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July 26, 1851.] ®f)£ &£&&*?* 703
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HOW TO PUSH REFORMS FOR " NEXT SESSION."...
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PRIVILEGES OF A GENTLEMAN. If innumerabl...
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REALITIES. Sometimes the Pensive Public ...
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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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July 26, 1851.] ®F)£ &£&&*?* 703
July 26 , 1851 . ] ® f ) £ & £ &&*?* 703
How To Push Reforms For " Next Session."...
HOW TO PUSH REFORMS FOR " NEXT SESSION . " It is as well to bear in mind the hints which Lord John Russell has thrown out as to the points which a new Reform Bill may contain . Not because we regard those hints as pledges , or expect to see his bill of " next session" come up to implied promises , which will have served his purpose when the general election shall be over ; but because they are admissions available for those who will know how to use the disappointment which his bill must create .
1 . He has hinted that a new Reform Bill should give a larger extension of the suffrage than Mr . Locke- King's bill would have given . 2 . It must include some direct representation of " the working-classes . " 3 . He does not think it necessary to retain the property qualification for Members . This is decided progress . The ballot has always been " an open question , " and the House of Commons has twice been pledged to it . Even payment of Members Lord John now objects to in a defensive tone which is very tempting to aggressive expectancy . The Times talks of Scarborough as if the distribution of electoral districts must be so far
altered as to do away with boroughs servile through theirsmallness . And the Ministerial Globe has spoken of universal suffrage as the only alternative to the Russell bill ; whence hardy expecters might anticipate that , if Lord John Russell were defeated , he would , in opposition , stand up for the Charter . And we believe it quite possible . What he said about tenant-right on Saturdayhow he had been prevented from acting on behalf of the Irish tenants by the extreme views of some parties ^ -implies that if he were in opposition he would be very available for the new land movement in the sister island .
We want so bold and clear-sighted a man in Opposition ; there is none such at present ; and on the Speaker ' s left band , Lord John would find himself once more without a rival . We quite sympathise with his impatience to be there . Not that he exhibits that impatience . No ; he conceals it with the stoical fortitude of the Spartan boy , who would not display the stolen fox , although it was gnawing his vitals . So Lord John lets impatience to be in Opposition eat his heart , and keeps up all the while a countenance as if he were quite pleased to be in office . You might almost
think he liked it . Nay ; he gets up an appearance of being- fond of it , even as Scheherazade was fond of life . Under sentence of death , she perpetually put off the execution of her sentence day after day , by promising to tell her Sultan another beautiful story "to-morrow night" ; and her sister always took care to demand that beautiful story . So Lord John promises beautiful measures for " next session "; nnd the press is his Dinarzade . So it was when he was officially decapitated in 1811 : he was just about to introduce his beautiful sugar plan , his corn-law repeal , and all the rest of it .
Hut besides the well-known fact , that Lord John governs ten times better in Opposition than he does in office , there is the other reason which we mentioned last week—that some persons are wanted whose vocation it is to be in j ) lfice , in order that thev may a little set to rights the deplorable confusion of public affairs . This process seems to be necessary before anything can be done . Some twenty years ago , according to gossip then current , a very distinguished regiment made its barracks so filthy , that no other liked to eoino after it ; and another regiment , it was said , actually did mutiny at the sight
of the cleaning bout , bequeathed to it ; just as Lord Stanley and his party mutinied in the last " Ministerial crisis" at the wight of the state in which the public offices were to be left . Still , in such cases , on sanitary and other grounds , it is very necessary to have a change of regiments . And in the present case , preeminently so . Untangled as Lord . John is with the revolt-inciting ( Jrey for Colonial Minister--with a member of the Austrian Detective Forco in plain clothes for Foreign Minister—with
truth-loving , consistent-Kudical llawe . s , for tho model man of the Cabinet—with a whole du . stheap of old measures mid their wrecks—tho three or four Anti-Papal Hills , besides the cuckoo ' s " nest egg , " which ho will " carry" under tho name—with the Poor Luw Bills , which are said to have grown quite out of date and mouldy in thecloHot—with the Law Amendment Bills nnd Chancery ReformH , which have been clipped and Hhiftcd until be haw quite lout count , and does not know which in which—with tho Budgets , past , present , and to
come , and the income tax , and his own mind not made up about all those terrible schedules—with Finality and Progress—with Bishops , Romish , Romanizing , and Anti-Roman—with Durham letters and old speeches about the puerility of minding territorial titles—with royal speeches about agricultural distress and no pitch hot—with crotchetty Lord Grey as cross as two sticks , and threatening to resign every time one talks reason to him—with Lord Truro for Chancellor , as bad as Cottenham for spoiling law reform dodges—with a Privy Council settling spiritual affairs , and an Archbishop declaring that that is not his placewith Lord Lansdowne wanting to wash his hands of it all , and those cursed Irish Members not
noticing any wishes to be quiet—with " independent" Liberal Members so pliant that they can ' t get up the slightest pressure from withoutwith that plaguy Cape standing up for its rights , and Canada getting obstructive about the clergy reserves , and Australia angry about the transportation delusions—with the Customs convicted of [ but we must not venture upon libels , so we will call it ] erroneous proceedings against great public
companies—with every public department in disorder , every class of measures in such confusion that the official authors have clean forgotten what they themselves meant , finance in an impracticable state of hitch for " next session , " and all sorts of promises standing over—with all these incidents of utter embarrasment and disorder , unquestionably the thing wanted is a change of regiments to clean the barracks and put the furniture straight . Can we get on without it ?
Privileges Of A Gentleman. If Innumerabl...
PRIVILEGES OF A GENTLEMAN . If innumerable instances of individual failure , perpetually coming before the public in the papers , were not sufficient to cast clouds of doubt over the honourable estate of matrimony , the pleadings cf the bar in cases of breach of promise n ight be taken as the greatest libel on the institution . Look at the defence by Mr . Sergeant Wilkins in the case of "Johnston versus Boughey . " We need not meddle with the merits of the case itself , as disclosed in the evidence ; we are not criticising Mr . Wilkins ' s professional merits , which are probably considerable ; we simply extract from his speech , that statement which he presented to the jury as a narrative of just and manly conduct
Mis 3 Johnston is a young lady , twenty years of age , the daughter of an hotel keeper ut Hull Mr . Wilkins could say nothing to disparage her character . The defendant is twenty-nine years of age , " good-looking , well brought up , carefully educated ; " " of distinguished appearance , of ancient family , of large family connections , of great elegance of manners , and poor—a captain in the army ; " " a gentleman and a man of honour . " He proposed on the second day after seeing the lady ; there was a courtship of ten dayj- " , and then Captain Boughey went , with his regiment , to Berwick , whence he wrote letters which gradually cooled , until he broke oil" the match at a final
interview for that purpose . The young lady ' s father had once kept a " gin shop . " Mr . Wilkins admitted that there was not anything disgraceful in his doing ho , or in his afterwards being able to keep the Royal Hotel . Then why did he state it ? He stated it—we quote his own words—¦ " to justify , but to exonerate the defendant . " " The plaintiff ' s parents were too ready to encourage the defendant ' s attention to their daughter . "
" The letters put in showed little more than the relation of a barrack life , and were mon ? about catching trout , than of affection to the plaintif !' . The very moment the offer was made ; it had been nccepied . Wh ; it would have been tho position of the . plaintiff had tin : defendant married her ? Where u limn married into a family belovv hin own , tin ; members of liis fitiaiiy paused the wife ; hy ; nhe was . slighted , and the neecasmy consequence was t lx . it their hiippines . s was mm red ; and although young ladies might indulge in the chimera of love in a cottage , men of the ; world knew well that , poverty under iir-( 'umstauc . o . s such jih thin c ise presented , did not . <• , n-
duce to hiippiiu'K . s . Tin ; defendant , no doubt , had been remonstrated with , nnd it had been i upressed upoik him , that lie had nothing to depi nil on hut his pay in the army . The natur . d consequence would have been that lie must htivo sold out , when he would have been unfit for any other occupation . Tho money which htu conuui . sniou would have pro . luetd would have been booh gone , the repiouchcB und coldness ol hin family would beget coldnexti from him mid between them , and a lifo of misery und uwhappiiichh would have been the result . lie thought the jury -would conclude with him , that the defendant had acted winel y in doing as he had done , nnd that ,
so far from having acted with barbarity , his conduct showed from beginning to end , that he was making a sacrifice of his own feelings and affection to hia sense of right to her . In all respects the union would have been an incompatible one . He would have been shocked by her gaucheries in the drawingroom , though what she did would be proper enough in her own station in life ; and this also would have led to discontent and coldness between them . " Mr . Wilkins had previously said of the young lady , "There she stood , at a time of life when impressions of this kind were soon obliterated , with the whole world before her , and not much damaged by what had occurred " /
Nothing is said against the young lady , her conduct seems to have been irreproachable , her appearance engaging—until vexation " damaged" her , but " not much , " as Wilkins avers . The defendant is " a gentleman and a man of honour , " an officer of manners that show his distinguished birth , —precisely the man , according to Wilkins , to attract affection and confidence ; he offers his hand and proposes marriage , but the lady's father had been an innkeeper—which the captain knew from the first ;
" the very moment the offer had been made , it had been accepted "; the captain had been reminded that he had only his pay to look to , " he would have been shocked by her gaucheries in the drawing-room . " Such are the reasons , according to Mr . "Wilkins , which justify " gentleman and a man of honour" in breaking off an engagement with a lady . We do not know that the Captain would have urged this plea with his own lips ; we do not know that Mr . Wilkins would have done so
personally ; it was done professionally . The jury took a graver view of the compact , and rated its breach at £ 300 . Licence to sport with the feelings of young ladies , even though the ladies be no better than innkeepers' daughters , are growing more expensive than shooting licences for the season .
Realities. Sometimes The Pensive Public ...
REALITIES . Sometimes the Pensive Public seems bitten by the desire to play at politics , and to recreate itself among fantastical imaginations of things , as if tired of realities ; and this symptom will exhibit itself in several members of the body politic at once , or even in more than one country . Here is our own House of Commons playing at keeping up the exclusion of Jews ? , when we all know that the { fame is over . The honourable Members repeated the old discussion , turning on a fevv words which were not meant to keep out the
Jews , and are not material to the object of the oath , which is to Keep out ; the : Pope a id Popish Princes . What a spectacle ! Members are solemnly standing askew of the question , and manfully opposing Mr . . Salomons , lest they infringe the principle of the Act of Settlement , and let in Victor Emanuel , of Sardinia , to oust Queen Victoria ; King Victor Einanucl having no thought of rivalling her most gracious Majesty , no connection with Mr . Alderman Salomons , no plan of creeping on to the British throne through Lord John ' s Jew Hill ; nor has Lord John ottered the said throne to
tlui said Victor Einanuel . Again , the House of Commons is standing out as manfully as if it hud not five times agreed to let in Jews ; five times hath Lord John llusse'l voted , and now he cannot abide Mr . Salomons '* getting in ; and the House is us obstinate as if the Jews would not soon be there , -sitting , speaking , and voting , as naturally as if they had done it since the Reform Bill . Over the water , there is the National Assembly of Fiance ; resisting aggression " on the Kepubiic ,
just as if ( here were not no ' inis to be a stand ui > just as it ( here were not going to be a stand up fight in May next . You would think from their manner , that they were settling it all now , with speeches and votes !
One of their cleverest men , who lives in revolutions , and is cut out by nature for a soldiei , oiiich over to the Peace Congress , which is sitting Holemnly in Exeter Hall , to censure political thunder-storms . Tin : <«' reut Hear of the : North , . say the gentlemen in broad-brims , ujiould not growl und hug , fur it . is wicked ; but . if be does , naughty men must not do so in turn : good ( Miristimn should like to be hugged ; when one cheek i « smitten , turn fhe other ; war is expensive and wasteful , nasty , horrid ; and ho at Exeter-hall they " tttHolvc" to leave oil fighting . With IH 52 brewing I
M . " J ) clbrook" lay * great atvam on the unmoral tendency of letting little boys play at soldiers , or girls drcs . s their dolls in flinty : if JM thus , he way * , that girl « Jearn coquetrihluiewM arid boy « love of war . M . Delbroolt , editor of the Revue dc VlZdu-
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), July 26, 1851, page 11, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_26071851/page/11/
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