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also refrained from counting as Liberals any members , however Liberal in their recent professions , who voted generally . with the Conservatives in the late Parliament . Not has a past support of Lord Pai / nierston on the China question , nor a promised general support to his Ministry , induced us to forget the marked distinction between men ready to vote for reforms of the franchise and for the
further application , of civil and religious liberty , and men unwilling , ' through fear of the " democracy , ?* to give into their hands any extended power . The liberal party , thennumbering it from Lord pALMEiiSTON to Mr . Townsend , from Lord Joim ittrssELL to Mr . ' Roebuck—numbers 382 . The next question is , How are the party united ? Are there any disloyal men who refuse to acknowledge Palmebston ? Are there
Legis ' uch men as Mr . EjbndaijL , of East Cornwall . Then there are some of the party who are too Liberal to act with Mr . Disbaeli in maintaining an obstructive Conservatism . Thus , giving to Mr . Disbaeii the men calling themselves Conservatives who have not openly seceded from the party as an Opposition , we find that his followers number 200 . "Were Lord Paxmeestost to propose some
extremely Liberal extension of the franchise , or some very sweeping Reform of the Church , Mr . Disraeli might lead into the lobby the 262 nominal Conservatives , hut not otherwise ; hut even in that case the question would be carried by the Liberals by a majority of 100 . Lord Palmebstojt has thus a majority equal , if not superior , to Peel ' s majority of 91 , in 1841 . But the majority is for Lord Palmerston as a Liberal Minister . If lie
again oppose instalments of IRefonn , he will ( at least after this year ) find himself forced to connect his thirty or forty official followers with the Conservatives , and even then he will be beaten . He cannot again enact the division on Locke King ' s motion . The present Parliament is more decidedly Liberal than the last . Take the Ballot , for instance it ; is the opinion of men not sanguine as to those matters , that there is an actual majority in the House for the Ballot . We do not think so ; our own calculations of the members returned do not bear out this result .
But the Ballot may nevertheless obtain majorities , for while its supporters are pledged to support it , there is no party pledged to oppose it . To oppose the Ballot is not even & sine qiia non of Conservatism , although objections to the Ballot dwell in many honourable minds on both sides of the House . It is said by political calculators that , if Lord Paimeustok adopt an obstructive Conservatism on the question of Church-rates or the Ballot , he will be defeated in this House , which his supporters fondly call his own , by at least a majority of forty .
timists , Orleanists , and IRepubliccaris plotting with similarity of meaus , but with three distinct objects , against the Napoleon of English politics ? Each of the three French parties has its counterpart in the House . There is Lord Johit Uusseihy in exile , the Legitimist chief of the historic and traditional Whig party . There is Sir James Graham , who acts Orleanism to the very life , now appealing to bis old Whig associates , now calling the . Radicals his friends . And . there is Mr .
Roebuck representing the Republicans , who object with equal acrimony to the reigning monarch and to the two pretenders . Sir James G-bahaji's section consists mainly of himself ! , for we cannot calculate on any member of the House as a Grahamite ; Mr . Sidnet Herbert will , it is said , shortly join the Ministry , and Mr . Gladstone will be , in the language of the orchestra , a clief cV aitaqiie of the Opposition . Mr . Roebuck represents a section that may number ' eight . He represents
a party of Radicals who chafe-at the perpetual leadership of men of family and who have a fixed idea that all men who had grandfathers must be aristocratic and " . used up . In this section , to swell it up to eight , we must count the Peace party , not yet extinct—for . re have Mr . Henry Pease ( is it the j > ilgrim who having softened his own head according to the old recipe for pleasant penitential travelling , went to Petersburg to tell Nicholas not to be naughty ?) , and Mr . Chaiiles Ctiipin
who with true English spirit anticipated ( in a pamphlet pxiblished at his shop and once read by Palmerston to a laughing House ) how the poor French would be " done again" when , greatly to their chagrin , we should refuse to receive the compensation they would remorsefully offer after having battered down our unresisting cities . Putting Bussellites , pure Whigs , Radicals , Peace men , and Sir James GitAiiAM altogether as a baud of rebels in the Liberal camp wo cannot count them as
more than twenty , leaving Lord Pai . misrston a faithful following of 3 C 2—more than a majority of the whole House . The Conservatives , roughly speaking , number 262 ; but there are serious divisions even in * this shattered army . Firstly , there arc at the very least 40 of tho party who have pledged themselves not to offer a general opposition to Lord Palmehston . Among these may be counted Mr . M ' rxiss , Mr . Mienes Gasket , Lord Bi ^ NDiroiiB , and ther moderate
o Conservatives . Some of these men have even formally seceded from the party ( Lord BL ^ NDronu , for instance , who in 1852 lought so fiercely at Middlesex against Beiinal Osborne , now receives drears from Mr . XUymni and not from Sir William J oiaii ?** : ) . Then there arc about ^ O Conservatives who are separated from tho party , not that they love Conservatism less out that they disliUo Disuatcli more . They are represented by Mr . Bjbntinok , who led the secession in tho late Parliament , and by
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staple trade . The great difference between the tWo is , that the TJnited States haTe ° Government which , from its very const ; tution , naturall y acts for the benefit of til public r our own Government does not let the public , or any representative of tlm public , into its confidence . Its first and avowed object is to strengthen and support zUelf ; and although it must defer to public opinion , that is a kind of homage that can ho : " managed . "
The question as to the state of relations between the two countries is immediatelv called forth by what we hear from the TJnited States respecting the application made by our Government for some kind of " co-operation " in China . Now it is the feeling of an naportant party in this country , that the course taken in China was nothing better than what is commonly called a mess , " and how , when Lord John Russell and an influential section of the Liberal party here have expressed
decided disapproval ior the Chinese policy Lord Palmehston ' s Cabinet can have the face to ask for the co-operation of a foreign government not by its very nature bureaucratic , we scarcely understand . At all events compliance could not have been expected ! But the American Government , if we are correct in the inference that we draw from the Ministerial Union , very naturally wishes to be informed xoliat co-operation is practicable ? The United States can have no sympathy with China .
" The miserable exclusiveness of that unhappy country can find no advocacy among enlightened men , and , on the score ., of humanity , it is difficult to feel any great sympathy for people who poison wells and bakeries , -w"ho have little regard for human life , and whose habits , in many respects , are semi-barbarous . We know , too , how annoying and offensive must be the delays and forms and mummeries which surround tie modes of the Chinese in their communications with tlie ' outsidebarbarians . ' That- to break down the exclusiveness of China , throw open it 3 gates , and let the genial light and heat of commerce penetrate its long-closed avenues , would be for the advancement of civilization and the benefit of the
world , cannot well be doubted . And wherever the influence of the United States can be properly exerted to this end , unquestionably it will not be found wanting . " This is answering exactly as we should have ventured to answer for the Government at "Washington ; but the Executive of that country has certainly specific responsibilities which cannot be laid aside . The case is well stated by our Union contemporary : —
ENGLAND AND THE UNITED STATES IN CHINA . "What is the actual state of the relations between our Government and the United States ? We have not received any information for some time , at least from this side of the water ; but we are not without advices from the other side , and they do cause a feeling of uneasiness . " We are uneasy for a very plain and intelligible reason . Nothing can be more essential to the well-being of this country and of the United States , than a
cordial understanding between the two . "We have tho strongest of all grounds for knowing that the two commonwealths actually agree on most subjects that bring them , into contact with each other , and we also may say , as within our own knowledge , that on subjects which more immediately concern cither the ono or the other , such explanations could be given as would completely remove any feeling of reciprocal dissatisfaction . "We have perfect right to state to our readers that the American Government
is actuated by the most friendly feelings : owards tin ' s country . It has a desire to remove every cause of misunderstanding , and to promote that increased intercourse which is occasioning so constant an exchange of personal visiting , and creating so gigantic an amount of commerce . AVo belicvo that tho exports of the United States to this
country exceed their exports to all other countries ; and if our own exports to tho United States aro not exactly in the snmo proportion , our fellow-countrymen aro continually adding to tho number of tho commonwenlth ; a largo and increasing part of our food is drawn from the Union , with many of out luxuries , and tho raw material of a
" As to the co-operation , ' of which the journal speaks , we confess that we do not quite understand its import . When two governments are at war , and a third government ' co-operates' with either of the belligerents , it seems to us that the latter government is very nearly in a condition of war also . "We understand what war is , and what ^ ence is ; but this < co-o 2 > craliori with a belligerent , which strikes the Journal of Commerce as being so harmless as not even to amount to aa ' entangling alliance , ' is something of which wo have no definite idea . "
This is extremely just , and we'should like to have the official explanation oil this side . The Executive of the United States is charged with the duty of preserving for American commerce and Americans in China all tlie respect and all the facilities to which they aro entitled ; and should they be assailed , the Government of President Buchanan -would repel the assault with promptitude and decision . But the same Q-overnment may very justly ask itself whether it would be perfectly discreet wore it to undertake to act in
conjunction with tho close Cabinet of Lord Ialmehston , or with tho Government ; of JYancc r That the leading men of the United States should desire to act in China , so as to . assist in promoting a stato of things favourable to tho commonwealth of this country , wo aro certain . But it does not always folioW ( that the co-operation with tho Executive of this country would conduce to that end . A tall events , the two ' . Executives aro accustomed to proceed on principles , and according to rules ao different , that it is not desirable for a
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396 ' THE 1 EADBB . [ No . 370 , SA-nmW
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), April 25, 1857, page 396, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2190/page/12/
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