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MO THE LEAB, Ei{., [QSTo. 48B. Jtrrv .30...
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THE ACCOUNTANT IMPERIAL. During the late...
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really don't know if we . may not even c...
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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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Formers In And Out Of Parliament. He Oug...
able in case of emergency , an ( ^ by which elementary military training could be widely diffused , without compulsion and without interfering' with the ordinary occupations of life . The JMoniteur complains that the English people are deceived by misrepresentations of French . armaments , and thus induced to consent to fresh taxes and immense expenditure . ; and endeavours to substantiate its assertion by comparing the military expenditure of the two countries ; but the Imperial organ knows perfectly well that the whole available force in England is much less than that which the French were able to send " to Italy without weakening their
defences on the Rhine . We never make the slightest effort to rival France as a military power , but we cannot view with equanimity her constant efforts to compete with us at sea ; and although we welcome the order for reducing the French army and navy to . a peace footing , we remember hcAv rapidly any disbanded men can be recalled . The French people should not forget that no English Government could plunge us into war in the autocratic mariner in which their Emperor got up his Italian
campaign . They have a great safeguard in our free Parliament , while we have to provide against the possible proceedings of a single inscrutable and irresponsible man . It , is to be regretted that dui * preparations are not made without the introduction of any circumstance calculated to irritate oxir neighbours ; but we trust they "will learn that the policy of Elizabeth and Cromwell embodies our national sentiments , and that we recognise , as those wise rulers did , the advantage to ourselves and to civilisation of an alliance with France .
Mo The Leab, Ei{., [Qsto. 48b. Jtrrv .30...
MO THE LEAB , Ei { ., [ QSTo . 48 B . Jtrrv . 30 , 1859 .
The Accountant Imperial. During The Late...
THE ACCOUNTANT IMPERIAL . During the late war the French Government deputed a gentleman to attend the path of the army , as Historiographer Imperial . It was his pleasing duty to embellish the successes of the armies of France , to palliate their—no not their reverses , say their less brilliant exploits—rand generally to confound their' enemies by the pen as well as the sword . War has given place to peace . " Cedant arma togis . " The military historiographer is deposed , and the pacific accountant reigns in his stead . This gentleman has made his first
appearance in the columns of the Moniteur , and , as yet , the Imperial Government has every reason to be contented with their appointment . There is nothing , said the cynic , so fallacious as facts ; for with facts you can prove any conclusion . Surely , then , there is nothing so important as figures , for with fi gures you can prove any fact in the world . The highest triumph of logic is to prove that black is white . The proudest success of accountancy is to prove that a deficiency is a surplus . In pur ovra , land we have had some rare specimens of this cabalistic art . Joint-stock bankers are able professors thereof , and our merchant princes are apt
estimate the expenses of the French during the Crimean war are omitted , as being temporary and unimportant , while the whole outlay" bn troops in Algeria is carried to a separate account . The present outlay of France lipon her army is about an eighth of a , million more than ours , while on the navy it is four millions less . To this pleasing calculation there are only two slight objections , which a suspicious auditor might suggest . In the first place , the French estimates are systematically under the mark . In the second , the whole expenses of the Italian campaign are omitted , because they are not easy to calculate with extreme accuracy .
As a mere work of arithmetical ability , the above piece of calculation is perfect . The question of its practical ability is not equally clear . In England it will produce no effect whatever . In this country we have an incorrigible incredulity in the truthfulness of French financiers , and even if we admitted the accuracy of their figures , we should dispiite their conclusions . It is to us a matter of perfect indifference how many millions of francs or pounds France chooses to spend . on military purposes . Bitter experience has quite prepared us to
admit that with our system of militaiy government , to all probability every English soldier costs some three or four times as much as a French one . What we want to know is , how many tens of soldiers France has to our one , and how many vessels of war she has to ours , Rumour , we suspect , has greatly exaggerated the extent of the French forces , and a simple statement of their exact amount would do more to restore confidence in England than all the elaborate hocus-pocus calculations in the world
It is to France rather than England that this calculation is addressed . Its real object is to indtice the French nation to believe , whether justly or . unjustly , that they are not unnecessarily burdened with war expenses . A nation which reads with enthusiasm the legends of an Imperial historiographer , and listen without astonishment to the classical orations of Imperial courtiers , may surely accept without investigation the cooked accounts of an Imperial accountant .
pupils . Our Hudsons , and Waughs , and Sadleirs fade , however , into insignificance , compared with the Napoleonic teacher . Truly , wo may say of Louis Isapoleon , in the words of Johnson , " Nihil tetigit quod non ornavit . " Coulon converted dancing from an exercise into an art , and the touch of the Imperial wand has turned , accountancy from a trade into a science . Lot us cull a few items from tho ministerial balance-sheet , Read , mark , and wonder at thorn silently . The thesis set before tho Imperial acpountanfc is to prove , by the irresistible Jogio of figures , that as far as any increase an warlike expenses goes , it is France and not England that has caase to fear nnd complain . Tho items on tho
British side of the ncoouwt are clear and intelligible enough . It is a melanoholy and undeniable fact , that during tho last six years our war outlay has increased eight millions of pounds sterling . It is equally true , and equally melancholy , that in tho coming year our estimate is between , fourteen and fifteen millions for tho army , and nearly thirteen millions for the navy . These are broad , plain facts , not to bo palliated or explained away . It is true that during- these six years we have had a Crimean war , tho Chinese expedition , and the Indian mutiny . What of that P The simple faot of tho
or eigut millions to our war expenses remains , undisputed and indisputable . Mow , on tho _ other hand , does the ease stand with paoifio and un-wwlike Franco . During the same period of six years the estimates for the army lmvo not increased a million , and for the navy barely over o » o , It is true that from this veraoious
Really Don't Know If We . May Not Even C...
really don't know if we . may not even come to believe in Palmerston . It js no use trying to console us . with the reflection , that Mr . WV K . Leatliam was only the brother-in-law of Mr . Brighfcl If lie had been his own brother we might have consoled ourselves more , easily ; After all , one has no choice as to one ' s brother . He is a sort of mortgage on the paternal-property , created without your knowledge and executed without your consent , of which you must make the best or the worst , as the case may be . Most men , however , have something to say as to their brothers-in-law . ¦ If they have not , they ought to have .
We do not suppose that many of our readers are acquainted with Wakefield . For their sakes we hope they are not . We are . It is a dismal place , and a dreary place . In coaching days it must have been visited with comparative prohv perity . Coaches , however , have deserted Wakefield and the world together . The great march oi progress and manufacture has forgotten Wakcneld in its glorious progress . Dirt and destitution ami decay are now the standing institution ? of tlie free and independent borough . Did you ¦ cv or notice that , in family life , a man who cannot pay
his way ceases to be master in his own house ? An insolvent husband is hen-pecked by liis -wife . The same rule applies to towns . " In the country of the blind , the one-eyed are kings . '" in a town , where all arc insolvent , the wives , who are notliable to personal arrest , are rulers , if is so in Wake field . Women are the cause of every evil under the sun . Had it not been for Eve , instead of contesting elections and writing articles , -we should all have been at this hour disporting ourselves nic-rrily in the garden of ' Paradise . Had it not been for the -women of Wake field ; Mr .
Leatham , ' instead of being out seat ran ; out oi pocket , would have now been sitting in Parliament ready to defend the cause of reform and purity ot election . A Quaker may be a match for any man , but any woman is a match for a Quaker . The " merry wives of Wakefield" were too much for Mr . Leatham . There was Mrs . Jackson , a woman who understood business . If Mr . Leatham ' s friends wanted her husband ' s vote , and would have it , why of course they must have it ; but the price was 50 / . A £ rood conscience is a pearl without price , but 1
when once you have made up your mindto sell your conscience , it is wonderful how cheap you will part with it . So the price of Jackson ' s independence was at last reduced to 302 ., less 17 . commission to the broker . Jackson , like all _ bunglers in a great work of art , nearly marred the transaction lay signing a note of hand for the amount . His better half redeemed the error by daring the holders to make any use of the bill , and up to this time no use has been made . Then there wns 3 frs . Cousens , who considered that if her husband could not legally take money or his vote , she couldand did so to the extent of five-uml-nvonty
THE " MERRY WIVES OF WAKEFIELD . " " Qia ' s custodes ipsos cu & todiet" We are not aware who is the author of this quotation- We are not aware , also , that it possesses any peculiar originality ; but we arc aware—painfully aware—of the fact , that every newspaper correspondent , for tlie last fortnight , has been citing it daily with reference to the Austrians and French in Italy . There is no ill wind bui ; blows somebody good 5 and so it is very hard if we may not take advantage of the constant repetition . qf this unfortunate quotation to quota it once , and once only , for our own purposes . Vfo ejaculated it . inwardly ; we recited it mentally ; we murmured it despairingly , when we loarnt tho dreadful news that the brother-in-law of the groat John Bright had been unseated for bribery . There are few things in this world that we have any faith in . Doubly hard , therefore , is it upon us to lose one of our few illusions . If there was ono thing that we did believe in , it was tho immaculatoness of John Bright . When wo liavo found an ideal we don ' t like to discover that ouv ideal is not infallible . If we learnt that Six Edward Buxton , the friend of negroes , walloped his own fbotman , we should i ' QQ \ a . bitter disappointment . If Mr . JSTcwdogafce wore to say a wiste thing , or Mr . Boebuck a good-natured thing , wo should feel that theso gentlemen wore taking an unwarrantable liberty . If we learnt that Mr . Win . Williams had taken a cab from Wcstmiustor to
the Horns , " and paid the cabman eighteenpence ( inolusivo of the Vauxhall-bridgo-toll of fourpenco ) instead of tho legal one shilling , exclusive of tuo said toll , wo should remember that , after all , to err is human . If Sir Walter Trovelyan was found rolling drunk in tho Haymartot , singing a comic song , wo should turn aside and weep m silence . Woll , we ourselves , are human after all , nmd for frailties such as these we could fool compassion , if not pardon ; but that a gentleman , bred at tho feet of our political Gamaliel , a very Brighti te of tho Brightitos , should bo unseated for tl » e vulgar offence of bribery ,- —really this b yorthrows our whole moral system of ethics . In future , we shall believe in nothing at all . Wo
sovereigns . Mrs . Ingham , too , deserves a mention . This lady , wit h a virtue unexampled in 'Wnlcefield , remained uncorrnpted . She dallied with temptation—she fingered the 07 . ' notes- * -tho wages of iniquity—and then she . spurnod tlie proffered bribe . Virtue , howevor , was its own reward . At the same period , by some mysterious interposition , she was enabled to pay ofi ' hor debt to u loan company . "Wonderful arc tho ways ol Providence .
Tho best , however , remains behind . YV 0 uU know be forehand in tho German legends , that il Sutan buys , the soul of some hardened reprobate there will bo somo flaw ia the blood-slained document . The Devil is sure to loso both cap ital and interest , and will have to pay tho oomIs into tho bargain , Mr . Leatham ' s agents must l > o tlxe l ineal descendants of the extinct Teutonic fiends . Their folly is yet greater than their wielceclne « a . The husbands of those wise matrons , one and n , wont and votod against Mr . Leathnni , gave evidence of their own corruption to his opponent * and turned their benefactor out of his hard-onrnod scat . Of course wo shall \> o told that Mr . Lpatiinroknow and suspected nothing of all this , —of oourso not . Ladies who happen to have illegitimate children never do know , or oven suapeot , till after the ovent , that thoy are in tho family-way . Senators are " all honourable men , " and honourable men never do bribe ,- — -of oourse not . In our
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), July 30, 1859, page 14, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_30071859/page/14/
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