The Press. — London, England, 1853-06-04 00:00:00

I 114 peed are soon roused into activity—the phlegmatic into tingling We. What Thomason and his associates have done far Upper India can only be fairly appreciated by those who know what was the state of the ceded and conquered pro• vines of India fifty, or even twenty, years ago. Menthol Judyed by Himself vn.,l by his Cows- Oren. By Jules de Breval. London : Visetelly and Co. IT is no reproach to this bad man that he has fallen into disgrace with men who, though less wicked, are quite as dangerous as himself — men who steered the vessel on the rocks of revolution, and then, in sudden terror at their own success, have abandoned the helm in the hour of danger to more skilful, or at least to bolder, hands. M. Jules de Breval brings a host of hostile judgtnents against Mazzini, the justice of which we do not dispute ; but we must admit that they are neither fair nor consistent when proceeding front such quar ters : Accursed be the deceivers, the agitators of the people [This is addressed to the Mazzini party.] May they be put under the ban of Italy—under the ban of the rtople they are leading to ruin—tutder the ban of the indepen dance they are betraying—of the liberty they degrade and destroy ! These are the men we should repulse and fight against, as the greatest enemies of Italy.— Ma,,,,isto drAvyilio. Manini is the greatest enemy of Italy, greater even than Austria, which, were it not for him, would have been van quished; but, thanks to him, is now sure to triumph.— .fielterfi, p. 20. The illiberal intrigues of the Mazzinian sect have been deplorably fatal to Italian concord. • • • Eves wimpy! Ike proaeribeil lianas• those who are possessed of rod sense, and enjoyed a good reputation, condemned the Masaini crotchets, and the mad enterprises of that party. p. 21. They (the Mazziniatt) exhibited their anbaw—even a arest deal too melt amour—ln violating and destroying, Mot they were powerless to create anything durable—a partly blindly infatuated with fine idea.--(kerazzi, p. This man, Maazini, spoils everything be touches.— If Signor Massimo d'Azeglio, whom we much regret to quote in sueh company. had rontined his aim to a political refiwtn in his own coml. try, and had not incited all Italy to join in enmity against Austria. the constitution might have been obtained without a national humiliation, and without incurring a pecu niary debt born whence there eau be no relief but in bankruptcy. 110ioberti, when minister in Piedmont, had not contemptuously rejected the mediation of !'ranee and England, and had not ridieulously persisted in denouncing the armistice with Austria, the disastrous campaign of Novara would have been spored. Fatini, and the Nlainiani Cabinet of which he formed a part, precipitated the ruin of con stitutional liberty in flume Olt least as much of it as had ever existed) : they drove the Pope from his capital, mind acted but as the eatspaw for Mazzitti, who appeared in time to Anatch the prize of power which they were too feeble to retain. Guerazzi, with its much violence but less success. imitated at Florence the part that Mazzini had played in Rome, and wits finally driven front power, not by foreign invasion, like this last, but by the sincere though tardy repentance of the people. rite testimony of Caribaldi is still less con elusive. It was probably the influence of Mazzini that prevented him front imitating the militants of the Constable Bourbon in his treatment of the captive Romans. None of these men are sufficiently innocent oil the crimes and misery of that melancholy period (we speak nut of their intentions) to vasm a judgment upon Nbizzini fin• his partici pation in them Our author is as much dis posed as ourselves to treat. as visionary the projects of Mazzini for the unity mid supre limey of Italy. the abolition of Christianity. and the establishment of the universal repub lic; nor does he admire any more than our selves the inflated language in which these projects are announced. But in truth Signor Mazzini believes its little in their practicability as any of his detractors (though the language of both parties on political subjects is equally full of obscurity and mysticism). No one is more aware than he of the folly of what he utters. His object is to dazzle and to bewil der his followers, and to prepare them for that total disorganisation which is necessary to the success of his combinations. Ile avows the most wide-spreading plans of destruction; his THE PRESS. inferior agents, induced by conviction or con strained by terror, propagate his doctrines ; and he leaves the deluded " 'moderate party" to construct constitutions which he knows a stroke of his pen will at once destroy. His real projects are not so utopian as those of the patriots who embrace them : their youstitu tion has been proved to be impracticable. The reign of rapine and terror he would found under the mime of the republic is not now tangible. He announces himself as " the last word of the revolution "—beyond him there can be uothing—all legal authority is tyranny—all property is robbery—all religion a degrading superstition. Signor Mazzini piques himself on his eon sisteney—.• I may be accused of anything but inconsistency " (63). We entirely agree. The ineonsistency Mil only be charged to those who in his cause without sharing his opinions. More consistent than Robespierre and Danton, we believe him incapable of coin. punetious visitings ; and if he errs it is through that overweening self - estimation which in him amounts to a madness, and which prevents him from discovering the sew timents of his contemporaries. He is formed to be a eonspirator, the grand inquisitor of a secret society, at once the director and execu tioner of its commands. The only impedi ment we can foresee to his complete success is the weakness of his nervous organisation. He has at all times discovered an instinct of self-preservation, strongly at variance with his political profession. Christianity in any form, however debased, he knows presents an insuperable barrier to his schemes : under any pretext, therefore, men's faith must be broken. "It is from " Rome that must spring the destruction of " Christianity, and the promulgation of the " new faith.' He draws his arguments from the fact that Rome has twice governed the world, first by its military power under the Emperors, and afterwards by its religious supremacy under the Popes. The third time "the Italy of the people" will not be less surely supreme—" a social unity will be sub " stituted - for the old spiritual unity," since " it " is written that all, or nearly all, the princi " Ales of great things must proceed from Italy" (741. M. tie Brevet proceeds at great length and with needless reiteration to prove the selfish ness. the vanity, end the insincerity of Mimini. While Charles Albert, he says, was risking his life in the field, and while he was sacrificing the lives of his faithful troops anti squander ing the substance of an industrious popula tion, Niazzini was denouncing hint to public indignation as a traitor to the cause of Italian " The Pietimontese army, " which was fighting for them, was daily ex " posed to the gross insults of the dema gogues" (117) ; and, while Nlazzini was lec turing a martial Prince on bravery, he himself " nut away while the Austrians were yet thirty " miles from Milan, and took refttge at Mont " Bona" (11$). This is all undeniably trite ; but what claim has Charles Albert on our sympathy or our commiseration? What but Ins ambition, vanity, or weakness induced hint to plunge into a treacherous tyartare in which success would have been more fatal to him than de feat? His immoral policy deserved the dis grace it drew on itself; and, while he forfeited the sympathy of all honest men, he received the punishment of his fault from those very men wh os e party he had espoused, whose battles he had ftnight, and who first prophesied and then promoted his failure. We will not pursue this unsatisfactory in quiry any farther. We are inclined to believe that the 1 . er of Mazzini is on the wane. His unfeeling anti selfish policy has lost him the affection of his supporters, and his constant failure has shaken their confidence. If we waste a few words on him now, it is not to de nounce his perfidy, his immorality, anti his blasphemies to his countrymen, or even to our own : it is with the hope—we would not alto gether believe it a vain one—of opening the eyes of our fellow-countrymen to the danger, under all circumstaces, of assisting a com mon enemy to a victory which must ensure a common ruin. It is to urge on incautious in novators the necessity of avoiding a dangerous SATURDAY, example, and of risking. by reforms equally unnecessary and unsolicited, the very exist ence of a constitution which has been, and is, the envy of mankind. We have now a Minis try at home playing the same part that was so ruinous to Charles Albert. Among them there are honourable, upright, and clever DIM ; but these are wasting precious moments in squabbling with men as honourable and well intentioned as themselves, when they should stand together shoulder to shoulder in a com pact phalanx to combat the common enemy. Is it not an infatuation without a parallel that such men should risk their honour, their fir•- tune, and their social rank at the instigation of those who do not conceal their destructive purpose, and who do not deign to flatter the dupes they are driving rather than alluring to their ruin ? Like the ruffians in the melo dnune, our Blights and Colidens sneer at their noble and wealthy accomplices, and wink to the audience which is privy to their pur pose. 77ee Church-Rate Question Considered. By Lord Stanley. London : T. and W. Boone. IN a free and constitutional comitry like Eng land every subject upon which there exists any serious difference of opinion is certain in its turn to be brought tin•war4 for public discus sion ; and although the Government, by their temporising conduct, and by the forbear ance of their Radical supporters, have suc ceeded in postponing until next session many of those questions of reform which annually occupy a considerable share of public atten tion, they seem to have fostered lather than discouraged Mr. R. Phillimore's measure for settling the much-vexed question of church lutes. The manner in which this bill has been brought forward—not, indeed, by the Govern ment itself, but under the auspices of a gentle. near who is an ardent admirer and a disciple of the Chancellor of the Exchequer—leaves but little doubt that the Government were privy to the whole plan, and that the bill was read a second time merely to break the ground for some sweeping and radical change to be pr►►- posed in a future session. Lord Stanley's object in publishing the pamphlet now before us, which is most al►ly ► n nd concisely written, and full of valuable information, was, as he tells us— In anticipation of the late debate, merely to condense within a small compass, and to plw•e hi a form which shall make them generally intelligible, the twist material facts which bear upon the church•rate cont►oreney. After stating how important it is that this matter should be set at rest, he proceeds to divide his inquiry into three heads : ) The social evils arising out of the present law of church rates; (11 The inefficiency of the law, the extent to which it has fallen into desuctusie, and the facility with which it may he evaded; (3) Past a► n l present attempts towards its retlam. Extracts front the report of the select com mittee of I 87$1,judiciously selected and well put together, and a few of the most notorious cases of what is called " chttreh-rate martyr dom," are cited to prove the first of these pro positions. Under the second head he refers to some of the more important and interesting disputes relative to church rates, as showing that in most of the large towns in England the question has been set at rest by the suspen sion of all proceedings to entbrce the collection of the tax. Extracts from the evidence of Dr. Lushington and Sir J. Dodson, and an outline of the celebrated Braintree case, are referred to as sufficiently illustrating the defective state of the law ; and no reasonable being will, we think, doubt the noble author's conclusion that the filets cited in his pamphlet, " confirmed "as they must be by the experience of every " one who either in books or by actual observa " tion has studied the question, are sufficient "to justify the assertion that some change in " the law is absolutely required." In considering the third proposition, " Past and present attempts towards reform," Lord Stanley thesis boldly with the question. Op posed to the abolition of church rates, and at the same time unfavourable to making them recoverable 1►) a more summary process, he suggests the ti►llowing propositions as the main features of an net to embody the principles which it is the object of his pamphlet to defend :