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No . 414 , VAb jjaxy 27 , J 858 . 1 THE LEADER , 205
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lation of the universal maritime code of the world . A great principle of international and maritime right is involved in this question , and Great Britain should be the last power to abandon Piedmont in the assertion of her undoubted claims . Lord Pai-mebston , we are aware , treated the affair with indifference , influenced , as usual , by the refusal of Louis Napoieom- to . engage at present in any further quarrels with Naples . We , who have
seen two of our innocent countrymen cast into the prison of Salerno , have a direct interest in the matter ; but beyond this , we have a national interest in defending the rig hts of commerce on the high seas . The late Government abandoned Piedmont , but among the earliest interrogations addressed to the new , we trust that one will elicit the views of the Foreign Minister with reference to the piratical seizure by Naples of the Sardinian steamer Cagliari .
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THE LIBERAL PARTY . The question of the present Ministry is far less interesting than the question of the Ministry which will come next ; and all depends upon the distinctness of purpose , the resolution , and independence of the Liberal party . It is the Liberals who have displaced Iiord . PAJ . MEBSTON by putting him to the test of the Liberal principles in a course of action peculiarly important to the independence of the country , and to the advance of Liberal principles generally ; but that same party
which has displaced one Ministry cannot iorm another of its own . It is compelled to stand by and see power transferredfrom theMinister who had failed the Liberals to the Minister who formally opposes them ; and we shall find some reasons why the Liberals are unable to form a Cabinet of their own in the circumstances which have brought them to their present position . Ever since it obtained the general political ascendancy in the country , the Liberal party has been misled bv deceptive objects . It may be said that
one small section of the country , the "Whig party , succeeded in its political objects when Lord Grey ' s Reform Bill was passed ; and it has ever since been engaged , not in securing larger political advantages for the people , but in struggling to maintain its own position . Having recovered a quondam ascendancy by the means of the Keform of 1832 , it has striven to retain that ascendancy by any device whatsoever . The public expected measures , and measures were always forthcoming ; but they were always suffered
to drop ; and for a long series of years the Liberals "were induced to lend their help to this clasB of manoeuvres by the threat that if they did not keep in the Whigs , they would not ' keep out the Tories . ' In later years , the people were induced to aid in keeping out the Tories wheu there were really no Tories to be kept out—none but a few specimens to be lodged in any archaeological museum , One of the first measures which ought to have followed upon Parliamentary Reform was Free-trade ; but certain of our political leaders thought it better to preserve
for the country the bleasing of their own rule than to risk the loss of office in the emancipation of trade ; and thus it happened that they left the great measure to be executed by Sir Robert Pxsjbl . In fulfilling a mission to which -nature '' seomB-almost-to -have- "destined him , Sir Robert Pisbl completely broke down the Tory party . Some fragments of it have retained the name long after they have lost the nature . Some ot its leaders also retain the name , in order to retain the title of leaders . They have a capacity for keeping up the exclusive principles of Toryism , nt least in form ; but they have no capacity to
be leaders in the practical business of the present day ; and hence , if they were to recognize the extinction of the Tory party they would be deprived of their leadership . Places in no national party , for example , could be found for Lord Dbebt or Mr . Dishaeli . After the complete confusion of parties in 1852 , an opportunity appeared to offer itself of reconstructing a National party by a union of men who have formerly been Conservatives ; and since the questions of that day
turned upon foreign politics , not bearing very closely on any internal interest , it was not unnatural that a dashing statesman , who was ready to take the burden upon himselfj should be allowed to become the Parliamentary leader of the majority . During Lord Paxmebston ' s ' administration , however , a great change has come over the position of the country : one of our most important dependencies is imperilled ; and while the desire to carry on progressive reform has been gradually reviving amongst the people , our nearest
ally has suddenly assumed an imperious attitude that actually threatens our national independence . Lord Palmerston failed to perceive the danger that threatened us in India ; he has heretofore disappointed the hopes of the National Reformers ; and he was upon the point of submitting our national independence to French dictation ; hence his fall . In the meanwhile , however , he had effectually succeeded for a time in substituting for the national objects of a Liberal party the maintenance of Lord Palmebston in
office ; and that is still to be the cry on the reassembling of Parliament for public business . The genuine Liberals , therefore , will be placed in a position which they have never yet occupied in Parliament . They will , in fact , occupy the position once held by the Radical party , but , it is a Radical party strengthened by a conjunction with the picked men of all parties , since party itself has been cast into a discount . We are well
aware that in the majority there are many who have followed the late leader with a growing mistrust : these men will gradually be Avon back . But , in the meantime , the Liberal party will be standing on one side , witnessing a conflict for office between the false Tories and the false Liberals , each pretending that it represents principles which the one has forgotten and the other has never learned . The Tory party is precluded from satisfying the wants and wishes of the country by the superstitions which still compel is
a show of homage . The Liberal party equally deterred because it does not feel the wants and wishes of the people . It will pretend to bring forward Liberal measures , or to pass Tory measures , but the one will be as much Liberal as the other is Tory . A true test would be Lord PAXMiaaaTON ' s Reform Bill . Let us see that unknown measure And if indeed it is one that satisfies the country , let him have the support of the Liberal party ; for , if he will stand in front of it , there is no reason why its march should be delayed : if he cannot be its General , perhaps he can scarcely be refused the post
of its fugleman . But the Liberals have a clear opportunity before them ; they have to watch the raeasures of the one party and the stratagems of the otheHn"order-to ^ protect-the-interests ^ of the English people ; they have to defend the independence of the country against the truckling of the two factions ; they have to defend the wealth of the country against being wasted in a competition of open-handedness , by the two factions , for the purchase of public favour : the Liberals have to defend , above all things , the claim of the intelligent
men of their own party to see their opinions carried out by extending the franchise to those who pay the taxes . In every town in the country there is the nucleus of the party , consisting of the most intelligent , active , and influential men . * These are so many disunited fragments of the national party , which already possess the most effective strength in
the country , and could make it felt if they were only brought together . They do but await a central staff , an efficient leader ; and during the present interregnum , it is the special duty of the Liberals in the House 6 i Commons to show that they are the central staff , and that the leader of these real Liberals is prepared , and is allowed , to be the leader for the country .
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A PENNYWORTH OF ASSASSINATION . The entire English press , ' with one base exception / is threatened with receiving a quietus from a bare Bodkin , assisted by Messrs . Henry and Jardine , of Bow-street . We do not say that all our public writers have been Bernards , for it has not yet been satisfactorily shown how that gentleman has inculpated himself at all , but scarcely a single political writer among our contemporaries is safe from attack if a certain Mr . W . E . Adams , and his publisher , Mr . Edward Truelove , are to be pu nished for issuing a penny hand-grenade entitled Tyrannicide : Is it Justifiable ? which is , we may remark , not so entirely weak and wild a production as might be supposed , although we peremptorily dissent from the peculiar opinions of a safely obscure individual who is content to write daggers but use none . Here we have Mr . Henry saying , ' * There is internal evidence as clear as possible showing to whom it alludes , " and arguing upon the continental theory of constructive libel m support of the charge that Mr . Truelove had published a false , malicious , scandalous , and seditious libel against the Emperor of the French , or , " Sir Robert ; Peel prefers to call him , Louis
Napoleon . Mr . Sleigh , who has been very spirited in his defence of his political clients , should cite a number of Frenchmen and Englishmen into the witnessbox at the Central Criminal Court and examine them as to the incidents of December , 1851 . The Times stated , early in . the following year , that hundreds of ' murders' had been perpetrated by Lours Napoleon ; but is the Times to be prosecuted ? Is the Times to be prosecuted for saying that a steam of blood rose round the Bonapautk throne ? At all events , we warn our pleasant and chatty contemporary , the Examiner , ' well dressed and
middleaged / like Mr , Truelove , to keep out of the way until this affair has blown over , for it published Mr . Walter Savage Landor ' s letter , offering a money reward to the family of the man who should stab , shoot , or blow up with grenades , King Ferdinand of Naples . We ourselves arc in anticipation of a visit from Mr . Frederick Williamson , detective , for having published the plain history of December , 1851 . In fact , every English . journal is liable that has not been paid for suppression . Wo have all been falae , malicious , scandalous , and seditious , according to the Treasury , Henry , and Bodkin code ; but where the sedition lies it is difficult
to conceivo , for the Act of Parliament applies exclusively to our Most Gracious Lady the Queen , her heirs or successors , ' and it may bo questioned whether Mr . Adams or Mr . Truelove was bound in loyalty to the Emperor of the French . There is , strictly speaking , not a false word in the pamphlet , which , under the amended law , is consequently not libellous . But the indictment charges malico . Prqoisely tho same sort of malice which animated Mr . ' Gladstone when he denounced tho despotism of Nanles : precisely tho malico that impelled M .
Louis Bjlanc to mako known tho homblo treatment inflicted upon tho French political priaoners at Cayenne . There is nothing in tho penny pamphlet literaHy-untrueror-8 candalous , " -or-malig nant ,-8 o--fur as the more statement of facts ia concorned . Mr . Adams refers to incidents with which every intelligent Frenchman or Englishman is familiar ; ho is not so audacious as M . Walewsju , who officially denounces M : Ledru Kollin as an aasassm . Why ia not M . Ledru Rol . uV handed over to Mr . Bodkin , to ho led by tho neck before Mr . Jaudinb and Mr . Henry P Simply because M . Waleavskli ' s despatch contained i \ ' mlso , malicious , scandalous' libel .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 27, 1858, page 205, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2232/page/13/
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