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No. 41S, February 13,1858.] THE LEADEB, ...
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- NOTICES TO COBBESPONDBNTS. It is impos...
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SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 13, 1858.
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¦ ^r There is nothing' so revolutionary,...
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THE DEBATE AND THE VOTE. The fate of Lor...
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LONDON CORPORATION REFORM. The gratifica...
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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Transcript
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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.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
No. 41s, February 13,1858.] The Leadeb, ...
No . 41 S , February 13 , 1858 . ] THE LEADEB , 1 S 5
- Notices To Cobbespondbnts. It Is Impos...
- NOTICES TO COBBESPONDBNTS . It is impossible to acknowledge the mass of letters we re * ceive . Their insertion is often delayed , owing to a press of matter ; and when omitted , it is frequently from reasons quite independent of the merits of the commumca-Several communications unavoidably stand over . No notice can be taken of anonymous correspondence Whatereris intended for insertion , must beauthenticatea by the name and address of the writer ; not necessarily for publication , but as a guarantee of his good faitn . "We cannot undertake to return rejected communications .
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Saturday, February 13, 1858.
SATURDAY , FEBRUARY 13 , 1858 .
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¦ ^R There Is Nothing' So Revolutionary,...
¦ ^ r There is nothing' so revolutionary , because there is nothing so unnatural and convulsive , as the strain to keep things fixed when all the world is by the verylaw of its creationm eternal progress . —De . Aekoij ) . -
The Debate And The Vote. The Fate Of Lor...
THE DEBATE AND THE VOTE . The fate of Lord Palmerston ' s Conspiracy Bill has yet to be determined . Last Tuesday ' s vote , although a national humiliation , -was not a Ministerial triumph . It proved ; simply , that the House of Commons is content to dally with a great principle , while it was far from proving that Lord Palmeeston would be enabled to carry his bill , which , in spirit , is something like a Fugitive Slave Law . The debate was in distinct contradiction to the vote . Mr . Disraeli condemned
the proposal in the House , and supported it in the lobby . We should be little astonished if , upon the motion for the second reading , the measure were rejected , or , in committee , amended and mutilated until it become a dead letter . It will then have to pass through the Hereditary Chamber , where the Law lords will undertake its analysis and revision . But , in the meantime , we must call upon the Liberal party to redouble their efforts in order to oppose the principle on which the Government desires to legislate . Tery few members belonging to this section spoke on Monday or
Tuesday ; upon the next opportunity we hope their voices will be heard , and that they will utter their own protests and those pf their constituents . The occasion is important , the time for action is rapidly passing- ; we may bo sure that every possible effort will be made to hurry on the final decision of Parliament . Lord Pai / joiiston , it is well known , feels little confidence in his own success , and was somewhat startled by the majority of two hundred which gave him * leave to bring in . ' , werepeat , that was not the deliberate verdict of the Commons
upon the merits of the question at issue . In the list of the Government majority we find some names which may well excite surprise . From the list of the minority , other names are absent -which should surely have swelled the protest against an unwise and disgraceful capitulation . The House of Commons is very ' English' when it resists the Ballot ; it ia very Continental when it guards the person of a dear ally . Still , the discussion was , in many respects , creditable
to a British Parliament . It brought forward Lord John Husskt / l , who took n high payt and tone , contrasting atrildugly with the ab-• ject" ~ nird" ~* "ostentatioua—imcl / icm— -of ~~—Mr * DisitAELi ' s panegyric upon Lours Napoj-eoh . Lord John Russell opposed the principle of tho bill ; Mr . Dishaibli . aflect ; od critical , statesmanship , and , although dissatisfied , would not harshly or hastily condemn a proposal which lie had not had time to consider . Genernlly , however , tho weight of opinion—whatever tho result when
votes were counted — was - hostile to the Cabinet scheme to change the law of Great Britain in deference to a foreign dictator . Two sophisms were employed to rebut this charge levelled against Lord Palmee ^ stow , not by Lord John Rtjsselii alone , but by Mr . Monckton Miinjss and others of his habitual supporters . It was said that the Emperor had apologized for publishing the addresses of the army , and a despatch to that effect was read to the ¦ XT «¦
_ _ _ . _ .- ¦• ~ m •* " « * House . " I suspect it is dated since Friday , " said Mr . Roebuck . It was written on Saturday , after Mr . Roebuck ' s attack upon Louis Napoleon had been telegraphed to the Tuileries . This altogether destroys the meaning and value of the Imperial apology . It Was evidently not spontaneous . But then it was urged that the French Government having demanded one thing , and the English Government having conceded another , we could not be said to act under dictation .
Now , Lord Palmeeston himself declared that Count Walewski had made no suggestion at all , except that ' something should be done . ' And something is to be done , at Count Walewski ' s dictation . What becomes , then , of the ministerial argument ? "We are not going to insinuate that Mr . Diseaeli could have written the ' immortal state paper' which should have silenced the French Minister for Foreign Affairs , although he intimated plainly enough that , had the Right Honourable Member for Bucks been in Downing-street , a Canning would have risen in judgment—which may be doubted —but it would have been no more than
decent if Lord Cxaeendon , when M . Ledku Rollin was thus publicly libelled , had informed Count Walewski that this gentleman had offered to take his trial before a British jury . M . Ledeu Rollin has been visited by spies in the Imperial pay , who have solicited him to' join in plots of assassination , but he has expelled them from his house , although upon the next occasion , should Lord Palmeeston ' s bill
become law , he might give into custody the agent of the French secret police , cite him before a court , and hand him over to penal servitude . Probably , the wretch might make a clean breast of it , and contribute towards a history of the processes by which France has been governed since 1852 . We have touched , we think , upon the only merit of the proposed Act . If adopted , it may check the activity of Louis Napoleon ' s paid informers in London .
Mr . Duncombe was in a hurry to be generous , and brought upon himself a cloud of witnesses to prove that the Fi'ench Emperor was a homicide at Boulogne , , and that M . UK Peesignt was an accomplice in the crime of manslaughter . But this is not tho only painful reminiscence stirred up by the indiscretion of the first Minister . Tho story of Cantitxon is now ¦ a fireside anecdote 111 all parts of the kingdom . Mr . Stiulino , with adroit simplicity , supposes he can scrutinize thia report to the bottom by putting a question to tho Treasury Bench , as if tho fact had been officially
communicated by Count Walkwskt to the Foreign Office . Without pretending to limit tire faculty of self-assurance enjoyed by the Frericii Emperor , we can hardly imagine him instructing M . dm Peesiciny to lay before-tl » o—Briti 8 h-Gover . nment _ a-. 8 tftte ) ineut of-tho arrears paid up to Oantillon for attempting to innrder tlio Duke of Wklltnoton . Mr . STitiLiNa , however , was correct in affirming that tho statement had boon for ' somo years in circulation . It was first mudo ' in tho Leader , in April , 1855 , when tho history of Cantillon ' s attompt was explained , and when a
correspondent at Brussels informed us that among the four millions of francs paid to discharge the legacies of the First NapoleoW , ten thousand were paid , to - Cantillon , who kept a grocer ' s shop near the Rue Royale . He was personally known to our correspondent . We described at the time how Louts Napoleon received the insignia of the Garter worn by Wellington at the same time that Cantillon received his hire . I > oes
Mr . Stieltng think that this transaction will be explained to the British Government , on demand , by Count Walewski or his master ? The Times of January , 1853 , might enlighten him on a question of this character . Our contemporary , condescending to violence which we have never imitated , charged Louis Napoleon with the gratuitous massacre of twelve hundred persons . The Moniteur de-p clared that no statistics were in existence to prove this assertion , and the Times retorted , " We never said that Louis Napoleon ha d made an official return of the murders he has perpetrated . " Nor will he offer a diplomatic explanation of the price of blood paid to the trusty and well-beloved Cantillon .
London Corporation Reform. The Gratifica...
LONDON CORPORATION REFORM . The gratification expressed by Lord John Russell as to the provisions of Sir George Grey ' s new Corporation Reform Bill will be found to represent a general feeling on this subject ; for the present measure , as explained by Sir George Grey , appears to meet as nearly as any measure emanating from that quarter can , the views of those who are friendly to the Corporation . Many of the more objectionable clauses of the previous measure have been abandoned , and others have been in spirit provided for in private bills . The previous measure was founded upon recommendations of a Commission of Inquiry , but had not been limited to the embodiment of those recommendations . The object of the Commissioners was simply to produce a measure as much as possible like the Municipal Corporation Act , at the same time modified to meet the peculiar circumstances of the City of London : but the framers of the rejected bill went beyond even that sweeping plan .
In the present Bill it is proposed to make the governing body , as in other municipal boroughs , a Common Council , consisting of a Lord Mayor , Aldermen , and Common Councillors . It is proposed to divide tho City into 16 wards of nearly equal area , each ward to elect one Alderman and six Common Councilmen , giving 112 Common Coiincilmeu instead of the present 232 , elected by 26 wards of vex'y unequal extent . With the proposed adjustment of the area of the -foarda there will be a considerable extension
of the constituencies of the Common Council . An occupation of the annual value of \ 0 l . would give a qualification ; tho present restriction , by which an elector must bo a ' freeman , ' being abolished . The Common Council is to be elected annually . Ono point in the former measuro which was particularly objectionable , was tho limitation of tho term ot office for Alderman to six years ; in the present Bill it is proposed to elect them for life , but with a provision enabling tho Court or Common Council to remove an-Alderman
from office under cireumatauoos calling tor JSUch an exercise of power . Tho Aldormen will retain their present magisterial functions ; but power is proposed to be given to the Corporation to appoint stipendiary magistrates . .. . .., Tho greatest diflerenco' introduced with regard to the election of oilicors is in the cttso of tho Lord Mayor . JLithorto he has been chosen from among tho Aldermen , and from
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 13, 1858, page 11, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_13021858/page/11/
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