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r Decembeb 23,1854] THE LBADBB, 1211
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TO CORRESPONDENTS. All letters for the U...
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TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION TO "®ljc Sentot." ...
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SATURDAY, DECEMBEB 23, 1854..
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There is nothing so. revolutionr.ry, bec...
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ARBITRARY GOVERNMENT. The Ministry have ...
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WHENCE THE FOREIGN LEGION IS TO COME. Mi...
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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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.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
R Decembeb 23,1854] The Lbadbb, 1211
r Decembeb 23 , 1854 ] THE LBADBB , 1211
To Correspondents. All Letters For The U...
TO CORRESPONDENTS . All letters for the Uditor should be addressed to 7 , Wellington-street , Strand , London . No notice call be taken of anonymous communications . Whatever is intended for insertion must ; be authenticated by the name and address of the writer ; not necessarily for publication , but as a guarantee of his good faith . Communications should always bo legibly written , and on one side of the paper only . If long , it increases the difficulty of finding space for them . We cannot undertake to return rejected communications . It is impossible to acknowledge tho mass of letters we receive . Their insertion is often delayed , owing to a press of matter ; and when omitted it is frequently from reasons quite independent of the merits of theconamunica tion .
Terms Of Subscription To "®Ljc Sentot." ...
TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION TO " ® ljc Sentot . " For a Half-Year £ q 13 0 To be remitted in advance . fg § ° Money Orders should be drawn upon the Sxranb . Branch OfRce , and lie made payable to 3 tr . Alfred E . Gailoytay , at No . 7 , Wellington Street , Strand .
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Saturday, Decembeb 23, 1854..
SATURDAY , DECEMBEB 23 , 1854 ..
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There Is Nothing So. Revolutionr.Ry, Bec...
There is nothing so . revolutionr . ry , because there is nothing so unnatural and convulsive , as the strain to keep things fixed when all tire world is "by the very la-w of its creation in eternal progress . —De . Arnold .
Arbitrary Government. The Ministry Have ...
ARBITRARY GOVERNMENT . The Ministry have carried an . unpopular measure by means of a threat of resignation . In the circumstances a threat of resignation is a threat of dissolution , and a threat of dissolution is overwhelming with a House of Commons comprised of disorganised parties . Ai-bitrary government is , therefore , for the present fully established in this country . The coincidence
may betoken no great disasters to the constitution , but it must not escape notice that the unpopular measure for which Parliamentary Independence is sacrificed , is a measure for the establishment of a Home Army of Foreign JVIercenai'ies . We are not in the least despairing of English liberties ; but Englishmen should understand the precise tendencies of the politics for the moment in the ascendant .
A Parliament has met and has passed measures . The French Parliament is about to meet and will pass measures . And as the action of tlie French Parliament Avill not m the least indicate a constitutional regime , so in our case we must make this distinction—that we have a Parliament without Parliamentary Government . From first to last , during tho fortnight closed
last night , the Government has obstinately refused to make any statement of their policy , or of the position , or prospects , of tho war . , Lord Jphn Russell last night was seemingly significant , bub , after till , ho only expressed his individual opinion of what ought to seduce Austria and satisfy Russia . The Foi'eigners Enlistment Bill is pnssed ; but Parliament is not informed either of tho
number or nation of tho mercenary horde wo ai'o to let loose- in defence of civilisation . The Militia Bill is an act , but Parliament asl < s in vain to bo informed what force of natives this bill will supply for tho purposes of actual war in tho Crimoft ; and as to our general military position , ivo only get iv parenthetical suggestion in a by-the-by speech of Lord John Ruaeoll that our Government is calculating on a
standing army of 200 , 000 men . With regard to our War Finance , we are left in profound ignorance , and all that our Finance Minister does is to send the funds down by perplexing stockbrokers . Of trade , as affected by the war , nothing is permitted to be said : Mr . Collier is coaxed into a postponement of his motion ; Mr . Danby Seymour is sneered at for making some valuable statements respecting Black Sea commerce ; and the Duke of Newcastle seemed to resent as an insult Lord
Hardwicke s questions as to the reality of the blockades in Russian waters . We have had a vast variety of detailed explanations as to the administration o £ the war in minor particulars ; these have been conceded to the public because the personal vanity of individual Ministers was affected by the universal impression that the war has been mismanaged . And in the profuseness of perplexing and petty
vindications of this -character Parliament seems to have been , induced into the notion that it was putting the Government to a trial and hearing" a solemn defence . The more important Ministers have encouraged the garrulity of their colleagues , and have themselves perseveringly kept silence on all the great points . No correspondence whatever has been laid on the table . True , there is an Austrian treaty there : the Ministers who themselves have
given contrary interpretations may safely defy the astute House of Commons to make a meanin g' out of the awful document . Thus , in all respects , a Cabinet in which no one lias faith is obtaining unlimited " confidence , " and thus we are not only subdued to the endu-raiice of arbitrary government , but to the arbitrary government of men who have not proved any illustrious capacity in their great position . We are not forgetting that we have had several debates , and three important divisions , and that the Government has succeeded in
obtaining majorities in both Houses in favour of their measures , and , by implication , in support-of their refusal to consult the Parliament on . the national policy . But the majorities , we have already said , were not obtained from the convictions but from the fears of members ; and the explanation of a distrusted Cabinet remaining in office because Parliament believes there is no other
Cabinet possible just now , may be complete without in the least satisfying us that England is in the possession of self-government . Unpopular measures have been passed under a , species of compulsion ; while the voting has been one way , all the speaking has been the other way ; members voted for bad measures rather than have no measures . We are here speaking , not of the abject Ministerialists , and not of the steady Derbyites—these two sides place their consciences in political trusteeship —but of the really independent sections who ejected Lord Derby and are sustaining Lord
Aberdeen—many ot whom , on Tuesday , voted with Sir Bulwer Lytton , and none of whom voted for the Government without reluctance . Tho Ministerialists and the Tory Opposition do not feel the degradation of tho assembly in its present position : tho one side has private compensation for public insignificance ; tho othor , hoping for its own turn , doe 3 not quarrel with a system which answers its own purposes . Tho mortification for the independent members must bo all tho greater at this subversion of Parliamentary Government , that it is tlio result of their own -want of
organisation . Mr . Colxlen , in a speech in which tho man of genius escaped from tho dogma of Peace , ami in which he indicates the possibility of his participating , with the liberal party , in tho conduct of tho wnr , has said that tho House of Commons was losing its independence iu not making conditions with the Government . That is precisely the view we
have ventured so frequentl y to suggest ; but of what avail is it in Mr . Cobden to say this and not to act on it ? Will he , or who will , dare to be " factions , " and compel the Ministers to remember that there is an English theory about English freedom ? The Times has said this week , speaking of the failure of the Government in the war : — . " These tilings go to make up an aggregate of helpless disorder and hopeless confusion , which oat Government must find speedy means of terminating , or they will infallibly induce the conviction that we may trust the aristocracy to administer the affairs of peace , but must dive to a lower station of society for the tact , the talent , and the energy requisite for meeting tlie fierce and urgent emergencies of
war . There are , we believe , men in the House of Commons numerous enough aud able enough to take the g-overnment out of the hands of tlie aristocracy . That , however , is an idea "which will not be generally accepted until the progress of the war has thickened the national disasters .
But even already members must feel that the Government is in their power , if they cho ' ose to exercise their power . We do not doubt that the threat of resignation was a reality : the Coalition would be glad to escape from the responsibility of a war to which they are unequal . Such threats , nevertheless , should have little influence : for there is nothing more certain than that there must be a Coalition Government , and we could scarcely have a worse one .
Whence The Foreign Legion Is To Come. Mi...
WHENCE THE FOREIGN LEGION IS TO COME . Ministers have told us nothing whatever respecting 1 the sources from which they hope to draw the Foreign Auxiliary Legion , and their silence on that point is so remarkable as in itself to suggest more than one important interpretation . There are three modes in which the bill can be used , and we are not to suppose that the authors of the measure are blind to thfc powers which they have asked from Parliament .
The first mode would be , simply to enlist the subjects of such Governments on the Continent as would be willing ; to give their permission for that purpose . There are many Governments which mig-ht be willing- to do so . Austria , we may suppose , would bring all her own forces into the field ; but wo may look for willing 1 supplies from Brunswick , and some of the minor Governments of Germany , which pay some soldiers , and breed more soldiers , but have very little means to render their armies locomotive ,
or to use them effectively for aggressive purposes . They have already signified their sympathy in the war , and would probably be glad to enlist in the army of tho allies , as identifying themselves with the winning party on easy terms . Switzerland has a habifc of lending its soldiers . Belgium might furnish a contingent , though Belgian soldiers do not stand at a high
quotation . Portuguese are already volunteering , and would of course be lent by our ancient ally , who is out of harm's way , and only desires to conciliate England . Spain would probably reciprocate the loan sho had of Sir JL > e Lacy Evans ' s Legion ; and Spaniards can fight well . Tuscany is about to receive Lord Normanby aa Envoy—and all Italians arc proud to bo thought Tuscans .
To the second use of tho bill wo have already alluded . It g-ives Ministers the power of onlisting loroigu soldiers—a powor they intend exorcising . Governments Ol * tu 0 Continent might place themselves in this position , that they should not bo allies coming into the field with their armies , that tliey should , in fact , lend no assistance whatever in tho contest , yet that they should not ( hue bo enemies , and yet futhor , thut tho position of neutrals would bo abso-
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 23, 1854, page 11, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_23121854/page/11/
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