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30 The Leader and Saturday Analyst. ! Ja...
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THE ANGLO-FRENCH UNION. "TTTE do not rem...
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PHYSICAL EDUCATION AND THE RIFLE MOVEMEN...
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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 Queen's Speech. Rphe Account Which M...
fragmentary portion ? Unless we are greatly misinformed there areTsome among- the members of the Government who are weak enough to have been duped into the vain imagination that this breaking of their measure to pieces would be an admirable expedient for at once baulking their adversaries and bamboozling the people ; If they be not greatly belied , they have been caught by the specious pretence that the extension of the Franchise is a subject apart from all others , and one which ought to be settled first , before discussing the mode of voting , or the re-distribution of seats . Nothing can . be more untrue or unsound . .
An extension of the suffrage in boroughs from £ 10 to £ 6 would make the constituency of many large towns—already too numerous—wholly unmanageable , while it wonld fail to render the constituencies of the forty or fifty boroughs that now possess from two to four hundred electors independent . The mischief of overgrown constituencies is quite as manifest in its effect on the representation as the mischief of diminutive , ones , We are no advocates for uniformity , and we are quite content that there should always be the degree of diversity that would exist between constituencies of one thousand electors and constituencies of five thousand . But , when we have already in . Liverpool and Manchester IS , 000 voters respectively , in Marylebbne and in
Finsbury , 20 , 000 , and in many counties from 10 , 000 to 12 , 000—it does seem something very like turning the whole subject into burlesque , to hazard the passing of a Franchise Extension Bill , of which , the ' re-allotment of seats should form no part ; The policy is doubtful enough of conferring the franchise without the protection of the ballot on persons in humble station j in small or moderate sized constitiiencies , as it is in these that intimidation will always be exercised so long as it is permissible by law . But it were a great aggravation of this evil , as well as of many others , merely to add to the numbers entitled to vote , without at -the same time , and by the same Act , sequestrating close boroughs sincT dividing a considerable number of the largest counties and towns . . ¦ ¦ ~ " .. ¦ : ¦ ¦ . - ¦¦¦ ¦
30 The Leader And Saturday Analyst. ! Ja...
30 The Leader and Saturday Analyst . ! Jan 28 , 1860 .
The Anglo-French Union. "Ttte Do Not Rem...
THE ANGLO-FRENCH UNION . "TTTE do not remember a . time when a distinct declaration of VV English policy upon an important foreign question , such as was contained in the Queen's Speech on Tuesday was more likely to have a beneficial effect upon the affairs of Europe and our own i - elations with other States . And although Loi'd Nokmanby , combining the dullness of the dotard with the virulence of the partisan , sought to render service to the wretched cause of the dethroned potentates of Italy , and excite alarm in this country by flaunting pictures of the warlike preparations of France , the straightforward way in which the British Cabinet has met the assembled parliament will strengthen the popular
conviction , that if Europe is again compelled to witness an appeal to arms , the friendship between the Governments of London and Pans will be preserved intact . In this country we have a oneeyed party , who cannot see the connection between the vigorous movements of England to maintain her naval superiority , and the increasing consideration in which she is held by foreign States ; but Lord Nokmanby , with more absurd anxl culpable blindness , ignores the general condition of Europe , and lipou grounds of false reasoning recommends a distrust of France at
the very moment when . the policy of that great country is more in harmony with English views than at any former period of her history . It may be quite true that French arsenals and dockyards exhibit as much activity " as if they were going to war next week j" but unless a career of diplomacy is to be regarded as a process for losing onq ' s wits , his Lordship ought to know enough of continental affairs to perceive that any suspicion of weakness or want of vigilance on the part of Franco would lend to a combined reactionary movement
against nil the advantages which Italy has gained through French assistance , and to an overthrow of tliut prestige of success in a good cause , which is a most important source of strength to the Empire of Napoleon III . If the war preparations of France are spoken of , wliy not those of Austria ?¦ —who , while reducing tho number of privates in her army , bus so enlarged its framework ^ that it might on a short notice bo made more powerful than before . What , also , of the Papal League , which is endeavouring to entangle Eussia , and
which is , to all appearances , rapidly trending the rond to strife ? At Homo , Count BuoL-r-going under tho diplomatic veil of "benefiting hi 3 health "—r-reinforccs Baron Bach , and assists in plpttinjr reactionary and absolutist schernds . Already the Austro-Papal party h « vo succeeded with Spain , Naples , and South Germany , ami they < iro alleged to bo in league with tho ultramontane bishops in Franco , who hope to restore tho Bourbons to the . throtui . Tho King of Bavaria supplies arms to a regiment rcoruitod in his dominions for tho survioo of tho Popo ;
Wurtomberg has a concordat with the Holy Father ; and , in spite of the opinion of the people , the rulers of Saxony and Baden have enrolled , themselves among . his supporters . The Morocco war ^ into which Spain was cunningly assisted by France , may for years render her aid to the Pap . al . confederation of little effect ; but enough disturbing elements remain to make the military and naval activity of France fully explicable without anticipating a quarrel with ourselves . The conduct of Austria may , at any moment , lead to a revolution in Hungary , or further complications in Italy ; and if the French Government is determined to hold its ground , , it must be prepared to meet any decision to which the Russian Court may arrive . The Czar is certainly not friendly to Austria , and he has enough to do with his great and difficult measure affec
of emancipating his serfs ; but as an absolute sovereign , ting to rule by Divine Right and despising popular will , he must dread the impetus given to liberal principles by the attitude of England and France , and it would be hazardous to predict the course he will take when the inevitable moment comes for the rescue of Venetia and the emancipation of Hungary . It is well that these facts should be borne in mind , because , although they ought not to lead to any desire for the cessation of prudent preparations in this country , they are sufficient to show that France is justified in increasing her armaments without the slightest reference to any probability of difficulties with ourselyes . Indeed , if England and France are united in spirit , the physical power which they can wield may be the very means of preventing dangerous enterprises which the absolutist Powers might otherwise undertake .
Morally speaking , there can be no peace in Europe until liberal ideas have triumphed ; but our . looms and forges may be active , and our merchants indulge in their ventures without alarm , if the two most civilized and powerful nations are agreed that a rational doctrine of non-intervention shall be asserted and enforced .- - That more collisions of armed hosts will occur may be the unavoidable result of the transition-state of affairs ; but although England will not have the absolute
predominance to i-ealizeCanning ' swell-remembered quotation of iEoLirs sitting Upon his rock and ruling the storms , there can be no doubt we may- have the power to mitigate the evils and embrace the benefits of the strife ; and it has fallen to the lot of few sovereigns to-utter words of greater power than those in which Queen Victoria has embodied the sentiments of the nation over which she presides , and claimed for the Italian people the absolute right to determine their own form of government and manage their own affairs . . "
Physical Education And The Rifle Movemen...
PHYSICAL EDUCATION AND THE RIFLE MOVEMENT . THHERE is one advantage that will result from the volunteer ¦*¦ system and its rigorous drills , apart from any warning or deterring influence the " movement" may produce abroad , which has not hitherto been alluded to by our contemporaries . We allude to the valuable effects that will arise from more attention being paid to physical education . We do not mean to say that the daily marchings and countermarching ^ , laying down and picking up of rifles , were the first inklings w 6 had that a strong body was a most valuable ally to a strong mind ; and that , in fact , a strong mind doing anything in a puny body was like Captain Cook trying to go round the world in a cranky Thames wherry .
" Mens saria in cornore Bano , being a motto we have had by us on copy slips , & o , ever since the days of Tjiales or of Solon ' . But for the last ten years or so , there ha " s been a growing impression that our educationalists were rather pampering the mind at the expense of its old friend , and partner , the body ; and symptoixw of a reaction in favour of the latter have been visible ^ in various ways , to those thoughtful men , who do tho " thinking" for the nation , and , keeping their
fingers on the people ' s pulse , report from time to tune its indications of health or disease . Muscular Christianity , or the doctrine of giving a man who givos you one blow two in return , which Mr . Kingslby preaches , has been one of the strongest literary diagnostics of this national alarm ; and the author of " Torn Brown " has followed up this by showing that the peace-making upon which Christianity pronounced its eternal boatitudo was best secured by hitting your antagonist as hard from tho shoulder and as straight between tho orbs of sight as possible .
Ten years ago or so , tho Clubs wore filled with elderly and rheumatic perennials , who- prophesied that the greatness of the English nation had passed away with tho wonderful men—* " tho three-bottlo men " — -of Pitt ' s time ; that young follows now spoiled their nervos with tea , nud othor womanish drugs j that fox-hunting no longer meant a long day ' s hard riding , from seven a . m . to four J ? , M ., but was . a more steople-chase flash of lightning ,
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 28, 1860, page 4, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_28011860/page/4/
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