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questions which stand over until a variety of provisional points are adjusted . IIedschxd Pacha , -we are informed , awaits the reply of England , France , and Austria to his proposal for a Congress including only the plenipotentiaries of those PoTvers . It is here that Turkey and Bussia are at issue , . Russia declining the decision of si Congress in which Austria and
England might carry a vote against Trance . They maybe misinformed , in England , "who impeach M . " YYxlewski ' s policy as anti-English and pro-Bussian , but whether M . be Mobny was / bribed for it or not , he has succeeded in persuading the Einperor Axexakdee , that Prance stands aloof from the diplomacy of England . In France itself the lull is not thai ; of
foreign politics alone . It hangs over the Court , the capital , the provinces . While the Cabinet is pressing Lord Paiaieeston to reopen the debate on "the frontier difficulty and the Serpents' Island dispute , and putting forward a variety of propositions all tending to the release of [ Russia from the conditions of the Paris Treaty , the Emperor himself appears half-bewildered . He knows that his policy is to : stand well with England ; but his supporters are of a different mind . He lives
Powers of the world—in addition to an undiplomatic transaction with Persia- —without uttering more at Manchester or the Mansion House than a few vague sentences , which may mean anything or nothing . Under these circumstances , with peace insecure , with vast changes possible from day to day on the Continent , with new
combinations forming abroad , and old principles in aibeyanee at home , why are our tribunes silent ? where are those men . who form the conscience of the House of Commons ? Setting aside , momentarily , tho trusted Liberals , where is Mr . Gi * a . dsto 2 TE ? tie is , in part , responsible for the pressure that has been applied , to Naples ; is he satisfied with the policy of intervention concerted between Lord Pa . l-MEBsroK and the French Emperor ? Let us repeat : the lull may be the prelude to tb . European settlement ; but it may be , on the other hand , the beginning of trouble .
for power , they for money ; and it is the natural consequence of his position that none but vile agents Trill serve him . 31 eanwhile , the sufferings of the ^ working classes are in no way mitigated ; discontent is more rife than , ever ; at one moment the public works are suspended to ease the Exchequer , at another they are resumed to conciliate the fretful artizans . And the winter approaches rapidly to test tlie endurance of the p eople and the precautions of the Grovernment .
In Austria , Sir ILoiiltok SmraroiJit is represented as Laving assured the Imperial Government that England would encoxirage no movement of the disaffected population in Italy . As if such an assurance liad not been given long ago ! As if it were not as indispensable in Paris as in Yienna ! Whatever has been said , means , probably , as much as the explanations of the Preneh Government on the subject of Miiratism . in Naples . In the meantime , Lonibardy and Venice
observe in silence the passage of the Austrian Emperor ; the Sardinian liberals continue to organize their great plan of a war of national independence ; dynastic pretensions are rejected on every side ; thirteen subscription , lists for the ten thousand inuskets have been closed , but the party moves in secret , conscious of its moral power and of the necessity of caution . The same comparative
quietude prevails throughout the Spanish peninsula . Affairs at the capital are stationary . No one expects the actual state of things to last ; but the intermittent outbreaks in the provinces are evidences , simply , of a disorganized condition of society . They are not politically serious . Parties at home are engaged in watching the progress , or no-progress of events abroad ,
* Ihe Conservatives , uaving no respectable representation "through the press , have all but disappeared from the scene of public affairs . There is a general concurrence in the idea that Lord Derb y inspired the recent Essay on the declining efficiency of Parliament , which , if true , may be accepted as a new proof that he himself is declining in sincerity
or in intellect . The lower organs of the Tories chatter feebly ; in one direction about JJord P , AiiMEit 8 T 0 N ' s treachery , and in another betray a bitter sens © of inferiority by perpetual cavils on the exclusion of their sect from office . LordPALMEB 8 TON , in the presence of an opposition so destitute of character and talent , afteots a monarchical disregard of official responsibility , and carries on great diplomatic dealings with the leading
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the lawyers who supplied the political stealT who expressed all the demands of the 2 or ^ would compel the Government for the & ) eing to concede those demands . The 2 likely and popular member at the present iv is Sir John Pakington , who is devnfi ? himself , hearb and soul ! to pronioTe ^ e general measrire for the whole body of fK * people . He is at this moment the sbS ! example . There is an association bent unnn bringingjiboat a better administration oftha public offices , but it has as yet nreaen ^ f ; no
J ^ rhainent nieasure which affects the whole body of the people ; and it stands be fore the public just at present only in the light of a plan—a truly magnificent plan no doubt—for a , great movement . Its leaders cannot as yet point to their accomplished deeds . Now of "Lord John Russell we know something more . If there is any man who has done good service in breaking down the remains of religious intolerance in this country , that mail is Lord John Rtjssell
If there is any man at the present day-who is identified with the extension of the national franchise , it is Lord Joinr . If any " man has laboured longer and with more practical results in the cause of public education than Sir John- Pakington , it is Lord John . If there is anyman who at the present moment actually contemplates a genuine extension of the franchise to a much larger number of the
people , something like a national franchise , that man , again , is Lord Johit . Take "his life , from first to last , it is consistent , intelligible , He has always been a Whig , and has never satisfied us , though he has , indeed , advanced iu his views since he put his hand to a pure middle-class Reform Bill . We think that he ought to restore that franchise , which we believe to be the inherent right of every freebom Englishman . But no man of the
present day has actually accomplished more progress towards that restoration j and no man amongst us now is actively contemplating so large a further progress in the same path . There is , therefore , none who , on the return of peace , with the return of public attention to domestic affairs , is more fitted to be the leader for tlie nation in Parliament . We know the confession which this tribute to Lord John ' s consisteucy implies . We would have gone much farther , and certainly with much more speed than Lord John ; and wo arc well aware that to pronounce
him the foremost man of this day is a censure upon all the public men who ought to bo in advance of him . It is something lile the same tiling as dragging forth poor Lord Raglan from his veteran repose to take the head of the army which ought to havo had some young "Welxtssley at its head ; but ¥ 0 have no young "Wdsllesltst in the army , to have no young Iiord John Husseli , and must in 1856 fall back upon the man of 1830 . The arrangement which we havo mentioned has been ascribed to some o £ Lord JoBJi 8
admirers in this country ; it appears to have been countenanced by those who are socially high in the Liberal party . It was felt , perhaps , that the Ministry does not possess a hold f > n the public confidence , for want of any distinct pledges of a political character from those members . Tho Gabinet would be strengthened by the addition of Lord JonN ; tho House of Lords wanta an infusion o % j ft l \ S _ a .. m . vs l * LJ ^ S V *» A . JU 41 / A VAW T ** - » v r ~* - « . » .-, .
LORD JOHN . ShotjIiD Lord John RussELXi accept the invitation conveyed him by such general acclaim , be ought to expect his own terms for the acceptance . He certainly stands on a high vantage ground . "We have refrained from entering upon this subject 'hitherto , ' in . ' the hope that we should see some answer to the appeal , some settlement of the question whether he accepts or not . We rather surmised , indeed , that some arrangement was
actually proceeding , and that the public calls for Lord John , which came from different parts of thei community , were the result of some predetermined plan . We do not Imow how far this may be the case with particular circles , but we do believe that Lord JonN himself has no part in the matter . If any arrangements hare been designedj it is without consulting him . There is a belief that Lord John will come back , resume an active part in politics , accept a peerage , re-enter
the Government , and take up measures which other men find too much for them ; the whole calculation being based on the one single datura , that a want ; is' felt . The public and public men cry , 'Lord John , you are wanted ;' and they expect that Lord John will come at the call , opening his mouth and shutting his eyes to take what his friends may please to have provided for him . No man has been more severely criticized than that same member of the house of
Bedford . A year or two ago , one might have supposed , from the tone of the liberal press , that ho had done worso than fcetray his country—that he had stultified his country . A year or two ago we were assured , on the one side , that Lord Palme bsto : n was the man of the day ; on tho other , that Lord Deeby was , after all , the coming man ; ' and in tlie middle , among the unclassified liberals , we were told that there was soinp national party to turn up ; but at last it is discovered that better tnac better
no statesman can hi ; nresent be no statesman can . at present be invented than Lord Jou * T Kussell . Candidly we are not prepared to deny the statement . "We look round us to see if a better man can bo found , one more suited to bo tho loader of tho Liberal party , ono on whose conduct those who are anxious for furtlicr reform could more confidently and justly rely . There is no obhor individual man answering
to the description . Wo nro quito willing to accept Sir ltioiiAitD Bktuell ' s assurance that he will bring bills for law reform into Parliament ; we belicvo that Lord Pat-merstont will endorse any billa that aro presented for acceptance by good customers out of doors ; but we think tho public can pretty well guess tho result of debates on bills in the House of Commons . Tliore aio oxccllent lawyers in both Houses , anxious to improve the body of tho law ; but it never has beon
,. ^ ^ good constitutional principle , tho Liberal party wants a political leader , and Lord JonK in requested to return homo for tlie purpose of accepting tho part of jcicno Premier tor tho Liberal party . Nobody appears to lniow whether he will uecopt , or not . If ho does , wo say ho lias a right to his terms . \\ « ( l ° not mean from Ministers , —they hrc ot very secondary importance . Wo mean from tuo Liberal party . We do not mean that ho W
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11 S 8 THE LEADEB . fNo . 349 , Sa ^ tjkdait
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 29, 1856, page 1138, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2169/page/10/
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