Current:

Leader (1850-1860), 14th August 1852, Edition Town of 2, Page 777, Untitled Article

Page 777
Page 13
13 of 24

On this page

  • Text (4)
  • Transcript

    • 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.

      Untitled Article

      finn in Nottingham , employment is good , the labour-market being thinned ; in Perth , farmers are consulting about the dreaded rise of wages j fn Tendon itself , common porters have a commission to find clerks , in lieu of the " gents" who are " off to the diggins , " and masters assume an unwonted civility . The despised classes are becrinning to be value ( i- gangers abroad will rouse us fr ° m our . mor ^ i ^ apathy . Adverse seasons at home will restore a healthier sternnesg . And when we have felt the want enough , we shall insist on having a Government that deserves our confidence , for its ability , strength , and public virtue—a Government that would make us feel confident even in the face of cholera , war , and a deluged harvest .

      Untitled Article

      LOUIS NAPOLEON'S BEST FRIEND . * ' I have lost my best friend ! " is said to have been the exclamation of Louis Napoleon , on learning the death of Alfred d'Orsay . Whether said or not , the phrase points to a truth . Alfred d'Orsay had been the best friend of Louis Napoleon ; but friendships are not always reciprocal , and the motive is often worthier than the object . D'Orsay was a genial man , who put a generous

      construction upon all that sought it ; and it may be said that his friendship for Louis Napoleon was too great to be thoroughly , welcome . The last and greatest duty which a friend can perform he did perform , in keeping the truth before the rising adventurer ; but that duty of a friend could probably have been spared by him to whom it was given without reward . D'Orsay became in himself the standard and measure of Louis

      Napoleon's bad spmt . An adventurer in the most liberal sense of the term , d 0 rsay had violated many of the conventional laws of society , —had erred even under higher tests ; but he retained the best qualities of an adventurer , —courage and generosity . In London he always took the most lively interest in the republican refugees . He raised subscriptions for them , and gave towards those subscriptions sums by no means inconsiderable , even at a time when he was much harassed . His political

      notions were a bizarre mixture of republicanism and imperialism . By early habit he was an aristocrat ; by the circumstances of his life , his ardent temperament , and his disregard of restraint , he was trained to sympathize with democracy ; by the bent of his genius , he was artist , in every sense of the word , and thus he sought the more refined and dramatic developments of either political doctrine . Socialism pleased him by its daring aspect , and he was far from judging it , as men of his position in England so commonly do , according : to the calumnies propagated by

      ignorance and timidity . With Louis Napoleon ho had been intimately allied , in great part by services which he had rendered to that companion in kni g ht-errantry ; and when iC became a question oftraismg Napoleon to the Presidency , Count d'Orsay employed himself with prodigious activity , writing letter upon letter to all parts of France , in the sincere conviction that his friend , when in power , would be the same man that ho appeared in his writings when a prisoner . Moreover , d'Orsay had the most profound contempt and aversion for Cavaignae , mainly , we believe , because that prejudiced and half-sifihted man had permitted himself to treat

      an illustrious member of the Socialist party with gross injustice . After Louis Napoleon had been nominated to the Presidency , d'Orsay did not cease to write to him , until his departure from England , urging the honour which ho would attain by an amnesty . Wo may say that these letters have como within our own perusal ; and they wore very urgent—most elevated in their sentiments , almost imperious . Summoned to Paris , ho was received at th ' e Elyso * o more coldly than he might have oxpootod ; for those who feared his influence had represented to Louis Napoleon that the questionable repute of his friend would rondor tho intercourse

      disastrous . Louis Napoleon might have replied that if injury woro to bo done by such a consideration it would bo mutual : but in his prosperity the HolfiMli man forgot the friend of his adversity . Possibly his coldnosH was increased l ) y tho fact that d'Orsay obliged him to hoar n republican tone of language little to bo relished by a "prince" whom tho Baroclies , and other people <> i that sort , woro then intoxicating with tho grossest ilattorios . Nevertheless there was a talk of giving to tho Count tho direction of tho

      Fine Arts ; an idea which he repulsed with energy , since he would not displace M . Charles Blanc . D'Orsay declared , with generous indignation , that to displace the brother of the man , to whom in fact Louis Napoleon owed it that the Eortals of his country had been opened to imself , would be an act of baseness . Other Napoleonic ideas found in d'Orsay the most energetic and sincere disapproval , notably the Roman expedition , which he openly assailed as an " infamy . " The following letter , addressed to a distinguished friend in London , will show the feeling that he entertained at the time : — 8 « April 19 , 1849 .

      " Ah ! my dear friend , if you did but know how illblooded I have become in this cursed country ! Such a collection of rabble , intriguers , fools , simpletons , and cowardly recreants ! I feel Prance within me , and look for her around me in vain . And you have been fancying that I also should contract the political gangrene ! Why , I am twenty times more what I was in London , instead of having deviated one hair ' s breadth , as you seemed to fear .

      " Yes , I quite agree with you in all you say in your letter . I have seen your brave and worthy brother : we are sincere friends ; for sympathy is as swif t as the electric telegraph . I was almost jealous at his having taken Nieuwefcerke for his second rather than myself . It was an infidelity to me , who am now acknowledged as your bosom friend . " I have dined at Lamartine ' s , and he told me that you would be pleased with what he had written about you . I told Girardin what you wished . " I hope to see you again soon , for this long-desired amnesty is coming ; much too late , indeed , but better late than never . I look for it on the 4 th of May , full and entire . [ With what result we now know . ]

      " What do you think of the amazing imbecility of the Italian expedition ? This time , the geese of the Capitol will laugh at the Gauls . The Republic constituting itself first soldier to the Pope I I said to Lamartine that the Revolution would lose its virginity by this ' intervention ; for it was , historically speaking , really a fine thing to have been so moderate . Either the whole of Europe should have been overrun by the Republican flag , or France should have made it a matter of coquetry not to stir at all . In fact , blunders are being heaped on blunders . Qtte le Diable emporte les imbecilles ! and he will have a precious task ! Au revoir . ' A thousand-friendly recollections from the ladies . " Believe me ever your affectionate

      "A . d'Obsay . D'Orsay was too stout a friend , and Louis Napoleon could not stand the strain put upon the better part of his nature . All intercourse between them ceased . At that time d'Orsay was placed in circumstances the most unfortunate , —so much so , that he accepted an asylum from a friend . The accomplished and fortunate painter , Gudin , offered him a small lodging in a house which belonged to him ; and d'Orsay fitted up the humble apartment with the taste that characterized him . He hung its walls with pictures , which artists sent him , from all parts ; and thus he formed it into a true sanctuary of the arts . Here ho was visited

      by all that Paris contained of tho intellectual and tho amiable . Here , however , he was seized with that malady which brought him to death . When he consented to accept the place so tardily found for him , and so long repelled , he was literally in a dying condition ; broken down in strength , in spirit , perhaps even dimmed as to his insight . Louis Napoleon had avenged himself for d'Orsay ' s too courageous friendship , by seducing tho dying man into a position which ho had refused so long as he retained his faculties . But d'Orsay * s friends remember him us ho was ; and thoy judge of Louis Napoleon by tho manner in which he appreciated lua " best friend . "

      Untitled Article

      INDICATIONS OF REFORM IN DOCTORS ' COMMONS . Nitmkbous articles have lately appeared in tho 1 ' ournals having a similar object to that in our ast number on tho Ecclesiastical Courts . Public feeling on this topic is sotting in fltilHy against those time-honoured abominations . r JLho pressure has boon felt in high quarters , and instances arc plentiful as blackberries of tho tendencies towards reform which arc being forced from without upon people in power . Tho verdict of the nation is ho decided , that there ; can bo no doubt Ministers will try to monopolise tho popular cry for their own uso . And although the Morning Herald tolls us in its semi-confidential whisper

      that— " The Chancellor will apply himself to reduce the expenses of proceedings under commissions de lunatico inquirendo ; " that the able and learned Queen's Advocate is applying his mind to the amendment of the Ecclesiastical Courts ; " and " that never in the memory of man was there a body of gentlemen so bent on law reform as the members of the present Cabinet ;"

      we are not so sure that they will succeed ; because no trust can be placed in them to work any reforms which are not dictated to , and forced on them . B , ut we are willing to take these officious admissions as evidence how strongly Ministers feel the breeze , and how keenly desirous they are to snatch at popularity somewhere . To be successful , the movement must rely on

      other propelling agencies . And these are not wanting . It is well known that Lord Chief Justice Knight Bruce is alive to the necessity of reform ; and when the tide of wholesome innovation has surged up to him , we may be sure of its depth and power . # Next session , we are enabled to state , Sir Benjamin Hall will bring the whole question before

      the House of Commons . This will test the earnestness of Lord Derby—if he be in office— - and of Lord Any-body-else , if he be not . It is truly amazing how even the long-suffering British public can have so long endured these sinks of official laziness , legal corruption , and judicial plundering , favourably known to the tutelar Deities of Fraud and Delay by the title of Ecclesiastical Courts .

      Untitled Article

      HINTS TO NEW M . P / S . BY AN EXPERIENCED " STRANGER . " I . Gentlemen , —An argument invariably used by our great statesmen against the proposition of annual Parliaments and of triennial Parliaments is , that it takes , at the very least , two sessions to acclimate a new member to the moral atmosphere of the House . Perhaps the argument is a very silly one , since the atmosphere of the House may be very deficient in moral oxygen , from too much using up , and since the rough vigour of new brooms , provided the supply of new brooms can be kept up , may be worth more than the symmetrical and leisurely sweeping of practised and somewhat scrubby besoms . But the argument , at least , shows that there is an understood supposition that the new member is but a " Fuchs , or " Freshman , " for a year or two after taking the oaths : that a Peel , if a Fuchs , is a less desirable legislator than a Sibthorp , if a seasoned " Bursch "; and with the sense thatyou are all , therefore , in everybody ' s estimation , a set of rather ridiculous greenhorns , you may be disposed , having had a week or two to recover from tho

      intoxication of your senatorial glories , to listen deferentially to the hints of a " stranger , " who , as one of the public , and privately , is interested in your good behaviour . Doubtless there is a species of wisdom to be learned only by repeatedly playing the fool ; and a perfect " Guide to the House of Commons" would no more turn a raw Jones at once into a Tom Duncombe ( tho greatest tactician who ever sat in the House ) , or an unknown Smith into a Italph Bernal , suavest and keenest of all chairmen of Committees , than

      a map of Paris would teach an Alderman French . But the House of Commons has its esoteric and exoteric faiths and faces ; and if tho neophites get a few " wrinkles" as they approach tho threshold , they may be able to pass muster very much sooner than they or their constituents could reasonably havo expected among tho venerablo priests in the ad y tum who have blundered their own way to initiation . People who study tho " Reports" havo no more idea of the House of Commons than an Adelphi pit has of the Adolphi troupe . The House is a great theatre , with its inreen-room as well as its stage . It is a groat

      club , all in all , in itself and to itself , -with its own heroes , its own way of thought , and its own way of talk . Cut oil' from tho mass of tho nation by tho restricted suffrage whence it proceeds , and compelled , by its forms , and tho p resence of Ministers of tho Crown , to follow official ends , tho English Houw of Commons in in no respect a " popular assembly ; " and no man will succeed in it who docs not remember that fact . Ah ! but , BavH Joiioh , I eorno from throe hundred thousand poowle , and I'll talk at tho nation over tho head of tho Speaker . Anterior Joneses havo tried ; and have not only collapsed in tho House , but have failed altogether of publio good , lloform

      Untitled Article

      AuGr 8 T 14 , 1852 . ] THE LEADER . W ?

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 14, 1852, page 777, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1947/page/13/