The Sun.
London, England, 1853-01-17 00:00:00

THE MADIAIS.

( Prom the Morning Herald.)
Some of our friends may, not unreasonably,
have thought us rather backward in the expression
of a natural indignation at the supposed death of
Francesco Madiai. We have alluded but once to
the subject, and then only hypothetically. The
truth is, that from the first we entertained a de-
gree of doubt as to the fact. We knew, indeed,
that poor Madiai was in a weak state of health, and
that there was no innate improbability in the story.
But the rumour reached England in a manner not
carrying with it much assurance. A single Paris
ournal professed to have seen in a single Turin
iournal a statement of Madiai's death. Beyond this
brief newspaper paragraph of three lines, coming,
too,
not from Tuscany, the scene of the transaction,
but from Piedmont—beyond this one statement we
had not a single word. Since the rumour first
reached us we have watched every post with the
greatest anxiety, but we have watched in vain.
Neither from France, nor Italy, nor Switzerland has
a single syllable touching Francesco Madia, reached
us for five days past. At last on Saturday we
were favoured with the sight of a letter, dated
" Nice, Jan. 8," which virtually demolishes the
whole story. The writer, an English clergyman,
says :--

" I have a letter from Florence last night, giving
most comfortable particulars of the continued support
and happiness of the sufferers. The Swiss Minister had
just returned from a visit to them. He says he never
-witnessed such a blessed scene. Francesco, though too
ill to read, says his days pass happily in communion
with his Saviour.

" Arrests continue, and the state of things is very
fearful. It is stated that the Grand Duke intends a
commutation of the sentence, but no one knows when."

We apprehend that, with this evidence before us,
the idea of the death of Francesco, as stated on the
3d, must be entirely abandoned.
-Bo much the better for the Court of Tuscany •,
for, assuredly, there was the near prospect of such
a storm, not in England only, but throughout Pro-
testant Christendom, as would have shaken this
petty but bigoted power to its very foundations.
Yet, although the crime is not now presented to
us in such hideous colours—although a man of
middle age has not actually perished in a dungeon
for the crime of reading the Scriptures, can any
one, on consideration, say that the real guilt of the
Tuscan Government is lessened by the mere fact
that Francesco is still alive ?
But Francesco and Rosa are known to be in
such weak health that their imprisonment en-
dangers their lives. The rumour, which now
proves to be untrue, was so readily credited chiefly
because all who knew them felt their existence to
be matter of doubt and fear from day to day. All
who were concerned in the matter knew this. The
Grand Duke himself—his own female relatives, who
have visited Rosa in prison—the priests, the public
functionaries—all these knew that they were en-
dangering the lives of their prisoners by keeping
them immured in their present weak state of health.
Surely, then, it makes little difference in the moral
guilt of their conduct, that the event which they
knew to be so probable has not yet actually taken
place, but that their victims are still alive, still
suffering the living death to which they have de-
liberately consigned them.
We believe that Englishmen generally are grow-
ing impatient of the longer continuance of this
enormity. For several months their patience has
been kept alive by constant promises and predic-
tions, that the release of the prisoners was near at
hand. And still, we perceive, the same game is
kept up, and an " intention" is talked of, on the
part of the Grand Duke, to grant them some
remission of the punishment, soon. it is nearly
three months since the English deputation visited
Florence, and that deputation was then told, that
a relaxation of the sentence might soon be expected.
Now, with prisoners guilty of atrocious crimes, or
possessing the courage and strength of youth, all
this delay might be tolerable. But so intrinsically
unjust is the whole proceeding against the Madiais,
and so entirely free are they from moral guilt, that
the stupid and tedious pertinacity of their persecu-
tors, with a knowledge of the danger which this
pertinacity involves, is creating a feeling, in British
bosoms, which will soon break forth into some kind
of menacing action.
We are assured that the London Protestant
Alliance, in summoning a public meeting, to be
held in Exeter-hall on the 25th, has, instead of
promoting agitation, rather repressed and kept it
down. For several weeks past loud calls have
been made upon them for some public demonstra-
tion. London, it has been said, instead of being
foremost as usual, has lagged behind in this matter.
As many as nine or ten large meetings to protest
against the unjust sufferings of the adiais have
already been held in various provincial towns.
Bristol, Brighton, Birmingham, are all in the field.
Why does the metropolis hang back ? Thus urged,
the resolution has been at last adopted ; and on
Tuesday in next week a great assemblage may be
airticipated, over which the Lord Mayor has con-
sented to preside.

In another point of view it is high time that this
step should be taken. The people, generally somuch
alive to cases of oppression, have, in the present
instance, been slower than their rulers. Our readers
will doubtless understand to what we allude. They
have already heard, we are well assured, that more
than one crowned head has shown solicitude in this
matter, and that the Grand Duke of Tuscany, in
his course of senseless cruelty, has not only out-
raged the feelings of humanity which dwell in the
breasts of millions, but has also disregarded those
courtesies of high society which in some minds
prove a substitute for deeper and nobler principles.
As matters stand, princes have done more for the
persecuted Florentines than the people. It is now
time that the millions began to take their part in
this great controversy.