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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.
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former agreed to pay sixty millions instead of the exorbitant sum of three hundred mdlions at first demanded . By the temporary recognition , ot ffie treaty of 1834 with regard to contraband goods , Piedmont obtained considerable permanent benefit . Among these advantages may be enumerated the abolition of duties on wines ; her liberal form of government suffered nx > check V she freed herself from restrictions of the press ; was no longer obliged to incur the lavish waste of her military resources ; was free to contract leagues ; was enabled to afford hospitality and protection to the exiles of the other Italian provinces , and displayed the tricolour on the battle-field as her flag of state , and the symbol of national warfare against foreign ¦
domination . . , And what was the conduct of the Frenchgovernment at this period towards Italy , to whom it had repeatedly promised protection from foreign oppression ? The French Government bestowed not even a passing thought upon Italian liberty , nor sought in any way to rescue it from the eagles talons . On the Contrary , the only anxiety it manifested was that the sub-Alpine Government should accede with all despatch to the hard terms proposed by Austria ; and while French soldiers , servins under the republican standard , levelled
their guns at the breasts of the Italians , and made the Eomans submit to the unwelcome dominion of the priests , France intimated to Piedmont that she would do well to humour Austrian pretensions , for though the sword of France was at the service of Pius IX ., it would not be drawn in favour of Victor Emmanuel . Surely , af ter the verbal protestations and substantial aid afforded to Italy recently by the Emperor of the French , his forces will hardly be suffered to repeat the part played by the soldiers of the republic in 1848 . The principle of the
restoration of the Dukes appears , whether sincerely or feignedly , to be made a point of the utmost importance by France , nor does Louis Napoleon , seem inclined to give up his pet project of embracing the tottering power of the Popedom in the conr federative union of Italy . But whatever may be the result of the congress which it is now confidently declared is soon to meet , it is to be hoped that . the staunchest opposition will be offered to the renewal of Austrian predominance in the Peninsula , the extension of the miseries of Papal misrule , and the revival of the insolent tyranny of the petty sovereigns of tlie Duchies .
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THE " GREAT SHIP" NUISANCE . The " . Great Ship" is fast becoming a great bore We all know you may have top much of a good thing . Whether the " Leviathan " is a good thing or not is unfortunately not so certain as the fact that we have too much of it . We have always entertained a strong fellow-feeling for that much misrepresented Athenian , who voted for the ostracism of Aristides , because lie was tired of hearing him called "the Just . " Apart from this general and abstract consideration , we have some direct grounds for voting the " great ship " a grievance . For the last two years the huge vessel has lain upon " us as a mental nightmare . Like another Smbad , we have groaned in vain beneath the t monster
weight of the superincumben . We n over could , get rid of it . There was no shaking it p flj no launching it , no floating it , and , alas ! no sinking it . A nautical Juggernaut , it crushed its victims on its patli , and floundered on , notwithstanding generatiou after generation of shareholders have arisen and liowisktd , and gone the way of all stock . They have had shares allotted ; they have paid deposits ; they have attended meetings , and perused reports 5 they have asked for dividends , and received a call instead , which they have paid or not , us tho case may bo ; but whether defaulters or solvent , they have alike passed out of sight and memory . " Do mortuia nil nisi bonum " May they rest in peace , in that quiet bourno-wliero BhtvroUoluevs are ivt rest , uad directors cease from
troubling . Threo times , to tho best of our belief , has tho vessel changed its name . It first loomed darkly on tho stocks as tho modern " Leviathan . " Whether in deference to tho susceptibilities of the Mecordy which objected to its name , on tho ground of biblioal associations , or from whatever cause , it next figured as the " Groat Ship , " and now on the luoua d non lucendo principle , it is designated tho " Great Eastern , " because it la in- *
tended to ply from England to America . Under whatever name , however , the great vessel remains as great a bore . For weeks we were burdened with accounts of hovv it would not launch ; then we were kept uneasy because , when launched , it would not sail . When it did sail , its engines blew up , and the columns of the newspapers were filled with the'reports of an inquest as long as the vessel itself . When at last it got to Holyhead , we hoped there was an end of the matter , and that ,, at any rate , till the vessel got to America we should hear no more about her . Our hopes were premature . Alas ! she is coming back to Southampton , and then going on to Bristol ; or possibly , if the water is calm , she talks of a trip to the Mediterranean . We shall be grateful if things turn out no worse .
We live in daily dread that she will be brought up by rail to London , and floated on the Serpentine . Without joking , there has been a great deal too much talk about the " Great Eastern . " It has been all play and no work . There have been no end of dinners and deputations and congratulatory speeches . The time has not come for all this . When the " Great Ship" has proved herself to be of nautical use or commercial value , there will be some sense in boasting about her . At present she has only proved herself to be immensely large— -a fact of very negative importance . We have always looked upon the Thames Tunnel as a gigantic instrument of British folly as well as of British enterprise ; and a gr « at ship thet sails nowhere bears an unpleasant resemblance to a great tunnel that leads , no where . -
As things are at present , Barnum should be sent for , and appointed sole manager of the concern . " Howes and Cushing ' s" circus could exhibit at ease in the saloons . The sides might be decorated ¦ b y the longest pictorial panoramas of the longest rivers in the world , and the great sea-serpent might be stretched out at full length upon the deck . No doubt the great ship lias owed no small part of its undesirable notoriety to the general dearth of news which has prevailed for the last few months . We met the other day with a French
newspaper which had just reappeared , _ after a suppression of three months , arid candidly informed its subscribers that they had no need to regret its temporary eclipse , as during that period it could not possibly have produced anything worth reading . Without going this length , we confess that the newspapers have had very little to say of late , and have , therefore , talked a great deal more about the great ship than was necessary . This time has now happily gone by , and till the Leviathan has sailed somewhere , or carried something , or paid somebody , the less said about her the better .
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WANDERING MINSTRELS . After the Revolution of 1848 , one of the oldest republicans in Paris * -was seen to look dejected and melancholy . On being questioned as to the reason why he failed to share i n the triumph of his party , he replied , that having been all his life accustomed to defeat , he could not help
sympathising with the cause of the defeated . We plead guilty to a like weakness . W . e have an irresistible and unchangeable conviction that the oppressed have always something of justice on their side , and that the weak have a good deal to say for themselves , if " they had only courage to speak . It may seem far-fetched to extend this principle to so poor a olass as street musicians ; and yet we believe that this much-enduring and much abused body have ft real grievance of their
own . . There nro two sides to the " Brass Band Nuisance " question , as to most others . There is , first of all , the side of tho indignant householder—the respcctablo resident in a . genteel vicinity , with the story of whose wrongs wo arc so familiar . It is not pleasant to bo disturbed whon you are reading the newspaper , or to T > o woko up from an" afterdinner ' s nap . It is not gratifying on a oold , raw
day to bo postered fbr a . ponny by some poor rascal of a Savoyard organ-grinder whon your great-coat is tightly buttoned up , and vou avo not disposed to take off your gloves to find a copper . It is not cheerful , also , to hear a broken-down fiddler strumming , for hours bofore youx * door at night , and thereby creating ( in unpleasant mental conflict between your conscience and your principles of economy . Wo quite admit tho force of tho nuisance . Wo havo always been of opinion
-that in a -well-regulated community beggarboys would not "be allowed to look in at a pastrycooks window while respectable people were eating tarts and cheese-cakes . In our ideal commonwealth , pampers * should be kept carefully out of sight . On the other hand , " organ-boy huntinor " is not an altogether unattractive sport . There ? s a pleasure in writing indignant letters to the papers , and in boring . your mends with the narrative of your correspondence . We , ourselves , are acquainted with a gentleman who , ¦ for . three years past , has acquired a sort of mysterious literary reputation amongst a circle of admiring friends
frpm having once written a letter to the Times about some act of extortion in a Margate lodginghouse . There is , too , a class of persons who derive intense sati sfaction from the "reflection that they have acted in a public spirited manner , put down a public nuisance , and caused some unlucky vagabond to be sent to -prison . They sleep the better for it at night , and eat their breakfast with a greater relish . . . Unfortunately , the other side to the question is not so pleasant a one . In spite of Cardinal live their the
Richelieu , " people must . " In eyes necessity is a painfully clear one . If they , cannot live honestly they will do so dishonestly . ^ , even the most zealous of " organoclasts" will hardly pretend that the life of a " wandering minstrel" is idle or an easy one . It must be dismal work playing the " Libiam di lieti calici" when your fingers are frost-bitten and your teeth chatter . " Pop goes the weasel" scarcely be exhilarating when your stomach is as empty as your pocket , and " Cheer boys , cheer ' Vniust be a bitter mockery when your night ' s bed is likely to
be a door-step or a roller . Very few oi : the street musicians make more than a bare livelihood , and yet we believe the foreign organ-boys , against whom the especial outcry is raised , to be a frugal and honest class . They are seldom brought before our police-courts for offences against the law , and bear a good character of their own . It is also an important consideration that the great bulk of the population like street music . Musicians play for other people ' s pleasure , not for their own ; and , therefore , the very multitude , of street players we see about is a conclusive proof that people like to hear them . The streets of London are dull enough , without driving away the only thing that gives them life . Street music , too , is about the only amusement that the lower classes have at their command . The real question resolves
itself simply into this : —Are we , for the sake of increasing the comfort of a certain number of bilious and dyspeptic householders of l'espqctable position to take away the means of livelihood from a hardworking and half-starving class , and to deprive the poor of an innocent enjoyment ? In our opinion the answer is obvious . We have had too much lately of this sort of thing . We have seen apple vendors driven from their stalls ; street tumblers cuffed oil' the
pavement , and flower-girls hustled oft their stand , just to save some respectable and pompous householder from a temporary annoyance . " There is nobody so selfish , " says the author of the " I « wends in Council , " " your father of a family . " We most sincerely trust that neither aldermen nor P <» ioe magistrates—neither Binghams nor bir leter Lauries—will succeed in " putting- down our wandering minstrels .
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FjRANcis . v Paris , Thursday Evening :. TmsttM is always talk of war with England , and wagers aro now constantly being made , whether or not the peace between tho two countries will losfc . Tho threo points upon which there aecma to bo a di / lbrence of opinion botwoon the , UovermneutB ot France and England aro ;—1 . Tho war between Spa n . ! S MoroU . 2 . Tho settlement of the Italian question by a congress , and tho restoration Ot Jl . o di l ? o sossed sovereigns , and 3 Tho formationofa 3 jn . qonalthroughthol 8 thmu 8 ofSuo « . Uponthoflrst question some of tho daily organs of the l ' arisjrosa expatiate in terms voryolfcmBivo and unjust towards S and , accusing her of supporting tho cause . of the Biff pirates , and of having secretly supplied the Sultan of Morocco with a large quantity ot arms « nd ammunition . I noticed a tranelation from a Spanish paper , L'lberia , in the Gazette de France stating that there is ivn wioiont prophecy n Ireland , that ftt about this present period a chief tarn of Irisa
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^ * no xr ™ _« 18 * 0 . 1 THE LEADER . " E 22 7
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 5, 1859, page 1227, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2319/page/15/
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