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Anrv " T TTT3 XEADB R. [Saturday , SSvJV...
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« THE STRANGER" IN PARLIAMENT. [The resp...
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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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Copyright In News. The Advocates Of A. C...
a man who has read the Times or Herald repeats its intelligence to a writer in an evening paper , is that an independent source ? The paper in which intelligence first appears will still Be exclusively bought by all those to whom very early intelligence is a necessity , or a luxury . An hour ' s start is as good as a week with a stock-jobber . An hour ' s start is as good as a week with all of us when we are anxiously looking for intelligence from the Crimea . Kemuneration will be
obtained for the supply of intelligence in each according to the number of persons interested , because everybody interested would buy the paper in which it first appeared . Are the foreign papers to have a copyright in their news against the Times ?
Anrv " T Ttt3 Xeadb R. [Saturday , Ssvjv...
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« The Stranger" In Parliament. [The Resp...
« THE STRANGER" IN PARLIAMENT . [ The responsibility of the Editor in regard to these contributions is limited to the act of giving them publicity- The opinions expressed are those of the writer : both the Leader and " The Stranger" benedt by the freedom which is left to his pen and discretion . ] ( "A iadgh" )—that is now the report of Parliamentary proceedings . From the general tone of affairs down in Palace-yard , one feels justified in
suggesting that the horse-collar might with appropriateness be added to the British Arms—the Lion would then look more British . This comes from having a wag as a Premier , a noble lord who winks at his Queen , and pokes fun at his country , and whose general notion of his functions in the House is that he should treat the Opposition as Mr . Merryman , in the Ring , treats Mr . Widdieomb . Possessed as he ^ s of the insane liveliness onKe ~ comic writer—a
class who come to public tumbling when a subscription has to be raised for any individual member , induced into actual madness by his professional hilarity—ITiave no doubt that if Lord Palmerston were pressed , he would consent to sing " Hot Codlings " before the session is out . But , as the Britons are a practical people , why do they put up with this feeble imitation of the natural comic ? As the old Lords
are rather used up , why not avail ourselves of our colonial connexions to construct a cabinet of laughing jackasses ? It wouldn't be much more expensive ; for their keepers could get their 500 / . per annum as private secretaries—at present , gentlemen of brains appointed to look after the old Lords—a Hammond being to a Ruiseir as the background female is to the more prominent " dress-lodger " ¦ whom she lets out .
The now constant rising of Palmerston—which means the permanent friskiness of Palmerston—has rendered the club much more attractive ; and when the telegraph between Balaklava and the Ministers , and the Smoking rooms , is actually at work , Coppock ' s business will have a great increase ; it will then be something to be "in , " particularly if the Government , as the last effort of the aristocracy to put down the Times , should turn penny-a-liner , and read out all the news of the day between four and six every afternoon . But in this matter it must be some other Minister than Palmerston who is to
divulge the news on such occasions . He has such an inveterate habit , only equalled by a practised ticket-of-leavo man , of not committing himself by any sort of intelligible answer to any description of question , that he couldn ' t , if he tried , state a plain fact . How ho wns over brought to any , " Yes , " in answer to the Church ' s inquiry whether he would take Lady Palmerston as his wedded wife , is a mystery his best friends have never been able to explain ; and , pf course , a man of that peculiar idiosyncracy would not do as a Government sub-editor in
arranging the news . And , after all , members may bo too ingenuous In assuming that this'new «• triumph of science" will at all facilitate our actual knowledge of events . Considering that the newspapers , with Dews of fourteen days * age , , are constantly reprimanded for giving information to tho enemy , how can we expect that our secretive Governing Classes will be very rapturously eager to announce information of a few hours' youth ? There is a telegraph at work to Vienna ; but the interests of the public serrice seem to have required that wo should know nothing of what has been done , or is to be done
there . The triumph of science , then , may not in the least promote our self government—the English notion of self government being news about ourselves . "It is rumoured , " however , that the absurd negotiations at Vienna are over : Russia has treated our old Lords and the Brummagem Napoleon with derision—Russia , a despotism of intellect , knows the men she has to contend against , and that such men cannot win . We know , then , at last—the affectations of our old Lords are now exhausted—that we havea war before us with some greaterobject than the limitation of Russian ships in the Black Sea to six sail
of the line . The solemn old gentleman , deputed by the Cabinet of solemn old gentlemen , is on his way home from Vienna to confess that he has been going through a ludicrous process of Conference , and that the very blunders which he committed eighteen months ago , in considering that Russia only crossed the Pruth for strategetic purposes , he has committed again this April , in imagining that Alexander the Second would back Russia beyond the point where she stood in the reign of his uncle . We are to have a debate on foreign policy , in the course of which our old Lords will successfully demonstrate that they never have had , and never can have , any statesmanlike conception of the position or duty of England in conflict with aggressive Russia . The men who drifted into
the war will drift in the war . They will " trust" to the co-operation of Austria , who , nevertheless , is too sensible to stir , and they will " rely" on our cordial ally of Trance , and they will " hope" that Frederick William will keep a French army out of Berlin . And they will announce that they will carry on the war with " vigour , " by pouring our Irish and English peasants into the Crimea , and leaving patrician imbeciles to lead them to resultless destruction . Also that , meanwhile , they wilt raise 100 , 000 , 000 / . annual taxes ; and that , if necessary , they will recur to duties on bread , and generally push back England as far as she can go towards 1800 . And the House of Commons will give laughing cheers , vote the money , and leave these veteran idiots to ruin England ,
according to all the forms Of constitutional mcompetency . England has already gone back , has ceased to be England .. Where is the public spirit , the publi c knowledge , the public man , English ? We last week cheered a crowned coquin through our streets ; and this week , what does the apathy , the grin , the" dilettantism , of Parliament—fumbling with Marriage questions and -Wills questions—indicate and illustrate , but ^ the decay of public liberty ? Our public spirit is shown in a quidnuncy clamour for paragraphs from Lord Raglan as to the weather ,
while we abstain from forcing our facetious Premier to tell us what he and his sovereign ( of Paris ) are doing , or about to do , with the history of Europe . Our public liberty is manifested in the enjoyment of a Sebastopol Committee , which puts questions with the crapalous and objectless curiosity of an old Gossip , and which a Duke of Newcastle , or any other clever witness , can play with , as a Humphrey Parry could play with a Pantaloony bench of chattering Sergeants Adams . Our public man displays his heroic patriotism in travelling down to assist at a Mersey ship-launch , and to a besherryed company of
gentlemen and ladies , recapitulating the stale muendoes of a Pall-mall smoking-room—offering to the gushing patriots of a Liverpool 'Change that , by way of aery against Russia , wo should shout " Justice to Billson ;"—who , it turns out , is thinking , not of his country , but of his 3000 / . Our public presspalladium of our liberties—is almost exclusively occupied in assuring the nation that if the papers were sold cheap , tho editors { meaning themselves ) would bo scamps ; or when it is not engaged in that careful demonstration , it is employed in congratulating us that , though our taxes are enormous , they arc
very nicely distributed . The country is profoundly doubtful whether it is worth while to spend 100 , 000 , 000 / . a year in order , at tho end of ten years , to bring Russia to consent that she shall not show more than six ships in the Black Sea—or whether civilisation should 'be convulsed in order that the simious Turk should be tranquil on the Bosphorus , and that Louis Napoleon and Victoria should bo on visiting terms . But these are the only objects for which our old Lords—our caste of ruling incapables — appeal to us to contend ; nnd , in n war of that sort , a war as to six ships or twelve ships , a statesman ' s war in tho sense of a red tape war , there can
be no public spirit , no grand thought , no national question . Let us , then , get 4 > ut of such a war or say to the old Lords—Go to your castles and your gout , and leave us the State : —with the money you are making us pay we could establish Freedom in Europe , « n d while we are about it we will . • But who is to set about the Revolution ? There ' s to be a City Meeting of the Travers' Whigs , to recommend a consolidation of the War Departments The Manchester Liberals are engrossed in protesting that they hope the Whigs will be punished by Lord Derby coming in . The statesmen among tlie Peers are occupied in putting up debating-society men like Lord Albemarle , whose principal distinchuman affairs isthat he ___ . _
tion in , was once private secretary to Lord John Russell , to talk statistical speeches about the Russian transit trade—winch speeches , after all , the Lords , with all their private practice in being bored with one another , cannot stand , for , when Lord Albemarle was finishing last night , his audience consisted of—three . You cannot look to the mass of the professedly-enlightened Members , for one set of them ( who let the interest on their invested capital run on that day ) are goin « to shut up the Sunday trade shops in the back streets , while another set of them , who are nevertheless not indisposed to throw out the cheap newspaper bill , and who fully believe that this country , and themselves in especial , are in the van of
civilisation , are intent on the Education Bills—or what the Scotch Members , speaking of their own bill , due last night , call the " Education" bills . As to the great British public , it is glad to hear that Lord Panmure has resigned , and it hopes the next old Lord will be an improvement , and it shakes its head about Palmerston , and if it had a leader , to lead it by the nose , might perhaps do something , but not having a leader , will-pay its increased taxes , and make fortunes , and get out of work , and go to the workhouse quietly , with that persevering and industrious stupidity which is the secret of our commercial prosperity , Sir . Well , then , where are we to look for our Revolutionists ? N 6 t in Mr . Layard . I don't adopt the cant that was so triumphantly pervading the House , its galleries , and lobbies last night , that the scrape he got himself into has smashed him for ever . In his too conceited
obstinacy , he was weak and wrong not to say , " On this particular illustration of my general argument I see that I am wrong . " That admission would not in the least have affected his general argument—which is all the world ' s general argument—that the system of the Horse Guards is an infamous system , degrading to the nation , disgraceful to individuals . He may have been gratified as a vain man , who is not a proud man , in causing an uproar in the House—in being bellowed at , yah-ed at , given the lie to , called false and calumnious ( amidst great cheering ) by Lord Palmerston—the whole constituting a scene not paralleled since the memorable Duffy hubbub two
years ago . He .-. was ,, notcool _ and . quiet , as Mr . Duffy was ; he argued , he got into new blunders , he expostulated with . the uproar—" catching at and replying to passing yells and phrases . The House was very full , and very excited , and very brutal , as the House always is at such times : and a man of veritable intellect would not have made such a shocking mistake as to fight with such an audience—more especially when in the wrong , as beyond all question Mr . Layard was , and so thoroug hly in the wrong , that he could not get one solitary member to say a word for him . The bluff Tory officer-members—Colonel North and Colonel Knox sort—finr , dull fellows , whom it was wonderful in high
and delightful to hear , talking a " swell , " but very vigorous and effective manner , last night—these gentlemen went to their dinner when it was all over , very contemptuous oi Mr . Layard—they said ho wasn't a gentleman . And there was but one opinion on all hands that Mr . Layard had deserved the painful pulling down , his best friends confining themselves to the expression of a belief that , after all , it would do him good , and make his orations less swaggcry and more useful . But Mr . Layard is only down for the moment . He will , certainly , never lead a party , nor unpnjss himself as a chief , on an assembly so full of analytical intellect as tho House of Commons ; and if he doesn i study the manner , and tone , and tastes of tho place , disastrous lace inu
he will speedily take a p among recognised bores . Yet , assuming that he will improvo as an elocutionist , and otherwise subdue tno resuming self , there is , the roars of last night notwithstanding , a fine find honourable l-arUaniontary career before him . Ho has tho earnestness , o energy , und the honesty , which claim respect :. ami nw vastBpeciul knowledge of the whole question ot tnt war already constitutes him a power winch u o public is eager to recognise . It would be Jottcr it , In future , ho wpuld avoid starring it » ntho provinces , and If , in tho House , ho would not pretend to so pro minont a part jib impeaching a Ministry . l « or , ou . serve , ho takes to this lino—without ) icomiiajy ^ Saturday Morning .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), April 28, 1855, page 16, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_28041855/page/16/
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