The Sun.
London, England, 1849-09-25 00:00:00

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.
TlMES.—Birmingham has just been spared an ex-
hibition which certainly would have tended to justify
its olden fame for specious and ephemeral wares. The
Prince of Canino, ex-President of the Italian Re•
public, has just been lecturing the British Associa-
tion on the difference between the little blue magpie
of Spain and the little blue magpie of Siberia. Of
course it is interesting enough to see a great man
able to find comfort for the wreck of his political
hopes in so simple a theme. Mhe was at Bir-
mingham, however, Mr. George Dawson and some
other gentlemen, who card more for men than for
magpies, and who desired some more piquant con-
trasts than that which the Prince had chosen, waited
upon him to request that he would accept of a soirée.
From the Prince's reply it appears that the soiree was
to have been "in connexion with their admiration of
the truly heroic Roman people ;" and would have
consisted of speeches by Mr. George Dawson, the
Prince of Canino, Mr. William Potter, and other
statesmen, expressing what is called sympathy,
with what is called the cause of the Roman people.
Either an actual engagement, or a little good sense,
prevented the Prince from accepting the soirée. To
satisfy the gentlemen, however, he took pen and paper
and wrote down in their presence a rhetorical sort of
reply, intended to do the duty of a speech. It ap-
peared in our Saturday's paper, and therefore we need
not repeat it. Being written extempore by a foreigner,
and in the presence of the Birmingham sympathisers,
one is not surprised to observe that it contains in a very
small compass quite a florilegium of old British clap-
traps. After the testimony of his own conscience,
the Prince knows nothing so flattering as the appro-
bation of " generous and truly free Britons." He
will never be dumb, he says, "whenever his feeble
voice may be raised in favour of liberty and civili-
zation." Had he been able to attend the soirée,
he would have greeted every Englishman present as
" a friend to the oppressed and dread foe to the
oppressor;' and would have said how much he ad-
mires a Constitution which, whatever its theoretical
defects., "works so admirably in practice," and
makes us greater, and happier, and freer than any
other people in the world ; " whilst," he concludes,
" better framed constitutions, without the vigi-
lance of an enlightened people, can make pseudo-
monarchies, or, what is worse, mock republics."
Of course the sting in the tail is a cut at cousin
Louis Napoleon and his citizen subjects, as the
Prince would express it. President Lucien thinks
it very hard that his game has been spoilt by
another President, and that President a cousin. It
was not so in old Bonaparte's days. He would
not have objected to see a Bonaparte in-
stalled, under one name or another in every
capital in Europe ; aad Lucien, who possibly in-
herits some of the family traditions on this point,
may think, that for the sake of a Bonaparte, France
might have pardoned the dangerous freaks of young
Italy. We in this country are out of the family
circle, and are happily without any Bonapartist pre-
judice. We take a purely political view of the affair,
and on that view it does not appear to us perfectly
decorous that in a sort of public interview with cer-
tain citizens of a great English municipality, a Bona-
parte should denounce his cousin as a knave, the French
Republic as a humbug, its President as an impostor,
and its citizens as fools. This island is out of the conti-
nental quarrel, and on that account affords a refuge
to the Prince of Canino, who cannot land in a single
port of Europe without being accosted by a policeman
and requested "to move on." The condition of such
an asylum is that refugePs should keep their quarrels
and grievances to themselves. Were Mr. George
Dawson and his friends really very formidable
people, a public interchange of sympathy upon
Roman and French affairs between them and the
ex-President of Rome, lately at war with France,
end just now warned off the French soil, might tend
to interrupt the good understanding between us
and our neighbours. We are entitled to express
our own opinions upon French and Italian
affairs as freely as we please, but when we enter into
personal relations with a principal actor in those
affairs for the purpose of expressing our sympathy
with him, and against the constitutional authorities of
France and of Rome, we are evidently going the way
to embroil ourselves, and it is not our fault if we do
not. But what is the cause in which the good people
of Birmingham were so anxious to tender their sym-
pathy ? That of " the truly heroic Roman people ?"
No such thing. Never was there a grosser imposi-
tion. There was nothing Roman about the affair
except the locality. Mazzini, Garibaldi, and their
associates, whatever their virtues, were not Romans,
nor were their objects Roman. They were Italians,
and their avowed object was an Italian Republic. By
secret conspiracy, by overt insurrection, by actual in-
vasion, and by downright international hostilities,
they made war against all the Princes, Powers,
and Potentates that occupy the Italian peninsula
and the neighbouring islands. The old scheme
of an Italian federation they had pronounced
treason against their cause, which was no-
thing less than a Democratic Republic, whereof
all Italians should be citizens, and Rome the centre.
There are many grave questions involved in such a
project—questions which a Lombard, a Venetian, a
Sardinian, a Tuscan, or a Neapolitan, might answer
for himself, because he would have them put to him,
and would be obliged to answer them; but which an
Englishman need not answer, and if he is wise will
not answer in a practical and offensive manner. In-
vasion is invasion, and war is war. These are grave
realities, and woe to those who plunge gratuitously
into the quarrel. The conflict at Rome
was not between an indigenous population
and an army of strangers. It was between strangers
and strangers. About twelve thousand democratic
strangers from Italy and other countries had ob-
tained possession of Rome, driven out its lawful
Sovereign, and, under the protection of its walls
and consecrated monuments, declared war
against all the Governments long established in
Italy. Other strangers whether wisely or not,
whether properly or not, we will not now discuss,
but at least in more lawful guise came to drive
out those first strangers, and restore the original
status quo of Italian affairs. Into the many other
questions involved we will not go. We only observe
that the Prince of Canino was not merely the head of
a Roman Republic. He was the nominal head of an
Italian democracy, that is of an army of conspirators
and invaders, collected from many countries for the
conquest of the entire Italian peninsula. How much
further their ambition went we will not dare to say.
A Prince, an ex-President, and a nephew of
Bonaparte, of course would be a very great catch
at Birmingham ; but we presume that even there
will be found a few persons who expect some merit in
those whom they are delighted to honour. What,
then, is the Prince of Canino except what he is by the
accident of his birth ? He is a naturalist. Two years
ago he attended the meeting of the British Association
at Oxford, looked like the pictures of his uncle, talked
a great deal, and read a paper on a new genus and
three new species of bats. His likeness to Bans-
ea] tuxes unctuous, hairy, and large. His talk was
c-f peace and the blessed agency of science in
allaying party heats and international jealousies.
People were charmed to hear a Bonaparte talking
in this manner, and naturally thought what a happy
thing it would have been for mankind if Napoleon
had taken to stuffing birds instead of slaying men.
IVe do not think that the Prince was quite true to
these
.amiable professions when he helped to intro-
duce into Rome a band of adventurers collected from
all. parts of Europe—when he drove out its lawful
Sovereign—when he undermined, or threatened to
undermine, the Vatican, and to destroy all the monu-
ments of Rome, whether Pagan or Christian, sooner
than admit that Sovereign's allies. This might be
heroic, but it was neither pacific nor scientific ;
and instead of allowing the Prince to proceed on his
ornithological course the Association might well have
asked him a few questions about the clean and un-
clean varieties of the human species, the vampires and
the vultures he helped to collect into that Noah's ark
the "pseudo-Republic" of Rome.

CITY OF LONDON GENERAL'
PENSION SOCIETY.
The annual general meeting of the subscribers of
this society, which was established thirty years ago
for the permanent relief of aged and decayed artizans
and others, and their widows, &c., was held yester-
day ; Robert Obbard, Esq., in the chair.
The Secretary, Mr. GEORGE MENCE, read the
report, which detailed the results of the management
during the past year. Two elections have taken
place, at which eight new pesioners have been added
to the list. There are now 58 aged persons receiving
relief from this charity. Three pensioners died in
Decembervace last year, since which no death had taken
• No less than 13 died in the year preceding,
and nine the year before that. During the present
fearful and wide-spread mortality, not one of the
Pensioners, roost of whom are
away by
betweendh
70 and 99
years of age, has been swept
:nen are receiving 275. and the womenlBs. death. The
month,The
and the directors have not felt justified itnprecf ommelnd-
ing any increase. In consequnce of h
April last a large accession had been
madeestitvoa thine
funds of the charity. A great number of the annual
subscribers have doubled their subscriptions. Not-
withstanding deaths and other casualties amongst the
subscribers an increase of GO!. has been made
in the annual subscriptions this year. The
net proceeds of the festival, after deducting all
expenses, amounted to upwards of 5001. in donations
alone. A legacy of 2001• has been received, and the
former secretary has repaid to the charity the whole
of the balance due from him. During the year
nearly 8001. has been paid to pensioners. Stock to
the amount of 435/. 18s. 7d. has been added to the
society's funded property, which now amounts
to 7,306/. 3s. The total working expenses, including
printing, stationery, advertisements, rent, salaries,
and miscellaneous have been 299/. 6s. Bd., leaving a
balance in the Bank of England of 454/. Bs. H.