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June 9, 1855.] THE LEADER. 545
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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 Stranger" In Parliament. [The Resp...
or so—to a House which "buzzed and bustled , and was bored . Down he went at eleven , having accomplished his fifth or sixth , peroration , profoundly convinced , as he fell back into the bosom of Pakingtou that he had been tremendously eloquent , as indeed he had , which is the reason he is unendurable . Well , then , at that hour , it was due to the House that a first-class man should rise , —first class if not in brain , at least in position . But Palmerston is never tired of poking his fun at the House : —he put up Horsman—Horsman with a basket or so of oranges in his neighbourhood—Horsman deliriously bent on a great speech . Horsman commenced , continued , and concluded , in his old
stylethe old average House of Commons style , that ought to have died with Lord George Bentinck—monotonously tragic , twangingly heroic , —si waste of words . —a de-crt of phrases —all bald quasi-logic—not a glimpse of wit , not a touch of illustration , not a spark of passion or poetry—a horrible epic of sustained mediocrity—calm and complacent mediocrity , implacably dull . Now , the club is insolently clubby , and Horsman has the position—the connexion and the prospects , to suggest to men fond of placidity , when they meet all sorts of M . P's " " that this pretentious Irish Secretary ought to be listened la politely . But the House wouldn ' t : they chattered , cachinnated , walked about ; and after
half an hour ' s attempt at getting a hearing , Palmerston wfis subdued—he pulled his right hon . friend's coat tails — and Horsman , puzzled , baffled , his oranges not a quarter consumed , had to sit down . Here was a clear intimation , from an assembly in . which he has had some dozen years' practice , that Horsman won ' t do—that he has no right to thrust himself in the front of his fcllownicn . But do you suppose Horsmr . n will take the hint ?—the miserable mediocrity will be as rampant as ever in three weeks After the three heavy barristers he had his chance : and he spoke in their style—and he spoke worse than they did . The barristers failed because they did not correctly appreciate the
instinctive demand of the House—for a judicial summing up : for these learned gentlemen spoke as counsel , not as judges . Of course it is altogether ignoring the theory in which a House of Commons originates to recommend any member to assume the judicial attitude . The great error of the Peelite party i . 5 that , in a representative body , they decline to be dolomites , and insist on that sagacious Providential point of view which pooT Sir Robert taught them all to take—poor Sir Itobert having no opinions of his own , and therefore considering himself so competent to put everybody right . The
judicial—that is the individual—point of view will seldom answer in the House of Commons , unless the individual has genuine individuality , a genius like - , or a Shakspeare fool like Henry Drummond : — ordinary personages must be intensely representative , if they would have either popularity or powerthey must breathe the voice of a constituency , like Mr . Muntz , or of a party like Mr . Disraeli . But , still , a barrister who gets into a close borough , like Sir Frederick Thesiger , on his way to the Speaker-Bhip , or a Chief-Justiceship , has an opportunity of arbitration , and ought to discard the associations of Nisi Prius .
When Mr . Disraeli rose to mention that he was going to submit an impartial opinion , every one laughed heartily , —it was delightful audacity ; and that tone , so suddenly imparted into the debate , seemed so successful , that Mr . Disraeli , —who has an elastic style , and is perhaps most successful in the conversational style at those times when the club , with no agitating division before it , wants amusing —went on , in a drawing-room manner , to jest on the whole question , —if it were a drawing-room word , onu would say to " chaff" the House . It should be observed that there was , among the mass of members ., notwithstanding that they had been cogitating the point for a week , the utmost mental
confusion as to what was to be divided on , what ought to bo divided on , and " how a follow ought to vote " —they all put it to you , " Now how would . you voto if you were ; in the llouso ? " Mr . Disraeli , with keenne .-. s and clearness , traced what he called tho pedigrees of tho different amendments , their exact tendency , and the results of lliu possible divisions , and this pleased the House , Which though shrewdly suspecting that a cross would be contrived in the end , was glad , in case of accident , for an analysis . Yet though Mr . Disraeli so far succeeded with tho ?'
elegant' conversation" that got into fashion with Canning , yet , after tho analysis , he got into a lounge on tho general subject , became tedious , provoked tho fatal buzz , and really—as so often latelywas mistaken by some strangers in tho gallery a 9 one of tho regular bores . With all his faults of shallowness , impudence , bo ' intoi-oii-sneaa , LordPalmerston last night , —twice Mr . Disraeh \ s age , but over-reaching by tact Mr . Disraeli ' s talent . - struck everyone as the better speaker of tho two . Granted that ho told nothing in his speech—that he again nsulted the country—that ho seemed to forget that
we expect to be self-governed . But is he not worthy of this House of Commons ? In our Parliamentary history , is there anything more degrading to us than the scene in which every one , after six nights of debate , found out that there was perfect unanimity , and that any description of division was unnecessary ? Mr . Bright ' s speech on Thursday was a masterpiece of opposition attack . Now that he is joined in a Peace party by the Peelites , with their moral and political weight , and that he leaves behind him his original argument against the war , converting it into an argument against the continuance of the war , he enters a region of practicality , and can talk from a point of view suitable to an understanding which has of late not played freely when giving itself up to
preaching abstractions about peace- Yet being as earnest as ever in his Martin-like pictures of the horrors of war , he , on Thursda 3 ' , was not less surprisingly successful than on former occasions in the last two sessions in moving that cold and unemotional collection of blas < S aristocrats , middle-class middle-aged roturiers , and old young men , into eager cheering of passionate declamation . His wit and humour—he possesses both—but served to heighten the effect of the darker passages of the sombre eloquence in which he perorated—the peroration leaving the House in a state of obvious excitement under the influence of this real orator . But the merit of the speech was in its colder excellence of plain argument , delivered in simple language , . with repressedly quiet manner .
Of the series of speeches delivered by the Peace party , every one of them being first-rate men , this of Mr . Bright ' s was the most excellent ; for not only did he do , with more point and precision and tact , all that they had done , in defining the illogicality of our position in the renewed war ; but , beyond all that , he carried the argument to the destruction of the Ministers . With exquisite tact and clearness he collected all the passages , with any meaning , from Ministerial speeches , in and out of the House , and from the heap of contradictions , imbecilities , and cants , he constructed an irresistible conclusion , on which the country , whether with or against Mr . Bright , will ponder , that these __ dilapidated old intriguers , now wielding the destinies of
this grand and potent England , are playing at statesmanship—that they are perfectly reckless—that they have no policy , good or bad—that they have no faith , but that , given a general and an army , they will be fighting , and that when the army is English it is most likely to win . The effect of Mr . Bright ' s assaults on the Treasury bench can scarcely be understood from merely reading his speech . It reads merely funny—the effective hit produced by an extract from Hansard . But he is a gentleman of massive earnestness of character , and he does not in the least withhold a contemptuous manner when dealing with a contemptible subject . His sneers and sarcasms were enriched by the consciousness produced upon
his audience by the voice , look , attitude of the man all telling that here was no affected derision , but the solemn scorn of a nature more honest and more intellectual than the dreary , be-padded , be-toothed , be-calved , old mediocrities who sat there shamming the functions of God ' s vice-gerents . Not only were they being ridiculed—Mr . Disraeli is always doing that at them—but they looked ridiculous , and looked that they knew it . The spasmodic chat of unconcern — the ghastly grin of amusement—the jerky attempts to sit indifference—they tried all this—but it was horribly apparent that they felt in their wretched souls that they were humbugs , and that mankind was discovering that such heroes were
too ludicrous . The Baronets , Kir William Molesworth , Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton , Sir James Graham , and Sir William Clay , have not been felicitous in this debate : the bloody hand does not grip a war question with great force . Sir William tried to modify his reputation as a cabinet-councillor supposed to be conspiring for peace , by talking suspiciously big—and that did not seem exactly what was wanted . The second standard novelist of the Derby faction talked obvious truisms in a pretentiously square and artificial style , and was not much cheered by any but a few squires , who take for granted that a literary baronet with 11 bow-wowy voice , and who gesticulates with his back-bone , must be talking well . Sir with
James Graham said ditto to Mr . Gladstone , a cunning which every one discovered ; and Sir James stands so queerly in House estimation since his manslaughter of Christie , and attempt to fix the crime on Mr . Layard , that it cannot be expected he will over again be very emphatically successful in any of his crafty oratorical progresses into a mess . As to Sir William Clay , ho was crushed by one phrase of Mr . Bright's , and had the meanness—only to bo encountered in so proud and rich a man—to attempt to unsay what most unquestionably he had said—the attempt , being quite understood by the grinning House , but Sir William not boing hooted because ) ho ia not Mr . Layard . Those not eminent epcoohus ol ' Molosworth , Bn lwer , and Graham are three of the most prominent of tho week ' s debate , and tho inference is that tho
discussion , on the whole , has not been brilliant . Sidney Herbert ' s speech was effective , in its subtle management of the House , its adroit suggestive style of obnoxious arguments , and its clubby appeals to the House to separate itself , by soaring loftier , from the press and the public : but there was a disingenuousness in one of his suggestions—that he was eager for military success in order that peace ( upon sham terms ) might be effected , —which displeased those who , opposing the Peace party , , still like the broad candour of Mr . Cobden and Mr . Bright . Mr . Cobden ' s speech , on Tuesday nk'ht , was charming ha its clear comprehensiveness—its exquisite precisionof statement . People say—it was full of infelicities—it wanted literary tact—that happy story about " black and curly already" being botched by a lumbering narration . But is it new that Mr . Cobden ' s
eloquence is unadorned—that he is * ' an inspired commis voyugeur "—an extraordinary ordinary man ? A graver fault in his rapid pre ' eis of our martial muddle was that he touted for aristocratic cheersand got them . What business is it of Mr . Cobden ' s that one Griffiths talks democracy to the Great Briton in a provincial pot-house — why should Richard Cobden take it on himself to denounce that astounding phenomenon , the British democrat ? Can it be that Mr . Cobden is going in for Parliamentary fame , and to win popularity in that narrow club , the whole of whose establishment , except the galler y ^ he till now has obstinately ignored ? It is , indeed , wonderful to see the way in which the once uncouth Manchester republicans are going in ( at any price
for peace ) to defend our institutions . Mr . Cobden sneering at a movement against the old Lords is curious : but , on Thursday , one ' s heart stopped beating when one heard John Bright warning the Tory benches that if we went on with the excess of 75 , 00 a , 000 / . per annum , the poor little princes would get small pensions , and that perhaps Prince Albert would be inconvenienced by the royal washing beings done at home . Perhaps that was not the only blunder of Mr . Bright . Can it be true what he , who knows them , says , that our capitalists would all send their capital to America , and leave " their own , their native city , " if they could get more per centage out of the Stars and Stripes ?
Saturday Morning . " A STRANGER . Whittington Club . — We are glad to learn that tho loan of 3000 / ., required for completing the rebuilding of the club premises in Arundel-street , has been nearly all subscribed . About 250 J . is now wanted , and we have no doubt this small sum will be speedily obtained . The above loan , in ., addition to the 10 , 000 / . for which the building was insured , will , we understand , be amply sufficient for the erection of an improved clubhouse suited to present wants and requirements ; and we congratulate the members upon the sp irit which they have shown , and the success which has crowned their efforts . Loud John Russell and Jewish Disabilities . —
The following answer has been returned by Lord John Russell to his constituents , who had addressed him on the subject of his intentions with respect to the admission of Jews into Parliament : — " Chesham-place , May 26 . Sir , — I did not answer your former letter of the 19 th inst ., as I wished to take some time to consider the position of affairs as it regarded the privileges of the Jews . It appears to me that , while the friends of religious liberty are unchanged in their opinion respecting the disabilities of the Jews , the majority of the House of Lords are likewise unchanged in their opinion , that tho removal of those disabilities may be safely refused . The Government in these circumstances would be only
throwing away time hi attempting to carry a measure which one I louse is sure to reject . Many liberal members of Parliament , while they would support a motion to relieve the Jews from their disabilities , would consider as inopportune a question which would not advance tho object to bo attained . I must , therefore , consider that it would bo inexpedient to stir the question of Jcw'sh emancipation in the present session of Parliament . llia f claims so just can be permanently rejected , I will not believe . But tho friends of intolerance naturally cling to this last vestige of religious persecution , and exult in the facility with which the exclusion of a body not formidable in numbers can bo inai . itniiied .--I remain , S r , your obedient servant , J . Kusmbm- b . dnoy Smith , I _» SQ . __ _ . a ... » . rr " \ Tra / -i / -kivrT \ iTrm MktaphoksAwfl Misconduct
Two ITioii-Tokv - «; o / a 7 ivistkk . s -Tlio Mcrnhu , Herald on M onday lost , chunrouX Premier with wallowing two bitter pills to charged . no i l influence , and accused tho Coali-EoT Irov . « with their ' dark aliadow- the glory tion ot sihowm b rocominoil our coutem"llruryTSl ^ « £ » tlo purgative to the turbid hf ? o- -- ^ -S ^ -On Thursday ovcMititf at half-Pi "' live , a house under repair in Groat ir sn ' eet , Seven-dial * , fell , burying aovoral persona n tho ruiViH . The police wore promptly on tho spot , and ; , Jcei " l in extricating tho sufferer * . Seven or eight me , " women , and children were dug out , and they ure all doing favourably .
June 9, 1855.] The Leader. 545
June 9 , 1855 . ] THE LEADER . 545
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), June 9, 1855, page 17, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_09061855/page/17/
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