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fym 2& > s*8&*4 TH:0B LEADER. 717
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FALMERSTON ON LIMITED LIABILITY. IiORD P...
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.
Vacancy Of Her Majesty's Opposition. The...
^ Ministers proposed a loan for Turkey—a measure upon which there may be various ppinion 8 ; and members have a perfect right to state their opinions . Ministers intend to aljd the loan in a particular manner , and on |^ e method there may equally be a variety of gentiments , which members have a right to deliver . It is not to be maintained for an instant that the House of Commons has not a distinct right to give or to withhold its
sanction upon a money vote . But there must always be certain liberal constructions allowed to the Executive , particularly in mattjera that bear upon foreign relations . The present was a case in point . It is usual on such occasions for the Executive Ministers to enter into negotiations with foreign Governments , to bring the arrangements to approximate conclusion , and then to seek the ratification of the House of Commons . There
would be real objections to making the earlier stages of such j oint arrangements the subjects of discussion in a popular assembly . Even under a republican Government joint operations with foreign states would be referred to a " committee of foreign relations , " as in America , for the very purpose of avoiding those debatings which are never conducive to the smooth working of measures ,
but which become peculiarly obstructive when foreign ideas are introduced , and give endless opportunities for misunderstanding In most cases of the kind the plan of the Executive roust be adopted whatever it is , unless the popular assembly be prepared to displace the Executive and substitute another . Any comparative disadvantage resulting from the loan can hardly be commensurate with the enormous
disadvantage of creating a bad intelligence between this country and France or Turkey , coupled with the consequence of discrediting our own Government before the enemy as well aa before our friend . A gentleman may not approve of all that his attorney does for him in a difficult negotiation ; but it will rarely happen that he will discuBS the disputed point before the opposite side in tU © cause . He would much
luore frequently be disposed , either to replace ijjhe attorney by another more suited to him , or to submit to a smaller disadvantage in order to avoid a larger . Any fundamental Ob jections to the finance of the present Qo ~ yernment would be ample reason lor sweeping Way Lord Paliieubton ' s Cabinet , nud fringing another into office ; but the strength Qf Lord Palmebston lies in the fact that we look round in vain for another Cabinet ; aud
the absence of that Cabinet out of office , the vacancy where we ought to find her Majesty ' s Opposition , reminds us of the laches of independent Members and popular parties . i , rThe nature of the mistake iwado by the papular leaders does not lie very deep below fji ^ surface . " Whether popular leaders , or Dftrtioa out of doors , are capable of rectifying % p « another question , better auswered praetjeally than theoretically . The mistake contjtats in supposing that it is the substantive flWfcy of popular and independent Members
to resist the Government . In n free country H ; mostly happens that popular and indcffftldent Members who are not in ofl ' ieo have I & XWiet the Government , aud for an evident tW « oa : a warty with strong political con-TW & ions , which places its loader in office , lift mostly carry with it those who share £ B 0 h convictions , and the Government will wiieott its side all men who sympathise with % : Wai | i opinions . Those who are not in $£ Government , not sharing those political Opinions , will be guidod by other opinions , | Si ^ ia « t , and in many cases opposite ; nnil in th © endeavour to carry out thoao separate ad antagonistic opinions , it will happen that
they will have to oppose the party in power . It is not their business to oppose their Executive , but it is an incident in their cfturse that they do so oppose . But then they must have a purpose of their own ; and it is here that we find the master reason why Hee Majesty ' s opposition is vacant . Have popular parties who might stand on the opposite side any distinctive purpose ? If they have , do they pursue that purpose sufficiently to give themselves a distinctive existence ? We cannot answer the question in the affirmative . " When we turn to those who stood against Ministers in the matter of the Loan , we cannot accept them as embodying any distinct popular purpose . The man who looks most like the leader of a party at present is Mr . Disraeli , who has some project of his ovm with reference to the conduct of the war , and the finance by which , it has to be supported ; but he has never stated his scheme . He has never stated how he would pursue hostilites against Russia , or on what plan he would construct his Budget ; and if we allow ourselves to form a guess constructed out of his latest proposals , we cannot accept him as giving life to any distinct wish which the public entertains , or any plan which the people has at heart . Mr . Cobden has relations with the Peace party ; but does not oppose the war . He objects to subsidies and votes against a loan ; but we are not aware that at present he is giving expression to any practical object , pursuing any mission which specially belongs to the people . Mr . Jons Bbight , a member of the Society of Friends , in whose genial nature and power Englishmen would naturally feel so strong a sympathy , certainly does not take such a position in reference to tbe war as constitutes him spokesman for the people . Mr . Gladstone is not the tribune of the People in that behalf , or any other . If we turn from politics to any subject which is at present engaging public attention , do we find an organised party identified with it ? Is it the purification of the Thames ? the construction of drainage ? the supply of water ? Then , the leading men who are doing most at the present time , Mr . F . O . Wabd , Sir Benjamin Hall , or persons actually in office under the auspices of tbe Queen ' s Ministers . There is iudeed one subject that of all others most concerns us at the present day—Administrative Keforjn ; but what is the * last public fact in reference to this subject ? It is tbat the Administrative Reform Association has passed a resolution approving of the appointment of Sir " William Moleswobth to be Secretary of State for the Colonies , because he is " right man in the right place "—a great colonial reformer appointed to be chief governor of the colonial empire . This is a piece of practical candour on the part of the Administrative Reformers to which wo cannot refuse our approbation . They uphold the right act whether the act be executed by Ministers or not . They pursue the public interest , whether they niaroh by the side of Ministers or against tneni . In spirit , therefore , the Administrative Reformers exemplify the kiud of public action which we desiderate . Administrative Reform is a great want , the very thing which at the present moment we most require . But what ' measures are before the putyie P The measures of Ministers , and not of the society which has its rooms ftt King William-stroet , City . Is it the admission of candidates to the civil service that wo would reward—tlio reconstruction of public departments—the improvement of promotion m tho army ? It ( a Ministers who are left to keep tho lead in thoao reforms . One of tho departments that most require reform is tho Admiralty ; but tho Administrative Belbraera
nave aav yet done nothing more for that department than publishing a few extracts from past writings of other men . The Administrative Reformers may have their plan in posse ; they may be intending to lay before us an anatomy of one department after another , and to tell us how each can be reconstructed , far better than Sir ChajbIiES Teetelyan , Six Staffobd Nobthcote ,. or any other official can tell us ; but the Administrative Reformers have not yet done so .
They have , therefore , not yet established their claim , to be the Ministry in posse for the Administrative Reform party . They are useful critics though not practical leaders . Yet there is no time to be lost . The state of the army in the East , weakened as it is by the deficiency in the number of energetic officers eager to perform their duty , in recruits for the ranks such as this country could supply , and in materiel , requires something more than Government is doing . The state of the fleet , and still more of the naval
department , —the unequal pressure of taxation , daily rendered more grievous as the burden is increased , — -the want of public education , — the total absence of any machinery for giving the bulk of the people of England a means of pressing the Honse of Commons , which professedly represents them , —these are great wants which should be urged upon the [ Legislature and the Government . But the pressure cannot be managed by any but her Majesty ' s Opposition . In order to the
organisation of such an anti-Cabinet , however , it is necessary that there should be in that Cabinet on the left hand of the Speaker , men as well informed in every branch of public business , —in the details of tbe army , the details of the navy , the details of every department , —as men sitting on the Treasury bench . There is , indeed , the Quarter-sessions Cabinet , in . many respects as competent as the Cabinet in esse ; but it has little to do with the people , and nothing whatever to do
with some of the greatest reforms that we require . But the men who might expect to be sent up " into that post have hitherto , either displayed a want of personal capacity , or have neglected to master the administrative as well as political knowledge required for the post , or have failed to earn for themselves that strength of support out of doors which would give them strength and weight within the House . It is useless to talk of controlling the Cabinet , until we have effectually reorganised her Majesty ' s Opposition .
Fym 2& > S*8&*4 Th:0b Leader. 717
fym 2 & > s * 8 &* 4 TH : 0 B LEADER . 717
Falmerston On Limited Liability. Iiord P...
FALMERSTON ON LIMITED LIABILITY . IiORD Palmebston is a riddle to the vulgar , which those who undertake to look beneath the surface ought to have no difficulty in solving . The trait that most strikes the common observer is his insouciance ; next it is noted that he is a thorough man of the
world ; aud occasionally he puts profound truths into expressions so clear , concise , and forcible , as to show that he haa reached the very kernel of philosophy in things ot most tangible import to the human race . Philosopher and mam of the world , he is also a man of healthy instincts ; hence , intelligent and practical , ho is in earnest , yet not
troubled about those matters that he has not m hand ; conflict makes him hopeful of success , if not for himself , yet for others that come after him in the right season . The public can scarcely believe that he is iu earnest , though in the compass of a short speech he will put the whole truth of a ?»«« h-d ^ d subject in a way that shows him to understand it from beg inning to end . Tho debate on Limited Liability had few speeches so short as Paimbbston 0 j not one tnat presents the real truth so pure and
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), July 28, 1855, page 9, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_28071855/page/9/
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