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campaign . The joy at the " return of the prodidigal" was nothing to the joy of the electors of Marylebone over the patriot who . had been lost , and now was found . The banquet was prepared , the guests were assembled ,. the fatted calf was killed with a vengeance—and , to complete the illusion , the character of the prodigal's elder brother was filled to perfection by Sir Benjamin
Hall . The Hall of Freemason ' s Tavern has witnessed many strange sights ere now ; but we doubt there ever having been gathered within those walls a more curious or unaccountable assemblage than met there this week to celebrate the great national triumph of Mr . Edwin ' James' return for the borough of Marylebone . Great was the gathering , and goodly was the company . Our ruling classes were represented by the ex-President of the Board of "Works , the proudest of Radicals- —the most intolerant of Liberals . The
peerage was present—in the spirit , if not in the flesh—for was there not there Shelley , the dandy democrat— -the unsuccessful claimant of an extinct barony ? Commercial greatness and civic respectability -were not wanting in the person of the ex-Lord Mayor , Sir James Duke , anxious , if i t might be , to refresh- his somewhat tainted popularity with a few reflected rays from the halo of James ' s glory . Who more fitting than Mr . "Sleigh to confer , by his presence , on the member for Marylebone the sanction of that profession which they both alike adorn . The army wq , s personified by
Colonel Dickson , the hero-martyr of military misrule and aristocratic jealousy . If there was neither bishop nor dean present to give the blessing of the Church ' s influence , there was something better than a bishop , something higher than a dean . There was the churchwarden of St . Pancras parish . Indeed , the great power of the day—the vestry and pothouse interest—was there in _ its glory . There was a perfect plethora of patriotic publicans . The names of Clement George and Mortiinore Timpson , and F . M . Hudson , maybe unknown to public fame ; hut these " mute , inglorious Hampdens" wield and direct the destiny of Marylebone . There were not wanting also , in the galleries , female admirers of Mr . James to grace
and refine the scene . T \ o looked in vain , however , for one illustrious guests Where was that mysterious potentate of whom we have heard so much of late from the mouths of our metropolitan and . Manchester patriots- —the hard-headed , frugal , intellectual , and noble-minded mechanic ? Echo answers , Where ? Oh ! Edwin James , " Friend of the Working Man ? " Tell us why no seat was left for him at the banquet of his patron . Were your utterances of esteem and respect for the sons of labour words , and nothing but words ? Can it be that the working classes are like the toothpicks , only brought in when the cloth is removed ? Alas ! in the -words of a recent harangue — the British workman was more conspicuous by his absence than his presence ,
The oratory was worthy of the occasion . The great toast of the evening was proposed by a Mr . Watson , who called xipon his hearers to rally round , the " eloquent defender of the oppressed . " If the speaker could have added , the unpaid adyooato of justice , the sentiment would have been more intelligible . Why the gratitude of the country should be due to a lawyer , because , having received a good fco , he defended with success an indifferent client , is one of those mysteries which only the intellect of a Marylebone vestryman can fathom . The doctor who cures a curate is as much or as little entitled to jpubh ' c gratitude as tho physician who preserves a bishop's fife . Both do tie work well that they , are paid to do . The groat Jnmos himself was hardly equal to
the solemnity . A demagogue in Parliament is a vQry different personage to a demagogue on tho hustings— -and tho hopes of office " make cowards of us all . " So the " saviour of tho exile" was tame and dull , and 6 nly gave vent to the expression , that in all things he was for tho greatest happiness of tho greatest number—the same remark , by tho way , that tho schoolboys made when they knocked down . the old woman ' s apple stall . This remarkable sentiment excited such enthusiasm , that Sir James £ ) uko expressed his conviction , that ore long Mr . Jtunes would bo seated on the "Woolsack . Mr . Clement George then proposed three cheers for " our noble selves "—the majority who returned Mr . James to Fnvliametit .
The whole scene is ludicrous enough , but the reflections that arise from it are not equally ludicrous . W e are not given to prognosticate evil , but yet we can scarcely refrain froni fear for the future , when we find what sort of man one of the largest of our London constituencies selects as its chosen representative . We can understand , too clearly , the state of feeling in America which keeps educated men from taking part in politics , because they are too proud to put themselves into rivalry with political adventurers ; and which precludes the respectable classes from , any share in the elections , because they shrink from the dictation of a mob . What with Barnmn lectures and " Lola Montez" disquisitions , and patriotic displays in behalf of Edwin James , humbug is decidedly in the ascendant . Cant reigns with James at Marylebone .
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THE ELECTORS O ^ " TRIAL . Our political leaders being unable to settle thendifferences , have referred- them to the electors . These are now asked , when the country is in a very critical position , what is'to be done ? \ They are the great council which is now to decide as important a question as ever was submitted to ' public decision . The political leaders by their own acts are already condemned . They were empowered to govern , and because they are unable to fulfil to the
their duties they have returned their power electors . For Government in future these will now be responsible , and as they decide so will they be judged hereafter . If they areas inefficient as their leaders , and cannot evoke harmony out of discordorder out of confusion—they will be as reprehensible as Lord Derby . They who have to decide the fate of Ministers are themselves on trial , and in the end they are certain to be rewarded by prosperity or punished by disasters .
• The point at issue is not whether Lord Derby or Lord John Russell shall be first Lord of the Treasury . If they should unfortunately take such a view , they had better settle how they shall vote by tossing , up , and then heads the Lords win , and tails the people lose . Nor is the issue , reform or . reform . The leaders of all , parties agree that reform must be , but what reform ? This is the point at issue . The electors are supposed to haA e
an interest in preserving a restricted franchise , and have been appealed to to stand firm against revolution as a consequence of extended suffrage . If tliey allow themselves to be made the instruments of the aristocracy for maintaining : the exclusion of the multitude for keeping out of the Constitution all below the occupiers of I 0 £ ., or even 5 L , houses , they will continue a conflict which has now lasted for a considerable period , and will not end with their lives .
The electors must remember that Government , using tho word in the largest sense , is held responsible for national welfare : it is continually appealed to by all classes and all conditions of men to regulate and improve society 5 it is thought to make , and in many cases it does make , some men rich and some men poor : it disposes of an immense amount of the produce of industry and of the property of individuals . Tho publio taxes , large though they be , now } 'ielding- 66 , 000 , 000 / ., is but a part of the annual produce which Government appropriates and disposes of . Whatever , in addition to this , such as the tithe rent-charge , any increase in the rent of land caused by legislation past or . '
present , such as- all kinds of rates , is appropriated ^ by it or by constraining laws so th at , in fact , tho Government actually determines tho property of individuals , though m theory it is represented as established to protect , not determine the right of property . Accordingly , tho Government is held , and not unjustly hold , to be tho parent of the inequalities 01 condition , as to wealth , which prevail amongst classes . In all classes there arc numerous individual examples of unthrii ' t recklessness and extravagance . But only some classes , however
industrious and honest , are always doomed to poverty and misery . From a constrained alteration in tho habitual action of Government , we have seon in our times that tho condition of tho lower classes has boow greatly improved . Such facts , mid they are . now very numerous and very palpable , havo confirmed tho old and general opinion that tho Government is responsible for the wulfuro , including tho wealth or poverty , of the multitude . Tho people at least bullove this , they havo good ground to believe it , when they rookon up the mass of their produoo , which tho Government annually disposes of ; and
the electors must make this belief a prime con sidcration in deciding the great question of extend ^ ing the franchise . This is the pivot of all reform . Vain will be a new distribution of seats—vain will be . the ballot— . to . make the multitude confide in the justice of the legislature as long as they are , on account of a wealth , test , excluded from the franchise . "With an extended franchise , founded on acknowledger the right of each individual to share in the appropriation of property by the State , as he must share in producing it , the distribution of seats becomes a matter of ' course to be settled by arithmetic , and th e ballo t will dwindle into an unimportant re gulation , scarcely orth Hie
w an argument . one thing-, therefore , -which the electors are . really called on to consider and decide , by the appeal now made to them , is , whether the bulk of the people—five at least out of " six shall continue to be disfranchised by a wealth-fest and so made the political opponents of the other class es and of the Government ; or whether they shall be as their fellow-men , bearing with them equally all the burdens of the State , admitted equally to share all its powers and all its advantages , including the power of disposing of the produce of industry . Our-political leaders are , unfortunately , in favour of continuing a restricted franchise ; but they invariably act from habit ; their minds are formed by the routine of oflice , and the electors cannot now
require to learn that they must seek beyond the dicta of statesmen for the rules of justice . As long as they , for their own purposes , kept parliamentary reform out of the ; domain of daily discussion , : the public , remarking the gradual progress of improvement in the condition of the people , and the gradual increase of political knowledge , was content to go on quietly , and aim only at procuring measures which were immediately and practically useful . The ever-increasing and wonderful power of the press , really bringing all things under the dominion 6 f popular -sentiment and general opinion was noticed , and relied on to accomplish all the great changes which continually become necessary'to adapt the constitution to the inevitable progress of society . The public did not ,
therefore , vociferously demand reform . But now , when our political leaders have announced a necessity to begin reform , Svhen they have one and all become eager reformers , the electors must closely examine their measures ; and finding them inadequate and unjust , are bound to preli ? r their own principles and carry , out their own conclusions , to those of their political leaders . Because these are opposed to a just franchise , will the electors support therii in continuing to exclude the multitude , and expose themselves , for the sake of Lord Derby and Lord John Russell , to a continual coiir flict of classes ? Wealth has great natural advantages over poverty , without adding to it exclusive political privileges ; and to add tlie . se , in onler to preserve the natural advantages , is a fntiU mistake . It turns admiration and love of wealth into envy and hatred , and makes the multitude , to a great extent , tho enemy of the common enjoyment ana
the common welfare . All the parties who oppose an extension of the franchise on the just principle of every nuui being entitled to an equal share of the political advantages and power of the State , ( allege thai the multitude are unfit to cxorci . se it . Tlicy know noting of statesmanship . A century ngo such u reason had senna validity ; but within n century statesmanship bus committed so many bhimk'nv ku society into such erring paths , and broutflit on such great disasters , that the . most lynonmt w OLIVIA UIUIVU UlOUOtUAP ) ** iivu vuv ,- « - «« - " Q' ( , liia worsts howoty ims
multitude could have done no prospered in spito of statesmanship . Aiiotm-i * 1 »« | " toxtVor withholding the franchise from the multitude fa , that they are not trustworthy , it v 1 to on bestowed , according to stiito ^ im-n , on ''V ' ' saving , honest workmen . By nil \\ w ol »| cclorij ro a great extension of tho suflrngo , tho IViuu-hwc w described na a reward for some merit , mill tlio * wiu holding it ns a punishment for sonic dement , yn this llioory the multitude arc fronted not only ns untrustworthy but ns vicious . They mv " > *»™» way criminal , and do not deserve to I'V ! . lw like other men Will tho electors enforce > y
. their decision this false theory f V > 1 < W f " tinuo to bmncl all tbu uneniVanuliiBed ?>« j ; "J criminal P And if they do , will tho " non / nl f' f Classen oontinuo to bcur it V We believe no !; jnu wo boliovo , therefore , that if tho electors nmv , w lowing our ariatooratio loaders , ( Ml to exert , ihu selves and fail to vote so ns to secure that mv
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498 THE LEADER . [ No- 473 , April 16 , I 85 Q-
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), April 16, 1859, page 498, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2290/page/18/
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