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226 THE LEADER. |S^urday,
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LOUIS BONAPARTE'S TORY FRIEND IN THE FOR...
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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 United Reform Impulse. The Majority ...
a direct interest in the maintenance of commercial freedom , meet and vote a fund of £ 27 , 000 in twenty-seven minutes , and Reformers are breathless with wonder at the feat ; but nothing is , subscribed in anything like that proportion to obtain such truly national representation as would ' place the question beyond eontest . Reformers all resolve to have reform , but they cannot agree upon the sort they will have ; and thus the whole body of the people is the laughingstock of the miserable minority opposed to it .
The incidents at the Conference of the Parliamentary Reform Association confirm our conclusion , and help us to the key . The objects of the Conference were , to ascertain the degree of interest taken on the subject in the districts re-Eresented by the local deputations ; to learn the est means of promoting the agitation ; "to explain an important obscurity in the original programme of the association ; and to promote a union of reformers . The interest taken in the movement ,
from Bedford to Bradford , from Devon to Northumberland , is considerable . The explanation as to the rating point was satisfactory—the association showed that the suffrage would not be based on the payment of rates , but on the attestation of residence in the parish register of persons liable to rates . Some success was also attained in showing that the measure advanced by the association was not a " compromise , " in the ordinary sense of that word , but a middle term which would unite , as it does unite , the largest
amount of working-class support with the largest amount of middle-class support ; a measure not proposed as the absolute and final reform , the one perfect chrysolite ; but simply a tangible concrete shape , to render that middle term intelligible . The success in attaining union is to be ascertained by the experience of time . The palpable experience was not altogether satisfactory . The Chairman , on the first day , could not , or did not , check much interruption which came from those who " went further" than the association
and at the aggregate meeting , the association only escaped a hostile amendment . There is interest in reform—butt not enough to concentrate public action ; there is one desire for union , —but not enough to dictate self-possession j and at this Conference , language of a studiously irritating kind was uttered , not only by this or that intruder who came with some notorious " bee in
his bonnet , " but by recognised officials of the association , like Mr . ' George Thompson ; as though the object were not union , but defiance . To us , however , the conference is highly instructive , and , in many respects , hopeful , it has proved the existence of a strong and widely prevalent disposition to union . It has exhibited an uncrcdited amount of activity , of zeal , and of patriotism , as vigorous as it is disinterested . But it has also illustrated the crying wants of our
day—those weaknesses of the time which paralyze p ublic action , and render the people impotent before its antagonists . More than one speaker , like Mr . Varien and Mr . George Dawson , touched upon the mother disease—that selfish trading spirit which is breaking up society into a crowd of segregated , faithless individualisms , without power of united action , because without affection in a common humanity ; without loyalty to religious conviction , or chivalrous feeling . " Each for himself , " is a doctrine that destroys tlio power of organic action , and it is the doctrine
paramount at this day . Manchester does not refute , but confirms it : men who invest a month ' s profits in promoting a policy favourable to their commercial business , cannot find a day ' s profit for a policy which would extend a share- of influence to the working creators of wealth , and would unite the country in a national power . " The ago of chivalry has gone ; " but , thank God ! it is also to come . The ago of copper halfponce , " taking care of thoniBolvcs , " has passed its zenith ; the ago of paid priesthood preaching for its ponce is on , tho decline ; a now chivalry
is is proclaimed b y such men as George , Dawson , even in iron Birmingham ; tho heartfelt accents of a Varien take hold oven qf a business mooting ; a Burns and an Ingram ¦ Lockhar . t give voice to a faith which is superior to soot . Tho " Dissenting" minister becomes tho minister of a catholic faith ; and if Practical Man , Esq ., M . P ., presides , oven ho is venerablo , hearty , and wolf-inclined to see fair play to influences wliicli aro activo boforo him , though his obsolete eyes cannot clearly make out what they arc , or what tlioy arc doing . If idle demagogues , wko have
ensconced themselves in a canting routine of ruffianism , have converted agitation into an institution , and have unlearned the instinctive art of appealing , in simple , broad language , to a people , can disturb a meeting assembled to deliberate , it is still the fact , that a meeting assembled for action , like that of the Amalgamated Engineers and their allies , is too strong for such obstructions . A sense of right has seized hold of the working-class mind ; an unselfish faith has arisen to guide it in its contests ; and chivalry and nationality meet with new and animated responses wherever they find voice . Is it not Coleridge who says , that what with
sectarianism and political economy , Jingland has ceased to be a nation , and will only be restored to nationality by the appearance of a foreign foe ? The time has almost come , and the better spirit is reawakening . The greatest of all benefactors to this country , not yet extinct in body or spirit , would be a foreign invader showing himself amongstus . Weshould then unite ; we shouldthen relearn national action ; our middle classes would then regain that bold spirit before which the idle brawling demagogue would be as a cur barking at the feet of an unheeding horse ; our severed " classes" would once more be a People , and " reform" would be had for the asking .
Meanwhile , the meeting has confirmed our faith in these two political truths—that the hearty English feeling is yet so far from extinct as to respond to every appeal of just intent and hearty candour ; and that the true way to promote any movement , is to give the people something to do . Material action is a pleasure in itself ; to expect that large masses of people will take much trouble is in itself a fallacy ; to expect , reasoning
from them is to expect what is perhaps undesirable ; they will always respond when their feelings are addressed ; they will gladly do what practical work their trusted leaders set them . Out of the material supplied by the Conference , the Ideal representatives will find something to do tangibly ; and so far they will be successful . But the managers of the movement must continue to supply suggestions for the same kind of practical , tangible work , both to extend the confidence in their practical ability , and to keep up the spirit which they desire to arouse .
226 The Leader. |S^Urday,
226 THE LEADER . | S ^ urday ,
Louis Bonaparte's Tory Friend In The For...
LOUIS BONAPARTE'S TORY FRIEND IN THE FOREIGN OFFICE . Hencefoeth , it is idle to waste invective upon the crimes of a dictator , or lamentations upon the servitude of a people ; but it is the instant duty of free journalists , who aspire less to the craft of statesmen , than to the vigilance of advanced sentinels , to unmask the designs , and to denounce the conspiracies , of a headstrong despotism , that threatens to overspread the last sanctuaries of European freedom . It is no longer a secret of diplomacy that Switzerland is menaced in the very independence of her territories , and in the liberty of her institutions , by tho man to whom , at tho risk of hostilities , she onco offered not merely tho shelter of a generous hospitality , but the privileges of an honoured citizensliip , and tho enthusiasm of a lofty compassion . Wo have heard from persons who were at
Geneva , in 1838 , how the spirit of a brave and simple people was aroused , when the sacred right of asylum was threatened by an army on their borders . But fourteen years have passed : the proscribed citizen of Thurgovia is now the sovereign disposer of French budgets , nnd of French bayonets . Be it his to repay hospitality with insult , —refuge with menace , —shelter and safety with aggression , if not with invasion .
Gratitude ! ( that most vulgar virtuo ) would bo a flaw in tho character of this man , —a blemish in his heroic biography , —a blot on his sanguinary escutcheon ; and aro not benefits forgot but tho anticipation of oaths forsworn P Besides , tho volunteer of tho anti-papal legion of 1831 , is , in 1852 , tho " firstborn son of tho Church , "—tho sword of tho Jesuit .. Tho defeat and disgrace of the Sondorbund , in 1847 , must 1 ) 0 avenged , and Protestant ascendancy bo put down by the " soldiers of the Pope . " Switzerland , republican and Protestant , is ft double foo to the altar and tho throne .
Never was there a more propitious moment for this holy entorpriso ! Sehwarzenborg in prepared ( or was prepared but a few days since ) ' to share tho perils and tho profits of u joint occupation . And what are the perils F—
Russia , standing afar off ; and somewhat given to the pedantry of treaties , when her own designs are not impeded by their observance , may frown Prussia , ostensibly uncatholic , may protest ; and England ^ -protestant England ! Oh ! Englan d is " my intimate personal friend : " he visited me at Ham , he entertained me in Belgravia , he patted me on the back but yesterday : where shall T find a more confiding ally P As for Protestantism , he will keep that for Exeter Hall and Maynooth Did not England , in 1849 , deem the restoration
of " His Holiness" to Rome advisable , and is it now likely that " wo « c /* erMalmesbury—Eng land par excellence , will disapprove of my resolution to crush the last strong holds of continental radicalism P" Ah ! we will not recall the England of Cromwell and Milton : but in more degenerate days , there was a time when national honour was an article of faith in the religion of the Tories
Jealous to excess was their susceptibility , we do not say to injury and affront , but to the bare imputation of complaisant subserviency , or cringing connivance . Tne heart of the aristocracy of England was then , perhaps , in the right place , and , in the remotest corner of the habitable world , a British subject dared to think , that come insult , come death , the whole might of England was at his back to demand retribution and
redress . Cromwell , did we say P Why , what would Chatham have said , eould that great " war minister , " as your mincing Whig memoirs sheeringly call the last of the heroes , could he have listened to Edward Geoffrey , Earl of Derby , the Premier of England , delivering his profession of political faith to the assembled peers , on Friday evening ,
the 27 th February P For our own part , with all the respect we have often been tempted to avow for this noble and impetuous Earl , and often as he has favoured us with glimpses of a chivalry all too rare in these latter days , we have honestly failed to discern the frankness , the high spirit , and the generous boldness , of his Ministerial explanation .
We leave to other pens to criticise the vague and struggling ambiguities of his home and commercial policy . We are concerned with his announcement on our foreign relations . And we unhesitatingly and most calmly affirm that , coming immediately after the insolent asperities of Prince Schwarzenberg , the language of Lord Derby on " treaties , " and on refugees , was of a nature to make their countrymen hang tlicir heads for shame . If Lord Granville ' s repl y Austria was a " capitulation , " Earl Derby ' s recapitulation was a panic and a flight .
Earl Derby talks , forsooth , of religiously respecting treaties which ho religiously knows to have been broken over and over a ^ ain by the high contracting Powers , just so often as they Mere found to be an obstacle or an incumbrance . Nay , they have been passed by even with the consent of England , when some petty kingdom for an amiable Prince had to be created . Now , concerning tho refugees , mark how England , speaking through the mouth of Derby , wanes and dwindles into tameness and subserviency as Franco and Austria wax more haughty and more exacting . , how
Mark how this Edward Geoffroy ( proua and high a name ) feebly deprecates tho word no fatally pronounces , while he would have us uclievo that ho repudiates tho act ! " No esp ionage : —but we will closely watch , and we will faitli " fully report . Words that have s carcel y louna time to receive tho approbation of his own country bofore they are endorsed by tho oinciai journals of his Foreign Secretary ' s " mtiinato personal fricntl , Louis Bonapurto . " It "It is , perhaps , not generally known , s « -P La ± > atrio—which then goes on to acquaint us with our Lord Malincsbury ' s visits of old time to tho prisoner of Hani , und present intimate relations with tho Prince President . No ! wo only know that our now Foreign Minister boars u » ° name of duo who brought away from home H" * l
friends a most unhappy Princows , to die ) , ' hearted and dishonoured in a strango land : wo onl know that ho as tho compiler of menioi « of tho sorriest fonts of backstairs dip lomacy . *¦ remains for us to hope , against hope , that weinij y not have to loam that ho is by tho grace ot i »« Earl of Derby , and by tho degenerate traditions of Toryism , llio unwitting accomplice of DW ^ f " land invaded , and of . Belgium betrayed . Alrciujy in Belgium there avo ominous rumours of insu roetionul moYornoutH ; false rumours , it w
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), March 6, 1852, page 14, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_06031852/page/14/
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