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In Erance itself , the influence of Dr . Bernard s aeouittal must be in the highest degree conducive to a cordial understanding between the two countries . They who were insulted when we followed , shouting , the car of success—they who heard us congratulate the man who had his foot on their necks—they who saw us abased in our adoration of blood-stained purple , now know that the homage was offered as much to France as to the Trench Emperor We are no longer alienated , as a nation , from the men of the future in Prance ; what was dilatorily done at Westminster was done decisively at the Old Bailey . The country that seemed the home of Uourtaristo
immoral ambition , that deputed its , - cracy , statesmen , Church , municipalities , literature , journals , and mobs to swell the imperial procession , has explained away those demonstrations , inconsistent with its history and its renown , by protesting against the persecution of a solitary refugee . We have kneeled at Juggernaut , but we have not taken Juggernaut into our councils . The manly enthusiasm of 1858 may be balanced against the brawling sycophancy of 1855 . Twelve jurymen at the Old Bailey nave been the representatives of this expiation ; but they only embodied the general opinions and sentiments of the country . The public voice went
with them into the jury-box , and ratified their verdict when they emerged from it . The Unioers is right : — " The cheers raised in triumph for Simon Bernard were the heart of England herself . " The Univers is again right . The cheers of the London multitude were " far preferable to the dull compliments with which the municipal council of Dover fatigued the frankness of the Duke of Malakhoff on the preceding day . " But when the Unicers says that the British people have " decided in favour of assassination , " it feebly perverts the truth , and when Paris gossip counts the guns at Cherbourg and the fleets in the French ports or hovering on
the French coast , they resort to a very childish endeavour to frighten our juries into acquiescence . All this rhodomontade is very insincere , besides being very ridiculous . The Imperialist writers perfectly well know that the jury wliicli exonerated M . Bernard from the charge of felony acted upon their consciences , independently of the iudge , the bar , the Government , and of military demonstrations abroad . Mr . Edwin James had described to them the intrinsic meaning and purport of the prosecution , and , taking his view , and considering the weakness and inconsecutive irregularity of the
evidence , they drove the prosecution oat of courti What next , and next ? The Univers is rabid ; the Constitutionnel declares that a dishonest jury has given a perjurious verdict . But it is fortunate that , at least on this side of the water , the Constitutionnel is read parallel witli the criticisms of the Times correspondent , who , with admirable wit and a propos , under cover of the Prisoner of Ham ' s works , shatters the sycophants of the Emperor . We think it is worth while to incur the displeasure of two or three Imperial prints in , order to re-establish our relations of reciprocity with the virtuo and intelligence of France .
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THE ROTTEN LIBERAL BENCHES . There ia a section in the House of Commons which entitles itself supremely The Liberal . Its members are returned by constituencies where the majorities are in favour of a large and free suffrage , the ballot , religious liberty , and all else that comes within the scope of the Reformer ' s ordinary creed . From ninety to a hundred of these gentlemen sit on the benches distant from the Speaker ' s chair , and claim to be ranked as independent of party , and purely devoted to the popular interest . Occasionally one of the number hesitates a remark upon a passing topic , moves for leavo to bring in n bill , is outvoted , and retires to his isolation unsupported by those who profess to share his opinions . When , on Tuesday , Mr . Cox raised the question between septennial and triennial parliaments , fifty-seven members of the House of ^ Commons permilfeTThemaolves to bo clamoured down by nn impatient majority—clamoured themselves down , it is' hinted . They voted j but what of that P They could not hope to carry < tho measure . They might , however , have drawn on a debate instead of being routed by Mr . Walpole . Would a spcooh from Mr . Cox and a speech from tho Home Secrolary have beggared the discussion had there beon tho slightest unity , plan , or spirit among the independent LiboralsP They
never co-operate ; they dangle upon the skirts of the two great parties ; they oscillate between one Whig and another ; they are cowed by social influences ; they are petrified by some agency not present on the hustings ; and in Parliament they are worse than useless , The last election returned several men on trial , who cannot too soon be carted out of Westminster and restored to local fussiness and obscure activity . An Imperial Legislature is clearly
not the place for them , nor will it be possible , -when another general election occurs , to explain this explicitly to the body of voters without analyzing the personal history ot Liberalism in . Lord Palinerston ' s Parliament . Tliere are some curious contrasts upon the roll—contrasts between one session and another , contrasts between the platforms of townhalls and vestry-rooms and the green benches of the House of Commons .
There is , however , one cry against the Liberal party as a whole in which we will not join . It is , that they are disorganized . This is . a Tory exclamation of ancient date , resulting from a total incapacity to comprehend the conditions essential to a Liberal party . Toryism is naturally square and solid . It moves slowly . It , inherits traditions . It is the rearmost bulk of the political army . But Liberalism throws out its skirmishers on every side , marches in open columns , occupies scattered heights , is influenced by gradations of opinion . While its rear-guard is quitting the Conservative
and suffering continual repulses . This is inevitable , and not to be regretted . If the Liberal party is to obey one leader , who shall that leader be ? Lord Palmerston ? Lord John Russell ? Mr . John Bright ? Shall he be Sir James Graham or Mr . Horsman ? Mr . Roebuck , or any other member celebrated for breaking the force of Parliamentary collisions ? Or shall a rabble of Parliamentary vagrants , who have imposed themselves upon credulous constituencies , be dignified as the independent Liberal party , when their services are given to faction , and their slippery , politics are merely identical with their fickle personalities ? If it be impossible , and
undesirable , as we believe , that all the Liberal elements in Parliament should be subdued to one level , thus eliminating the very principles of expansion and growth , and rendering the Liberal party only an advanced parallel of Toryism , it is degrading to the country that the most pretentious Liberals in the House of Commons should be the most silent , servile , and incapable , without the energy of a faction or the cohesion of a party . The courage that swaggers upon the hustings is consumed by the dry rot of Parliamentary cynicism , and when the young members bawl " Divide 1 " Liberalism slinks into the lobby with its train of mutes .
If we are far from regretting that the Parliamentary Liberals arc not lumped together like the Tories , it is impossible not to confess that the advancing section appears hopelessly composed . Their own explanation is , that they want a leader ; but they cannot ; lead , and will not be led . They think their work is done when they have appointed committees and issued manifestoes ; and their conscience is clear if , attending sedulously , they vote for Liberal measures . Some of their number , no doubt , arc troubled by the ambiguity of their position , and by tho compromises thev arc compelled to make , in order
to conciliate their constituents . Here cometh a champion of religious liberty , who defends ministers ' money in order that lie may not be compelled to attack Maynooth . There is a fearless-Radical who , morally dissatisfied with tho timidity of Liberal journalism , yet porsuados himself to wear the Palmerston crest . Now , emerging from the House of Commons , forty members iiy off at as many tangents , not even assembling at the same club or concerting their political plans together . Wo will not include all in one category . There are those who havo initiated careers of careful vigour ; there are those who lwvo boon deterred from action by peculiar
circumstances . But there are others , tho most worthless flotson and jotsam , flung into Parliament by shifting winds and frothy waves . This political drift"WOod , ~ we-hope ,-wiU-be' ~ bumed- > up-afc-the ~ nexb electoral conflagration ; tho pretenders have been tried , and are failures . Thoy are without purpose , courage , or conviction ; and while they encumber the benohoa of the House of Commons , uo wonder that Parliamentary liberalism ia a farce , and that ; Ministers arc expected to bo supercilious , and members to laugh when a reply is made from tho Treasury bench to a proposal from the Reformers bolow the gangway . What , during tho present nndtho past sossions , havo boon tho labours of tho hundred
gentlemen who call themselves Radicals ? Did tf * Sefeatthe Conspiracy Bill ? - Did they even fo ? the Premier to treat them with ordinary courts ? Did they influence one point in the diplomat ! , « V the Cabinet ? They did nothing ; and Sf are what they are , nothing will be done for th Liberal party except to enfeeble and humiliate it
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SARDINIA'S DANGER , ENGLAND'S DISGRACE . Sardinia is about to be betrayed by England and with her will be betrayed the dearest interests of this country . We shall be glad to find our assertion wrong , but it simply expresses the probable result if we leave matters as they now arc . Unless the influence of the people be used to prevent the calamity , our Government , in the name of England will play the traitor to our most faithful ally . The chance which is impending springs out of the case of the Cagliari , the importance of -which , as well as its true position , is scarcely perceived by the public . There is a general impression that Lord Clarendon p layed fast and loose with it , Mr . Disraeli has advertised that his Government intended to demand reparation from Naples on " the national question , " that is , in the interests of Park and Watt ; and Lord Mahnesbury has reassured the Peers that Government are still debating what they shall do on " the internatio nal point , " that is , on " the question whether Naples has
or has not broken the law of Europe . Upou that point , however , with all due deference to the Law Officers of the Crown , there is no doubt whatever . Those eminent individuals , both the past and the present , have raised some question whether , since the Cagliari steamer was ( le Jucto engaged in the service of the insurgents under Nicotera , the armed servants of the King of Naples had not the right to seize her within Neapolitan jurisdiction , or to pursue her even beyond the water-boundary of that lurisdiction , the chase being one unbroken
proceeding . But , luckily for us , Naples has not lett the question in that position . The Cagliari has been seized , condemned , and disposed of as " prize , " although the Law Officers of this country , and the Law Officers of any other country , must admit that , like the Carlo Alberto , which conveyed the Duchcssc de Berri to the coast of France , the Cagliari was not prize . The Neapolitan Government has also claimed to condemn the vessel on the score of " piracy . " Thus the acts at Naples have entirelv stultified the plea which our own Law Officers officials aud
advanced on behalf of the Neapolitan ; whatever may be the refinement of doubt as to the right of Naples to capture the Cagliari in a particular method , it is admitted ou all hands that the actual conduct of Naples has constituted a total violation of law . It is of course impossible to separate I his particular question from the general relations between Naple 3 and Sardinia . Naples represents the most corrupt and despotic government in Italy , baruiuia represents constitutional government . Lord laimerston , and other men not suspected of subversive ideas , even Count Walewski , huve thought U nccessarv to remonstrate with the Government ol JNaples
for its intolerable tyranny ; at tho same tune tliac these very statesmen have appeared in Oongrcss as the allies and coadjutors of the Sardinian Government . The progress of Sardinian influence in uaiy necessarily threatens to destroy Neapolitan hmuonce iu its present condition . Tho two , in loci , represent incompatible olemonLa . Our Government , not without some countenauco from others on tuo Continent , has , to a certain extent , patronized i efforts of Italian Liberals ; and the Italian Lii ) oia £ s have rooaid that favour by looking to us tor sjmpatanLZnd support . When we were in w » nt « ftllicTin the Crimea , Sardinia did not find her j ecutoo nl
niary resources , or her population , * ° » V 7 afford us substantial aid . The Jfiughsli « ° - vornment undertook that at Clio next iburo can conference tho question of Italy should bo brougus forward-rmnd-U-was-broughL ^ ibrwaidr ^ ow v i bo shelved . When tho case of tho Oogl » n » i »> ° camo known in England , our Government "" 'JJJr interference until at last somo stops were uiiiav « i able ; and then Lord Clarendon restrained lumseu to little more than oorrospoudonoo and iiiqi « In tho oourao of this correspondence , bir . Hudson , our roproaonliitivo at Turin , wa « »»* U ll cl £ to inquire whether tho Sardinian aovomniun » tended to oppose tlio proceedings at JNapios w case of tho Cagliari ? Tho Soorotary ol Leg *"
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398 THE LEADER . [ No . 422 , Apbilj ^ j s
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), April 24, 1858, page 398, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2240/page/14/
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