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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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^ r ^ Tand naval purposes , and now they are ro £ Sor mo " 1 If moribe necessary , the very fact a how unfit are those who ask it , and who CiJt bJen able to provide what is wanted out fthe immense annual sums placed at their dispI * 1 to conduct the affairs of this country ar a Jw of increased military / expenditure . 4 f the nrpase is not necessary , how still more unfit must ? Vbe ? We believe that it is wholly unnecessary ; A that an increase to the forces is a wanton Edition to the burdens ^ the country _ account for such proposition
It is not easyAo a , the thing wanted is no increase , but a more fust appropriation of the money actually paid . It is not more soldiers or more arms that we need , so much as well trained soldiers and better arms . We are told that our coasts should be defended bv ships : well , we have ships ; but where are they ? In the Ta < ms , defending the Royal Family of Portugal—mto which a Prince of the ubiquitous house ' Coburg has married— -against the Portuguese people . To defend a Bourbon and a Coburg affainst the Portuguese , England is left to the niprcv of a spurious Bonaparte . This is an
instance of wholesale diversion of means already furnished in more than sufficient abundance ; and before Ministers dare to ask for ^ more , " they should show that they have made the best use of that which they have already . ¦ ,. , There may be one other reason . No douot , the slightest expense , which might readily be saved out of our ill-advised expenditure , would provide for the national defence , if the people were permitted to arm and be their own guard : the only reason against a complete reliance on the people must be the mistrust of our court and official parties in the
English people , with whom those parties have so little intercourse , relation , or community of feeling . There may be the same desire to keep upi defence of Dovvning-street and St . James ' s against the English people that there is to defend the palace at _ Lisbon against the Portuguese , anoT to shield the President of France against even the rough breeze of English feeling . The community of feeling is not between England and its Government , Portugal and its Government , France and its Government ; but between the Governments , and against the
Peoples . The remarkable fact is that the Peoples , not resorting to a corresponding alliance , not acting in unison , consent to pay for the armies which guard the jealousy of courts and cliques , and " keep down" the nations . A more manly and generous feeling would-be more prudent ; it would be the first step to Financial Reform .
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PAUL CLIFFORD IS ENTERTAINED AT THE TUILERIE 3 . In the Moniteur of Friday , the 29 th of January , a brief paragraph regaled France and Europe with the information , that on the previous evening , a distinguished and select circle , principally composed of Senators and Councillors oi State , had dined with the Prince President . The London journals of the same date , outspeeding even the Moniteur by submarine telegraph , reassured the Money Market , the Clubs , and
Downing'Street , with the gratifying account of a banquet , also given on the preceding evening , to a party of forty-three guests , " almost exclusively selected from the elite of the English society " in Paris . How to account for the discrepancy ? One tune for England , another for France . Not a syllable about the " elite of the English society " in the Moniteur—not a word about Senators and Councillors of State in the London journals .
But the fact remains in favour of England . It is now confirmed , beyond denial , that the guests assem bled in the grand dining-room of the Tuileries , 5 ? number of forty-three , at the bidding of the Man in Possession , " were ( thirty-eight of them , at least ) certain of our own countrymen and countrywomen . It is well that honest England—the ' -ngland of home , country , and freedom—should remember the names of the " elite of English society , resident in Paris , " who rally round the "ospitahtioa of Louis Bonaparte . Here they are : —
, tIJ Marquis of Bath , the Marquis of Hortford , mo Marquis and Marchioness of Douglas , Lord and liad y Ernest Bruce , Lord nnd Lady > Frederick Gora i i ' ••'" yburton , Lord and Lutly Poltimore , Lord A ol phuH Fitzolarenoo , Vi « eount Runolnph , Lord ( V tl chwrohill , Mr . ami Lady Mary Christopher , 5 " nnd Mrs . Baillie Couhra . , the Honourable onen cor Cowpor , Viscount ( Jlifden , Mr . Henry paring , BuronoHS Delmar , Mr . and Mrs . Cavendish , St i , 7 L ( uly Elli « . Honourable Georgo Stauord Jerningham , the Honourable William Stuart , Mr Augustus Paget . Mr , Corbett . Mr . and Mrs .
Clarke , Lady Farquhar and Miss Farquhar , Miss Stuart Mackenzie , of Seaforth , Mr . and Mrs . E . Blount , and the two Mrs . Kennedy Erskine . " To this select circle , representing we really know not what elements of English society , Louis Boiia * parte was profuse of cordial and caressing flatteries . Indeed , the entertainment was designed as a ' * testimony of good feeling to England . " - * ' I believe , " says the sympathetic correspondent of the Morning Post , «« that he expressed to several persons present his earnest hope that they in no way
participated in the extraordinary distrust and warlike feelings which were being stirred up on the other side of the channel . He hoped that as many of them as were about to return to England to their Parliamentary duties would carry away with them a true appreciation of the state of France and French society , and that they would assure their countrymen that there was no foundation for ideas of invasion and war . On the contrary , that France , " and he himself , were animated entirely by the friendliest feelings to the British nation , and truly desired its cordial alliance . "
Is not this very kind , very cheering , and very comfortable ? From the lips of the truth-speaking man who swore before God and man to observe his constitutional oath ; who promised to leave liberty intact at the expiration of his four year ' s term of office . From the man whose whole life has been a conspiracy , and whose usurped power is the consummation of a continual perjury . But the
condescension of the Prince to the gentlemen about to return to their Parliamentary duties ! We beg leave to ignore the Parliamentary influence of any of these favoured guests , the elite of English societyin Paris . The moral of the tale is , that it behoves us more than ever to be iipon our guard ; for we we have the clue to the peculiar cypher in which the dear Prince President announces his gracious intentions . Let us look back for parallels .
He would relinquish his office at the end of the four years ; at the end of the four years he extorts the decree of his own ^ continuance for ten vears . He would observe the Constitution ; he abolishes it . He would save society : he deluges it with blood . He would respect the family : he exiles fathers and sons , leaving wives and children destitute . He would respect property : he -confiscates the largest property in France . He now especially desires peace with England : it is a declaration of war .
However , " the guests we are told , " were completely convinced of the President ' s sincerity , " and that nothing is more remote from his ideas than hostility to England . Doubtless these gentlemen and ladies—the elite of English society ~ -iH Paris , assured their host of their admiration of his honesty , respect for bis virtues , gratitude to the Saviour of Society , homage to the accepted Ruler of France . Doubtless they told the Man of the Massacres that the great heart of England beats in unison with his own ; that the Press of England is alien to the People of England , who are better represented by the elite of English Society—in Paris ; that England honours perjury , murder , confiscation ; and rejoices to find Law and Justice committed to the
protection of an Outlaw , Property to the needy adventurer of King-street , St . James ' s , " the Family " the morals of the Elyse ' e , and Religion to the Soldier of the Pope . This , and more than this , may have been poured into the Prince ' s ear . We do not speak of the banquet . The Poetry of the Pantry is beyond our pen . The luxury was imperial , and " regardless of expense . " We pity even more than condemn the men with English names , if not with English hearts , who paid their adorations to the sanctity of success We cannot forget that many of them , as the police reports say , really have very respectable connections . But we protest against their being regarded by our friends in France as a real deputation from England , authorised to form an alliance .
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THE PARTY OF ORDER IN CONFUSION . Tjirmbndous is justice , and not to be beardedvet it is bearded . Awful is Parliament , and hot to be braved—yet it is hraived . Majestic is authority , and infinitely superior to the possibility of disobedience- -yet it is disobeyed . And what is more , when all those sublime potencies are bearded , braved , and bullied , they give in and submit . " Moderation " has come to mean the resolve to let any one with a stronger will go beyond you . France scandulizes the lovers of ** order , " so Jong as there is « " balance of parties " in the State ; but as soon as Louis Napoleon places his heel on public liberty , our constitutional conservators cry , "He ia tho
man 1 " The Cape of Good Hope must submit to have convicts ; inexorable is the Jove-like brow of Grey to all arguments of faith and justice—until the Cape rebels ; and then the Jove-like brow relaxes like the brow of Mascarille , when the porters bring him to term with a long pole . " Nearer home the Olympic , powers have been defied in a still more notable manner . Not long since certain appointed servants of the working classes , who received Kossuth at Copenhagen Fields , underwent the ' transitory hot-water ordeal of popular displeasure from a particular party for the strict maintenance of order and decorum . A particular person intruded himself on the assemblage , and was permitted by his friends so to intrude
himself , although it was known that he was no longer able to keep that control upon his actions which was requisite for the decorum of society or his own dignity . Mr . Feargus O'Connor was not excluded by the literal observance of any rule : he was admitted to witness the proceedings , but , with some exercise of patience and assiduity , he was kept aside and moderated . Again , at the working-class banquet , his boyish vagaries were discountenanced , and gradually subsided ; and the whole passed off without any glaringly painful incident . There were cries for " O'Connor , " but the public servants for that occasion did not yield to a partial " popular clamour "; and their firmness will now be better understood than it was then .
We are reminded of these unimportant incidents , which happened some three or four months back , by a contrast now , not so unimportant . Mr . O'Connor is summoned before a Court of Justice , which permits him to make a sport of its proceedings , to hinder its business , to defy its president , and to trifle with its bar . The court permits all this , twice ; and , what is far more lamentable , permits infirmity to make itself the laughing-stock of a delighted audience . That which was quietly frowned down by the working men at the Highbury festival , was made an object of merriment in the Vice-Chancellor ' Court ! In this indulgence of a morbid eccentricity , was the judge competing with certain popularity hunters ?
The same infirmity is allowed to invade the solemnity of Parliament—to shake hands with the Premier as a welcome home after the recess ; nay , to invade the very Treasury bench , and hold down the Leader of the House to his seat while he undergoes , like Gulliver stuck in the marrowbone , the painful operation of unwelcome attentions ; and all the while the tremendous Mr . Speaker sits helpless ! At Ilighbury-barn M . Louis Blanc was for a few moments in Lord John ' s painful position ; but he was speedily transferred to a place where he
remained unmolested . Yet at Highbury-barn it was but a festive kind of political assemblage , the authorities were but servants of the working men ; and the " party of Order , " we were told , was altogether absent ! There is a strange inverted use of language and ideas . Mr . O'Connor ' s friends , perhaps , think it more respectful to humanity in his person , that he should become the laughing-stock of a Court of Justice ; and the party of Order " would hold Mr . Speaker , or the Master in Chancery , lowered , much lowered , by a comparison with the chairman of the public dinner !
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RELIEF OF HONOURABLE MEMBERS . In England we do all good works by associations , and certainly we ought to form an association to improve the condition of Members of Parliament . It is painful in the extreme . To judge of a Member out of doors you would suppose him to be in a most flourishing and lordly condition : he keeps his hat on . with a hitf h sense of prerogative , and altogether wears a certain insolence of demeanour the sublime
that carries the " sublime " beyond . But follow him to his own House 1 It is like going to the home of the red-coated gentleman , who looks down upon poor civilians , but in the barrack is his own menial , is ordered about , is stabled like a horse , browbeaten , black-holed , and flogged . Abroad , your Member of Parliament- ^ aave nt the moulting tirnp of a general election—sccmH monarch of all ho surveys ; in the House he is a galley slave , a sheep without a Martin ' s Act , a victim
without a martyrologyt , . . No Ten Hours Act for him . Committees all day , debates all the evening . He knows his doom ; the session , says Captain Fitzroy , "is likely to be long , and occupied with protracted discussions . But that is not all ; special reservoirs of stench are preserved , for the better taming of the Members ; and then there is a mockery of « ventilation , by which a certain Dr . Reid is authorised to subject
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fbd , 7 , 1852 . ] Cfre araaei ? * 3 i
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 7, 1852, page 131, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1921/page/15/
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