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86 THE LEADBB. [No.S€7,SAgpBPAY, ^
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BARON MAKTIN AND HIS ASSAILANTS. People ...
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INDIA. A PABAGtttAPH, extracted from "th...
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dbiti^tT (fi^mttTrf I w f ut \UAHUUW*
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—?—[IN THIS -DEPARTMENT, A3 AM. OPINIONS...
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There ia no learned man but will confess...
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SHALL TURKEY BE KEGENERA.TE ? ( To the E...
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Transcript
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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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'Honest Iago.' Sir Robert Peed Is Roaste...
perfectly correct in regarding the Poorlaw provision as tlie conventional quittance of that claim . But the best of the joke is , that the lords—the aristocrats of wliom those working men are so envious—are not the owners of the soil from which -they draw their title ; they are but j > oor men . managing to live in the homes of rich men . The way they do it is not grand . If a man can make
people believe that he has an income from fifty to a hundred thousand a year , they will always lend him money ; and so long as ^ can manage to feeep up that fictitious beHefj he can , on the plan of the French financier , keep on raising loans , and paying the interest with the loans . An Encumbered Estates Court would burst that aristocratic bubble ; but the most pitiable part of it would "be the moral show up of a powerful ,
wealthy aristocracy . And of gentlemen at the clubs , "how many are gentlemen in the old-fashioned sense of the word , how many are swindlers and thieves ? Joseph : Winblh CoiiE would have passed muster at many clubs ; and a Deaet Pjltjx is really better than many of his class , —much better . Between those gentlemen and the Club model it would be extremely difficult to define all the degrees ; they are innumerable . The Court of Bankruptcy of this week gives us an amusing example of the society at the Army and Navy Club . Some time since , there was about town a Mr . TCat a
young gentleman reputed to have a large fortune , and certainly he had a very handsome income . This Oeestes had a Pyiabiis -i-a Captain Johnston " , of the Army and Ufavy Club—a gentleman whose manners and customs are described by Mr . Barley : — _ ¦ * ' He had but vexy small means at the ¦ beg inning , had lived ivath all the outward and risible signs of affluence for a number of years ; for it of ten happened in this country that the appearance of wealth was as effectual in enabling persons to enjoy it—at least for an interval —as the absolute possession of wealth itself . Mr .
Johnston kept carriages and hunters . He had a house in Hillstreet , Berkeley-square ; a « mntry-hous « at Feltham , near Hounslow ; and a third , house in the Rue Castigllone , Paris . He moved in the aristocratic circles . So things ¦ w ent on till April , 1855 . He had given an order to a tradesman to make a greenhouse for 80 Of . The greenhouse Twaa erected , and , he supposed , enjoyed by the aristocratic proprietor . But the tradesman , not being satisfied with tho honour of having erected the greenhouse ^ for Captain Johnston , - wanted his money ; and Captain Johnston , being unable to pay , was arrested
and conducted to prison . Immediately ether tradesmen who had Buppliei Captain Johnston with luxuries lodged detainers . Captain Johnston remained quiet in the Queen ' s Bench one year . He then petitioned the Insolvent Court , and filed a schedule , from which it appeared , ho had creditors to the amount of 119 , 600 ? ., for 80 , 000 ? . of which he stated he had received no consideration , He was appointed to come up in tho Insolvent Court on the 18 th of June , 1 S 56 , but being opposed by creditors , he declined to go through that ordeal , and returned to prison , but very aoon was discharged . "
Of course one can understand tho nexus between the young gentleman of fortune and the older gentleman of distinction . Both were to be seen at Hounslow , in Paris , about Berkeley-square ; and how could any stranger tell the difference between tho two ? One would look as good as the other , as ' warm , ' would be as * open-handed , as gentlemanly . The Orestes has become bankrupt ; he is pursued in the Bankruptcy Court By whom P By his PrLADEs . That is W Hajimoditjb and Aeibtogexton of our day arrange the matter of security between them .
i ? or a tune , at least , the show is as good as the reality the outside paint and stucco will serve the purpose , if you talte care never to let a Robbbt Peel within your doora—a man with eyes to see and a tongue tp peach . It was this secret that constituted the great source of Paul , not John Bean , but John , ot the City of London Union . Twenty years had he been the accredited officer : and so
honest was he , that everybody trusted him . The other collectors saved themselves trouble by getting him to carry their jnoneys to the bank , which he did with great discrimination conveying those moneys , not to the "bank of the Union , but to his own bank . When the "Union found itself in want of a round sum of money , Paul was appointed to divide the amount into the guotas of the several parishes ; and , by making each of the ninetythree quotas a little larger than it should
have been , he created a handsome surpluSj which went into his own pocket ; and since everybody trusted to him so much , nobody was inclined to take the trouble of asking after those particular quotas , of casting up the items of the sum , and establishing a total . If that simple act had been performed , the parishes would soon have found that they were annually paying more than they were called upon to pay . Now John Pattl was
evidently an artist ; he did not trust to appearances alone , but lie made others help him . He performed for himself that which the poet of the opera performs for his hero—he provided himself with a chorus . He got up a club called ' the Concrete , " composed principally of parish officers . He was the soul of its convivialities , a jolly good fellow ; and the delighted guardians , & c , never ceased their admiration of their servant and leader . They gave him a title , —they dubbed him " Honest John Pauii . " "Who can doubt a man who
throughout the City of London , is known by the title of " Honest John Paul ? " On the strength of that , plain John Piiri , a man with a modest , middle-class salary , and no pretensions , was able , in . one year , it is said , to draw the handsome profit of eighteen thousand pounds .
86 The Leadbb. [No.S€7,Sagpbpay, ^
86 THE LEADBB . [ No . S € 7 , SAgpBPAY , ^
Baron Maktin And His Assailants. People ...
BARON MAKTIN AND HIS ASSAILANTS . People are scandalized because Baron Mabtin desires justice even for th & lowest in the land . The loudest and most formal of his assailants is one " Demos , " who writes in the Daily News . Everybody remembers the Judge ' s words ; " Demob " echoes them : — " Wherefore , my lord , should you feel more degraded to find yourself in the place of Pierce than in that of Tester and Burgess , his confederates ?
" True , Agar had trusted Pierce ; but had no trust been reposed in Tester and Burge 38 ? Are we to be told —told , too , by those who should be tlio exponents of all morality—the judges of the land—that the breach of such a trust as Agar ' s is worse than the breach of such a- trust as that reposed in Burgess and Tester by tho railway company who were their employers ? Are wo to be told that the property thus entrusted to their caro is less sacred than the proceeds of a life of crime ; that tho trust to apply this last as the criminal desired i 3 to be more dearly heeded than the trust of the honest , laborious citizens by whose care the railway liad been constructed ?
" Nay , is not the ' honour among thieves' itself a serious evil to society , and ib such ' honour' to be advocated by the judges of tho land ? " Yes , when tho Beggars Opera spoke the morality of society , and the burglar and . pickpocket were heroes , then indeed it might have been that Pierco should be contemned , and Agar become the hero of the eocene I **** * " Again , I aak , would it not bo a good thing to take away from criminals tho proceeds of their crimes ? Yot do you suffer Agar to remain in tho enjoyment thereof . " Can anything , again , bo more indefensible than your declaration that , if you had the power , you would order the Turkish Bonda to bo given up to Agar ' a prostitute ?
" What encouragement to prostitution I Wlmt encouragement to forgers and to thieves 1 And whv to her ?" It is a thankless task to deal with a man who does not know that there is a moral in the ' Beggar ' s Opera . No wonder he cannot toll why Piuitoi ] is more degraded than Burgess or Tester . Men can ; but "Demos" cannot . To betray the trust of a companion is usually folt to bo worso than to betray the trust of an employer ; but " Demos" sees no distinction between Poily and a joint-stock
company . He feels for the wrongs of a commercial association as keenly as for those of woman . He would address his verses as soon to the one as the other . "We can . only say to him , " IJascia le donne e studia la matematica . " " Demos" thinks that Agab remains"in the enjoyment , " & c . —ignorant that Agail enjoys nothing . " And why to her ?" Because she had been unjustly treated . To
render justice is " to encourage prostitution , " and the moralist would put down " the peculiar institution ** of this country by denying justice to the poor slaves of Kegentstreet . This is morality with a revengeance The bonds were the rightful property of Fattny Kjly . They hare strayed into the hands of the Grown ; but they are hers . She has that right , held so sacred in this country , the right of ownership . She has another right , sacred in the eyes of Mr . Baron Ma . bti : n—she is defenceless . And
there have been some who have thought that even Magdalests might be recognized by the Eternal Spirit of Justice .
India. A Pabagtttaph, Extracted From "Th...
INDIA . A PABAGtttAPH , extracted from "the Calcutta Morning Chronicle , has been going the round of the Dondon press , to the effect that positive instructions had been sent out from this country for the annexation of the independent States of Eajpootana . The date even was giveii of the imaginary despatch , authorizing this act of spoliation . "We are in a position to give the most emphatic denial to this report . The Court of Directors have not the slightest intention or desire to annex those States , so long as they preserve the semblance of nationality . On the contrary , they have endeavoured , by all means in their power , to impart stability and prosperity to the Kajpoot Principalities . Some time ago a similar rumour was circulated , withecjual mendacity , regarding the Griiicowar ' s dominions . It ia very clear that the object of these mischievous misstatementa is to create a feeling of unrest in the minds of the native princes , and to render them jealous and distrustful of the British . Government . Perhaps it might be well if Lord Canning were to imitate the open , straightforward policy of his predecessor , and freely communicate to the Indian press such information as may enable tliem to . distinguish between authentic statements and foolish canards . In the present instance , the consequence of his Lordship's reticence has been the uncontradicted circulation of a report , based on . an imaginary despatch , calculated to irritate the native community , and to tlixow discredit on the Indian Government .
Dbiti^Tt (Fi^Mtttrf I W F Ut \Uahuuw*
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—?—[In This -Department, A3 Am. Opinions...
—?—[ IN THIS -DEPARTMENT , A 3 AM . OPINIONS , HOVTEVKK EXTREME , AK " AIXOWKD AN ItXl'ltKSSION , TUB KUIXOU NK 0 JI 8 SA 1 UI . Y 11 OL 1 > 3 II »*• SEW IlKSI'ONSIBLIC TOH NON 1 C ]
There Ia No Learned Man But Will Confess...
There ia no learned man but will confess ho hath much profited by reading controversies , his senses awakened , and hia judgment sharpened . If , then , it be profitable for him to read , why should it not , at least , b e tolerable for hia adversary to -write 7—MlJitOJT .
Shall Turkey Be Kegenera.Te ? ( To The E...
SHALL TURKEY BE KEGENERA . TE ? ( To the Editor of the Leader . ) Sir , — . Many of your readers , in common with myself , must havo perused with astonishment an article io this day's Times ( Jan . 13 ) , in which hopes of the regeneration of Turkey aro based on tho assump tion that the Porto has no longer anything to fear from foreign enemies . But this security is not derived from a consciousness of its own strength—it ia owing to its own admission of its impotence , and tho recognition of ita intrinsic insignificance by tho European l ' owcrs . Wisdom may proceed from tho mouths of hoibaa ana sucklings , and out of tho Btrong may come forth sweetness , but , in human affairs at least , strength has never yet been perfected in weakness . A roan who has lost hia own self-respect and thnt of hJ 8
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 24, 1857, page 14, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_24011857/page/14/
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