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372 ^ T Hj^ LEABEB ^ __ ___ __ [No. 369,...
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THE SIGN TO PARLIAMENT. When the Premier...
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HOW WE CH1USTIAN PEOPLE SPENT THE DAY Oi...
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.
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Tug France Oj? To-Day. Who Can Imagine T...
sent business is with the melting of the population , and the causes of its sudden decay from 1851 to 1856 . Even if to cast in the gross total of the deportations to Algeria and Cayenne , they sink out of sight in the chasm . " It is true that the departments signalized as having experienced the most sensible arrest or decrease of population are precisely those which were more than decimated by the mixed Commission of December—those which were marked , in red
on the map as strongholds of the Socialist democracy , those from which the agricultural , mechanical , and professional classes were deported wholesale without trial to flood the convict colonies . of the Empire . The usurpation of 1851 passed over these provinces like a desolating war ; yefc some deej > er and more abiding cause must he at work ; it is , we are compelled to believe , the corrirption . of society by the example and influence of the Empire . If a great and expanding nation can be violently arrested in its career , its vital forces turned abruptlA into sordid
channels , its moral consciousness blinded and benumbed , the circulation , of its intellectual activity suspended ; if it can be cut off from the traditions of the past , bewildered by stock-jobbing , encouraged to waste its energies in sensual excesses , deterred by fear or ridicule from healthy or exalted pursuits ;—if ifc can undergo this change without being enfeebled ¦ , attenuated , and exhausted , we must utterly I'epudiate the doctrine of all history—that a deadening despotism ^ applying itself only to satisfy the' material cravings of the populace , iufuses into the blood of the debauched nation the
virus of a poison . ; There is now in France no such thing as public life ; it follows ± hat private manners are depraved . The Seine might whisper a story to the Dead Sea , and France might show other causes for the failure of its productive powers than the determination of domestic economists to limit their ^ family liabilities . Louis JSTA . rdLEOis pretends to stimulate agriculture—the agricultural population is diminishing ; he
aifects to aggrandize Paris—Paris is fed at the expense of the provinces ; ho points to developed commerce — it scarcely compensates for diminished production at home ;—be is the patron of the working classes—they have , a falling sickness among them ; the one flourishing class in France consists of speculators , gorged , we repeat , by vast displacements of wealth , but adding nothing to the resources of the country or the stability of the Government . The > 3 j ) anish Kingdom exhausted , and the Turkish Empire
disorganised , are now the European parallels of Imperial Prance . It may be that some historian of a future day , when recalling the glories of tho modern " Augustus , will point to the architectural trophies of the capital ; " but other historians will record that from the first to tho sixth year of Loiris : N " ai ? o : leon \ s reign it was that France , instead of advancing began to rocedc , and tlnvt , instead of multiplying and abounding , her population diminished and decayed , exhibiting to the JNew World the phenomenon of arrested development in the Old .
372 ^ T Hj^ Leabeb ^ __ ___ __ [No. 369,...
372 ^ T Hj ^ LEABEB ^ __ ___ __ [ No . 369 , Saturday ,
The Sign To Parliament. When The Premier...
THE SIGN TO PARLIAMENT . When the Premier ' s policy is understood , it will become evident to tho public that the leading necessity of our times ia—tho Union of Beforniera . The Cabinet has discussed the points of a possible Bill , ami ifc ia uudev _ atood , intends to set them aside ia favour of what arc called direct incus urea of . administrative nnd socml improvement . Lord Pat mebston is not for reform with the capital
B ; he is rather for Cajolery , and means with that instrument to work as effectually as he can upon the susceptibilities of the House of Commons . He is not pledged ; he has . never made large promises ; the new Parliament , he thinks , is his own ; then why should he propose organic changes ? He is quite capable of turning Reformer , being
a plastic material ; but those politicians who entertain a belief that the representation of the people is imperfect , and ought to be improved , will do well to cast aside the hope that Lord Palmjsbstost will volunteer in . their service . His supporters inquire how the Government is to be carried on without him ? "We are not in a position of national difficulty ; we have no war upon our hands : then what is it that Lord
Paxmehston is supposed to represent r The principle of strong government , perhaps . That is the question , however . A . large majority will go into the new Parliament , compromised , in favour of an extended franchise . The problem to be solved is , whether that majority shall be corrupted into the personal following of a minister without a policy , or whether it shall do the work proposed to it by the constituents of the Legislature . "While Lord John UttssexIi occupies a seat in the House , the Heform cause has a sound and solid basis ; it remains for the real Liberals of all shades to decide
between his professions and the " admitted claims" of the member for Ti vert on . It is certain that , up to the present moment , the Cabinet has not decided to propose any genuine measure of Reform : it is probable , that should any such proposal emanate from t lie Government , there will lurk behind it a latent sch eme of stultification . The Liberal party is forewarned . It has been kept in suspense by floating rumours of official deliberations which are known to have taken place ; but before tho meeting of Parliament it will
have no doubt discovered the full extent of the conspiracy to flatter it with illusions , to break the force of public opinion , and to suppress agitation by trickery . Failing Pa-L ^ iebston , Befonn has its resource in Hussell , and Russe : ll has an ally in Graham . But , without Graham or ' litrssELiL , the cause of the most powerful party in the nation ought not to suffer from a mere shuffle of the cards . "What if the Premier should have appealed to the country with a deliberate resolve to disregard the evidences of popular opinion , and to treat the public will with contempt ?
How We Ch1ustian People Spent The Day Oi...
HOW WE CH 1 USTIAN PEOPLE SPENT THE DAY Oil CHRISTIAN MOURNING . Never has a holiday been more successful than that which was planned for the London folks on Good Priday . The railway companies had arranged to begin tho Easter holidays with cheap trains in almost every direction . You had cheap trains to Tilbury , South end , and Gravesend ; cheap trains for all the popular watering places from Dover to Hastings ; cheap trains for Aldershott , for lietlhill , for Greenwich ; cheap trains to
Birmingham and beyond it , to "Windsor , Dorking ; cheap trains for Boulogne ; in short , for any place that holiday-makers could desire , not forgetting of course tho Crystal Palace . Tho most was to be mado of the holiday . Excursion tickets , in some caaos , began on tho Thursday night , and carried you over the Easter Sunday , so that the junketing aiul jollification began on the Friday , were kept up on the Saturday , grow fast and furious on Easter Sunday , still faster and more furious on Easter Monday , and cooled by degrees on JDnster Tuesday . Tho
Crystal Palace on the . Friday was a glorious scene . The London-bridge terminus -was thronged by a crowd as dense as that entering the Opera , only far more extensive and bulky Every approach to Sydenham . or Anerley was thronged ; the hotels , public-houses , and tea-gardens could scarcely find the machinery to supply their customers . The Palace itself has seldom been so crowded , for the Good Friday is becoming an established institution at the Crystal Palace . Last year , there were little more than 17 , 000 persons in it ; this
year there were 27 , 400 . The reporter of the fashionable Morning Post observed loaded reticules , bulging . pockets , and other evidences that the multitude under the glass were , for the most part , frugally inclined- — belonging to the " plodding and honest middle-class tradesmen and well-to-do mechanics / ' John Gilpin was abro ad with his most respectable wife and children ; and Sally was taken from our alley , although ' it was not the -day that comes between the Saturday and Monday . But parsimony was
not the spirit of that day m the Crystal Palace . Nothing so stinted or so carting would have suited the occasion . Those , indeed , who could not be open-handed were still on pleasure bent ; and the little baskets , the shiny reticules , the pocket pistol , afforded thei means of personal enjoyment . But the coffee-room was thronged by those partaking the cup which , cheers but not inebriates . After five o ' clock , "beer was to be obtained , and was evidently in
considerable - demand ; wines were . also seen gracing the more aristocratic tables . " We are still quoting the fashionable intelligence . All was * ' decorum , " but all , also , was enjoyment . ! N " or was the company limited to John Gilpins and the sweethearts of Sally ; for amongst the 27 , 000 were 1700 season tickets ; so that there was at least a large sprinkling of polite persons ; and no doubt there are gentlefolks in the Crystal Palace at times who do not hold season
tickets . Amongst other enjoyments , music was provided , by two bands , in the concertroom and in the gardens ; the music comprising , amongst other things , military hymns , Costa' s " Eli , " Mejjdei-ssohn ' s dramatic " St . Paul , " Bossinm ' s " Stabat Mater " and " Moses in Egypt , '' There was every kind of enjoyment enjoyed by every class . Taking numbers , the different orders
represented , and the character of the amusement , it might be said that there was a national holiday in the Crystal Palace . Bub while the Crystal Palace was thus filled , all London was out of town -, and the million was disporting itself up and down railways , on the beach , in the tea-gardens , in the hotels —everywhere . The spectacle was one to do one ' s heart good , from the unrestraint , the geniality , and the universality of the
enjoyment . But on what day did all this happen i Surely it was an anniversary of tho Christian Church ; and the anniversary of what ? There may be , and there is , to the devoutest of Christians , strong moral consolation for the memories which the anniversary rccals ; but the most cheering aspect of the occasion can scarcely be connected , in . a
really Christian mind , with junketing , seaside excursions , or concerts . We are not speaking simply of an historical anniversary celebrated by a people ; we are speaking of a day sot apart by the Christian Church to commemorato a particular event—an event which must necessarily impress all believing Christians more with the memory of _ tho Sacrifice than with rejoicing for the blessings
which were obtained by tho Sacrifice . ^ We use the word " believing Christiana in imitation of those avIio talk " seriously" on
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), April 18, 1857, page 12, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_18041857/page/12/
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