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¦ ^ 1166 TOB LEADED [No. S50, Sa^rbajt,
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DOTS Q-F THE FUTURE IN FRANCE. It lias b...
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MR. PISBAELI AT THE TUILERIES. The abase...
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THE LA.W OF BABBITS. Five men, on Saturd...
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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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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¦ ^ 1166 Tob Leaded [No. S50, Sa^Rbajt,
¦ ^ 1166 TOB LEADED [ No . S 50 , Sa ^ rbajt ,
Dots Q-F The Future In France. It Lias B...
DOTS Q-F THE FUTURE IN FRANCE . It lias been the invariable error of a certain section of liberals in France to attempt , by one act , and in one day , not only to implant free institutions in the soil , but to distribute the ripest fruits of liberty before liberty itself has beea . achieved- They forget that the fructifying process is a work of time .
Their constitution springs into life and form as by enchantment ; it is proposed , modified , enacted ; the nation rejoices under its roof ; at the first shock the fabric trembles ; the first conspiracy drags it to the ground . The revolution , ia converted into a saturnalia , horrible in 1793 , absurd in 1 S 4 S ; and the practical intriguer supersedes the mechanicians ; who are contriving ; new and beautiful
developments of social order / The founders of the young constitution abandon , it to wander among twentieth-century schemes , and the nineteenth century by a , coup d ' etat avenges itself upon them . Our friends in France -will not misunderstand these remarks . We know that similar reflections ha . ve arisen in the minds of Frenchnien ^ liberals , patriots , statesmen , who will probably not be absent from Paris when the . devolution again resumes its eccentric fcut irresistible course . They are engaged
in studying the failures of the past , and in accounting ibr the success of that coup d ' etat in which , the Times has said , ;*• every species of cruelty , illegality , and perjury , was coni"bined ; " and , we are persuaded , they trace some of the national misfortunes , not to 33 onaparte perfid y ^ , Bourbon and Orleanist intrigue , bourgeois selfishness , and peasant ignorance alone , but also to the inconsiderate policy of that liberalism to which their lives have been devoted . It was not to be expected that a spirit so powerful as that of thelftevolution sTiould be- evoked in France without
exciting vague hopes , and encouraging visionary enterprises . , Out of the deep it came , and it soared to the empyrean . But it was a disastrous impulse that made France endeavour , as M . de Togqtjevillje says , to efface her own identity . At least it ivas an unhappy attempt , on the part of the men of 1848 , to carry into effect those projects of re-shaping and re-coloivring the social world , which fifty year 3 of teaching would not have rendered
intelligible to the resb of mankind . To represent the Revolution as an angelic omnipotence , is almost a more injurious fallacy than to represent it as a red spectre . Men smile at one , scowl at the other , and disbelieve in both . That such impracticable systems should be constructed and recommended by men -who , as M . Kossuth suggestively said at [ Leicester , treat society as though it were a mechanism and not an
organism , is natural enough , and oiot to be regretted , but that upon the morrow of an insurrection , with , an old form of government vanishing and another to substitute in its place , these contemners of the present and the real , these prophets of a far future who beckon to us from their geometric pyramids , should be entrusted with the task of making the best of what they have in hand , is inconceivable and deplorablo indeed . Social enthusiasts are Beldom effective politici
ans , because they despise their instruments and their materials , But it is one thing to be bold , and to ' apply racjical reforms to radical grievances , "while it is another thing to treat a , vast nation , of ancient growth , as P ™ . J y , to be converted into a work of art . Moreover , the pedantic application of logic to political reasoning is quite compatible with the loosest views of human nature , and a total defiance of the laws that have regulated from immemorial time the economy of states and empires . J
"W e sincerely hope that , when , the Liberal party in France resumes the position to which , by its virtue , its intellect , and its sympathy with the great body of the people , it i 3 undoubtedly entitled , it will begin , in serious earnest , to fortify the liberties of the State . That can only be accomplished by seizing upon existing materials , and converting them , into practical checks and balances , to prevent for the future such a determination of power in the hands of a . few individuals as enabled the President and his
accomplices to succeed in tlie crime they had plotted against the constitution and the law . Oaths are of no efficacy—witness Louis Napoleon . "Universal suffrage is not enough— - witness the second of December . A representative assembly is not enough—witness the arrest of the most distinguished citizens , honoured with the confidence of the people .
What was wanting under the last Bepublic , and what is wanted for the future , is a . solid , practical , moderate Liberal paity , abjuring the jealousies of faction , capable of such public spirit as belonged to Washin ; oton , resolved upon preserving the liberties of the State , and willing to allow all complex problems to work out , in time , tlieir own solution .
Mr. Pisbaeli At The Tuileries. The Abase...
MR . PISBAELI AT THE TUILERIES . The abasement of the Tory factio ' n was not complete until Mr . Disraeli went to Paris in search ' of information . ' The meaning of this trick is clear . His friends , destitute of a policy , are in need of a pretenoe , the several pretences of the past year having failed them . They tried . first to negotiate a compact with the party of Sir Bobert Peel ; but their co-operation was declined , as not respectable . They even flattered the Manchester section , which was too honest to gain a
victory with the aid of such allies . They impatiently disparaged the slow progress of the . war ; and , when they saw that peace was inevitable , they affected to argue for a settlement upon Avhich their obscure hintings had not the remotest influence . Nexfc , tliey ' put it' . ; to the -Liberal party whether it . ought to support a Minister so non-progressive as L 0 rd . PA . LMEiisT . 02 T , and cried , " We , after all , are the real reformers ; we have moi'e sincerity than the Whigs , and more power . " But the Liberals would not have their
assistance , and baffled all their attempts upon the public opinion of the country . Then , after a scene of miserable recrimination among themselves—a scene which excited more ridicule than interest—they ageeed , or a part of them agreed , to represent Mr . Disraeli as the mainstay of the French alliance , Lord Pal : mekston , of course , being its insidious enemy . Hence the visit to Paris , the telegraphic despatches , worthless as information , the conversations with Count Walewski , and the efforts to obtain an interview "with
the Emperor , who ought to grant it , for he knew something of the Toryyawmiiu . London . Will not this 'transparent intrigue create in the public mind a feeling of disgust even more deep than that which was produced by the recent professions of liberality in the Tory prints ? 3 Trom ono degradation to another Mr . Dishae : lt will descend , to all appearance , until he becomes tho scofl " , not only of the great Liberal party , but of those
Tory gentlemen who , while they cling to pldfashioncd notions in politics , aro too highbred to be satisfied with the leadership of a schemer without principles , an inspirer of low lampoons , and bitter but barren por-Honalities . It is because the nation utterly disavows the influence of a political faction so led and so represented , that , when Lord PAi / MEiisron ' s retirement is spoken of , men do not even allude to a Dejrhx and Dishaiili
Cabinet , but turn to Lord John Ktjssbix on the baek benches , and beckon him for ward . VI "
The La.W Of Babbits. Five Men, On Saturd...
THE LA . W OF BABBITS . Five men , on Saturday week last , sat m judgment upon two other men . Tlie iudees were : — Lord Hastings , the Rev . J . % Sp auke , Col . Astley , a Mr . Pembehton ani Mr . Cozens Habd y , justices of the county of Norfolk . The prisoners were : —John Loads andWiLiiAii Ha gon , labourers . They were charged with catching rabbits on a tract , of laud at Holt , called the Lows , and tlieir defence . was that the Lows belonged to them And this was true . The land is the property of the occupiers of certain ancient houses in Holt , in two of which IIagon and Loads resided . They , therefore , ha , A taken \' rabbits from their own estate and , as was proved with the consent of the other proprietors .
How comes it , then , that John Loads and "William IlAOoisr are suffering a month ' s imprisonment , with hard labour , for catchino these rabbits ? They were cited before the petty sessions of Holfc , and it was sliown in their belialf , that though the Lows were under trusteeship , the trustees were legally prohibited from deriving any profit or
advantage whatever ' from . , the' land , the whole produce of which , whether as pasture , . ' the cutting of flags ¦ ling , brakes , and furze , is reserved for the occupiers . Accordingly a multitude of wild rabbits are fed upon this not too grateful soil , but tlie trustees , in defiance , it would seem ., of the Holfe Enclosure Award under which they act , have rented
the right of shooting over the Lows to a Mr , Bakker . Mr . Barker probably instigated the pro secution , and a fine gentleman lie must be , to let these poor fellows go to prison , with hard labour for a month , . while the wife and four children of the one , and the two motherless children of the other , are consigned to the morbid mercies of the workhouse .
The best part of the narration , however , is to come . These justices , sitting like owls at Holt , have not the power or the courage to enforce their own interpretation of tho law . They seize upon two poor labourers , and punish them as thieves and vagabonds for " trespassing" upon tlieir own land ; but , tho Norfolk News tells us , " notwithstanding tills decision , a considerable number of the occupiers of houses entitled to tho Lows
went in a body , but peaceably , to their estate , and captured rabbits in the presence of the police officer who looked on , but did not interfere . " So Lord Hastings , and Gol . Asti / ey , and Mr . "VV . H . Pem :: b : ertc »' , and the Rev . J . H . Sparke , aro treatechvith proper contempt , although , unfortunately , they are powerful enough altogether to send two hard-working men to gaol , and a -woman and six children to the -workhouse . "We should exonerate Mr . Cozens Hardy , who
thought , very justifiably , that the rector , churchwardens , and other trustees , had no right to let tho shooting on the common , and refused to concur in the conviction . But tho most pitiable part of tlie story concerns Lord Hasting h . Ho was afraid ot being exposed as a Shallow , and is said to lurvcs announced that if tho Editor of the 2 ? orJoW
News should remark upon his conduct m an ohnoxious inamitT , lie would inflict per-Ronal violence upon him . Here was , at once , a enso for the potty sessions , at whkh . Baron Hastings , alias . Taooij Asa'LEV , wlio . se lanuiy motto ib " Holding fast to justice , " might havo boon bound over to keep the peace . I ™ 1
the Editor contented himself -with proinisiiio tho Poor a night with tho police , should l » ia courage be equal to hia stupidity . As " the uufortunato men now in prison , a s " "
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 6, 1856, page 14, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_06121856/page/14/
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