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* No. 495. Sept. 17, 1859.1 T H E L E A ...
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WHO G OVERNS ?—THE RESPONSIBILITIES OF T...
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TTPnTHRPS A1STD 3CTUR LECTURES AWy Wfll; A UlUJttB
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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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Pauperism.—The Times Blundering. The Pre...
rjose and an Employment Act was passed to set them to work and feed them . An immense number was then taken careof , and in 1849 , af ter the worst was passed , there were no less than 620 , 747 paupers in Ireland—two-thirds as many as ^ m England , while the population was only one-third asljreat . This could not continue , and Ireland < rradually returned to her normal condition . By the last return the number of paupers was 44 , 866 . The great number of paupers in England is deeply it will not be lessenedthough
to be regretted : , we mio-ht become as badly off as the Irish , were we to ° do as they do in Ireland . Contrasting the number of the labouring multitude here and there , and contrasting the continual turbulence there with the peace here , our habitual pauperism , it is plain , is better than their habitual starvation . If the Times be now an advocate for abolishing the provision for the poor in England , its conversion is miraculous . Blunders like the one exposed are for it an every-day occurrence .
* No. 495. Sept. 17, 1859.1 T H E L E A ...
* No . 495 . Sept . 17 , 1859 . 1 T H E L E A P E R . . - 1059
Who G Overns ?—The Responsibilities Of T...
WHO G OVERNS ?—THE RESPONSIBILITIES OF THE PEOPLE . Those who are not so deeply immersed in the stream of events as to be unable to see whither it runs , must have remarked how much the responsibilities of the people have increased with their freedom . That the press , representing the public sentimentsj was very instrumental in lashing the lagging Aberdeen ministry into the war with Russia is certain . That it also in the same manner supported and promoted the war against Canton is equally certain . Neither of these wars Could have been waged had not the multitude given to bothageneral and a cordial support . Theynowfind them s elves hampered by another Chinese war , and
when they are about to combine to secure financial reform they will have to incur greater expense and submit to heavier taxation . They have taken on themselves the government of Hindostan ^ even to guaranteeing its debts , arid the last loan bears , a hi gh premium in the market because the lenders hold the British people bound to pay it . They are so much the masters of the Government that the best excuse which can be made for ships dismantled and sailors turned adrift when both are needed for the national defence , and must be , if possible , restored at a great cost , is , that the impatient people would not bear the expense . By ministerial advocates they' are said to have forced the mi & htv Pahnerston and the powerful Derby
against their inclinations , from a miseraple-spmt of parsimony , to reduce the Income Tax and wither the right arm of the public force . Of the justice of the charge we speak not— -we only refer to it as a proof that the multitude , and not the ministers , already administer the government , and cannot escape from the responsibility of their acts . This new position , in which , not the Russell ' s and the Gladstone ' s and the Disraeli ' s—the great national talkers and so ? disant wise men , who are well paid for their services—but the unpaid . and unknown writers of the press , and the multifarious mob , are the real guides and governors of society , deserves much consideration . It ' is , in truth , entirely at variance with all notions of government which implies coercion ; as it ia founded on
force—( e Force first made conquest , and then conquest law . " It still carries with it the idea of coercion , and can only exist by force . But now that the multitude governs , there is nothing distinct from jJie Government to coerce . The multitude coerces itself . The very condition of society which antireformers dread- —to avoid "which they , on all kinds of pretexts , refuse to extend the franchise—already exists . The multitude , by old custom or foolish theory denied a voice in the elections , exercises its influence otherwise , and hurries peaceful ministers like Lord Aberdoen like Lords
into war , and dashing ministers Palmerston and Derby into parsimoniously crippling the naval defences ., Political theories are put to the route by such facts . Sooioty cannot go back to dcapotism and slavery ; the demand is to go forward to more freedom , which carries with it wore deference to the multitude , a more open acknowled gment of its supremacy , and a more condplete identity of the thing coerced with the coercing power . * w the people this new position actually reached is more worthy of consideration than for avowed politicians . Justly are the inhabitants oi the United States acoused of continuing to act
on the old principles and prejudices of Europe , in regard to government and diplomacy , after they have professedly discarded them and established a government of and by the people . Now the people of England find themselves , without professedly designing it , in a situation similar to that of the Americans . The power exercised by old despotism and old kingcraft has actually fallen into their hands , and they continue to cany put against themselves the old practices which were intended to confirm and . secure despotism ^ Both in the United States and in England democracy has walked into the place of old coercion , and , as if suitable to itself , occupies it with apparent deli ht . ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦
g _ ... . ., _ _•_ Democracy , acting on despotic principles , is , however , unbearable . Democracy enforcing _ a great system of coercion on itself is suicidal . Its power goes where that of the despot cannot reach , into every house and every family ; and the coercive principles of a despotism enforced by democracy must be the worst of all political and social conditions . " We would make shift , " says Lord Macaulay , "to live under a debauchee or a tyrant , but to be ruled by a busybody is more than human nature can bear . " Obviously , the busybody rule of journalists and the multitude is infinitely more penetrating than any other
possible rule , and if the all-powerful democracy h e , as in the United States ,. is to maintain the old principle of coercion , we and our children may bid a long adieu to ease and comfort . The enormous number of punishments for trivial acts , to which we adverted a fortnight , ago , is democratic interferences on despotic principle carried out against one portion of society . There are numerous indications of its gradual extension ; and the resistance to it of the master builders tells us how little the other classes will like to be
governed by the multitude , on the coercive principle of depbtism ^ A legislator was originally a man much more wise and enlightened than others . Perhaps he was supposed to be inspired , and was honoured as a prophet ; But now the legislator of England is the House of Commons , and the House of Commons is the creature of the 101 . householder . Amongst them are numbered grocers who manufacture coffee out of rotten coffins and sugar out of sand ; publicans who doctor their beer with just enough poison to stimulate thirst and not immediately kill the toper ; manufacturers of shoddy out of devil ' s dust and paste , which they sell for
cloth ; concoctors of companies to plunder the credulous within the bounds of law ; discount brokers , who have no objection to deal in forged warrants ; railway directors who cook accounts ; and bank directors who appropriate the deposits of their customers and the capital of their constituents ; and this great ; body cannot possibly be corrupted , though it may be purified , by any extension of the franchise . The legislator which it calls into existence is the mere representative of classes neither exclusively worthy nor exclusively honest . He has no more authority than they have ,
and is no more deserving of respect than they are . At present this legislator acts on precedent—runs in the tracts of the Plahtagenets , the Tudors , and the Stuarts . Proceeding from the l ( tf . householders , it acts in the spirit of all that was despotio in the frame of our government . The upper classes ^ and their enlightened organs , already complain of the caprice and sometimes of the folly of this ipstrument of the 101 . householders , and are , in consequence , generally opposed to -any enlargement of the constituency . Every extension of the franchise implies a greater ascendancy of the multitude , and makes legislation , on the principle of coercion , utterly unbearable for all . Now , then , the principle of legislation is of infinite more importance than its form ; and it is now
the duty of the multitude to impede and prevent despotic legislation , and all despotic and cooroive proceedings , in the name of freedom .
Ttpnthrps A1std 3ctur Lectures Awy Wfll; A Ulujttb
are drawing up their programmes ; local lecturers are puzzling' tneir own or somebody else ' s brains for something to lecture about;—and , strangest of all , local subscribers-are taking out tickets for the coming season . The lecture is an institution peculiar to England . Nobody but an Englishman would have the courage to deliver an evening lecture , or the patience to listen to one . Take the prospectus of any provincial institute , and the chances are the entertainments
you will find' amongst provided for the season a lecture on the " Study of Conchology , " by the parish doctor ; a discourse on the " Geography of the Ploly Land , by the curate ; an essay on the " YY are oi the Roses , " by the intellectual squire , and a recitation of " Romeo and Juliet , " by the poet of the place , " interspersed with original comments on the modern stage . " The chances are , we repeat , that in any given prospectus you find the above lectures . If you do not , you are certain to find something : equally uninteresting . What
vre speak in the name of the patient public— -ao we care for any of these things ? Prawns and periwinkles are the only species of " Crustacea m which we feel the slightest interest . Whether the Jordan runs into the Red Sea , or the Dead Sea , or neither , is a matter on which our ignorance is only surpassed by our indifference . It is so long since our school-days that we have forgotten , and don't care to remember , which was the white rose and -which was the red—and , as to
Shakespeare , of course we appreciate his genius , but still we prefer to read him by ourselves after dinner , when we can go to sleep in an easy chair , instead of dn a hard bench without a back . These sentiments may be those of gross ignorance , but * they are doubtless those of nine-tenths of the audiences at local lectures . Perhaps some candid and ingenious inquirer may ask , If this is the case , why do people go to lectures at all ? The question is doubtless a difficult one , and will only be answered when we are able to tell why it is that oratorios : are admired by people , who cannot tell a note of music , and who in their hearts prefer the Trab Trab" polka to the symphonies of
Mendelssohn ; . why Madame Riston was voted the greatest of actresses by audiences who did not understand a single word of Italian ; why thousands of persons went miles at night to hear some one preach at St . Paul ' s , whom they would not have gone as many yards to hear , at their parish church in the day-time ; why subscribers go on year after year buying the JEdinlurgh Review , and never cut the pages ; and why Mr . Martin Tupper has the greatest circulation amongst living poets . When these , and a thousand other similar mysteries are solved , we shall be able to tell -why people go to Mechanics
Institute lectures , but not before . The reasons -why people are found willing and anxious to lecture are more intelligible . We are not speaking now of paid lecturers , or of men who , like Mr . Gough or Mr . Vincent , deliver lectures an order to promote some specific purpose ; but of that numerous class of volunteer lecturers who have , doubtless , at this moment , undertaken to deliver a lecture somewhere on some subject or other . There is a decided pleasure in laying down the law—in being a man of importance for the time—in having an audience to listen to you--in hearing the souml of your own voice—m '"<> V ^ lecturing . It is pleasant , too , to bore your friends with the perusal of your composition , ™ d to nourish a vwrue and generally a vain hope that " ?" "l iJSLa ? cd to nubfieh your lecture by
^ ner ; rsubscrr ption : ' Nobody ever knew a clergyman from a curate to a bishop , who was not fond of reacSng No clerical re / ormer ever prepared to cut down the length or number of sermons ? and a lecCe is , in euort , nothing more nor leas U kcTurer ^ woul d only lecture on something they caro to spook about , and their audiences care to hear about , we should have much fewer lectures . PosiibIy 7 howover , we should have larger audience * We are not sanguine , however , as to any deviation occurring from tho beaten traok , and entertain but little doubt that in the course of next week Se gentleman in black , with a atUT white necktie and blue spectacle * will be tracing on a board , with a piece of creaking ohftlb , a diagram of the river JoVdan before o > Sleeps and a weary audience ; May their slumbero oe Bound ! is ow parting prayer .
LECTURES ANP LECTURERS . The month of , September is tho opening of the autumn' season . I nhere are certain to 1 ) 0 falling stars in August ; gaW are sure to arise at sea about the time of the equinox . Aa certainly will the doors of Mechanica' Institutes and provinoial Athenwuras be open during the present month to evening lecturers . Local committees
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 17, 1859, page 15, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_17091859/page/15/
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