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    No 507. Pec 10, 1859-] THE L E A P EB, 1...

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    THE BROKERS AND THE EMPEROR, Great amuse...

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    The Duke Of Rutland Presided At An Agric...

    with the vast resources of 37 , 000 , 000 of people , without any ' Minister ' , governing alone , with this enormous power , —not quarrelling with youhe is much wiser than that—but preparing for the eventuality of war . I say that if we were to remain perfectly passive in this state of things we should be -madmen or idiots . You will ask me , how long is this state of things to last ? when is there to be an end of all this ? when is there to be a termination of this miserable state of things , -which , brings two European countries into the wretched condition of perpetually arming against each other ? I can only answer -that * in my own opinion , the end of it will be in the day when it shall please France to return to Parliamentary Government . Mr Kinglake proceeded to describe the two ways in which a fatal blow could be struck against the greatness of England-r-the depriving her of a supremacy at sea— -or a successful invasion of this island ; of this latter catastrophe , ( supposing it should ever occur ) he asked : ^ - " How is it to be met if it does come to pass ? Why , gentlemen , all England has answered the question . The Emperor of the French came over here as our ally and our guest , and he saw the reception which a free people was able to give to an allied Sovereign towards whom they bore good-will . If it should ever be , his mission , or his destiny , as he would perhaps call it ; to come here as an invader , then he will see , if I mistake not , what kind of a reception a free people can give to an enemy who dares to invade their shores . ( Protracted cheering . ) I have great faith in our army , and no one can be more impelled by a thousand circurnstauces than I am , to look with affection and admiration to the achievements of that brilliant force . The invader , whoever he may be , will hear something of our army ; but if I mistake not , should he ever touch the beach lie will hear . something of the volunteer artillery ( cheers ) , and if he comes a little further , and gets into oar turnpike rnads and our lanes , and comes to our homesteads to help 'himself to our hay , or to our turnip fields to make a meal of the soup ( laughter )/' . he will hear something likewise of our rifle volunteers . " ' ' , On Wednesday afternoon a meeting of gentlemen in favour of Parliamentary Reform convened by a Reform Committee sitting in King-street , Cheapside , was held at the Guildhall Coffee-house . Many members of Parliament were present , and Mr . Wra . Har' arcayo . ' ' w ; i = c .-. l ' cl to tUe clitrr . TheOh . i-irimri , in his opening speech , remarked upon the rifle volunteer movement as likely to interfere with the cause they had at heart . A resolution expressive of thanks to Mr . Bright was adopted , and this was followed by a motion affirming the specific points of Reform now demanded . Mr . Bright , M . P ., who was present , referred to the care and labour , which , at the request of a preceding conference , he had bestowed upon the preparation of a BUI upon the subject of reform , winch , in its main provisions , appeared to him eminently adapted to meet the wishes of the great body of earnest reformers throughout the kingdom . He believed , as he had stated since more than once , that it was not in the nature of things that a non-official member of the House of Commons should be able to pass through that House a satisfactory anda comprehensive . measure on a great public question like this , and that it would be necessary that the Bill , to succeed , should be introduced by the united force , and defended by the united force and interest of a Cabinet . The object of his preparing a Bill , with a view to submit to the House was , not so much that he expected to be able to pass it , as to lay before the House and the country something which would indicate to Parliament and to the Government the sort of measure whicU those who were in favour of refornrVere looking for at some not very distant period . Lord John Russell had declared before the dissolution what were , his views of the measure of reform which ho would be prepared to introduce if ho were a Minister . The noble lord stated that a £ 10 franchise for counties , and a £ 0 rental franchise for boroughs , with the wiping off of some thirty scats from small boroughs , he should bo prepared to propose , with the intention of transferring those seats to certain large constituencies thereafter to bo decided upon . They were in a very different position now from that which they occupied lust year . Xhey had the Bill which ho hud prepared in compliance with their wishoa before them , but with respect to which there wero the same difficulties which , as he had stated , existed at that time | and they hud also before thorn the general features of tho measure which Lord John ltussoll hud said , if he were a MlnlBtor , he would be prepared to submit to rarnament , and from which it was but fair to presume the Government would not in any essential particular depart . lie entirely concurred that the Liberal members of tho House , of Commons should hold themselves free to act as circumstances might dictate . Tho grout crime of the BUI of 1832 was , that it purposely excluded the greut body of the

    working classes . It admitted a large number of the middle class , but it left the condition of the working classes exactly the same as it was before . The proposition of Liord John Russell , though it fell very much short pf what he ( Mr . Bright ) proposed , was , at any rate ,-one that avoided the great crime of the Bill of 1832—for , although it would leave out a vast number of householders belonging to the working classes , and some belonging to other classes also , it would certainly not be an intended exclusion , in the nature of an insult , to purposely bar them out , like the Bill of 1832—but , wherever it differed from the Bill of 1832 , it would be a Bill of admission to the working classes . No moral man could look at the objections to which the present system was open , the corruption by which it was characterised , and consider the propositions which lie and hisfriends intended to support until they were carried outj without admitting that the result of the change would be infinitely better for the morality and the happiness of the country than that of the present system . By the representative system , as we now had it , the country was divided into two distinct nations , —all those who occupied houses above £ 10 a-year , being 6 , 000 , 000 of people , represented by a proportionate number of adult males ; and all those who occupied houses rated below . £ 10 , and who should be represented in like manner by their proportion of adult males , but were not . It \ vas obvious / therefore , that by raising up this distinction the population was divided into two nations , separated from each other by a gulf which a very small percentage of the working classes were now able to pass . With regard to the Government , he should be very sorry to say a word that appeared ill-natured or that was calculated to increase their difficulty in dealing with this question . Unquestionably the Government would have difficulties , and very considerable difficulties , to overcome . When Lord John Russell ' s proposition was made last summer there was a general feeling in the country that it was the sort of offer that would be likely to be received as being a long way from the absurdity of the Reform Bill of r < ord Derby ' s Government , while it also left at a considerable distance the . advanced scheme which the Reform Association had laid before the country . And although many wished that it had gone further , yet , looking at the result of the late elections and at the discussions which had taken place in Parliament and out of Parliament , he b"li'jved lie was justified in snyingr . that great numbers of all classes of relomiers were' whang to acquiesce in the fairness of Lord John Russell s proposed measuse . At all events such a measure would be an honest one . It might not be the best , but so far as the Government were concerned it would be fairly carrying out that which they offered before they were a Government , and would at all events exonerate them from any charge of treachery or feebleness . Upon these grounds , therefore , he . felt that he and those \ vho acted with Jam would be bound in honour to give to the Government all the support in their power in promoting the enactment of such a law . He should not oppose the Government Bill , because it did not include the ballot if it should so happen that the ballot formed no part of it . Provided it offered a fair suffrage , and that extension of the suffrage which they had a right to expect he would give it his support . It it were a measure introduced in good faith , as in that case it would be , he should feel that he was not doing his duty to the hundreds and thousands who would be included under such a Bill , but who were now excluded , if he placed himself as a difficulty in the way of tho Government in their endeavours to pass it . He wished the Government success with all his heart ; and he intimated , in conclusion , that should the Government Bill fail , he would introduce the one which he hud prepared , and which he said was in so perfect a state that it might be brought in at any moment . If he did not go so fur as some - of his friends desired , he hoped they would give him credit for seeing difficulties which were not perceived by them , and that they would not imagine that he had withdrawn a hair ' s breadth from the principles he had ever professed , or that his feelings in favour of a more extended reform wero less intent than at any former period . M the gmlthfleld Club Dinner , Lord Bbrnisrs said they were now establishing volunteer rifle corps throughout tho kingdom . He most cordially approved of that movement , not because he believed that illustrious mun who presided over the destinies of Franco hud the slightest idea of his , own fVoo will over to invade this country : but ho might be placed in u position which , to a certain extent , would rouder him a creature of circumstances . When , howover , it was recollected that the Emperor ° * tUo French hud a standing army of from 500 , 000 to 700 , 000 men , flushed with victory , and that there was a feeling on the part of some of tho officers ot X army to wipe off that which they had co . isiaored m a stain upon them , hence there might | bo o , war forced upon our « Uy . At the eunie

    time there were large numbers of the French people , connected with , agriculture and commerce , who knew that nothing could be so detrimental to the interest of " their nation as a war with , this country . At all events , it was quite proper that this great country ^ should not be in a position to be dependent upon the will or Caprice of any single individual or nation , The rifle corps ntovement was , therefore , most essential , and he believed the same feeling which animated the breasts of their old volunteers pervaded the feelings of . the people of England of the present day . He was quite sure that in that movement the farmers of England would take a prominent part . Although an invasion of this country might produce much mischief , still he knew that the farmers of England had sturdy hearts and strong arms , and that , let the attempt be made , they would be sure to repel the invader . At Reading there may probably be anew election contest , that is to say if the Solicitor-General is created a judge . Sir F . Goldsmid is already named on the Liberal side , and Mr . R . A . Benson on that of the Conservatives . We may now expect that the corrupt practices a Berwick-upon-Tweed will undergo examination , as a Committee of the Northern Reform Union , believing that Mr . Marjoribanks owes his seat to corrupt practices , and acting upon the advice of counsel , have caused indictments for bribery to be served upon the leading nonrprofessional agents of the lion , gentleman . The case will be tried in London .

    No 507. Pec 10, 1859-] The L E A P Eb, 1...

    No 507 . Pec 10 , 1859- ] THE L E A P EB , 1337

    The Brokers And The Emperor, Great Amuse...

    THE BROKERS AND THE EMPEROR , Great amusement has been created during the past week at the expense of four merchants or brokers of Liverpool , named Shaw , Mellor , Irving , and Blackwelli who , one day after dining together , thought proper to write to the Emperor of the French , requesting to be favoured with a statement of his intentions with regard to peace or war with Great Britain . A local paper says : — " Nothing serious was dreamt of—the letter was posted , but a reply was never anticipated . So little was the affair thought of , that a copy of the letter to the Emperor was not even kept , and the whole matter was looked upon as a good joke . Judge of the consternation of these four gentlemen , when , on Friday , they received a letter in reply to theirs , written by an official personage , but which not one of the four could read , a 9 it was written in the French language . The conduct of the writers of the letter to the Emperor was met with a hearty denunciation by nearly all the local papers . " The reply was from M . Mocqiiard , secretary to the Emperor , and was as follows : —" Gentlemen , — You have addressed yourselves direct to the Emperor ' to know what were his intentions as regards England V Great fear or great confidence alone can . explain this step . On the one side , you are possessed with the imaginary trouble which appears to have seized your country with the rapidity of an epidemic ; and , on the - ' "Other , you reckon on the loyalty of him from whom you desire a reply . It was , however , easy for you yourselves to give it , if you had calmly examined the true cause of your apprehensions . That cause you would have found only in all the rumours created among your fellow-countrymen by the obstinate propagation of the most chimerical of alarms , because there has not been , up to the present time , under whatever circumstance , a word or an act of the Emperor which could permit a doubt of ins sentiments , and consequently of his intentions , towards your country . His conduct , mvambly the same , has not ceased for one moment to show urn as a faithful and irreproachable ally , lhat which ho hus been he wishes ( I declare it to you in his name ) to continue to be . Witness again to-day the approaching community of perils to be shared at a , fur distance by your soldiers and ours . hus , henceforth , fully reassured , oppose an error v * Iilch is too prevalent . Great nations should appreciate , not fear each other . Receive , gentlemen , tho cxprossion of my distinguished sentiment * . Much curiosity , says tho Times , 1 ms been expressed in the city regarding the commercial standiiff of the four Liverpudlians who have rendered themselves famous by constituting themselves tho orcrans of communication between England and tho Jinporor of the French , and who have thought themsolves entitled to discard the respectful and rocognted custom of making their own Government the Slum of any wishes or sentiments they migli < lo" lra to conveyf They do not scorn , » w « r «™ r ^ ^ y boon previously so eminent as to render their dentlflcatton u matter of ease out of their own locality . Another London paper adds :-Much speculation has boon afloat in Liverpool as to tho reason why he original letter from the "four" has not , yet aeon tho light . It was stated in Liverpool that the Sere liS not kept a copy of the document , but our correspondents wove Informed' that the copy was in existence , but that the reason it hftd nob

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 10, 1859, page 5, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_10121859/page/5/