On this page
-
Text (4)
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
-
-
Transcript
-
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
lie friends believed themselves authorised to fear , ihat iri making the present expedition there was but one object in view ;— -to acquire military glory , to use Italy instead of being useful to her , —se servzr de Vltalie plus que la servir . The speaker further remarked j with singular point and significance , that all expeditions to Italy were not alike . A French intervention may bring about the freedom of the peninsula , but it may also end in nothing better than the treaty of Campo-Formio , or in a fresh expedition to Rome . Under these circumstances , M . QUivier declared the intention of himself and friends to refrain from voting either for or against the levy of 140 , 000 men , awaiting a declaration , of Government that it was for Italy the war was to be undertaken .
The speech of M . Ollivier , guarded and cautious as it was ( for the gentleman is a barrister ) , was but an avant'coureur to the franker and more important opposition to the war , which was manifested last Saturday , amidst what must be considered tumult for so orderly and docile an assembly as the Corps IJegislatif .. The character of the opposition ,. coming as it did fr » m the Catholic party , as well as the sombre allusions to the dangers with which the war ¦ w as pregnant to the interior tranquillity of the country , quite startled M . Baroche , the President of the Council of State and organ of the Government , destroying the balance of his mind , completely throwing him off his guard , and drawing from him the menacing declaration that " war was hence- , forward entered upon , and that the treaties were torn up . "
country in a war full of risk and peril , and for results which , to say the least of them , were uncertain . After alluding to the fact that the policy of Austria no way affected the honour and security of France , nor the balance of power in Europe ; that it existed during successive Governments in France , who never deemed it to offer an interest sufficiently serious to call for war , M . Plichon asked the embarrassing question , why the Government , made war , and what sort of war was it to be ? Was it _ be a revolutionary or a political war—the negation or the consecration of the expedition to Rome—the expulsion of the Austrians followed by the independence and union or federation of Italians ? He
asked where was the Government proceeding to , and where would it stop ? Next approving that France should aid the Italian cause by her vows , beyond which she ought not to go , and remarking that the example of Italy would have been more efficacious than the armed intervention of France , the speaker asked what would France do if victorious . The French protectorate would be no more loved than the Austrian protectorate . At different epochs France dominated in Italy , and never had occasion to congratulate herself there on . Towards the end of the last century the French were received . in Italy as liberators ; but in 1815 they were expelled as tvrants . The liberators in 1815 were Austrians ,
who are the tyrants of to-day . Even were the war strictly confined to Italy , he should nevertheless consider it as very serious . He did not see what guarantees there were against that unknown with which every war was pregnant . Not only would security abroad be compromised , but also the interior security of the country . It would be impossible to be revolutionary in Italy and conservative in France and Home . The revolutionary spirit cannot be excited on one point without being awakened on all the others . The stake of France in the war could be discerned—not so what she might gain . She might achieve a sterile glory , and that would be the only recompense for the blood of her children .
The reply of M . Baroche was most lame and impotent . In J ; he place of arguments , he brought forward thelnterruptions to which M . Plichon had been subjected from some of the members , which , of course , proved nothing further than that the Corps ILegislatif has its claque as well as the Opera . The President of the Council of State asserted that order would be maintained in France by the aid of good citizens , and the certainty that Government would find energetic support in the Chamber—two rather slender reeds to rely upon after the experience of 1848 . He denied that the French had been expelled from Italy as tyrants ; but , of course * M . Baroche ' s novel version of history would
scarcely receive the imprimatur of « the Universite . M . Jules Favre , the learned advocate , and most distinguished member of the moderate republican party , followed ; and if his thrusts were made with a more polished , keener , and more supple weapon , they were not the ' less deadly , nor were they less fatally put home . He said that the lack of information to the country -was most regrettable ; that it was incomprehensible , when France had been precipitated into a war which might set all Europe in a blaze , that her representatives had not been asked in time to give their advice . He represented the expose of the reasons for war read by M . Walewski was wanting in frankness on one point
and that this want was at once a fault and a danger . The speaker ridiculed the idea that France made war because she was attacked , and with cruel irony said the Cabinet of the Tuileries had a loftier motive , for " the Government had desired and prepared the war . " The attitude of the French Government , its expressions ([ alluding to the Now Year ' s speech ) , and the publications it had tolerated , had checked Austrian domination in Italy , and shown that the treaties of 1815 were undermined at the base . After stigmatising , in eloquent terms , Austrian rule in Italy , the speaker referred to the expedition to Rome , in 1849 ; how it disappointed the assurance given him by the then Government , that nothing would be undertaken against Italian liberty , when a
Government , rejected by the populations of the Roman States , which all the Cabinets now declare to be impossible , was re-established . Should the events about to occur induce great changes in the Roman States , he should sec therein the action of an irresistible and superior power , Jf the government of Cardinals were broken , was tho blood of the Romans to be shod to ro establish it ? In conclusion , M . Jules Favre declared , that with respect to homo policy , between tho Government and him , there could be no agreement possible so long as Franoe was bent down under the present system . This declaration filled tho Chamber with surprise —pvon dismay . 16 was tho explosion of the thunder-cloud , and what followed was as tho dull patter of rain .
The opposition which led to M . Baroche s imprudent admission , was commenced by the Viscount Anatole ILemercier , who stated that the consciences of the Catholics in France were alarmed in presence of the events that were preparing , and he feared that circumstances would outstrip orders from France . He requested to be informed that the Emperor ' s Government had taken' all necessary precautions to guarantee the . security of the Pope in the present , and the independence of the Holy See in the future . With regard to the future independence of the States of the Church , the speaker felt apprehension . He could not admit the idea of a Congress , in . which ' two of the powers were Protestant and one schismatic , deciding the fate of the chief of two hundred millions of Catholics ; and he insisted that Government , to quiet Catholic
consciences , should declare to Europe the energetic will of France to preserve to the Holy See its independence and territory . To the question thus plainly put , as to what is admitted , to be the gordion knot of the Italian difficulty , M . Baroche replied evasively , citing the unmeaning compliments of Viscount Xemercier as being in contradiction with his doubts upon the intentions of the Government , which the President of the Council of State said , with a great display of virtuous indignation , he was surprised should have been called in question . No doubt was , possible in this respect , said M . Baroche , Government would take all measures necessary in or , der that the security and independence of the Pope might bo assured in the midst of the agitations of which Italy would be the theatre .
Leaving aside the religious complications the Viscount de la Tour passed to what may be called the politico-social difficulty of tho situation . He believed he was expressing a national sentiment in saying that there were auxiliaries whose aid could not be accepted by France , arid that the latter would gain immeasurably by not allowing her flag to float alongside that of revolutionary bands . He would not allow that the pure and noble sword of France could hang side by side with that of General Garibaldi . In these undisciplined bands he saw , not allies for France , but foes to order in Europe , and particularly to Italy . But tho great speech of the meeting was that of M . Plichon , who has on more than one occasion distinguished himself by his independence and talent . Ho said that it was intolerable for a country that had so long lived an entire fqy , free ) political life ,
to be reduced to learn from abroad tho news "which concerned it . That which was even more intolerable ¦ was , that questions affecting , in the highest degree , the future and fate of tho country , were entered upon and decided up to tho point to no longer allow " the legislative body tho freedom of its resolutions . This last phrase tl \ o speaker explained in a very significant manner . He said that ho had voted for tho increased lovy of men , because then the French troops had crossed tho frontier , and tho honour of the flag was engaged . But if the question had been submitted entire , and if it had boon permitted to examine the point , to learn what interest France had in war , he should have said no , and ho bellevod the great majority of tho chamber would havo said the same thing . He repeated , that he had voted in presence of an accomplished fnct with sadness , with grief , and above all with tho profound conviction that Government had unnecessarily embarked the
Untitled Article
Tho Empress Eug < 3 nio completed her thirty-third year on Thursday .
Untitled Article
GERMANY . The report spread by the Motional Zeit ^ nK ^ Tinies of the French and Russian alliance SifP * or false , has effectually dispelled ail thTsyCathfU was beginning to be felt here for-the causf of < S 'W » UP to last Wednesday , the desire , of Steife neutrality had . continued to gain ground ; fehe S gram from London instantaneously chansrpri + J >« TT miiid , and filled it with sentiments of ra"f of ¦ Lf UhUc and of fear . It could not be considered fetoy dK ! 3 & than as a deadly blow intended for all Germany It | £ the union of two rival and hated races—the Sclav ™ £ «?? Latin against the Teutonic . I have mentioned ™? K £ letters the doctrines propagated , not in Germany only but in almost every country upon the question of race and I have hmted at the direful evils to which thev would lead . The vam-glorious and Pagan distinctions of An ° to-Saxons , Teutons , Scandinavians , Sclavoriians and InfW contrary as they are to morality and Christianity , are Lt
for Austria has become very ardent and I am conflZS the Princes of the Confederation could not gratify thrir subjects more than by declaring openly against France That some sort of convention exists between France ™ i Russia is vejy probable , but that Russia sh ould liar ? promised to attack Austria within a fortnight after tho latter should cross the Ticino is almost impossible for if is pretty well known that Russia has . up to the present shown no sign of preparation for a part in the conflict ' She has but few troops on the frontiers—by no means sufficient to allow of an inimical advance into Austrian territory—and military movements are proverbially slower in Russia than in other countries . Opinions are very much divided as to whether such a treaty really
exists ) but most are inclined to believe that it does . That we do not exactly know the contents is no proof of its non-existence ; it is just the same with the treaty between France and Piedmont , which is now five months old . The contents , like the fact itself , will be permitted to come to light when it suits the views of the one or both of the contracting parties A document is now in part made public by the Swiss Handel ' s Courier , which has been kept secret till this moment . In the year 1852 it was entered into by the sovereigns of Austria , ltussia , and Prussia at Warsaw , when Louis Napoleon was upon the point of taking the title of Emperor , and declares that they " consider it their duty unanimously to point out beforehand the measures they would adopt in case any
of the following events should occur : WiouJd Prince Louis Napoleon , the present President of the French Republic ,, be declared Emperor by universal suffrage , the powers will . acknowledge this new form of nn Elective-Emperor only upon the condition that l ' rineu Louis Napoleon explains the meaning and tendency of this new title , and after having obtained from him : 1 st , That he will respect existing treaties ; 2 nd , seek no territorial aggrandisement ; and 3 rd , abstain from any pretensions to found a dynasty . " The Handel's Courier refrains from publishing several following articles . It will be remembered that such a declaration really was required of the Emperor Louis Napoleon , but very lukewarml y , and the powers soon acknowledged , him , but ltussia last .
11 would be ridiculous to attempt to give you the events deemed of importjuicc here . The telfgiaph has almost annihilated correspondence , except for description ,. the chief events are known sooner in London tlmn in the immediate neighbourhood of the place where they occur . Tho semi-official Wtcrner Zeititng promised to supply the public with the earliest information from tho theatre of war , but as yet we have received all news via Turin , Paris , and London . The caujse is supposed . to be that the wires have been cut . There is a pnvnti ; rumour time news was brought last night to the Hanoverian Court that tho Austrians had token si , \ ty guns from the Sardinians , but with a loss of nearly one thousand men nnu a colonel . I . give it as I hear it . Tl > u Prussian Chambers have granted a war loan of thirty million thnk'rs , ftful the Session is closed . The Emperor of Austria ' s manifesto has excited the sympathy of the Germans still more . It is cunningly worded .
Untitled Article
Tni 3 Talkino Fxsii . —Such of tho shop windows of tho metropolis as devote themselves to tho exiiibition of amusement placards have , within tll 0 Jfl ™ week , been filled with pictures of an enormous sea monster , erect on its tail , and placidly reposing ono of its fins in the hand of a fierce-looking sailor , tnj legend attached to the cartoon being " Capture ox the Talking Fish . " Wednesday was appointed lor tho private view of tho animal , and ¦ " ^^"" "JJft naturalists , and gentlemen of the press wore ox lowed to gratify that curiosity which is supposed jo have been burning in them since the issup ot tiw first advertisement . But from tho days ot J- >« Wonderful Wunner " down to tho navrntivo or iu . nu ~~ = ! r , ?! , „ lnafr ntmiatinns number ol Jjounnv ^
Words , wo have learnt to look upon exterior ? Iwjraj with the greatest suspicion } ami the prt'sont Mtanw affords no exception to tho rule . Tho i \> » J ' large seal , which has boon well tutored , anil owj " ™ various words of command , to roll ro \\ m \ ln It » of water , to kiss its keeper ' s face and ho Os , to B > him alternately the right and loft fl . i , nm } * ° JJJ . \^ . T ^ A& ^ A ^ fx & » J 2 ftL £ S £ ' -v- ' i & his assertion does not admit of questlon .-J ' W iVew < f .
Untitled Article
596 THE LEABEB : UXo-476 , May 7 . 1 km .
-
-
Citation
-
Leader (1850-1860), May 7, 1859, page 596, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2293/page/20/
-