Punch: Punch (21.1851)

Vol. XXI.]

INTRODUCTION.

[July to December, 1851.

Neapolitan Government, and which Me. Gladstone had
addressed to the Earl of Aberdeen, was thus alluded to
in the House of Commons by biR De Lacy Evans :—

" ' From a publication entitled to the highest consideration
it appears that there are at present above 20,000 persons con-
fined in the prisons of Naples for alleged political offences;
that these prisoners have, with extremely few exceptions, been
thus immured in violation of the existing laws of the country,
and without the slightest legal trial or public inquiry into
their respective cases ; that they include a late Prime Minister,
and a majority of the late Neapolitan Parliament, as well as a
large proportion of the most respectable and intelligent classes
of society; that these prisoners are chained two and two
together ; that their chains are never removed, day or night,
for any purpose whatever : and that they are suffering refine-
ments of barbarity and cruelty unknown in any other civilised
country.' Sir De Lacy Evans consequently desired to know
if the British Minister at the Court of Naples had been
instructed to employ his good offices in the cause of humanity
for the diminution of these lamentable severities, and with
what result ?

" Lord Palmerston, in answer to this question, paid a
very emphatic tribute to the course taken by Mr. Gladstone
at Naples in investigating wrong and suffering. Concurring
in opinion with him, that the influence of public opinion in
Europe might have some effect in setting such matters right,
he (Lord Palmerston) had thought it his duty to send copies
of Mr. Gladstone's publication to the British Ministers at
the various Courts of Europe, directing them to give copies to

each Government; in the hope that by affording them an
opportunity of reading it, they might be led to use their influ-
ence for promoting that which was the object of Sir De Lacy
Evans's inquiry, and a remedy for the evils to which he
referred. Much cheering followed this announcement."

When the Prussian and Austrian armies had invaded
Hungary and compelled Georgei to surrender unconditionally,
Louis Kossuth, the Provisional Governor of Hungary, was
imprisoned first at Widdin, "next at Schumla, and finally at
Kutayia in Asia Minor. By the intervention of the English
and American Governments through their Ambassadors at
Constantinople, he was liberated, and arrived at Southampton
in England on October 17th, 1851. He was received in
London and elsewhere with great enthusiasm.

The Coup iVEtat in France and its belongings are now
matters of history. The ball set in motion eleven years ago
is,still rolling.

We must not close this brief notice of public events without
a parting word on the Great Exhibition, which had for so
many months almost monopolised public attention. It was a
remarkable success. The beautiful building was due to the
taste and ingenuity of Sir Joseph Paxton—who appears to
have been, strange to say, excluded from all part in the
official direction of the International gathering of 1862. It
was thought at one time that this Crystal Palace, as Punch
had named it, would have been retained as a Winter Garden
for the people, but the opportunity was lost of securing such
a desirable institution, and the fairy-like structure was trans-
ported to Sydenham.