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    No. 445, October 2, 1858.]

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    Mb- Disraeli, it' appears on good eviden...

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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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    No. 445, October 2, 1858.]

    No . 445 , October 2 , 1858 . ]

    THE LEAD E B . 1019

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    j Rflriettt-rf tte 'Week

    Mb- Disraeli, It' Appears On Good Eviden...

    Mb- Disraeli , it' appears on good evidence in black and white , may take to himself some small praise for penetration" in national money mattersat least it has come to pass as he ^ aid it would : the revenue of the country exhibits in the quarterly and yearly returns just issued signs of vigour such as make g lad the hearts of Chancellors of the Exchequer . It is true that there is a decrease on the side of the Income-tax to the extent of nearly two millions and a half in the quarter ; but there is so much increase in all the other great branches of

    income , with the exception of the excise , that the diminution of the nett revenue is not very greatsix millions in the year ' s account instead , the eight that were calculated for on the supposition that the income would remain stationary . The vear ' srevenue reaches the pretty sum of 05 , 000 , 000 / ., and it is useful to contrast , it with the national income of 1 S 32 , the year in which the great Reform measure was passed , to estimate the change which in that respect has taken place in the tax-paying capacity of the people , from which ' their general condition may , to a considerable extent , be inferred : in 1832 the nett revenue was 47 , 322 , 744 / .

    On the subject of the coming Reform Bill Ministers are maintaining a studied and remarkable silence . That they are busy with the subject is no secret ; there is good reason for believing that , now that they have fully determined to tackle it , they tnay find the work less difficult than they have been svont to consider it . Heaps of the old impediments iiave been cleared away , or sufficiently trampled down to be passed over comfortably . The workingclasses have earned by a . long and searching probation the trust of those above them , who in the

    past struggle for Reform stood in desperate opposition to the idea of any great extension of the suffrage . At the present time , it is hardly too much to say that all classes are in favour of a ^ really extended suffrage ; and any agitation of the juestion would draw forth a strong expression of public opinion to that effect . One thing is very certain , that Ministers will not venture in the present state of the public mind to attempt to evade the responsibility thrust upon them in the first instance , and , at length , accepted voluntarily ; and

    ; here is room for something like a hope that , having , aken to the work at last , they may take a real [ iking to it , and do their best to make it unobjectionable to the country at large . But whatever their intentions may bo , they keep them to themselves ivith a somewhat ludicrous constancy . So afraid ire some of them with long tongues of being led nto iucontinency under the exhilarating influences of igricultural dinners , that they have fairly shown the jvhitc feather and run away from the dangerous

    scluctions : as Aylesbury became dreadful to Mr . Disraeli—calling up weird reminiscences of Slough 3 peechos and tho dire effects thereof—mid Hertford scared Sir Edward Lytton . At the Fishmongers ' banquet , o » Wednesday , Lord Stanley had not a word to say on tho dangerous topic ; but in his caso tho roticonco is not so remarkablo , seeing that ho was not challenged to bo communicative on tho subject , and he did moreovor speak with his accustomed freedom on tho subject of tho Indian Board , about which he could talk with direct authority . His

    speech was very interesting for tho frankness of its stylo , as well as for tho light whioh it throws upon tho working and future promise of tho new Indian Government . " That Government was not devised as a , penal prooeoding against tho India Company , " Lord Stanley says , " but as a change , which was a natural and even nccosssary rosult of the lapso of time and tho progress of ovents ; " and , while ho beliovos , that tho change will bo'bcneucial to India , his liopoa are those which wo have so often oxpvossed , that it will lead to the introduction of . those

    elementary powers of Indian development— " European energy , enterprise , and thought , " In preparation for the advent of these beneficial influences , the force of our army is gradually weighing down the opposition of the rebels .. Of these , the fiercest- ^ as , they are- the most desperate and hopelcss ^ -are the remnant ' ' of the " Gwalior Contingent /* which we have beaten and dispersed so many times since the outbreak of the rebellion . After being again beaten by General Roberts , on the 14 th of August , they fled in the direction o

    the Bombay Presidency , intowhich it has all along been their desire to penetrate ' ; but their object was defeated by the interposition of the force from Neemuch , from which they turned first towards the north , and , later , towards the east . On the 28 th of August they reached Julra Patun , orPatteen , which place they cap tured , after a resistance of some days ' duration . According to the latest intelligence they appear inclined to make a stand there , for they are described as busy repairing and strengthening the fortifications of the place , and throwing up

    breastworks on the roads approaching . a . , under Colonel Lockhart , had been moved towards them , and another column in support , under Colonel Hope , had left Indore on the 3 rd of September . Such is the disposition of the British forces , indeed , that if the rebels stand they will assuredly be destroyed , and in any case their numbers will be fWimipfl . Tn Oiide the rebels arc bein ? closely

    followed , and in one engagement they lost two hundred , and in another sixty , men . In Bombay there has been an attempt on the part of two unarmed regiments to repossess themselves of their arms ; after a sharp struggle , in which great numbers of them were slain , they were repulsed and dispersed . On the other hand , we have news that two or three of the Sepoy regiments have been re-entrusted with

    arms . The Chinese Treaty , of which we have at length been supplied with an official abstract , comes up to the expectations which we ha d formed of it from the briefer and more general description which we had of it some weeks back . As far as the document goes , every provision which care and ingenuity could / ramc for the security of British life , property , and commerce , has been made . Tho interests dealt with and ; as it appears , protected from the adverse influences that may be brought to bear upon them by the crafty Chinese officials , are of the largest and most important , and the document in which they arc set forth might , it has been suggested , be called " the civilised Europeans' Magna Charta with China . " The dignity . of G . C . B . which has been bestowed upon Lord Elgin will not be thought a too marked ackno wlcdgmcnt of the services he has rendered to his country and to tho world . Tho affairs of Canada are before us at present on new and highly important grounds . A deputation of the leading members of the Canadian Legislature has come to England for the purpose of conferring with the Secretary for the Colonies on Che subject of establishing a closer connexion between the whole of tho British North American colonies . Tho plan proposed is , to form a continuous line of railway 1300 miles in length , from Halifax to the cxtromo west of Upper Canada . Some of the immediate advantages of such a line of " inter - oolonial" railway aro suggested by the Canadian Notes : — "By tho new * Overland' route , Victoria in London could hold personal or postal intercourse with her Victoria of Vancouver in flftoon days , and with her Victoria of Hong-Kong or of Australia in some twenty-seven . " Foreign politics are a prominent feature in tho nows of tho week . Wo have what—if it is not tho full text—may bo taken as sufficiently noar to tho lcttor of tho convention rogulating the Government of tho Danubiau Principalities . Honcoforth thcyaro to be called tho United Principalities of Mol ilfivia mid Wnllaohin . the uract ioaf union of tho two

    states being affected by a central commission , composed of sixteen persons , four nominated by each Hospodar and four by each Assembly . The suffrage is based upon a property qualification , and the amount is fixed high enough to deprive the majority of the populations of any voice in the election of their representatives . The suzerainty of the Porte is guaranteed , but the two states are to be left entirely free to govern themselves ;

    though the hospodars may appeal to the suzerain by petition in case the immunities of the Principalities should be violated . The militias of the two states are to be independent , but may be united for the purposes of exercise , or in defence of the Principalities . After the long working of sucli ponderous machinery as the Paris Conferences , astonishingly little appears this result : a constitution made up of contradictor details , which , on the slightest commotion , must destroy each other .

    The question of the Prussian regency is now a foremost topic ; on its solution seems to hang the hopes of the Liberal party in Prussia . Now that the imbecility of the King can no longer be concealed , the party which has so long surrounded his throne and kept him in the path of retrogressive policy see their power threatened , and are making desperate efforts to avert their fall . Their plan , has been to endeavour to compel the Prince of Prussia to accept the Queen as co-Regent , the Russian predilections of her Majesty being their security ao-ainst the constitutional leaning of the Prince .

    As the game stands at present , it appears to be lost to the " Court party ; " the Prince of Prussia standing firm in his determination not to submit to the division of his power . Prom the side of . Italy there come murmurs against the brutal dominion of Austria . At Venice , the other day , a sentence delivered by Ristori in the tragedy of Judith had the effect of raising the whole audience in the theatre to a pitch of fiery political enthusiasm ; the electrifying words were , " The war is sacred which is waged by a nation .

    against those who invade a land given to its defenders by their God ! " The only answer given by the Austrian authorities was to forbid the repetition of the piece ; Well for them if they could forbid the germination of the seed sowed broadcast among the crowd at that Venetian theatre ! At Florence we have seen a popular demonstration with a somewhat different climax , though the feelings called into play were not wholly unlike . The appearance at one of the theatres of the popular , poet Niccolini induced the whole audience to rise

    in his honour . A few days later , on the pi-oduction of a new play written by him , the crowd eagerly applied to their own situation every popular sentiment expressed by the poet , and vehemently applauded . The Grand Duke—grown tired of his uupopnlarity it may be hoped—did notliing to check the people ' s enthusiasm , and they venture to found upon that circumstance a hope that there is a better time coming for Florentine liberty . Count CavQur has been moved by the comments of some of the English press on the Villafranca affair to write a circular ot instruction to the

    Piedniontcsc representatives at foreign courts . He instructs them tp say , when questioned , that there has been no cession of tho port of Villafranca , but only a gratuitous use permitted of the old disused convict , establishment , the which permission may be revoked at a determined moment . The newspapers complained of by Count Cavour have , ho says , misrepresented all the facts ; there is one fact which he himself appears to have overlooked , it is , that had official information been forthcoming at tho outset , there would hayo been no room for oither misunderstanding or misrepresentation . And with all deference to Count Cavour , wo do not yet feel

    quite satisfied with the matter . Some surpriso has beon felt that tho Bank of England at its last meeting did not lower its rate of discount to twxyuid a half per cont ., and there is spino renson foT tho surprise . Privato disoounfc can now bo had at two and a quarter per cent , ; tno Bauk of England , thoroforc , for tho present , and for reasons which it does not publish , appears to have deolinod to conlinuo that branou ol its business .

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 2, 1858, page 3, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_02101858/page/3/