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age , in behalf of the British people . In the Church what honourable , beyond Mr . Noel , ever gained even a respectable place ? At the bar Mr . Norton ( through Mrs . Norton ) got a metropolitan court , and Mr , Wortley , by cultivating a knowledge of fish dinners , became City Recorder . . With regard to commerce , as the Irish . officer " died of love , ( through drink , ) last year , " the Duke of Bridgewater made a fortune , by an i nevitable canal ; and Lord Alfred Paget , having once wandered to Shoreditch , was pounced upon , and made a railway director , to his astonishment—as his
countenance evinces , ever since . True , a Plantagenet is Chairman of the London and North-Western , but that may be ptit down as a railway accident . Then , in literature ? Byron , it has been often said , was an accidental Lord , who owed his brains to a vulgar Scotch woman ; and , since Byron , not a presentable poet from the titular grandees , except Mr . Julian Fane , who , perhaps , may get some laurels for his order . As to the crowd of younger sons , sprung from the land consvmere frugcs , they , with all their start and advantages , are beaten into back places , even in the easiest
work , by vigorous new men , thinking less of the glory of having had a grandfather , than of the honour of leaving a fortune for a grandson . The fact is , that the detrimentals wont work : born into shifty affluence , it is easier to strugg le on in a false position than to struggle out of it ; and , in our generation , " fast" is so much the vogue , that a man of thirty thinks he has gone through enough , and is entitled to lounge away an existence not enjoyed because not exhausted . The detrimental is , in short , " a swell" till his waist becomes
bulgy and his hair thin , and his pulse twittery ; and then , to use the fine expression of Macaulay , having lost his youth , he throws his manhood after it in despair : toddling on , accordingly , to malignant iogydom . The utter inutility of younger-son-ism , as a class , fills a philosophical spectator with melancholy ; and as idle men of unrigid careers are mischievous , such a spectator , deploring the expense of such a class to the people , must also speculate upon the effect on " society . "
The honourable Mr . de Trop , who has been in all the capitals of Europe , and has become a man of the world , will tell you , frankly , that society is in an awful state , s j rj—cuss him , if Princesses are not as available as giisettes—that is , creme de la crCmc for the strawberry leaves ; and as to the West End of London , why , hang him , if it isn't a doosed deal worse than Venice ever was . Why ? Because youngcr-son-ism counteracts the holy influences of our reformed religion .
The Parliamentary younger son is essentially of the class , with the class characteristics ; and Lord Henry Lennox may be taken fairly as a specimen of his order . Nobody ever heard of Lord Henry Lennox : and that is the very reason why ho should bo selected as a sample of the social and political detrimental . Lord Henry Lennox is a won of the Duke of Richmond , and has no appearance of being ashamed of his ancestry . Mr . Wickham , the celebrated Radical , having been intrigued out of Cluchestur by hw Grace- the Duke , his Grace succeeded in returning Lord Henry for that
highly independent borough ; and as member for ChiehcHtor , Lord Henry Lennox Hits , or rather strolls , as component part of the . British Legislature . As an M . P . ht < in iioteminunt , and his principal Parliamentary act vviiH in running out for , andrunninginwith , a * , umliler of cherry-brandy for the refreshment of Mr , Disraeli , when thai , remarkable financier wan reaching tho fifth hour of hin immortal Budget . For that act Lord Henry Lennox got 1200 L ; that in , ho was a year in office , and he wan a Lord of the Treasury . ji \ > r ho \ h a Derby i to , or wan ; ho may return to tho allegiance
of Lord Aberdeen , who made him onco a priciswriter . Lord Henry Lennox parts bin hair in tho middle , and in doubtless in favour of a junta milieu policy . Generally hjwaking , Lord Henry Lennox , like a largo majority of the inhabitants of clubs , m in favour of 1200 / . a year , JIo in hIho aqainst the endowment of Roman Catholics , their teaching , in his opinion , lining immoral ; and you may hoo liim any
evening during tho mason , in tho omnibus-box of tho Opera , or in tho stalls of tho Haynuukot , with liiH back to tho stage and his hands in his pockets , looking vaguely senatorial in tho eyes of tho froo people- in tho galleries . Ho considered , for funno years , that tho unrestricted importation of foreign corn would ho ruinouH to thin happy nation ; but ho would now profor a " revision of taxation" to a rovoraion of tho oom laws . That in to < my , ho puta
that opinion in Dod ; he was never known to mention anything in the House ; and at Chichester he is not confidential—certainly not voluble- When he needs relaxation from studying the complicated action , of British politics , he goes on the turf ; and he is said to be better able to make a book than a speech . His career , political ) consists in cheering Mr . Disraeli and advising Lord Stanley to go ahead . He has a great horror of Sir James Graham , and thinks , or thought , the Coalition " mecin . " He hates Mr . Bright , because he is so personal , and laughs at Mr . Hume ,
because he is so scrupulous ; and , on the whole , he doesn't believe the Kadicals are in earnest in deprecating bribery , while he is sure the Whigs are sham Liberals , —and he hates shams , —as he told the people of Chichester when , just after his election— they pelted him . He thinks Lord John Manners a fine poet , and agrees in the importance of saving our old nobilitie and he is proud of the British constitution , but still thinks it twaddle to abuse Louis Napoleon , and considers Kossuth and those fellows humbugs . What is to become of this
country he is not quite sure about ; but he knows this , that the Radicals would render Great Britain ungentlemanly . He does not mind the people having a small , subdued , voice in the House ; he supposes he cannot help that ; but he thinks our statesmen should be more contemptuous of the pressure from without . He is also disgusted that the big constituencies send up men who are able to talk . There is his brother , March , and his brother , Alexander , and himselfthree Members , sir , and representing a whole Dukewhy the three never occupied an hour in talking to the
House—not altogether between them ; and he would like to know if the large towns ought not to be as moderate . Their votes are equal to all the Manchester and half the Liverpool representation ; and yet they never intrude , except when a change of Ministry oc ^ curs , and then surely three votes are entitled to 1200 Z . a year between them ? He is not altogether opposed to the coming Reform Bill . He will not deny that it was a good thing to sweep away the rotten boroughs ; and he is sure the county franchise ought to be extended to counteract the radical fellows . At the same
time he is not so sure that the Radicals are the popular men after all . He shouldn ' t wonder if Disraeli were to propose universal suffrage ; and , by Jove , he believes the rabble would prefer lords to millowners after all . Meanwhile , even when without the 1200 / . a-year , he is for keeping faith with the public creditor , and all that sort of thing ; and he ' s d—d if he wont always vote for keeping up the Church , and all that sort of thing . And that sort of thing is just as popular and safe as any other sort of thing . Whence doubts as to British privilege to dictate to Tuscany and appoint Colonial Bishops . Won-Elector .
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THE "TIMES" ON THE NATIONAL CAUSE IN ITALY . Wb notice with truo satisfaction an improvement in tho Times , which wo may bo permitted to ascribe not only to a sense of what is duo to public opinion , but to a fooling of juHtico in tho conductors of that journal . Not lon ^ since , a garbled and distorted report of certain incidents in Italy encouraged our great contoinporai-y to nniko a general attack upon tho Republican party , and Mazzini in particular , whom it aceum-d , with copious vituperation , of promulgating a plan for the tyrannical coercion of opinion , exactly like that actually on forced b y Austria and the Italian Governments . Mazzini mmt a denial ( whieli was not inserted ) , with ovideneo of Iris maintaining the
totally opposite doctrino ; nnd lie might have pointed to bin ( jinvcrimumt in Jlonio for proof of tolerance carried abnoHt to a point of impolitic indulgence . On Thursday , tho Times took a characteristic advantage of tho indium-Uturn of ill-reported HpoakorH at the Polish meeting in tho Haiiover-Hquaro . lioonis , to hurl another blow at tho national leaders . It , quoted nomo phranes uttered liy a foreign gentleman , a friend of Miv / . y . ini ' n , avIio , according to this report , avowed Socialistic eonvietioiiH , and declared that tho permanent huocons of revolution involved the Had nooofwity of the guillotine . Now , thin recital of tho limtf » ago uttnrod by Colonel Pianeiani woh it total iniHeoncoption , owing , we suppose , to bin having fipokon in VoiKh
I' ' . Ho u . sed the word guillotine to express capital ipumnhmeiit generally , jimt an wo , versed in Old IJailej traditionH , should tine tho word gallowH , mid his argumonl waH addrcuHcd to those who deprecate war an a calamityft calamity , bo admitted , which wo munt voHort to only upon extremity , m wo may roHort lo Iho gallowH to avoid Htdl woi-ho calamities . ' Colonel Pianciimi was diHtinguiHhod for a coiiHpicuoim nharo in tho heroic defence of Vonice , mid in not the man to miller , much Ichh to advocate , a dastardly torrorimu , any , UOro Minn Victor Hugo , as iniplacabln a denouncer oi' tyranny , and iih deeply wronged oh any patriot , who yet In hm new lyrical outburNl , of indignation mul norrow , * ardently protentH in liolmll
of the people , against the thought of a sanguinary retaliation , and emphatically insists that the resurrection of the new Republic shall be as pure and stainless as the people's cause . The Times , however , admits a statement from Colonel Pianciani , and in the same number devotes two columns to a long letter , singularly exact and temperate in style , correcting , by the actual ex ! . perience of an eye-witness ., Austrian views of Italian affairs Such of our readers as have perused the communication of a " Traveller in Italy , " will seem to have been reading explanations that have been furnished from time to time in our own columns , but it is something to secure for those explanations the countenance of the Times . Sucha letter we may well believe , would scarcely have been admitted by a journal which , so lately refused to Mazzini himself the calumniated exile , space enough for bis own vindication had not tho name of the writer been as unexceptionable as his evidence .
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SCOTCH ORTHODOXY . ( To tlie Editor of the Leader . ) Sir , —It is a curious study to trace the connexion between the circumstances of an individual and the development of his character , but still more curious the connexion that seems to subsist between the country the man inhabits and the man himself . The analogy between the two is certainly surprising . Let the children of another age account for it as they will , the facts remain . Cold , bleak , and cheerless , dull , foggy , and dropsical , the resemblance between the country and the aboriginal intellect is complete . Such is Scotland . Stubborn as her mighty Hills , barren as her rocky soiL uncultivated as her mountain tops , her soul is still . Stern , rugged , and uncompromising , she maintains the character of her fathers , except where the friction of some nobler soul has thawed her mental icicles , and kindled latent sparks into a flame . Then does her austerities become her beauties , —then , indeed , may she claim kindred with surrounding nature , and see in her mountain cataracts and streams—in her Benlomond's heights and silent glens , her mirrored self . Scotland has no character for versatility ; her opinions are hoary-headed things , that follow the law of entail ; her beliefs rest upon Faith , pure and simple ; her creed , like the laws of the Medes and Persians ,
altereth not ; and her devoted sons are ready to defend with their hearts' best blood " the faith once delivered to the fathers ; " but bigoted , dull , and stupid as she is , she stands not still amidst the general progress—she is exhibiting a more tolerant disposition—a more lenient aspect ; her ideas aro growing larger , her faith moro universal , her charity more extended ; sects and sectarian feelings are melting away , tho human brotherhood is being moro fully acknowledged , and a comingling of feelings and sympathies exists , such as wo have not seen for many a day .
There aro established churches here , where moro regard is paid to truth than to tho " Confession of Faith ; " where some of the most Calvinistic doctrines are termed " metaphysical difficulties with which we have nothing to do . " There aro pulpits—old church pulpits , too—where interpolations in our plenary inspired Bible aro denounced without fear , and the Sabbath regarded in its proper light . Nay , 1 believe there arc Established Churches held by men who arc only deterred from expressing their convictions by tho fear of bringing their families to poverty , and who settle tho matter with their own consciences by preaching negatively . There- aro men in communion with tho Church , , who hold all grades of opinions , from the
narrowest to tho most liberal . Thoro aro books published by ministers circulating- in our Sabbath Schools in advance of tho teachings of the proHent day . Thoro arc ( liHcussioiiH going on ( that , once-a-day , would nothavo been tolerated ) upon religious questions of every kind , from Predestination up to tho Cod question , and both Hides listened to with hoiuo degree of candour . Snrdy thin is proip'cus . Tho students at our colleges and institutions aro taught , if they want to arrive at truth , to doubt , everythiny ; treating time-honoured notions as of mushroom growth . Surely this will produce hoiiui hoaviiigH in tho moral world , if not an irruption . Scotland may bo slow to receive truth , but she holdri it tenaciously . She has boon staunch to tho principles of tho last Reformation , may nho not bo iirst in tl » °
" coming ntnigglo' £ It is truo sho may not bo skilled in disputatioiiH . about Spirit as an entity , or in tho fanciful diflorontmfcioiin of a " J ) ick Kutcrol , " but she in also destitute of that Hpirit of indifference on religions subjects which is tho chief characteriHtie of her sister land . I' "'><» partakes of tho bold , decisive nature of her <> w" graiui scenery , sho must bo liko tho extreme tomporaturo oi W ialaud homo . —I am , Sir , yourt ) , &o . A Sootohmaw .
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jjtH" THIS DEPARTMENT , AS ABl OPI ^ IOITS , HOWEVJEB EXTHESTB ABI 5 ALLOWED AN EXEEESSION " , THE EDITOE NECESSAKI 1 Z HOLDS HIMSELF EESPOIfSIBLE FOB NONE . ]
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There is no learned man but -will confess he lath , much profited "by reading controversies , his senses awakened , and his judgment sharpened . If , then , it he pTpfitable for him to read , ¦ wh y should it net , at least , " De tolerable for his adversary to -write - —Miiaoir
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1168 THE LEADER . [ Saturday ,
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Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 3, 1853, page 1168, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2015/page/16/
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