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338 THE LEADER. [No. 316, Saturday
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Tin] Islington Murder.—Colofltine Somino...
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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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Nphey Call It Peace, But That It Is Revo...
as an " Infant Jesus / ' is sung by secret muses in other strains : —
Voyez done quelle Strange chance . ' II ne manque a l'Enfanfc de France Que d'etre tant soit peu Frangais . Thus French society toujours frondeitr polishes Its chains , as in the times of that wily and fascinating Cardinal , in whose career JkE * de Beoswe found so tempting atad W > -feJ ^ aat a $ && 11 & when he described the " faeSfe and nefcessary superiority of a man in possession of power , pfcr *
suing one sing le interest , and Hfifft his own , w % sees before him Ht & bing feflfc * Wearied nation greedy of repose , disgusted of illusions , honourable men disarmed and discouraged , adversaries divided , jealous of one another , embittered by reciprocal animosities , and is himself resolved to stick at nothing for success . " But the protest of a man like M . de Broglie , of high name , ancient liaeage , andimsulliedpersonaireputation , who , within tie measure of his convictions has remained true to
tne dying injunctions of his father— " Forgive , and serve the Revolution "—is not the whisper of a salon . It is tlie protest of independence against servility , of character against corruption j and it may well have struck one among tlie audience at tie Academy , the Foreign Minister of Constitutional England , emerging from the Tuileries . There'is , indeed , one other revolt in prospect , but the theatre is more distant , though it concerns us nearly . Six Charles Hotham , the Governor
of Victoria , proved to he so incapable of governing tie colony , that he literally broke down ^ under the attempt to form a Cabinet 5 and there is some doubt whether it is possible to construct a Cabinet according to the European pattern and with a strict observance of English etiquettes , out of Melbourne materials . So conscious have the colonists become of this fact , that they propose an expedient to meet the difficulty . Of course it is quite necessary that they should have men at the lead of affairs to guide the business of the colony .
They do not desire to be positively without a Go-Ternor ; but some of them have sent over a memorial requesting permission that they may elect their Governor themselves ! Let us imagine a Viceroy of Ireland , elected by universal suffrage , and we should have , within sight of our own shores , a picture of what the Victorians propose . The idea is not bad . We do not see how it is to be grafted upon English monarchical institutions ; but it does not follow that it will not be carried out some day or other in Australia .
Our super-excellent Parliament has been doing its best , as usual , to show the want of some such revolt at home , if it were only to rouse honourable members from their slumbers of indifference . They have liatl important subjects before them ; tout , however important the subjects , the measures ¦ were not very important , the debates were trivial , and the results almost nothing . We might have thought that finance , education , and tho quartering of soldiers upon private citizens , were topics sufficient to elicit definite conclusions , substantial measures , and business-like treatment ; but every body seems to meddle , and nobody executes .
Mr . Muntz has demanded from the House of Commons , by resolution , " an equitable adjustment' * of tho Income-tax j and there was a debate upon tho subject , full of allusion to the "difficulties" of making the tax just . Everybody confesses that it is unjust ; so tho British People are labouring' , under a tax unjustly arranged , and there is no man capable of setting it straight . Tho resolution , of course , was dismissed .
Xinaiico faros no better . LokIEcscinton demanded an inquiry into tho state of the ourrcnor , winch everybody allowa to bo unsatisfactory ,
although the basis of Peel ' s Acts of 1819 and 1844 is correct- But the Duke of Abgyle says that the present time is full of " difficulty ; " so we must defer the inquiry . The HcjBSe got into Committee on Lord John Russell ' s Education resolutions , every part of ^ which finds objection from some side to * other : Manchester objecting that it is *© t se & ftar enough 4 Mr . Henley , that it is td » s-ecular ;; while Sir James Graham
has d & eoveretl that it ie Hot Voluntary enoughfor heifsoraes out as the champion of the Voluntaries ; and . so the House of . Commons talks abou * education so indefinitely as to prevent us from getting at the thing . The Lord Advocate is niggling at little measures , for the purpose of coaxing schools into Government control throughout Scotland . But h « is afraid to use his hand boldly , and almost asks the House of Commons to let his bills pass on—as they have done at the second reading—out of pity .
, The billeting point is important , and the result of the debate involves not less important considerations . Mr . Cowan objected to the bileting of militia-men upon private families in Scotland . He is answered , that there are no barracks , that the Executive cannot spare the convenience , that billeting oti . publicans creates objection in England , aild that Scotland must put up with the inconvenience . Plow , there are two further questions involved here . In the first place , Mr . Peel , who
brought an adverse division upon his Government by his absolute tone , does not differ in the slightest degree from his colleagues when he thus puts the convenience of the ^ Executive as the one paramount object . But he does differ from them in one quality —in frankness . They all agree with him in practices , but they put on an appearance of " deferring to tlie wishes of the people as expressed through the House of Commons ; " and thus less ingenuous men filch divisions out of members , while Mr . Peel ' s
openness makes members rebel against the Government . For our own part we prefer a man like Peel , to a man like Sir George Grey ; who conceals the same departmental superciliousness under a cloud of « soft sawder . " But , secondly , we infer from the ministerial statement that , as jTsoon as the war has been all settled , they intend entirely to disband the militia , and to fall back upon the old system of . a mercenary standing army—an unpopular force , under the sole control of the Executive .
The Oath of Abjuration is again in debate . Mr . Milnejr Gibson has a bill at its second reading , to alter the oath , if not to abolish it ; and the second reading is carried by 230 to 195 . Ministers undertake to contrive a fresh oath in committee , the purpose of which will still be to abjure any but a Protestant succession , but to discontinue the abjuration of tho Pretender and his successors , who are entirely defunct , and tho exclusion of Jews by an accidental phrase in tho oath . So , that , at last , Rothschild may get into the House of Commons j not through the exertions of his noble colleague , Lord John Russell .
An attempt has been made to bring the Executive to a sense of responsibility in the matter of tho National Gallery . Mr . Otway moved to cut down the vote for that institution by ^ 050—the travelling expenses of I-lerr Otto Mijndlkk . Sir Ceiaulkb Eastlakk lma a thousand a-yoar for continuing that purchase of worthless pictures which was denounced by a select ; committee of tho House of Commons . Only a special agent has been added to tho establishment— Herr Otto
MuNDLifiit ; and the first achievement of the new and much more expensive staff is to purchase that very indifferent and more than doubtful specimen
of Paul Veronese . However , members do not core either for pictures or the public money , unless a party use can be made of either ; and so they leave it all to Ministers , as the Clown in the " Winter ' s Tale " says : the managers of his family " leave it all to my sister , and she lays it on . " Certainty , our representative system wants mending . Some of us are far less ably represented than the sfcnell mob who having assembled in public meeting , under the presidency of Henry Ma . y-HEtv , have declared their difficulties in declining
business , and taking up Some calling more consistent with general opinion ; and have kid the foundation-, We trust , of a charitable society , constructed to assist them in tb eir laudable objects . Heney Mayhew is the first man who , when t he question was asked how to reach the helpless and stray parts of society , thought of taking counsel from their wishes and experience . He has supplied the complement to that review of the subject which men like M . D . Hill , Charles Adderley , Maconochie , have given us .
3 VIr . Clayton , one of the authors of the Clayton- Buiwer Treaty , has delivered a speech to hi s countrymen , in which he expresses the conviction that the people of England do not intend to go ta war with the United States ; and Mr . Nathaniel Ha-wthokne , the eminent American author , now Consul at Liverpool , has been able to ascertain in
the city of London , whose hospitalities he has accepted , how true is this opinion of Mr . Clayton ' s . The true guarantee of peace between the two countries is publicity in the proceedings of the two Governments . If we do not have some rupture commenced under the cover of secresy , there will be no rupture at all .
The deadly list of crimes is heavy this week . Some of them come before us again , as in the case of Celestine Sommek , convicted of murdering her illegitimate child at Islington . The story of the poor child going down stairs into a strange place , addressing even her mother in terms of timid respect , with the title usually given to strangersher gradually catching at the idea that her death was intended , and being led into a cellar where she was slain—equals anything in " Bluebeard" or the dark romance of the nursery .
But tlie newest romance is the murder of Sara . h Kelly—once a maid of Kent , an innkeeper ' s daughter , who eloped witli a roue "—obtained a dower through a successful action for breach of promise of marriage—lost all by one of the chances of Dublin life—plunged into a wild career , and again , by that means rose to wealth , became a landed lady , and is assassinated in the Irish fashion , by disguised men , in the presence of her nephew 1 It is a wild story altogether . Some Irish customs seem to be inextinguishable .
338 The Leader. [No. 316, Saturday
338 THE LEADER . [ No . 316 , Saturday
Tin] Islington Murder.—Colofltine Somino...
Tin ] Islington Murder . —Colofltine Sominor lms been found guilty of tho murder of her child by cutting its tliroat in the collar of her houeo . Tho oiroumstiinaoB nro ho well known that they neod not horo be vopoated . The woman is only ibur-and-twonty years of jige , uncl looks a more girl ; and tho child was more than ton . Tho prisoner ( mid thoru wore no reasons why judgment should Tbo stayed ; and who vns nentenoe < l to death . She appeared ovorwholmod wfrfcb grief and horror . ANaLO-FnuNaii Swindlers . — Throo mon , niiniod Borard , Barmbd , and Sohoollor , have just boon eondoinnocl to various terms of imprisonment by tho
Paris Tribunal of Correctional Polioe , for extensive swindling by means of establishing protomlotl morountilo liouBOB at London , Bristol , and other placed in KnglumJI . iHerard uud Bnrrftbd had boon concerned in tho iuDurrootion of Juno , 1848 ; and hu » l both had aomo connexion ¦ with tho Socialist nroHH . Tho latter wnu editor of the revolutionary pupor , Le Vntt f' & t-e Diichemic . BarnibcVe iiamo appeared , ruthor iMoro than two montha ago , in connexion with an alleged swindling oaso wbioh wan brought boforo the oity ina ^ ititrufcoH , but whioh broko down for wunt ^ Buflloiout evidence . Tho foots will bo found in ZeaUcr of . January 20 th . and February 2 nd . "
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), April 12, 1856, page 2, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_12041856/page/2/
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