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600 TH E ' ItJB A3) EB, [No. 378, SATira...
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THE LAW v. ROWDYISM. Those who nro hosti...
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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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Government And Patriotism—A Secret Histo...
which would have concealed from , the eye of the Government and the public any amount of defalcations , misapplications of Ime funds , extravagance , and reckless management . We do not propose to repeat what we have already said with reference to this painful inquiry , but the transaction lets in-a flood of
light -upon the system by which lords and gentlemen , in or out of office , are interested in shielding one another , and form , a guild with the object of protecting their common prerogative and suppressing the inconvenient integrity of subordinates . For example , it seems to have been very amicably settled between Sir Chaelis Trevei ^ t an and Lord
Belfek , and again between the same priggish piirist and Lord G-ranvilxe , that WLr . Bebtolaoct should be chained to his desk tit the Ordnance office at the times when he might have been otherwise enabled to penetrate the financial secrets of the Duchy . In effect , the heads of the department falsified their engagement with the auditor , and the heads of other departments connived with them in doing so . The auditor had a last resource . His letterspatent empowered him to appoint a deputy to exercise his functions of check . This
he did , and selected a gentleman who we believe had formerly been employed to investigate extensive defalcations in the household at Buckingliam Palace , and also by Prinee A-Lbebt himself in connexion with the Great Exhibition of 1851 . The deputyauditor was treated as an intruder and a spy , and the books were closed against him . The auditor and his representative were domineered over by the clerk of the Council , whereas that individual was , strictly
accountable to them for all sums he received from the Duchy . Every exertion was made use of - ^ sometimes insolence , sometimes wheedling —to procure Mr . Bektolacci ' s signature to a formal document intended to make things pleasant between the Chancellor , Ms staff , and the House of Commons . We do not say that a system of plunder has been carried on , but we insist that Lord Beeper , Lord OrBiLNTntiiLE , Lord Habbowby , Sir Chables
TbevbIiTan , and Mr . Monselii behaved , if Mr . BuBTOiiACOi ' s statement be true , as though they had some crime or some blunder of enormous magnitude to conceal on the part of themselves or of their friends . The public has always considered Lord Habhowbt so correct a gentleman , it has so consistently regarded Sir Charles Tbevelyan as one of the most morally prim and rigid-hearted of the mandarin class , it so intuitively believes when a rumour of shabbiness is set afloat that Earl
GtranvilIiE would be ' above' it , that it cannot understand why , when an inquisition is demanded , so much official trepidation should be displayed . It has also been perplexed to understand why , if Mr . BEBTOi-AOci suffered a wrong in August , 1855 , he did not long ago bring his case before the public . We thjmk Mr . Roebuck could explain , and not Mr . 3 £ o 3 QByoK . only , but certain other patriots whoso voices are sweet upon the hustings . There is one elect of the ten-pound householders by whom Stafford is beloved , and he hovered so long
overtUisqujestionthafc an Englishman notfarni liar with the back-stairs goings and comings of patriotism might have supposed that he would infallibly conae before the House hot from BxriiKjfl's speech on economical reform , and talking of meat and drink offered to the dead , Df goatherds on mountains , and miners in . pits . TThe literal interpretation of which would have been that Stafford is oorporately afraid of tumbling through the earth some evil day—ohurohes , market , shops , citizens , ten-pound householders , and all < the ivorywriated , rosy-fingered girls together—into one
of Earl GrRAirviiiiiE ' s coal-pits j for the noble lord is said to have burrow-ed very far in that direction into the subterranean possessions of the Duchy . Consequently , Mr , Wise has felt himself compelled to procure a committee , but we wish that he would print a return of Ms patriotic ejaculations with , respect to chartered abuse and matters that must be inquired into ; here is an opportunity to increase his political capital among his , constituents . Turning from small cattle
however , we invite Mr . Roebuck to demonstrate the actual value of his services as a reformer He would be Bbutus , of course , if there were a Cjesab at Buckingham Palace ; he would be Ciceeo to Catixine ; he would fight like Ha ] V £ PDEn and die like Emmett , and it woul $ certainly be worth his while . But the public would like to know—and we would tell them if we might —how long Mr . Roebucji liad Mr . Beb-TOLAeci ' s case in hand ; how often the President of the Administrative Reform
Association consulted Prince Axjbebt on a question of abuse ; and how the nineteenth century Pym , who deplored at Sheffield the corruption of patriots by tickets for state dinners , showed Mr . Bebtolacci ' s petition at a lordly table , endeavoured to raise the essentialpoint without wounding any noble feelings , and finally washing , his hands of a task that would bring him into gratuitous odium , exerted all his influence to burke the whole affair . Why , this is the boldest man in Parliament , who is always saying severe things ; and can it be believed that John Abthitb Boebuck ,
when he gets upon his legs to put a question to a Minister , as sternly as a French , judge might put a question to a member of a secret society , has held that Minister by the button in the lobby , and obtained his permission ? There is a silver whistle inside the trumpet of challenge , and no Whig Minister is afraid of Mr . Roebuck , To the electors of Sheffield it is left to decide , when they are next ernpanefled as a political jury , whether there has been any
evasion of trust , or misappropriation of influence . It may be necessary to reserve for the present a detailed explanation of Mr . Roebuck ' s conduct bearing on the abuses of the Duchy of Lancaster , hut if he knows what is due to himself , or if he dare to plead his own justification , let him tell the House of Commons or his constituents why he shrank from presenting the petition of Mr . ' Bertoi * ACCi . We do not care for the ex-auditor of
the Duchy of Lancaster any more than that he is a meritorious public servant , who has been grossly and unconstitutionally maltreated for attempting to perform his duty ,. and we would have preferred that Mr . Bebtoilacoi should have proved mistaken , rather than that Mr . Roebuck should have lost his public character j but unhappily this is . not the first example we have had of playing into the hands of
the G-overnment on the part of the most selfsufficient patriot in the House of Commons . We have had Tory corruption ; we have had Whig jugglery ; but worse than either is the demoralizing duplicity of a set of men who , calling themselves Administrative Reformers , trade upon a long career of pretence , and confound and baffle every effort to construct or to lead a Liberal party in the English House of Commons . " Well may Reformers of all classes unite at ? this moment
in welcoming back to England and in inviting baqk to Parliament Jonir Bright , in whose restoration to health we have now a double cause to rejoice .
600 Th E ' Itjb A3) Eb, [No. 378, Satira...
600 TH E ' ItJB A 3 ) EB , [ No . 378 , SATiraivATr ,
The Law V. Rowdyism. Those Who Nro Hosti...
THE LAW v . ROWDYISM . Those who nro hostile to the American Republic rojoico in tho reports of riots in Washington city , and luxuriate in tho idea
that < the citizens' have been put down hv tli « soldiery . Those who are friendly to the Be public are dismayed at the appearance of conflict , and anticipate that the Federal authority will be reduced to nothing by the dissent of one province after another—of Utah , of Kansas—by-the rebellions of mob after mob , now invading even the capital We have grown accustomed to these anticipations . We have seen them before when
Carolinian pride has revolted at 'dictation ' from Washington . We have seen them when Nullificators have appeared to exercise a mora l power destructive to the union ; when Native Americanism was contending with ' the foreign element' in New " York riots , and Mr . Maobeady became a question of state . But all these bubbles have burst ; and , after the event , the prophets could thoroughly explain to you how it was that their prognostics did not take effect . In fact , most of these , wise
people were quite prepared to prove to you , always after the event , that they had quite foreseen the reverse of what they had toldj for , by the time it had actually blown over they could discover that those mobs which ' disturb the peace of all cities , whether in the West or the East ; , whether in republican America or absolutist Austria , are not the
republic ; but they are sections of society quite as contracted , quite as separated from the great body of tlie people , as the aristocracy itself , even as the ' Upper Ten , ' or as our court company from the body of the commonwealth . The incident at Washington might serve to have convinced both foes and . friends that
the American Republic is quite capable of defending itself through its Government . What was the occasion ? It was no question x > f American politics , but simply one of the local elections . A particular party , a band imported from a neighbouring state , had determined to dictate to the electors , not by moral suasion , but by physical force . In every new country like the United States , there is rather a large share of physical acti
vity and energy . It is a species of influence which contracts the habit of self-glorification ; and when once it does triumph , it relishes the luxury of victory so much , that it seeks occasion for more . The consequence has been that the rowdy interest has become a settled party at elections , and thus , irrespectively of tho merits of any Question , or of ordinary party divisions , It is
the rowdies will make themselves felt . a kind of interest which encroaches , as a matter of course , and the rowdies do encroach . At -Washington they threatened actual violence . Now Washington is not only the capital of the republic , but is the chief town in the district of Columbia and is under a municipality ; but is more tlian other states under the direct authority 01 the supreme Government . The mayor , Mr . Macgutjdee , applied for the / ssistanco oi the military , and a troop of Federal Marines
was called out . There certainly was uo procipitancy in attacking the rioters . it J »« expected that this evident sign of sustain ^ the constituted authority would have a moral effect , and that tho mob would desist from any further violence . It did not do so . As * wei gun was brought out , —the soldiers ««• &^« t ^ n « fl . n . aliot was fired , —a Marine teU ,
and Sen the military received the o ^ to fire . It would appear that their forba * auce in the flnfc instance had »^ uced ^ mob to imagine that the constituted uuuio rities were ° actually in fear of them . ¦ " rowdies took themselves for the M ^ and were about to dictate to the servant tho llopublic ; but tlie energy of theWj sustained by the ITedwnl *«* b ° " 5 ' J ^ taught tho fool » that the Bepubho is strong *
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), June 20, 1857, page 14, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_20061857/page/14/
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