past tense . He is historically dead , but nob like Naioleoe ' s famous soldier , 'for the honour of Prance ; ' Franco regrets liis apostasy . Hut the profound legist , who denounced tyranny in 1814 , cannot sacrifice his convictions and
himself without cxtortiug a groan even from those who least sympathize with Orleanist pretensions . It was Dujmn who , five years ago , wrote tho letter of a stoic to Louis Napoleon ; it is he who has so often lectured his countrymen on their want of virtue , and now it is M . Dupin at wliom tlie cynic smiles and the political atheist shrugs his shoulders . Honest men mourn him : but baseness and
indifference rejoice . After all , ore tho French , as Voltaire described them to be , a nation of valets ? Will they soil themselves for wages , even at the iigc of seventy-five ? Younger men miglit without compunction serve the Empire . They havo no rominiscencea to defile , no oaths to forswear , no obligations to violate , no principles to disavow . They might pursue their ambition unashamed under the Empire ; but M . DuriN ,
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No . 401 , November 283 1857 . ] THE . 'LEiDEB ; ¦ . 1141
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 28, 1857, page 1141, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2219/page/13/
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