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    FOEEIGN CORRESPONDENCE.

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    have a better chance of employment , the labour of the rest being' so far reduced . Now , can men be actuated by a nobler feeling than this ? Is it not to remember practically the words , " We , then , that are strong onght to bear the infirmities of the weak ? " Did master builders evince the same concern for " the weak . V would not the poor-rate be frhmediately reduced ? The fraternal feeling :, nay , the Christian charity , which these operatives manifest towards the less prosperous of their fellow-workmen , is such , Sir , that were it general , very different would be the state at this moment of our mammo nisiiig country . Let any candid person think of the thousands of pounds which are yearly raised by the Amalgamated Engineers alone , for the relief of the necessities of those temporarily incapacitated for labour , and he would ever after frown down the remotest insinuation that combinations of working-men are injurious to the interests of society . ' " "

    But this claim for the reduction of the hours of labour is supported by other considerations . When were master builders living in such style andluxnry as at present ? Now is it just and right that they should enjoy all the benefits of labour , whilst the real producers of that greatly increased wealth should ever remain but as " hewers of wood and drawers of water , " in a state of servitude incapable of amelioration ? The amount of knowledge , too , which they have acquired by dint of the most laudable perseverance , rather than reaped from any educational privileges which the more favoured classes have offered them , constitutes just ground for appeal to the good sense of their fellow countrymen . "Non omnismoriar" \ s the assured conviction of thousands and tens of thousands of their number . They

    would fain , then , convinced as they are of their imperishable nature and boundless capacities , secure to themselves at least some portion of every day to spend in a manner becoming those who know and feel that " * Tis the divinity that stirs within us , " which produces that "longing after immortality , " which will not suffer them to remain on a level with those " brute beasts" which work , and eat , and die , going to their own place , and coming not again into existence . No doubt many a master builder deems it his interest to keep from Iris men such knowledge ; but he is mistaken . Those are the men , after all , to give him a fair day ' s work for a fair day's

    wages . . And the spirit with which these magnanimous men are animated , as it regards their children , is no less commendable . They tell us that they \ yould fain seejthe daughters of their fellow-labourers preserved from augmenting that now devastating torrent of demoralisation , which , — _ ¦ " . " Labitux * , et labefcur in omne volubihs aevum / unless their natural protectors are enabled to preserve them from the ways of the destroyer , by having more time for the performance of home duties . . That you , Mr . Editor , are ready in these vacillating times to demand that an impartial hearing be granted to operatives as well as to the capitalists that employ them , is a fact which inspires with hope all sincere lovers of justice . While too many of your contemporaries are maligning and misrepresenting these our fellowcitizehs and fellow-labourers , there are those who will not cease to rejoice that the Leader is distinguished not less by its eminent talent than by its ardent love of equity . —Iain , Sir , faithfully yours , RlCHABD HlBBS , ' —— - —Immmbent-c ^ he ^ NeTrChTtrelt ^^ ' 1 * Great , Staart Street , Edinburgh , June ldth , 18 ( 50 . .

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    SPECIAL . Lucebne , 14 th June , 1860 . . PARTING WOKDS . ^ liHE summer , or , rather , the sujnmer time , has come at JL last . The stork flocks are flying northwards , to their deserted straw-built nests , by the side of the dull sluggish streams of Holland . The swallows are twittering again beneath the eaves of English farm-houses ; and in the track of the storks and swallows the tribe of northern winter wanderers

    through Italy are hastening homewards . It is true , the Italians tell us that we leave too soon . It is in the broad summer sunlight that Italy should aright be seen . When the sun burns down upon the deserted streets , and the dirt is scorched into dust , and the vineyards are red with grapes , and the malaria-stricken labourers gather in the rich corn harvest—then , so say those who ought to know , is the time to behold Italy in its deadly beauty . We English , however , are a gregarious people—a very nation of Panubge's sheep . What one does , we all do . So we ¦ are all crowding to the north—I who write amidst the number , —and the great " natural frontier " of the Alps , covered still with snow down to its lowest valleys , lies between us and the southern land .

    While , then , the recollections of what I have seen and passed through are as yet those of yesterday—while the labels of Italian stations are still fresh upon my trunks , and the accents of the German tongue still sound harshly strange upon my ears , I would fain trouble you with a few parting words . It is too much to hope that a series of letters , written at hazard and read by chance , should leave liny distinct impression ou the reader ' s mind . For the benefit , however , of that ideal reader , in whose existence every writer believes with a faith that passeth understanding , I will seek to point out certain conclusions to which my observations have led me . Out of many truths I have chosen three , —one for the past , one for the presentj and one for the future . These truths I hav-e thus selected because they are only too true , a nd because tbeir existence seems to me too often denied at home ; as such they are worth recording .

    First , then , with regard to the past . Italian liberty , the very existence of an Italian nation , is due to France , and to France alone . Tnis truth is one , I am aware , not popular amongst pur volunteer enthusiasts ; but , both for good aiid for evil , it is true , and is felt throughout Italy to be true also . The questions about the annexation of the Duchies , the autonomy of Tuscany , and even about Sicily itself , \ yere , alWmportant as they seem now , mere questions of detail a year ago . The vital question was then ^ the overthrow of Austria . As , long as the Austrian armies held their own , the petty tyrants of Italy were secure ; so long as they remained satraps of the German oppressor * lor Italy there was no hope . The very existence of Sardinia was a struggle for bare the Italians had

    life . Under most favourable circumstances sought to expel the Austrians by their own efforts . The trial had been most gallant , but most unsuccessful . The proud saying , "L Ita ; - lia iara da se , " had become a bitter mockery . The fear of France alone deterred the Austrians from annexing Piedmont after the battle ofNovara . Without foreign help it was physically impossible , as far ^ s-hurmm ~ foresight-couM-tellHor ^^ whether right or wrong , had refused all aid , save that of good advice . In the hour of her deepest distress Italy turned to b ranee , and was not refused . It seems a small matter how , to have driven the Austrians out of Lombardy . It did not seem so before the event . It was no idle risk that France ran ; no empty sacrifice that

    France made ; no barren reward that she won , and deserved to win . For common decency , if for no higher motive , Englishmen should , in the matter of Italy , give France the credit that is her due . Even if ' the " good Samaritan " had charged his protege subsequently somewhat heavily for attendance , a sneer at his philanthropy would come but ungracefully from the Levite and the Pharisee , who walked by on the other side . To do them justice , the Italians , as a nation , feel their debt of gratitude , and confess it openly . Indeed , the feeling of Italy , with regard to France and England , may be easily understood . It is one which , on a smaller scale , is seen daily in ordinary life . Everybody , I suppose , has had a friend embarrassed for money—some of us a very intimate friend . t confe

    Well , I am speaking , be it remembered , from thafriend ' s ssions " . A time comes when the immediate possession of a certain snm . of money is n matter of your ruiu or safety—if not of life or death . You have got two friends who can both lend the money . You go to the first , and he tells you that lie feels for your trouble , that unfortunately he makes it a matter of principle not to interfere m other people ' s concerns ; but that he is sure if you look utter your small expenses , and keep a strict account of every penny you spend , you will find yourself much richer some day or other . With a heavy heart you go to the second , and he at once brings out the money ; and though he may charge high , gives you what you want . Now , neither of your two friends were obliged to help you . One of tliern saved you 7 and tlieotlier left you to your own resources . Which of the two , so my embarrassed Meud puts it , aro you most

    likely to feel grateful toP To the former , certainly ; more especially , he udd « , cynically , if you think it probable that you may want a second loan before' many days are out . Now , invtato- nomtnft , this parable is that of Italy . It is from Franco alono sho has found reul help iu time past , it is to Franco alone she looks lor real help in time to come . The only English statesman who t , vor has done something for Italy— Lord Palmkbston , be » t noed ~ - knows how little that something is , uud never boasts or Jus

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    June 23 , I 860 . ] . The Leader and Saturday Analyst . 59 £

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    'the Sabbath question ' iu this city , the effect which this suppression produces in some minds , I havo formed , I trust , the unalterable resolution never again , whether in England or Scotland , to read that povtiou of tho Divine Word except in its entirety . " " There is also found in this Prayer Book version the substitution of the word ' seventh' for ' sabbath . ' In my present ministrations I read the whole us found in our Bibles . Let me hope , Sir , that you , as a conscientious minister of the Word , will do the same without four of the consequence . Better to suffer ourselves to be ' put out of the Church , * than , to ' diminish ought' from that Word which Hveth and abideth for ever . ' I trust we both consider ull such * pious frauds' as nothing less than impious perversions of immutable truth . "

    LORD CHELMSFORD'S BILL . To Hie Editor of Tub Leader and Saturday Analyst . Sib , —The Leader being devoted to the progress of truth , will you permit me to lay before its enlightened readers an excerpt of a letter of the Rev . Kichard Hibbs , M . A ., to the Clerical Secretary of the Lord ' s-Day Observance Society , on " the Sabbath question . " The latter had been challenged by Mr . Hibbs to a public discussion , which he declined . —I have the honour to be , Sir , faithfully yours , PlUXAI-ETIIES . EXCEBPT . " But , sir , there is one point touching this reading of the Decalogue iii our Liturgy , which may have escaped you , as I confess it did me for years . When , in the Communion Service , you read 'God spake these words , andsaid , I am the Lord thy God ; thou shalt have none other gods but mo , ' ure you aware that you , seriously mutilate the words of Jehovah P In Exodus xx ., from which we profess to quote , the passage runs thus : ' And God spake all these words , saying , lam the Lord thy God , which have brought theo out of the land of Egypt , and out of the house of bondage . Thou shalt have no other gods before me . ' Having discovered during the recent discussion of

    Foeeign Correspondence.

    FOREIGN CORRESPONDENCE .

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), June 23, 1860, page 595, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2353/page/15/