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 whose 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 ►nnd 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►nl 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 :

JUNE 4, 1853.

1. All persona not belonging to tho Eatabli►►l►«l
Church may cause declaration of their ilhownt to bt, regis
tered ; wiwreloy they erase to be liable to payment of

Church rates.
2. All persona so registered shall not hold elotreh
others, or partake in church ordivanees, or vote in vestry
on church affairs.
3. But the right of such persons to burial in emote-
crated ground shall continue, subject to the payment of
certain with • al fees.
4. Church rates way lie recovered and appealed against
in the same manner as poor rates.
5. Power shall he given to compel the laying of rates
for repair of the elntreh or churchyard, and for due provi-
sion of necessaries tier church service.
These suggestions show moat clearly that
the principal features of Mr. Phillimore's bill
were by no means original, and that this ques-
tion occupied the senous consideration of the
late Government. That section of Churchmen
represented by Mr. Gladstone and Mr.
more seem ever unwilling to give Lord Derby's
Administration any credit for their exertions
in the cause of the Church, and especially for
establishing the principle in the. Metropolitan
Interments Bill that Dissenters had no claim
as a matter of right to be buried in conseentted
ground, and insist upon ordained ministers
performing the funeral service over them.
Lord Stanley's pamphlet is deserving of the
most eareful perusal, even by those who do
not concur in his views. If any bill be intro
duce(' by the Conservative party with reference
to this subject, we trust it will be more elm,-
fully considered than Mr. l'hillimore's. The
analogy between church rates and tithes
will by many be considered to be so strong,
that m their view the present state of
things would be regarded as far preferable
to any measure which, hastily considered, and
uncertain in its results, might give rise to any
division of opinion amongst the Conservative
party and the friends of the Church.

Fables de Gay ; ttuduites en very Francais I►ar
le Chevalier de Chatelain. Author of " Ram-
bles through Rome," ►Ste. London : Whittaker

and Co.
IF we were invested with the necessary autho-
rity and powers, but one consideration should
restrain us front putting literary translators
on their oath, us it is the rule to put inter-
preters at a trial ; and that one consideration
is the enormous nfultiplication of pet juries to
which we should indirectly, yet surely and
inevitably, conduce.
It may, we think, be taken as almost axiom-
atic that of every great book the portions most
easily and successfully translated are inva-
riably the worst. This, for many reasons. In
the first place, such passages, like ruined and
desperate characters in revolutions or inva-
sions, have nothing to lose, and lose nothing ;
on the other hand, they may possibly and
accidentally gain something. if in the per
disorder there be indeed anything to gain. In
the second place, in things of base value, equi-
valents can be readily and roughly established ;
whereas, in matters of beauty and esteem,
every shade of difference vitiates the exchange
of one against another, even where the intrin-
sic price might, in market overt, be fixed about
equal fir each. A stupid, vulgar, and awkward
expression in English may have nothing which
corresponds with its exact meaning in French;
but it' any equally mean, vulgar, and awkward
expression, in the like, or in pretty nearly the
same, range and order of notions, be given for
it in the second language, nothing is lost.
Suppose, however, a word or short passage,
the beauty, spirit, and felicity of which were as
remarkable as the defectiveness of the previous
part—if the precise meaning and full force and
genuine peculiarity of such a passage or word
cannot be rendered in terms of integrally cor-
responding significance, then, though the
second language may have thousands of ex-
pressions of equal or even greater charm, not
one of them will meet the ease ; and no true idea
whatever is, in that particular, given of the
translated book.
Something is always lost to the reader of a
translation. Both languages may have equally
tine capabilities for conveying the endless
varieties of meaning which can arise in the
human mind; and of those varieties both may
lixpress an equally large part. But that part
which one of those languages must success-
full emodies ma nevertheless not be the
puty bin which they other is most effective.