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ATOUgT 11, 1S55.] TIE LEADER. 367
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EMIGRATIONS. We are not surprised that m...
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INDIAN FINANCE. At the eleventh hour Mr....
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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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Lord John's New Reform Bill. Tub Exhibit...
back proposed to roll Lack the world a few years , and to do the subsequent events over again—of course much better . That suggestion seems to have been hazily floating in Xord John ' s mind ; for , besides the things about which he talked distinctly , other memories were evidently floating around his head . These were , of course ,
the . immortal Test and Corporation Acts , but , above all , there was the Reform Bill j and it was here that wo discern the excessive confusion of ideas which illustrates Lord John ' s condition . We are at warthat of course is impressed upon his inind . He has lately been to Vienna , where he was received with distinguished politeness , and he has a vast idea that the Austrian
Government , so intelligently able to appreciate ability as he found in his owii case , so accommodating , so liberal , is prepared to stand by the reformer of 1832 . Many other collateral notions entered into the Kc ? ssei < l vision , but these are the particular ideas—the war , the Reform Bill , Austria as an affectionate ally . He now imagined , therefore , something more magnificent than over , to combine the elements of the Austrian alliance , the Test and
Corporation Acts Repeal , and the Keforin Bill . Now then we have it : he proposes to bring in a Reform Bill , upon the Seven Hills , with the assistance of England , Prance , and Austria ! Imagine a Russell dispensation on the Seven Hills , reconciling Catholic Emancipation with the enthronization of Protestantism on the Papal throne , in a grand ceremonial assisted by France , England , and Austria !
A vulgar curiosity might be eager to see the Keform Bill designed for promulgation on the Seven Hills . We can indeed imagine it . It would , of course , abolish rotten boroughs ; it would place the class of free men under restraints ; improving upon its predecessors , it would probably omit the Chaitdos clause , as applied to the Cainpngna of Rome ; it would extend the suffrage to 101 . householders in' boroughs . It would remove the disabilities of his
ILoliness ' s Roman Catholic subjects , at the same time that it would repeal the penalties upon Dissenters . It would extend certain privileges , under proper restrictions , to a [ Roman branch of the British and . Foreign School Society . On reflection , we believe it would not contain an appropriation clause . and wo MKve some doubt whether it would exclude a 10 Z . or a 5 / . county franchise . Lord John , however , is expected to lay a copy of it on the table of the Commons on Monday next , to be considered during the Tecoss , in the renewed negotiations which ho Announces as in contemplation—by himself .
Atougt 11, 1s55.] Tie Leader. 367
ATOUgT 11 , 1 S 55 . ] TIE LEADER . 367
Emigrations. We Are Not Surprised That M...
EMIGRATIONS . We are not surprised that many Liberals should doubt the possibility of a Polish restoration . The nation was conquered by degrees ; its territory was divided between three despotisms ; the triple policy of Russia , Austria , and Prussia has been directed to destroy its coherence , and to weld it into the general mass of their dominions . A yawl conscript system has drafted ofl' myriads of the male population ; foreign colonies have been
plantod in every province ; intermarriages nave boon encouraged between Polos , Germans , and individuals of other races , To roiino the nationality , and to place it- once Jnoro in it « distinct * and solid development , before Europe , is perhaps a task too dillieult for political science to achieve ; but this is not altogether tho ohjoet , oven of the most enthusiastic Poles . ' Historically and geographically , they know what wero the former frontiers of their country . They
national revival . Sufficient homogeneity thus exists to render the proposal no chimera . The Poles do not ignore the efforts made by successive Czars to denationalise them ; they only deny that those machinations have succeeded . And they offer to prove the point by separating themselves , with the aid of the Western Powers , from the Empire which has prospered by their oppression , and now turns their servile arms against liberty and
civilidesire , within those frontiers , to revive the independent existence of the Polish , nation . The peasantry , which , has clung to the soil , offers them a basis ; the armies of the three participating monarchies offer them a military class , as well as a body of spirited citizens ; their Emigration constitutes a school of politicians , divided into factions , it is true , but long accustomed to prepare for a
sation . The ordinary argument is , that a nation which has thus been organised into a machine , worked at will by its enemies , is past the hope of independence . But the historical circumstances must be remembered . The Poles conducted a long struggle , until the violence of one half of Europe , and the apathy of the other half , overcame their most desperate endeavours . It was made an object of the Holy Alliance to keep them down
No nation , we will venture to say , that was so situated , could have successfully resisted . Even the Swiss mountains would not long protect their inhabitants did Germany on one side , and France on the other , with all the other powers acquiescing , conspire for their subjection . Spain , the Netherlands , Belgium , the South American States , even Greece , have been counted worthy of interventions ,
or of guarantees , aud without them could not have held their own against their oppressors . Why then are the Poles derided for their inability to cope with the three great military * monarchies of Europe ? Turkey , t he occasion , though not the only cause of the war , is esteemed necessary to the European equilibrium , yet had Russia , Austria , and Prussia united to dethrone the Sultan , and had Great Britain and France contented
themselves with a protest , a protocol , and a penlul of ink , how much of the Ottoman State would be left lor the Christian Powers to fight over ? A more tenable objection is that which is urged against the Emigration . Is the Polish Emigration actually a living body , capable of attracting to itself the internal forces ot ^ Poland ? AVe have already dwelt on its character , as the lever , so to speak , of the Polish nation ; as its political nucleus , continually enlarged ; as its militant representative , which vearns to renew its battle with Kussia .
The Huguenots , swept from their own soil , dispersed through the tolerant populations , and melted into them . The French Emigration of the eighteenth century returned by the aid of foreign arms to France . In Italy , the patriots for the most part have not emigrated , but have remained at home , watching , plotting , and expecting . But it ia
between the Gorman and tho Polish Emigration that there is the greatest contrast . We should not dwell on it , however , Avithout recalling the fact that Germany ia oppressed by natives , Poland bv foreigners . The Germans , who do not ily from tho indigenous tyranny that galls them , have many hopes , aud so ' ino means of civil and political pro-• rivfls . The Poles have mono that does not
suppose a preliminary revolution . Tho Polirih emigration , therefore , is polil . u-iil ; tho German , social . The Go-mums in modern times have' contributed hundreds oi thousands to tho population of the British colonies , retaining no political interest a in their own country , and intermixing with
foreigners as early as the second generation . The first great mass of their religious refugees threw itself into Holland and the Dutch colonies , and their descendants have forgotten the language . During the hist great war , while fleets and privateers obstructed the passage of the seas , the great G-ermaii . streams , which had incessantly poured into America , took an easterly direction overland , and under the provident policy of the Czars , were eagerly welcomed . Many
a German colony was formed near the Black and Caspian Seas ; many a Suabian village was built on the southern frontier of Russia , towards Persia . ^ Reminiscences of them are yet preserved ; in fact , to the north , of the Black and Caspian Seas , a G-erman population is thickly interspersed with , the original people . When , however , the peace of 1815 opened again the maritime highways , the political malcontents of Germany formed a new class of emigrants , who crowded into America and isolated
themselves in distinct communities . To this day they continually multiply from the fatherland , exciting the wrath of the Know-nothings , giving no increase of prosperity or influence to Germany , but relieving its Courts from the dangers of an enterprising population , swelling within its own limits , and giving forth , after long compression , some sparks of that spontaneous fire which is the beginning of social liberty . The German Governments resemble , in
this repect , the German people . They contend among themselves for supremacy , but they have not the devouring , absorbing genius of Russia . Austria alone , which is scarcely German , but rather a dynastic aggregation including some German provinces , shares a tendency to expand , and creeps insidiously along the valley of the Danube . The spoliation of Poland , of which she shared the fruits , was effected by Bussia , which also o-ave to Prussia the reward of an inferior
accomplice . Neither of these German powers , indeed , could hold a foot of Polish territory were Bussian Poland set free . Nor could Russia , deprived of Poland , pretend to the position of a first-class power . From that generating reservoir half her resources are drawn . Its subjugation by five successive acts , was accomplished for her benefit ; its restoration would bo to her an irreparable injury . The Polish Emigration , inspired by tliis conviction , reserves itself for a political purpose , and will not , with the Germans , congregate in American villages , or radicate in " the American soil . And while it
preserves this palpable form , and these proportions , a " standing menace " exists in the sight of Russia . Of that weapon our Government is invited to make use . The public manifestly believes in it . Indeed , though the postponed meeting was interrupted by a clamour exeited by an enthusiast of suspicion on the p latform , it was a respectable demonstration , which carried with it , not only a vast amount of popular sympathy , but the opinions of serious men in the political classes .
Indian Finance. At The Eleventh Hour Mr....
INDIAN FINANCE . At the eleventh hour Mr . Vernox Sunn has laid before the House tho annual statement relative to the finances of India , aa required by the last charter of tho Honourable Companv . The delay , however , is nob to be imputed to tho President o tho Boaul of Control , but solely to tho apathetic mhfibrenco with which Indian < l '" 'f ^ * " V £ garded in this country . Th « t */ 1 ^ should decline to bo further boiedmtu stories of tiger-hunt * , ft < T ^^ ^^ constrictor * , and descriptions of barbaric
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 11, 1855, page 11, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_11081855/page/11/
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