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April 21, 1860.J The Leader and Saturday...
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REACTIONARY HOPES AND 13ESIGNS. B EFOKE ...
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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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April 21, 1860.J The Leader And Saturday...
April 21 , 1860 . J The Leader and Saturday Analyst . 367
Reactionary Hopes And 13esigns. B Efoke ...
REACTIONARY HOPES AND 13 ESIGNS . B EFOKE Parliament adjourned for the recess , we stated our ¦ conviction that hopes had begun to be entertained in certain influential , quarters of the possibility of arresting , ere long , the present Ministry in that course of Jific ' ral and enlightened policy they have shown their disposition to pursue . We had reason to believe that the . parliamentary holidays Avould be employed by the various sections of Tory and AYhig opposition , in maturing plans of concerted action against the friends of progress , abroad and at home . Symptoms had not been wanting of the establishment of a good understanding between the partisans of reaction on opposite- sides of the IJouse of Commons ; and in the House of Lords , Lords Gkey and Norman by had openly joined Lord Derby and his friends in desultory but unceasing attacks , on the administration . The few days that have elapsed since the two Houses reassembled have sufficed to show how industriously the
interval has been used in promoting mutiny and desertion . Not content with the aid of irregular skirmishers , still affecting to wear liberal uniform , the recruiting agents and hnderworkers of the Court Party , as the Conservatives now . wish to be called , appear to have succeeded in detaching from the cause of liberalism more than one of those who have received honour and emolument from Ministers . As long as it is possible we shall forbear to name names ; we are willing to leave ' opportunity' for reconsideration and repentance ere it be too late ; but where overt acts of treason to party and to principles have been committed , we have no choice -but to speak plainly . The notice of Mr . Massey to refer the Reform Bill , to a Select Committee is one of those
violations of good faith , decorum , and consistency , winch it is impossible to pass ¦ over with ordinary comment : for if such , acts can be perpetrated with impunity , all political cohesion among public men must come to an end , all sense of party honour must be lost ; and with it all hope of constitutional government conducted in any higher spirit than that which was prevalent in France under Louis P hilipp e , or in Spain under Queen Isabella . If public men are to be suffered to combine together , and , under a recognised flag , to seek the confidence and aid of the people in expelling a rival set of men from , power because they -will riot absolutely and unconditionally acknowledge the ensign thus raised ; and * if , when power lias been gained , and their rivals supplanted , certain of them may suddenly . attempt to haul down their flag , and at the bidding of their opponents turn round and fire in the faces of the chiefs who have led , fed , and
promoted them , then all public pledges must go for nought , and all political ties between man and man must he irreparably loosened . Mr . Massey is one of those spoilt children of Whiggery wlio has been , through some unexplained influence , pushed on in his parliamentary careerj without having ever rendered , or ever showing that he is able to render , any important service either to his patrons or to the public . If the former are content with the consideration they have got in exchange for the patronage they have bestowed on him , that is their affair ; and as for the public , it is too conscious that it has neither part nor lot hi the matter of aristocratic employments to waste its time discussing whether
this eldest son or the other younger son ought to have the preference for any given place . But the public has a right to interpose , and ' it will assuredl y do so when the indecency is ^ committed of unfair piny . We don ' t mind the exaction of millions n year to supply stakes for the aristocratic game of Govcrnit / ff ' England . But the political JRonffe < 4 Noh > must be played fair . People won't , stand it else . Every lord and relative , or depeudent of a lord , may go in to win on whichever colour ho pleases , but he must not double-back . upon those he pretends to bo playing with ; first , because the thing is too scandalous to bo endured , and next because the extra expense to us of the delay and confusion it must cause would bo too heavy to be borne . The , membor for Salford was for some years an under-seeretary of Lord Palmkustox , and ho and it
is now his Chairman of Ways iiud Means : were mere shuffling nnd hypocrisy to pretend that he could ever hnvo obtained cither one situation or the othey save upon the implied understanding that he would give nn honourable support to the . men and the ineasuros of the Administration . Nobody' asked him to put his conscience unconditionally into the keeping of the Whipper-in ; and nobody over expected him to violate any exceptional or reserved pledge ho might have given on any pnrtiqulnr" subject . But as an upright ninu ho was bound , when ho took office from the present Cabinet , tp give them notice if ho disBonlud IVoiu the loading principles on which they eamo into power , or else to sustain those principles to the best of his abilities . V hut lias Mr . Massky clone ? , He know , as well as every other man in tlio kingdom , that Lord ]> \ lmb « , 8 Ton could not have resumed power last year without the co-operation of Lord John JIussi-jll ;
lie knew , as everybody knew , that Lqlu > Joax would not join unless a £ 10 county franchise ; , a .- ' JBC -borough franchise , arid a transfer of some fivc-aiul-iweuty scats were elements of . a Reform Bill , which should bo a Cabinet question , lie raised no objection , lie muttered no dissent , but he took one of fin- few ofliees of ¦ distinction and profit whose . ¦ tenure docs not depend " on ( he continuance of the Ministry ; and after having thus obtained position and pay ,, he suddenly starts up and . announces his intention of moving that the . Reform- Bill should be taken but oi" the incompetent hands of its authors , and sent to a-select committee , to amuse themselves with it as a football for the remainder of -the
session . When Mr . Disraeli recommended Lord Jonx KtrsSELL to withdraw the Bill because it lacked the fantastic embroideries of that which he had himself introduced in 1859 , we thought the suggestion sufficiently offensive ; but , as a specimen of parliamentary arrogance , it fails before the performance of Mr . Massey ; indeed , we are not aware that any precedent or parallel can be found for an outrage so wanton and so gross on all the ordinary rules of poli'ticaMife . If the motion be persisted in , it must be inet with a direct negative , and defeated by a substantial majority , or ' Ministers must resign . -Ko middle course , in such , a case , is possible . It is not a question of detail or of degree ; it is a question of competency to legislate and to o-overn . A Cabinet which is not fit to frame a Uefoniir-Bill is an
imposture and a cheat , which ought not to be allowed to exist for an hour ; and a Cabinet which , haying , proposed such a measure , and is unable to carry it , cannot , without incurring the basest of iinputations , retain office for a single day . To ¦ refer such a Bill to a select committee would be . highly objectionable on other grounds .. It ' .. would , be to subvert the essential principle hitherto recognised in our constitutional system , that the responsibility of originating ail essential changes in the < representative or executive policy of the country ,
niust rest with the Ministers of the Crown . Private members may introduce bills for these or other purposes ., in order to be able to develop in detail the views they commend to the notice of Parliament ; and the customary mode of ensuring them a dispassionate examination , without committing the ' House in any way to either their principles or their provisions , is to refer them to a select committee .. This tribunal-is chosen invariably from both sides of the House : it contains , consequently , both friends
and foes of the jiroposed measure ; it sits twice a week in a room upstairs , from which it has the power to exclude the public if it will ; its members may oi may not attend as they individually p lease ; it may occupy weeks or months in hearing evidence and examining documents j and finally , it may , beforc'grouse shooting begins , recommend such evidence to be printed without making any other report . This is the trilnmal and mode of investigation to which new and unsifted projects are referred for want of a better , and very unsatisfactory its working often proved to bi ' But , to refer a bill like that introduced by Ministers un the
subject of Parliamentary Reform to such an inquisition , would be merely a roundabout ' way of declaring them unfit for tin : post they-fill ,-without indicating what other set of men were better entitled . And this is , in point of fact , that which constitutes the most shabby and sinister feature of Mr . Massis y ' s proposition . The Anti-lteform Whigs wish to make use of the Aiili-Ke , ibrni Tories , to overthrow the Liberal Government , and the Austrian Tories arc content to use the Austrian Whigs for tlio same object , speculating that in the scramble that must ensue on . the expulsion of the present nieu from powur , they will bo able to secure the Government for themselves . Will the House of
Commons lend itself to these designs ? Will it eneonmgt ; the . evil counsellors of the Court in hopes of reaction in foreign and domestic policy ? Is it . prepared for open alienation from Franco , renewed intrigues with Austria , a gradual undoing of all that has been done in support of Italian liberty , and the resuscitation oImi dynastic policy throughout Europe at the cost and to the shame ol" England ? ' Is it prepared to refuse all moderate demands of " . Reform at hoine , and thereby to set a premium on the arts of demagoguism , and tho eloquence of factious ilibcuuU'iiiY Is-it .... i i ... i „ 4 . 1 .,. ...,. ^ .. „( ' flin T > . i 1 im << i / l /> i >( ifiiwl in ( lie nniMlllll ' to have the of the Palace identified in tin- popular
prepared name , mind with tho expulsion of Liberalism from power , und the installation therein of men devoted to reactionary views .- ' 1 ho ( JHBV 8 and ( Jlaujsnuons , Nohmanhys and IIoiwmanw muy bo forward with their reckless HiitttTV of what they bohovn to be tho leanings of the Court in liome himI foreign ofljurs ; and tiny may perchance Iiud among tlio members-of tho pnwirit administration men not indisposed to intrigue against their ehieia and colleagues , whoso fidelity to principle they have neither the courage to gainsay nor tho spirit to appreciate or sympathise with . . But it will be an evil day for crown and country if , by tergiversation or Uvaeliery , tho roliov ' ol' progress lio ' rolulbro pursued shall bo baillcd or undermined . More than onoo in our history has tlio nU < uii |> t bnen mmlo but never luis it ended othcnvine thim m ilisarttroiw
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), April 21, 1860, page 3, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_21041860/page/3/
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