A REMARKABLE CAREER CHARLES BIANCONI

New Zealand Tablet, 6 September 1906, Page 15

A REMARKABLE CAREER CHARLES BIANCONI

. The fact that the present Lord Mayor of Dublin is named Nannetti and that he is the son of II Itato father, recalls 1 to mind a. man of Italian birth who, seventy or eighty years ago, had- a most remarkable career in Ireland, rising by his own unaided efforts from the lowliest circumstances to a place of -honor and distinction in -his adopted country Ireland is the last country in the world one^ would think of as offering a field for the ambitious youth" yet was the scene of the extraordinary rise of Charles Biariconi. - J Charles Biahconi landed in Dublin at the aa*. of sixteen in the. summer of 1802.. He came from near Como; m Italy, was the son of respectable parents' but, because oi a dislike for study amL/~a certain strain of , wildness.. in his nature, he was bound apprentice to one . Andrea Faroni, a dealer in prints barometers, etc. This man got a goodly sum for the maintenance -of young Bianconi, and it was stipulated that the lad should be brought to England," but instead of going to London, "Faroni went to Dublin ' He had three other boys besides - Bianconi ' bound out '. to him in similar fashion. Latided in Dublin Faroni at once set to work making small Jeaden pic- - ture frames. He had brought from, Italy, some cheap religious- pictures. These he fixed in the frames, ' and then,' says Bianconi .himself, ' all was~ready "for what seemed a" singular operation. We were- to sell those lor .him in this strange land, * whose'.language-we did~ not know. He pushed ,us into the street,- - however and I can never forget the ludicrous figure .1 cut there with .some of those things in my hands- saying' buy ' ' to everyone I met.~ When asked the price I could - only point- to my fingers for the number 'of pence I' wanted. I soon, however, picked up a little English . . and I was then sent' off into the country every Monday morning with two -pounds' worth of these pictures and - " ' - . ~ \ Four Pence Pocket Money understanding that I was to return the Saturday evening following.' it should be borne in. mind what kind of an Ireland it was this young Italian ~ boy wastraversmg at that- time. The • penal laws were still ■ in full force. The bloody rebellion of '98 was only four years suppressed, and echoes of it still lingered in ' many places. The infamous Act of Union had just ' been passed. Robert Emmet's - daring attempt at "in- ' surrection in Dublin was still in the seeds of time Napoleon -Bonaparte • was at -the height of his power' - and threatening to invade England. On all sides was - a disturbed state of public feeling. This is well shown by Bianconi's autobiography, which records : '-" * 'In ,this way I traversed all the County Dublin - and went even as far as and-Waterf oftl ; In * vvaterford I found the d.emarid for my small* prints very ■ considerable.; but besides the Scriptural pieces' -I had ' ! portraits of, the royal family,, of Bonaparte, etc. Once when in Passage, a small place south of Waterford I « was much surprised to find myself arrested by order • of an over-loyal magistrate fgx the "treasonable act of selling Bonaparte's" likeness. I was kept all night j perishing in a goiard-room, but in the morning. Iwas T .set. at liberty.' & . When young Bianconi's eighteen months' time' was ■ .vp m is master offered to send him home, but the youth wopiH not think of such a thing. Instead he set out ■ selling prints on his own account. He worked hard .Jmt.-he.says, I felt neither discouragement nor fatigue „ for I fel«t. that I had' set to work to bje a, greet m&n.' And,<. . . "~__-.~ , A Great Man Indeed "He Became, ' struggling upward step by step until he had 'become" a ma«n : of world-wide fame. He. took hold of many fcmngs, and entered various lines of business on his upward, way. He becajme like,, the Norman lords, more -Irish than the Irish in many ways. He settled in the : - town of Clonmel, in Tipperary— a town noted for the pride .and arrogance/ of .the Cromwellians who formed the so-called upper /class of. Protestants, which looked 1° wn "P°; n : •'despised, and when -they- couSd, terrorized '' „, .Wwolics- Bianconi mehtions'-an - instance of" this • While living in Clonmel, 1 he says,. * I came to know- of a practice. that was most unfair. On a certain day the Protestant shopkeepers used' 4b go about levying a tax on the Catholics who ventured to open shops within ■ * he .-. t( i. wn . walls - They used to. thus wring, if rom* each* •Catholic shopkeeper three or four guineas,, . which was ; intrusion- money. -At length -a sturdy v old lady a.Mrs. Ryan, refused to comply with the demand. ~Thev 3 seized-; her goods ;, but she courageously tried it out at' ~l aw jj*??'-' ww 911-'9 11 -'- ™,s, s led to the abolition of the tax. - . Catftolxcs, too, had to pay a toll on -all bought . mer-

fr h e a e ndi WhI hl tw he P*?** B *"* gownsmen went scot &*$ £&>."««? s/k many paying concerns, but what made his name 5 A. Household- Word SSF on + , many th + ln S s > and naLhingTtruck meW forl s^-^aasTi*,?^ -a? J from a -market town spent one day going there™ an other doing his business and a third returnilg hoSe ' In Ireland every sort of conveyance is a car ami ?? a a Sni ai ;i 7 iS r? ie name appliwi to the -side-cS Sr iaunting--car. It was cars of , this latter type lines trJn ICh r Biai \ coni established. Soon he hada WgilS -XE w as ° ' h ISS ?. aIS , (it must be r ememtod Sat -~itos was before, the days of stream travels all nCr the south and west, of Ireland. In his In ploiw hundreds of men, ami. he pursued -with t£m a hl mane, just and enlightened- policy, . which if followed strike's h Zi A £*SiS 0*!0 *!i 07e £ W 'Z m Prev * nt wniiJ ™t disturb * he business . relations of the world. I- carefully choose my staff ' he writes JSZSr adv - anced Progressive^ according to their n? V Z * mentS ' • • a J ld * as -°l>Portunity.. offer!.. In case wLei Jfd Si^S 6 ?* the y-are^ensioned-off 6* full faTX ?? v v d c tL »$* th^eS' »«? larity of my service, I never yet did an Jt *of * .generosity or common justice, publicly or privaLly that not met by manifold reciprocityI A ; «o ;.not treat my men as slaves, but as fellowtiSn^S"?*! fr °, m - mc^ lV in Nation I make them feel that m doing their work they : confer on S% a ag!s ea benCfit than I - do . on *«» *7 PaymeS ,- In 1844 Clonmel elected Bianconr mayor— The First Catholic MayorvL*?s^*** 0118 - . The Tories whose power was \ thus overthrown were furious, and the . old" corporation even n ™ a \ a^ w i th «« official paraphernalia; so the new mayor had to buy his own' chain of office His mayoralty was a great-success: Whatever^ funded took to dp he did it efficiently. He - was' not a K^s ° r .~ revenue °nly. fact, he took no salary J?Ji*5 8 7 ears ?l ° mcc but * se^ money tb be divided among the poor -schools of the town ~ S O'fW?pii ° f , Bian °o hi ; s . de arest friends was Daniel o Unmell, who sent him once a characteristic' piece & H T Tary ° r ° f C^ n ' M cl, maflconi-.had lo aS- J bench as a magistrate and hear r ahd decide petty cases. He was naturally ~ anxious "that his legal decisions should .be really lig-al He wrote to O Oonnell for advice, and the immortal Liberator who couW^rive a coach-and-four through, the mosf" drastic Act of Parliament; repHed :-• If • you wish to disuSSSL ' dutlCS ~ Of «» wayoralty-^ith perfect f sat lstaotion act upon -your own common-sense,, and -do not look into any law-book!'" '-" " - fln o i t0 **». ingest- and busiest Hfe^' ihere comes the t^lpJfL l^ of Bianconi, and me tueless heart at last grew weary and tired and pissed a S w m v m fr mm ° f PH*& 7 I<^«JSLS. vfff^ ay f '° m J the s^ cn ® of his many" labors to receive the reward of- a life spent in doing ' f&od to his fellow-men. He should never be forgotten by the country -of 'his adoption, for though he was no pol! ltical .leader, her in his own way,- strove -to Hetter the condition of Ireland- and her people "