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TALMERSTON'S TTJRGE
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not indisposed to a reform bill , though he declares he will not go so far as the Charter ; he is for abolishing the Income-tax ; and bhere has been no company lite his for progressive improvements . Lord John Russelx is for " peace , retrenchment , and reform , " including a considerable extension of the suffrage , the completion of the edifice of religious liberty , and reduction of the tea and sugar duties . That is the programme of Independent Liberals j but their ' s is not the company which at present has the contract for public business .
The Liberal Association of National . Credit makes its advertisements through Lord Pa : l-3 tEBSTOjr , and it is quite ready to supply the very same articles , though there is one which the principal partner does not much like to trade in . The Company would give retrenchment- —only with the reserve that there must te a military expenditure for an improved army - , it would reduce taxation ¦— in due time ; it promote improvement—upon opportunity ; and it -will even obtain from some other shop , if the public customer absolutely requires it , any kind of " reform . "
It is curious that in this practical country , where they boast of having " self-government * '' they consent to go on from day to day governing themselres by proxy , through these peculiar joint-stock cliques of men who band together simply to "do" the public . But the reason is quite intelligible ; electors and nonelectors agree , by their acquiescence or their action , to keep up an exclusive constituency ; the exclusive constituency , " based upon the shopieeping middle class , is manageable especially by humbug , palaver , and ' appearances . '
It represents exactly those shareholders in a vast joint * stock business wto are content , through selfishness and servility , to leave everything to the directors ; and because each elector is desirous of improving his own connexion , he will play into the hands of the Credit Company which holds the public eontract , or into the hands of the Credit Company which he expects to hold the contract next . So it ia that this great English nation consents to be contracted fop by this or that Credit Mobilier , which is half a stock-jobbing reality and . half-bubble .
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POLITICAL . OSTRACISM . We said , when the dissolution of Parliament was announced , that to reject Mr . Cobden , Mr . Bright , and Mr . Milker Gibson would be to discredit the very principle of representation . Manchester and Huddersfield have been disgraced . B at the time-serving ingratitude of those constituencies has ibund parallels in other parts of the country . Aylesbury has ostracised Mr . La . y . aim > , Leicester Sir Joshua . "Walmsley , Rochdale , Mr . Miaj / l , Oldham , Mr . Fox—four of the most honourable members of the late Parliament :
Oldham , Kochdale , Leicester , and Ay lesbury have been dishonoured by their rejection . We will add to the list Sir "Wixiiam Clay , a tried and "trusted Liberal . Against Mr . Oobbext and Mr . Platt nothing ia to be said ; Mr . Btaas and Mr . Habbis , no doubt , will be competent to take part in the legislative business of the country ; probably Sir A , Hams ay is a respectable politician \ the satne remark applies to Sir John Potter , Mr . J . A . Turner , and Mr . Akkoyd ; but what have been tlieir public services that the upright , tho incorruptible , the eloquent should bo discarded to admit them into tho House ot
Commons ? Place tho names in juxtaposition— RlCHABD CoiiDEN , JOHN BlUGHT , Mir / NEU G ID SON , EDWAJtD Ml ALT , , HeSR ? Austen Layard , William JoriNsoK I ox , Joshua Walmsley—who havo given way to John Potter , James AsprtfALTj Turkeb , Mr . Akuotd , Mr . BunNARU , Mr . BiaO 9 > Mr . Hathus , At ^ xatstpisr Hams at , Mr . Platt , and Mr . Cobuktx- —tlio contrast IB that "between insignificance and reputation ,
Talmerston's Ttjrge
system an element of powerful and active liberality . Is he content to administer the affairs of Liberalism , or to be submerged ? That is the alternative . Moreover , in sending Mr . Cobden , Mr , Bbi&hi , Mr . Gibson , Mr . Miali ., Mr . Fox , Mr . Latabd , Sir Joshua Walmbley and Sir "Wilxiam : Olay to -the country , he has left them with the country , and not being able to sifc in Parliament they will stand on the popular platform . The stir and excitement will not subside with the last formalities of the general election , as they might have subsided had all the great Reformers returned to the House of
Commons . Some of the greatest will be excluded , and they will not take to the plough of Cin-CTNHATUS . Tlieir task is now to procure a revision of those electoral laws which allow a Government to tamper with the constituencies , landlords to control electors , and fundholders to buy them . At least a hundred and fifty new members will take their places in the forthcoming session of Parliament . A majority of them are Liberals ; Lord Debbt ' s general election
great Whigs with him unless he acts with the party of Reform . Xiord John Russeh ; ia pledged to allow him . a reasonable delay and then upon Lis defalcation to take toe question out of his handa . Sir James Graham is evidently prepared to coalesce with Lord John Russell . "Neither the new Liberals nor the old Whigs will consent to sacrifice their views for the sake of the Pai . MERsrosr supremacy , which , taken by itself , is not worth one bought vote in a rotten borough .
The Premier , with his thirty sworn officials , can hope neither to fight the Tories on Ministerial questions -with the aid of the Whigs and [ Radicals , nor to fight the "Whige and Radicals on Reform questions with the aid of the Tories . The Tories and the officials gave "him an inappreciable majority on Mr . Locke EZotg ' s motion . Mr . Locke King ' s motion has new advocates far exceeding the numbers of that majority . So that Lord PaIi ^ ebston is surrounded . Tor the first time since 1832 we have a House of
Commons returned to try the great issue of lieform , and Lord Palm : er . ston must either act as the head of the Liberals or be degraded as the tail of the Tories . The attempt to elect a House of Commons solely with regard to the proceedings of the British authorities in China has been a total failure . The rejection of the Manchester leaders and of various members who voted with the Opposition , does not modify the general result . The new Parliament is
Liberal , not Palmerstoniari . We believe we are correct in saying that nearly four hundred , of the gentlemen elected have , in their addresses on the hustings , expressed opinions favourable to an immediate measure of political reform . Two hundred and sixty will be the utmost strength of the Tory party . If Lord PAi ^ MERSTOisr , then , hoped to corrupt and enfeeble the House of Commons , he has not succeeded ; if he means to spread his sails for popular support , let Mm . introduce a Bill for [ mproving the Representation of the People .
weakened the Tory party by at least tvfentyfive votes ; Lord Palmerston has deprived them of more than the same number ; so that within five years Tory ism has lost fifty representatives . The gains , however , are not Lord F / almetiston ' s ; they belong to the Liberal majority . Lord John Russeli declared on Monday that , with such a preponderance of Liberal members , the Premier will have no excuse for not proposing a Reform Bill .
Should he decline or delay , Lord John E-ussEiii is ready ; if not , Sir James Graham ; in an emergency , Sir Eitzrot Kelly himself , at the bottom of the hill , will raise a . forensic shout in favour of electoral change . Parliament , newly warmed by the embraces of the nation ^ will follow no faltering leader ; so that the First Lord of the Treasury , if he expected a majority to be returned solely that he might sharp-shoot whatever he pleased in Asia , has been desperately disappointed .
TALMERSTON'S TTJRGE . Loud Paxmerston has garrisoned Downingstreet with new levies . Bub after repelling an attack he may have to struggle with an insurrection . Reform is at the head of the poll ; the Chinese question nowhere . And Lord Palmerston will speedily be where the Chinese question is unless lie agrees to do the work of the Liberal majority . Two parties have been established by the general election — -the ^ Franchise and Ballot party in the House of Commons , and the Agitation party out of doors ;—the one will rouse the people ,
the other may coerce tho Minister . If it be true that the Premier is a Tory from conviction , he has no longer any light to occupy an official position . A . Reform Parliament has been elected , against his expectations , contrary , perhaps , to his desires . For ourselves , we do not count upon Lord Palmerston ' s Tory tenacity . He is a malleable man . In stress of politics he will make for the nearest harbour . With Canning he opposed
Re-, form ; vrith Geey , he carried it , sacrificed in itB interest his seat for the "University of Cambridge won in ita name the constituency of South Hampshire , and proved himself to possess elastic views . Such was his ductility on iormer days ; he may liave changed , fixed hardened ; \ i ao , tho Government must bo changed also ; for Lord Paxwushsxon ia purging the Houso of Commons of peaco men and factious men haa introduced into H <*
The cry is for Reform . All other topics have been eclipsed upon the hustings by that one word . There have been attempts to hush the constituencies ; but they have ridiculously failed . Here a tyro contrasted the relative valuesof a vote and a dinner ; but the impatient burghers laughed ; there a rotund rural magistrate , practised in summary committals , sleekly tallced of the Protestant succession ; one
Ministerial subordinate , kicking away the ladder of his social promotion , sneered at the popular demand for an extended franchise ; in other directions , where counties and boroughs are only the saddles of the equestrian order , heavy Church topics suppressed all mention of the suffrage ; but in the main , the electors and non-electors have vigorously put the question whether the new Parliament will l ) e moved to enact a measure of
general political reform . The Coalition has melted away ; the Manchester party has disappeared from the House of Commons ; the Peelites return mutilated ; the Tories have been reduced by another dwindle ; but is Lord Palmerston , therefore , the anaster of Parliamont ? He appealed to the country , " Shall the British flag be protected ? " and the country answers "Yes ; and the British Constitution improved nt the samo titno . " What does the Premier imagine he will do with such men aa Sir Arthur
Elton , Me . WrauAM CttAwronD , General Thompson , Mr . Ingkam , Mr . Wild , Mr . CONINGHAM , Mr . KlNGLAKB , Sir JOSEPH Paxton , Mr . M'Cullaoh , Mr . IVaticins , Mr . Nicoll , Mr . Townsknd , Mr . Haokblook , Mr . Rovi'ETit , Mr . Lookm , Mr . AritTON , and the other young representatives of Liberalism ? Do without them , possibly ? But they are hia supporters . He has not the
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826 THE LEIPEB . fNo . 367 , Saturday
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), April 4, 1857, page 326, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2187/page/14/
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