The Sun.
London, England, 1853-01-14 00:00:00

TBE MADIA-1.

(From the Times.)
More than half a century ago the Grand Duchy
of Florence, under the Government of the philoso-
phical Leopold, might be said to lead the van in
European civilisation. That which was princi-
pally admired in her institutions was the mild
liberality of her laws in a country little used to
toleration, and the friends of the human race might
hope that the noble example of this little State
would diffuse itself over the rest of Europe, and
predict that the city of the Medici, once the cradle
of science, was destined to become a second time
the instructress of the world. Among all the various
forms of re-action which have been exhibited in
Europe since the revolutionary outbreak of 1848,
we know nothing more sad and humiliating than
the tragedy which, as far as one of its principal
actors is concerned, has just terminated at Flo-
rence. Mr. Lucas may save himself all further
trouble in arguing against the liberation of Fran-
cesco Madiai ; his untoward punishment need no
longer disturb the repose of the 1.-oman Catholic
advocates of " religious equality." His is no
longer a case to be justified, but a record to be
falsified and denied—a charge against Rome to be
ascribed by her alvocates to Protestant malignity,
like the destruction of the Albigenses or the ,Mas-
sacre of St. Bartholomew.

Time was when we should have seen, in the
melancholy history of the last martyr to freedom
of conscience and opinion, only the bigotry of a
brutal Court and the ignorance and cruelty of a
base and servile tribunal. But now, thoronghly
disenchanted, we see in the tragic fate of Fran-
cesco Madiai the ordinary effects of a well-kno
cause once again restored to the power of oppres-
sion. Guilty of having read the Word of Goa
for their own instruction, convicted without a
particle of evidence of having sought to impart
to the souls of their friends the peace which had
descended on their own, Francesco and Rosa
Madiai had violated the canon law, and incurred
a penalty exceeding in severity the sentence
usually allotted to felons. There is nothing to be
surprised at in all this. The vengeance of Rome
against heretics is measured only by her power to
punish them, and in Tuscany that power is vir-
tually uncontrolled. We only know the ultramon-
tane party in this country as persons ever ready to
rail against our laws, our institutions, and our
faith ; but we do them much injustice if we sup-
pose that they are people who delight to expend
their strength in words. We are not to believe

that because they portioned our country into ima-
ginary dioceses and dubbed themselves with ridi-
culous titles, their zeal is of that kind which can
explode in boasting, or evaporate in pageantry.
It is from weakness, not from want of will, that
Rome has recourse to these airy weapons. Give
her the power, and we may be well assured that
she would rather strike than scold, rather scourge
than anathematise. It is curious to observe how
little even those who have spent their whole lives
in declaiming against Rome realise the hard, unpi-
tying, and unrelenting spirit with which she deals
wherever she has the power with all who dissent
from her authority. There is Lord Roden, for
instance, who ought to know something of the
spirit of the Church of Rome, but who, after the
experience of a whole life, was simple enough to
believe that a deputation, backed by no secular
power or authority, and strong only in reason and
justice, could exercis3 an influence over the mind
of the weak and superstitious ruler of Tuscany,
able at all to counteract the tendency of his
creed or the lessons of his confessor. These gen-
tlemen approached the Grand Duke with profes-
sions of respect which it was impossible they could
feel, and, though not admitted to the honour
of an audience, received somehow or other the im-

pression that after a short delay, accorded to the
dignity of a Prince, the pardon of the Madiais
would be granted. There was not, in truth, much
time to be lost. Lord Roden himself describes the

health of Francesco Madiai as even at that time
completely broken, and the faculties of his mind
as greatly impaired by the cruelties and, hardships
he had undergone. Relief has come at last, but
not in the shape which Tuscan diplomacy had led
the deputation to expect. Mercy has removed
this victim of remorseless persecution from his
sufferings, but not the mercy of the Church of
Rome. The martyr is relieved from his tortures,
the portals of the dungeon are thrown open, and
the prisoner is free ; but we thank for the deli-
verance not the heartless Prince or the persecuting
priest, but that Power through whose inscrutable
will they, in common with other evil agencies, are
permitted to walk the earth for a season.

- Is the vengeance of Rome yet glutted, or must
the helpless wife also expatiate with her life the
crime of agreement in the faith of her husband ?
Is she also about to experience the " clemency"
of the Grand Duke—a clemency only to be
granted when death has rendered the con-
cession valueless ? We see no reason to ex-
pect a change. Austria and France are mute, for
in both the Government has called in the priest to
eke out the work of the soldier, and to add to
physical restraint the slavery of the mind. Eng-
land is indignant, but it is well known her
indignation will go no further than remonstrance.
In the meanwhile, the very existence of the Church
of Rome in Italy imperiously demands examples
which may strike terror into the spirit of free ex-
amination which now pervades the Italian penin-
sula. The first reformation in Italy was put down
by the sword and scattered to the winds with the
ashes of Savonarola. The promise was fair, but
the flame burnt up the corn before the ear had
ripened. Rome is now menaced with a second re-
formation in Italy more terrible than the first.
The necessity of terrible examples is felt and acted
on, and until that necessity be satisfied, mercy,
justice, and even policy itself, will plead in vain.
Whatever be the reserve imposed on statesmen, it
it is the duty of the press to paint these transac-
tions in their true colours and denounce then by
their proper names. To her long list of murders
Rome has added another. To her many inexpiab.lo
offences against the freedom of mind and the dignity'
of human nature she has joined yet another crime.
She has widened and deepened yet more the gulph
which divides her from the.feeliugs of the age that
is, and the spirit of those ages that are to come.
She has taken her stand with ignorance and tyranny,
and torn off the mask from those who seek in de-
fiance of history to identify her with .knowledge or
freedom. Her veil is rent from the top to the
bottom, and behind it is displayed an altar ready
decked for human sacrifice.

SINGULAR DISCOVERY.—The following are the details,
from a Maidstone paper, of a circumstance which was
lately mentioned as having occurred :—" On Sat urday,
as Mr. Garnell's assistant and a lad were removing.some
boxes into a loft at the back of his premises, fro m a,
house on the opposite side of the street, at Dartford, the
boy said to the assistant that there was a coffin in one of
them. The boy said he peeped into the box as they
were getting down the stairs, and saw something jus,;
like a coffin. Nothing more was thought of it till, in
turning the box, the lid was broken, and the boy's asser-
tion found to be true, and that, in addition to candles,
there was indeed a small coffin. Upon further exam.l-
- it was discovered that, inside the wooden coffin;
there was one of lead. The other boxes were doomed
to inspection, and one of them was found to contain a.
larger coffin, 4 feet in length, with a plate and inscrip
tion. Information was given to the police, and from in-
quiries instituted by them, the following results have
been obtained :—About eight years ago, these boxes
thanedladdiyd a
lady who
wastake ltehaevi7iangwitthhehenrei;gheibnoeuerhthoeoical,
were left with Mr. Hammond, grocer, by
notsh a
to
has
died, n d
the boxes remained in state quo until last week, whew they were removed. The
bodies contained in the coffins
were daughters of this lady, the one dying about one
year of age and the other four
lived till this time she years. If the latter had
would have been thirty-four years
old. The lady, whose
children they were, used to have
them carried about
and once had them with her from place to place,
em interred at Hampstead, and after-
wards exhumed.
knew the The surviving children say they
children had died, and were buried, bnt
did not know
parent's house. We learn from another account,.
that a Mrs. Kin who resided some years since be-
tween Cra,yford andg, Dartford, at Bowman's Lodge, dealt
with a grocer of the name of Hammond, in Dartford.
When leaving the neighbourhood she deposited with
this tradesman a heavy box. The death of Mr.
Hammond, the departure of his family from DaZiorZ
and a consequent sale, combined with .other.nci.,. Zal
stances, led to the examination of this box, andci i lb
1 proverb,
discovered the bodies of two children. An old long
exists in Dartford that "no law was ever
the pro"
enough to reach to Dartford," and in trni
other town in.
verb has not been refuted, for in
_ielvree sat
and a jury
the kingdom the coroner would 1
d however, the autholt.
been empannelled. In Dartforb,o
dies were buried ,
°Tithe r
ties do things quickly, and the.
ma last, without any o
is believed, Wednesday eveni,,,- the magistrates, and a
question than an incentivece.
by` he poli
ECEASED HUSBAND'S
question or two
___E
wiTrt A ri
MARRIAGE OF A I
meeting of the Glasgow United
BROTFIER.—At the in
on appeal
was heard from a lady,
Presbytery
Tuesday, au.
d irregularity of the proceeding of the
against an allege
session. The papers on her behalf set forth that she had
never been cited according to the laws of the Church to
o means were employed to con-
before them—n
appea her that she living
was in sin, nor to induce her to
give up
. ce
in her present state of life if it was a sinful one—
sentence
was pronounced in her absence ; and she fur-
ther set, forth, that such a marriage as hers was nowhere
forbidden in the Word of God, but, on the other hand,
was positively sanctioned by it. The document gave a
great many illustrations in support of the views of the
appellant, and concluded by intimating ber desire to
have her case tried by the Word. of God, protesting
against the decision of the Session, and appealing to the
Presbytery, satisfied that they would decide, not accord.;
ing to Popish traditions, but according to the Word oi.
God. On the motion of Mr. Beattie, the appeal waB
dismissed.

Wtttion+

SUN OFFICE, Seven, o'clock

'HE LONDON GAZETTE

(THIS EVENING.)

ST. JAMES'S-PALACE, JAN. 11.

The Queen has been pleased to appoint John, Marquis
Ormonde, to be one of the Lords in Waiting in Ordi-
-,! .ry to her Majesty, in the room of George-Sholto, Earl of
:Morton, resigned.
ST. JAMES'S-PALACE, JAN. 13.

The Queen has baen pleased to appoint Charles-Somers;
1:-.r1 Somers, to be one of the Lords in Waiting in Ordi.
:ry to her Majesty, in the room of Henry-John-Chetwynd,
Laid Talbot, resigned.

ST. JAMES'S-PALACE, JAN. 13.
Tho Queen has been pleased to appoint Thomas, Lord
'^.moys, to be one of the Lords in Waiting in Ordinary to
,-r Majesty, in the room of James-Walter, Earl of Vera-
resigned.

ST. JAMES'S-PALACE, JAN. 13.
The Queen has been pleased to appoint John, Lord
Flphinstone, to be one of the Lords in Waiting in Ordi-
try to her Majesty, in the room of George-Edward-
_u-andell, Viscount Galway, resigned.
ST• JAMES'S-PALACE, JAN. 13.
The Queen has been pleased to appoint George, Lord
Firers, to be one of the Lords in Waiting in Ordinary to
Majesty, in the room of Cornwallis, Viscount ilawar-
den, resigned.

ST. JAMES'S-PALACE JAN. 13.
The Queen has been pleased to appoint Henry Manners,
' ord. Waterpark, to be one of the Lords in waiting in
)rclirtary to her Majesty, in the room of Henry-Francis,
Polwarth, resigned.

ST. JAMES'S PALACE, JAN. 13.
The Queen has been pleased to appoint George, Lord de
abley, to be one of the Lords in Waiting in Ordinary to
her Majesty, in the room of Edward, Lord Crofton, re-
signed.