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No. 433, Jtjly 10, 1»58. j T H E L E A D...
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THE WATER OF OBXIVION", Ther-e are yet l...
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SERVICES AND PENSIONS. THE SUPERANNUATIO...
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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 Jews. The Tories Aro In Dismay—Their...
on the Legislature . Baron Rothschild may now take comfort , his unflinching and costly advocacy of ; a great principle has triumphed , and though the disappointed assert he may find his future seat for the City by tio means a certainty—for many who voted on his side , voted not for the individual but for the principle—still to Mm will be ihe honour , to him the praise aud gratitude of his co-religionists for having removed a mark 3 a Cainlike mark , but inflicted by the hand of erring man , from a class of our fellow citizens who have throughout recorded an uncomplaining and therefore irresistible protest against the wrong , the injustice , and calumnies heaped upon them .
It was finely imagined by aixcient philosophy that a chain dependent from tke footstool of the King of the Gods hung down to earth . The mortal was thus linked to the immortal , perishable mortality was joined to imperishable divine essence . This _ noble idea may be further extended by imagining a chain whose mission it is to link together ' in one common brotherhood all human nature . The decision of last Thursday added another link to that fraternal chain . The Jew and the ^ Christian now form an unbroken series in the social scale ; the shades of difference where they join arc nearly imperceptible , and will finally
disappear as time ., the progress of liberal doctrines , and better acquaintance goes on . But let us do equal justice . Not all the bigotry was on the Christian side . There was as much prejudice to overcome on the side of the Jew as on that of the Christian . The wall of demarcation which hitherto divided Christian and Jew was built up jointly ; the Jew himself , bry his pertinacious adhesion to segregating ceremonials ; helped , to make the ¦ wall stronger and higher . And even now the social junction which has beeu achieved is solely due to the educated and enlightened of both sides The extremities still exhibit , and will for a time
continue to exhibit , all the opposing characteristics —Hebrew and Nazarcne . Exeter Hall is at one end , Petticoat-lane at the other . Newdegate may from one extremity still glare in rabid antagonism on the chief Rabbi , who , at the other may be found retorting contempt . Exeter Hall still points to the Jews as the mysterious race— -once the favoured of Omnipotence , now dispersed by Divine behest—the race to be shunned , distrusted , and spit upon . The synagogue of strict Jews still
shun the Christian as the eater of unclean tilingsthe ham-devouring unbeliever unworthy to share in Paradise any portion of that consecrated beef and wine reserved at the Judgment-day only for the sealed and circumcised . But let us be thankful the first step is taken—wehavc publicly given the cold shoulder for ever to intolerance against a class of fellow-subjects who can point among scores of other good men to « a Rothschild and Salomons , second to none in unsectarian charity , and we look upon this step as the first of a series shortly to follow in the same liberal direction .
No. 433, Jtjly 10, 1»58. J T H E L E A D...
No . 433 , Jtjly 10 , 1 » 58 . j T H E L E A D E ft . 6 Q 3
The Water Of Obxivion", Ther-E Are Yet L...
THE WATER OF OBXIVION " , Ther-e are yet left to the choice aristocracy some things which they seem to prize as much as the vassalage in which they at onetime held the nation . Their persons arc tabooed from the touch of the bailiff for debt ; if their horses or carriages arc to be forfeited to the sheriif a ribbon is to be placed in front of their steeds ; and if , as once or twice has happened , a lord has to appear on . a certain platform in the Old Bailey , a silken cord is provided instead of a hempen halter . But there are other
privileges and honours of a more agreeable , if not of a more substantial nature , and these are the- ancient orders of honour distributed by Hie Sovereign with all due ceremonies and pomp . These proceed as if the chivalrous ages still survived , and as if time and cotton-rmills , and other trifling inventions , such as printing-presses and steam power , had not varied the ideas and manners jshico the time when tho gallant Edward Rex pioked up the gavtcr of the dancing countess . Still in the sacred precincts of St . George ' s shut out from the vul
CJjnpcl , gar world of reality , a select , an exclusive few , occasionally assemble iti all the pride and pomy of ( lie feudal iieriod . There the idea of the Chevalier " anus pour ct suns rc-Sr oclio" is still sustaiucd . There Amndis and lO and , and the rest of the romantic knights would hud their paradiso , and Quixote himself see nothing to fight , but everything to wdoro . Unknown and unobserved by the living working-day world a short time since anothf-r Knight \ v » s admitted witliiu these . sacred precincts , by proxy . His description
would fill several of Lisuarte's or Scudery ' s folio pages . His swarthy skin , his burnished complexion , his gem-studded armour , his diamond aigrette , his noble horsemanship , would be . set . ' forth so as to stir the pulses of the royal demoiselles who read of him . He would be styled the Kni ght of the Snowy Mountains , or some title indicating he came from the far Ind . One circumstance alone would be passed slightly over ; and that is the Paganism of his religion . His name as pronounced by the swelling heralds would be Jung Bahadoor ; and when the clangor had ceased , and the echo had reached the outside of the Castle walls , some one might inquire wlio this ffortreous jknisrht was whom
the fair hand of royalty haddubbed one of an order created to promote the Christian faith , protect tlie honour of woman , and succour helpless orphanhood . The answer would not be entirely satisfactory to common sense and comnion feeling . We will briefly give it . Jung Bahadoor , just made a G . C . B . — Grand Cross of the Order 01 the Bath—and one of our English Nobility , is the spirited young man who shot his uncle and five more gentlemen of the Court of Nepaul , with his own hand , in a chamber of liis aunt ' s palace . This famous battue of relations made even , some sensation in Eastern regions ,
where such morning ' s amusements are not so uncommon as they are in these Western parts of the world . This doughty knight is one of th-e boldest of adventurers , and of course , therefore , a younger brother , having ; never been rendered lazy by inheriting a patrimony . He is very clever at caTd tricks ; can vault over the head of * his attendants on to a table , where he will sit cross-legged ; or spring into his saddle in a way to raise the admiration , and perhaps the envy , of Mr . Robins , the American phenomenon at Astley ' s . He led a rovinghfe inlndia , getting up card parties , and it is thought conspiracies ; and was supposed to be rather seedy in circumstances , until , happily for him , the Queen of Nepaul
quarrelled with his uncle , her prime minister ; and as gentlemen in office in the East do not walk as easily out of their p laces as my Lord Palmerston and his followers did out of Dovraing-street , there was the usual deathly struggle to get rid of the offensive First Xord of that Treasury . Young Jung was the lad for the j ob , and the Queen sent for him , and he finished it off by the slaughter we have mentioned , thinking as little of it as certain princes here do of getting rid of . half a dozen of the dappled denizens of the Highland preserves ; man-stalking in the one region holding in the public estimation about the same place as deer-stalking in the other . This admirable shot surrounded himself with a
small 'band as expert as himself ; aud when in durhar , instead of a wordy reply , a revolver bullet settled the opposing speaker ' s argument and life at the same time . ' We are apt to sec and laugh at such conduct in our Eastern burlesques , but we shall henceforth look upon them as historic truths , and as such serious realities as to take them beyond the sphere of the comic muse . The great feat which , perhaps , has entitled the dusky knight to his recent honours at Windsor , was the crowning act of his fortune . It was necessary to produce a political crisis in the government of Nepaul , so Jung Bahadoor took his minie' rifle in
hand , and calling his friends and opponents to council , he shut the door of the parliament chamber and finished the debate by bagg / ing fourteen , of the opposition off his own trigger . For this he was made Prune Minister of Nepaul , and its virtual ruler . He now thought it wise to take his pleasure ; and perhaps it might be convenient for a time to leave the neighbourhood ; and so he came in state to Europe , and to England , and dazzled the eyes and bewildered the brains of ladies who love diamonds and sin olive complexion . There was no odour of blood perceptible ; he was perfumed with all that Aruby and Circassia could shed upon him , and
plastered all over with gold and geni 3 ; aud ho becunie tho observed of all observers . He made shrewd observations at Woolwich and Chatham ; lie got some idea of the Bank of England cellars ; and lie thought ( lint Spithcml nnd Plymouth , and the houseold troops and artillery , were suggestions that were not to be disregarded , He made up his mind when he got back to adhere to the English rule , and lie Icept to it through the lute insurrection . For this , as his exceeding gi-eiil , reward , be has been made a paladin of England and a Grand Knight of tho Bath ; and kit us hope that tho lustration such un immeraiou is supposed to be typical of , may prove to bo a fact ; and that Sir Jung Jiahadoor — Muha-rajah , nnd G . C . B . —may now bo considered as purified from any "blood stain , and clarified to the utmost by the water of St . George ' s Chapel .
Services And Pensions. The Superannuatio...
SERVICES AND PENSIONS . THE SUPERANNUATION LAW AHEITOJDBNI BILL . We have before us a bill which has been , introduced into the House of Commons to provide for the superannuation of Civil Servants . To bring before the notice of the public the claims of our officials at a time when such investigations are going on as those at Weedon , for which Colonel Boldero has obtained a royal commission , is rather a bold measure , and one we should hardly have expected from a Government holding office by the support of such constituencies as Birmingham and Manchester . The measure proposed , however , does not seem to ask for more than that which is already granted to the working bees of our public offices ; but oaly to remove an impediment which , now exists to the retirement of men who ought to be superannuated , and who are willing to take their retiring allowances if they can have what their years-of service entitle them . to .
The subject will be better understood if vre inform the public that , prior to the year 1829 , the civil servants of the State received retiring allowances without having any annual deductions made from their salaries towards raising a fund , for that purpose , and they were entitled to a proportionate amount of their existing salaries according to their years of servitude , until they had reached a period of fift y years , when they might retire on full pay . In the year 1829 an act was obtained by the Government of the day , allowing it to deduct Bye per cent- from the salaries of all civil servants towards the formation of a superannuation fund , from , which
such retiring allowances were to be paid , but this act did not take effect on those officials who were then in the service , but on all who might subsequently enter into it , and at the same time reduced the scale of allowances , so that after fifty years ,, or any longer period of public service , no clerk paying towards the superannuation fund could get more than two-thirds of his salary as a pension tor the ; rest .-of his life . The grievance was thaj ; the payments were never constituted into a separate fund , but were paid into the Exchequer , and that those who had entered the service prior to 1829 , and who paid nothing for their retirement , were
drawing larger pensions than those from whom , up to last yeai" , one-twentieth of their salary had been yearly stopped under the title of payment to a superannuation fund which really did not exist , whilst at the same time the periods for increase of pension were at intervals of seven years only . Last year the House of Commons passed a resolution that these deductions should no longer take place , as it was ascertained that the payments were greater than would have been required b y an insurance society , and because the committee for inquiring into the subject had come to the resolution that decayed public servants ought to be
provided for by the State . Ihe present bill is therefore introduced to allow of ji yearly increase of pension , so that if a man has served the public for fifty-one years , he may not be classed as having only served forty-five , but receive a proportionate amount for the six years from forty-five years , which he would lose unless ho was able to serve one year more , when he would receive the benefit of the whole time , namely , fiftytwo years . \ Ve have no fault to find with tho bill , as far asit goes , but we think it a grievous injustice that those who for tho first four years paid two- and a hulf percent . of their salary , and for the subsequent twenty-four years have paid five per cent , out of their incomes towards a suncrannuation fund , should
have no advantage at all for these payments . 1 'hc scale as at present proposed is to allow those public servants who aro obliged from illhealth to retire from the service , ^ g of their existing salary after ten years' service , before which they liave no claim , aud y & of their salary for every year ' s service in addition ; which , liowcvcr , is not to extend beyond $ 8 or $ of their salary , howover long- they may servo . If . certainly seems only fair that those public servants who have contributed to the fund ( or rather to the fund which ought to have accrued from their payments , which the Chancellor of the Exchequer lias yearly passed to the credit of the public ) should denvo some advantage over those who now cuter the public Hcivico , und from whom no deduction of salary is made .
A . select committee of the House of Commons on February 15 , 185 <> , recommended that tho scale of superannuations should commence at 18 iftor ten yearn' service , and increase A jearly for those
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), July 10, 1858, page 15, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_10071858/page/15/
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