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    June 16, 1855.] T H E L. E A D E K,. 565

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    THE NEWEST NEW WORLD. The House of Commo...

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    WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. The world, no doub...

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    The Prince Consort On Free Government. T...

    power to do it . Freedom and free institutions give you mighty and irresistible ardour in a great cause ; they do not give you silent credulity and blind following in a petty one . The people of this country are carrying on this struggle , they are pouring out their money and their blood under the belief that they are crusading against despotism . But in this belief they are miserably deceived . They are crusading with , and indirectly for , despotism . The object that their statesmen bave in view is purely a diplomatic one , to

    diminish the preponderance of Russia m the Black Sea . Hence the country and the Government are all at cross-purposes . The country , in sublime oblivion of our magnanimous ally , wonders that the Government does not openly declare itself to be crusading against despotism , as embodied in the Czab , and heartily take the nation into partnership in the crusade . The Government , on the other hand , is disconcerted aud scandalised at the uproarious interference of the nation with its deep designs for cutting down the Russian fleet . The Government , of course ,

    when they want to raise the wind , appeal to our hatred as freemen of Russian influence in Europe . But how will that influence be diminished if all the points demanded at the Vienna Conferences are gained ? Suppose Russia is bound by a paper treaty not to meddle with her friends and accomplices , the Greek Christians in the Turkish empire , will she be bound , even by a paper treaty , not to league with German despots , and lend them the aid of her piratical arms to put down in blood the rising liberty of their peoples ?

    When the Principalities are made neutral , or independent , or Turkish , or whatever it is to be , how will that diplomatic transaction guarantee Hungary against having the same fearful odds cast against her again in any future struggle for freedom ? Compel Russia to accept a clause binding her never again to interfere by force or diplomacy for the maintenance or extension of despotism in Europe , and you will at least have asserted a principle , and made the House of Romanoff feel that what they now suffer is the punishment of their crimes .

    Our polity is republican , but our diplomacy is monarchical ; it is the only thing really monarchical which we have remaining . This little shred of the old system dragged us , in spite of real and essential character , into the Revolutionary war . We fought to avenge the dethronement of a dynasty and the murder of a King , being ourselves in the full enjoyment of those liberties which were the fruits of an exactly similar operation . We have allowed the Foreign Office to fix the objects of this war , and of course they are the objects of a

    Monarchical diplomacy , not of an essentially Republican nation . They are strictly limited by regard for the sensibilities of that group of despots from whom , in virtue of a name , we continue to receive " the most satisfactory assurances . " Free institutions are on their trial . They are trying to be at onco what they are and what they are not—a hard trial for any institutions . Oh for one frank , unmistakable Europea Commonwealth ! It would blow secret diplomacy to the winds , and make war , if it did make war , for those objects which can alono justify the shedding of blood .

    June 16, 1855.] T H E L. E A D E K,. 565

    June 16 , 1855 . ] T H E L . E A D E K ,. 565

    The Newest New World. The House Of Commo...

    THE NEWEST NEW WORLD . The House of Commons did notable work on Thursday last , in profound unconsciousness , we believe , of its real scope and value . They gave a constitution which upon tho whole we may pronounce admirable , to a country which ia tho heir-apparent of tho coming time—one day deatinod to be tho mistress of India , tho protector of China , the rival of

    America . In a thin House , after , a debate of no great force or insight , the foundations and landmarks of a nation were laid down in the new constitution for Victoria , the chief of the Australian States . The colonists were represented by a rather incongruous opposition , composed of exofficial Whigs , semi-official Tories , and Irish Radicals . But on . the whole their views seem to us just and reasonable . Let us endeavour to winnow them from out the bushel of parliamentary chaff in the morning papers .

    The bill confers upon the Colony an absolute control over its own affairs , its lands , its revenue , its public offices . It creates a Government responsible to , and removable by , the popular branch of the local Legislature ; it places in their hands the appointment of every public office , with a single exception—that of the Governor . This is a large and literal constitution under which a new people may healthily grow and develop . But the Opposition have pointed out two or three serious impediments to its successful working which , if we had more trust in parliamentary wisdom , we should count on seeinsr removed .

    The qualification of a member of the Legislative Assembly is a freehold estate of the value of 20 OOL , situated in the colony . No other property but freehold will suffice , and no other locality but Victoria . The result of this absurd restriction is to throw the representation into the hands of a very small , and not a particularly eligible , class . And to make their monopoly secure , it is provided that each member shall make a solemn

    declaration that " he has not collusively or colourably obtained a title" to this property for the purpose of a qualification . Note the result of these provisions . " Freehold property alone creates a qualification . " —This was once the law in England , but it became so odious and oppressive to shut out wealthy manufacturers , merchants , fundholders , and shareholders , that in the first year of the present reign it was repealed , and landed property of any tenure , and chattel property of any kind , ma } ' now create a qualification . Mr . Bright qualifies out of his mills , Mr . Cobden out of his Consols .

    " Every Member shall in alee a declaration" Sfc . —It is computed that more , than half the Members of the House of Commons might be shut out by a scrutiny which it is proposed to apply to every Member of a provincial Parliament . There are fifty-three ( Scotch Members , for example , who are exempt from the necessity of any property qualification , on the Specific ground that estates are small in Scotland . Six representatives of universities are exempt , in order

    that men competent to represent tho seats of learning may not be shut out for want of land or money . Fifty or sixty heirs-apparent of Peers , or of persons qualified to be lOiights of tho Shire , are admitted without any question as to property in possession . Perhaps there aro as many manufacturers and fundholders who qualify from chattels . And lastly , there aro undoubtedly a largo number of persons to -whom property haa been legally conveyed for the purpose of creating a qualification . None of theso classes , or any

    corresponding classes , aro admissible in the colony . This is rather strong . Provisions sufficient to protect tho authority and dignity of a Parliament which lias lasted for seven hundred years might bo adequate , we should think , for one which has not lasted quite fifty months . Perhaps there is something in tho naturo of a colony which makes extra precau tiona necessary . Hardly ; for no other cplony haa adopted them . There is no

    property qualification for the Lower Chamber in Canada ; none in the Cape ; none in the neighbouring colonies to Victoria—South Australia and New South Wales ; none across the straits in Van Diemen ' s Land ; none in the British Isles in the Southern Pacificjffew Zealand . Almost the last news from the Antipodes was an insurrection in Victoria , ia which nearly sixty men were killed . The insurgents caught with arms in their hands

    have since been tried by Melbourne juries and acquitted : acquitted on the ground that they had been subject to taxation without representation . One may predict the consequences of sending to such a people a constitution which , carefully shuts them out from , any place in the Legislature . These diggers create the wealth , bear the burdens , and pay the taxes of the state ; if they are excluded from all share in its management we may predict a thunderclap .

    Another point urged by the Opposition was the reduction of an enormous Civil List granted to the Crown . ; as this , however , is not a permanent burden , but reversible at any time by a vote of the Local Parliament , there is no serious danger here . They also propose to restore certain provisions , which Lord John Rttssei < I / struck out of the original measure , limiting the class of bills -which the Governor will be authorised

    to hold over for the consideration of the home Government . There is no greater hinderance to prosperity than uncertainty in a people of the laws under which they live . That just and necessary measures , which have been duly considered and deliberately adopted in the country to which they apply , should need to travel thirty thousand miles round the globe , and be subject to an official in Downingstreet before they come into operation , is a grievaiice which no people will endure a moment longer than they must . If this be not cured , it will cure itself in a very peremptory aiid effective manner on the spot . But with all its drawbacks the Victoria

    Constitution is a great and generous measure , under which that singular colony may grow into its destined prosperity and power . When London was raging for the Reform Bill the foot of civilised man had not been planted on the shores where now sits the city of . Melbourne with its eighty thousand inhabitants ; before London has achieved true administrative reform , a new state , holding in a strong grasp the rod of empire , will have set ita stamp upon the scroll of nations .

    Weights And Measures. The World, No Doub...

    WEIGHTS AND MEASURES . The world , no doubt , is right in betaking itself at once to the use of that which answers its present purpose , without waiting for that which , out of all abstract possibilities , is demonstrably to be preferred : or clae it might not bo difficult to show tJmt when men began to count , they ought to have left out their thumbs , and contented themselves

    with their eight fingers . Probably , however , they could not then spare tho extra digits from their limited- arithmetic , and they certainly did not see what complexities of calculation they incurred for their descendants by thus indulging themselves with tho presont convenience of the thumbs . Toil has boon mndo tho period of recurrence with a universality which prevents our remembering that if ; has no natural title whatever to tho honour ; for , as far as principle is concerned , wo niig {) t just as well stop at 7 or 11 , instead ot 0 , and begin again at 8 or 12 , iiiatoad ot 10 , aud so on for all succeeding periods . Iho

    question is one of convenience . The chief advantage of tho period ot 8 over that of 10 , for general use , lies , perhaps , ia its capability of perpetual bisection down .

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), June 16, 1855, page 13, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_16061855/page/13/