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1040 HLt)t QLt&iit t* [Saturday ,
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REFORM PROSPECTS. W. J. Fox continues to...
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THE NEW WAR AT THE CAPE. On entering upo...
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HIS MAJESTY THE MONSTER. An Eastern tell...
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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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'Hie Campaign Of 1h62—Mohh Signs. " Not ...
1852 . The President of France they may support—or any portion of France which can be set up in Paris , to coerce the rest of the nation , and use its " Government" on the side of the Holy Alliance . Never has the world seen such a force as that which is now to he used , as one , against the Peoples of the world—never . Millions of men constitute the armies of Absolutism , —armies not
like the hordes of Xerxes , not hordes of Goths , of Tartars , or of India conquerors , diluted and burdened with camp followers ; but all fighting men , officered , armed , and disciplined according to the newest science . But there is a weakness both without and within . Within , there is some bankrupt decay—in Prussia bankrupt prestige , in Austria , sheer money bankruptcy . " The mercantile advices from Vienna , " says the Times in the sacred column which is devoted to truth—the " Money
Market" column—" mention that the general condition of the money market remains without the slightest sign of improvement . There was no mitigation of the unfavourable rate of exchange , and it is said that it would most probably have gone much higher but for the surveillance of the Government , which keeps all persons in dread of buying foreign bills to any extent that might excite remark . " A Government afraid to let people " buy foreign bills , "—and yet obliged to keep up immense armies ! Russia alone is strong , rich within , and ever advancing , to the West and to the South . But there is a weakness in these empires , though
it lies outside the conspiracy . The Peoples are against them , —and this time not disunited . The cause of Hungary is now known to be the cause of Italy , of France , of Germany , of the Iberian peninsula ; and Hungary knows it . Hungary will not be alone this time , nor will she isolate herself . And , how stands America ? Watchful and prepared . The idea of action in Europe , at which some of our friends have laughed as an " imagination , " is becoming familiar to the American mind . We have seen what the Boston paper says . We have seen how Americans are keeping watch for the New York papers . The New York Herald discloses a plot in which France has been deputed
to pick a quarrel with the United States , to afford an opening for a general war , in which the powers of Europe , supporting France or rather President Bonaparte , shall make a combined attack to crush the young republic . Cuba was to have been the pretext . In this paper—which , be its matter true or not , discloses the feeling- —the English Foreign Minister is denounced as " the farthest-sighted enemy of genuine liberty which the triumphs of February in France and Europe have produced . " Our own private letters attest the fact of a growing interest . But at the Southampton Banquet , the Honourable Mr . Walker may be said to have spoken the voice of bis nation .
" If , " lie said , " Despots should combine to overthrow the liberties of any nation , the People of the United States would be prepared to unite with their ancestors . " " If this alliance of Despots , headed by Russia , which was the soul and body of the , whole , "—[ Let the words be noted—let them be wafted through all the , British dominions , throughout the American Republic , and noted emphatically , for they are the plain , out-spoken words of a momentous truth —] " If this alliance of Despots , headed by Russia , which was the soul and body of the whole , should attempt to make war upon free governments"
—[ Ah it will , an it has done- ] " And if this country should ever say to the United States , ' The time is come when the great , conflict must commence between the principles of despotism and those of liberty , ' a cov / lict which lie believed was close at hand , thiojik wkkk mii . i . ionn ok iiih
COUNTKYMICN WHO WOULD I > KI , 1 <; HT TO I'LOCK TO THIS KIIOItlSK OK HlUTAlN , AND ( JNDIOlt ITS AND TIIK 1 H STANDARD TO OVKHTllKOYV DICS-1 ' OTIKM . " And what is tbe reply made to this declaration , before an assemblage of " middle-class" Knglishmen , said to be so lost to manly feeling and the old national spirit—what is their response . ?'
" Immknsic chkkiUNc ; . " Ay , the spirit was tnly slumbering . England is not to bo hushed up for ever—not for ever will she lend her power to a secret and insidious diplomacy . Neither she nor America will ' wait till they are assailed . Tho conflict is close at hand . Both America and England sec the gigantic conspiracy , with the Grunt Bear at its head , which in stretching its vuat machinations from the Baltic to
Ailghunistan , from the Carpathians to the Atlantic--they see it ; and they are not slow to perceive that the battle of Free Nationality against the despots is to be fought on the field of Europe .
1040 Hlt)T Qlt&Iit T* [Saturday ,
1040 HLt ) t QLt & iit t * [ Saturday ,
Reform Prospects. W. J. Fox Continues To...
REFORM PROSPECTS . W . J . Fox continues to support with spirit the life that he has given to the Parliamentary Reform movement . We are not satisfied with the details of the Parliamentary Reform scheme ; but we like the spirit in which the agitation is pursued ; and Mr . Fox ' s clear manly voice gives the spirit worthy utterance . Some of his antitheses deserve to be struck in lasting metal .
Thetford and Arundel equal Manchester and Liverpool in Parliamentary representation—their members chosen " by a septennial revel of the grossest corruption and debauchery . " We talk of our constitution : why , if this is it , the banner of the constitution is a bank note and its basis a beer-barrel . " See what Mr . Jacob Bell , at once victor and victim of the St . Alban ' s election , discloses . The custom of the place is to trust large sums of money to election agents , but under circumstances which
preclude any account of expenditure . A discreet friend sends a packet containing £ 500 to the office of an agent ; another packet ; " several" such packets . All on an understanding . The Latin for wood , or forest , is " lucus , " derived from " non lucendo "—which might be rendered " light-place , " because there is no light ; just as we call a Negro " Snowball . " Thus the " understanding" under which moneys are given to an election mediator means the understanding nothing at all about it .
It is no wdnder that powerful interests are arrayed against Reforms ; and it is to be noted that your " Liberal" party is most strong in electionmongers . Liberals , they are called , probably from openhandedness . Were the suffrage much extended , this trade would be abolished : no man could buy up a constituency under universal suffrage . At least , none could do so , unless it were a Rothschild bent on spending the fortune of a Crcesus in one election—a sight almost worth seeing for its gigantic recklessness , since it could only happen once in the world's history .
The New War At The Cape. On Entering Upo...
THE NEW WAR AT THE CAPE . On entering upon a new and a more extensive stage of the Kafir war , it is a suitable occasion for the people of this country to consider the stern realities of the case , and the inevitable necessities of the future . The condition of affairs at the date of the last accounts was disastrous In every respect . Sir Henry Smith ' s manoeuvre of driving the Kafirs out of their fortresses into the settled districts , had not attained the only thing that could justify it—success . The settled districts had been overrun by hordes
of marauders ; the frontier , which in the euphemism of the Defence Association was receding westwards , bad been driven in by the savages ; tbe settlers had been despoiled , while the invaders had largely helped themselves to supplies of provisions , arms , and ammunition . The disaffection of the native tribes , which every despatch had described as increasing , has been crowned by tbe defection of the Hottentots ; and the Coinmander-in-Chief is calling for 10 , 000 more troops . Now , it is a grave question whether that
addition to tbe forces will be enough . 1 lie estimate is made by the same man that is putting forth anticipations manifestly the most fallacious : in bis reply to the Defence Association , while enumerating the disasters , Sir Henry Smith says that he " expects much from a new commando" under a " Civil Commissioner "; and he counts upon the " despondency" of the Kafirs as facilitating a more extended disposal of bis forces—the despondency of tbe very invaders who are making head ngaiiiKt him , and are inflicting tbe calamities that be confesses in the , same breath ! The man who
talks thus , estimates the necessary reinforcements at 1 () , ()()() ; whence we may infer that anybody who does not " expect much from a commando " tinder a Civil Commissioner , and does not count upon tho "despondency" of the Kafirs , would estimate the necessary reinforcements at a much higher amount . But , whatever the needful amount of reinforceincntH , is Sir Henry Smith the proper person to intrtiNt them to ? Assuredly not . He lmH proved his incapacity both on tho political and military ground . It in necessary to confront this fact directly , and to discuss it explicitly . Henceforward the war
must be conducted on an enlarged scale ; this country must take the matter into its own hands and must thank the chosen servant of the Home Government for the onerous necessity . At this stage , therefore , it is doubly necessary that what ia done should be done efficiently , and that the conduct of the enlarged war should be placed in hands that are efficient . Sir Henry Smith has not the confidence or respect of the Colonists : lie reiterates again and again , that he has summoned them to his support , and they do not come ; he contrasts their obstinate backwardness with " their noble
conduct in 1835 . " They have irreconcileabl y quarrelled with him for political reasons ; they have no confidence in his competency as a General . And naturally : he has proved his incapacity to conquer the barbarians whom he treated so cavalierl y ; he admits that the defection of the Hottentots was " unexpected " by him ; and he has continually made such admissions of surprise and miscalculation . As brave a partisan as ever drew sword , he is as incompetent a General as ever bungled among victorious savages , confused geography , and disobedient levies . In the same document he has the
effrontery , or rather the simplicity , to say , " The course I have pursued in British Kaffraria is the correct one" ! He does not know his own position 3 politically , militarily , or morally ! No ; the best reinforcement that the Home Government can send out is a General who can combine his movements , a Governor who can regain the confidence of the Colonists . If that obvious modicum of justice be not done , the People of the Cape have a right to declare that the Government deliberately squanders the property and the blood of the Colonists in an idle war , which the brave Colonists would soon settle for themselves if they were not debarred from the management of their own affairs .
His Majesty The Monster. An Eastern Tell...
HIS MAJESTY THE MONSTER . An Eastern tells how there lived a Sultan who had revelled in hideous debauchery until , in the excess of his profligacy , Fate struck him with a terrible curse—terrible to himself , terrible to his people : from out of his breast , on each side , grew two serpents , which clamoured to be fed . And the miserable monster was forced , lest they should devour himself , to feed them with the flesh and blood of his subjects . And so he continued , daily giving a man to each of his hated offspring ; until at last bis beloved subjects , worn out with the loyal function of being eaten in detail , resolved to end the matter . They slew the crowned monster . So says the Eastern tale ; but it is no fable . The loathsome original exists in our day . The crowned monster sits on a living throne , and his name is Despotism . The two serpents grow out of his breasts , and they are fed with the substance of the living People . Their names are Standing Army and National Debt . If tbe great monarch did not feed them , and keep them well fed , verily they would devour him .
But it is not so easy to find them food ; for the Peoples begin to murmur . So be has hit upon a new plan . His dominions lie over all Europe , but he deceives his subjects . When " National Debt wants food , and Austria cannot muster the heart to give up her quota , he lets Modena find the provision , and then he tells the Austrians that they must " keep faith with tbe national creditor . " Thus he contrives that Modena shall
decide for Austria , and he persuades the Austrians that national faith binds them to make good tbe sacrifice of that worthy Duke . Just in the same way Pitt , who was Prime Minister to »» If j Majesty the Monster in JHOO , decided whut ahouiu be sacrificed by the People in lSftl . Thus , , Hungary pays for Austria—pays for bemg eaten tip . All Europe feedn the Serpent that grows from tho left breast of Ii ' ih Majesty the Monster , anu pays more every year . And Standing Army bath an appetite scarcely less . This serpent is less plethoric and voracious , 1 CSH . 1 HIM BI . I JICIIL In linn |< n , ui «/ ii > . «« . «— ¦ 11 / 1 Mooi
but more cruel . He devours indifferently and gold ; but lie is more fond of the !>™ cl () * metal . And every nation is made to provide in sanguinary inorceau for the others : Italy P » ys "' Hungary and Austria ; Hungary for Italy ; and on . UiiKlaml pays for all : she is deluded into i ) t lieviiur that if his Majesty the Monster did n " \ . ' ,. and thrive , " Kn liNh institutions" 5 ™ ll ( I IU do ' though Knglish iiiHtiLiilions have as little w with tho upholding of tho Imperial Monster as u English People bun with tho fine tf <' nth | : me ' Diplomacy—Diplomacy being lackey to iu 9
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 1, 1851, page 12, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_01111851/page/12/
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