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S98 THB LEAPEB. [No. 422, Apbii, 2V1858.
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THE ROTTEN LI BELIAL BENCHES. There is a...
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SARDINIA'S DANGER, ENGLAND'S DISGRACE. S...
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.
Trial Of Bernard And Trial Of The Allian...
In Ranee itself , the influence of Dr . Bernard s acquittal nmsfc be ia the highest degree conducive to a cordial understanding between the two countnea . They who were insulted when we followed * shouting-, the car of success—tbey who heard us congratulate the man who had his foot on their necks—they who saw us abased in our adoration of blood-stained purple , now know that the homage was offered as much to France as to the French Emperor . We are no longer alienated , as a nation , from the men of the future in France ; what was dilatorily done at Westminster was done decisively at the Old Bailey . The country that seemed the home of Uourtaristo
immoral ambition , that deputed its , - cracy , statesmen , Church , municipalities , literature , journals , and mobs to swell the imperial procession , has explained away those demonstrations , inconsistent wxth its history and its renown , by protesting against the persecution of a solitary refugee . We have kneeled at Juggernaut , but we have not taken Juggernaut into our councils . The manly enthusiasm ¦ of 1858 may be balanced against the brawling sycophancy of 1855 . Twelve jurymen at the Old Bailey have been the representatives of this expiation ; but they only embodied the general opinions and sentiments of the country . The public voice went their
with them into the jury-box , and ratihed verdict when they emerged from it . The Univers is right : — " The cheers raised in triumph for Simon Bernard were the heart of England herself . " The Univers is again right . The cheers of the London multitude were " far preferable to the dull compliments with which the municipal council of Dover fatigued the frankness of the Duke of Malakhoffon the preceding day . " But when the Univers says that the British people have " decided in favour of assassination , " it feebly perverts the truth , and when Paris gossip counts the guns at Cherbourg and the fleets in the French , ports or hovering on the French coast , they resort to a very childish
endeavour to frighten our juries into acquiescence . All this rhodomontade is very insincere , besides being very ridiculous . The Imperialist writers perfectly well know that the jury which exonerated M . Bernard from the charge of felony acted upon their consciences , independently of the judge , the bar , the Government , and of military demonstrations abroad . Mr . Edwin James had described to them the intrinsic meaning and purport of the prosecution , and , taking bis view , and considering the weakness and inconsecutive irregularity of the evidence , they drove the prosecution out of court . rabid
What next , and next ? The Unioers is ; the Constilutionttel declares that a dishonest jury has given a perjurious verdict . But it is fortunate that , at least on this side of the water , the Constituiionnel is read parallel with the criticisms of the Times correspondent , who , with admirable wit and a jtrojpos , under cover of the Prisoner of Ham ' s works , shatters the sycophants of the Emperor . We think it is worth while to incur the displeasure of two or three Imperial prints in order to re-establish our relations of reciprocity with the virtue and intelligence of Prance .
S98 Thb Leapeb. [No. 422, Apbii, 2v1858.
S 98 THB LEAPEB . [ No . 422 , Apbii , 2 V 1858 .
The Rotten Li Belial Benches. There Is A...
THE ROTTEN LI BELIAL BENCHES . There is a section in the House of Commons which entitles itself supremely The Liberal . Its members are returned by constituencies where the majorities are in favour of a large and free suffrage , the ballot , religious liberty , and all else that comes within the scope of the Reformer ' s ordinary creed . From ninety to a hundred of these gentlemen sit on the benches distant from the Speaker ' s chair , and claim to bo ranked as independent of party , and purely devoted to the popular interest . Occasionally one of the number hesitates a remark upon a passing topic , moves for leave to bring in a bill , is outvoted , and
retires to bis isolation unsupported by thoso who profess to share his opinions . When , on Tuesday , Mr .-Cox . raiscd . tho . qucatiou-botwecn-septojanial . and triennial parliaments , fifty-seven members of the House of Commons permitted theroaqlves to be clamoured down by nn impatient majority—olnmoured themselves down , it is hinted . They voted j but what of that P Tltey could not hope to carry the measure . They might , however , have drawn on a debate instead of being routed by Mr . Walpole . Would a speeoh from Mr . Cox and a Bneeoh from the Homo Scorotary have beggared the discussion , had there been the slightest unity , plan , or sjpirit among the independent Liberals P They
never co-operate ; they dangle upon the skirts of the two great parties ; they oscillate between one Whig and another ; they are cowed by social influences ; they are petrified by some agency not present on the hustings ; and m Parliament they are worse than useless . The last election returned several men on trial , who cannot too soon be carted out of Westminster and restored to local fussiness and obscure activity . An Imperial Legislature is clearly
not the place for them , nor will it be possible , wnen another general election occurs , to explain this explicitly to the body of voters without analyzing the personal history ot Liberalism in Lord Palmerston ' s Parliament . Tnere are some curious contrasts upon the roll—contrasts between one session and another , contrasts between the platforms of townhalls and vestry-rooms and the green benches of the House of Commons .
There is , however , one cry against the Liberal party as a whole in which we will not join . It is , that they are disorganized . This is a Tory exclamation of ancient date , resulting from a total incapacity to comprehend the conditions essential to a Liberal party . Toryism is naturally square and solid . It moves slowly ; It inherits traditions . It is the rearmost bulk of the political army . But Liberalism throws out its skirmishers on every side , marches in open columns , occupies scattered heights , is influenced by gradations of opinion . While its rear-guard is quitting the Conservative camp , its advanced guard is leading forlorn hopes , and suffering continual repulses . This is inevitable ,
and not to be regretted . If the Liberal party is to obey one leader , who shall that leader be ? Lord Palmerston ? Lord John Russell P Mr . John Bright ? Shall he be Sir James Graham or Mr . Horsman ? Mr . Roebuck , or any other member celebrated for breaking the force of Parliamentary collisions ? Or shall a rabble of Parliamentary vagrants , who have imposed themselves upon credulous constituencies , be dignified as the independent Liberal party , when their services are given to faction , and their slippery politics are merely identical with their fickle personalities ? If it be impossible , and
undesirable , as we believe , that all the Liberal elements in Parliament should be subdued to one level , thus eliminating the very principles of expansion and growth , and rendering the Liberal party only an advanced parallel of Toryism , it is degrading to the country that the most pretentious Liberals in the House of Commons should be the most silent , servile , and iucapablc , without the energy of a faction or the cohesion of a party . The courage that swaggers upon the hustings is consumed by the dry rot of Parliamentary cynicism , and when the young members bawl " Divide 1 " Liberalism slinks into the lobby with its train of
mutes . If we are far from regretting that the Parliamentary Liberals are not lumped together like the Tories , it is impossible not to confess that the advancing section appears hopelessly composed . Their own explanation is , that they want a leader ; but they cannot lead , and will not be led . They think their work is done when they have appointed committees and issued manifestoes ; and tuck conscience is clear if , attending sedulously , they vote for Liberal measures . Some of their number , no doubt , arc troubled by the ambiguity of their position , and by the compromises they arc compelled to make , in ordor
to conciliate their constituents , Here cometh a champion of religious liberty , who defends ministers ' money in order that he may not bo compelled \ a attack Mttynootli . There is a tearless itadicaJLjjpiro , morally dissatisfied with the timidity of Liberal journalism , yet persuades himself to wear the Palmerston crest . Now , emerging from the House of Commons , forty members fly off at as many tangents , not even assembling at tho same club or concerting their political plans together . Wo will not inolude all in one category . There are thoso who have initiated careers of careful vigour ; there are those who have been deterred from action by . peculiar
circumstances . But tliorc arc others , the most worthless ftotaon and jctaam , flung into Parliament by shifting winds and frothy waves . This jpouticol drift-wood , wo hope , will bo burned up at the next elcotoral conflagration ; the pretenders have been tried , and are failures . They are without purpose , courage , or conviction ; and while they enoumbor the benches of the Houso of Commons , no wonder that Parliamentary liberalism is a furco , and that Ministers are expected to bo supercilious , and members to laugh when a reply is made from tho Treasury bench to a proposal IVoin the Uoformors below tho gangway . What , during tho present avid tho past sessions , have boon tho labours of tho hundred
gentlemen who call themselves Radicals ? Didtliev defeat the Conspiracy Bill ? Did they even forcf the Premier to treat them with ordinary courtesv ? Did they influence one point in the diplomacy of the Cabinet ? They did nothing ; and while tliev are what they are , nothing will be done for the Liberal party except to enfeeble and humiliate it
Sardinia's Danger, England's Disgrace. S...
SARDINIA'S DANGER , ENGLAND'S DISGRACE . Sardinia is about to be betrayed by England , and with her will be betrayed the dearest interests of this country . We sliall be glad to find our assertion wrong , but it simply expresses the probable result if we leave matters as they now are . Unless the influence of the people be used to prevent the calamity , our Government , in the name of En » laud will play the traitor to our most faithful ally . Tho chance which is impending springs out of the case of the Cagliari , the importance of which , as well as its true position , is scarcely perceived by the public . There is a general impression that Lord Clarendon p layed fast and loose with it . Mr . Disraeli has advertised that his Government intended to demand reparation from Naples on " the national question , " that is , in the interests of Park and Watt ; and Lord Malmesbury has reassured the Peers that Government are still debating what they shall do on " the international point , " that is , on the question whether Naples has or has uot broken the law of Europe . Upon that point , however , with all due deference to the Law Officers of the Crown , there is no doubt whatever . Those eminent individuals , both the past and the
present , have raised some question whether , since the Cagliari steamer was de facto engaged in the service of the insurgents under Nicotera , the armed servants of the King of Naples had not the right to seize her within Neapolitau jurisdiction , or to pursue her even beyond the water-boundary of that jurisdiction , the chase bcin ^ one unbroken proceeding . But , luckily for us , Naples has not left the question in that position . The Cagliari has beea seized , condemned , and disposed of as " prize , " although the Law Officers of tins country , and the Law Officers of any other country , must admit that , like the Carlo Alberto , which conveyed the Duchcssc de Berri to tho coast of France , the Cae-liari was uot prize . The Neapolitan Government
has also claimed to condemn the vessel on the score of " piracy . " Thus the acts at Naples have entirelv stultified the plea which our own Law Officers advanced on behalf of the Neapolitan officials ; and whatever may be the refinement of doubt as to tho right of Naples to capture the Cagliari hi a particular method , it is admitted on all hands that the actual conduct of Naples has constituted a total violation of law . , . It is of course impossible to separate this particular question from the general relations between Naples and Sardinia . Naples represents the most corrupt and despotic government in Italy , bariluua iiu
represents constitutional government . Jjoiu - nierstoh , and other men not suspected of subversive ideas , even Count Walewski , have thought it necessary to remonstrate with the Government of Naples for its intolerable tyranny ; at the same tnno that these very statesmen have appeared m Congress as the allies and coadjutors of the Sardinian Uovornment . The progress of Sardinian influence in Italy necessarily threatens to destroy Neapolitan muuence iu its present condition . The two , in luct , ie « present incompatible elements . Our Government , not without some countenance from others on uo Continent , has , to a certain oxtout , pnlrouiaod tM efforts of Italian Liberals ; ami the Italian LiboinJs have repaid that favour by looking to us tor sympathy mid support . When we were in want ot allies in the Crimea , Sardinia did not find hoi pecuniary resources , or her population , too W"Utty w nflbft us substantial Ad . The ttW ^ JJj vommgnt undertook that at tho next Eu 10 poan TonfcTo ^ t iV ^^ forward ; and it was brought forward—ou y w bo shelved . When tho case of tho Cagli » ° came known iu England , our Government doiftjea interference until at last some stops wore ]^ wow able ; and then Lord Clarendon restrained I » ou to little more thnn correspondenoo and » iui « In tho oouroa of this correspondence , bit ' , Hudson , our roproaoutativo at Turin , was m » U ^ to inquire whether tho Surcliniiiu Governing l in tended to opnoao tlio proooodiugs at JNiiploa » ' | . casq of the Cagliari P Tho Scorctary ol Legation
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), April 24, 1858, page 14, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_24041858/page/14/
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