INCONSISTENCY.
♦ 1 If we may accept a recent telegram as true, the French Government contemplates granting an amnesty to the convicted members of the Commune, and, moreover, proposes to liberate the individuals pardoned in New Caledonia, the scene of their exile, whence they would probably make their way to the neighboring continent of Australia. At this prospect the colonists are alarmed, so much so, it would appear, that they intend to protest against the promised liberation. To such a step, however, the English Press has long been favorable. Journals which could find no language too hard for use towards the Fenian prisoners, were full of humane and considerate expressions when dealing with the penalties France imposed upon her offending citizens ; although the guilt of these latter surpassed that of the former immeasurably, and their power to work mischief, if released, would have been out of all comparison with that possessed by the Fenians under like circumstances. For surely no man in his senses could think of comparing anything that took place in the Fenian rising to the fiendish ■doings that characterised the outbreak of the Commune in Paris, while to increase by the number of thirteen the many thousands who declaim in America against the strong and well-established rule of England, would be quite another thing from restoring to the volcanic and dangerous -element that underlies Parisian society a great portion of its force and spirit. But, however it be, the English Press, that could not find a word to advance in favor of the Fenians, went to the verge of sentimentality when treating of the Communists, and certain slight indications lead us to imagine that sundry and various of our neighbors of the Australian colonies would have shared in this commiseration, had not personal motives intervened and pointed out to them that probably the Communist body, snugly ensconsed in the heart of Sydney or Melbourne, would not be as pleasant an object for the other residents in these cities to contemplate as it would be for the citizens of London to behold from a safe distance. Whether such doubts have any just foundations we cannot positively say, but it appears to us that, in any case, those colonists who propose to object against the measure said to be entertained by the French Government, are somewhat inconsistent. The Commune did but carry out the doctrines of the Revolution in their perfection. If they murdered, their victims were only priests, or men who sympathised with such. If they devastated, palaces and the monuments of a settled government were the objects against which their rage was principally directed. Priests and governments are the objects which the revolution is bent upon overthrowing, and whether bloodshed or fire be employed in the endeavor or not, it does not much signify ; the difference is in degree only and by no means in kind. Now the Government of Victoria has lately extended a hand of encouragement to a member of a family remarkable only in Europe for being that of a leading revolutionist, and, so far as we have been able to gather, the gentleman to whom we allude, Mr. Bicciotxi JGabibaldi, has been patronised by the Government in question solely • because of his connection with such a family. We cannot recollect that Mr. Garibaldi has in any way so distinguished himself as to have deserved to be placed in a Government situation, he being a stranger to the colonies, in preference to many worthy colonists of standing to whom such a post would have been a boon, for it is well known that there are numerous applicants for any vacancy that may occur in Victoria. It is true that he served for a time in the French war, but, although we read with interest the various details of that great event, we fail to recollect that the name of Ricciotti Gabibaldi was then mentioned as connected with any very striding success or undertaking and, if it had been so, this would hardly have recommended him for promotion in a country where the German nation to which he was opposed, is sufficiently represented to require that it should be recognised with respect, at least.
and where, consequently, all that he could rationally ex - pect would, be the admiration generously awarded to his prowess, but certainly not its recompense. However, prowess there appears to have been none, and consequently, all things considered, we are thrown back upon the conclusion that it was his father's fame alone which entitled him to the patronage of the Victorian Government : what that fame is the whole world knows. But let our readers judge of the consistency of the policy, that repels the Communist while it welcomes the Garibaldian.
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New Zealand Tablet, Volume IV, Issue 179, 1 September 1876, Page 11
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787INCONSISTENCY. New Zealand Tablet, Volume IV, Issue 179, 1 September 1876, Page 11
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