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journalism will go on drearily faithful to this * ' distinguished statesman . " It was evident on Tuesday that this distinguished statesman is not getting on . The " Opposition" was a farce : —it is dead : and Mr . Disraeli ' s galvanic phrase * will not resuscitate it . His speech wms even less effective , or more damaging , than Lord Derby ' s . Lord Derby was petty , ill-tempered , and ill-conditioned , in his criticisms : but there the mischief ended , being simply personal . But of Mr . Disraeli
it was expected that he would speak a speech to create a party : and he spoke only a speech which Lord John could tear to pieces . Granted that Lord John has become vigorous and masculine again , which assuredly he has , —the bracing climate of a Coalition Cabinet agreeing -with him : but , surely , Mr . Disraeli should * have been equal to something better fhan vapid verbiage , with which a Lord John Russell could make the House of Commons merry ? Mr . Disraeli clearly- said , though affecting reserve , most of what he had got to say on the two testing questions—Russia and Reform : and what he did say , must be accepted as weak and illadvised . Against the Ministry's foreign policy he set no better , —he set none at ail : and on Reform he said what will Blatter all the strength he personally and his " personal following" derived from a popular hope that they were soaring out of old Toryism . A Reform Bill , wMle a war was raging , was " madness : " and under any circumstances he could take
his stand on the Bill of ' 32 . Mr . Disraeli straggling in the morass of Finality!—what a spectacle for the regalement of moral biographers , sensitive about the sentiments of a new generation ! His allusion to Pitt's policy on . rlteform was infelicitous , —tlie more so that the reference was at second-hand ; tbat be-Bond-street-ed mellow dandy , Mr . Liddell , having the same evening , offered to Lord John—so kind- » -the same advice , not to press on a Reform Bill « —Lord John ' s answer being , that Mr . Pitt was wrong in
giving up reform , and peculiarly Wrong in rushing into a war which cost us about 600 , 000 , 000 / . Altogether , the Opposition blundered in assigning enthusiastic reforming tendencies to the Ministry ; it is just the character that will serve them , as against the Tories ; and it is just the character of which , in all probability , they are the least guilty . Mr . Disraeli made but one " point" in his not fortunate and precipitate oration . He insisted on a distinction being drawn between curing corruption
John said , replying ; to the Opposition leaden , that he thought he might safely leave the defence of the foreign policy of the Government to Sir Robert Peel , —then sitting behind Mr . Disraeli ! It has come to this in our Great British Parliament : that a great Government is to stand or fall according to the speech of a fine , dashing ' , manly fellow , who would be a hit as a guardsman , but whom God never blessed with a single original idea . Lord John , however , only spoke a general feeling . Sir Robert w&a listened to with as much attention as his father ever got—cheered by all sides , be was so English and so hearty , in his denunciations of Russia : and yet Sir Robert made a speech which was but a brisk rechauffe of the recess ' s common-places . Yefc this is better than Blifil * s : —whose hash would have been cold . The week has been a specimen of the session : great topics on Tuesday ; small matters next day , and every day since—a plunge fronafeternal destinies to turnpike acts . Only four days , and see the number of
gages thrown down into the lists : —foreign policy , and representative institutions , by Lord Aberdeen and Lord John ; sewers reform , by Lord Palmerston ; innumerable reforms by Mr . Gladstone ( that proposed on Thursday being likely to save from 2 , 000 , 000 / 1 to 3 , 000 , 000 / 1 per annum ); Church reform , by the Marquis of Biandford ; educational reform , by Lord Eglintoun ; bribery , corruption , and intimidation reform , by Sir F . Kelly ; mercantile marine reform , by Mr . Cardwell ( who
last night gave up -the last shred of the " flag that braved , " &c , by throwing open the " coaling trade—strangest of all—no one opposing . it );; law reform , by the Lord Chancellor ; and ,= last , the comment on all the other proposals — Sir John Pakington ' s motion for a Committee to inquire how the House of Commons 3 s ] to manage to get through its work . Parliament is in need of extensive reforms from within ; and Sir , John Pakington , a shrewd , industrious man , is precisely the personage to head such a Committee—which , let us hope , will
aid the Speaker , who is of an innovating turn of mind , in revolutionising effete and cumbersoiae Parliamentary precedents . - Two reforms twonlcl suggest , were I a witness , for the facilitation of Parliamentary business : —A session to last , with vacations , all the year round : and a more general resort to the plan of " laying papers On the table "—that is to say , the writing instead of speaking such speeches as are proposals and explanations like Budgets , and introductory orations on bills like a Reform Bill . Saturday Morning . «« A Stbajk » EB . "
and perfecting the representation . His followers cheered this as something good . But it was not new . That night Mr . Hayter had given notices of two nets of Reform Bills : one applying to corruption ; the other , to representation . A party can't be kept together by quibbles;—certainly not by quibl > lea which are anticipated by the party's opponents . Ministers are confidently contemptuous to the Opposition . Lord Aberdeen treated Loid Derby with , disdain ; and though Lord Aberdeen speaks
very badly and clumsily—having to be jogged at every point by the Duke of Newcastle—and getting out a . sentence as he would get out a tooth , yet the manner is not conveyed to the world ; the reporters only report the matter . And even those who mention that . Lord Aberdeen ' s straggling sentences recal Charles Townshend ' s jokes about " minute guns , " have to admit that the minute guns are well shotted . Lord Derby ' s mindless fluency is found out ; Mr . Disraeli ' s cleverness is useless disconnected with
a policy : and vhat hope is there of a party which in a demonstration on the Address could produce no better champions than moaning Malmosbury , abortive Baillie , and ludicrous Liddell ? The Ministers don't even affect to keep up tlie decencies of appearance . When liord Aberdeen vras coarsely joking in the Lords , Lord Palmerston was standing behind the throne ; and part of the throne having come down under the pressure of a crowd of Coinmonors , whose
own house was juBt up , Lord Palmerston , it was seen from the galleries , made a joke on the point—doubtless with a reference to the Prince Consort—and Lonl Aberdeen could not get on for the laughter got up l > y his colleague . Again , when Lord Jolui , in the Commons , was answering Mr . Disraeli , all the Ministers on the Treasury bench , Sir James Graham and lUr . Wilson excepted , deliberately went off" to sleep ! Most contemptuous of all , hovever , is this fact : Lord
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THE GERMAN POWERS . III . ALLIANCE OF ENGLAND WITH A " CONSTmjXIONAL PRUSSIA . " Tub most bigoted and exclusive theorists of constitutional monarchy are generally ready to make some allowances for the difference of situations and of times . With Charles the First moderate monarchy was impracticable . Other courses were necessary . The Hohenzollera are Stuarts . If one is Jeroboam , his successor will be Rehoboam . The words
pronounced by Frederic William IV . before the Vereinigte Lantag ( United Assembly ) are the key to the policy of the House of HohenzoUern . Let It be remembered how the King of Prussia , in a soldier ' s dress , convulsively clutching the . hilt of his sword , shouting , swearing , striking his breast , pronounced before the assembled deputies a speech in which the epilepsy of the nervous despot was agreeably mingled with the feudal romanticism and the sombre zealotry of a mediaeval monk . " It is not a Parliament I have assembled / ' he exclaimed ; " remember that , gentlemen , remember that 1 I do not grant you a charter . Between myself and God there must not be < i bit of paper . I will never give up my divine right ; I will never share my Crown with representatives of the people . You arc not representatives ! No ! I will transmit my Crown intact to my successor , as I have received it from nay God . 1 -will have nothing to say to ideas of Constitutionalism . The magistracy comes from God . 'I and my house , we will serve the Lord . ' " This sentimental tyrant—this mountebank of nbsolutism—this Haachaschine of the right divine—was not changed by the Revolution of 1848 . But our space compels ua to defer a sketch of the Prussian
Gorernment in 1847-1848 . We pass over the annals of 1848 , which , however , are full of evidence oCthft affrontery , the bigoted obstinacy , and the despotic cruelty , the secret treason , and the Bhameless perfidy of the Prussian Government . We will confine ourselves to the year 18 * 9 , in which ire find the British Government playing a certain part in relation to the Prussian Union . In 1849 , the Government of Berlin ordered the Prussian Deputies to the National Assembly of Frankfort to withdraw . The King of Prussia rejected with sarcastic raillery the offer of the crown
of " Emperor of the Germans , " which had been offered htm by those traitors to the German revolution , the Prussian party in the Assembly . Frederick William IV ., famous for his rhymes and ban m 6 ta pronounced the famous apothegm , " Against democrats there is no safety but in soldiers . " ( In German this saying -was in rhyme . ) The Prussian army , the line and the landwehiy was mobilised to tread out the last spark of Ubertfriepresented by the Germaa Parliament , and by the revolution of the south-west of Germany . But the letter to assure the triumph of Absolutism , the old tactics of 1813 , 1 & 15 , < && were resumed : the King ; of Prussia ,, in accord . with ¦
those of Hanover and Saxony ; ,. y&v + ^ & . jgpmppy a liberal constitution . ' This was the renowned - ; $ ||( jnjp * . sian Union / ' or the Alliance .-.. ol ^ jbie Jl ^ r ee l ^ gik ' It was said in England that Catholic , £ desp ^ tie Aiwtria would never be dislodged fh > na her pjositk ^ jn Germany , and that tlie Uberatelenients wo ^^ t ^ pi themselves under the Hegemonia o £ a thpi ^ t ] tf |^ constitutional Prussia ; Now , ve a ^ brm t ) ti * t n t&e Court of Great Britain never , from ; the &sg | iupajgg ' believed in Prussia * consti ^^ British Ambaisador at Berlin soughtionly to ; fey , eul the coidial understanding between the German 4 U ^ 0 lutistcourts ^ ¦ ' ¦¦ : ¦ . ¦¦ ¦ . * ¦ ¦?' ¦ t ¦¦ - ¦ . - . ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ : ' ¦ ' . ^ -t " - ' - The Prussian Unicn was declared as a rapprcche ? ment of Germany to British institutions .,: A ^ . a $ injr «» able farce to amuse ' . a'tjlub ' o f >^ UjjlEf »^ da ^ lo ^ E ^| the letters and confidential notes excbaxigedsbeiir ^ the Austrian ArchdTike , Yic ^ v ^ & ^^ &hx ^ tta ^ mg ^ pire , the British ? Ambassador at Berlin , ^ andc > tfae Prussian Government . a Nothing isrtalked of 4 n all this correspondence l > ut the best method of crashing the last vestiges of liberty , and o £ establishing and increasing dynastic influence , whether of-ihe camarilla of Berlin , or of the cftTnarilla . of ; Yiartna > Of constitutionalism , in aU these le ^ rt , not a ^ rd But plenty about bayonets , about artillery , ah ^ ut 10 , 000 men , 20 , 000 xiieri , 60 , 000 men . These a * e the
last Arguments of the King of Prussia , / These were tint'topics ' of tenderinterest HtoIk > rU : Westmorela > nd Strong in the last aigument of ikingsi and strcngrin the support of the British . Government , Frederick William IV . invaded Saxony , .. Rhenishr Bavaria , Baden . Twenty fields of battle , thousands of slain * the Salle of the courts- martial ; artdthe « ilent horrors of the casemate , bear witness , with their ; dumb eloquence to the constitutional eftlarts of the maa who will not suffer a bit of paper to be between hiiaandi his God . And Lord Westmorland praised , applauded this royal terrorism with , voice and pea , . ..
The Prussian Union , the promise of a liberol constitution for all Germany—a promise apparently supported by"the British Government , detached ffom the democratic movement in Germany a part * of the middle classes . But for this hypocritical union , v ^ the cause of the democracy was triumphant . A portion of the middle classes in Germany believed in the constitutional desires of the Cabinet of St . Jamca , a as they had believed in the intention of LordPalaiersto > n not to let the South fall into tlie hands of Russia . It is now proved that Lord Palraerston and the Earl of Westmoreland , whether by weakness or from
principle , betrayed , the one the commerciaj interests , the other the liberal sympathies of the British nation to Russia , The Government of St . Petersburg was actively at work in ' 48 and ' 49 , to being about an understanding between the Courts of Austria and Prussia , divided by rival ambitions . In ordinary times the Muscovite policy had been rather to foment discords between the German Powers ; bat after the revolution Russia laboured to Jcnit close the links of the reactionary interdependeaeies . A vast plan of legitimist restoration , and « complete remodelling of the map of Europe , were eviat that momentThis
dently the design of the Czar . is not a personal supposition . The letters of Qui « ot the semi-official articles of the Prussian , Austrian , and French organs , and the notes exchanged between the German Governments and that of Brance , prove that , in the calculation of the Russian Cabinet , and in the decrees of the influential camarillas in Germany , the naasses of Russian , Bavarian , and Austrian troops , which were concentrating towards the Rhine , and towards the frontiers of Switzerland , were destined for an ultertor destination . The proximate object was the subjugation of the German revolation on the Upper Rhine . The ulterior destination of these armies was the invasion of Switzerland , the reconstitution of the Sonderbund under the Austrian protectorate , the repossession of Neufchutel by Prussia , the abolition of the constitutional rdmme
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February 4 , 1854 . ] THE LEADER . jla
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Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 4, 1854, page 113, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2024/page/17/
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