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Leader (1850-1860), 10th July 1858, Edition 2 of 2, Page 13, No notice cau betaken of anonymous corre...

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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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      ^ . Jfc 33 , JT uiiY 10 ^ 1858 . ] ^ ¦ JP H JB ^ -jJJE A P E R . 661

      Notices To Correspondekts. Rustic Us Abn...

      NOTICES TO CORRESPONDEKTS . Rustic us Abnoemib is thanked for his suggestion , which shall have full consideration .

      No Notice Cau Betaken Of Anonymous Corre...

      No notice cau betaken of anonymous correspondence . Whateveris intended foi insertion must be authenticated , by the name and address of the writer ; not necessarily for publication , but as a guarantee of his pood faith . It is impossible to acknowledge the mass of letters we receive . Their insertion is often delayed , owing to a press of matter ; and when omitted , it is frequently from reasons quiteindependent of tliemeriisof thecommunicntion . We o . v . iuot undertake to return rejected communications

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      Ii Y Y - Satubday, July 10, 1858.

      ii y y - SATUBDAY , JULY 10 , 1858 .

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      ' ^ tt lic Maiix ¦ . o : —

      Tiiere Ia Nothing So Revolutionary, Beca...

      Tiiere ia nothing so revolutionary , because there is nothing so unnatural and convulsive , as the strain to keepthmgs fixed-when allthe world is by thevery law of itscreationm eternal progress . —Dx . Annox . i >

      The American Dinner. The Peculiarity Whi...

      THE AMERICAN DINNER . The peculiarity which attended the celebration of the 4 th of Juty at the X < ondon Tavern , on Monday last , was in complete liarrnony with all for which this journal has contended in American affairs . The festival — one of the most truly successful which have ever been -witnessed within the classic wails of that illustrious gathering-place—was intended , to celebrate , not only the eightythird anniversary of American independence , but the founding of " the American . Association" in London . It was , therefore , a double event j but the political significancy was quadruple . In the political meeting-house of Englishmen , a large company of eminent Americans met to commemorate not the

      severance of the colony from the British Government , but the establishment of an English , colony in its political maturity . The reunion of America and ^ England was distinctly recognized on , the occasion , not only by the assembled company , but by our truly gracious and intelligent Sovereign , who sent her own picture to be placed on the right hand of "Washington ' s , and so to look down upon

      the assemblage with all the meaning that that truly graceful act could convey . The American Minister announced that the right of search , the right even of visit , no longer constituted any ; question between Great Britain and the United States , our own Government having given up both the points . This is no news to our own readers , who have been aware of the fact for several weeks * But

      not the less was the official announcement welcome in that peculiar assemblage ; welcomed by Englishmen as well as Americans , who joined at the festive table . There needed therefore no apologetical reason why the 4 th of July might be celebrated in London . Rightly cousidered , it was an English as well as an American success . With pardonable partiality of patriotism , the Chairman maintained that

      the declaration of American independence was a greater event than any that has beenwitnessed since the great sacrifice which , through death , gave life to Christianity . But tho event cannot be separated from the great series to winch it belonged . It was not only carried out ; by Englishmen , but it was suggested to them by their English antecedents , and was in reality nothing more than an application of the English constitution . The series may be said to have had its beginning * "Wo believe wo shall not be wrong if wo express our belief that tho question will be found to have boon settled to the satisfaction of both Governments . " —Leader , Juno 19 th .

      in those days when the Barous of England met JoHtf on the field of Runnymede , though indeed that event was itself not the beginning . " We cannot trace the commencement of our constitution ; we lose it in the early rights which the Saxons acquired for themselves and imported with themselves , added perhaps to some which they found already implanted in the soil , and augmented b rothers which their successors carried out for themselves . For it is a great historic fact

      to which we have constantly borne witness , that the liberties of Englishmen have on all occasions been acquired by themselves , before they have been authentically recognized in our Parliamentary records . Magna Charta was thus a Parliamentary and royal recognition of rights already acquired . It is to be remarked , too , as a fact which has never been sufficiently borne in mind by Englishmen of all ranks , that , in those days , the lordly Barons spoke up for the classes beneath

      them , and that Magna - Charta records the rights of the plebeian freemen as well as of the Barons . This same fact is conspicuous in our subsequent Charters ; and we have always thought it a mistake in our modern " Chartists , " that they overlook the significancy of that union in the acquisition of political rights . If we had depended solely on the parchment , our constitution would have had a very frail existence ; for it needed more than one renewal of the great Charter to

      keep alive the rights recorded . It was the refusal to acknowledge the Petition of Rights which , brought CHAitiiES I . into his troubles - —th & Petition of Rights declared by the greatest of all English lawyers to be not the concession of new rights , but the declaration of existing rights . Public opinion , sustained by the bravery and will of Englishmen , established the success of the declaratory act ; while the refusing cost ChartjES I . his head . This new item in the already lengthening list

      of great public events confirming the principles of Magna Charta , contributed to lend a force and stability to the British Constitution which greatly aided the efforts of patriotism , in subsequent days . It shook the heart of James the Second while attempting an encroachment denied to his father . It strengthened the great lawyer Somers and his bold compatriots , in standing by the Bill of Rights . It confirmed the politic compliancy

      of "William : the Tjhikd in affixing the royal signature to that new record of English rights . The tax question between the American colonies and George the Third was exactly of the same kind : the colonies stood by the spirit and letter of the English law , which Geoege this Thirj > denied ; and in accordance with the uniform result of previous contests of the same kind , the colonies succeeded and G-eorgb failed .

      The victory of the Americans had an immense effecb in this country , to which we owe in no small part the still-continued vigour and enlargement of Liberal , that is , English , constitutional opinions on this side of the Atlantic . To the same sustained series of lessons we owe the intelligent submission with which Wilxiam the Fourth affixed his signature to tho Reform Bill ; a statute winch falls short from carrying out , for modern

      days , the full spirit of the firat Charter as applied to the existent stato of society aud of the country . It is the same series of lesaous which has sustained the Liberal party in calling for measures to realize for our country , with nil our social changes and developments , a more complete application of the principles of tho Charter ; and tho same series of lessons which has contributed to dictate tho high-minded and admirable policy of Queen Victoria , whose whole reign will

      stand conspicuous in . British history for the fidelity with which she adhered to the best spirit , as well as to the letter , of the British Constitution . Aud she has reaped her reward as one of the most successful monarchs —perhaps the most thoroughly successful that ever sat on the British throne . ; The history of England and America is thus a common history . " We lave not only a common language , a common law , a

      common trade , arid common interests , in the lower sense of the word , but we have a common political history . 3 Tor convenience , we make a distinction between " England " and " America ; " but the staple of the population of both countries , and the vis vitoe on both sides , are English . Thus , the celebration of the 4 th of July is even a more important English event than many which we have considered national .

      Tins community of action as well as of political spirit and history will be strengthened by the founding of the American Association . Ostensibly and in motive it has more modest purpose . It is an association to relieve poor Americans , if any such exist , and sometimes , we know , curious beings of American birth stray to this side of the Atlantic and ' have to be helped back again through the generosity of Americans . There never has been , we believe , any " difficulty" in . this process ; but the association will have other use 3 . It will

      impart a greater consistency to the public opinion of Americans in this country , and most usefully . One of the happiest strokes in the admirable speech of Mr . Dallas was his distinction between the popular species of " militia" which . , the Americans employ in their diplomacy , and the regular " army" of European diplomacy—the latter standingapart from the country , and shielded by the Court from the guiding pressure of public opinion . It will be a great advantage to have

      a sort of iete de pont for American public opinion on this side of that broad river , the Atlantic . It could be nothing but official mistakes which could ever betray the two countries into warlike conflict , so horribly destructive to . the property and industry , the very life of men and women , in both countries . Such an equally dreadful and silly event can never happen , so long as public opinion , in the United States and in England , shall be informed on the questions at issue . We are

      proud to believe that our own journal , during the last few years , has had some influence in proclaiming the substantial merits of certain questions on both sides , and has succeeded in . rallying public opinion to its work , with the happiest effects : for ifc lias been by the force of that ruling power , in both countries , that the dangers of war within that period have been superseded and set aside . And thia appeal from the thoroughly unconstitutional methods of diplomacy to public opinion has

      been the strictest application of the principles of the British Constitution to questions between two countries so united by blood , interest , nnd common law , that they can scarcely be considered foreign to each other . The addition of every link which unites the two is an increase of strength to each . The electric cable may have failed ; but our regret is more than compensated by the success in " laying down" the American Association .

      The 11 Ail Way X>Lfmcultx. Can Any Lover...

      THE 11 AIL WAY X > lFmCULTX . Can any lover of out-of-the-way statistics toll us how innny waggou-louds of blue-1 ) ooks and acts of Parliament Railways , witliin the lust ten or a dozen years , have udded to our legislative lumber P Who will take the trouble to reckon up the number of hours iu recurring' sessions that mystified members of both Houses have wasted in committees on railway bills , respecting which it is no slander to say that at tho end of their wearying and profitless

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), July 10, 1858, page 13, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_10071858/page/13/