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    ===== B P **** TUB I/B A3S. [Sattoday,

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    A NATIONAL i>ARTY. IHElirEXT STEP IN THE...

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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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    P J /] S , A T S T \ I. - - - S' Bo The ...

    ^ » /^ jSj ^ ji ^^^^ zz ^ sssssssf -- ~ - " ^~ S C ^ n * iKoiUMpartment , was anxious to retire . E ^^ aaK fe 3 *^ pose that it was not so , and that 3 HaHS & piteent' sayfl truly ^ where ^ as the ' & 1 ^ 31 *^ ^ tfaiw " and vigorous WarMi' £ ? ' B |^^ % ft e (* out By «* the regulations . " How r S / M ^ Pt ^ S ^ the courage or energy of a V ^^^ Mm ^ thsA « an't even put its own men v ~* " " ^ St ^ pfte ^ i ' because it stands in awe of " the regulations . " Does it not mean to fulfil its promisesor is it feeble even to pitifulness ?

    , A vacancy occurs in the Board of Control , and the post is offered to Lord Godebich , who declines it . But why was there a vacancy ? Because Mr . Bobebt Lowjb has retired from the post in disgust—his colleagues glad enough 40 add him to the strength of their Government , but not giving ' him any real share in the < 3 overnmeni . Oh ! no , " he was not in the Cabu ^ t , " an & a man outside must not know & e secrets . So , *< idstrengthen" ttie Government . " Mr . I ^ kc is shelved , hood-winked , and gagged in ^ a ; mindr office . Very different

    wa * his position , when ; ydunger by some years . He led an bpppsition , made the power of his vigorous eloquence felt ri ^ ht round the world , and conirollediie ; councils - of his Sovereign though he , ' did not share them . But that was in a colony ~ in New South Wales . , If a man of real pbwerj one capable of leading countrymen , through r great trials , into and through great reforms ,- —as he ; did , — desires to fer ^ e his country , he must go to the Antipodes or to ( panada ; He will not be allowed at home , unless he lias a jbandle to his . name , or has been long , enough in office to ; be tamed unto subserviency to the clique " of families that surround

    the '^ pyEK ^ iGN j Indignant at treatment which 1 . as ^ Jthroughi - him , an insult to allJEngl ushmen , he retires from office , and we may once m <* efjee ~ ihini a > the real public service . Well , ma ^ the ; Tintes nqte ; the blighting influe ^ ce ^ e ^ eroisgd . over this : country by the cold ; shade of thearistocracy ' £ But the public is W ^ ake ; if th ^ leading journal has caught the popular feeling ; men of the class of Robert Lowe areno longer to be bound and . gagged ; such of the aristocracy as wish to save their

    class must throw themselves on the side of the nation , in the civil contest which our benighted . " gflxermng : class" w *^ pro voke .

    ===== B P **** Tub I/B A3s. [Sattoday,

    ===== B P **** TUB I / B A 3 S . [ Sattoday ,

    A National I>Arty. Ihelirext Step In The...

    A NATIONAL i > ARTY . IHElirEXT STEP IN THE ENQUIRY . " Whom would you have , then ? " asked a scion of " the OPtfmUies , " who was told that the public would not much longer be content to see the Queen running the round of a score of names entitled "to be sent for . " There must be in this country numbers of men ? , infinitely better qualified to conduct affairs than those elderlygentlenien who arrive at . ; years of discretion , senatorial after they have lost theirpoweiv of action ; or who , while

    still * young enoug h' for action , have not matured their experiences . For it takes as long to ffro . w > a statesman out : of thbjse ancient stocks in this qountry as it is reputed to grow an . oak , an elephant ,. or a parrot ; , Tour v British senator seems no longer to be mature , : until , like " fine old port , ' ! the flavour has gone out of -the' body into orustiness . The Queen " sends for * < Lord John BussEtii , . " wh ^ ^ breaks down . ' through si inple . t incapacity , laefore the assault of Derby-Disraeli . - Lord -rDfflBBT cannot evenr establish himself on Ins

    Vstfaf * bufc sits ' loog enough to be roasted for HfcheS -misdeeds of Admiralty and War Office , 1 and , then breaks down . The , Queen vn-1 'tide the round , by sending for several gent ^ 6 toien / at once ; and ; we / have the Coalition , i- < whi ^ abr « ttkst 1 down . 1 This time it is the Whig , rJ * ttdori who 1 baa " drawn the linch-pin at op of ^ tbe ^ oartiagef on which he rides ; and >; , tfciwii ; wOrJ « ive ' .: A )^ io * i round of sendingsrfor .

    every administration during the century . The usage , therefore , is fairly established : it is Busseix , Debby , Abebdeen—Debby , Ey s-SEiii ., PaxmebstoIt ; and we are told that it is to go on until the deluge— Debby , Gbey , Eussexi , — Gbey , Busseli ,, Debby . — "Da capo . Bealiy , there is a good deal of truth 111 the question of our young friend . Who « r the Queen to send for ? There is nobody else that she knows : no gentleman beyond the

    Lord Debby is the first granaVchampion ^ of the British constitution against Coalition ; he begins his attempt to reconstruct a Cabniet by making a Coalition , and before he can add three recruits to his jparty , he breaks down . Gracious Majesty then begins again with Lord John , who breaks down too ; and , finally , a little variety is thrown into the routine , by making Paxmebston Premier , af ter he has been in a second place of almost

    pale of this excettent : society has ever been introduced to her ; and how is she to claim acquaintance with any common M . P . whohas never been to Court , By that rule she might send for Joseph Hume , but decidedly she must draw the line at Hume ; and as men of the Hume class are not usually so universal m their prediction as to be habitues at Court i we ; must soon expect to be without Hume . Who is the Queen to send for ¦

    theu ? ¦ , . . . If we were to make a popular subscription , and to purchase bag wigs , velvet coats , and court swords for the Manchester school , howare we sure that her Majesty would be better ' off ? Tak e ^ the cas 0 as it stands now , with a war on hand , and let us ask ourselyes , as plain men of business , how her Majesty could form a Ministry out of that same Manchester school ? . Let us try :- ^—

    First Lord of the Treasury ... Mr . Cobdbn . Chancellor of theEJaichequcr ... Mr . Mukeb Gibson . War Minister .. i ...... .. ; Mr . Bkj ^ hx . Foreign Secretly ....... ... Mr . Sturgb . And now go on with the list . Having filled up the other ' offices ' , say how such an administration would work . Certainly , none could possibly be more unpopular . We all foresee the communications which the Bight Honourable Joseph Stubge would be making to Vienna and St . Petersburg . In fact , it will notT dd ^ tcTtalk 6 f a Manchester-eabinet exceptas a joke ; and yet nothing is more plain to

    common sense than that the great centres of our industry , if there is any worth in the industrial part in this country , should send up the national representatives from whom of all others a working Government might be formed . If it was the counties and county towns that gave us the Cbomwexxs or the Hampdens of a past time , ' we ought to look to the West Biding and to Lancashire , and to other great towns for the representatives of England now : <—representatives who would

    be able to act with the men sent up by the sturdy agricultural counties of Lincoln and Kenfc The very idea of such a union suggests fts impossibility at / present . It is the fact that just now neither Manchester nor Leeds does send up men who represent any national feeling whatever . Either the men have disqualified themselves by the strange things they have uttered , or the towns do not elect the men that really are their types . It would be invidious to mention other

    men of less prominence than those we have named ; but , generally speaking , we ask whether the average Member of Parliament —that is , the man whb has sufficient money , leisure , , connexion with election agents , and a love of such amusements-r really comes up to the highest . state of intelligence amongst the great body of the people ? We will not give inatances ourselves . ; let the . reader take , thelisjb of members from his own part of the country , and see . whether they are the cleverest , the most unsuspected in integrity , the , highest in

    character for moral elevation in their neighbourhood ? On the contrary , he knows that there is many a quiet gentleman , many a professional man—many a sensible man of large views and generous heart , laboriously working in the lower stages of his business , perhaps a shopkeeper—and many a well-informed working man of incorruptible integrity , who understands the condition of the country , its powers and its wants , far better than the members ithe club called

    money-balloted n the House of Commons . But these men are not selected as the representatives of town or county ; they are not sent up ; and it is not only the ridiculous usage of periwig and rapier that prevents her Majesty from sending for men of the sort . The enfranchised part of the people does riot perform its duty , and does not present national materials out of which the Crown can construct a Cabinet . If , then , the inhabitants who enjoy the franchise do not choose' men representing

    the community , what is the natural remedy t A national franchise , of course ! But tbe members of the law-making club in Westminster do not like to be passed over for better men ; they will resist any extension of the the franchise ; and it may be doubted whether some of the men in that assemblage who have professed the most popularopiniojis would assist them in extending the suffrage until it should become in accordance with the nation at large . Iii the mean timej , the disfranchised classes , and those portions of the

    enfranchised classes that ; share the patriotic sentiments ; of the great bulk of the people , and those circles also amon ^ sfc ,: the gentry whose feelings and afipirawons are still national , remain entirely without any nexus or any means of communicaidon .. = The country gentleman can . communicate ; with the labourers on his estate-- ^ -no longer Jthe staple of the ^ English people ; with the ? parish officers—resSentially wedded to the present incorporation , of electors ; . or with r the House of Commons—non-representing , the English people . But he has . no habitual means of mtercourse with his countrymen ..

    He knows well enough that they exist ; perhaps he . knows by name . spine dozen or score of intelligent men . in this manufacturing towii ^ r or that country-townr -who are well-informed , are perfectly independent , and really represent that class of opinions which has the widest extension over the country ; but there is no solidarity between these circles . They remain in that separate condition which makes them liable to be called cliques , and while they are so separated they

    cannot repudiate , the name . They are looked at askance , 'by the local election ,, agent , — : by the Whig or Tory party of the ' place , — in short , by . the incorporated election interests . They are powerless . You may know them ; but you can only communicate with them by letter . They are nothing but Mr . So-and-So , and Mr . Sd-and-So , in this or that town ; and being without any associated strength , they are utterly impotent to contend against the consolidated interests which defend the status quo , and which , keeping the nation out of its rights ; deprive the Parliament of and

    the materials for a national legislature , the Queen of the materials for a national Government . You cannot get a national extension of the franchise , because you cannot get men of this national feeling and stamp into Parliament 1 and ., so . you , go roun d the vicious circle . Possibly , as we said last week , we shall , remain in thjs . disorganised and severed condition , . until some great national calamity—some war brought homo to our very shores—iBhallonce more make us | a nation . If a more prompt remedy be sought , it would perhaps be found m giving an organic power to th © scattered sympathy and the speechless discontent . . . , . ,

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 17, 1855, page 12, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_17021855/page/12/