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their lordfcKps tftiat tre were not at war "with tli « Ytower in question . Sensation ! House broke up ; Peers paired off with T * eeresses ; strangers went home with the TObKxhest respect for our representative inatitogtons ? thctrtjenographera thanked God that it was orerj OPalaceJ-jsard and Taiiiament-street were alive , use the dark niglitj with the rush northward of countieata harnessed meteors ; and all England next day-W&T reading , with respectful weariness , black pages
<> f liewspapers aistortingthe debate;—all because six £% erg , who coitf d not possibljr know anything of the tfubject , had mentioned , at some length , that cireum-Vtance ; atuTbecause two Ministers had declared the state of oar forfeign relations—the Foreign Secretary fi&ving stated taat we were not at peace with Russia , « adi ; he Premier having stated that we were not at war wi ^ h Russia- The funds , in consequence , rushing up aa MOn a ? tlie brokers came to Ziord Clarendon ' s speech ;
And the funds in consequence running down when the brokers came to Lord Aberdeen ' s speech . Brokers en masse at about 12 confessing that , hang them , if tney knew what we were at ;> nd , _ accordingly ' , telegraphuigto ttieir foreign correspondents that ttie last rumour Vas that tte . Coalition Cabinet took the foreign policy turn ^ about ! , each Minister having an tioin- atf It W succession , and that therefore there ! jcoxdd be no safe speculation until it could be asceriained now tSe list of names stood .
i ^^ ne * ei | rduia M ' n 6 debates on foreign nolacy at aB ^ tmt thai this TIst of names cannot be made long 4 CodBb ^^^ i ^^ ttfiQEb 9 ^« sHk 9 Bl ^ 9 KB ^ r ^ If w not theOpposiiion WhicTi teased A 1 > e 4 rdeett on 'Tuesday , and an-Jioyed Sir Jame » Graham last night T > y stopping ihie « q £ giiel ^ foHp » & % 6 &f' $ 0 ft ik , ' ^ Ttie question ' « £ fijreign policy has been ^ opened Tfy those excellent 2 ^ be ^ -Cdns ^ rra ^ % ^ whoi ^ Vebeenieft cnit of the coaUtion . But that Mr ., I ^ jard tbiiVime last jear found that it was more
&fficu | t % ge € fafbDowndngistreettlian intoKineveh ^ 4 ind that Xord . A ^ erdeeti was less manageable than ft winged bull , we should have had na debate "last : night ; and oa Tuesday , In ; the Upper House , the only speeches that Were marked by any damaging ; flower to . 'flite Cabinet were delivered by noblemen w ^ no happen , to their surprise and disgust , to be ) left $ > x& \ o £ It . ' IScrw tnisiisnuot attributing bad motives ; It is onlyalluding to the natural tendency of men ,
« yen of , nqbtemen , to fiujd ; fault with that lor which 4 hey are not responsible . It is position , and not ^ ruicipfei which dictates the policy alike of * parties 4 Uid of persons . ^ Whatever one set of great £ ords , fitting complacently on one side of a senate , may Jiappeh to do , Is sure to be condemned by the other . get , of great Lords sitting gloomily on the other -side of the senate : and it is to this happy provision of trxrvidence in its arrangements for human
nature that we are indebted to that glorious privilege of this free and happy country—government by party . "Why do Lords Derby and Malmesbury and Mr . Disraeli think the conduct of Lord Clarendon imbecile , and the conduct of Lord Aberdeen infamous ? Because they are in opposition ; they would oppose just the same whatever Lord CLsiren-• don might have chanced to suggest , and whatever Lord Aberdeen might have chanced to resolve .
In the same way Mr . Layard , sitting below the . gangway , and quite satisfied that an inferior capacity was preferred for the Tinder-Secretaryship of State in the present Government , shakes his head , and "fears" that his noble and right honourable * ' friends" have , perhaps , on the whole—and he is merely throwing out the hint , with , the best intentions , he wishes it to be understood—have , perhaps , on the whole , and speaking , of course , generally , . made the most infernal mess in this business
that he ever heard of . Lord Grey , again , assured the Peera over and over again on Tuesday that he was quite aware his motives might be misconceived ; but that ho was too frunk a man , and too conscientious a man—he insisted upon this—to withhold his opinion from his country ; and his opinion was , —while he admitted the pure patriotism , commanding ability , and unparalleled honour of his noble friends , —that of all the stupid , slow , imbecile , ludicrous , not to any rascally , Ministries which had ever disgraced u . country , why , perhaps , to speak with extreme and conscientious accuracy , this English Ministry might be pronounced
the most stupid , slow , imbecile , and ludicrous , not to say rascally . Now , Lord Grey believes that he is a very scrupulously honourable man , and no doubt the is ; and very likely he is perfectly correct in his view that the Ministry blundered in attempting to vindicate the integrity of a country which cannot be kept from spontaneous combustion . But it is impossible not to have a suspicion that the country would forgive ILord Grey , even if , at what is understood to be this " crisis , * he -withheld his candid opinion : and that that opinion would have
been very different , but that the Feelites handed over our colonial policy to a dashing Duke of Newcastle , and a rfife-Zante Sir Wno . Molesworth—two men peculiarly obnoxious to Henry , Earl G-rey—and bat that the Whigi were so mean as to sacrifice a man -who had suffered for them , and who was the son ef the man who had given them much ef their modern popularity , and to whom , they very well knew , office , for its emoluments , was an object . Again , the Marquis of Clanricarde is not a personage of that passionate political tendency which would urge him , at all risks
to public and private affairs , to bully a Ministerial bench , if he happened to sit on that bench ; and , remembering the serene contentment of the noble ' Admiral of Connaagnt , which is the Marquis ' s great native distinction , during the period when Jie held ¦ office under Lord John Busseil , and while Lord Palxnerston was arranging that reaction ; which the other day gave Russia , as fiussia thought , her chance , therconcdusion is inevitable , that if this accomplished nablenutnywere again presiding in great dignity in a ipieasant room at St . Martin ' s-le-Grand , from the
hoar : of 12 aim . to * the hour of 1 p . m . dai | y , at a BftlaryoC 4 O 0 ( U . ai yearvfio acceptable always to Grand Admirals of Connaught , more particularly' while the navy : of that picturesque province is not in commission , we . should base heard , on Tuesday , a reply to ' Ea ^ . Gxsjt very . much more ,, effective than , that attempted , by the descendant of Mac Calhua More His Grace , of Argyll is not a debater , and never will be . and if he would , humbly observe that Lord Derby , who has tie faculty of annihilating small Beers , made hit Grace extremely ridiculous on
Tuesday , he would' probably greatly improve his position in their Lordships' House , where , excepting himself , no man under fifty ever ventures on oratorieing , aqd no . man at all , hut himsel £ on pragmatical lecturing . It is very offensive , even in an old Peer tike Lord-Clanriearde , presuming to give an authoritative opinion on what the English people should do in an European convulsion ; but it is something more than offensive in a blatant mediocrity like the Duke of Argyll , only thirty years of age ,
elected to Parliament by nobody , and stuck into the Government , whiLe not fifteen persons among the governed know who he is , venturing , in a " great debate , " to proffer what he clearly considered a conclusive vindication of a Government including , with some capacity for speaking , all the first-rate statesmen of the day . Lord Derby laughed at the Duke ; and most people laughed at the Duke ; but the Duke is of one of those felicitous natures who , axe not
susceptible to impressions derived from manifestations of public opinion ; and Lord Derby will by-and-by find that the Duke of Argyll needs something more than satire for his improvement as a potential personage , who governs us because he is a Duke . Perhaps this young Duke who has an old head , which is not a clever old head , and which had therefore better be a young head , on his shoulders , is in the Cabinet as " the representative of a minority ?' Lord John Russell has been terribly laughed at for his scheme for securing the representative of a minority , but is it not a natural proposal from a
Coaliwfll defend the theory . As to tie Bill itself , it is obviously a great hit—particularly in Schedule A the reading of which by Lord John was like the firing of a suddenly uncovered battery , —hero after hero going down in death and dismay , —yet amid laughing cheers , as each bit ^ the dust . For there was no call for sympathy ; the guns were not shotted yt was only a Reformer practising . No human bemgmtheHouse , exceptinnocentMr-Hurne , affected to beSieve that what was going on was reaL Lord John himself audaciously confessed that it was all a sham—a parade—not a fight . Think of & great
minister stating a great plan , to revolutionise the constitution , in a speech of an hour and a half : ¦¦ —that in an age when even subordinates like Mr . Baines take their three hours , and every Chancellor of the Exchequer takes five hours per Budget , Tliink of the speech being no speech at all , but a slovenly , abruptly divided , low-toned , loose " talk about" a bill . Why , on the slightest occasion , when ha can bring in civil and religious liberty , Lord John puts bis elbows in his hands and talks of the " cawnstituaion . " On Mou - day he did not once put his elbows in his hands , and he spoke all night merely of the every-day
constitution . Think of a Reform Bill being introduced in a smaller House than- was collected to hear the Butt speech the other night against Butt ' s countrymen . Lord John did it all in a careless , off-hand way ; he came down to the House laughing and chatting with ladies : and when he rose to revolutionise the country it was with , a " oh —ty-the-by" way . Let' nobody suppose , he said , commencing , that I am going to tell you this is important : not a bit of it : it ' s of not the slightest
consequence . Of course it wasn ' t : the Toots of statesmanship was right for once : and was hear-heared . The House listened loungingiy , while he talked carelessly ; and whenever there was an interruption , it , vas a , laugh , not a cheer , not a growl . And it was all over at eight o'clock ! And all this was because nobody believed , nobody believes , that the bill was a reality—a measure to be gone on With . It was postponed to the Ides of March : it was postponed for ever : —that is , till next session . Saturday Morning . A " St&angeb . "
tion Government , which was formed on the b ; isis of managing a Parliament which should be all Ministerialist , and include no Opposition ? Mr . Bright was very funny oa Thursday uiyht about the Reform Bill : Mr . Bright was a wag ou this occasion . And the House roared with laughter as Mr . Bright was putting his humorous question to Lord John . But , really , what was the last Reform Bill—what is this Reform Bill—but a scheme for the representation of a minority ? Fruin that point of view , this portion of tliu new plan is , perhaps , the most consistent and clear in the whule scheme ; and let us hope , as owing all his dignity to the practice , the Uulce of Argyll
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16 fc THE LEADER . [ Saturday ,
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England asJ ) Hungary . — "To feel himself answerable , more or less , for the suppression of a nation like that of Hungary , may be something like a due retribution for a statesman , if the ruin be fairly presented to his eyes and his heart . In all future time it will be told in . history that England ' s clear duty was to prevent the catastrophe , and that she did it not . The main Austrian army was driven back , and very nearly expelled from Hungary ; it was disheartened and enfeebled , retreating upon the frontier , and the Hungarian farces were strong ana cheerful ,, all along the Danube , when the Russians matched on , converging from various parts into Hungary , and we , disobey ing the Jaw of nations , and faithless
to all international principle and all prior professions , allowed the barbaric strangers to march -in and ruin all . Since that time every household is secure of its domestic spy ; every heart wears the mourning that is never put off : a noble lady has been flogged by a company of Austrian soldiers ; her husband is dead by his own hand , unable to live under the horror of that conception 5 and their only 6 on is made to serve as a private soldier in Italy . His half-crazed mother hoards two treasures : the newspaper which tells of the exploit of the brewers of Bankside , and a bit of tb « broom with which Haynau was assaulted . It was Haynaa who broke the heart and turned the brain oi that household ; and we ranged ourselves ou his aide . —Westminster Review .
Suciuex Diplomacy . —Every American may visit the foreign department at Washington , and see , ou demand , the despatches to and from his Government . The same is , we believe , the case in Berlin ; and certainly we learn from the Prussian pupers , as well us from the French , a good deal of ¦ what we want to know , and what we cannot obtain by other means . Mow this is much worse than an absurdity : it is a sin . We are tired of hearing of the difficulty of controlling our foreign policy , when in Lord Palmerston ' a hands , from his perpetually answering , when inquired of , that it would not be for the public interest to know what was going forward ; and again , some tim . 9 after , that the business wns now concluded , and of course , beyond the reach of overything bat mere culicisin . But this is what wo shall hear from Lord . Anybody till T o choose to reform our
constitution in this point . The ploa of safety uiul necessity is lujuseii ^ t ; wliilo other nations , nemo more nud boine less free than ourselves , cuu conduct their policy openly , and whilu they can send us , in their journals , news oi whal our rulers are iloin ^ ; and the liclples ^ ni'ss is shameful to n people ; who will not ulluw a jjuniiy to be spent , or any »» - ternul mhnini .-iLr . ilion to j ^ o on , without , their consult ""' approval . \ V »! have n theory of government at home , and vwi look vigilantly to it .. s being carried out . We liave no theory , no principle , no national conscience about our foreign lvlulioiiH , : ind we leavn them to tho care of an administration winch is , in that respect , vii tually irrehpon . Miule . It is tins " obstinate i ^ iioninee" oi' Knglibhnien which Uits such a btuU ' ol things exist ; and it is liio existence ol euuh a &taie of things Unit ensures and prot nielu thu heluluss ignorance ul KiiLMiishinen . — \\' c 3 tininsti : r Itecicw .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 18, 1854, page 162, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2026/page/18/
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