On this page
-
Text (2)
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
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.
-
-
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
with somebod y , " and he :, is . petplexingl y igaorant ¦ whom he should hate . The Bill is the Cabinet ' sa conapromi 8 e- * aad the thoughtless JUdical who thinks Mr . Haufier a safer guide , in statesmanship , than " Mr . " Bright , ; lored the . Cabinet accordingly , until-las t night . But whom i « ie to blame now ? The Radical has most probably J > een a subscriber to the Palmotston portrait ; and it harts the HadicaVs feelings to believe that itiis XiordPalmerston who -has put "Lord John in a ridiculous position ,. and who has beguiled -the . ardent Radicals , and who
threatened to break up the Dmitry if the Bill were not [ dlropped—uroppifed as Mr . Walpole dropped his Beform Bill for the enfranchieement of Militia—as < * ' joke : the joker has to explain . After last night , and its revelations of the sham liberalism X > f-a Cabinet of : oid librds , who ; are safe in a dull' and cold country , the ; Badical may perhaps be inclined to teurk' back - to i his function — -operating upon the flank of the . Goyernmfcnt ; and very- likely such a tendency will be increased by the ^ suggestions of the Budget , next week , when the
Coalition , will t&fee advantage of the carte , blanche they got far entering on a war » . of the . character or proposed refsults 6 f whichnobody hasibeen informed . The Badical has been going wrong since the Session commenced ; for , though itwas At the outset admitted ifokt tWrotmtry h ^ b ^ war by the idioUc larrangements of secret ; . diplomacy , and thbughThealso fptmd , i-what had alwayshitherto been denied , ' that Prince Albert was ; his , chief governor , -yet , upon the plea that I itiwas necessary tP carry , a Reform Billi which : ho one ever iqtended should be
-e arned * and wbieli the /« ountry . did' noto . is ? ant , r and - which would leave unaltered : tfce aristocratic characrter of the Souse of Gommons , jthe Radical : ha ^ jbeen tfoiflg all in his ¦ powers—to strengthen ; . < She ; system of which a war : _ is the consequence , that system preventing- such ; » f war leadin g ^ to a : jeal rpe&ce-r-&nd to incline Hie Court anore and . mor ^ to , forget that the constitutionall theory of England is , that Eng-Vafid governs ihetedf . > When Prince Albert finds the -chief of thecBadicalB , the wise Mr . Hume , . devoting his days , and nights to hit Upon a plan for
facili--tating the despotism of bureaux , by instituting ^ Ministry of War , which , dealing with the army , ; would of course b « icontrolled by the Crown , what is Prince Albert to think of Radicalism ? What would TRu 83 ia think if she heard that fehia"i great question , " as Mr . Hume called it , of the great Liberal party , was debated * on Thursday night , to . a House of twenty-three members ? Mr . Hume , however , may be consoled : when Iiord EUenborongh was sketching a campaign hi the Baltic , and appealing , with solemn
vigour , to the nationality of the governing classes , there was an audience of eleven Peers . In fact , during the follies of Monday night and Wednesday afternoon , when the chatterers were criticising , with ingenious impotence , the votes of supply , not fifty of Our representatives were present . Very properly ; for when a Government has got carte blanche , why have a Parliament at all ? Is it to present the splendid spectacle of which tho French papers were speaking the other day—the introduction of a Reform Bill contemporaneously with the declaration of war
—said bill being dropped a fortnight afterwards ? la it to have a debate on the expediency of ex-• amining the linen of Catholic ladies in nunneries in this kingdom ? Or to get a . vote from an enlightened dozen Liberals , at one in the morning , that because newspapers . are for the public the public ought to be made acquainted with the private affairs of newspaper proprietors ? Is it for objects such as these that the magnificent machinery of a Senate is put in motion ? Are votes ^ like these worthy of an English House of Commons ? Look at the division list on the Convents' Inspection motion ; and you will see
that the very men who would "vote against a Reform Bill for its inopporfcunity , voted for an impertinence to Roman Catholics , though at this moment England ia dependent for soldiers on Catholic Ireland , and ¦ will bo indebted for her preservation from annihilation in the Baltic to the fleet of a Catholic power . At the same time , it must bo admitted that the bigots did not carry the division . In the first place , Mr . Cllumbers got his majority because Mr . Hayter was remiss : because the Government "was careless whether beaten ot no—safe , even if beaten , that the Tories would thus provide it with a character for
Untitled Article
liberality . In the next place , the speech which got the majority was Mr . Robert Phillimore ' s . A mild , moderate man , looking extensively wise and incalculably good , Mr . Robert Phillimore would influence , on such a question , the class of vaverers who flinched from their common-sense conviction under the pressure of the white neck-cloth interest of the provincial towns ; and Mr . Robert PhiUimore , while repudiating the mover , sanctioned the motion , for the technical reaspns of a constitutional lawyer—such reasons as would do capitally for Liberals , afraid of white neckcloths , to mention in their vindicatory
correspondence with the editors of their constituents Radical newspapers . Of course ^ these reasons were very false , and fallacious , and foolish ; the reasons of the Robert PhiUimore class of men are always absurd . Your constitutional lawyer is invariably weak . Mr Robert Phillimore [ is an identical intellect and character with Mr . Walpole ; temperate , accomplished , elaborate , eloquent ; and that is exactly the man who would wr | te or talk a tome of sagacity , and then go down to the House and propose a militia franchise . They represent , these men , the class that demands an educational franchise : excellent
persons , and clever persons , in abstract controversy , but supremely silly when they get into the coarse politics of a common-sense set of men . Yet Mr . Robert Phillimore ' s was a very pleasant speech to hear ; the Pecksniffism entreaty that ho one would take offence , pacifying ; the Irish memberseven those who sell themselves to the Government , and at a poor price , since they cannot buy protection to their . creed . Mr . Robert Phillimore was , in fact , a success : and that sort of man always will be a success , so long as educational franchises are
talked ! of , and so long as . it is not , perceived that an Apsley Peilait or a William . Williams is a really wiser man , as a legislator , than a doctor of laws . . £ In the same way , Mr . Edward Miall was a success , as Lord John , who is always generous in his encouragements , to new men ,, handsomely acknowledged ; and as the . Dissenting Protestant interest is , on Popery questions ,, even more luridly ludicrous than the well-established Churchman , who is only Aesthetically malignant , doubtless Mr . Miall led away several members into decent contempt for the white neckcloth interest—the neckcloths of that
interest being generally rather yellow and badly washed . The only other noticeable speakers were the Irish Members , who did not speak with great effect pending a Parliamentary inquiry into general charges , of corruption against Irish rnemberdom : and , indeed , they never speak with great dignity on such subjects : for they answer such impertinences with a whine rather than a defiance—the defiance they might hare offered in this instance being a declaration that they would appeal to the Catholic
priests of Ireland to stop the Irish enlistment- To be sure , there was a speech from Mr . J . Phillimore > who , of course , opposed his brother , as brothers in Parliament or elsewhere always do—vide the Peels —and Mr . Phillimore's speech was noticeable for the boldness of his appeal to the uncouth and bilious Mr . Craufurd , that if that gentleman was anxious , as a Christian Protestant , to serve Christian Protestantism , it would be more discreet and moTe decent to leave nunneries alone , and seek to obtain a Parliamentary
return of the Paseyites , who take the State Church pay , while working to sap the State Church ' s somewhat shifty foundations . Mr . J . Phillimore speaks too often to speak with weight , or tliat suggestive hint would have attracted more attention than it did from the yawning House . Parliament should never be permitted to give itself airs of Christianity and morality ; and if the Protestants and Catholics would more reciprocate in showing one another up , we should
less frequently see the Spooncr in the ascendancy . The only grievance Mr . Chambers was able to establish against the nunneries was , that girls were occasionally kei > t in such places against their will—an assertion no one will be likely to deny ; and it might be worth while to inquire why the House of Commons , insisting on investigations into nunneries , doea not take up cases such as that of " the Belgian girl ?"
Who can doubt but that the son of the " old Marquis" voted for Mr . Chambcrs ' s motion ? Mr Chambers carried his dismal motion on Tuesday . On Monday , one of the questions raised on " Supply "
Untitled Article
was , whether it was quite proper , in our alarmingly moral laud , that soldiers' wives , in barrack , should undress themselves , and go to bed to their spouses , in presence of all the spouses' comrades ? Mr . Monsell , for Government , regretted that such was the fact ; but , &c , &c . —Mr . Monsell didn't mean to trouble himself ; and the Christian House didn't trouble Mr . Monsell . These are contrasts that cannot but occur ; and the contrast might be amplified .
For instance , how many men voted for the , Ifrotestant motion of Mr . Chambers -who owed their seats to bribery and intimidation , —to the votes of those whose poverty only consented to such members ? Is it not alone sufficient to raise suspicions of the honour of such a vote , that the name of Mr . Disraeli appears iu it ? The man who created " Sybil" votes for an insolence to Catholic ladies ! Mr . Disraeli never wearies of inconsistencies ; but his friends must weary of them . Will the Tory journalists renounce their adulation of him now that he has forced
Mr . Gladstone to expose the limited power of Tory newspapers ? Or , as Mr . pisraeli- * says that " what professes to be an organ of public opinion should make public its commercial affairs , will the . Tory journalists begin to remark on the income and expenditure , tailors and perfumers' bills , &c , of the leader of the Tory Opposition ,- ^ who is surely , therefore , an organ of public opinion ? Saturday Morning , A Stranger .
Untitled Article
&D 8 T HE L E AD E R . _ [ Saturday ,
Untitled Article
The Duty op Engird . —Our national life has been swooning under the hands of divided doctors , instead of gathering vigour in wrestling for the liberties of the world . It is not yet too late . Turkey is not yet put down , and the Russians are not yet within , sight of the Mediterranean . We must not depend on the Ministry j the Russian Ambassador at Paris teaches us that . We must not depend on Parlia ment;—everybody admits that it is betow the moral sense of the country . We must depend on ourselves—on tlose " meetings' * which Russia censures , and in which we recognise our old Saxon privilege of enlightening the popular mind , and ¦ warming the general heart . When Parliament meets , we must make known our collective will to be informed of all that has been , done and said in the name and On behalf of England , and to do what the conscience of the foremost nation on the earth requires . If the present , servants of the Grown and nation will not do their duty , we must get others who will . The crisis of the civilised world is upon us ; and if we mean to bear our part in it as our forefathers did in the smaller crises of their day , . we must Bpeak as they did—by burning words , by cheerful sacrifices , and by heroic deeds—the inextinguishable fires in Which Greek churches and Russian autocracies are destined to perish like wood , hay , and stubble . "—Westminster Jtevieio
The Norwich Examiner , an United States journal , gives the following account of a lecture delivered in that town by a Mr . Jackson Davies , the founder of a new sect ¦ of 11 Spiritualists " : — " God , be it known , never made anybody , according to the new philosophy—and the first pair did ' not make themselves . Whence , then , came man ? Mrs . Stove ' s * Topsy ' was not far put of the way , after all , when she said she was not made , but growed- The first settlers , the very first pairs of every living tiling , man and all , actually dig grow out of this * terrestrial ball ! ' Fact—if the old theologies don't admit it . The philosophy , you see , is this . Matter is progressive . Th « finer qualities rise to the surface j and go into business—sublimate , and become intellectualities . The molten mass of fire at the earth ' s centre
furnishes the motive power . Thus , the particles that day before yesterday were a grain of wheat , yesterday were nerve and muscle , and to-day are sparkling thoughts ! Capital , is it not ? Man , to be more particular , got along ia this way . The better part of matter came out from the grosser by a natural law—* was warmed or steamed out—and coalescing with water at tha beds of the oceans , formed a gelatinous compound like brains—gluey , gummy . This slush , though much purer than ordinary matter , was no more then raw material for the new article . Then , ly a , farther natural process , this glutinous mass underwent fermentation , and evolved a—what do yon think ? Why , a life principle , as steam from boiling " water ; which steam or principle made a living thine of whatever absorbed it ! Hence life ! Hence oysters , and all other folks I Or , rather , hie
hence the first pairs of all living creatures ; for after became existent , this process was voted a humbug , and the world was peopled in a happier way . The lecturer said that at one time , long before animal life was in the worldj the beds of the ocean came to bo immense masses of g lutinous matter , resembling brains—that the warmth of the earth generated a fry , and that the steam that came up vivified whatever it got into , making it live and cut about . We cannot bo mistaken that the gluten whs tho stuff—that gum was tho foundation , and thut in a genural effervescence life was evolved—though wo mny have failed in other respects to 5 ras p his full theory and discourse . This we did look intoelly and gmn I Transporting conception ! And it must bo so . Davit's tiays it ; wo believo it ; and the extreme facility with which moo may still lio gummed ought to satisfy our orthodox friends that ' it isn ' t anything else . ' " When lieuco was proclaimed in 1811 , certain persons living in the vale of Todinorden resolved to erect a pillar on the crest of tho hills dividing Yorkshire from Lancashire ; and at tliw fall of Napoluon it was completed . Lost week , strangely enough , this pillar of pouce suddenly foil down 1 *§ thut an omen '(
-
-
Citation
-
Leader (1850-1860), March 4, 1854, page 208, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2028/page/16/
-