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Bishop of Hereford , because he did not dance well in the presence of his terrifier . The French call these deposits caution money ; probably from the want of caution which the English , show , in trusting their money in Paris . To prevent the people from having their throats cut , as he alone foresaw , by vulgar Socialists , he did the work genteelly himself : so he illustrates the sacredness of property , by confiscating the private estates of the Orleans family , and the deposit-money of English capitalists , against usage , and in anticipation of his own law courts . He
" saves society" on presumption , as a Vlrginius saved Virginia , ana he protects property , by taking it under his own wing . Incredible as it may seem , however , the worst remains to be told yet . An offer , we understand , has been made to one of the companies , which would prevent the forfeiture of any part of the caution money . It amounts to this . The French Government wants , for some purpose ( say , to restore the Budget to equilibrium ) , more cash ; and if the holders , say of 4 , 1 . shares in this deposit-money , will advance sixteen sovereigns to the French Government , they shall have , instead of the two sovereigns , which would now be returned to them , a bond for 201 ., including the
161 ., and the whole of the 4 * 1 . This is a most extraordinary proposal : to seize the half of your moneyv on condition that you will accept the other half in full quittance , and then t <> offer to acknowledge the whole debt , on condition that four times as much shall be advanced . It is a proposal which measures , not only French impudence , but the French estimate of English sagacity . The refusal of English capitalists will measure the English sense of imperial honesty . We believe that there is no one implicated in this transaction , who would not rather possess two sovereigns , than the imperial bond for 201 .
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"A STRANGER" IN PARLIAMENT . When the present Government was formed , a pleasant evening paper , bidding for the resumption of quasi-Whig Ministerialism , set about discovering a justification for the excess of strength in the Cabinet ; and it was ascertained that the only way in which the soup could escape destruction from so over-manned a cuisine was by a general understanding being come to that there should be no concert—that each Minister should go to work separately , and that , accordingly , the departments being well looked after , the Ministry should take care of itself . The advice was practical in its
application to » coalition not very sure of its basis ; and clearly it has been taken . It is true there is a Cabinet Council every Saturday : but these are all about Montenegro and Milan—domestic policy stays at home , in the departmental bureaux . Thus , we see intensive individual activity among the Ministerscollectively , profound idleness . The Ministry , as a whole , is doing nothing—is still representative of nothing , —is avoiding all grappling with difficulties , arrangement of which would give fame to the Aberdeen cabinet , —which , to Lord John's chagrin , will doubtless be the historical title . But take the Government to
pieces , and you will be astonished and delighted at the bustle going on in every separate sphere . Deduct last nig ht from the week , when the Tory Opposition had the pus , and you will find a Minister the hero of the orders of each night—coming out to fight singly , and in rotation . It is the only plan with " all the talents ;" —tho worst of managers shirk a constellation of all the stars , simply from fear of the consequences . " And tho public , finding the Parliamentary proceedings dull , conclude that they are useful . It is indeed a session of work : but may we never have such another ; for Parliament is our principal public amusement .
Do any of those peop le who pat their morning paper applaudingly , and say , " Ah , the House is really at it now , " consider how tho membors suffer ? Take Mr . Vernon Smith's objection , this wook , to the proposal of a committee on " oaths , " that thoro wan no uho appointing any more committees , since there wero no membors disengaged ; and , as illustrating the Himie fuct , Mr . Ewart ' s notice of motion for a select committee to inquire whether " tho constitution and action the select committees of this IIoiibo mi ght not
bo improved by generally diminishing the number of momborH composing Huch committees , and by making provision for their giving moro undivided attention to subjects submitted to their consideration than they mo able to do under tho present system . " Certainly we find twenty Irish members dividing on Thursday night in favour of the addition of moro members to tho India committee ; but you mny Hot that down to ( lory zealor tho consideration that those who thus divided know that they would not bo called upon to Bit , notwithstanding
Mr . Maguire ' s suggestion that a Papist would have moro sympathy than a Protestant with a Hindoo ; and indeed the existence of rcund towers in Bengal , " or thereabouts / ' justifies the supposition of affinity between Carnatic petitioners and a member for Cork . It is not necessary , however , to trust to indirect evidences ; go into the committee lobby "between : twelve and four ; study the " groups , " and you will appreciate what the honour of a seat means in 1853 . It means
six hours of private business , which is not your own ; and eight more hours of public business , which is your constituents ' . And after such a routine it is not pleasant to have the fact blurted out , as it was by rash Mr . Whalley , this week , to the indignant amazement of Mr . Brotherton , that the private business of the House of Commons is " disgracefully and inefficiently conducted . " Mr . Brotherton repelled the charge ; how could the youngest member ( Mr . Whalley was elected since the general election ) know anything about the matter ? "I told him , " said Mr . Hume—Mr . Hume , the " inveterate reformer , " should know . Mr . Hume
is as indiscreet with his own nest as ungenerous with the nests of others ; and so there it stands on record for general study—a confession in the House that the House does not know how to conduct private business ; conduct of public business being , of course , an open question of some date . Seeing what is going on—the crowds of committees , the time they take , the dissatisfaction they give , the frightful expense they cause—it is impossible not to suspect that Mr . Hume is accidentally right . After all , therefore , when—the House being up after a closing heavy division—one sees a jaded M . P . fainting at the cloak room , into his paletot , and with hardly strength enough left—he has been " at it" since 10 a . m . —to light his cigar ; when one follows his shaky steps to the cab-stand , and observes that his
direction is home , and not to a ball , —even the young M . P / s now , Mr . Whalley included , avoid suppers at Evans' and coffee in the Haymarket , —the pity is shared by some slight contempt , such as is felt for workmen who bungle with their tools . A thousand miles in a thousand hours is clever , in the way of a wager ; but we cannot respect the routine which insists on going over two sides of a triangle when one would bring to the end . Mr . Ewart's plan of providing for an increase of subjects by decreasing the numbers on the committees , would not do , for this reason : the surface spread might ono day become so thin that we should have committees of units . Let a practical nation consider what would become of us if a Parliamentary quorum should be one—and that quorum , say Sibthorpe . How he would report !
Government meanwhile is winning good opinion by single combats . Mr . Cardwell , on Monday , made friends of the shipping interest by adroit concessions , suggested to him by his old constituents ; and the saying , while ho spoke , that he was frightfully dry , was the proof that he was making an oratorical hit . Mr . Cardwell has got on in the world by being dull ; and would sink at once if he were momentarily guilty of a spark of cleverness — supposing he could get i 6 up . He is of that class of men who cannot understand what people see to admire in Mr . Disraeli ; who mumble " charlatan" when they hear anybody being brilliant ,
and who console themselves for never being admired , though so immensely respected , by the consciousness that they wero never late for an appointment—hoping that posterity , knowing that , may be induced to invite them down . He was Peel ' s pet , and in to be studied an the exemplar of tho class Sir Robert encouraged and educated for the government of England . A great master is known by his pupils , in a great degree , and it is Sir Robert Peel ' s condemnation that he left us no public men to lead . You may think of Gladstone , but it is well known that there never was any real sympathy between tho two . Sir Robert Peel , as he
grow in statesmanship , marked a transition era , from tho Pitts , and Sheridans , and Cannings , to the " business members " , tho product of the Reformed House ; and he has left us with the red tape tone intensified into our public life . What could a " man of business " —his great boast—leave us , as his representatives , but clerks ? From his son , Mr . Frederick Peel , to Mr . Cardwell , those whom ho led up to tho treasury , havo boon clerks , and only clerks . It i . s odd , but Sir Robert Peel never picked up a great man . lie hated the
brilliant man , even snubbed Mr . Disraeli , and found , in tho end , reason to repent that oversight . I Jut , perhaps , he knew bi « ago—tho sort of men who would H 1 U (;—and , clearly , dull , nnd decorous , soulless , but accurate and laborious , Mr . Cardwell lias fame and poiriition as an administrator , statesmen having gone , for tho moment , out of fashion . So , to repeat , his very dissertation on ships , on Monday , did himself and tho Government good service Tho shipowners said next morning , " Practical man , Cardwoll , Hir ; " and tho Trinity House said the Government was nioro
rational than that remarkable corporation expected , or had reason to expect . In the same way Mr . James Wilson , who is usually lucratively quiet in office , gave immense satisfaction in the city by his careful arguments against new assurance companies . It was a good point to make , at the right time , peculation , having turned in a different direction ; and if he get out a good report he will ever after be regarded by the big offices about the Mansion House as a great statesman , which would be a mistake , for he is only a great clerk , being to the statesman what the actuary is to the political economist .
Let it not , however , be concluded that the Government is only financial and statistical . Colonel Mure ( a wonderful scholar , who cannot talk as well as—say Joseph Hume—wherefore , though an old member , he is nearly a stranger ) is evidently acting for Lord John Russell in the matter of the National Gallery ; so that the Cabinet is looking after its didicisse fdeliter properly , perhaps because Mr . Disraeli started so boldly in the same direction , when he had the official chance ; while , on the other hand , Mr . Fitzroy , cleverly backed by Mr . Phinn— -who is an immense success among the new members , principally because he talks in the House without a trace of the Hall—is positively chivalric , on behalf of his colleagues , in his attempt to check the characteristic brutality of British husbands upon thenwives . The introduction of such a bill as his is the
more commendable that it is gratuitous , there being no feminine pressure from without , asking Government to give themselves supererogatory work ; and as he proves himself " quite a lady ' s man , " it would not be astonishing if an organization of back parlours were got up to induce him to resist callous Lord Campbell's Divorce Commission recommendations , the injustice done to women in these recommendations being obvious , as any peeress "in her own right" would easily show .
But it is out of the question to enumerate all that the Government is doing—departmentally . Everyman of them is busy , and busy independently , for it is obvious Lord Clarendon is the only Minister troubled with the advice of colleagues . Mr . Gladstone , every one sees , is acting quite independently—oblivious of the " leader " next him ; and , as on Thursday night , sometimes forgetting himself . That was the second time he had done damage to the Government—a
serious evil , beyond the temporary reasons , as encouraging the clerks to look down on the brilliant men * In fact , it was Clerk Cardwell , on Thursday week , who saved the Government from the results of a speech of the brilliant Gladstone ; and because there was no clerk at hand this last time , the brilliant man led a host into a minority lobby . There can be very little question that but for the running away—a harsh p hrase of dignified and responsible representatives , but a sad fact—on tho 3 rd , Mr . Disraeli would have beaten the Government , and that on a Free-trade motion ; and assuredly it is a great impeachment of the C hancellor of the Exchequer ' s " discretion" that he risked such a confusion as was seen in next day ' s division list—Disraeli , with Radicals like Walnisley , voting in favour of Frec-trado against a
Free-trade Government—the Government list including Charles Villiors—Charles Villiers actually voting against Free-trade ! In one respect the division list was useful to constituencies ; it told who are tho men—healthy Radicals some of them arc supposed to be—who will stand by the present Ministry at all hazards , whatever their no measures or their Budget , merely because they are the present Ministry . But Mr . Gladstone bad no such purpose in view , and therefore did a silly thing in his haughty opposition to friendly Mr . Hume , who would have been very glad at an excuse to drop bis dangerous motion . But be did something more than a silly thing in opposing Lord Robert Groavcnor , on Thursday , when that utilitarian nobleman held in his baud a power of attorney
to get a majority on the tickli . sh certihcatc question . Opposition to the motion wuh a matter of course , but bis hasty hauteur played tho deuce . This time there was no temptation to tho friends of Government to run away—it was not disgraceful to be in tho opposite lobby ; no Disraeli was trying to trap them : and thoy took tho advantage of the nonchalant defmnco of tho most potent of profiwsioiiH , to oblige their solicitors , and to return their returns . Consequence—Mr . Gladstone was put in a foolish , the Government in an
ignominious , position . They got Mr . Hume into their lobby—Mr . Ifumo was , of course , poor blundering old gentleman , anxious to make up for Iris doings that night week— but they had driven people they could not spare into opposition , and provided a division list full of curiosities—for instance , Mr . James Sadleir , brother to Mr . John Hadloir , a Lord of the Treasury , but also a solicitor , voted against them !—which will seriously hamper them , if they Htill venture to leave tho certificates untouched hi tho Budget . This , couple
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;¦ ' ¦'¦¦ 1 -- ¦ -rr-... •' , . ., .- ^^ r-wj- " -.., V 7 ^ TIT 7 V ^ P 7 rs ^^ : ^ " : ' ^¦ "vrw ¦ ^^ ¦ iJ ^^ V ' * W : ¦! l-. -l .-iWttl-jS'Wik " . "fi .-, W : 1 . ' - 7 * 4 .. p : « fV " '¦—* J"" .. jW « 4 i «" 'W- '' - ' •'• • • ¦ ' "" m '¦'" •" . ' «'»*" March 12 , 1853 . ] [ THE LEADER . 255
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), March 12, 1853, page 255, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1977/page/15/
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