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intended to take in face of the agitation . This was contradicted , but it is rather singular that the Stettin address , presented at the beginning of last month , should have so long remained unanswered . Tt is a natural conclusion that , but for such a note ftom the central States , the Stettin address would not have been answered at all . This reply of Prussia ' s will cause the Germans to turn their eyes to Gotha again . A few days ago Messrs Schultz , Delitzsch , Von Bennigsen , Von TTnruh and Tries ( the last was the author of the to
nromr ame of Eisenach ) , being on their way Frankfort to attend the congress of political economists now sitting there , had an audience of the Duke of Saxe Coburg , and afterwards dined with him . A great deal at present depends upon the courage and talent of the Duke , Without a doubt , he is the most popular prince in Germany , and the most likely to unite peasants and townspeople . The census of 1858 has just been published , by which we find that the population of Prussia is 17 703 913 , showing an increase since 1855 of
537 , 082 . Prom Austria we have the promulgation of an Imperial patent , dated 1 st inst ., regulating the affairs of the Protestant church and schools in Hungaria and the countries contiguous . By the way , I notice that I committed a blunder in my last by writing the Ukrain for the Crain or Carniola . This Imperial patent concedes to the Protestant church very extensive liberties , according to
Austrian notions . Each congregation is to have the management of its own spiritual affairs , as far as is compatible with the interests of the state . They are to be at liberty to elect their own pastors and teachers , and to perform the marriage ceremony according to the prescriptions of their own Protestant synods . The state promises to grant pecuniary assistance to such congregations as require it for the establishment of churches and schools .
At a conference of the Zollverein , held at Harzburg , Prussia has proposed tp relieve beetroot sugar from the export duty , on condition that the import duty upon colonial sugar be abolished . But , as by all accounts the sugar bakers of" Bavaria and Wurtemburgare in great strait , owing to the decline of prices , it is expected that the governments of those countries will strenuously oppose the proposal , for fear of competition . The North German Lloyd has estahlished a steamboat line between Amsterdam and Bremen .
Besides the cholera , a kind of marsh-fever is ravaging the low countries or northern Germany , supposed to be caused by the scarcity and badness of the water , consequent upon the long drought .
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THE DONCASTER ST . LEGER . This great race was attended on Wednesday by an unusually large concourse of visitors . A clear atmosphere and a bright sun added to the picturesque effect of a scene which would have appeared gay and animated even on the dreariest November day . When the bell rang out for saddling for the first race , the spectators from the stand were enabled to realise a complete idea of the immense multitude on the course . The police had much difficulty in driving the crowds off the running ground , but the
people behaved with great good humour , and seemed determined to let no ebullition of temper mar their enjoyment of Yorkshire ' s great sporting saturnalia . The ardour of the backers of Promised Land seemed to cool greatly the night before the race , and from 75 to 40 which had been freely laid on hirn , he declined to 5 to 4 . Summerside , the winner of the Oaks , who was deemed his most dangerous opponent , had not a strong number of adherents among the public , but was supported steadily by her party . The day ' s sport commenced with the Stand Plate Handicap , which was won by Captain Christie ' s Miss Julia . The Municipal Stakes and the Corporation Plate followed , which were carried off respectively by Lord Glasgow ' s Tom Bowline and Mr . Barratt ' s Rover . The St . Leger Stakes were next contested , and the result of a very fine race proved to be ;—Sir C . Btonok ' s Gamester , by the Cossack , 8 at . 71 b . ( Aldcroft ) 1 Mr . Saxon ' s Defender , 8 st . 71 b . ( L , Snowden ) 2 Baron KothsohiM's Magnum , 8 st . 71 b . CJ . 'Osborno ) .. 3 Lord Lpndosborough ' e Summer aide , 8 at . 21 b . ( Welle ) . 4 Mr . W . Day ' s The Promised Land , 8 at . 71 b . ( A . Day ) . 0
The others who ran were : •—Napoleon , Gladiolus , Comforter , Aston , Lovett , and Uralian . The betting ftt starting was 5 to 4 on The Promised Land , 4 to 1 ngainst Sumraerside , 12 to 1 against Defender , 15 to I against Gladiolus , 15 to 1 against Napoleon , 20 to 1 against Gamester . The horses were drawn up . at the post ; soon after t « e appointed time , and they were despatched on the first attempt . Defender and Gamester were quickly on their legs , but they had scarcely got into their stride when Promised Land rushed to the front and took a lead of three or four lengths . Gladiolus ,
Gamester , and Aston being his immediate attendants . Midway up the hill Aston ran into the second place , Summerside going on third , and Gladiolus fourth ; Uralian dropped hopelessly into the rear , and was never afterwards seen in the race . On went Promised Land with a clear lead , Aston and Summerside being second and third , Comforter , Gladiolus , Defender , and Gamester next . At the Red House the lot
began to take a little closer order , Aston giving way to Summerside , and , with Comforter , joining the beaten ones . Gladiolus held the third place until after crossing the road , when he gave way , and Defender , next the rails , took his place ; Gamester , on the upper ground , now showing very formidabfy in their wake . Midway between the road and the distance Summerside was beaterij and at the distance Alfred Day " rode" Promised Land , and a tremendous shout was raised of " The favourite ' s beaten , "
and such was the fact , for Gamester came out , followed by Defender ; but the race was now virtually over , and Gamester ran home an easy winner by half a length ; Magnum , who caught Summerside at the stand , was beaten two lengths from the second , and finished a head in advance of the mare . About a length from them came Promised Land fifth , and a similar distance separated Napoleon from him . The others came in at such wide intervals that the judge was enabled to place the lot . Uralian walked in long after the horses had passed
the post . Promised Land made all his own running , certainly a bold proceeding , and one which indicated the great confidence which his owner placed in his chance . The excitement with which the race was regarded first found vent when , after entering the straight , it wasevident that Summerside was beaten , and a thousand voices proclaimed the fact . When , at the distance , Promised Land was seen in trouble , the sensation was immense , and was expressed by
one prolonged shout , the purport of which was understood and echoed by people at too great a distance to witness the favourite ' s disgrace . The result of the race was unexpected even amongst Ybrkshiremen , who ever adhere to the Whitewall stable . Indeed , < Jthe trainer of Gamester merely expressed his belief in the health and fitness of the horse , and of that there could be no doubt ; but . he was not sanguine enough to believe his horse capable of overthrowing Promised Land .
Gamester was , we believe , bred by the veteran Sir Charles Monck , at Belsay Castle , near Newcastle , and is a remarkably handsome brown colt , standing about 15-1 .
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BLONDIN A MYTH . The New York Times of the 30 th ult . contains the following letter which certainly gives us a peculiar view of journalism in the United States : — " Niagara , Friday , August 26 , 1859 . —I have no objection even to a practical joke while it is kept within the bounds of decency nor do I feel it my duty to make myself a knight-errant for the purpose of pricking all the bubbles which crafty speculators may think it worth their while to blow , or exploding all the hoaxes by which some needy character may try to turn his poor little penny . It is of very little
use to save a fool from his folly , and what people like to believe I suppose they will believe in spite of reason and evidence alike . Moreover , as a citizen of Niagara , I presume that I shall , in one way or another , be a gainer one of these days by the sudden influx ot money into our town which has followed the splendid success of the great Blondin humbug . Nevertheless , the thing is really getting to be so excessively and extravagantly absurd , that I can ' t any longer refrain from speaking the truth about it . When it comes to asserting that Blondin cooks , his dinner on a tight rope , and feeds the passengers
on the Maid of the Mist with omelettes dropped like manna from the sky , I must * speak out in meeting , ' and say what none of the ten thousand imported dupes of our wonderful story can bo expected in deference to human frailty to be the first to make known—that for ought I know there is ho euch person in the world , or at least in Niagara , as Mr . Blondin at all ; that he has never crossed the Falls on a tight rope , or a slack-rope , or on any rope at all but the string of a very long bow j and that as the people of Niagara , Rochester , aud the western railways of New York , have already made perhaps
quite money enough out of their * jest ' s prosperity , it is time that the thing should be put a stop to before foolish people elsewhere may bo led into serious danger by attempting to rival feats that have never been performed . Since the immortal Moonhoax' there has been nothing so successful , I suppose , in the way of a vast quiz , aa the rope-walking invention of a bright Niagara bar-keeper , with its echoes from Rochester and other places along our line of country . As I have not been away from home during the whole euraraer I think I am a tolerably
creditable witness ; and I must , therefore , assure you that the whole of this wonderful series of stories has grown up out of a bet made by a person well known in this town thait he could bring more people to Niagara in two weeks than the Falls had ever brought here in as many months . How the rope-dancing dodge occurred to him I don ' t profess to know , but he selected Blondin as the name of his hero , because there was a Blondin once in this country with the Ravels , a very good rope dancer , now retired and living somewhere in the country of Savoy , who could not of course hear of the story in time to contradict it . Anything funnier or more foolish than the faces of the crowds which have succeeded each
other down about the Falls on" each successive day announced for the feats you never saw , and the hotels have reaped a golden harvest . But you will observe that not a single individual has ventured in any of the letters from Niagara to say that he saw Blondin do any of these things . Our local editors and others , of course , enjoying the joke , have joined in it , and a very good joke it has been , certainly ; but it seems to me it ought to be regarded now as played out . The good people of our town have had their fun out of you , you must admit , and have made a snug thing of it , too , in a pecuniary way . But a ioke , as I said before , is a joke , and has its bounds . J " R . E . P . "
On the other hand the Manchester Examiner publishes several letters from correspondents of its own , denying the truth of the statement in the New York Times that Blondin was a myth , and declaring that they had themselves witnessed his feat at Niagara , and one " E . Bowker" writes : — " On the 4 th of July last , I was travelling past the falls of Niagara ; about four o ' clock in the afternoon . I saw a man named Blondin cross the Niagara river , about a quarter of a mile below the Falls , on a tight rope . He started from the States side , and half way across he lay down on his back , stood on one leg , and then proceeded to the Canada side amidst the acclamations of assembled thousands . "
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AID FOR ITALY . A committee is about to be organised in London to afford active sympathy and assistance to the movement for the emancipation of Central Italy ; and in this committee it is desired that the English element -should preponderate . Lord Shaftesbury having been requested to become the president , replies to the Italians who form the deputation to him — ' ^ If I could take the same view as you do of my position and influence , I should not hesitate even for a moment to accept the post that your confidence has offered to me . The claims—nay more , the just
demands— - of Italy on the sympathy and co-operation of Englishmen are such that it seems impossible for anyone , be he great or be he small , to hold back any support that it might be in his power to bestow . Your case and our own are very similar . We long and ardently desired the blessings of civil and religious liberty . To obtain them we got rid of out obnoxious rulers ; chose those who should succeed them , and established a form of government different as little as possible from that to which we were habituated . And all this was done
without bloodshed , without violence , without rapine , without confusion , or even disturbance of the order of daily life , and simply by the will of an united people determined to be free . Your course has been the same . But great as was . our conduct , yours has hither to been far greater . We had long enjoyed the form and oftentimes the exercise of free institutions ; the principle and practice of them were familiar to us . But liberty came upon you like a thunderclap , ( ind yet she found you as orderly , peaceful , ready , as alive ta the blessings she gives and the duties she impose * , as though you had been trained to them from your very cradles . So intense is the effect hat simp y produce onitho
the love of rational freedom can understandings and the hearts ot men ! We were told that you did not care for liberty , and that you had not courage to assert it . Wo were told that you were unfit for self-government , and that Austrian bayonets wore necessary to save your beautiful land from bloodshed , plunder , nn < l anarchy , bv your own people . We were told your mutual hatreds and jealousies were Buch that no one state , nodtycould be in harmony with another . What in fact , were we not told to your de rl-Sent and ' dishonour ? Many beliOvod what they heard . I did bo at one tjme myself , but who can wonder at it ? What . precedent had history afforded of so apparently sudden n-fitness for the exercise of the greatest of human callings , lithe exercise of civil and religious freedom ? A nation seemed to be born in aday—born ,, at . once . th ot
, n its full moral stature , with all e powers sencontrol , without which there never was , and there never will be , any true or lasting liberty . " Well , if such things as these will not stir the hearts of the whole Anglo-Saxon race , in whichever
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K 6 . 495 . Sept . 17 , 1859 . ] THE LEADER ; " 1061
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Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 17, 1859, page 1061, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2312/page/17/
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