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not know tfcat this menacing language , before it could Lave foand public expression , must have received the private sanction of the supreme power in France ?>*—^ The author of the French pamphlet , however , seeks to contrast past times with present ; and in order to illustrate recent events , invites our atteution to those of earlier days in the history of ' La VieUle Angleterre . ' " We accept the invitation ; and that the more readily , because an attempt has lately been made in France to misrepresent circumstances in the reign of William III ., for the purpose of palliating those which have disfigured the reign of Napoleon III .
" Between the defender of English liberties and the destroyer of liberty in France we can recognize no parallel ; but between the relative situation of the two countries in 1691 and 1858 a striking parallel there is . " France at that period was with regard to England what England now is with regard to France—an asylum to the unfortunate and the disaffected . Plots were then incessantly formed by the exiled Court at St . Germains , and fostered by the French Court at Versailles , against the Protestant succession in England . Amongst these was one which bears a strange similarity to that which has recently horrified Europe .
" The conspirators were furnished with money and instructions at St . Germains . It was resolved to assassinate William by a discharge of blunderbusses and musketoons upon the rpyal coach , w hich contained sixteen persons . Simultaneously with the success of this criminal attempt England was to be invaded ; and it was understood that , so soon as the standard of revolt had been raised within our shores , several thousand French troops would effect a landing . The French fleet
was for this purpose sent to Calais . " The plot was discovered before it could be perpetrated . The authors were arrested ; the country was immediately placed in a state of defence ; and the king summoned Parliament , to disclose to it the terrible details of a conspiracy at once more formidable and more ferocious than any heard of since the crime of Catiline . It was not alone the life of a popular sovereign , it was the liberties and religion of a whole people that had been imperilled . "
" Nevertheless , when during the private negotiations for the Treaty of Ryswick it was proposed to insert into the instrument of peace some guarantee on the part of France for the prevention of similar conspiracies , and the removal from St . Germains of those English refugees who there formed a focus of intrigue , the Grand Monarque , ' who was every inch a king , ' vehemently vindicated the privilege of asylum open in France to political misfortune , and declined to give the pledge proposed , upon the legitimate grounds that he could not make laws in France to protect kings of England . " Is it then to be expected that measures which , in the seventeenth century , an absolute monarch refused to discuss , a constitutional government should , in the nineteenth century , agree to adopt ?"
Louis Napoleon , the writer continues , has less to fear from assassination than from public opinion . He denounces tho British press , which is beyond official control ; but he does not calm the imperial and Jesuit press , which is under his hand , when it throws off its daily scum of insult and swagger . AH journalism in France is , in one sense , official j and the more closely its organs approach the imperial throne , the more bitter are their revilings of the British name aud policy . What has been tho retort from London P—
" We wish particularly that notice should bo given to the fact that , whilst the censure of public opinion , expressed in England through the press , lias been frequently and severely declared as regards the acts of a particular government in France , no language save that of cordial sympathy and honest appreciation has at any time been uttered by our public journals in reference to France as a nation . " We respect tho alliance , even although ignorant of " all that the Emperor Napoleon III . lias been for England ; " but international friendship only suffers when one great power is gratuitously subservient to another .
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PARLIAMENTARY BUCKSHEESH . While , in the main , the feolings of the House of Commons and country were in unison with the negative conclusion of the inquiry into tho cose of Mr . Butt , the circumstances which led to the inquiry were of a character to open tho more general-questiott-of' -theT-liabilifcy—whioh-ovovhangs professional members of Parliament to overlook tho barrier between professional and parliamentary duty . The Committoo aoquittad Mr . Butt of tho ' special allegations brought against him , and with the delivery of their report thoir funptions were at an . end ; but not so the case itself , pointing as it did to a principlo of corruption whiou might Sossibly be active in , tho House of Coinjnons , ovon iough ita presence , was not established in tho particular instance Sir John Ti .-ela . wny ' a motion , then ,
" That the receipt of any species of reward by a member in consideration of the exercise of his influence in that capacity is calculated to lower the dignity and authority of this House , and is a high breach of the privilege of Parliament , " was not uncalled for . . The members of the legal profession are , from the nature of their private vocation , among those most exposed to temptation . A matter in which the professional services of a member have been engaged is carried on in a court of law ; but circumstances suggest that , for tlie furtherance of the case in hand , it shall be brought to the notice of Parliament ; the member has himself , possibly , suggested that course ; naturally his client , or clients , will think of him as the most ready and best qualified person to be entrusted with their cause . There lies the point of danger . It cannot be a question that the danger is real ; nor is it a question whether the present powers of the House of Commons are insufficient to guard its purity from injury . Out of the House , the feeling is far less assured than within its walls ; iu fact , as Lord Hotham . said in the debate on Tuesday evening , the imputation is constantly made that money had been indirectly , if not directly , received by persons situated as in the hypothetical case just given . The popular suspicion of the existence of such corrupt practices is of old date and lias had ' confirmation strong as proofs of Holy Writ . Many examples have been made of Members , and even of men of high official standing , convicted of receiving bribes , or rewards , for services rendered in their parliamentary capacity ; and , in 1695 , those who were found guilty of tampering with the independence of Members , by offering bribes for their services , were held to have committed a high crime and misdemeanour , as " tending to the subversion of the English constitution . " Let the principle be adopted that Members of Parliament have a right to receive money from their constituents or clients for services rendered in the House , or even indirectly by means of their Parliamentary influence , and the very highest moral attribute of Parliament is lost to it—its inde-Eendence . So highly is this independence prized y Parliament itself , that a majority of its members , professedly at least , hold their jealous watchfulness to be sufficient security . That is the question raised by Sir John Trelawny ' s motion . The case of Mr . Butt alone would be enough to show at least the danger which exists ; for the report of the Committee simply affirmed that the charges brought against Mr . Butt were not proven—not that they were not true ; and it did nothing to lessen the suspicion of the public that such cases are both possible and common . In India , Mr . Mangles says , the princes will continue to believe that for money they may purchase the advocacy of Members of the English Parliament ; for they cari make no distinction between the legal and non-professional members of the House , and the offer of bribes is habitual with them ; only pay a member his own price , they believe , and he will serve you . If that is so , the mero amour propre of the House of Commons is hardly a sufficient guarantee for the purity of its professional members , and is certainly no guarantee against the most injurious suspicions being entertained in India , if not elsewhere , of its general corruptibility . The reasonableness , also , of the demand for additional pains and penalties iu tho caso of persons convicted of corrupt practices becomes manifest . But , on more goneral grounds , it seems reasonable to a 3 k additional securities for the purity of tho House of Commons , or at the worst , for sovorcr punishments for offences inimical to its reputation and independence There aro often vast personal interests involved iu the measures disousscd by Parliament , particularly in tho casos of railway bills , the advocaoy of which , by members even indirectly concerned , should not bo tolerated , -but should be punished upon dourly established proof . Again , members may receive rewards , not actually uv-monoyj-but-iu-oquivaleJits-i-ior-exftinplo ,- ^ " ! : ©^ curing appointments for constituents , tho whioh sorvioea may bring to tho mombors advantages ovon more solid than sums in hard cash . In all such cases tho bounds of strict independence uro ovorstoppod , tho dignity of Parliament offonded ; and in such oases , if it ^ vcro possiblo to provo tho offences , severe penalties should bo inflicted . Tho independence of Pu-rliumont cannot , in fact , be too jealously maintained , and every precaution consistent with individual freodom should bo adopted
for its security . Possibly , at the present moment the sense of danger is not strong enough , either within or without the House , to demand strong er guarantees than are in existence ; but Sir Jo ^ Trelawny ' s motion evinces a healthy watchfulness which it is to be hoped will not be relaxed because the abuses caught sight of are not at present so offensive as to demand , instant remedy . That there are abuses of the kind pointed out , and that o-rave consequences may come of their continuance , are certain facts ; it may not be long before Sir John will have another opportunity for completing the reform to the desirableness of which those ° l ' acts point . We arc under no danger of Six Acts or other Executive tyranny—only in danger of seeing national objects sacrificed to little occult trading objects .
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THE WHOLE DUTY OF SPIES . Concerning Sergeant John Rogers there is not a word to be said , except that he is a detective officer who acts upon his instructions . That the British Government employs spies is not the fault of Sergeant John Rogers . The system began long before he joined the police in 1851 ; but he seems to have been the unhappy agent of forcing its resemblance to continental practice almost to identity . These are the ashes within the purple and golden bloom of the Alliance . The infection of Paris has touched Leicester-square , the proscrit is
followed by the mouchard , and in our univ ersal hospitality we afford an asylum to the most vicious principle of foreign despotism as well as to the most unfortunate of its victims . It is now clear how the thunders that shook , not the arsenal , but the glasses on the Green Dragon tables , were reported to the Syracusan listener at the Tuileries . The whispering galleries of Imperialism extend under the Channel . John Rogers is a delator , and he perambulates the streets of London , quite in an unofficial friendly way , with French officers upon secret service . "YVe have had these
shadowless Sclilemils of the Empire dogging wayfarers to their doors , haunting quiet streets , infesting public rooms , and taking notes of conversations and amateur debates , but we were scarcely sure that among these political eavesdroppers were gentry with British blood in their veins . It is good for us to know that so thoroughbred a Briton as Sergeant John Rogers is one of the class , and that he steps noiselessly into the society of strangers , to profit by their remarks . He is quite in the right to maintain a tranquil incognito , tor were he identified , there might be a breach of the peace , which the whole world would of course deplore . It is the
fate of devotion to be misunderstood . Even nobler members of the executive and ministers of justice than Mr . John Rogers have been compelled to wear their vizors down , and ' circulate' in the assumed humility of private citizens . Thus the eminent Mr . Calcraft suffered lately from the vulgar prejudices of a mob of gentlemen at an hotel , on account of his indiscretion in rattliug upon a mine , while waiting for kidneys aud stout , a small chain with a hook attached , and a little coil ol hemp carelessly enveloped in u silk handkerchief . Mr . Sergeant Rogers may console himself lor the iM-utnl Bluntncss of tho questions put by Mr . Ldwm James bv remembering that other men have been it
honourable , and have endured . His . duly is , seems , from tho admirable bit of uutobiognipliy extorted by Air . Edwin James , to attend the inoulings of debating societies—iu plain clothes— o tiikc notes of who arc there , und what is sail »« - walks up-3 iuirs ; his name is not asked ; lie uocb not spcak-it would bo too bad in Mr . John togcrs to discuss ' democracy and despotism —ami , nitoi all , he hears nothing ' very shocking . binoo wovember last , however , it has been part o ^ Jus inuy « to watch tho French aud Italian reiugecs . Lately , ho has had official intorviows with Eliza Rudto . undoubtedly , tho British Government is doing wliac a can to propagate suspicion . Since tho V roucli » pio » huvo boon over here , Mr . Rogers has been engugoa in convoying messages from the Commissioner * w them , ajul fromjhomjo tho Commissioners , u «» tho » between tho British aud tho Imperial ponoo .
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THE RAILWAY , THE PRESS , THE SOLDIER , AND THE PRIEST . That oxlonsivo en nip , tho Austrian Empire , fma » itself rather puzssled sometimes how to reconcile any modern progrosa with its old and mtwn \ »» " - lutions—the cuuuon aud tho sword . Yot whein »
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3 T H E LEADEB , [ No . 421 , April 17 , 1858 .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), April 17, 1858, page 374, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2239/page/14/
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