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Leader (1850-1860), 10th September 1859, Edition 1 of 2, Page 1030, Untitled Article

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      Untitled Article

      1030 THE LEADEE . [ No . 494 . Sept . 10 , 1859

      Untitled Article

      Condition of . Sigily . —Sicily is represented to Toe in g . state of great excitement . Whole families arc leaving and taking refuge in Naples . There are constant telegraphic communications going on between the Government and the governor of the Island . The feelings of the army are watched with -the greatest care , and liberal rewards are promised to any who can give information of any plots . The notorious Mazza , the former minister of police and the originator of the bastinado system in Naples , has received a right good thrashing from General ^ Nunziante .

      The Fortifications of Antwerp . —The Belgian Senate continued on Tuesday the discussion on the Public Works Bill , and adopted Art 1 , which relates to the fortifications of Antwerp , by 34 votes to 15 . Four members abstained from voting . The Uamur . journals state that the demolition of the fortifications of that town will take place as soon as the new fortifications of Antwerp shall be suflaciently advanced to receive the siege artillery now at Namur . This , it is supposed , will be in about two years . . The Cholera in GERaiAsrr . —^ The latest advices from Meeklenburg state that the cholera is ; continuing its ravages there . In some villages half the inhabitants have been carried off . Agricultural operations are quite suspended , and the cattle are let loose in the fields , as there is no one to tend them . .. ' ¦ ¦ .

      Untitled Article

      EDGAR QUINET AND FELIX PYAT ON THE AMNESTY . / Though the amnesty granted by the Emperor of the French has given general satisfaction in France , the chiefs of the political parties for whom the proscription is reversed differ considerably in opinion as to what their course should be with regard to the Imperial act of oblivion . We have already published the declarations of Louis Blanc and Victor Hugo ; they both reject the proffered pardon ! the former , while refusing to return to France admits that private circumstances may justify many others in embracing the opportunity offered , them of reassuming their citizenship . Victor- Hugo will not cross the French frontier till he can do so hand . in hand with Liberty . Both prefer to remain in exile , protesting against the Empire and all its consequences . '

      We have received two additional declarations drawn forth by the amnesty—one from M . Edgar Quinet , dated from Veytaux , in Switzerland ; the second from M . Felix Pyat . We give the substance of both , greatly abridged . M . Quinet denies the right of the Emperor either to proscribe or pardon him , and declines to return to his country ., as his hands would be tied , and he ¦ wo uld not be able to serve it . The exiles do not need the permission of any one to re-enter France , as they have the law in their favour , and they alone will decide on the proper time to return to the country of which no one had a right to deprive them . Law having been proscribed with them ought to be re-established with them . Instead of accepting

      an act of favour for himself , he makes a series of demands on behalf of France ; unless so many years of exile , deportation , and death are to be lost to her and to humanity , he clams , as just restitutions to * his country , that the ordinary guarantees for security among modern nations be re-established for the Frencli people ; that no man shall be arrested or deported by a mere act of the Administration , or ¦ without a regular trial and the verdict of a jury ; that trials shall be public ; that the sentences of the tribunal shall not be altered or aggravated in severity by an arbitrary power ; that confiscated , property shall be restored to the legal owners ; and , as the guarantee that includes all the others , that the freedom of debate and liberty of the press be restored to the nation . M . Quinet , therefore , like Louis Blanc , declines to return from exile under the amnesty ; and , substituting law for liberty , appears to mean the same thing as Victor Hugo ; the

      political condition of France muBt undergo an entire change before they re-enter it . M . Felix Pyat , In precisely similar circumstances , talcos a different view of the duty and policy of the political exiles ; ho docs not agree with Louis Blanc or Victor Hugo , or M . Quinot ; ho doubts the wisdom and patriotism of standing aloof from France till Franco shall havo changed , intimating that if all the proscribed wait for law or liberty to cross the frontier of thoir country with thorn , they may have to wait an indefinite period . Ho recommonds action , as preferable in this case to suffering , though It is infinitely more difficult ; and to act for the benefit of France It is necossary to tako advantage « f the amnesty and return thither , leaving tho after etopa to time and circumstances . Tho quostton to bo dooidod is , which is tho more worthy and -uaoftu course for tho exiles to adopt—to romain in J ^ ngiana , Belgium , or Switzerland , or to roturn to A ranee ? M . F . Pyat decides for returning , and in

      so doing claims to . represent the opinion of the " great majority" of those to whom the amnesty applies . " We protest , " he says , " for the eternal right of justice and reason , but would like to see the bravest and strongest carrying the protest themselves . " . What follows is directed against the three leaders who have advised continuance in exile : — " We cannot concur with them , that to save France her most worthy sons ought to quit her ; that it is necessary to leave the enemy in possession of the position in order the better to expel him , ' ? Those who can be leaders must not , argues M . Pyat , be contented with lecturing the people of France from a distance ; they must join them at their own risk and peril , or the people may say , " You reserve yourselves for victory , but shun the battle ; you counsel us to conquer , but come not to help us ; you would only ' re-enter with liberty , ' when we no longer have need of you !"

      As to the difficulties in the way of political action in France , M . Pyat admits they are great ; that the freedom of the press , one means of influencing the mass of the people , is destroyed ; but he asserts that even for the press there will be " liberty enough if there is boldness enough ;" . and instances the case of Count Mbntalembert , who , under all the repressive laws applying to the journals , dealt through the press a heavy blow at the Imperial system . Shall the Liberals of France leave to the Royalists , the Catholics , and privileged orders the duty of exhibiting courage face to face , and fighting hand to hand ? Could not Louis Blanc do what has been done by Montaiembert ? If Victor Hugo should return and finish his Napoleon le . Petit , would not their trials make a greater noise than that concerning the Indian debate ? If the Liberals and . Republicans do not act in France , what will they do ?

      " That which we have done during the ten years that we have lived and died here in dignity and freedona , while they ' have lived and died as slaves in France ? What then ? Nothing—not even unity of action . Forward , then ! A single act of devotion and boldness in France will have more influence on the French people than all the sheets of paper which it is possible to print in London . " Finally , in favour , of boldness of action , M . Pyat instances what was done by Mallet against the Great Napoleon , and by Louis Napoleon himself against both Louis Philippe and the Republic .

      Untitled Article

      Chemistry v . Mud . —Those Londoners who dislike the process in vogue in the streets of the metropolis , by which offensive dust is twice or thrice a day improved into disgusting , black , slimy mud , m ay ponder the following : —The new method of watering streets , invented at Lyons , is about to be tried in the Rue de Rivoli . A skilful chemist at Lyons , having observed that some hydrochloric acid , which had been accidentally spilt in the yard of his establishment , had hardened the gravel , and , | in spite of the heat and the sun , had preserved a sort of

      artificial humidity about the spot , was immediately struck with the possibility of employing the same substance for the . prevention of dust upon macadamised roads . The Place Bellecour and all the public promenades of Lyons have been watered in this manner during the whole summer , and the ground has preserved thereby a most grateful and refreshing humidity , The wind has no power to raise the dust , and towards evening the coolness of the soil becomes most apparent . In the morning the ground-is found to bo hardened , while an appearance as of a'white frost covers the surface , and seems to cleanse it from all impurities .

      A Fool Avpbopkiate ) py Mounted . —Undoubtedly wo havo become tired of the name of Blondin , but a recent feat which ho has accomplished so far . outstrips his other performances that it is deserving of mention . The other day lie carried a man weighing 182 pounds over tho tight rope suspended across tho Niagara river , on which he has performed liis previous exploits . A bolt passing round his waist was supported by straps across tho shoulders , From the sides of tho belt padded iron bands projected , by means of which the rider ' s knees wore supported . In crossing , M . Blondin was obliged to stop and rest sovon times , the man on his back dismounting at

      each pause , and remounting with but little difficulty when M . Blondin ' s strength was sufficiently recruited to allow him to proceed . Ono would think that a rope suspended over a yawning chasm was not the most comfortable place to restore exhausted energies . Tho entire transit occupied tWrty-flvo minutes . " ho performer , who assumes to rival Blondin , successfully crossed tho rivor below tho . Gonesseo Falls ' , at lit > ohostor , a . faw days since . Artificial Majbih-h . —A Paris letter says : — " M . Jobard , of Brussels , has como out with his invention of artificial statuary marble—not tho' veiny , greasy stuff in use for chimneys and vasos , but the

      pure and spotless Carrara , transparent , polished and hard as the real substance taken from the quarry Tliis marble , which is to be prepared for the sculptors in a liquid state will , like many , other artificial inventions , possess an immense advantage over the natural production itself . The invention which has created an immense sensation in the world of art , is due to a practical chemist of Brussels , of the name of Changy , the same skilful practitioner who discovered the divisibility of the electric light , and the miraculous draught of fishes by means

      of the chemical light which-is sunk at the bottom of the sea . M . Jobard , whose word cannot be doubted pledges his honour that the table oh which he writes has been composed , by M . Changy ' s process , and possesses every quality of the finest marble—and that , after having submitted various specimens of the substance , both black and white , to every chemical test in use , he has come to the conclusion that the composition of marble is no longer a secret oi Dame Nature , and that man has at length learnt to rival her in the most cunning of her works .

      Les Anglais pour Rire .- — " Though our weather is none of the brightest , " says a correspondent in Paris , ";_ the practised Parisian requires ho evidence beyond that of his own eyes as Jo the breaking up of the London season . Your countrymen are swarming over the Channel and thronging to this fair city as the first stage of their vacation journey T . hey are , for the most part , as grotesque as ever in regard to the outer man and woman . Paris is to them a larger sort of watering place . A Frenchman assures me he saw last autumn a party parading the ; Boulevards armed with long Alp staves surmounted by chamois horns—English , ccla ' va sans . dire . It all goes down to the national credit for eccentricity . " Thk Schijtlee Frauds . —These nefarious

      transactions have again turned lip in the American lawcourts . Mr . Robert Schuyler , president and transfer agent of the New York and New Haven Railroad Company in 1854 , confessed to having issued , without authority , stock amounting to nearly £ 400 , 000 . In the' litigation which ensued a decision was finally rendered , declaring that the company were not responsible for the stock thus fraudulently issued . It still has to be settled what part of the issue was genuine , and" what unauthorised . An arbitrary rule was adopted , that all the stack which was issued prior to October , 1853 , should . be considered genuine . Mr . Holbrook , the accountant employed by the company to separate the authorised issue from the unauthorised , at first proceeded on this basis . He became satisfied , however , that the frauds extended as far back as 1848 , ami a year or two subsequent to the time when he made his original report to the company , he rc-openod a

      correspondence with the directors , proposing to make further investigations . At first they authorised him to do so , but , when they found that matters would be thrown into worse confusion than over , they politely informed him that he need not take the trouble to present them with his conclusions . They , of course , believed that " Where ignorance is bliss , 'tis folly to be wise ; " but parties who looked at the matter from another point , and who owned both genuine and spurious stock , found that a settlement with the company on the basis winch Mr . Holbrook was about to propose , would enlarge their dividends considerably , and preferred thoreiore to sue out an injunction to restrain the directors from paying the semi-annual dividend until « should be definitely sottled what is false and what is genuine stock . Thus the controversy is re-oponea , and it is considered that there is a possibility that the company may yet bo forced to assume tuc responsibility of the whole issue . ¦

      . , The Arabs under French Rule . —TIic military tribunal of Constantina has just tried a marabout , named Si-Sadoq-beMIadj , and fifteon . other Arabs , for exciting an insurrection in tho . south of Algeria . The marabout had played a principal part in u , previous insurrection at Zaatoha , but when tnai town was taHen by tho French , ho made bis submission . On tho death of tho chief , in 1850 , > Q became tho most important porsonago in u » o country , and in 1852 began preaching up what no called a holy war . He gradually collected a considerable number of partisans , and to isoYGmDor , 1858 , called upon his people to take up amis , on tno pretext that ho was persecuted by tho Ironen . xu answer to his summons a great number nwomoiou . nnrl t . lm nunnrlnr nnmmiinrlor was obliwea 10 BCUW

      forces to disperse them . TJioy resisted , ana . » conflict took place , in whioh Si-Sadoq mid fifteen others wero taken prisoners . Tho court wajui the prisoners guilty , and condemned thorn to ' Ooau * r Presentation tor Gallantry . — ' 1 ho |( ronou Emperor has recently awarded a modal ot » 10 n ? " » to * Captain Paul , Commander of tlio South-Eastorn Company ' s stoampaokot Lord Waruun , l > y | " £ between Folkestone and Boulogne , for »>* "" * gallantly rosouod tho orow of a French fishing Dotu in distross in tho month of November last .

      Untitled Article

      FOREIGN INCIDENTS .

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 10, 1859, page 1030, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2311/page/10/