The Press.
London, England, 1853-11-12 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

THE LAST "CANARD "—MR. HAMILTON
AT NAPLES.
THE leading organ of the ABERDEEN Ministry
has gratified its sportive propensity for mis
chief by representing that a Mr. H. B. Ham,
TON, an English subject, has been wronged
and injured by tho Neapolitan police, acting
under the orders of their Government—that
in his person the honour of England has been
outraged—that a treaty between England and
the King of the Two Sicilies has been violated—
that the compensation awarded to Mr. HAMILTON
has been wholly inadequate to the injury he
has sustained—that for the violation of the
treaty no redress has been offered or even
demanded; and that for all this Lord MALMES-
BURY is, in some vague, mysterious way, re
spousible !
First, what are the words of the treaty ?
The Times, when stating the stipulations
it contained, interpolates "as we are
" informed" —" wo are writing without in-
" spection of the document "—but yet manages
to convey the impression that the right of
English subjects to open schools at Naples
was established thereby. We, too, "are
" writing without inspection " of this doer
ment ; but we have before us another
document—the same on which the statements
made by our contemporaries were founded—a
pamphlet detailing his wrongs and stating his
ease, written by Mr. HAMILTON himuself. Of this
we purpose to give sonic account, to enable our
readers the better to judge what manner of
man Mr•. HAMILTON is—what are those wrongs
of which ho complains—what redress he may
be entitled to—and on whom the responsibility
of obtaining it devolved. First, then, as to the
treaty, Mr. HAMILTON'S words are :

In our international treaty with the Two Sicilies it is
stipulated that all British subjects, and their habitations,
shall he exempt from arbitrary proceedings on the part of
the police authorities, mid that in no case can their dwell.
ings be entered by these latter unless furnished with a
warrant from a regularly constituted court of justice.
The full liberty to establish ourselves in business in any
part of the kingdom is also, upon mutual terms, stipu-
lated.

" To establish ourselves in business" seems
to us scarcely to warrant the assumption that
by the treaty English subjects have a right to
open schools at Naples. The calling of a
schoolmaster is certainly in one sense a busi
ness ; but the words" establish ourselves in busi-
" ness " seem to refer more to commercial
transactions, to buying and selling, than any-
thing else—and this view is borne out by the
date of the treaty, viz., immediately after that
" little war " with Naples which arose out of
disputes on the sulphur duties—for apparently
this is the treaty which terminated that war.
Therefore, unless schoolmasters are eo nomine
permitted to" establish themselves in business"
at Naples, we do not think that under the
treaty, as Mr. HAMILTON states it, they can
claim it as a right, but must remain in all re-
spects under the general law of Naples, which
at present seems to be the King's despotic
will. NIE. HAMILTON'S school was closed by
the police of Naples, acting under the orders
of " the highest authority ;" and when Lord
MALMESBURY heard of it he pronounced the
act to be "contrary to the spirit of the existing
" international treaty." Just so—contrary to
the spirit but not contrary to the letter.
An impression wrongly prevails that this was
an exclusively English Protestant school, for Mr.
HAMILTON says, " It was officially reported to
" the Neapolitan people that it was an act of
" retaliation for Lord JOHN RUSSELL'S Durham
" letter." But that this impression was erro-
neous Mr. HAMILTON clearly shows. He says
each pupil attended "the rev. gentleman * *
" pointed out to me "by his parents. The
pupils on behalf of whom this choice was to
be exercised apparently consisted of " many
" Turks, Jews, Arabs, Cophts, Greeks, Ro
" man Catholics, and Protestants ;" and this
diversity of nationality, whilst it afforded a
varied selection of " teverend Gentlemen,"
strips the act of any special spite against Pro-
testants as such, and perhaps accounts for the
great proficiency in languages which Mr.
HAMILTON'S pupils are said to have attained :
"each could speak four at the least"—indeed,

SATURDAY,

this must have been to them a leading ne.
cessity, for Turks, Jews, Arabs, Cophts, Greeks,
Roman Catholics, and Protestants would almost
equal in Babel diversity of tongues the
College of the Propaganda at Roiue. The
parents of the pupils, we are vaguely told,
were warned in anonymous letters to remove
their children from the school :
While att.he Villa Volpieelli itself, it would happen that,
just as well.* in the heat and the pleasure of study, a
iiolent knocking and ringing at the door would be heard,
and the next moment a pale and breathless servant would
rush into the schoobroom, exclaiming, " Eccellchza, lu
Puliziu !"

Phis illegal interruption always occasioned great terror,
and consequent coftfusion. The professors jumped out of
their chairs ; the teachers put on their hats, to try to ap.
pear to be only visitors ; the till ushers knelt down to make
themselves look like little boys; and the pupils either
leapt from the windows into the garden below, or else
secreted themselves under the desks and tables.

We will suggest a meaning to this exhibition
presently, but here is the pathetic scene in
Ivhich this happy family was dispersed. First,
the pollee order them to quit the premises
and never more return, under the penalty of
being sent to prison :

As may be supposed, the poor boys did not wait to hear
the threat repeated, but forthwith rushed out of the behoel
iu the utmost dismay and confusion, equally neglecting to
take their caps, and to make their bows, before leaving the
room. Some of them, to secrete themselvea, climbed up
trees in the public promenade called Villa Reale ; others
took boats and sailed out to sea, or ran into the back par-
lours of shops where they were known—fur in their alarm
and inexperience they imagined that every wan they saw
was a police-agent seeking to incarcerate them. Finally,
they were all collected and forwarded home to their
respective parents, in the several commies where they re-
sided, by the very kind orders of his Excellency the British
Minister.

And now it is duo to Mr. HAMILTON to give
some idea of the peculiarities that distin-
guished his school from schools in general.
Religious instruction was a blank, but here is
one of the branches of study pursued :
WHISTLINO.—It may, perhaps, bo a matter of surprise
that irhiptling should be seriously professed and taught in
an educational establishment. _

But when it is considered that whatever talents a young
person may show should, as regards his success in life, be
fostered and developed; when we reflect how many gentle
natures there are that instinctively tit an appropriate air of
harmony to every occurrence of life, whether joyilil or
sorrowful ; when we are reminded that whistling encou•
rages thought, and agreeably occupies many of those other-
wise lost momenta of will be found that practising
good whistling was not only a pardonable but even a philu•
sophical amusement.
Here, then, it strikes us we may have found
the clue to the closing of Mr. HAMILTON's
school at Naples. Anywhere, even here, in this
free but inharmonious England, these philo-
sophical young bullfinches would have been
a nuisance that might have been suppressed
by law ; but there, at Naples, the throbbing
heart of the despotic land of sons must have
almost burst to hear these juvenile " Turks,
" Jews, Arabs, Cophts, Greeks. Roman Catho-
" lies, and Protestants," "just as they were in
the heat and pleasure of study," whistling,
perhaps, for all we are informed by Mr
HAMILTON, in their philosophical mood, the-
" Marseillaise," or the " Ca ira."

Need we after this pursue the subject—the
private letter of the Sicilian Ambassador,
which Mr. HAMILTON repeats, although he
only heard it read once—Lord MALMESBURY's
dignified suggestion that there must be a mis-
take in the name, &c. &c.? But, even if injiii-
tice has been done to Mr. HAMILTON—even if a
treaty has been violated, and inadequate com-
pensation awarded for the one, and no apology
made for the other—on Lord MALMESSUSI
at all events the responsibility cannot
fall. Mr. HAMILTON'S alleged persecution,,
commenced in IKSO, when Lord PALMERSToN
was Foreign Secretary. Lord MALMESISCRY.
indeed, when he was in office, procured for
him a present of 100/. But, as to the conclu-
sion, Mr. HAMILTON shall speak for himself
now sent a humble petition to the new Foreign Sem-
tary, the Earl of Clarendon, imploring his lordship to iii-
lestigate the matter; but was informed by return of post
that, as i had taken the King of 'Naples' present, his lord-
ship was resolved not to have the case reconsidered at the
Foreign-office. _

- -
Thus the Foreign Minister who has slighted
—if slighted they were—the claims of a Bri-
tish subject. and, rightly or wrongly, has left
him to '• whistle " for comrensation, is not
Lord MAINIESBURY, whom the Tines studiously
attacked, but Lord CLARENDON, whom it did
not even name.

NOVEMBER 12, 1853.

"HAPPILY taINE BY."

" THE days of aristocratic privilege were now happily
46 gone by, never to return:" said Lora
on Wednesday at the Lord Mayor's feast. When
the Atnetican Ambassador heard that sentence he
might, like his countryman, have said "wonderful. if
6* true." Even Sir Witit.o.l .1101.ESViURTII MUNI halve
been astonished to hear that the effinis of the
Itenthantite Radicals were at last realised. If any
bold-spoken citizen had got up and asked a few
plain questions after the speech of the Foreign
Secretary, how, with simple facts, he might have
refuted the oblivious MO deceptive vaunt of the
nobly earl.
Lord ettnrxDox himself was not long since desig-
nated in a " Liberal " journal as " essentially a pro-
" fessional statesman." Even in the good old Tory
times, prior to the Itefinin 11111, Mr. 6r.onoi: ILLIEns,
owing to " aristocratic privileges gone by, happily
• never to return," was living in a Splendid suite of
apartments at the Dublin Custkuu-house, with the
snug salary of twelve hundred pounds per esteem as
a commissioner of excise. At the same time his
brother, Mr. Hvne Vu.t.tens, had a post with a
early salary of a thousand pounds at the ordnance.
And if, after the good things on Wednesday, any of
the City revellers had taken a north-west passage
front the Mansion-house to St. George's, Bloomsbury,
he might have found Canon Vauens entrenched as
rector, with various good things obtained for him by
these "aristocratic privileges," which we are told are
" happily gone by." So, also, Mr. CoSNEWALL
Lt:wts, an industrious writer of unreadable books,
which we devoutly hope are "happily gone by,"
owing to his connection with the " professional
" statesman " at the Foreign-ottiee, is also receiving
his country's acknowledgments in a tangible form.
tif Mr. CIIARI.LS VILLIERS we will only frankly say,
that his own services to the Free-traders, in days
when his name was vilified, and his talents ridiculed
by the Teethes, deserve a far better recognition than
he has received from the renegade Tories under
whom he condescends to serve.
14 course Lard CLARENDON was merely angling for
civic applause with an anachronism which was in-
tended to pass muster as a ,joke, for any citizen could
have told him that, in any public. room in England.
" Mr. Vit.ttEns" would receive more ahem'
(ertrris paribux) than " Mr. Tomkins." The spell of
an historical name is not " happily gone by,- as Lord
.lohN Itusset.t. can vouch, who, in his Edinburgh
letter, confidently- appealed to the recollection of
" immortal services." Before this consummation is
completely attained there is consitlet ably more work
for Lord CLuteNnoN and his kin than they will ever
be paid for, and among other intervening casualties
we may have to chronicle as " happily gone by " that
Coalition Ministry which is thus as vague and con-
tradictory in its language as it is, in other respects,
hampered and confused in its action.

SCOTTISH HIGHT'S AND 61ZIEVANCES.
WE gave in our last number an account of a meeting
of the " National Association for the Vindication of
Scottish Rights:" and we directed public attention
to the subject, chiefly because we believed that the
proceedings of a meeting at which such men as Lord
How:ToN, Sir AmcnittAilt ALisoN, and Professor
AVTtoUN were the pnncipal speakers, could not fail t►►
deserve it. On a more attentive perusal of the
speeches, we are satisfied that the Setotti,h people
have some just grounds of complaint ; and we are
the more induced to recur to the subject because we
observe that it has been treated with unfairness and
want of candour by some of our daily contemporaries.
The history of the movement is a strange one. It
originated, we believe, in a petition to the Lyon King-
at-Anus on the subject of an alleged indignity to the
loyal arms of Scotland. The petition emanated from
persons of comparatively obscure station, and the
public seemed to take but little interest in its suc-
cess. had reds, ss been granted, or had proper
inquiry been made into the subject, possibly we
should have heard no more of Scottish grievances.
But, when redress was refused, other complaints
poured in from every side. The " National Associa
tion " was formed, and the whole Scottish people,
headed by their hereditary chiefs and the leaders of
public opinion among them, awoke to action anti
swelled the chorus of complaint. At first a cloud
110 bigger than a man's hand, it now darkens the
horizon of the north.
An attempt has been made by some of our con-
temporaries, and particularly by the Timex, to laugh
down the movement, and to turn its leaders into
ridicule. That journal has informed its readers that
the whole affair is " a paltry imitation of the worst
'•features of Irish agitation." Surely the great free-
trade organ should be in no such haste to denounce
agitation; stud surely such Lord EWAN-

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