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No. 411, February 6, 1858.] THE LEADER. ...
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THE PRUSSIAN ALLIANCE IN EUROPE. "We hav...
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ALIENS AND ALIENATION. We trust that the...
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Metropolitan Destitution-. — The Rev. Ro...
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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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The Future Op 'The Empire.' It Is Not. O...
hensible part of the transaction is the encouragement given to " the most ignorant and most dependent class in France , whilst all others are notoriously gagged , to flaunt an insolent bravado , and swear to trample out the last spark of public virtue . By degrees the barracks may come really to believe they are the most important estate
in the country ; and whilst a disarmed and silenced population are preparing for brighter things , some discontented general , colonel , or corporal , grossly imagining that Liberalism means merely a personal dislike to the present Emperor , may undertake to be the saviour of his country , and definitively place France at the mercy of a succession of Praetorian mobs .
No. 411, February 6, 1858.] The Leader. ...
No . 411 , February 6 , 1858 . ] THE LEADER . 137
The Prussian Alliance In Europe. "We Hav...
THE PRUSSIAN ALLIANCE IN EUROPE . "We have nationally advanced beyond the point at which the marriage of a Princess would affect the character of our foreign policy . Yet some considerations arise out of the alliance of Queen Viotobia ' s daughter with Fkedekick-Wii / liam : of Prussia which deserve to be stated . It will be remembered that , when the plan of this union was somewhat unpopular , we analyzed the Royal class in all parts of Europe , and showed that , deducting Eoman Catholic princes , married princes , pauper princes , ridiculous princes , princes in peril , and boy princes , Prince Fbedebick-Wti / liam stood alone as a fitting husband for our Princess Royal . His religion , his political inheritance , his rank , were suitable . This view , not very general then , has now become so popular that some halfdozen of our contemporaries have done us the honour to reproduce and acknowledge as their own the reasonings and explanations of the article in question . To this we can have no objection . It gratifies us to find that the point at which public opinion would arrive , after some wanderings , had been so accurately markeck It may be added , however , that no slight influence may be
is a bayonet , and that his mot d ' ordre is ' Silence ! ' Prussia is , in some degree , a constitutional kingdom ; it venerates intellect , it encourages education ; it is opposed to Concordats and Jesuitry ; it acts , as a check upon Austria ; its capital is a great centre of literary growth in the midst of Germany . It contains no population of Croats or Tartars ; it has no drill-sergeants on the Don or the confines of China . It has no Algeria or
Cayenne . It has , what Austria has not , a Baron Bunsen . It has , what in France is extinct , a press comparatively free , and religious discussion . It does not , like France , exist upon the brink of anarchy . It does not , like Austria , chain a Lombardy to the foot of a German throne . Even the Polish subjects of King Fbedebick-William are satisfied , in comparison with those of the Emperor Albxaitdeb . Fbedebick William is a despot , and Louis Napoleon is a despot ; but if the latter be of ' a new sort , ' the former is of the old , and the older the better . The world will not be astonished if , when the husband of our princess wears the Prussian crown , he should prove of a quality newer still .
exerted upon Prussian diplomacy by the Pbincess Rotal herself . We know that the wife of the reigning King , being Russian , Russianized the policy of the Court . Then why should not the English consort of a future King Anglicize , to some degree , that policy ? The intercourse between the two Courts will probably continue close , and the interchange of visits will be frequent . The younger branches of the families will mingle from time to time . An English tone ,
perhaps , will be created . In fact , it may be assumed that British diplomacy in Prussia -will become more powerful through the marriage of the Pbinoess Royal . Of Prussian diplomacy in England the same might be said , were the policy of the British Government so personal as that of a German military monarch . But we have our supreme Parliament , which wo are about to reform , thus laying a popular hand upon foreign affairs , ana securing the responsibility of the Minister . It would be the fault of the
Euglish people did Fbederick William , as prince or sovereign , exert more than a legitimate influence in Downing-street . We want , however , a great Protestant ally upon the Continent , as a balance to Franco , as a reserve in the event of contingencies . Prussia , if far behind us , is on the same
pnfh ; France is llourly ' cliveTgTrig . With the French Government the Engliuli people can have no possible sympathy . Wo do not hate the Emperor ' s authority , but he detests our freedom . It is a dangerous and a flourishing example continually before the eyes of a people who have now been openly told by their master that his sceptre
Aliens And Alienation. We Trust That The...
ALIENS AND ALIENATION . We trust that the bill to be introduced by Lord Palmebstoit on Monday evening will involve the abandonment of no national principle . If it does , we still hope that there may be sufficient virtue in Parliament to ensure its rejection . Lord Campbell pronounces the existing law sufficient j Lord Debbt has spoken out to the same purpose ; and we look to the Liberal members of the House of Commons to be in their places when the enactment is proposed , in order that an immediate check may be applied to the Government policy . The motion for copies of any correspondence on the subject that may have passed between the two Cabinets is a very proper one . But we at once doubted whether it would be successful . Lord Palmebston was not desirous of showing how far he had acted under implied menaces . It is humiliating enough to have been jockeyed by M . . job Pebsigny into a legislative surrender . If , as Lord Campbell affirms , the crime , in question may be [ reached by the actual law , what can Lord Palmerston mean unless to
appease the colonels of the French army , for whom , on Thursday evening , Lord Gbanville was so eager to apologize ? If an address of the Blues , demanding to be employed in overthrowing the French Empire , were to be posted up on a public building in Whitehall , the Count » e Mobny might assume a different tone . But let us beware lest , while conciliating the French Emperor , we do not incur the contempt of the French people . We have already disappointed and alienated some of the best men in the country by our grutuitous congratulations showered upon the author of their abasement , for our public opinion , has not always been so manly as it
now is , and time was when the Corporation of Cambridge might have adopted a less creditable tone . Louis Napoleon is driving a population of liberals out of France into England , and if we are to maintain a force of secret police in the service of his Empire , ho might surely afford us a subsidy , instead of burdeuing our tax-payers with the cost . We Will ^ ro ^ peat' ^ iiord- ^ AXTvrBiiSTON ' s- ^ own—lan--guage on this subject , to which wo referred last week . He was challenged to say whether the Government was about to adopt any restrictivo measures with regard to the refugees , and in reply he made the following remarkable declaration : — " I can only repeat that which I think has been
stated on former occasions in this House , that any such application would be met with a firm and decided refusal . ( Cheers . ) It is , indeed , obvious that it must be so , because no such measure could be taken by the Government of this country without fresh powers by Act of Parliament ; and I apprehend that no Government could , even if they were so inclined—and the present Government are not so inclined—apply for such a power with any chance of loud cries of
success ^— ( ' Hear' )—inasmuch as no Alien Bill , I believe , within the course of this century , has been passed ever giving to the Government the power of expelling foreigners , except with reference to considerations connected with the internal safety of this country . The British Government has never undertaken to provide for the internal security of other countries ; it is sufficient for them to have the power to provide for the internal security of their own . "
This is the principle which Lord Palmeeston will abandon on Monday evening next .
Metropolitan Destitution-. — The Rev. Ro...
Metropolitan Destitution-. — The Rev . Robert Gregory , Incumbent of St . Mary ' s , Prince's-road , Lambeth , adds his testimony to that of the Rev . Mr . Churton , which we quoted last week , to the effect that great destitution prevails at present among the poor on the south side of the water . Writing to the Times , Mr . Gregory states : —" We have a population of 15 , 000 , with one or two exceptions , all poor . Out of such a multitude , sickness and want of work at all times create much distress . This is now increased and intensified by the unusual scarcity of work , and by the severity of the weather allowance of bread from
Scores of families exist upon an the workhouse , hundreds upon the furniture and clothing they had purchased in more prosperous times . The sick and ailing have their sufferings greatly added to by the diminution of the comforts they require , while many have to endure the greatest privations . I have lately seen rooms stripped of nearly every article of furniture , and even the bedclothes pawned for food . We opened a kitchen to supply the more necessitous with soup at Id . a quart ; but even this is now less sought , when it is most wanted , because the penny cannot be raised . " The local Visiting Association is in want of funds , and can positively make no grant . —Similar complaints have been uttered from other parts of the metropolis .
The late Attempted Assassination . —The investigations of the London and Birmingham police show that the engineer who made the shells used in the late attempted assassination of the Emperor of the French bad not the least notion that those from whom he received instructions were refugees , or connected with any political party , but thought they were for some scientific experiments connected with legitimate warfare . The order and correspondence relating to them were carried on in the name of a foreigner known to the police , but not in custody . The police have their eye on certain refugees in the neighbourhood of Leicester-square , who are supposed to have been concerned in the plot .
Extraordinary Suicide . —An extraordinary case of suicide occurred last week at Rugby . An elderly married woman , named Mary Over , put an end to her life by hanging herself . From tbe evidence of several witnesses , given at the inquest , it appeared that she had been r some time in a depressed state of mind , and cherished the absurd idea that she was reflected on in the popular novel of ' ( Tom Brown ' s Schooldays , " as she had formerly been a matron at Rugby School . The jury found , " that the deceased destroyed herself while in a depressed state of mind arising from monomania . "
New Indian Bishoprics . —A strong appeal is to bo made to the Government by the Archbishop of Canterbury , the Bishop of London , and the other ecclesiastical dignitaries and distinguished laymen who compose the governing body of the Sooioty for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts , and the Church Missionary Society , to subdivide , the diocese of Calcutta before appoiuting a successor to that see , 'Which has become vacant by the death of Dr . Daniel Wilson , Mr . William Salmon , a lay vicar of Westminster Abbey , one of the gentlemen , of the Queen ' s Chapel Royal at St . James ' s , and a musician of considerable faculty , died on Tuesday week at his residence in the Lower Cloisters , Windsor Castle , at the ago of sixty-nine . Ho was buried in St . George ' s Chapel , with full choral
service . Adulteration ov Flouu . —John Manloy , a miller of Erwick , near Exeter , baa been convicted by the bench of county magistrates of mixing alum with hia flour . He admitted that ho had boon in the habit of mixing six ounces of alum with every sack of flour , in ignoranco of the law . Ho was condemned to pay a penalty of MltMBBKS FOl 7 ^ ilirSl 5 OTTlsff Ho meeting waa hold at Jcdburgh 011 Friday week , the Provoat in the chair , to petition Parliament in favour of granting jnombora to the Scottish Universities .
Nicw Rkfokmatouv Soiioou—A largo and convenient building , to bo usejtl us » fomalo reformatory and refuge for discharged prisoners , has , boon erected at Exeter , and will bo ononod ahortly for the reception o ( inmates .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 6, 1858, page 17, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_06021858/page/17/
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