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'B A B [ Board -an ffl IB Idi El. No. 32...
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MORE DARK HINTS. To increase the politic...
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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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The Roebuck Union. The Administrative Re...
. a . Wh ^ ri & e ^ Drtseats at their Gounefl j J ^ SrSnUaia Sed * o oo-ap ^ t ion ^ except on Se ^ arfc of iSeirowii & vountes . Then , they disheartened tlkeir osUpp 0 * ters by avowals of timidite . The idea of Paifliamantary Re--form ^ is ^^ ted ; they appealed to no large or formidable principles ; they diluted aJJ , ihei * professions by disowning every proposal ; of political change . Add to this , that they sever r possessed an organiaation , that at iheir thWinieetang the public unequivocally
evinced , its writ of interest or of confidence , and it is not c ^ fficult to understand how this Association , illustrated for a moment by the excitement of the Sebastopol outcry , went out , soon after , like a lamp in a vault . It proposed nothing complete , and it did nothing well . It was forgotten until , a few days . since , the BoBBtroK manifesto appeared . rPublic curiosity has given it a little life , and , the City meeting to-day may be , in appearancesuccessful .
, But has Mr . Roebuck provided in the restored association new means and new methods ? Does he propose to eliminate the objectionable rules which made the body ifrom the first unpopular ? No trace of such a change is yet discernible . Mr . MobIiBT , who failed—Mr . Travbbs , who failed- ^ Mr .
G-asSiOt , who failed—are again the leaders of the Organization , only they have chosen that Mr . Roebuck shall lead them . They may blunder less and move more rapidly under his leadership than befoTe ; but they are not the men to inspire the [ Liberal party with confidence , to impress the country , or to influence the House of Commons . Their
organization , moreover , appears too formal , is exposed to ridicule , resembles the constitution of a debating society . Besides , it does not correct one evil of which , the real Reformers tharoiighout ^ England complained . We know accurately enough what were the feelings with which the Liberal members of the House of Commons , and the principal members of the party outside that House , regarded the Administrative Reform Association as At
first constituted . They looked upon it as a bubble , partly patriotic , partly vulgar , the organ of a - ^ passing excitement , which , at setting oat , lost its way , proved its ¦ weakness , and made itself ridiculous . No ardent , masculine spirit was manifested . In fact , politicians looked on the Association with a kind of sympathetic contempt . What are their opinions now ? Precisely the same . They admire the
enthusiasm of Mr . Roebuck , who has promulgated his declaration of policy with almost juvenile ostentation ; who talks largely 'about a party ¦ in the "House of Commons ; who assigns to Messrs . MoiiiJBY , TB _ A . VBBS , andGAssioT their -official places with the pomp of a { First Minister , and hopes to convert the Band of ¦ Oity Be & rniers ' . into a machinery for altering and improving < the entire governmental system in ^ England . If we understood how it iwas possible to reanimate the Association as
ixts actual basis , and with its < actual principles , fVTe should 'wish all oonceivable success -to Mr . jBokbuOk . ( But will the great body . of subscribers ( continue their support for an-\ Other tyeav-p If rwe are not mistaken / some have ialready withdrawn ; others propose to withdraw ; and it is not likely that many ~ iti &* fc * p ? forward to i supply the vacancies . It has become ia pretty general opinion that the
AsBdtokufcton ie . not > ronly a useless deception , ibut a pcwltivoievil . . Its weakness'engenders tapathy . ¦ Mi & soouragts the union or liberal « nen cibr poliAioalftpuvpOBes . It seems to in-M > Hioate that public ^ <* g itation ia ah obsolete ottJn & edyj that utnion'is no longer strength , and 1 that political reform i * not the-true object of u £ tforme * s . Where is the Financial Reform
Association , which began its career with tracts , lecture ' s , corresponding secretaries , and statistics ? 3 Sxtinct ? No ; -worse than extinct ; because it occupies the ground , and concentrates in its own torpid obscurity all that is political in many minds . So with the Administrative Reformers . Capable , in numerous instances , of exhibiting a public spirit in
only one form , they are content with subscribing to the funds of the Association , attending its general meetings , and supposing themselves influential . Whereas , the Association being destitute of intellect and energy , their good will , and whatever sacrifices they make , are thrown away . Better have no Iiiberal organization at all than an organization that is ineffective .
These observations apply , of course , to-the past career of the City Reformers . While Mr . Mobley . was chairman , their case grew more hopeless from day to day . There was an intention to agitate at the next general meeting in favour of new men ; and of a new system . What we complain of is , that Mr . Roebuck ' s programme does not imply , necessarily , 1 a new system , while it commits the Association , to a large extent , to the guidance of the very individuals whose political
incapacity has been so indubitably proved . Perhaps ' he could not , as a matter of personal feeling , assign to his discarded predecessor the position , of a mere subscriber or committee-man ; but in whose power did it lie to appoint the Finance , Statistical , and Corresponding Secretaries ? Were they named by the Council , or by the General Committee ? Are the elections of members of the Council and of the Committee to be regulated by new rules ? Ia 502 . to confer on the subscriber
the right to a seat at the Council , or are the ¦ members to "be < chosen for their fitness ? This may be treated as a point of detail , but it involves the very principle for which Mir . Roebuck and the reformers contend . It is a scandal that the Administrative Reforn Association should sell its honours . The fate of the Association , however , is not purely attributable to the ignorance or weakness of its members , but to the general apathy of the nation , which has surrendered political science as the privilege of a class . Had the public at large been earnest or
vigorous , the Association could not have stultified itself , as it did in the second month of its existence . But the ireBult of every political union has been uniform during the last ten years . The public has supplied it with the means of life , and has left it alone to degenerate into a private committee . When this indifference has ceased to congeal the blood of the nation , we may have real reform : but , until then , Liberals like 'Mr . Roebuck may pant at the head of exhausted associations , and try to chafe them into energy .
'B A B [ Board -An Ffl Ib Idi El. No. 32...
'B A B [ Board -an ffl IB Idi El . No . 326 , Satubpa ^ 3 ¦—r- i i " ¦ - ..... . - ¦ ===- - ¦
More Dark Hints. To Increase The Politic...
MORE DARK HINTS . To increase the political mystification amid which we live , a semi-official journal has published some ^ peculiar 'views of Italian affairs . It is a fallacy , however , to suppose that the journal in question represents , in every instance , the opinions or the intentions of Lord PAJiMBBSTOKL Its most positive statements with reference to the American dispute were entirely groundless . It averred that the dismissal of Mr . Gbampton would be followed .
( instantly , by the 'dismissal of Mr . Dai / las . That at once disproves its official authenticity . It indicates , probably , the feelings and desires of a Cabinet , or part of a Cabinet , but not the ( English , Ithough the intimate relation that now exists i between the French Embassy and the British Foreign-office may ¦ i mply Lord PatjMBiiston ' s assent to the infamous libel which , last'week , astonished and disgusted every friend of Italy .
The writer declared that the dissatisfaction and restlessness at present visible in Italy were kept » p solely by a class of petty halfruined merchants , penniless advocates , greedy clerks , beggars , and convicted attorneys , or attorneys deserving to be convicted . The evil of this condition of affairs being manifest some immediate remedy is essential . What remedy ? The strong hand of Austria , to which is naturally confided the high mission of saving and regenerating Italy .
That is the shameful statement , stamped with semi-official authority . Of course it is copied with malevolent accuracy , from the political journals in the pay of the Austri an Government , the organs of systematic falsification , which are nowhere contradicted , except by the discreet and cautious Liberal press of Sardinia . But is it necessary that any English politician should be reminded of the history of the Italian States during the present century ? Who were the men that defended the Neapolitan Republic in 1789 , that fought in the Italian revolutions of 1820 ,
1821 , 1831 , 1837 , 1841 , 1845 , 1848 , 1849 ? Of whom are the Italians proud , if not of their compatriots who have been destroyed by the axe , or by military executions , or by the wasting misery of the prisons ? Who are they who now crowd the galleys , or live in exile , deprived of their estates ? The English Government itself has repeatedly avowed its sympathy with the Liberal party in Italy—the party that keeps up discontent , that agitates the nation against its foreign rulers . But it circulated in
suffers this sort of calumny to be its name . Its recognized organ does not contradict the scandalous assertion . Not a word is said in Parliament : and , in Austria , the result is likely to be , that the artic le will be translated and published as an exposition of Lord Pai / mebston ' s views . In Lombardy , and the other States under Austrian influence , where no discussion is allowed , it may be conceived what will be the effect of such a declaration under the implied sanction of the
British Government . The more intelligent of the Italian Liberals never hoped , it is true , for the active intervention of England in their favour . They know that it has been Xord Palmbbstow ' s invariable policy to coquet with foreign Liberalism , to deceive and to desert it . But , after what passed in the French Conferences , after the assurances given to Sardinia , the approval bestowed on Count Cavoub ' s Memorial , and several distinct declarations of the
against the prolonged occupation peninsula by Austrian and French armies , it is somewhat Btartling to hear this miserable palinode repudiating all sy mpathy with the Liberal movement , and ascribing it to the disaffection of the lowest and least publicspirited classes . Wha . t does it mean ? Does it indicate some failure of policy , some new necessity of deferring to the Austrian Government , some sinister concert established between the Cabinets of London , Paris , and
Vienna P The insulting falsification applies not only to the Lombard , Venetian , Neapolitan , Tuscan , and Roman Liberals ; but to the statesmen ot Sardinia ; not only to Bbofitdbio , Valebio , and the other distinguished leaders ot the Left , but to Count Gavoub . himself , who is avowedly as discontented as Mazzini , though his dissatisfaction assumes a modified oinciai
M iwjl-iii . . ixw , .,.. *» V «» V , ^ ~~ -., ¦ ^ Pbbsigity ' s organ , together with the whole body of politicians who believe that Auatnan military despotism is an evil , and that it is lawful to agitate . against it . Lord Palmwiston has more than once declared that tno domination of Austria in Italy was a ^ idiortune , not to the Italians only , but to howeii . And now we hear that it is her high rniaeion
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), June 21, 1856, page 14, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_21061856/page/14/
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