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STATE OF BUSINESS IN PARLIAMENT.
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LOUD JOHN RUSSELL AND SICIL\.
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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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THE session is half over . Talk in abundance there has been , on every conceivable topic , and various Acts of Parliament have been advanced a stage , as it is called , ineither House ; yet the business of the session remains yet to be done . Mr . Gladstone , who led off at the opening with unrivalled force , seems to have somehow lost the power of commanding confidence in his financial schemes . The halo that surrounded him as the matcldess Budget-maker is fast fading away ; the French Commercial Treaty begins to look something very like a failure ; and upon the question of the Paper Duties Government narrowly
escaped being actually beaten last Monday night , lias Mr . Gladstone mislaid his talisman ? or when will he find it again ? His condition resembles that of the man in the German story , who not only sold the immortal part of him to a sable-vested and sallow-visaged seducer , but who , at his iustance , laid out most of his moneys as his whispering counsellor bade him ; and who , after resources were sunk and reputation compromised , discovered to his dismay that he had been beguiled by a mock Mepthstophiles after all . The Manchester School do not turn out to possess the peculiar powers to which they once laid claim . They have undertaken to deal with the two most remarkable
If they are not already convinced , we suspect they will be so ere long ; but if the present offer of compromise should fall through , it can never be revived with any prospect of popular acceptance . It has not been . an easy matter to prevent its public repudiation in various quarters ; and should Lord John Rcssell fail for the third time in the space of eight years to carry a Bill , the public will not endure the idea of any further fumbling-or . paltering by the Whigs with the momentous question . But , be it for good or be it for evil , it is clear that the ball is now at the feet of the Tories , and that they may either send it home if they will , or kick it for the moment off the ground .
men of the time , but the result of their dealings does not appear to be successful or satisfactory . By Louis N ~ AP-OLEOx . it looks very like as if they had been thoroughly done ; and as a financier . Mr * . Gladstone seems to have been thoroughly done by them . The chief error throughout seems to have been that of onesideduess . In order to be able to say that he had made a Commercial Treaty with . France before the existence of negotiations could becomeknown or their course be thwarted by discussion or delay , Mr . Cobden was induced , as amateur ambassador , to assent to stipulations on . the part of the 'French Government , the force and effect of which practically , it is now clear , that he did not understand : and Jthe Chancelloii of the Exchequer having given himself " up -as . a ' financier- to "the
Manchester School , could and would listen to no warnings or suggestions of caution . He had Richard Cobden for his negotiator at Paris ; John Brigiit for his ally in ' Parliament j and Milner Gibsox for his confidential supporter in the Cabinet . With such aid he believed that failure was- -impossible ; and in the first eclat of his great Budget speech , it was certainly not easy to discern the prognostics of xipproachiug discredit or discomfiture . We never remember , however , a more rapid decay of official prestige for legislative popularity than that which the last two months have witnessed ; and unless it suits the future purpose of Napoleon III . to make such concessions as will virtually render the compact of January last a new Treaty , we do not see how Mr . Gladstone and his Manchester backers nan-tiPi- ^^^ flti ^ d-frnin-ihe-reproacli of unworkmanlike work and
unbusinesslike execution of the nation ' s business . Meanwhile , the " principal measure of the Session ^ ! ' as Lord John designated the Reform Bill , has been allowed to stand over from week to week without any decisive progress being made in it , and has only been read a second time , after lying for nine weeks upon the table of the Commons , upon an understanding that another month should be suffered to elapse before the House was called upon to go into committee . The reason assigned for the former delay was the necessity of carrying the financial measures of the Government early in the year ; and the excuse for the further postponement until the 4 th of June was the necessity of passing the estimates , no part of which has
yet been considered . Whether the state of public business after Whitsuntide , as indicated by the Notice Taper for the month of June , will or will not leave an unoccupied field for the discussion of the Itcfonn Bill in the House of Commons , we do not venture to say . But , as far as the fate of the measure is concerned , the question is really immaterial . The Whigs have virtually surrendered to their adversaries the decision of the matter . Whether or not any lteform Bill shall pass this year , obviously now depends upon the will of . Lord Deiuiv and his followers , If by talking against time they wish to prevent legislation on the subject until the session shall have been wholly . consumed , they can manifestly do so ; for Ministers have so contrived that all
the other business of the year shall be disposed of first , and that the legislative examination of the varied and important details ol their Reform project shall hot commence until the fifth month of the session . If thoOpposition shall , however ,-consider it to be more for their interest to get rid of a question so perplexing for them ,. and one which they found it so hopeless-to deal with when in power , they , may , indeed , for reasons of their own , waive the exercise of their obstructive privilege , and agree that , upon the whole , it was better to have some Bill passed this session than to leave the most embarrassing of all questions over for another year . Who knows what may happen by that time , or whether prospects of ollice may not again be opened to thorn ?
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FRO M the moment that Lord Joiint Russell accepted the portfolio of the Foreign-office , we have endeavoured to place the most liberal construction upon his conduct , and have been among the first to recognise and applaud every act thatillustrated a sound principle or tended to a beneficial result ; but we could not avoid seeing that his Lordship had not grown with the times , nor shown himself capable of taking a leadingpart in the progress of international relations . His ideas am too small , and come too late , lie halts botween old things and new , sometimes Hashing up for a moment , as if he intended to lje the champion of principle , and then sinking down to be the advocate of an expediency poor in intellect and paltry in heart . While Cavouu was moving onwards towards the
emancipation of a large portion of Italy , Lord John Russell reprobated his proceedings—they disturbed that common-place serenity in which Whiggery loves to dwell . As a matter of calculation his Lordship was wrong ; for had Cavouu told the Italians that lie would do no more than permit Sardinia to oiler the example of a constitution in miniature , the throne of Victor Emmanuel must have been overthrown . In point of morality his Lordship ' s course was equally vicious . The . awful sufferings and wrongs of Italy were glaring facts calling to Heaven for vengeance , and making it a positive duty that" those Italians wh <> had power should exert it with all their energy in favour of the national
l > y its rej ' cctftmrTBDTcrni-miHioii fiX ^^ Lml John Russell' accepted the fact with satisfaction , but still mumbled the old caution , "Prny be . sninll ; " and the wretched counsel was heard without rebuke in that House of'Commons which maligns the people , and is so alarmed at the prospect of Parliamentary Kelbrin . If we were to cull passages from recent speeches and-papers of our Foreign ' Minister , we could draw from them pictures of Neapolitan tyranny and brutality , that would more than justify the rebellion that fins occurred . He went so Tar as to toll tho king of the Two Sicilies , that if he forced his subjects to insurrection h «
must expect no aid from this country ; but the moment the insurrection occurs , his Lordship takes tho wrong . side ; nnd while the island of Sicily rings with the horrid noises of murder and the shrieks of young girls handed over to a viilKau soldiery , the English Foreign Minister boasts that the Sicilian Monarchy had " a ° just reliance , a oeryjuil ruliduce upon the friendship of the British Government . " His Lordship further stated that lie had urged the King of Sardinia to stop the expedition ot ( jrAUiijTrj )! , " and not to allow it to proceed to Sicily . " Such Utterances as these are truly disgraceful , and If made in any other House of Commons that we can recollect would have
culled forth tho most indignant comments , instead of bmig received with u silence ns ignominious as the words themselves . If Lord John Uusskll were pressed to explain the cuuso of his lamentable conduct , he would probably tell us of the unsettled condition of . .. Europe , and the danger that nny movement might proceed far beyond the boundariesof tho locnlity in which it originated . There is no doubt danger in tliis , and the danger must be imminent so long as large countries arts under tho thraldom of Governments that rest upon forcv and not upon right . What , however , must bo tho influence of Ins Lordship ' s advice , which VroTou Em . u . vnukl has partially <>» o » v « f » - Has not the conduct of tho Sardinian Court increased its diltieultiesP If it docs not stop Gaiumamm , or mtinl'opt his reinforcements , it will seem weak and impotent . U has mtcriorcd
cause . If his Lordship cannot feel those strong , overpowering dictates of conscience which compel men in great circumstances to throw away the beggarly rags of expediency , and become heroes , patriots , and , if needs , bo , martyrs , rather than forbear to sustain the right , he has read enough history to . know that characters have existed who have been impelled by such noble emotions ; and that by them , not by prudential timeservers , have nations been rescued and humanity made great . It was a miserable thing for an English Statesman to bj constantly muttering to the Sardinian Sovereign and people .:-. " Pray be little : great thoughts are disturbing , great actions alarming to kittle minds . " Fortunately the advice was spurned , an I when ,
Untitled Article
May 12 , 1860 . J The Leader and Saturday Analyst * ' 439
State Of Business In Parliament.
STATE OF BUSINESS IN PARLIAMENT .
Loud John Russell And Sicil\.
LOUD JOHN RUSSELL AND SICILY .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), May 12, 1860, page 439, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2347/page/3/
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