The daily Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1841-1845, 1844-11-07

Ibs from The CORRUPTION OF lac human heart, never
ending strife between those who aspire rule accord
ing to their own will and those who wish TO be free
according 10 the laws Other country. Al first sight
aothng would seem able TO resist the standing army
of perverted talent, depraved ambition and combined
aislocracy, bu. nature has endowed the homes, bu,
undiscipDed multitude with son of instinct similar
to that which the OF The approach OF The
hunter, which enables them TO snuff danger in the
distant breeze and which warns them TO defence be-
fore they are covered by the nets of heir pursuers
\ The famous quarrel between the Buondelmonti
and the Uberi ID recorded concisey by Vlliani and
more fully by Machiavelli and Leonardo Aretno. In
the year 1915. when Gherando ORLANDO Cover
4 nor of Florence, Messer Buondelmonle de Buondel
mont, a ,houghtless youth and gay cavIlier had
pledged his hand 10 a lady of the family Of Amidei
and the heress of house not less powerful and no
bic than his own. A rich widow OF the family OF
Donati had young and beautiful daughter whom
she had long intended TO be the bride of Nosser Bu-
ondelmonte. This design she had never disclosed, OF
perhaps had postponed, until favorable moment
should arrive for It's execution. AT length the young
and handsome knight passed by her house she babe
him stop and reproached him that his intended bride
was neither beautiful suitable to his rank. Open
ing the doors OF her palace she disclosed to his adj
miriDg eyes the lovely virgin whom she had long
kept and designed to be his wife. Struck with the
charms Of the preferred bride deemirg 1t dshonora-
BILE to reject proposition made in manner 90 Hat
ering that to his chivaric spirit other alternative
was left but acceptance, BuondeImonti Immediately
plig hied his hand and after led the fair dan'sel
! IN no all ha nf hrnk sn fnit
deep resentment of family PRIDE the burning ven-
geance Of family honor when wounded in lis tender
est point seemed to escape his gddy mind. The re-
a,ions Of the injured lady having assembled together
and complained of the outrage which Buondelmonti
had inflicted upon heir house, one of the knsmen,
holder and iercer than the rest, exclaimed that they
who deberated many things did nothing, and con-
cluded his short but fiery eXhortaon to vengeance
by the tre but significant saying ioa taia capo ha
! The hint was Immediately taken On the morning
of grand festival Ia Florence the members and ad
herenls OF the Amidei assembled together in the
house Of that family the Church OF ST. Stephen,
a nd seeing Buondelmonti coming across the Arno
clio he'd in white robes and mounted white steed,
| they rushed upon their victim, dragged him from his
horse, and murdered him in tie at the foot OF
ton the city flew to arms and the fury Of party
ragged high and wide. They who followed the Bu-
ondelmon,i became Guephs they who adhered to the
| Uberti, Ghibbenes. Such the Violence fury and
devastations of those rival factions that John Villain
declares that he does not believe that they will
ever be terminated but by the interposon of kind
God The old historian further exclaims, t1at in
consequence of the sins of the Florennes, whose an
cestors had erected statue TO Pagan God the en-
envy Of the human prevailed with Mars, that at
the foot of his image might be committed murder,
d from which flowed such drefu injuries and unpum-
bered woes, and which introduced into The Inflated
city the cursed names of Guelph and Ghibbeline
A, the close of the sixteenth Can,o of the Paradise
Dante mourns this family quarrel, which sowed
the seeds of SO many dssensons and 80 many mis-
fortunes to his country-a country whose many err
, rors posterity may overlook, but whose greatest
crime the Punishment of her immortal bard, time
|, will ever efiacc.
, o Buondelmonti, quanto mul fuggsti,
lie Nose sue, per gil atrui COMFORT
;, Motif saubber lleti che son trisu,
lie Div t'avesse conceduto ad Ema,
, La prma volta CHI "a citta Vensti,
Ma convenis 81 a quella petra scema,
: Che guardu ponte, che Florensa Jesse,
Vuima nela sua ace postrema.
For many years, and with various success, did the
battle rage between these noble and rival families
To redress the wounded honor of injured lady,
and to avenge the murder of a youthful cavalier,
were the passions which kept alive the deadly hos.
tility Of the mobiles, and spread their flames among
every class of the people. By the influence and
power Of the Germas Emperor, the Buondelmonti
and the Guelphs driven from the city, but after
the death of that monarch the substantial citizens
and those who had the most credit with the people
brought about a reconciliation The Guelphs were
permitted re- enter the city the Ghibbelines were
induced TO lay aside their suspicious, and the favo-
rable moment was seized to secure themselves not
only against foreign power but domestic dissensioDs
by the establishment Of newer and freer form Of
Government In a Austocracy, the contests of the
nobility seldom spring from political principles or
the public interests but generally from private re-
sentiments and mutual ambition. The people gain
nothing by being the partissns Of their factions ex-
cept still greater oppression from the party that
achieves a signal victory It's enemies They
are regarded mere instruments, to be freely used
long the combat lasts and to be disposed of at
pleasure, as II is terminated. 1t is their pol
icy to stand aoof from the ntrgues and divisions of
the nobility, and to let the fierce rage until it
ends in the weakening, and perhaps destruction Of
their natural enemies Fresh and unaffected by the
troubles that have divided and harassed their op-
pressors they can, in the very midst Of the battle,
dictate the terms Of the peace, and proclaim the
union of the contending parties 10 the establishment
of public liberty and tie formation of free Consi-
tuition. The sagacous citizens who composed the
middle class in Florence, understood well tho part
which their interests required them to act and teach
US by their experience the advantages which the
masses may g not bya factous support Of this or