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»i f/ *^ ^^ / < / ^ <M A * aft t x. POLI...
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"The one Idea -which. History exhibits a...
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REVIEW OF THE WEEK— i'age Naval and Mili...
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D J B{ of VOL. VIII. No. 362.] SATURAY, ...
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KOT only Ministers, but Members and cons...
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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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.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
»I F/ *^ ^^ / < / ^ <M A * Aft T X. Poli...
» i f / *^ ^^ / / ^ < M A * aft t x . POLITICAL . AMD LITERARY REVIEW . _
"The One Idea -Which. History Exhibits A...
"The one Idea -which . History exhibits as evermore developing it 3 elf into greater distinctness is tlie Idea of Humanity—the noble endeavour to throw down , all tne barriers erected between inen by prejudice " a . nd one-aidedviews ; and , by setting aside the distinctions of Religion , Country , and Colour , to treat the whole Human , race as one brotherhood , having ; one great object—the free development of our spiritual nature . "—Humboldt's Cosmos .
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GTotttcnts :
Review Of The Week— I'Age Naval And Mili...
REVIEW OF THE WEEK— i'age Naval and Military ..... 201 i A Diplomatic Duel .. 205 I German Protestantism 211 Imperial Parliament 194 'Miscellaneous 201 The Warning to Reformers 201 ) ¦ ! A Medley of Novels 211 State of Trade lftti Postscript 202 The Victoria Cross .. 2015 j Hip van Winkle Awake .... .. 212 Tho Great Colliery Explosion . 196 - „ ,- » , _— ,...-.,, Free ISuiijrrants and Cotton 206 Tuc hdtc-Accidents and Sudden Deaths .. 197 OPEN COUNCIL— ^ Mental Alisonation , .... 207 m , , , ' . 010 Ireland 197 ' Common Sense of tho Bank Theatrical Notes 212 Australia ; ............ 197 Charter Question" 202 LITERATURE- _____ TheOrienb 197 piiri ir affairs— a America ...... . 197 PUBLIC AFFAIRS— Summary ; ; 20 S ¦ ¦¦ Continental Notes ... 198 Mr . Disraeli ' s Debate .. 201 The New Edition of Bacon 20 S i The Gazette 212 Our Civilization 199 China iivParliament . 201 The Life of Louis Napoleon ..... .. 209 ! rnMM-ar , , APFAiRq-Gfttherings from the Law and Po- Official Refusal of a Final Search Christianity and Infidelity 210 ! commtRCiftL mi- /\ ms > lice Courts ........ 200 for Franklin 205 Hieroglyphic Science 210 I . City Intelligence , Markets , & e . 213
D J B{ Of Vol. Viii. No. 362.] Saturay, ...
D J B { of VOL . VIII . No . 362 . ] SATURAY , l ^ EBBUABT 8 l _ 1857 . __ jtoj gg ™ ; rS ^_
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JUtrimr nf tlje-Htolt ,
Kot Only Ministers, But Members And Cons...
KOT only Ministers , but Members and constituencies , have been put to sore trial during these early weeks of the session , and the events are gradually convincing the public that the first good measure will be to sveep avay the present
House of Commons . It is 3 night after night , proving itself totally incapable of controlling either Ministers in office or members who want to get into office ; equally incapable of selecting the best men for those posts . Where it is a question of honourable obligation towards the servants of this country , as in the ease of IFranxun , —of Parliamentary Reform , as in the case of Lockk King and Sir
Joshua Wajlmsle * s motion , —or of finance , —the true description of the position in which honourable members are placed , can be described by no words except saying that they are befooled . No questions before tlie House of Commons have been plainer than those which are raised by the Budget . We described it last week . It is nothing more than a proposal to continue the Budget of 1856 , with tliree alterations , one of considerable magnitude and two of minor importance . The Chahcellor of the Exchequer ,
proposes to give up 9 d . out of the Is . 4 d . in the pound Income-tax , —that is the largest alteration ; he proposes that the diminution of the tea duties , fixed by the existing law for the present year Gd . out of the Is . 9 d ., shall be only 2 d ., and that the sugar duties shall likewise be diminished in the same diminished proportion . He justifies this niodified . abatemcnt of the taxes bj the necessity of paying some outstanding bills on account of the war . Government will be quite cvpen to an inquiry by the House of Commons , whether they have paid the bills at the proper time , and whether they were not paying too much to the contractors and the
crowds of temporarily employed officials who have been engaged . That is the sole practical question . A member should say in the name of bis constituency , "Let me see the bill ; if it is correct , let us pay it off as fast as possible , and ( hen return to peace taxation . " Instead of thus loading the House of Commons to the performance of that plain English duty , which every tradesman in the j country could understand , Mr . Dishaeu attempted I a dodge for the purpose of concealing his own defeat . By remitting so large a part of the Inconic-\ tax , Ministers have taken from him the motion Which ho claimed as his own ; he wanted something
grand to propose before the popular assembly ; and instead of looking closely into the bills , he chooses a magnificent pliilosophical system of accounts , to balance the years ¦ 1853 and 18 G 0 . This is not the way in which business men manage their business ; but it had the effect of enlisting Mr . Gladstone , the author of the budget of 1853 , which Mr . Disraeli is so anxious to fulfil in 18 C 0 ; and out came the spiritual member for Oxford University , with a flood of arithmetical vituperation hurled at Ministers for not having executed in 1857 his designs for 1 SGO .
His allegation was crammed full of blunders , as when he persisted in assuming that they must continue their present rate of expenditure into subsequent years without the slightest warrant for the assumption . The debate thus set going consisted of fanciful accusations , wire-drawn by Mr . Disrault , and swelled into a Ciceronian scolding by Mr . Gladstone , with cool replies by the Chancellor of tiioe Exchequer and Mr . Jamks Wilson . The replies were thoroughly tedious , because any man of sense
could anticipate each argument as it was advanced . The common herd of members occasionally joined in the debate , only to show that they failed to understand it ; while here and there a party man stood forth to mark a new position for himself , as in the case of Lord John IIusrkll , who magnanimously exposed some of Mr . Gladstone ' s fallacies , while he constituted himself the patron of the tea and sugar trades against the proposed increase of taxation upon those articles .
Mr . Gladstone had already announced that be intended to assume the post of champion to liio tea-pot and sugar-basin ; but what tradesman or what man of business would select that hatted missionary in lieu of Lord John IIusskll , who lias taken up Uic subject upon its plain business merits ? Tho supplies of tea arc interrupted by the war with
China , and although the stocks on hand are largo , the commodity is peculiarly unsuited for any increase of fiscal burden . The supplies of sugar are falling short , from the failure of produce in the Western countries and tho diversion of tin : Mauritius trade towards Australia ; the consumer suffers , and this again is an article which the . Chancellor of the Exchequer is relieving rather than burdening .
As to the debating , it was for the most , part an idle parade- ; the result was well known ; and when the division was announced of l 2 H (> to 200 , it scarcely told any news to the members on either side . In the many reforms which press upon its own constitution , the House shows an c ^ ual incapacity
to grapple with the subject : it is at the mercy accidents . Last week it would have carried Mr . Locke King's motion , but for the comparatively feeble accident that Lord Palmerston is personally adverse to reforms . It is this incapacity of the House to arrive at anything like a definite conclusion which suggested to Sir Joshua Waiaisle y the appointment of a select committee to consider the
impediments to the equalization and extension of the franchise . The motion was made asa ^ u alter ; the objections to it are perfectly obvious . It was indeed a censure upon the House of Commons ; for it implied that in a debate upon the constitution of the House and the political liberties of the people , tho fewer the Members tho better the discussion ; and there is much truth in Sir Joshua ' s practical
sarcasm . A disposition is gaining ground not to invoke the House of Commons itself in reform , at least in the earlier stages . As Mr . Locke King is proposing to extend the ten-pound franchise in counties , so in Scotland a party of Eeformers is proposing to extend to that country the English foity-shilling
franchise ; and the two proposals arc more parallel than might in the first instance be supposed . Practically , the same sums represent higher values in Scotland than in England ; and the poorer class in that part of the island is better educated , more intelligent , and more independent . At present the county franchise is , at least in many parts , entirely in the hands of a few individuals . The leaders of
the new movement are endeavouring to strengthen it , and in fact to settle it , before they bring it into the House of Commons . Dr . Begg , who constitutes a deputation from Scotland to England , attended a meeting for the purpose in Palace-yard , on Tuesday , and there he met a number of members who had supported Mr . Locke King's inotion , with other active Reformers . Nothing could have been more inconsistent with the real spirit , of our Government than the declaration of war against Persia , our relations with that
country still being withheld from the cognizance of Parliament ; nothing more repugnant to that spirit than Sir . John Howmng ' s sudden change of policy towards the local government of Canton . The treaty of Pckin secured right of entrance for . Jiritish subjects into live ports , Cantou aino ^ gittham /' In consideration of the character oilJiuy ^ eWl /&> fJj < £ ' ' ¦¦ ' various local circumstances , succc ^ tv (^^^ i tlfi | bi | Cfc ^\ « . ' missioncrs , after negotiation with pic fatlWQibltti & h . ' , Commissioner at Canton , have wu 1 v ^ JtU & { fight ; '' uiiXil the present day . Sir John tfp \^ 3 » ri » wfta no ' " J * . ; . yS . ¦ ¦•¦ •* '¦ ¦ " - ¦ > J ' . ¦ ¦ ; ' ¦ ¦ , < ; : ;¦ 1 ¦ ' ! ' ¦ ¦ ¦¦ . . " : ¦ -- - ¦ ¦
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 28, 1857, page 1, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_28021857/page/1/
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