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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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SUBSCRIPTION TO " THE LEADER . " ONE GUINEA PER YEAR , . ^ UNSTAMPED , PREPAID . ( Delivered Gratis . )
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MIDDLE CLASS MEMBERS . A good platform grievance of the school of orators , presided over by the honourable member for Birmingham , consists in telling how many peers go to the formation of a cabinet , and how many of their uncles , cousins , and grandfathers sit by family interest for decomposing boroughs . Sometimes the charge against the aristocracy is varied by showing how admirably Horse Guards spectacles , as worn by Sir Charles Yorke and successive commanders-in-chief , are adapted to the magnification of any military merit that can be detected in members or relations of the j > rivileged class , or how readily the golden gates of diplomatic appointment revolve upon their hinges before the
" open Sesame " of rank or birth . We freely admit that the monopoly of high place and power by one small section of the community is a serious evil that demands eradication , but a glance over the parliamentary debates at the . supply voting period of the session will suffice to show that it is rather the middle class than the aristocracy that deserves the blame . Lord Tom Noddy will no more give up his position to Mr . Brown , the spinner , if he' cap help it , than Brown will cede the management of his wheels and chimneys to the labourers whom he employs . It may not flatter the pride of the middle class to tell them that they _ must gain political power . by working for it , but it is a truth , which everyday ' s experience proves .
Mr . Briglit is justified in complaining of the small result that follows the labours of select committees , but when he adds , " with this conviction I have uniformly abstained from serving , " he seems to be unconscious that he is doingjhis best to perpetuate the misfortune he deplores . There are a large number of middle-class M . P . ' s who sit patiently through weary hours of parliamentary speech-making , who vote at multitudes of divisions , and thereby delude themselves and their constituents with the idea that they are model senators and veritable pillars of the State . Pillars of the State they may be , in one sense , for they are excellent supports- of the starve
" system" which can drift into war , an army , and victimise a fleet . They do not take the trouble to jenow the rig ht thing at the right time ; there are no questions upon which they are authorities , and it seldom enters into their imaginations to combine their labours for any beneficial object . There ai'e specific services which the habits ana training of middle class members fit them to vender , and which , with singular perversity , they never attempt . Good book-keeping , accurate statements , clear specifications , correct balancesheets—these are everyday elements of success m the counting-house or the factory ; and although merchants and mill-owners may be numbered by the scove among our honourable M . P . s , they do not take the smallest pains to procure any one ot these desiderata in the arrangement of our national
concerns . On Monday the House of Commons was occupied with the Navy Estimates , and dashed nwj y Into votes which , when completed , w » H amount to nearly thirteen millions , as though the finest fun in the world > vas playing at clucks and drjsj'tj the national money . Mr . Wilhmnf had givjm notice of moving for a select f ™" *" , ? " ^ Estimates , but the hopeless state of the House induced him to content i . ^ seliVtlvthrowmg out the idea , adduoinir sundry illustrations in proof of ita mportance . It appears that the cost of wages , in "Suilding is estimated upon no intelligible pnacipes , andtbat the rates vary immensely in afferent dockyards ; anU that money voted for ft variety of other purposes finda its way mto naval expenditure without any knowledge pr sanction ot the House of Commons until the faot has taken place , JSvory year the House of Commons votes whatever Navy Estimates the Government of tho
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treachery which the uncle formerly meted out . She was again promised delivery from the iron yoke of the Hapsburgs ; and instead of accomplishing his vow , her pretended liberator has added fresh rivets to her chains . We must wait for the development of the scheme of an Italian , confederation under the " honorary presidency of the Pope , " before we can tell the precise amount of mischief it will entail ; but it looks very much like the realisation of a longcherished idea of Prince Metternich , by which he desired to enlarge and consolidate the ill-got and ill-used power of the Hapsburgs over the Italian
were no longer in relation to the interests which France had in this fearful wax * . " ¦ ' , If , therefore , the army is discontented it can throw the blame upon Germany , and ask for its revenge upon the banks of the Rhine . Italy may have unwillingly purchased the sanction of Austria to some such scheme ; and if the statement of the Daily News correspondent proves correct , the haughty court of Vienna is prepared to cement its new-born friendship for the parvenu by receiving him as a-Favoured guest , and by permitting the nephew to repose in the palace of Schonbrunn . in the room where his uncle slept .
race . ... . With so much of the movement as could be identified with the French nation we sympathised , and in judging the Napoleonic portion , we expected he would act with an intelligent view to his own interest and glory . In this we confess our disappointment , and we look to the exhibition of some ulterior schemes for the solution of an enigma which puzzles , if it does not absolutely defy , all attempts at comprehension . To barter the fruits of victory for the terms of defeat ; to march over thousands of the mangled bodies of the bravest of his subjects to the very gates of these which
strongholds whose possession determines on side the success of the contest lies , and then voluntarily to retire and leave them in the hands of a triumphant though defeated ; enemy—this is conduct which can hardly gx-atify the pride of the army , and which would seem little likely to uproot the Orleanism and republicanism which was known to infect its ranks . A war so concluded can neither conciliate the intellect nor the moral sentiments of France , but it will revive the hopes of all who desire to live under another form of government , and may sharpen the dagger of the conspirator , which a more honest conduct would have blunted and turned aside . The French nation may think it worth while to twine the laurels of Solferino with a hundred other wreaths of
san' THE PEACE OF NAPOLEON . In the year 1-797 a great master of mendacity issued a proclamation to the citizens of St . Mark ; .- — " Bonaparte to the Republic of "Venice . —It is to deliver the finest country in Europe from the iron yoke of the proud House of Austria that the French army has braved obstacles the most difficult to surmount . " Within four months this same Bonaparte signed the Treaty of Cainpo Formio , by ¦ which the ancient city of the Doges was unscrupulously annexed to the Crown of the Hapsburgjs . " Italy shall be free from the Alps to the sea . " . So declared the imitator of his uncle , when entering
iipon the remarkable campaign which the Treaty of Villa Franca has treacherously and ingloriously closed . If Lombardy , in all its entirety , had been secured for Sardinia , with some guarantees of liberty for Tuscany , Venice , and the Papal States , although the promise of the third Napoleon would not have been strictly fulfilled , enough good would have been accpmplished to stimulate gratitude and moderate criticism ; but the . proposal to leave Peschiera , Mantua , and Borgoforti in the hands of Austria , mai'ks the transaction with the brand q ? perfidy and fraud . Lombardy is incapable of defence without these strongholds , and must be in
constant daiiger while they are in possession of an enemy which hfts also Verona , Legnago , and the Venetian territory . The population of the Sardinian dominions , in 1857 , was 5 , 167 , 542 ; that of Lombardy exceeds 3 , 000 , 000 , and deducting the portion to be retained by Austria may be a little less . Thus , according to the new arrangement , Victor Emmanuel will only have 8 , 000 , 000 subjects , and his little kingdom will be commanded oy vast fortresses in the hands of his unscrupulous and implacable foe . This cannot be called a settlement of the Sardinian and Lombard question . With respect to the rest of Italy , it is the introduction of oonfusion , not the establishment of
stability , winch Louis -. Napoleon lias purchased with an outlay of from thirty to fifty millions sterling , and the sacrifice of thousands of his choicest troops . The Tuscans were invited to join in what promised to be a national movement , and their reward for answering to the call is to bo remitted to their former master , Parma and Modena are likewise betrayed , and the Romagnn , stirred up , with the consent of Louis Napoleon , by the Marquis . d'Azoglio , receives the same bittpr admonition to put no faith in the solemn professions of a man who destroyed the liberties of Franco lefore he pretended to sot Italy free , Venice , although happily . not implicated in the Napoleonic movements , lias equnl oauee for com " plaint , and has received from the nephew the same
guinary renown , but the shame of Villa Franca they ¦ will permit their Emperor to consider exclusively his own . Falsehood appears not only a " Napoleonic idea , " but a religion in which the strange dark herb of the coup d ' etat devoutly believes . A few hours before he developed his plot to overthrow the republic in France , he bewailed the distrust which had been manifested towards ¦ him and complained of the calumnies which impxited to him desires for imperial power . In the same way , when the hour approached for betraying his allies at Villa Franca , he gave the most satisfactory asrsurances to Kossuth ; arid the day after he had signed the armistice sent cannon to the Hungarian legion , which was formed by his command .
That the compact with Francis Joseph contains terms not likely to ¦ be avowed , is a probable explanation of his extraordinary conduct , and Europe may see in the development of further designs , for what objects , and for what price the French Emperor has thrown fresh stains of duplicity upon the jewels of his crown , and reached a profounder depth in that gulph of perfidy which may be destined to swallow him up , England has dealt generously with him in this question : by emphatic declarations of neutrality , accompanied with good will for Italy * , she gave a moral support to anything that might savour of honour and utility
in his plans ; and nowhere was there a hear tier recognition of the valour and skill of his victorious troops ; but the end has deceived everybody , for while unfolding unexpected mischief it has neither shown the lust of territorial aggrandizement , which some imputed , nor the good faith which others were led to expect . The whole thing has been a surprise ; he has blindfolded his own ministers and hoodwinked those of foreign states ; he has Veen his own general , his own diplomatist , his own trickster , and , it would astonish nobody if ho should at last turn out to be his own undertaker . His uncle ' s treaty of Campo Formio was the prelude to the invasion of
Egypt , and an historical incidont known as the battle of the Nile ; but no star that we are acquainted with will predict tho consequences to which the nephew ' s treaty of Villa Franca will lead , Tho address to tho French army may suggest an anticipation not calculated to promote the comfort of Pmasia . As an excuse for abandoning , tho attack upon the fortress , it is alleged that tho victorious march of the soldiery " was only stopped booawso the struggle was likely to assume proportions wmoh
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NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS . No notice can be taken of anonymous correspondence Whatever is intended for insertion must be authenticated by the name and address of the writer ; not necessarily for . publieatiou , but as a guarantee of his good faith . It is impossible to acknowledge the mass of letters we receive . Their insertion is often delayed , owing : to a press Of matter ; and ' when omitted , it is frequently from reasons quite independent of the merits of the communication . We cannot undertake to return rejected communications .
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SATURDAY , JULY 16 , 1859 .
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There is nothing so revolutionary , because there is nothing so unnatural and convulsive , as the strain to keep things fixed when all the world is by the very law of its creation in eternal progress . —Dr . Arnold . . « -
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OFFICE , NO . 18 , CATHERINE-STREET , STRAND , W . C .
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No . 486 . July 16 , 1859 . 1 THE LEADEB , 841
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Leader (1850-1860), July 16, 1859, page 841, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2303/page/13/
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