On this page
-
Text (2)
-
530 THE LEADER. Saturday,
-
IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT. Tote tWo Houses met...
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.
-
-
Transcript
-
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.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Titegotiations With Russia, Under The Me...
make a profit out of the revolution by seizing the Rhine , or some other coveted acquisition . It is evident that in taking this step through its agents , the Russian G-overnmsnt intends to carry on the war by intrigue as well as arms , with not less malignity than ever . To pretend , therefore , that the objects ofVthe contest have been gained , is a quibble that eean ssearcely d « eeivei the man who uses it—certainly 4 K © t the bulk of ^ the English people .
The Cambridge JBill has passed through XScwamittee . The conSB 6 tution" « 3 SSOmevvhat Hb « aKised ; but the noxious and absurd system of sectional election is still retained , to the detriment not only of the University at large , but , in reality , of those very interests which it is -s-up-posed to protect . The admission of 'Dissenters to the M . A . degree , though without the power of voting in the Senate , was carried against a pretty strong opposition . The Lords improve . The Bishop of Oxford said with truth that a similar advance of the wedge must follow at Oxford . The poor Thirty-nine Articles have an anxious life of it in these days .
The Spoonerites celebrated a Maynooth orgie on Wednesday , well compared by Mr . Keogh to the theological controversies which raged within the walls of Constantinople while the Turk battered them without . Mr . Keogh made rather a happy hit by pointing to the self-revelations of Protestant immorality in the Reports of the University Commission : but Protestant immorality
has the advantage in the very fact of its being selfrevealed . There is probably a majority in the House pledged to the abolition of Maynooth . But many of these gentlemen are by no means anxious to redeem their pledges , and with their connivance the subject drags on interminably . To talk to Mr . Spooneb of the danger of disgustinrr the Irish ^ when we need them as soldiers , is to talk of consequences to a being who does not
acknowledge them . There is one bouleversement in certain places that rather inverts our ordinary ideas of ecclesiastical affairs . In Roman Catholic Sardinia , the Royal assent has just been given to the bill which suppresses several convents , and brings those that remain under the control of the civil law . A remarkable change is noticed in the pro-clerical press , which vilified the promoters of this law while it was passing , but now assumes an air of courtesy , and substitutes sarcasm for calumny . Evidently the clerical party feel that the reform
was too strong for them . While Sardinia is making a loyal , moderate , and practical attempt to subordinate the clerical to the civil authority , certain ultra-Protestants in the House of Commons are indulging in a weekly debate for the revocation of the grant to Maynooth College — a tedious tribute to bigotry , which might succeed ; for the House of Commons will often , in a moment of heedlessness , give to pertinacity wli . it it refuses to conviction . While these two movements arc going on , — the practical and wise measure in Sardinia , and the ultra-Protestant
reaction in Ireland , —the Bishop op London is visiting the church of St . Paul ' s , Knightsbridge , in order to * ' inspect the floral decorations , " of which he approves . Thus the flower of beauty becomes an emblem of discord , and British episcopacy exhibits itself in the attitude of admiringly inspecting and judiciously approving the ball-room decorations of a half-amateur chapel . The Bath election is one of the first positive steps gained by the Admini . strat . ivo lloformers . The two candidates were Mr . Tith , the City Architect , and Mr . Whaxkmj y , the Queen's
Counsel ; neither of thorn men having claims upon the citizens of Bath . Mr . Titk , however , was an Administrative Reformer thoroughgoing 5 Mr . Whatelicy was a protended Administrative Reformer , who took up the City for the nonce . Titb , " a rough diamond , " as one of his earnest supporters apologetically describes him , is elected , and is the first Administrative Reformer who enters the House in the same week that , witnesses _ tho measures carried out for the- organisation of the War Department , somewhat questionably illustrated by a butch of family appointments .
The Lord Mayor continues to go about Pans in such a demonstrative fashion as to lead the natives to suspect fais sanity . On Wednesday afternoon he \? as"On-the Boulevards with six footmen hanging behind his coach , full robes , and the sword-bearer in the fur cap . Bets were offered freely At the Cafe de Paris that it was a new TurJcifth ambassador . QEke Law Courts ctias week—high ^ nid lowpresent some curious iinstances of evasion . The Electric Telegraph Company has been convicted af ^ SalforeUof a liability to pay poor-rates ; ^ vvhich it iftecliweid Mx > do , bceauseothe company dwes not " occupy " the la «! d , TBtoe plea fails < on both grounds of argument and fact . The essential is ,
not the occupation of the land , but the possession of means ; the occupation of the land being simply taken as a test of the means . Every corpoTatwrn is bound to contribute towards maintaining the poor of the land ; and if the Electric Telegraph Company had evaded , it would have been only by a quibble ; but the plea was absurd , in fact . The wires do not float in air , sustained not by posts , but zephyrs , and unterminated by stations . If the company had pleaded that it was bound to pay very little rates , because , as it were , it lodges upon stilts throughout the United Kingdom , —like a peasant of the French Landes resting , —the plea would have been more reasonable . But even the stilts , in the aggregate , must occupy enough of ground to make a very good basis for rating .
The case of Monich Peter Christian at the Lambeth Police-court is filled with many a moral . Monich played the fashionable gallant ; he procured the means of seeming as if he were a man rich and open-handed ; and because he was welldressed , handsome , fluent , and adorned , everybody whom he addressed , landlord or landlady , was prepared to trust him—though he had nothing really to deposit as property , but a box of firewood . There was tact even in the selection of that material , a lower rascal would have chosen for his luggage stones with a superficial weightiness ; but Christian knew how to impart an air of veri-similitude to the fiction .
The facts of the week , however , are fertile in sarcastic antitheses done in action : Lord Derby , who never wins the Derby , has this year ominously won , O ! Palmerstok , the Windsor Castle Stakes , with " Professor !" The Fetes at Sydenhain have brought the glories of Versailles and St . Cloud within an easy drive of the artisans of London . All the wonders and luxuries of all civilisations , harmoniously grouped within the gleaming walls , the stately terraces guarded by eternal Sphynxes , flushed with parterres of flowers , smiled upon by the immortal serenity of sculpture , the lavish disposition of the spacious gardens , the sudden glories of the arching waters , —surely here are imperial
splendours democratised by our much-abused utilitarian century 1 On Saturday and on Monday last the twenty and thirty thousand ticketholders testified gladly to the triumph of that enterprise which made even the Caracalla of France ashamed of his own " public works . " The universal murmur of delight ratified the success . Politics and business were cast off for a moment by the sterner sex : the coquetry of the toilettes rivalled the very azaleas in colour and caprice , and lent to all the accompaniments of sight and sound a certain atmosphere of fascination . The clouds that hung over the fate of the Palace during the long and dreary winter are , we trust , finally . dispersed . May the sunshine be perpetual I
Tho Concert on Monday , however , had one serious defect . Only the highest notes of the highest soprano voice could bo hoard by twothirds of an immense audience in that enormous salle . At an easy distance from the platform Signor Bottebini ' s miraculous diacour . sing on his gigantic barbiton appeared like tho antics nnd contortions of a devil - worshipper possessed . Surely this may be corrected by a slight attention to tho science of acoustics ; indeed , we huar that tho accomplished und ingenious Mr . V ' a . i . x has demonstrated satisfactorily that even the basest of voices may be enabled to penetrate ) to tho remotest spaces , if only properly placed .
On Saturday tho triumph of triumphs was foi Owen Jones , who by his marvollous reproduction of tho Hnll of tho Aboncorragon in tho Alhainbra , has raised a new . Eastern Question , and taught Cockneys tho divino despair of reclining witli Oriental abandonment .
530 The Leader. Saturday,
530 THE LEADER . Saturday ,
Imperial Parliament. Tote Two Houses Met...
IMPERIAL PARLIAMENT . Tote tWo Houses met again on Monday after the WhitswtttMerrecess . In the Lords , but little business was doHe : in the Commons , " honourable members " were occupied almost solely by the adjourned debate on the conduct of the war .
"BRANSPORT SERVICE THE MED WAY . ' Thel'Barl"d > f Eixenborough made some remarks as to the manner in which sixty-five horses were lost on" boatfduhe Medway on her way to Balaklava . The horses were crowded on deck ; and a gentleman who weatelpoverfcblse ship before she sailed antici pated the 4 oss which > had in foist ensued . It appeared that these horses were placed uunder sheds , and that the horses themselves were in * 6 li . Bgs , which slings could only be unfastened by a man lying along on their backs . The weather came on to be extremelv bodil
severe ; the - shed gave way y , and slid over on , one side ; and the deck was covered with horses dead , dying , and kicking ; so that if anything had gone wrong with the machinery of the vessel at that time , she must have been lost . —Lord Panmure said the loss of the horses was entirely owing to the hurricane which the vessel met with ;¦ in support of which assertion he read a letter from Admiral Greig at Gibraltar . It was found necessary to place the horses on deck , because they were required in great numbers , and every means of sending them out was therefore made available .
ABSENCE OF THE SPEAKER . A curious specimen of our Parliamentary conventionalities was given on the announcement by Lord Paljikkston that Mr . Speaker , owing to his havin g sprained himself , would be unable to attend for a few days . The Premier , under these circumstances , moved a resolution providing " that , in the event of Mr . Speaker's absence continuing for more than this day , Mr . Fitzroy take the chair in like manner as on this day on each subsequent day during Mr . Speaker ' s absence . " Hereupon , Lord 11 . Cecil rose and said there had been no prayers that day ; to which , apparently , he only objected on the ground that the omission would prevent members from securing their seats through the evening , that being
always done before prayers . At . this there was loud laughter . —Mr . Fitzroy explained that there had been no prayers that evening because , in the absence of the Speaker , " there was no one to call the chaplain in . " And again the jocund House roared with merriment . —fcfir Frederick Thksiger suggested the omission of the words " in like manner ; " otherwise , there would be no prayers in the House until Mr . Speaker returned . This was a prospect so irresistibly comical , that once more the laughter burst forth . " Then we'll omit the words , " replied Lord Palmerston ; and with this amendment , and a further alteration limiting the new arrangement to a week , the resolution was agreed to and the merriment in connexion with honourable members' religious devotions subsided .
THE BLOCKADE OF THE BALTIC POUTS . In answer to an inquiry by Mr . J . G . Phillimore , Sir Charles Wood stated that there was not the slightest foundation for the construction put by the Russian Government in its circular upon the notice issued by order of Captain Watson , and that the officer employed by him had carried out the instructions of her Majesty's Government in the most accurate manner , totally at variance with the statoiiicnts of tho Itussian Government . The principle of the neutral flag protecting the cargo had been fully carried out . Captain Watson had been requested by the civil crovernor of Port Baltic to allow four Russian that
vessels to proceed to Riga , and had answered they were free to go , as far as he was concerned , but that he could not say whether the Coininiuukr-iu-Chief of the Fleet , who was coining up the * Baltic , might not interfere with them . —A statement to the samo general effect was made in tho House of Lords by Earls Guanville and Haukowhy , in answer to questions from the Earl of Albemaki-i ! . PROSECUTION OF THE WAR AU . IOUUNKD 1 ' ) EI 1 ATE . The < Iebate was resumed by the consideration oi Sir FiiANCis Baring ' s amendment of Mr . Diskakus motion . This amendment now stood as asiibstmilivo motion , to which an amendment was to be proposed by Mr . Lowe .
Mr . Milnicu Giuson opened tho debate by objecting to tho amendment of Mr . Lowe , us well as to that of Sir Francis Baring ; tho latter of which R considered feeble , while tho former would pledge tni-House to very grave considerations . Tho l llMtu ; ' and good policy of entering into the war at all won . exceedingly questionable ; but the tM > untryseeim ; il to act on tlio principle that Turkey could < lo no wrong . Mr . Gibson then wont over the old charges a ^ imsj tho press of having fomented tho war ; and r ( /'" !!^ that Lord Palmc-raton , in engaging Mr . ^ Vii'oti i <> writo nnd publish , at tho expense of the nation , ui - clos in tho continental and American jounnils , 1 Robject of which was to show that , the policy «> ' ' Kngliah government was essentially piuMiic , ' »' done nuirc towards encouraging thu hostile tlesi * ,
-
-
Citation
-
Leader (1850-1860), June 9, 1855, page 2, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_09061855/page/2/
-