The Press. — London, England, 1856-10-25 00:00:00

F I A ' ' ' • 4401 "", 4 7-4 7-t • ' - • .::?ilmq 77-7 • - ,-.:• • "" . 72.1. 11 r•••4•0 1 111.4- 0 $ 434 i•m•-•-- •00- 1020 THE PRESS. SATURDAY, THE WEEK. THE Neapolitan question is disposed of by the note in the Moniteur. It was impossible for the Western Powers, after their formal requisi tion to the King of the Two SICILIES, and his absolute rejection of it, to avoid taking some step to signify their displeasure. This step has been taken in the mildest form that the diplomatic situation would admit of, and rather acknowledges that the two Powers had taken up a false position, and were anxious to escape from it as quietly as possi• ble, than visit the Neapolitan Government with consequences of their just indignation. If the legations are withdrawn, and the allied fleets keep at a distance, the King will, of course, be at full liberty to rule according to his own notions, and Austria will, in a diplomatic sense, have the field to herself. How different is the course taken from that which our Liberal journals led us to expect. There is something positively atrocious in the bad faith of our Liberal politicians towards Italy. Only two or three weeks since one of our journals, to whose announcements an official importance is usually attached, authoritatively declared that the allied fleets would enter the Bay of Naples, and held out encouragement to the Neapolitan Liberals that the time was at hand when an insurrectionary movement would be favoured by the Western Powers. How different is the language of the same journal now—" We have no wish to call in to our aid such " questionable allies as discontent and revolution. We have no wish to " render the throne of the Two Sicilies and the reign of the Bourbon " one whit less secure. England and France would rather " bequeath to future times an event that would bring great disorders " and difficulties." Then why the language of weeks past, in which it was declared that interference was imperatively called for, and that the King of N'APLEM must be read a sharp lesson ? The Daily News was much more violent. Nothing less than a strait-waistcoat for the King would suit its scribes and their sybil. Must not the readers of these journals be afflicted with a sense of humiliation at finding that these rank diatribes have come to nothing, and that, after so much bullying and bouncing, the Western Powers have not the slighest intention of interfering with the King's Government, and, moreover, that the very journals which were foremost in clamouring for his downfall, and in their exhortations to the Neapolitan Liberals to prepare for the good time coining, have no wish—now that France has spoken—to render his throne or reign one whit less secure ? The national character is out raged by this mingled bravado and pusillanimity. It resembles the abuse of fish-fags when a policeman is standing by. There are epithets and gesticulation in plenty, but nothing more. Who can wonder that we are objects of derision in the streets of N aples, that after the boastiags of our newspapers, two fleets are placarded as missing or lost, and that it should be reported the authorities ate quite prepared to beat back the English—when they come ? This new humiliation following closely on the dismissal of our M inister by the United States' Government, and on the complete overthrow of British influence in Spain, must tend to give foreign Courts a poor opinion of our spirit, though, to be sure, if they see our Ministerial journals they must acknowledge that we abundantly make up by boasting for our lack of action. The last grand boast of Lord PALMERSTON'S organ, the Post, is that our withjrawal from Naples is—what does the reader suppose? why, " A stab in the heart of Austria." By such false, swaggering nonsense it is attempted to impose on the sense of our people. In all that relates to foreign politics, our new spapers are falling below the level of the American press. that transportation is in abeyance it is as absolutely necessary to do something for the unfortunate man who is turned out of prison on the wild world without a single human being to befriend him as it is for the youthful vagrant who is deserted in the streets. Formerly, when removed to a totally new country with a wide tield of labour before him, the convict had a reasonably fair chance of becoming a reformed character. In England, when his sentence is completed, theft or starvation are the only alternatives. At the same time, it. cannot be too often repeated that means MUST be found to keep down the condi tion of the criminal below that of the honest population. We have said this till we are almost tired of saying it; but, considering the ignorance and prejudices of the lower orders, and how apt they are to believe themselves unfairly treated, the necessity of attending to the pmsible danger cannot be too often enforced. Let a refuge be pro vided—coarse food and lodging, and hard work just something to put them beyond the reach of their former associates. They need not be treated harshly; but they must nut receive any exclusive advantages. The stigma attaching to a man once convicted is sufficient to render any great anxiety about making his future life uncomfortable need less. But crime must not be permitted to bring with it solid or per manent advantages. An amiable Italian exile, AURELIO SAFFI, has favoured the public this week with his views of Italian politics. He does not say that the dagger is the only true regenerator. But he does with great honesty declare that no good ever will or can arise from such interference with Italian politics as our English Liberals dream of : Let English politicians and English friends of Italy depend on this—the real, the true Italian question is not one of partial rearrangements, of homoeopathic administra tive reforms, of forcing the King of Naples or the Pope to grant and swear to•dsy what. they will forswear and withdraw to-morrow, as they ever have done, through the con nivance and preponderance of Austrian politics in the peninsula. . . . The very concessions that might be extorted from the meaner tyrants of the country would but feed with new fuel the sacred flame now scarcely compressed in the soul of the nation, even under the weight of two foreign armies. This is plain speaking. The Italian Liberals expect nothing from foreign interference. They speak of France as one of the nations which oppress the Italian peninsula, and they look with scorn on the hnbtub which is now raised about Naples. In a word, the Italian Liberals ground their hopes on the probability of another revolution. in France, as, in the words of SAM, " they have nothing to expect from the reaction of the despotic powers of Europe, and the indecision of free countries." The commentary of the Times on this letter is characteristic. It lectures Italy on the crime of insurrection, and hints that she can do no better than submit to her inevitable fate. In particular, England and France entirely disclaim the intention of exciti lig any revolutionary movement in Italy by the withdrawal of their Ambassadors from Naples. And this is the end of hopes which have been so sedulously raised and cherished ! The accident at the Surrey-gardens is one of a c lass for which nobody but the people themselves are strictly responsible. Whenever great multitudes are assembled there must be danger to limb and life. Several people were crushed to death in the crowd collected to see the lying-in-state of the Great Duke in Chelsea College, and on the occa sion of the late fireworks there were several accidents, and some of them fatal. No arrangement can be made to render panics impossible, and no edifices can be built to prevent people from being crushed if they will all rush out of one door. When every precaution has been taken, we must still rely on the good sense of the multitude to prevent dreadful accidents. There is however one obvious precaution that should be taken in every building intended to hold a groat number of persons. The moans of egress should be direct and ample Doors should be wide and numerous, and passages broad and straight. It is shocking to reflect on the consequences of a panic when Exeter-hall is crowded ; and a panic, or something worse, a real fire, is far from impossible. The Directors of the Surrey-gardens do not on this occa sion seem free from responsibility in letting out their Music Hall for this Sunday evening exhibition. From what we hear of Mr. SPURGEoN, his popularity seems to rest on much the same basis as that of JOE Smrrit, the Mormon prophet. If it be true that he took the opportunity of this awful calamity to compare the solicitude of mankind for their bodies with the unconcern that they exhibit for their souls. we only trust that for the future his popularity will not be such as to afford him another like opportunity of "improving the occasion." The question of agricultural statistics has been thoroughly dis cussed at the rural gatherings lately held. The conclusion from the speeches delivered is, that while among the country party there is a feeling favorable to the collection of correct information as to the produce of. the kingdom, no inquisitorial process is to be thought of, or tolerated. This feeling is natural. All trades and professions aro jealous of too curious an inquiry into their dealings and profits, and why should we expect the farmer to be an exception to the rule . 2 The Right Hon. Member for Buckinghamshire points to the materials which already exist for forming an estimate of agricultural produce. More than an approximation to the truth never could be gained, and perhaps, for all practical purposes, the means of arriving at such an approximation are already at hand. The use of an exact inquiry would be very doubtful. Now the corn trade is completely open, the harvests of America, of Russia, of the Danubian provinces, and of other continental countries, form elements as important for arriving at a conclusion on the prices likely to prevail as the harvest at home. With the world at peace, and trade in corn unrestricted, the amount of grain grown in England can no more be received as the ground-work of a calculation on comparative abundance and scarcity, than the growth of Sussex could be taken as an estimate of the produce of Northumberland. There is force in the warning phrase, " statistical imposture." The census books show the absurd extreme to which it has been carried. If a system of agricultural statistics wero established, it is doubtful whether information would he received until the need for it was past; and, at best, the judgment formed from it might he quite as uncertain as that which persons interested in the subject have it already in their power to form for themselves. The notion of compelling a farmer to supply all the details of his produce annually, or of authorising agents to scrutinise his fields and homestead, is such an invasion of individual liberty us no specious pretext of useful statistics can be allowed to justify. The great Mr. Lofty has again condescended this week to become cognisant of the existence of a Conservative party, or at least that such a party is talked of. This mighty gentleman is pleased to repre sent himself in much the sort of style that Jove is portrayed in tho mythological burlesque of the stage. He is disturbed in the enjoy ment of a doze, when reposing in an easy chair, with his feet on a Turkey carpet, a blazing fire before him, and a row of decanters on his table. " Is it a noise that has disturbed him, or is it only a singing in "his ears? It must be a noise. Who can dare to disturb his repose? " If he were not a little gouty, he would got up and see what was the Tho Discharged Prisoners' Aid Society seems to be exactly the kind of inst itution required to make the reformatory movement com plete. So mething is to be done for the adult as well as for the boy offender, and the evil is at last to be encountered at both ends. Now