Current:

Leader (1850-1860), 12th May 1860, Edition 2 of 2, Page 3

Page 3
Page 3
3 of 24

On this page

  • Text (3)
  • Transcript

    • 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.

      Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

      May 12,1860.J The Leader And Saturday An...

      May 12 , 1860 . J The Leader and Saturday Analyst . 439

      State Of Business In Parliament. The Ses...

      STATE OF BUSINESS IN PARLIAMENT . THE session is half over . Talk in abundance there lias been , on every conceivable topic , and various Acts of Parliament have been advanced " 3 stage , as it is edited , 'in either House ;• yet the business of the session remains yet to be done . Mr . Gladstone , who led off at the opening with unrivalled force , seems to have somehow lost the power of commanding confidence in his financial schemes . The halo that surrounded him as the matchless Budget-maker is fast fading away ; the French Commercial Treaty begins to look something very like a failure ; and upon the question of the Paper Duties Government narrowly

      escaped being actually beaten last Monday night . Has Mr . Gladstone mislaid his talisman ? or when will he find it again ? His condition resembles that of the man in the German story , who not only sold the immortal part of him to a sable-vested and sallow-visaged seducer , but who , at his instance , laid out most of his moneys as his whispering counsellor bade him ; and who , after resources were sunk and reputation compromised , discovered to his dismay that he had been beguiled by a mock Mephistophiles after all . The Manchester School do not turn out to 2 ) ossess the peculiar powers to which they once laid claim . They have undertaken to deal with the two most remarkable

      men of the time , but the result of their dealings does not appear to be successful or satisfactory . By Louis Napoleon it looks very like as if they had been thoroughly done ; and as a financier Mr . Gladstone seems to have been thoroughly done by them . The chief error throughout seems to have been that of onesidedness . In order to be able to say that he had made a Commercial Treaty with France before the existence of negotiations could become known or their course be thwarted by discussion or

      delay , Mr . Cobden was induced , as amateur ambassador , to assent to stipulations on the part of the French Government , the force and effect of which practically , it is now clear , that he did not understand : and the Chancellor of- the Exchequer -haying given himself up as a financier to the Manchester School , could and would listen to no warnings or suggestions of caution . He had Kichard Cobden for his negotiator at Paris ; John Bright for his ally in Parliament ; and MiLNER Gibson for his confidential supporter in the

      Cabinet . With such aid he believed that failure was impossible- and in the first eclat of his great Budget speech , it was certainly not easy to- discern the prognostics of approaching discredit or discomfiture . We never remember , however , a more rapid decay of official prestige for legislative popularity than , that which the last two months have witnessed ; and unless it suits the future purpose of Napoleon HI . to make such concessions as will virtually render the compact of January last a new Treaty , we do not see how Mr . Gladstone and his Manchester backers ¦ r » art-V » ft- ^ v ^ y-i / mt . ofl , frnnxJ : he . j : eproach of unworkmanlike work and

      unbusiness-like execution of the nation ' s business . Meanwhile , the " principal measure of the Session , " as Lord John designated the lleform Bill , has been allowed to stand over from week to week without any decisive progress being made in it , and has only been read a second time , after lying for nine weeks upon the table of the Commons , upon an understanding that another month should be suffered to elapse before the House was called upon to go into committee . The reason assigned for the former delay was the necessity of carrying the financial measures of the Government early in the year ; and the excuse for the further postponement until the 4 th of June

      was the necessity of passing the estimates , no part of which has yet been considered . Whether the state of public business after Whitsuntide , as indicated by the Notice Paper for the month of June , will or will not leave an unoccupied field for the discussion of the Kcform Bill in the House of Commons , we do not venture to say . But , as far as the fate of the measure is concerned , the question is really immaterial . The Whigs have virtually surrendered to their adversaries the decision of the mutter . Whether or not nny Reform . Bill shall pass this year , obviously now depends upon the will of Lord Derby and his followers . If by talking against time they wish to prevent legislation on the subject until the session shall have been wholly consumed , they

      can manifestly do so ; for Ministers have so contrived that nil the other business of the yenr shall be disposed of first , and that the legislative examination of the varied and important details of their lleform project shall not : commence until the fifth month of the session . If the Opposition shall , however , consider it to bo more for their interest to get rid of a question so perplexing for them , and one which they found it so hopeless to deal \ tith when in power , they may , indeed , for reasons of their own , waive the exorcise of their obstructive privilege , nnd agree that , upon the whole , it was better to have some Bill passed this session than to leave the most embarrassing of all questions over for another yenr . Who knows what may happen by that time , or whether prospects of olHce may not again be opened to them ?

      If they are not already convinced , we suspect they will be so ere long ; but if the present offer of compromise should fall through , it can never be * revived with any . prospect of popular acceptance . It has not been an easy matter to prevent its public repudiation in various quarters ; and should Lord - John Russell fail for the third time in the space of eight years to carry a Bill , the public will not endure the idea of any further fumbling or paltering by the Whigs with the momentous question . But , be it for good or be it for evil , it is clear that the ball is now at the feet of the Tories , and that they may either send it home if they will , or kick it for the moment off the ground .

      Lord John Russell And Sicily. From The M...

      LORD JOHN RUSSELL AND SICILY . FROM the moment that Lord John Russell accepted the portfolio of the Foreign-office , we have endeavoured to place the most liberal construction upon his conduct , and have been among the first to recognise and applaud every act that illustrated a sound principle or tended to a beneficial result ; bat we could not avoid seeing that his Lordship had not grown with the times , nor shown himself capable of taking a leading part in the progress of international relations . His ideas are too small , and come too late . He halts between old things and new , sometimes flashing up for a moment , as if he intended to be the champion of principle , and then sinking down to be the advocate of an expediency poor in intellect and paltry in heart . While Cavour was moving onwards towards the

      emancipation of a large portion of Italy , Lord John Russell reprobated his proceedings—they disturbed that common-place serenity in which Whiggery loves to dwell . As a matter of calculation his Lordship was wrong ; for had Cavour told the Italians that he would do no more than permit Sardinia to offer the example of a constitution in miniature , the throne of Victor Emmanuel must have been " overthrown . In point of morality his Lordship ' s course was equally vicious . The awful sufferings and wrongs of Italy were glaring facts calling to- Heaven for vengeance , and making it a positive duty that those Italians who had power should exert " it with all their energy in favour of the national

      cause . If his - Lordship cannot feel those strong , overpowering dictates of conscience which compel men in great circumstances to throw away the-beggarly rags of expediency , and become heroes , patriots ,, andj if needs be , martyrs , rather than forbear to sustain the right , he has read enough history to know that characters have existed who have been impelled by such noble emotions ; and that by them , not by prudential timeservers , have nations been rescued and humanity made great . bs

      Tt was a miserable thing for an English Statesman to . constantly muttering to the Sardinian Sovereign and people : ' [ Pray be little : great thoughts are disturbing , great actions alarming to little minds . " Fortunately the advice was spurned , and when , ~~ b y its' rejFctfoTiT ^ sT ^ eml ^ illiens ^ of ^ eop le ^ ecanic , fre e , Lord John Russell accepted the fact with satisfaction , but still mumbled the old caution , " Pray be small ; " and the wretched counsel was heard without rebuke in that House of Commons

      which maligns the people , and is so alarmed at the prospect of Parliamentary Reform . If we were to cull passagos from recent speeches and papers ot our Foreign Minister , we could draw from them pictures of Neapolitan tyranny and brutality , that would more than justify the rebellion ' that has occurred . He went so far as to tell the King ot the Two Sicilies , that if he forced his subjects to insurrection he must expect no aid from this country ; but the moment the insurrection occurs , his Lordship takes the wrong side ; and while the island of Sicily rings with the horrid noises of murder and the shrieks of young girls handed over to a ruffian soldiery ,

      the English Foreign Minister bonsts that the Sicilian Monarchy had " a just reliance , a very jud reliance upon the friendship ot the British Government . " His Lordship further stated that he had urged the King of Sardinia to stop the expedition ot Garibaldi , " and not to allow it to proceed to Sicily . Such utterances as these are truly disgraceful , and if made in any other House of Commons that we can recollect would have called forth the most indignant comments , instead of being received with a silence as ignominious as the words themselves . If Lord John . Russell were pressed to explain the cause of the

      of his lamentable conduct , lie would probably tell us unsettled condition of Europe , and the danger that nny movement might proceed far 'beyond the boundaries ot the locality in which it originated . There is no doubt danger 111 tins , and thp danger must bo imminent so long as hirge countries arc under the thraldom of Governments that rest upon force and not upon right . What , howover , must bo the influence ot his Lordship ' s advice , which . Victoii Emmanuel has partially ^ ovfodTf Has not tho conduct of the Sardinian Court increased its dinv culties ? If it does not stop GAurnAi . ur , or intercept . his reinforcements , it will seem weak and impotent . It hns interfered

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), May 12, 1860, page 3, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_12051860/page/3/