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sent business is with the melting of the population , and the causes of its sudden decay from 1851 to 1856 . Even if we cast in the gross total of the deportations to Algeria and Cayenne , they sink out of sight in the chasm . It is true that the departments signalized as having experienced the most sensible ariest or decrease of population are precisely those "which were more than decimated by the mixed Commission of December— -those which were marked in red
on the map as strongholds of the Socialist democracy , those from which the agricultural , mechanical , and professional classes were deported wholesale without trial to flood the convict colonies of the Empire . ' . The usurpation of 1851 passed over these provinces Hke a desolating war ; yet some deeper and more abiding cause must be at work ; it is , we are compelled to believe , the corruption of society by the example and influence of the Empire . If a great and expanding nation can be violently arrested in its career , its vital forces turned abruptly into sordid channelsits oral consciousness blinded
, m and benumbed , the circulation of its intellectual activity suspended ; if it can be cut off from the traditions of the past , "bewildered by stoek-jobbing , - encouraged to waste its energies in sensual excesses , deterred by fear or ridicule from healthy or exalted pursuits ; - ^ -if it can undergo this change without being enfeebled , attenuated , and exhausted , we must utterly repudiate tie doctrine of all history—that a deadening despotism , applying itself only to satisfy tlie material cravings of the populace , infuses into the blood of the debauched nation the
virus of a poison . There is now in France no such thing as public life ; it follows that private manners are depraved . The Seine might whisper a story to the Dead Sea , and Prance might show other causes for the failui'e of its productive powers than the determination of domestic economists to limit their [ family liabilities . Lotjis Napoleon pretends to stimulate agriculture- —the agricultural population is diminishing ; he
affects to aggrandize Paris—Paris i 3 fed at tlve expense of the provinces ; be points to developed commerce—it scarcely compensates for diminished production at home;—he is the patron of the working classes —they have a falling sickness among them ; the one flourishing class in Franco consists of speculators , gorged , we repeat , by vast displacements of wealth , but adding nothing to the resources of the country or tlie stability of the Government . The Spanish Kingdom exhausted , and the Turkish Empire disorganised , are now the European parallels of
Imperial France . It may be that some historian of a future day , "when recalling the glories of the modern Augustus , will point to the architectural trophies of tho capital ; Imt other historians will record that from the first to the sixth year of Louis Napoleon ' s xeign it was that Trance , instead of tulvanci ^ gj began to recede , and that , instoad of multi p lying and abounding , her population diminished and decayed , exhibiting to the New "World the phenomenon of arrested development in the Old .
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U ; he is rather for Cajolery , and means with that instrument to work as effectually as he can upon the suscepti bilities of the House of Commons . He is not pledged ; he has never made large promises ; the new Parliament ., he thinks , is his own ; then why should he propose organic changes ? He is quite capable of turning Keformer , being a plastic material ; but those politicians
who entertain a belief that the representation of the people is imperfect , and ought to be improved , will do well to cast aside the hope that Lord Paxmebston will volunteer in their service . His supporters inquire how the Government is to be carried on without him ? We are not in a position of national difficulty ; we have no war upon our bands : then what is it that Lord
Paxmehston is supposed to represent ? The principle of strong government , perhaps . That is the question , however . A large majority will go into the new Parliament , compromised in favour of an extended franchise . The problem to be solved is , whether that majority shall be corrupted into the personal following of a minister without a policy , or whether it shall do the work proposed to it by the constituents of the Legislature . While Lord John Russell occupies a seat in the House , the Beform cause has a sound and solid basis ; it remains for the real Liberals of all shades to decide
between his professions and the " admitted claims" of the member for Tiverton . It is certain that , up to the present moment , the Cabinet has not decided to propose any genuine measure of Reform : it is probable , that should any such proposal emanate from the Government , there will lurk behind it a latent scheme of stultification . The Liberal party is forewarned . It has been kept in suspense by floating rumours of official deliberations which are known to have taken place ; but before the meeting of Parliament it will have no doubt discovered the full extent of
the conspiracy to flatter it with illusions , to break the force of public opinion , and to suppress agitation by trickery . Failing Palmeeston , Reform has its resource in Russell , and Russell has an ally in Geaham . But , without Geaham or Russell , the cause of the most powerful party in the nation ought not to suffer from a mere shuffle of the cards . "What if the
THE SIGN TO TAIILIA-MENT . Whew the Premier's policy is understood , it will "become evident to tho public that tho leading necessity of our times is— -the Union of Reformers . The Cabinet has discussed tho pomtB of a possible Bill , and , it is understood , intends to set them aaide in favour of what are called direct measures of admiuiatrative and social improvement . Lord 1 ? axmbbston is not for reform with tho capital
Premier should have appealed to the country with a deliberate resolve to disregard the evidences of popular opinion , and to treat the public will with contempt ?
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Crystal Palace on the Friday was a glorious scene . The London-bridge terminus was thronged by a crowd as dense as that entering the Opera , only far more extensive and bulky Every approach to Sydenham or Anerley was thronged ; the hotels , public-houses , and tea-gardens could scarcely find the machinery to supply their customers . The Palace itself has seldom been so crowded , for the Good Friday is becoming an established institution at the Crystal Palace . Last year , there were
little more than 17 , 000 persons in it ; this year there were 27 , 400 . The reporter of the fashionable Mor ? iing Post obser ved loaded reticules , bulging pockets , and other evidences that the multitude under the glass were , for the most part , frugally inclinedbelonging to the " plodding and honest middle-class tradesmen and well-to-do mechanics . " John Gilpin was abroad with his most respectable wife and children ; and Sally was taken from our alley , although
it was not the- day that conies between the Saturday and Monday . But parsimony was not the spirit of that day in the Crystal Palace . Nothing so stinted or so earking would liave suited the occasion . Those , indeed , who could not be open-handed were still on pleasure bent ; and the little baskets , the shiny reticules , the pocket pistol , afforded the means of personal enjoyment . But the coffee-room was thronged by those
partaking the cup which cheeTS but not inebriates . After five o ' clock , " beer was to be obtained , and was evidently in considerable demand ; wines were also seen gracing the more aristocratic tables . " We are still quoting the fashionable intelligence . All was " decorum , " but all , also , was enjoyment . Nor was the company limited to John Gilpins and the sweethearts of Sally ; for amongst the 27 , 000 were 1700 season tickets ; so that there was at least a
large sprinkling of polite persons ; and no doubt there are gentlefolks in the Crystal Palace at times who do not hold season , tickets . Amongst other enjoyments , music was provided , by two bands , in the concertroom and in the gardens ; the music comprising , amongst otter things , military hymns , Costa ' s " Eli , " Mendelssohn ' s dramatic " St . Paul , " and Rossini ' s " Stabat Mater " and " Moses in Egypt . " There was every kind of enjoyment enjoyed by every class . Taking numbers , the different orders represented , and Hie character of the amusement ,
HOW WE CHRISTIAlSr PEOPLE SPENT THE DAY OP CHRISTIAN MOURNING . Never has a holiday been more successful than that which was planned for the London folks on Good Friday . The railway companies had arranged to begin tho Easter holidays with cheap trains in almost every direction . You had cheat ) traius to Tilbury ,
Southend , and Gravesend ; cheap trains for all the popular ¦ watering places from Dover to Hastings ; cheap trains for Aldershott , for Kedhill , for Greenwich ; cheap trains to Birmingham and beyond it , to " Windsor , Dorking ; cheap trains for Boulogne ; in short , for any place that holiday-makers could desire , not forgetting of course the Crystal Palace . The most was to be made of tlie
holiday . Excursion tickets , in some cases , began on tho Thursday night , and carried you over tho Easter Sunday , so thnt the junketing and jollification began on tho Jfriday , were Icopt up on the Saturday , grew fast and furious on faster Sunday , still faster anil moro - furious on Easter Monday , and cooled by degrees on Easter Tuesday . Tlie
it might bo said that there was a national holiday in the Crystal Palace . But while the Crystal Palace was thus filled , all London was out of town ; and tho million was disporting itself up and down railways , on the "beach , in the tea-gardens , in the hotels - —everywhere . The spectacle was one to do one ' s heart good , from the unrestraint , the geniality , and the universality of the enjoyment . But on what day did all this happen ? Surely it was an anniversary of the Christian Church ; and the anniversary of what ?
There may be , and there is , to the devoutest of Christians , strong moral consolation for tho memories which tho anniversary recals ; but the most cheering aspect of tho pecasion can scarcely be connected , in a really Christian mind , with junketing , seaside excursions , or concerts . Wo are not speaking simply of an historical anniversary
celebrated by a people ; we are speaking of a day set apart by the Christian Church to commemorate a particular event—an event which must necessarily impress all b elieving Christians more with tho memory of the Sacrifice than with rejoicing for the hlesainga which were obtained by tho Sacrifice . We use the word " believing Christiana " in imitation of those who talk " soriously" on
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372 TEE LEADER , [ No . 369 , Saturday
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), April 18, 1857, page 372, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2189/page/12/
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