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Leader (1850-1860), 7th August 1858, Edition 2 of 2, Page 16, W* THE LEAP El [No. 437, August 7, 1858

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      A The Past Session. I T The Meeting Of P...

      at became his immediate duty to unravel and to straighten out . "We apprehend , however , that the amende for the Moniteur addresses and the "Walewski despatch having teen already offered by the French Government , it was no matter of extreme difficulty for an acute and gentlemanlike person , honoured with the personal acquaintance of bis Imperial Majesty , to dispel the clouds that had partly discharged themselves of their electricity . The rampant heroes -who demanded with all the fervour and delicacy « f the tap room the reparation of our national wrongs by advertisement in the Monileur , were perhaps disappointed , but the public at large admitted that the Palmerston Cabinet , whose short-coming in the matter -was more traceable to a supercilious sense of safety than to any want of

      patriotism , could not have been more successful in the brief negotiations that ensued than were their successors . They could not more cheerfully , to all appearance , nave advanced the State prosecutions of Bernard and the bookseller Truelove , or more gracefully have abandoned them when the subsiding excitement of the French Government permitted a hearing to reason and common sense , and possibly in some sort loosened the screw that had been put upon our home department . The whole of the proceedings in the matter of these trials sufficiently showed that neither in the original appeal to the law of the land , nor in the relinquishment of its pursuit , was there anything that could fairly be called " truckling" to the passions of either native enthusiasts or foreign despots .

      In dealing ; with the Cagli & ri affair , which to all appearance he most have found in a state of neglect , little creditable to the Foreign Office , there can be no two opinions as * o Lord Malmesbury ' s ability and tact . Lord lialmesbury ' s success , although his judiciously tardy rate of progress and anxiety for the peace of Europe must have been supremely unpalatable to such slapdash belligerents as Messrs . Milner Gibson and others , the rapidity with which , under his

      management , the total illegality of the capture was discovered , contrasted favourably with the thoroughly shameless indifference of his department to the sufferings and fate « f Watt an < L Park in Lord Clarendon ' s time . The indemnity procured for the engineers was sufficient , and the distinction conferred upon Mr . Barber as an acknowledgment of great services rendered by a member of a ^ fervice for -which the Tite Barnacle class hare smalt affection , showed judicious diagnosis of public feeling , and , what is better , was done in time .

      The courage displayed by the Cabinet in advance of public opinion—by which they were afterwards fully justified—in dealing with the very serious American difficulty , has entitled them to the warmest commendation , and will undoubtedly be received by the enlightened portion , of the United States people as an earnest of more sound political relations than Lord Palmerston , even with the assistance of his renowned out-door attache , Mr-Wikoff , could contrive to maintain for long together . - ; On the 11 th of February , Lord Grey had presented a dignified and temperate petition or statement of their case by the East India Company , on which occasion it is worth notice that Lord Derby deprecated as suicidal

      all legislation for India until after the suppression of the revolt . On the 18 th , however , Lord Palmeraton obtained leave of the House of Commons by a majority of 145 to introduce his India Bill No . 1 . In conformity with the then views of the present Premier , Sir E . L . Bulwer and other gentlemen of the present Cabinet also deprecated any change ; but the coalition Cabinet lost no time on their instalment in office in administering to _ the effects of their predecessors . They plunged , without loss of time or reference to the above-recorded opinion of their chief , into legislation for India . A fancy sch « me of Lord Ellenborough ' s for the incorporation of the vestry system of election with the main provisions of Lord Palmerston ' s measure , was submitted to the

      House and the public as Bill No . 2 . The attempt to curry favour was so transparent , and the mechanism provided s « eme <] such an unworkmanlike bungle , that the Bill No . 2 was knocked on the head in a very summary manner , and withdrawn against the wish of its noble author on the 80 th of April . The two great political parties who were equally anxious to effect the abolition of the India Company at all hazards were glad to adopt a suggestion of Lord John Russell ' s to work out the necessary scheme for the future government of India by resolutions of the House . At length , when th « Hous « were thought to be thoroughly sick and tired of the question , when its minutest ramification . had been investigated over and over again , and

      when every silent member had been well probed , and every loquacious one waa pledged head over ears , tie Bill No . 8 wat ferreted out by Lord Stanley from the pigeon-holes of the defunct Administration , and , fitted up with a few alterations , was introduced , of course , as an invention of the present one . This act , after being well riddkd during its passage through both Houses , received the Royal assent on the 2 nd of August . It transfers , of course , to the Crown and the aristocracy tho supremacy in Hindostan hitherto possessed by the East India Company . Lord Stanley , fortunately for the middle cluss , from whose ranks the Indian services have b « en hitherto recruited , has , on thin Indian patronage question , been in opposition to the Premier and other

      Influential members of the Cabinet . He already has his reward in the approval of his country ; and generations yet -unborn may thank a Minister who is , comparatively speaking , tn statu pupillartfor his pertinacity in thwarting the designs of his order upon the whole of ( he East Indian appointments . The eye-teeth of the whole transfer of India question were drawn almost at the eleventh hour by the House of Commons , -with the assistance of Lord Stanley , and generations unborn will own indebtedness to the young President of the India Board for having so boldly and successfully vindicated the principle of open competition .

      The Oude despatch contretemps , which led to the retirement of Lord Ellenborough , demands , as one of the most singular events of the session , a few remarks at our hands . That eccentric nobleman would seem to have been moved by an excessive anxiety to obtain the resignation of the Governor-General of India , and on the arrival of the post on the 12 th of April , fondly dreamed , he had him on the hip . By that mail , a copy of a proclamation was received , wherein the Governor-General had announced , to whom it might concern , bis intention of entry or re-entry—for itwns never clearly decided which was purposed—into the fee-simple , o * r the suzerainete at Ou < ie . Lord Ellenborougii sat down to bis desk , and , before the week was out , had drafted , faircopied , imposed upon the Secret Committee , and sent off to India a long homily upon the annexation of

      Oude , the severity of Clemency Canning , and the sad inferiority of the Governor-General ' s wisdom to that of the precedents he had -violated . The paper in question was moved for in the House of Lords . The noble President and Lord Derby at first proposed to return only portions of it . But it / full contents having somehow oozed out at the clubs , it became necessary to hazard its publication in extenso . It was therefore printed and submitted to the House without excision of those paragraphs from whose publication Lord Derby had apprehended inconvenience if not det riment to the public service . Those paragraphs contained an utter condemnation of our previous policy with respect to Oude , and the general tenor of the . despatch was not such as could promote friendly relations between the Viceroy of India and the Cabinet at borne . It was the

      unanimous opinion , of the public , without reference to Lord Canning ' s policy , that Lord Ellenborough ' s continuance in , office was not only very inexpedient , but also very detrimental to the public service . His colleagues were indisposed to stand or fall by him . He was consigned , a political Jonah , to the unofficial world , and eulogistic speeches were made over Iiis ministerial obsequies . It can be no news to the : reader that Lord Derby ' s

      Cabinet , speaking generally , have proved no exception to the rule in conformity with which each new Administration follows up and takes credit for the successes resulting during their own terra of office from th « policy of the last . They have of course gotten into , ami scrambled out of , some minor scrapes , and have committed several major sins of omission and commission . They have not dared to assail the monster abuse of the War-office , though they have been bold and resolute with the more timorous East India Cpmpam-.

      In removing the last civil disability from our Hebrew fellow-citizens they have wisely carried out the public will . The political compromise by which this has been brought about has neither broken up the Administration nor the foundations of the Constitution . Although certain quidnuncs " profess despair of England ' s permanence after so rude an attack upon the time-honoured bulwarks of her institutions as is , they say , "involved in the independent action of the two houses , we confess to as slight alarm upon that head as the most sagacious of our contemporaries . The admission of tlie metropolitan member , Baron Ituthschild , to his seat in Parliament has been a nine days' -wonder ; and for ourselves we are not without hope that a larger infusion of the most successful of financiers may give some of that fresh force to Parliament of which some old school grumblers pretend it stands in such sore need .

      The New Columbia Bill of Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton was a coup d ' etat of portent dire to that old vested interest tho Hudson ' s Bay Company . It was rendered necessary , by the reported influx of gold-seekers from California , that an organised government ehoulil have a footing in our nortli-western possession of New Caledonia , nnd the promptitude displayed by the Cabinet , without prejudice to the vested interest alluded to , may possibly prevent a serious amount of anarchy and even bloodshed . We have long ago expressed our opinions upon tlie extension of tho Corrupt Practices Prevention Act ,

      whteh legalises tho transport of voters . It was , perhaps with justice stykd by Lord Stanley of Alderley the Corrupt Practices Promotion Bill , and by Colonel Thompson the Legalised Bribery Act . It ia notorious that immense sums were illegally spent at tho recent election in the conveyance of voters , nnd that indemnities wore exchanged between candidates . This oar rulers have thought well for ( he future to legalise , but so wide a door does it open for the ndininistmtion of bribes of the numerous outlying voters of tlie homo counties in particular , that wo may live to see our contested elections as costly as in tho " good old days . " Th « claes which furnishes county candidates will tuen

      perhaps , and not till then , believe that some mpoi , ¦ " ¦ " * is devisable which shall take the poll to th ™ vc-? erI *?" of the voter to the poll . Oter mste * l By tlie Metropolitan Local Management Amend ™ . Act an amount of real power has beenstowed S ?' the Metropolitan Board of Works to which aS 2 ? cedentshardly entitle them . The fortuitous concen £ ~ turn of the Thames nuisance under the very nose £ Farhament lent wings to the passage of this Zl without sound or sufficient check upon tie b 5 K powers . They are entrusted with the scourge of taxaS to an extent of about 6 , 000 , 000 / . —or 3 , 000 000 / , w of the estimates furnished for main interceS dSj alone , and houseowners and ratepayers of llemctmrf are , beyond all this , at the mere / of their ^ ope ' S works besidesto unlimited extent

      , an , and for an VZ rently unlimited time . According to the Premier tf £ self , who , to all appearance , has been a rather uninfluential member of lus own Cabinet , the 6 , 000 , 000 / . w > rth of drainage works now impending must necessari r be regarded , to a great extent , in the character of a gigantic experiment . We are afraid we must on this head qaite agree with his Lordship , but here ends our opposition to the Metropolitan Board . We have cor dially resisted their imposition upon the metropolis but it behoves us henceforth , vliile we endeavour to direct their energies into the straight course of common sense , to encourage and loyally assist them in the performance of public duties , which , after a while , cannot fail to be excessively onerous to even the most vestryminded of men . . The Property Qualification Abolition Bill has at the same time abolished a sham of tremendous magnitude and respectable antiquity . As we before said of this measure , it is a satisfactory drive of the Reform -wedge by the Conservative hammer . Having " we- hope , none of that illibeMlity which seeks to establish tlie diyineright of particular classes , orders , and families to originate all iinprorements , and having been sorely tried by the deflection from the path of progress of those who have for many years been maintained by a confiding pullic in the sole enjoyment of the reform patents , we can only conclude our brief review of the more prominent res geatce of the late session with a not altogether vain repetition of the good old saw , Measuhes , not Men . Upon the whole , we think that the cause of Liberal progress has lost nothing during the present session .

      W* The Leap El [No. 437, August 7, 1858

      W * THE LEAP El [ No . 437 , August 7 , 1858

      Ballot Statistics.—The Ballot Society Ha...

      Ballot Statistics . —The Ballot Society have issued an " Analysis of the Division on the Ballot , June 8 th , 1858 . " The ayes were 197 , eight more than in the preceding year ; noes , 29 . 6 ; pairs , 144 ; absent friends , 16 ; absent opponents , 56 ; Liberals absent , 32 ; absent Conservatives , 8 . The number for the Ballot , including pairs and tellers , was 221 . The number against , 318 . The number of members of the present House favourable to the Ballot is 247 . In the Parliament elected in 1847 , the Ballot was brought yearly before the House of Commons by Mr . Henry Berkeley ; , the numbers voting being as follows : —1848 , aves , 86 ; noes , 81 ; 1849 ,

      ayes , 85 ; noes , 136 ; 1850 , ayes , 121 ; noes , 176 ; 1851 , ayes , 87 ; noes , 50 ; 1852 , ayes , 145 ; noes , 246 . Shortly after the general election of 1852 , the Ballot Society was established . The result of their labours ia an increase in the number of Mr . Berkeley ' s supporters , on each division in the last and present Parliaments . The following are among the numbers :- —For 1856 , ayes , 156 ; noes , 196 ; 1857 , ayes , 219 ; noes , 287 ; 185 S , ayes , 222 ; noes , 319 . This gratifying result has arisen from the labours of the Society , and tlie personal exertions gratuitously given of members of the executive committee .

      The Royal Academy . —The Eoyal Academicians , we are liappy to announce , have made one more step in the direction of common sense—though the step is but a small ono , and taken under tho direct pressure of tlie most imperious logic . They have made such an alteration in their laws as gets rid of the chance that an associate ' s place in their body ( of which , our readers know , there nro not too many when they aro all filled up ) may remain vacant for twelve or fourteen months ,

      according to tho period of the year at which a vacancy in tlie higher rank of the body may happen to accrue . The election to the Asaociatesliip is henceforth to take place in tho mouth of February ; so that it will follow immediately on the election which elevates a previous member of the body to the Academician ' s seat . The familiar figure of the empty chair is banished from tho Academy : let us hope that the other familiar figure of the professor who makes no profession may soon follow it . —Art Journal

      Two Monks Akhksted you Bkgoin & at Livicnroot ,. —James Gannon , nnd Lewis Corey , two monks , who said they came from Drogheitn , and were going to a convent at Lorretto , in Pennsylvania , where charged ftt Liverpool , on Monda } -, with begging in Upper Pittstreet . They went into a shop and asked for money for a person in distress . On Gannon was found ll . 5 s . 2 rt ., and n watch , and 18 s . 5 < 1 . on Corey . They had no papers from any Roman Catholic ecclesiastic , and thoy said they had lost their property while on thoir " »» y from Droglieda to Liverpool . They were remanded .

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 7, 1858, page 16, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_07081858/page/16/