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Leader (1850-1860), 22nd February 1851, Edition Town of 2, Page 174, Untitled Article

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    • POSTSCRIPT. Saturday, Feb. 22 .
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      Untitled Article

      Diamonds have lately been extracted from the mines called " Riven et Cuithe " , " near Rio . Amongst them was one weighing 291 grains , which was sent to England by the Linnet packet . The stones are very similar to those from Cuyaba , but much more crystallized . A great many persons have engaged in the search . The printing-press of a daily paper in Boston , United States , is driven in a manner of which there is no example in any other city in the republic . Through a twoinch lead pipe , a stream of Chochituate water is introduced into a meter , which only occupies twenty-four square inches . The fall of water between the Boston reservoir and this meter is about a hundred feet . This two-inch stream will discharge eighty gallons of water each minute , and in passing through the meter will give a motive power equal to what is called three-horse power . This is more than sufficient for driving the press . It is less hazardous than a steam-engine , requires no

      attention , and is always in readiness . One of the principal coachraakers of Paris has just received an order from the Egyptian Government to build fifty diligence-omnibuses , for the transport of passengers across the Desert . These carriages , which are to be constructed on a new model , will combine comfort and solidity . The line which they will have to serve has been completely established , and the number of travellers which take this route to India considerably increases every year . __ _ _ _ .....

      The New York Journal of Commerce , of the 5 th instant , says : — " Captain F . Bernssee , of the barque Frances Watts , at this port from Rio de Janeiro , in lat . 15 N ., Ion . 55 , saw a serpent that passed within thirty or forty feet of his vessel , and appeared to be about sixty feet on the water . It passed so near the vessel as to be distinctly seen . Its motion was up and down , like the swimming of a leech ; not horizontal like the motion of a snake or an eel . It appeared to be about as large as , and shaped like , the main-yard of the barque , tapering off towards the extremities . Its progress through the water was very rapid . When first seen , it was approaching from the S . E ., and it passed the barque heading N . W ., w > 'ho uj any apparent alteration of its course . Its head differed from that in the drawings published of the one seen by Capt . McQuhae , of one of her Majesty ' s ships , nearly two years since , and its whole body was on the surface of the water , and distinctly seen . No fins were seen . Its colour was apparently very dark green . "

      Untitled Article

      The authorities of Trinity College , Dublin , have received an intimation from Government that the commission of inquiry into the state of the university is to consist of the following members : —The Archbishop of Dublin , tho Bishop of Cork , the E = » rl of Rosse , Chief Justice of the Queen ' s Bench , Mr . Commissioner Longfield , and Mr . Cooper , of Markree . The registry for the county of Westmeath , just closed , leaves the new constituency at 2963 . The revision for the borough of Youghal shows a curious and unexpected rpsult—the electoral list having suffered a diminution of 157 . The numbers under the old act wore 418 , and accordinz to the new they have dwindled to 261 .

      Untitled Article

      PROTECTION OF SERVANTS AND APPRENTICES . The bill lately introduced by Mr . Baines , " For the better Protection of young Persons under the Care and Control of others as Apprentices or Servants , and to enable the Guardians and Overseers of the Poor to institute and conduct Prosecutions in certain Cases , " is a measure which will meet with general approval . It combines two qualities seldom found in an act of Parliament—simplicity and efficiency . He proposes to enact .

      that whenever any master or mistress " shall , wilfully and without lawful excuse , neglect or refuse to provide any such young person with necessary food , clothing , or lodging or shall unlawfully and maliciously assault him or ] ier _ as either to endanger the life or injure the health of the Raid young person , such master or mistress shall be guilty of a misdemeanour , and , being convicted thereof , shall be liable to be imprisoned , with or without hard labour , in the common gaol or house of correction , for any term not exceeding three years . " Securities of a preventive character are added to the penal ones . At . present the poor luw guardians , when they have once

      got quit of the child , are under no obligation to look after it . But a clause in the bill empowers and requires guardians and overseers to wend some duly authorized officer , " . least four times in every year , " to visit every young person apprenticed or hired out from the workhouse ; and the oiliccr is "to report to them if ho shall find reason to believe that such young person i » not supplied with necessary food , or is subjected to cruel or illegal treatment in any respect . " The remaining clauses of the bill extend a legal protection heretofore

      unknown to ull " poor perwons under tho age of eighteen years . " They provide that , in every case of an indictable bodily injury inflicted upon any such person , the committing magistrate may certify that he . considers it . necessary fo / the purpose of public justice that the Guardians of the Union . should undertake the prosecution of the offender ; whereupon they Khali be authorized and required ( and their clerk or other officer bound over ) to conduct such prosecution , at the public expense . Altogether the bill is highly creditable to Mr . BuincH , and we trust that no damage will be inflicted upon it in its passage through Parliament .

      Untitled Article

      174 8 E ! ) e & . * afe * t » [ Saturday ,

      Untitled Article

      TO READERS AND CORRESPONDENTS . The conclusion of the letter on " Sir Edward Sugden and the Court of Chancery " will appear next week . It is impossible to acknowledge the mass of letters we receive . Their insertion is often delayed , owing- to a press of matter ; and when omitted it is frequently from reasons quite independent of the merits of the communication . Communications should always be legibly written , and on one side of the paper only . If long , it encreases the difficulty of finding space for them . All letters for the Editor to be addressed 9 , Crane-court , Fleetstreet , London .

      Untitled Article

      . Ministerial crisis in the third week of the session ! This is more than the most sanguine could have anticipated . The history of the affair can be given only in outline . The defeat of Ministers on Thursday evening showed clearly that there was confusion in the camp . What were Ministers to do ? First of all a Cabinet Council was held , at three o ' clock yesterday , but no good came from that . After sitting only threequarters of an hour it broke up suddenly , and Lord John hurried off to Buckingham Palace , where , as we infer from the statement in the Times , he tendered his resignation . Meantime the Protectionists had not been idle . A meeting , hastily called , had assembled at Lord Stanley ' s house to decide upon what course they must pursue . The language of Lord Stanley was studiously moderate . Their only chance of a victory depended on the suppression of extreme opinions . Mr . Heriies , as the Chancellor of the Exchequer in waiting , was entrusted with the following

      resolution : — " That it is the opinion of this Committee that the respective duties in Great Britain on profits arising from property , professions , trades and offices , and the stamp duties in Ireland , granted by two acts passed in the sixth year of her present Majesty , and which have been continued and amended by several subsequent acts , were granted for limited periods , and to meet temporary exifTPTl PIPS " That it is highly expedient to adhere to the declared intentions of Parliament , when these duties were granted and continued , and in order to secure their speediest practicable cessation , to limit the renewal of any portion of them to such an amount as may be sufficient , in the existing state of the public revenue , to provide [ or the expenditure sanctioned by Parliament , and for the due maintenance of public credit . "

      The news of what had taken place at St . James ssquare was known in the House of Commons at an early hour in the afternoon , and great anxiety was felt as to what course Ministers would take . Several questions were put to Ministers , which took up a good deal of time . Sir Benjamin Halt , made a statement regarding the mode of conducting service in St . Andrew ' s Church , Wells-street , Oxford-street , and asked whether the Bishops and Archbishops of the Church were about to take any steps for putting down thcPuseyite practices referred to : —

      " Lord J . Russell replied that he had communicated on tlu-subject with the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of London , and that they had stated that there was much difficulty , delay , and expense in interfering with the conduct of clergymen who did not voluntarily comply with episcopal remonstrances , and that the terms of the Rubric were such that it was not always easy to ascertain tin- existence of any reasonable ground for interference . The Archbishop did not think , in the

      present state of affairs , that any interposition of the Legislature was necessary ; but if that most reverend prelate should find the uncertainty of the law to be such that , in the general opinion of the Bishops , the performance of thejr Protestant worship could not be maintained without some alteration of the law , then an application would be made to the Crown on the subject . 'I am not now alluding , ' he said , ' to any alteration in the Rubric or the Liturgy , but to the mode and means of carryiiiR the existing law into effect . ' "

      Mr . BuHKHFoui ) said they seemed to be going back to the days of the Long Parliament . If they went on in this way they would speedily become a Barebones Parliament . The order of the day was then rend lor the House going into a Committee of Ways and Means , when Lord John moved that the order of the day be postponed till Monduy , when he would state the reasons why he hud made that ' request . Mr . Hi ' . hrikh : Can the noble lord say whether it be intended positively to proceed with the committee on Monduy ru-xt . ? Lord J . Kussri-i .: I cannot state positively what in intended , but on Monday I will state the reasons why I now propose u postponement , and ttie course 1 then

      intend to pursue . The announcement produced a great sensation , and the HouHi ; soon lifter broke up in much disorder . The daily papers of this morning arc full of tho exciting topic . The Chronicle auyH that Lord John is prepared to go to tho country on a threefold " "—Protestantism , a new Reform Bill , mid Freo Trade . The 1 ' ost mid Herald merely announce the embarrassment of Ministers , without venturing

      to prophesy what will come out of it . The Daily News wishes to make out that Sir Charles Wood has been the Jonah of the Cabinet . He is to be thrown overboard at once , accompanied by " Hobhouse and Minto , " and then the storm will cease . It also quotes Sir Jamos Graham ' s significant phrase , in a recent speech , «• We must close our ranks , " and anticipates his accession to a Whig-Conservative Administration . The Times hints at something of the same kind , though rather obscurely . But we must allow the " leading journal" to speak for itself :

      Lord John Russell has tendered his resignation to her Majesty , and only holds office till another Government can be formed . The extensive loss of Parliamentary confidence , or rather of Parliamentary sympathy , which his lordship and his colleagues have evidently suffered of late has probably prepared most of our readers for this result . In the face of so much resolute opposition from so many different quarters , and with ^ so much irresolute support—in the face of such divisions as those of yesterday week and last Thursday , that the

      Lord John Russell could not expect present Cabinet would safely ride through the many delicate questions pressing upon the attention of Parliament . The Budget , it must be confessed , has satisfied no party , and it seemed only too probable that any possible modification of it would purchase lukewarm thanks at the expense of strenuous objections . It is proverbially difficult to please everybody , even under the most favourable circumstances , and that difficulty becomes an impossibility when there is a predisposition not to be pleased . __ „

      The interest of the public , which for an unusually long period has been attracted to questions of the past , will be immediately directed to the future . What sort of Government are we to have ? A new one altogether , or a reconstruction ? So far as regards the political principles and the personal characters of the men , there is no reason why a Cabinet should not be formed with Lord John still for a leader , but with several new members , including two or three from Sir Robert Peel ' s Administration . Lord John

      could not have better colleagues than those who have proved such steady , though disinterested allies . But , whether for good or for ill , the Whig school is generally averse to coalition . It is too much of an oligarchy , almost too much of a family , to endure the introduction of new elements , especially when there is anything to be forgiven or forgot . The Whigs come in and go out together , and much as the public will undoubtedly lose by the sacrifice of the whole Cobinet , we can scarcely hope to see any part of it in new combination .

      Besides what has hitherto been the Ministerial section of Parliament , the Protectionists are the most numerous body professing a common creed . What may they expect out of the present crisis ? It is sufficient to say that they are still Protectionists , and to all political purposes might just as well be Frenchmen or rigid Mahometans . Suppose them summoned to her Majesty ' s Councils and compelled to dissolve Parliament , which they correctly avow to be their solitary chance —for they would not get a sixpence of the public money from the present House—what Sort of account would they give of themselves to our popular constituencies ? They can only pledire themselves to enhance the price of bread and all other food , and to throw away the legislation of the last live , or rather of the last nine —nay , of the last twenty years . We nn not saying what

      the Protectionists might have done . Had they but followed their leaders—had they taken common sense , instead of passion , for their guide , they might now have been in a position to govern this country . But they have wasted five years in one long fit of sullen indignation , and have now nothing to offer the public but their incessant maledictions on free trade and its authors . Their fate in a general election is too evident . They would only meet Parliament to be beaten on the address—to leave public affairs in the greatest confusionperhaps to lose the year 1851 altogether for the purposes of legislation—perhaps to incur the necessity of another general election—perhaps to throw the Government ultimately into the hands of politicians with whom they feel much less sympathy than they do either for the friends of Lord John Russell or for the admirers of Sir Robert

      Peel . Undoubtedly there exist abundant materials for the formation of an entirely new Government , bound to that commercial policy which Lord John Russell inherited from hia predecessor . This is not tho time either to revert to the errors of the retiring Cabinet , or to inquire very critically into the personal merits of this or that probable member of the new one . It is rather the time to view things as a whole , and we have little doubt that , from the numerous independent statesmen of our day , a Government could be formed that would deserve ,

      and generally receive , the cordial support of those who are for the present in power . Whatever is done , it ia most desirable , above all , thut there should be union , and , therefore , some degree of generosity and mutual forbearance , among the various sections that stand by free trade . The progress of sound legislation , the peace of the country , and the stability of our institutions absolutely require that all should combine to prevent even a momentary auccesu of the Protectionist imposture . For the sake of the country gentlemen , for the that

      sake of the House of Lords , for the sake of representative system which still ( fives considerable weiyht to the owners and occupiers of the soil , the question of free trade ought not to come again before the people of this country . It is too serioun and too sore * point to be reopened , especially by the rough process o * a general election . All wise men should combine to avert that peril , and all wise men should therefore combine to give a fair chance—thut , of course , ia all tM ^ " asked—to whatever body of liberal statesmen her Majesty may summon to her councils .

      Postscript. Saturday, Feb. 22 .

      POSTSCRIPT . Saturday , Feb . 22 .

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 22, 1851, page 174, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1871/page/10/