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NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS . ROYAii ACADEMY- —Our third notice is unavoidably post-¦ oS ^ m rM . —An obvious misprint disfigured ono of the opcn-B ? ni" sentences of our article on the ' Ballot Argument , ' n& week For ' Four years aS 0 Sir Robert Peel , ' Ac ., r ? ad « ome years ago Sir Robert Peel , ' &o .
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LIBERAL BOLTERS IN THE HOUSE . The Liberal party has no acknowledged chief . Mr . Roebuck frequently volunteers to act as standard-bearer ; bat the independent members of the House of Commons have discovered , not once or twice only , that he is capable of deliberately misleading and abandoning them . We think we have always done justice to his public character ; but the truth ' must be told . lie capitulated to Lord Palmerston on the first night of the session , and last week he surrendered the opposition to the Princess Royal's pension and dowry . In both instances his conduct was entirely unauthorized bv his political friends . ¥ e
doubt even whether it was not offensive to his own parliamentary colleague , the second representative of Sheffield . Was it weakness , or was it insincerity ? Was Mr . Roebuck cowed by the bluster of the Government , or had lie too , with Mr . Disraeli , made a compact with a very important personage ? We dislike the necessity of raising so much as a doubt concerning the fidelity of a very forward patriot , yet there was something remarkable in the sequence of the proceedings on the evening of Friday week . Before the Chancellor of the Exchequer rose in his place , and on tho motion that the House do resolve itself into a committee , Mr . Roebuck addressed himself to tho
Speaker , and neither Lord Palmekston nor Sir Cobnewall Lewis attempted to interrupt him . So far as wo can learn , indeed , no surprise was manifested on the ministerial bench . But wd can inform tho honourable gentleman in what quarter there was astonishment , not unmixed with disgust , when an officious gentleman exposed the plans of his party before a word had been , uttered by a member of the Cabinet . Tho blank cartridge was fired against a dead wall , and Lord Palmebston , getting upon hi . 6 logs , hopjd the
discussion would not be anticipated . AVny , it had been anticipated , and an uncomlbrlable apprehension began to bo circulated that cutlery was not the only false ware bought and sold at Shuffielil . This suspicion gained ground when , upon the termination of tho ludicrous spooch ot Sir Cornewalt , Lewis—u speech which a dexterous reply would have blown to shivers—Mr . Roiouuok was instantly again in the breach , making a theatrical use
of his hands in front , but kicking down his supporters behind him . From this moment there was a mere burlesque of a Parliamentary discussion . Lord John Russell shnporod as though he wore a courtier in a braided coat upon his knees before Queen Emzabetii . Mr . Disit / YELr , still bilious after tho farmers' ordinary at ; Newport Pagnell , was serenely stupid \\ x his enunciation of obsequious platitudes . The only uion in the House
who seriously attacked the pension job of the Princess Royal , were Mr . William Co-NrNGiiAii and Mr . William Williams ; but there were others ready to carry on the debate , when , rushing hot from the lobbies , poured in the tide of representative wisdom , the white-waistcdated members who never listen to exposition or reply , but " who vote away any sum proposed by the Treasurymillions or myriads—and swamp the conscientious economy of the hard-working , independent Liberals . The drones of Parliament had clustered
together thick as the humitiing-bees that hunt the golden dew , to pay out of the national property for the affability of the Queen Bee , for tickets to state balls , for possible baronetcies , and other good things in the gift of our Walpoles and Pblhams , when suddenly there was a loud burst of applause . Mr . Roebuck was seen to sit down with , a countenance reflecting the benign smiles of
Mr . Sjpisaker ,. of Lord Palme us ton , and of a House resounding with cheers . Some one on the distant cross benches asked for intelligence from the Ministerial empyrean . What had occasioned this singing of the spheres ? Why did one honourable . member for Sheffield smirk and another frown ? Why did Mr . Roebuck seem , as Lord North once seemed , according to Burke , as though his face were the face of an atisrel ? The answer
was : —Mr . RoEBUCKhas withdrawn his amendment ; the question has been put and carried ; the dowry has been granted ; the pension has been granted ; Mr . Roebuck has consulted nobody ; the opportunity has been lost , and the popular representatives have ' not acted ii ] : > to their duties . ^ _ Now we do not affirm that Mr . Roebuck actually bargained away the opposition to the Princess Royal's pension , but this we say , it was the second occasion on which he had led the Liberal party into a hole . What
right has he to put himself forward as-the leader of a debate and proposer of an amendment if he has not the firmness and constancy to maintain his opinions—if they ai * e his opinions—or to be true to his party ? The vote was carried by consent , but the feeling of tho House was far from unanimous . Had a distinct sum been proposed as a dowrysay a hundred thousand pounds sterling—excluding altogether tho principle of a pension , there were numerous members in the House who dared not have voted against it . There were others avIio would certainly
have gone all lengths to gam palace favour , but who , when Mr . Roebuck as usual hung out his white flag , boasted that they would have opposed the Government had a division taken place . Among the independent members , Mr . Cokinoham waa resolved to teat the sentiments of the House whon the question was again brought forward . On Moud : i 3 evening ho and his friends successively proposed a reduction of tho " pension and a refusal of tho dowry . Fourteen members votod for tho first amendment , eighteen for tho second . The names of those gentlemen will bo x'emembered bv tho country .
But other gentlemen will bo signalized ns tho bolters . They ran away and hid . Mr . Roijijuok was one of thorn . What do the people of Sheffield think of their sharp-tongued CloeuoP Can they trust him again with tho management of a ' Liberal opposition ? We are afraid that Mr . Roeuuoic will come to be regarded as a Government buffer , intended to break the force of any collision between Lord X- » almeuston and tho deluded Liberals , especially since there are unpleasant insinuations afloat with respect to his conduct of the Sevastopol Inquiry . Wo should indeed be glad to see him cleared of that impeachmout ; it might also be possible to extenuate hia
abject attitude on the first night of the session , but nothing can excuse his recalcitration on Friday night , and we do not see how it can be explained except on the supposition of a questionable understanding between the patriot and the Premier-. . Analyzing the list of the _ jninority whoste persistance- excited the indignatiqri of that Piccadilly politician in lemon gloves , Lord Robert Cecil , -we regret to miss some names that should surely have been there . How happens it that the liberalism of Sir
De Lacy Evans is so much more unflinching than that of Sir John Yilliers Shelley ? Upon what principle was Sir Joseph Paxtojj absent ? Where was Sir Charles Napier , and where Mr . Locke ? Could not Mr . Akroyd find it in his heart to protest against the Royal pension ? Where was Manchester ? Manchester lias no seat in the New Parliament ; but we need not brand separately the ruck of the bolters . Many would probably have voted with the Liberals on Fridav who considered it too late to act
in opposition on Monday . Mr . Conhstgiiame ' s motion was not so much an economical manoeuvre , as an effort to rescue the Liberal party from the false position into which they ' 'had been thrown by Mr . Roebuck ' s indiscreet professions of confidence on the first night of the session , and by his sacrifice of honesty to the representatives of Buckingham Palace . Unless the Liberals act upon their own responsibility , unless they move in a compact phalanx , and separate
themselves by their votes , not only from the Tories , but from the overwhelming majority to w-hieh Lord Palm erst on dictates , they will never form a party , and their policy will have no -effect on the legislation of the empire . There are numerous- mysteries of administration which a section of determined Liberals acting together might lay -bare to the light of public opinion . Upon \ Vhat statistics are the estimates founded ? Who prepares them for the Chancellor of
the Exchequer ? Who audits and reports upon the actual expenditure of the year ? Of what terrestrial value are the auditors nt Somerset House ? These and a hundred similar questions remain unanswered , but the sincere Liberals are deterred from pushing them home , because they cannot trust their friends . Here is Mr . Roupell
betraying a disposition to bolt from the ballot , ad he , and others who resemble him , bolted from the opposition to the Prussian pension . Tho only straight course we can discern amid thia confusion of timidity , of bad faith , and broken pledges , is a resolve ' on the part of the publicspirited Liberals to force every debato to its legitimate issue , and let the division list stigmatize the deserters .
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There is nothing so revolutionary , because thereis nothing so unnatural and convulsive , as the strain to keep things fixed when all the world is by thevery Iawpfit 3 creation in eternal progress . —Dit . Arnold .
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SATURDAY , MAY 30 , 1857 .
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THE PRISONS OF THE POP . E . The position of the Italian patriots in prison is somowhat different from that which tho world has ever seen . Perhaps there havo been cases aj horrible , although they nro few . Ono prisoner under the charge of the pious King of Naples , Pjlronti , has been n , cripple for four years , having been deprived of tho udo of hia limbs by tho dampness of tho prisons , and he moves about on crutchod ;
from the same cause Soiiiavoni has entirely lost the uao of one eye and is in danger ol losing tho othor . The beatings of tho slick are attended by the most horrible physical consequences ; the endurance itself boing ji very small part of the danger . This is Urn manner in which the pious King troal . a tlio John Russei / l , tho lioisuuoic , and John TniflLAWNV of Naples . Mr / ar . wi'OHK wrote a pamphlet about it , oclilroaaud to Lord Abjsrjujsen ; Mr . G lajjstonj 3 and liord
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Mat 30 , 1857 . ] THE LEADER , 517 __^ - ' ————^^——i — - ^— - —i——i^—»^——————————^
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Leader (1850-1860), May 30, 1857, page 517, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2195/page/13/
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