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    mained with the defenders . That being the case , it may be reasonably inferred that in the next assault means will be taken to surmount those difficulties which frustrated our gallant men . But , as may have been anticipated , the failure of the 18 th , far from discouraging the Allies , has stimulated their courage and their exertions . General Pelissieb informs us

    that the batteries on the Mamelon have been strengthened ; that the attack has been pushed forward towards the Malakoff ; that the batteries on Mount Sapoune , which command the great harbour , have been increased in extent and power ; and , what is equally important , that renewed efforts have been made to push on the advances of the great French attack upon the western face of Sebastopol . By these measures the Allies will be able to direct a heavy fire upon the Malakoff

    and Redan , and upon any ships that may come within range to take part in the engagement ; while , at the same time , sapping ever onward , they will be able to assemble the next storming columns near to the ditch that yawns before the enemy ' s works . Nor can ifc be supposed that we have been idle . Our position in the Quarries is only two hundred yards from the Redan , and from this position our riflemen make good

    practice on the gunners of the enemy , and m this position we have erected a powerful battery . We also , on the 18 th , actually gained ground in front of Chapman ' s Attack , driving out the Russians and retaining it . In the next assault it is probable that a precaution , neglected in the last , will be observed , namely , that a diversion will be made upon the western side . The position , therefore , of the enemy is by no means favourable to success . The investment of the south side is in a

    manner completed ; the enemy can only return our terrible hre by a fire comparatively feeble ; his retreat to the north side , except by detachments fleeing in the night , is , or will soon be , cut off by the batteries on Mount Sapoune ; and therefore , even if the assault were not renewed—an improbable supposition —he would be compelled to make the most of the resources actually in hand . He can obtain scarcely a foot of ground beyond his batteries ; and it is no wonder that officers , by no means sanguine in their expectations , look upon the fall of Sebastopol as inevitable within a given time .

    In tlie field the Allies still maintain their position on the Tchernaya . Nearly all the troops forming the Kertch expedition have returned to the camp , which fihows that operations in that quarter are for the present in that direction suspended . Should any means be taken to bring ; the Russian field army to account , it must either , be by a direct advance , when a bloody battle would be fought" for the position in front of . and on the Inch ground comprisine the

    country between , Mackenzie ' Farm and Inkerman ; or else the army must bo disembarked upon the Katcha , and act tlience on the Russian roar and line of communications . But wo rather incline w to think that the Allies propose to root out the enemy from the south side before they begin extenaive operations in the field , unless , as may p rove to bo tho caso , they find them selves

    compelled to move upon tho Russian army . It is remarkable that while largo bodies of troops have been moved down from Poland « ince Austria , declining to declare Avar , reduced her army , tho troops actually intended for tho Crimea havo been directed upon Nicolaieff , not , as might bo supposed , for tho purpose of covering that i > orfc , but because the Russians find it difficult to feed tho troops they have already in tho Crimea , now that they are cut off from tho Sea of Azof .

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    SUNDAY IN HYDE PARK . The outburst of popular feeling on Sunday last is a lesson which the more intelligent of the governing classes are not disposed to forget . It is useless to preach to the multitude that Sabbath observers do not generally belong to " the aristocracy ; " that the peers and high ladies who frequent Hyde Park are not the persons who adorn the platforms and benches in Exeter Hall . The " lower classes " do not discriminate in ^ fchis way between the different grades of " the aristocracy ; " and the wealthy shopkeeper who oppresses his shopman , as much belongs to the tyranny of wealth , as the peer who does "what he likes with his own . If it is not tlie aristocracy born , it is the aristocracy that nominates the House of Commons , and passes laws according to its own pleasure for the restraint and vexation of the greatest number .

    Nor is a revulsion against the attempt to impose particular religious observance the only reason which dictated the demonstration on Sunday . The settled conriction of the working classes is , that their interests , if not opposed , are disregarded , that their opinions are unsought , and that they are subjected to laws made by other classes , while they have as little power of influencing their rulers as if they were not in a free country . They say that America , the freest country in the world ,

    is not free for the slave ; and England , if somewhat freer than America for persons of black colour , is still not a free land for the disfranchised Englishman . Hence the disfranchised Englishman is not allowed to arrange his own manners and customs according to his convictions . He is not allowed to go in or out of the tavern as he wishes , but as the vicarious religiosity of the member-electing class wishes ; he is not allowed to arrange the buying and selling even amongst his own Hallord

    set , without permission of Exeter , X < Robebt Grosvenob , and Evangelical publicans , who prefer the closing . He resents the interference . He would not oblige an Oxford-street shopkeeper to live by the rule of Bethnal-green ; Tie would not interfere with religious opinions of any lord or lady in the land ; but he is doubly exasperated when he learns how much there is oi' hypocrisy in all this . The Methodist preacher , who is himself sanctimonious on the Sabbath , has some justification ; but the noble lord or

    honourable member who puts down the tavern of the working man and tries to force him into church , lounges at his club and takes his ride in the Park . " The governing- class , " the demagogue , " are not only sanctimonious , but they are hypocritical : go to the Park , and see how they spend their Sunday . " The working man does go to the Park , and catches tho governing class in Jlagrante delicto . Itis of no uso to tell him that all the riders he sees arc not lords : they are all " carriage company , " having a vote in or out of the House , and , therefore , dictating to him .

    If the predominant feeling in tho multitude at tho sight of that company was disgust , it did not rise , v \ o trust , to personal execration ; although some of tho cries were formidable . A terrified lady in a carriage held up her Prayer-book , aa Marie Antoinette hold up one of her children . " l ? as iVenfans" cried tho sansculotte . Mahie Antoinette was made to

    get out of her carriage and walk . When tho lady held up her Prayer-book , the people shouted , " Get down and walk , and let your coachman go to church . " Probably tho coachman know his place better than to exchange tho coach-box for tho church , and would have declined tho liberty intended for him by his countrymen ; for thero its no ariHtocrat like your coachman—except your

    footman . But all the carriage company were not untitled folks . There was one Bishop , or more ; there was a sprinkling of temporal Lords . The Duke of Beaufobt contradicts th story that he and his Duchess , with their children , were made to walk ; he came late in the day , after the numbers had departed , and was n ' ot to be frightened by a few hooting boys . The story of Lady

    GritANviile ' s humiliation may be equally apocryphal . Certain it is , however , that from the Bishop or the Duke , to the tradesman , the leisurely classes had to face a shout of dislike , because they interfered with the manners and customs of the native English ; and since there are other kinds of interference besides Sabbath observance , the moral of last Sunday has a tolerably wide application .

    There is also another moral to it , which Lord PAiiMEBSTON at least is too practical a politician to miss . When the mob got into Hyde Park , the policemen were sufficient to prevent individual speakers from delivering orations , because it was possible to take individuals into custody . But they could not prevent the number from besieging the carriage ground with far more effect than our armies have besieged Sebastopol . The police are not strong enough to arrest a crowd in the middle of Hyde Park . It is true that the military might be called out , but how awkward would it be for the Executive to be

    besieged by the native English at the same time that we are besieging the Russians ! One war is enough on our hands , without a domestic war , and our rulers should just now show a little respect for their countrymen who are excluded from the constitution .

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    MR . CHARLES DICKENS A REFORMER . Thebe is not a name in the whole range of European literature more trusted , honoured , and beloved , than that of Charles Dickens . It is a name that speaks to literary men of all that makes genius felt as a divine gift and a sacred human trust , of , all noble faculties , of all generous sympathies . It speaks of an honest self-reliane " e and a perfect modesty united , of manly virtue without austerity , of true Christian piety in the heart and in the

    life , of work done thoroughly and conscientiously , of charity ever doing good by stealth , of steadfast friendships , of pure Lome affections . It speaks of that independence of character , equally removed from grudging and from servility , which raises a man ' s calling to the height of his own self-respect , and which neither fawns nor frowns , but takes its place with cheerfulness and dignity , incapable of sordid envies and vulgar cravings . To the world , the name of Ciiables Dickens sounds like tho vibration of that universal chord of which the tones are tho symphony of human experience . No wonder \\ g is greeted with tho affectionate enthusiasm of personal gratitude by his countrymen , when for

    a moment , and only for a moment , ho conies forward to accomplish a public duty aa tho citizen of a fvco ' commonwealth . Nothing could be moro frank ond graceful than tho manner iu which Mr . Dickens disclaims any political ambition . He was , ho said at Drury-Lane , content with his own sphere of duty , and well may we all bo content with the * peaceful labours of tho humorist who lias enriched our national literature , and shod tho warmth and light of his genius on so many of tho better moments of the nation s life . Of com-so it was easy to forotol that tho cue of ministerial apologists and original

    thinkers in general would 1 ) 0 to tell Mr . Dickens that , being a great and successful writer , a poet , a humorist , who had eouudod every depth of human nature , ho

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    0 ^ 0 . 27 ^ 3 ^^ 30 , 1855 . ] THE li : j& A D E BJ . 6 &L ^

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), June 30, 1855, page 621, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2097/page/9/