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Untitled Article
HOW TO PUSH REFORMS FOR " NEXT SESSION . " It is as well to bear in mind the hints which Lord John Russell has thrown out as to the points which a new Reform Bill may contain . Not because we regard those hints as pledges , or expect to see his bill of " next session" come up to implied promises , which will have served his purpose when the general election shall be over ; but because they are admissions available for those who will know how to use the disappointment which his bill must create .
1 . He has hinted that a new Reform Bill should give a larger extension of the suffrage than Mr . Locke King ' s bill would have given . 2 . It must include some direct representation of " the working-classes . " 3 . He does not think it necessary to retain the property qualification for Members . This is decided progress . The ballot has always been ' * an open question , " and the House of Commons has twice been pledged to it . Even payment
of Members Lord John now objects to in a defensive tone which is very tempting to aggressive expectancy . The Times talks of Scarborough as if the distribution of electoral districts must fee so far altered as to do away with boroughs servile through theirsmallness . Andtb « MinisterialG / ofce hasspoken of universal suffrage as the only alternative to tl * e Russell bill ; whence hardy « xpectera might anticipate that , if Lord John Russell were defeated , he would , in opposition , stand up for the Charter . And we believe it quite possible .
What he said about tenant-right on Saturdayhow he had been prevented from acting on behalf of the Irish tenants by tfee extreme views of some parties—implies that W he were in opposition he would be very available for the new land movement in the sister island . We want so bold and clear-sighted a man in Opposition ; there is none sttcSi at present ; and on the Speaker ' s left band , Lord John would find himself once more without « rival . We quite sympathise with his impatience to be there .
Not that he exhibits that impatience . No ; he conceals it with the stoical fortitude of the Spartan boy , who would not < dispp 5 ay the stolen fox , although it was gnawing his vitals . So Lord John lets impatience to be in Opposition eat his heart , and keeps up all the while a countenance aa if he were quite pleased to be in office . You might almost think he liked it . Nay ; he gets up an appearance of being fond of it , even as Scheherazade was fond
of life . Under sentence of death , she perpetually put off the execution of her sentence day after day , by promising to tell her Sultan another beautiful story " to-morrow night "; and her sister always took care to demand that beautiful story . So Lord John promises beautiful measures for " next session "; and the press is his Dinarzade . So it was when he was officially decapitated in 1841 : he was just about to introduce his beautiful
sugar plan , his corn-law repeal , and all the rest of it . But besides the well-known fact , that Lord John governs ten times better in Opposition than he does in office , there is the other reason which we mentioned last week—that some persons are wanted whose vocation it is to be in office , in order that thev may a little set to rights the deplorable confusion of public affairs . This process seems to be necessary before anything can be done . Some twenty years ago , according to gossip then current , a very distinguished . regiment inude its barracks so filthy , that no other liked to come after it ; and another
regiment , it was said , actually did mutiny at the sight of the cleaning bout bequeathed to it ; just as Lord Stanley and his party mutinied in the last " Ministerial ennis" at the sight of the state in which the public o / hoes were to be lef t . Still , in such cases on sanitary and other grounds , it is very necesaary to have a change of regiments . And in the present ease , preeminently ho . Entangled as Lord Joan is with the revolt-inciting Grey for Colonial terwith
jviims— a member of the Austrian Detective lorco in plain clothes for Foreign Minister—with uulli-loviug , conBistent-lladical llawes , for the model man of the Cabinet—with a whole duathean «« olil measures and their wrecks—the three or torn- Aim-Papal Bills , besides the cuckoo's " nest th ?' Po i Uo ,, wiI 1 " "y under the namo-with < iuLV \ fT lii 118 ' Which are Haid to h ; iv « Rrown fiw a ' tttean < i mouldy in the closet—with the XlAr" ?'""" , * 1118 , Chancery Reforms , will ! the Budgets , past , preacnt , and to
come , and the income tax , and his own mind not made up about all those terrible schedules—with Finality and Progress—with Bishops , Romish , Romanizing , and Anti-Roman—with Durham letters .. and old , speeches about the puerility of minding territorial titles—with royal speeches about agricultural distress and no pitch hot—with crotchetty Lord Grey as cross as two sticks , and threatening to resign every time one talks reason to him—with Lord Truro for Chancellor , as bad as Cottenham for spoiling law reform dodges—with a
Privy Council settling spiritual affairs , and an Archbishop declaring that that is not his placewith Lord Lansdowne wanting to wash his hands of it all , and those cursed Irish Members not noticing any wishes to be quiet—with " independent" Liberal Members so pliant that they can't get up the slightest pressure from withoutwith that plaguy Cape standing up for its rights , and Canada getting obstructive about the clergy reserves , and Australia angry about the transportation delusions—with the Customs convicted of * fbat
we must not venture upon libels , so we will call it ] erroneous proceedings against great public companies—with every public department in disorder , every class of measures in such confusion that the official authors have dean forgotten what they themselves meant , finance in an impracticable state of hitch for " next session , " and all sorts of promises standing over—with all these incidents of utter embarrasznent and disorder , unquestionably the thing wanted is a change of regiments to clean the barracks and put the furniture straight . Can we get on without it ?
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PRIVILEGES Of A GENTLEMAN . If innumerable instances of individual failure , perpetually coming before the public in the papers , were not sufficient to cast clouds of viovifot over the honourable estate of matrimony , the pleadings -of the bar in cases of breach of promise * mgh £ be taken as the greatest libel an the institution . Look at the defence by Mr . Sergeant Wilkiros in the case of " Johnston versus Boughey . " We need not meddle with the merits of the case itself , as disclosed in the evidence ; we are not criticising Mt . Wilkins ' s professional merits , which are probably considerable ; we simply extract from his speech , that statement which he presented to the jury as a narrative of just and manly conduct .
Miss Johnston is a young lady , twenty years of age , the daughter of an hotel keeper at Hull Air . WiJkins could say nothing to disparage her character . The defendant is twenty-nine years of a ^ e , " good-looking , well brought up , carefully educated ;* ' " of distinguished appearance , of ancient family , of large family connections , of great elegance of manners , and poor—a captain in the army ; " " a gentleman * ind a man of honour . " lie proposed on the second day after seeing the lady ; there was a courtship of ten days , and then
Captain Boughey went , with kia regiment , to lierwick , whence he wrote letters which gradually cooled , until he broke oil" the match at a final interview for that purpose . The young lady ' s father had once kept a " gin-ubop . " Mr . Wilkins admitted that there was not a-nythkig disgraceful in his doing ho , or in his afterwards being able to keep the Royal Hotel . Then why did he » ta . tc it ? lie stated it— : we quote hits own words—" to justify , but to exonerate the defendant . " " The plaintiff ' s parents were too ready tio encowrngc the defendant ' s attention to their daughter . "
" The letters put in showed little more titan < ihe relation of a barrack life , and were more about catching trout than of affection to the plaintiff . Tiie very moment the offer wa . s made it had huen accepted . Whiit would have been the position of the plaintiff hud tin ; defendant married her ? Where a man married into a . family below his own , the members of hi * family passed the wife by ; nlie wan slighted , and the necessary consequence wnsthat their happiness wan miured ; and although young ladies might indul ge in the chimera of love in-a cottage , men of the world know well that poverty im&c *
eircumatancea such a « tins cam ; presented , did not conduce- to huppinoHS . "The defendant , no doubt , had boeu lciuonsUutt ' d with , mid it had been impressed upon him , that he hud nothing to depend on but his puy in the army . The lmtural consequence would have been that lie must liuvu Hold out , when he would have beon unfit for any other occupation . The money which hi » commiHuion would hav « produced would have been soon K ' » tho reproaches and coldneHs of his family would beget eoldmns from him and between them , and n life of mincry and unhtippineBB would have been the result . He thought the iufv would conclude with him , that the defciitlunt had acted wisely in doing an ho had done , and that ,
so far from having acted with barbarity , his conduct showed from beginning to end , that he was making a sacrifice of his own feelings and affection to his sense of right to her . In all respects the union would have been an incompatible one . He would have been shocked by her gaucheries in the drawingroom , though what she did would be proper enough in her own station in life ; and this also would have led to discontent and coldness between them . " Mr . Wilkins had previously said of the young lady , * ' There she stood , at a time of life when impressions of this kind were soon obliterated , with the whole world before her , and not much damaged by what had occurred " /
Nothing is said against the young laoy , her conduct seems to have been irreproachable , her appearance engaging—until vexation " damaged" her , but ' * not much , " as Wilkins avers . The defendant is " a gentleman and a man of honour , " an officer of manners that show his distinguished birth , —precisely the man , according to Wilkins , to attract affection and confidence ; he offers his hand and proposes marriage , but the lady ' s father had been an innkeeper—which the captain knew from the first ;
" the very moment the offer had been made , it had been accepted "; the captain had been reminded that he had only his pay to look to , " he would have been shocked by her gaucheries in the drawing-room . " Such are the reasons , according to Mr . Wilkins , which justify ** a gentleman and a man of honour" in breaking off an engagement with a lady . We do not know that the Captain would have urged this plea with his own lips ; we do not know that Mr . Wilkins would- have done so
personally ; it was done professionally . The jury took a graver view of the compact , and rated its breach at £ 300 . Licence to sport with the feelings of youwg ladies , even though the ladies be no better than innkeepers' daughters , are growing more expensive than shooting' licences for the season .
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REALITIES . Sometimes tihe Pensive Public seems bitten by the desire to play at politics , and to recreate itself among fantastical imaginations of things , as if tired of realities ; and this symptom will exhibit itself in several members of the body politic ut twice , or even in more than one country . Here is our own House of Commons playing at keeping up the exclusion of Jews , when we all know that the game is over . The ¦ honourable Members repeated the old discussion , turning on a few tvords tvijieii were not meant to keep out tlie
Jews , and are not material to the object of the oath , which is to keep out the Pope a ;; d Popish Princes . What a spectacle ! Members mtc solemnly standing askew of the question , and manually ospposw ) g Mr . Salomons , lest they infringe the principle of the Act of Settlement , and let in Victor Konatnuel , of Sardinia , -to oust Queen Victoria ; King Victor Kmanuel having no thought of rivalling her most gracious Majesty , no connection with Mr . Alderman Salomons , no plan of creeping on to the British , throne through Lord John ' s Jew Bill ; nor has Lord John offered the said throne to the said Victor Emaniic ! .
Again , the House of Commons is standing out as manfully as if it had not five times agreed to let in Jews . ; live times liath Lord John Russell voted , and now lie cannot abide Mr . Salomons ' s getting in ; and the House is as obstinate us il the . Jews would not soon bo there , silting , speaking , and voting , as naturally as if they had done it since the Reform Bill . Over the water , there is the National Assembly of France resisting aggression * on the Republic , just as if there were not going to be a stand up light in May next . You would think from tlieir manner , that they wen : settling it all now , with speeches and votes !
One of their cleverest men , who liven in revolutions , and is cut « mi ( by nature < fo > r a soldier , comes over to the Peace Congress , which is sitting uolcinnly in Exeter llufl , to censure , political thunderstorms . The Great Bear of the North , say ( lie , gentlemen in broad-brims , should no * f ? r *« 4 nvt& huft , ( for it is wicked ; but . if he dutm , nautfltity xuewniuHt not do so in turn : good dirintianH should like to bo billed ; when oiie cheek is tiiuitteu , turn the other ; war is expensive and wasteful , nayfy , horrid ; and ho at Kxetor-hail they " resolve" to leave off fighting . With 1852 brewing !
M . " Delbrook" lays great stress on the immoral tendency of letting little boys pl . iy nt « oldi « rs , or tf irla dress their dolls in thury : it is thuH , he nays , that girls jeurn c < K | ueM . iKhu « 8 H and boyn love i > f war . M . Delbrook , editor of the Revue de I'Edu-
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July 26 , 1851 . ] © ft * QLtaKtt * 703
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), July 26, 1851, page 703, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1893/page/11/
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