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1020 THE liEADlR. ' ,,^^ --- :: ^ ¦ ¦ rC...
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THE WILTS COUNTY MAGISTRATES' JUSTICE. W...
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THE ftOyEMING CLASSES. ;; ¦ . '¦ ¦ ;. ' ...
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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 Fairy Tales Of Science. Ik The Mist ...
Mark well ; it is merely a mechanical question . A proper system o £ signals can he invented , both for communication between driver and guard , and for a warning to trains rushing- into danger . In America , a guard can pass through all the carriages up to the driver : in Germany , he can ring a bell . It is not for us , nor for the Government , to dictate how the intercourse is to be contrived ; but it must be done , under the provisions of that supreme law , —the safety of the people . There are difficulties , such as the necessary disjointing of all the carriages , and the awkwardness ofa continuous wire or cord when carriages would have to be sundered ; but even crude
mechanical conception can suggest modes of doing the thing . The signal to warn back a distant train might be done by firelights , or by some speedy mechanical messenger sent along the rails . Without any mechanical invention , a great deal could be done by a sentinel posted on the engine , or by the South Eastern system of signalling " a dear line" from station to station . Lord Palmerston forbids smoke without telling its producers how to put it down : he should , command a safe railway system , and let directors find out the cheapest and the best .
1020 The Lieadlr. ' ,,^^ --- :: ^ ¦ ¦ Rc...
1020 THE liEADlR . ' ,, ^^ --- :: ^ ¦ ¦ rCSiitrBfiA *;
The Wilts County Magistrates' Justice. W...
THE WILTS COUNTY MAGISTRATES ' JUSTICE . We have long been of opinion that the economical maxim , which appraises the worth of "anything" at " just as much as it will bring , " receives its most triumphant illustration m the case of our unpaid magistracy ; but we are not ashamed to confess that we begin to doubt whether we have not been in error all this while , and whether , after all , amateur justice , which we get for nothing , is not dear at the price . The Wilts county magistrates , in the course of this week , Lave upset our old notion altogether , and left us
wondering how We could so long have been victims to the generous , but utter delusion , that the value of the services-of the great unpaid was not exaggerated when taken at the apparently modest estimate of those-who render them . A month since there appeared in the papers an xinnouuceinont that the oiiice of the governor of the new prison at Devizes was vacant , and a request that candidates would forward their testimonials by the llik inst ., and be themselves
present in person on the 18 th , the day of election . The advertisement led to numbers of applications . Gentlemen who had been in the army , gentlemen who had-been in the navy , gentlemen on half-pay , and gentlemen on no paygentlemen who had been governors of . gaoJs , and gentlemen who only wanted to be—hastened to prepare their papers , and inundated the clerk ' s of lice with assurances of . their fitness , and with credentials from their friends and former officers .
Before the 11 th , the magistrates . had received sonic forty applications ; and on the 18 th , thirtytwo of the candidates—all , perhaps , who ( we know not at what cost or sacriiico ) had been able to iincl money for their hotel and travelling expenses , —appeared , to bo inspected and examined by the august body in whom lay the power of appointment . They came together as rivals , but they left as friends , bound to each other by the strongest sympathy , by feelings of the warmest indignation , and the most unmitigated contempt
for the magistrates by whom they had been gulled into going a fool ' s errand , and into wasting on a useless expedition money which the very fact of their seeking such an appointment hIiows they could but ill spare . It seemed , when they got into court , 'thai ; the advertising for a governor , and the promise of nn election , were mere for-TiKiJilies—* iimplo , pleasant , littlo lognl fictions , having no object but the laying out , for the encouragement of journalists , of a pQrtipn of the county funds , and perhaps—for justices arc getting bo philanthropic—the providing of some coiisolinir speculations among tlio prisoners as to
tlio probable- character of tho ruler who was shortly to be " olrded" over them . XMio appointment wan , in fact , made , and made on grounds which muni , hrtvoboen us parent to the appointora lwlbro they received a single testimonial an after they had read—if they did read P—them nil . 'However , it was thought decent and attentive to koop up the fnrco : so tho names of the ( ui , ndidatcH wero trailed over , and those who—poor followsbad not . managed to bo present , were struck off tho list ; their non-app ( mnm < ' 0 boin ^ considered so ( lisrenpoctful to the worshipful . Bench us ( , o vitiate nil their chum to toko parL in tlio Bolcnm , ¦ ' ¦ ' \ ' ' p - '' ' ¦ !' \ '• ¦ ' i ' ''¦ , ¦ ' ¦ ' , \ ' ' t . ' . ' ' ' - ¦ - ' .. " ¦ ' ¦ ' ¦ ''' ¦¦
humbug about to be perpetrated on their wealthier rivals . The ceremony having got to this point , it was politely intimated tx > the expectant and eager crowd that it rested with them to determine ¦ whether the performance should be continued ; but to guide their judgment pn this point it was kindly told them that the magistrates had not a thought of appointing any of them , though of course they were quite ready to go through the forms of an election if it would be the least satisfaction to each or any of the thirty-one candidates to find himself in a minority of 0 . The boldest of the thirty-one gentlemen suggested , in the
course of the proceedings , that this did rather puzzle him and—by this time- * -his friends > and that they would rather like to know what it meant . Meanwhile , however , he was informed that the magistrates , who are disposed to pride themselves on their economy , wQutcTbe deHghtect to hear—which was strange , if they had alread y read them—the bestbitsbf his and the others'testimonials ; but that they had set their hearts upon the appointment ofa Mr . Alexander , who had this convincing testimonial to his fitness—that if he were not appointed , he must be pensioned by the county . Not a word about Ms fitness—what had that to
do with it ? The only qualification mentioned , the only one thought of , was the saving of the pension . He may have the highest claims r he may have none ; at least , he is not to flatter himself" that they gained him the appointment . The saved pension is his testimonial ; the tlfautvivre is his merit . Perhaps he will be ai good governor ; at least , he is a cheap one . ¦ Mr . Alexander , it seems , has for some thirty years been governor of the Marlborough Bridewell ; that bridewell which he has ruled so long is about to be abolished , and his " vested interest" therein to be consequently -imperilled . So the magistrates , alleging no other ground ,
appoint , lest they should have to pension , him . They would have made him-chaplain ., had that post been vacant , or surgeon perhaps ; and we doubt not that at future public dinners , they will instance this as a case of retrenchment ; and , after attacking Manchester men , affirm that your true economy is that practised by country gentlemen .
We will not here enter into lho question of Mr . Alexander's fitness or Hnfitness for the post —that , indeed , being a question on which we cannot pretend to have any information , and which therefore ( like the magistrates , though for a different reason , ) we may as well keep out of our view . Wo cannot , indeed , assert that it had nothing to do with the appointment ; and we do not sec that it is material to our case .
The point to which we wish to draw attention is the iniquity—especially glaring juat now , when the magistrates must find hotel charges so prominent a topic in their newspapers—of bringing thirty or forty gentlemen hundreds of miles on a wildgoo ' se chase , when an outlay of thirty or forty postage stamps would have apprized them all that their visit was of no use .
It was not pretended that their candidature would lead to the least chance of their success . They wero there for a form ; find when they did pluck up courage to read their testimonials , wero impatiently slopped in the attempt to road extracts of tho papers with which they were provided . The magistrates took no interest in the proceedings : for anything but tho saving of Mr . Alexander ' s pension , they did not cave . There
was no blush of shame on the bench when ltcamo out in open , court that there- was a doubt among themselves as to who had been fulfilling the prison duties ' since- the resignation of the late governor , Mr . Hey wood ; nor wero tho visitjng justices disconcerted whenitappoared that , without their sanction , Avithou'fc even their knowledge , the gaol school hud been dosed i ' ov three months , whilst its master , tho son of the Into governor , had been travelling about , peeking voles for tlio appointment which his father lately held .
budi .. ii , state of things needs only narration , not comment . Wo ni'o glad , therefore , to learn that a , counnjtl-eo of tho aggrieved candidates have communicated all the above JUcts to Lord Palmerston , who , wo fed convinced , will give them his conscientious attention , and who , indeed , dare not , after the recont investigations into prison discipline clHCwhoio , neglor . t ; to inquire into the chbo which wo huvo now wot boforo lho public ,
The Ftoyeming Classes. ;; ¦ . '¦ ¦ ;. ' ...
THE ftOyEMING CLASSES . ;; . '¦ ¦ ; . ' ¦ - ¦ ; ' . ¦ ¦ ' - .. No . ru . ¦ ; :. : ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦/ GENEEAL VISCOUNT HAEDINOE , G . C . B ., CoM ^ rA-NDBE-IN-CiriEF . It is very unfortunate that that sublime structure the British constitution , should be only a theory . It ig scarcely lefes unfortunate that Great Britons , as a mass
believe in it as a reality . Let me do justice to the shrewdness of the Governing Glasses . They not only drew up a better constitution than Sieves ever hit upon ; but they have , from generation to generation , succeeded in educating , the governed classes to believe that their theoretical constitution was realized in lafrra , customs , and institutions .
For instance . Is it not a daily boast among the most democratic classes , that "Thank God , sir , this is a free country : in this country the highest places are open to merit ? " And they give examples . "Look at Charles James , Bishop of London—look at Hardinge . " The other day some merchants of Liverpool , in a moment of coarse conviviality , cheered Lord Derby when that nobleman , slyly answering a comparison previously drawn by Mr . John Bright , between England and the United States , was using the ordinary
British argument , and mentioning , to prove his case , that his Chancellor , Edward Sugden , the son of a barber , had become a peer of the realm . And the instances are so numerous which appear to sustain the theory , that ordinary men are as fully impressed with the idea , that the governing and aristocratic classes are not exclusive , as they are convinced that the Crown "is an exclusive institution . The House of Lords , said Lord Derby , whom we maytake as the exponent of most thoughtless , mindless ,
British cants , —the House of Lords is open to all men . The answer is , —as the London Tavern is open to all men , —who can pay . The price of entrance among the governing' classes is , —subjection to the governing classes . Excepting Lord Brougham , in respect to whom the circumstances were peculiar , no man ever got into the Peerage who did not go to the House of Lords as the agent of the Peerage . There are only two classes who get out of the mire into the ermine , —soldiers and lawyers . Soldiers are always Tories ; or when they
are not , as Napier was not , they are put down . Lawyers are always intense Conservatives , for obvious reasons : and tbe most Tory lawyers who have reached the Woolsack have been Whigs , —like Lord Co ^ tenham . Occasionally a millionaire gets in , like Jones Loyd : and , notoriously , the most conscious of aristocrats is the parvenu Peer . Just as borough owners did and do send their valcte , their toadies , their " agents , " or their sons , into the " Commons' " House , so tho flatterers , the tools , and the varlets , of the governing
classes are permitted to get into the Lords House . Ev . cry new creation which is a concession to tho cleverness * and worth of the basely-born ambitious , is a new coat of paint to the old House of Lords , —freshening it up in the eyeH of the prone and gaping multitude : and tho exceptions , which only prove tlio rule of excluaiveness , are loudly made use of to demonstrate , the theory of tho open Constitution . The Governing Classes have a distinct policy , —to perpetuate their class : and tho governed classes
are always applauding when they seo tho governing classes make use of mean men f Every ablo man can reach tho highest place in this free country , ««« tlio enlightened journals of the governed clauses wlion tho governing classes ( in each case with sensible distrust ) made Canning Premier ; made Peel Premier ; gave Disraeli tho Finance Office ; a Bent in tho Cabinet *<> Macaulay ; ami Troaaury dirty work to ox-cfutpchcr JamoH Wilson . But did any man « v « r 6 int ° "' Cabinet wjio ¦ was pledged to realizing tho theories ot 11 Constitution ? Did any man over got a . Peerage who » wathe
averse to Spiritual Peers , and indwpoHed to w Hwvation of tlio Common * a » an "ute-i ; oom ot Peers ? In fact , only very few of tho astute ^ l '' * " ^ themselves R « ttheirow » rd of admission within tlio « y - of the MritiHh Tomplo . There ww «« rko who " ffo 0 ( l CoiiHorvativo work at a ri « Uy period : » na . ' amiable and brilliant OliarleH Fox ,. novor ' ., w Rood and never said a clover thing , . » ov © r H "pf mon , Peerage-for the inooinparablo Irishman . ¦ " »•¦ recent Whig chief , Lord John llusaoH , Ioba <^ > hilated a party by hi ,, ungor-orouH ^^^ ing luwful braiim . Beyond the dwooyoiy ofMi- of WilHou ho - novor helped a human being in tho p »
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 22, 1853, page 12, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_22101853/page/12/
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