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December 3, 1853.] THE LEADER. 1165
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THE REFORM QUESTION. WHY WE SHALL NOT HA...
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BTJSSIAN GENERALS. The inquiries touchin...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Peogress And Difficulty Of The Absolutis...
France , therefore , is to be part of the tactics of the Absolutist campaign . JsTo wonder that the Emperor ! N " apoleon is endeavouring to strengthen himself against this combination . The neutrality of Austria , like the " negotiations" of Russia , is but a cover to prepare active , comprehensive , and treacherous hostilities . The great point of attack is France , and the
Emperor takes his measures accordingly . It is confidently asserted that the French ambassador returned from Fontainebleau with the draft of a treaty of i illiance , offensive and defensive , between France and England . Nothing could be more legitimate ) , and the people of England , we believe , would hail such a reduction of the understanding between France and England to a definite alliance .
It is believed , however , that our Government does not share the impatience of England ' s naval officers in the Black Sea , nor in the impatience which is so very generally extended to the people of this country . It is reported of one of the most energetic of British Ministers , that i le treats this national feeling with slight ; to a g entleman who was speaking of the growing impat ence in the country with regard to the foreigi i policy of the Government , Lord Pahnerston h said to have replied , — " You see , one cannot extemporise * a war . " This is very true , and ve ; y well said ; but ' not furiously to the
purpose . ' No one wishes a war to be extemporised , —nobody wishes a war at all ; but what everybody does wish , is a decided declaration on the part of England as to what she is prepared to make a stand for . The English people are unquestionably beginning to feel ashamed that the larger share of manful resolution should remain with France . It is felt that to postpone that manful declaration may lead to foolish dreams on the part of our enemies , and may cause us more trouble than we should have to take if we made them at once understand that which we regard as absolutely necessary .
December 3, 1853.] The Leader. 1165
December 3 , 1853 . ] THE LEADER . 1165
The Reform Question. Why We Shall Not Ha...
THE REFORM QUESTION . WHY WE SHALL NOT HAVE A KEFOEM BILL NEXT SESSION . Paeliamentart Reform is discussed at present in a manner which shows that those who are engaged in the discussion wish to shelve the real question . We have a number of suggestions towards a Reform Bill , the object being , not to produce an efficient plan , but to construct suck a measure as may be an apology for postponing- a real Reform Bill . The object of those who have taken part in the discussion appears to bo to find the minimum of a measure winch may supply a literal fulfilment of the Ministerial promise , while in spirit furnishing an evasion of it . We do not believe , indeed , that all who arc taking part in this discussion are dishonest ; on the contrary , we believe that the disputants might bo divided , speaking roughly , into two classes , those who are earnest and honest men , who arc in the habit of handling such subjects in the- closet , and cannot apply themselves to action , or to the world as it really is out of doors ; and those whose real and
conscious object is the evasion we have men tioncd . Thoro is , indeed , a third party , represented by a correspondent of the Times , who' suggests aii ingenious mode of rearranging the present constitution of tho House of Commons with the present franchise , in such a way an to avoid many of tho evils that exist . 110 would proceed principally by abolishing smaller boroughs , and by placing towns and counties more- upon an equality . J-he principal advantage that avo discern front mich nu arrangement would bo , somo avoidance of present scandals , and an increase of strength to that which is called the " liberal" interest , [ I ,
would givo n triumph to tho Parliamentary agents upon that liberal Hide ; and tho signature of theso letters which emanate from the Reform Club , With tho initial " ( 1 , " Nutlieiently points to the highest of nil authorities on the ' wibjeot of Pnrhumentaiy agency . Other writers are urging an educational franchise ; mh if the world would be rendered bettor by placing Mie construction of Parliament more 111 tho hands of schoolmasters , authors , literati , ' •¦<» d dilettanti , of all kinds ! From tho days when he crack constitution of the Abbe Sieyes wuh Hholvod by the French . Assembly , it luis never beon supposed that literary men ' hud . more than " . part of the attainments necessary for statesmanship ; and didactic conciliations Holdout work well ,
I if they ever arrive at the working point at all . Indeed , the very notion rests upon a fundamental fallacy . The welfare and will of a nation being in question , the object must be to get at the great bpdy of that nation , in order to ascertain its convictions and wishes ; and hence , in any representative constitution , the franchise should be national . If you deny the ri ght of a people to self-government ; if you proceed upon the assumption that " the elite" of the nation must govern , then you admit the principle of toryism or absolutism , which reposes the origin of powerinan aristocracy , an hierarchy , or an anointed autocrat . Much
may be said for that principle which vindicates the right of power by its own existence and by its own victory over opposition . But to trim between the principle , that that class must govern which can snatch , the power , and the principle which claims a voice for the body of the people , and to labour by nice calculations at finding the exact amount of education or property which involves the ability to choose representatives for selfgovernment , is a compromise worthy of j Laputa rather than of England . A pedagogue franchise will never work , and can only become , first , a laughing-stock , then an incumbrance .
The main discussion turns upon the property point , and the great difficulty is to avoid Xord John Russell ' s offered five-pounds franchise . We have always regretted the short-sightedness in the public that did not seize at that when it was offered . It is said , upon authority which induces us to believe the assertion , that Lord John Russell has renewed , in the Cabinet , his proposition of a five-pound franchise , and has been out-voted by the majority of his colleagues . Now , the object of those who stand in the way of Lord John , is to find a decent pretext for not
renewing the offer . Journalists assist in this work , and we find two arguments that well exemplify the moral character in which the contest is conducted on that side . One is , that the persons who are now " on strike , " in . Lancashire , represent the five-pound constituency , and prove how dangerous it would be . As if the masters were not " on strike" too ! As if the men had not conducted their share of the contest , however mistakenly , with much decorum ! As if , above all things , because a certain class of the people makes a mistake , it has no right to be repreted in
sen a representative constitution ! The second argument is , that the freemen , who are the chief depositories of parliamentary corruption at the present day , are tenants of five-pound houses , and therefore represent the five-pound constitution — an argument more transparently impudent than the other . It amounts to asserting that , because a rogue lives in a five-pound house , all men living- in five-pound houses must be rogues . It is the kind of argument which proves that every banker may be proved to be a Fauntleroy , every Socrctary-at-War a W " . P > ., every royal person a Nicholas .
It is , however , not tho argument that concerns us , at present , but the proof which the advancement of such arguments furnishes , that tho object is to find out such a shadow of a Reform ' Bill as may be a fair pretext for avoiding a real Reform Bill . For our own part wo stand at present asido from , this discussion , as premature and out of season . We observe that it is chiefly in the hands of closet men or ovjisionists ; they
are discussing , not n real thing but an imaginary measure . Some , we verily believe , encourage the discussion « . (; this Reason in order to wearyattention , and to blunt tho public expectation . At all events the discussion before Christmas ia idle . We shall not enter upon the debate until the approach of . Parliament , and of the Government measure or the Government retractation , ran give a substantial interest to the question . Let us , in tho meanwhile , take leave
of it for tho present , with one remark , repeating what wo have already wrid . In no iiiHtanco can history sustain the ' idea that the liberties and ntrengl . li of a people depend upon their statutes . In all canes the statutes have recorded liberties- and rights already attained , by fbd sheer strength and will of a people , the statute being nothing more than a record . ' It in a stipulation rather to save trouble for a minority , which , without that memorandum , might still norl < to disturb tho judgment of tlu ? majority . Trial by jury was obtained by the ¦ people /><;/' <>)•< i it was recorded in Magna Ciiaiia . The rights ol ' reprowontation , of freuuont
parliaments , of possessing arms , were obtained by the people , were held in their hands , and had become conditions for the acceptance of the Crown by William , before those rights , with many others , were recorded in the Bill of Rights . That principle of political vitality has " not ceased . The people will obtain nothing by the spontaneous concessions of those who do not agree with the body of the nation . Even if the people were to obtain the concession of a Reform Bill , the parchment would be of no use . In short , while a people is supine , and willing to waive the exaction of those tilings which it thinks it
ought to have , and can have , it will remain without any increase to its rights . The facility of evading Reform consists in the supineness of the British public .
Btjssian Generals. The Inquiries Touchin...
BTJSSIAN GENERALS . The inquiries touching the commissariat department of the armies of the Czar which we , on a recent occasion , took the liberty to submit to the Russian Embassy , on behalf of certain of our contemporaries who have been ridiculously accused of Russian predilections , have not received any contradictory satisfaction , although they have had the advantage of a continental publicity . Perhaps they ma } ' be classed with those questions which answer themselves , and we will not be so ungenerous as to dispute the wisdom of that silence which is the crowning virtue of diplomacy . We beg distinctly to . affirm , that our sole aim in proposing these questions was no other than the commonplace journalistic ardour for information from the most authentic sources . It is true there
was a shocking similarity of names on which we , in perfect innocence of motive , appeared to ring the changes with a " damnable iteration . " We have received letters indicating all sorts of wild and injurious conclusions , from the simple accident of _ Z ? r ?* naw , the convict of Odessa in 1828 , beginning like \ Brtmow ; and only differing in termination' as much as _ A / can be said to differ from « A / We positively decline to make
ourselves responsible for interpretations which can only spring from the heated brains of partisans with whom Russia is not merely synonymous with robbery , but Bvunaio identical with Brunozy . To be one of two Droinios is a fearful misfortune to any statesman , as Sir James Graham has found ; but we refuse to iinderstand how a distinguished statesman is to be made responsible for the hazard of some thieving rogue or other having been born with the same , or—as in this
case—a somewhat similar name . Edmund Burke was a great orator and statesman , but he is not to be confounded with his distinguished namesake , Burke , who fills so conspicuous a position in the Chamber of Horrors . Even a bishop may have many a rascally namesake , as Archdeacon Hare had his ; and we see no reason at all why , even a name so pure aa Russell should not by somo irony of fortune decorate a dandy for whom Mr . Calcraft will have to tic the last neckcloth .
We protest , therefore , against 1 hat intemperate abuso of syllables , which would even presume to confound liis Excellency the Russian Ambassador to tho Court of St . James , a gentleman universally esteemed in polite society , with his imperfect namesake , tho fraudulent contractor and convict of 1828 . These . similarities of surnames are very common in Russia , especially , it Avould seem , in the higher regions of administration . For example , General Gortsclmkof , l < ommand < yr-in-chief of tho forces of the C / . nv in Moldo-Wallachia , tho honoured guest of our military ' circles ayear jwo , has the misfortune to bear a , namo exactly rc-Nemblin tf that of a certain General , Bomotinio Governor-General of Siberia , who was dismissed
the army for that worst of offences in Russia detection in a career ol' fraud , more than usually magnificent in conception , and imperial in execution . The General . Gorl . Hchakof to whom wo allude , Goiieral-in-oliief of the Russian infantry , had born in the habit , during many years , of drawing from the imperial military " administration la r ^ o sums for the mai ntenance of a military seminary at Tomsk , in Siberia ,. One iine day the Emperor . learned that this celebrated seminary the importance of which had been estimated by its increasing expenditure , had never existedin other words , that it was composed entirely of thosn paper bullets of the brain of General Gortsehakof , which , in the shape of cooked accounts and imaginary disbursements , bad beou HcduloiiHly iircd upon the Imperial Treasury .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 3, 1853, page 13, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_03121853/page/13/
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