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Leader (1850-1860), 17th April 1858, Edition 2 of 2, Page 14

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      Balance-Sheet Of The Anglo-French Allian...

      n ©« know « fe * t this menacing language , before it could k & vc fdand public expression , must have received the private sanction of the supreme power in j ? rantee ?**—" The author of the French pamphlet , however , seeks to contrast past times with present ; and in order to illustrate recent events , invites our attention to those of earlier days in the history of ' La Vieille Artyleterre . ' " We accept the invitation ; and that the more readily , because an attempt has lately been made in France to misrepresent circumstances in the reign of William III ., for the purpose of palliating those which have disfigured the reign of Napoleon III . '

      _ " Between the defender of English liberties and the destroyer of liberty m France we can recognize no parallel ? but between the relative situation of the two countries in 1601 and 1858 a striking parallel there is . " France at that period was with regard to England what England now is with regard to France—an asylum to the unfortunate and the disaffected . Plots were then incessantly formed by the exiled Court at St . Germains , and fostered by the French Court at "Versailles , against the Protestant succession in England . Amongst , these was one which bears a strange similarity to that which has recently horrified Europe .

      " The conspirators were furnished with money and instructions at St . Germains . It was resolved to assassinate William by a discharge of blunderbusses and musketoon 3 upon the royal coach , whieh contained sixteen persona . Simultaneously with the success of this criminal attempt England was to be invaded ; and it was understood that , so soon as the standard of revolt had been raised -within our shores , several thousand French troops would effect a landing . The French fleet

      was for this purpose sent to Calais . " The plot was discovered before it could be perpetrated . The authors were arrested ; the country -was immediately placed in a state of defence ; and the king summoned Parliament , to disclose to it the terrible details of a conspiracy at once more formidable and more ferocious than any heard of since the crime of Catiline . It was not alone the life of a popular sovereign , it was the liberties and religion of a whole people that had been imperilled . "

      *> Nevertheless , when during the private negotiations for the Treaty of Ryswick it was proposed to insert into the instrument of peace some guarantee on the part of France for the prevention of similar conspiracies , and the removal from St . Germains of those English refugees who there formed a focus of intrigue , the Grand Monarque , ' who was every inch a king , ' vehemently vindicated the privilege of asylum open in France to political misfortune , and declined to give the pledge proposed , upon the legitimate grounds that he could not make laws in France to protect king 3 of England . " Is it then to be expected that measures which , in the seventeenth century , an absolute monarch refused to discuss , a constitutional government should , in the nineteenth century , agree to adopt ?"

      Louis Napoleon , the writer continues , has less to fear from assassination than from public opinion . He denounces the British press , which is beyond official control ; but he does not calm the imperial and Jesuit press , which is under his hand , when it throws off its daily scum of insult and swagger . All journalism in France is , in one sense , official ; and the more closely its organs approach the imperial throne , the more bitter arc then- revilings of the British name and policy . What has been the retort from London

      ?" We wish particularly that notice should be given to the fact that , whilst the censure of public opinion , oxpressed in England through the press , has been frequently and severely declared as regards the acts of a particular government in France , no language save that of cordial sympathy and honest appreciation has at any time been uttered by our public journals in reference to France as a nation . " We respect the alliance , even although ignorant of " all that the Emperor Napoleon III . has been for England ; " but international friendship only suffers when one great power is gratuitously subservient to another .

      374 - The Leap E R. [No. 421y Apkdl 17, ...

      374 - THE LEAP E R . [ No . 421 y Apkdl 17 , 1858 .

      Parliamentary Bucksheesh. While, In The ...

      PARLIAMENTARY BUCKSHEESH . While , in the main , the feelings of the House of Commons and country wore in unison with the negative conclusion of the inquiry into the case of Mr . Butt , the circumstances which led to the inquiry were of a character to open the more ^ enibTalnfu ^ stioir" 6 f ~ thli'liSbU professional members of Parliament to overlook the barrier between professional and parliamentary duty . The Committee acquitted Mr . Butt of the special allegations brought ngainst him , and with the delivery of their report thoir functions were at on end j but not so the case itself , pointing as it did to a principle of corruption whiou miglft possibly be active in the House of Commons , ovon though its presence was not established in the particular instance . Sir John Trelawny ' s motion , then ,

      " That the receipt of any species of reward by a member in consideration of the exercise of bis influence in that capacity is calculated to- lower the dignity and authority of this House , and is a high , breach of the privilege of Parliament , " was not uncalled for . The members of the legal profession are , from the nature of their private vocation , among those most exposed to temptation . A matter in which the professional services of a member have been engaged is carried on in a court of law ; but

      circumstances suggest that , for the furtherance of the case in hand , it shall be brought to the notice of Parliament ; the member has himself , possibly , suggested that course ; naturally his client , or clients , will think of him as the most ready and best qualified person to be entrusted with their cause . There lies the point of danger . It cannot be a question that the danger is real ; nor is it a question whether the present powers of the House of Commons are insufficient to guard its purity from injury . Out of the House , the feeling is far less assured than within its walls ; in fact , as Lord

      Hotham said in the debate on Tuesday evening , the imputation is constantly made that money had been indirectly , if not directly , received by persons situated as in the hypothetical case just given . The popular suspicion of the existence of such corrupt practices is of old date and has had ' confirmation strong as proofs of Holy Writ . ' Many examples have been made of Members , and even of men of high official standing , convicted of receiving bribes , or rewards , for services rendered in their parliamentary capacity ; and , in 1095 , those who were found guilty of tampering with the independence of Members , by offering bribes for their services , were held to have committed a high crime and misdemeanour , as " tending to the subversion of the English constitution . "

      Let the principle be adopted that Members of Parliament have a right to receive money from their constituents or clients for services rendered in the House , or even indirectly by means of their Parliamentary influence , and the very highest moral attribute of Parliament is lost to it—its inde-Eendence . So highly is this independence prized y Parliament itself , that a majority oKts members , professedly at least , hold their jealous watchfulness to be sufficient security . That is the question raised by Sir John Trelawny ' s motion . The case of Mr . Butt alone would be enough to show at least the danger which exists : for the report of

      the Committee simply affirmed that tho charges brought against Mr . Butt were not proven—not that they were not true ; and it did nothing to lessen the suspicion of the public that such cases are both possible and common . In India , Mr . Mangles says , the princes will continue to believe that for money they may purchase the advocacy of Members of the English Parliament ; for they can make no distinction between the lecral and non-professional members of

      the House , and the offer of bribes is habitual with them ; onl y pay a member his own price , they believe , and ho will serve you . If that is so , the mere amour propre of the House of Commons is hardly a sufficient guarantee for the purity of its professional members , and is certainly no guarantee against the most injurious suspicions being entertained in India , if not elsewhere , of its general corruptibility . The reasonableness , a ) so , of the demand for additional pains and penalties in tho caso of persons convicted of corrupt practices becomes

      manifest . But , on more general grounds , it seems reasonable to ask additional securities for the purity of the House of Commons , or at the worst , for severer punishments for offences inimical to its reputation and indepondenco . There are often vast personal interests involved in tho measures discussed by Parliament , particularly in tho cases of railway bills , the advocaoy of which , by members even indirectly concerned , should not be tolerated , but should bo punished upon clearly established proof . Again , members may receive rewards , not actually innttonoyrb ^ curing appointments for constituents the which services may bring to tho members advantages cvon moro solid than sums in hard cash . In all such

      cases tho bounds of striot independence arc overstepped , the dignity of Parliament offended ; and in suoh oases , if it woro possiblo to prove tho offences , severe penalties should be inflicted . Tho indepondenco of Parliament oiuinot , in fact , bo too jealousl y maintained , and cvory precaution consistent with individual freedom should bo adopted

      for its security .. Possibly , at the present momenT the sense of danger is not strong enough pitW within or without tlie House , to demanTsW guarantees than , are in existence ; but Sir J < f [ in Trelawny ' s motion evinces a healthy wat chfulness which it is to be hoped will not be relaxed because the abuses caught sight of are not at present so offensive as to demand instant remed y . That them are abuses of the kind pointed out , and that grave consequences may come of their continuance , arecertain facts ; it may not be long before Sir John will have another opportunity for completing the reform to the desirableness of which those " facts point . . We . are under no danger of Six Acts or other Executive tyranny—only in danger of seeing national objects sacrificed to little occult trading objects .

      The Whole Duty Of Spies. Conceitning Sei...

      THE WHOLE DUTY OF SPIES . CoNCEitNiNG Sei-geant John . Rogers there is not a word to be said , except that he is a detective officer who acts upon his instructions . That the British Government employs spies is not the fault of Sergeant John Rogers . The system began long Wore he joined the police in 1851 ; but he seems to have been the unhappy agent of forcing its resemblance to continental practice almost to identity . These are the ashes within the purple and golden bloom of the Alliance . The infection of Paris has touched Leicester-square , the proscrit is followed by the mouchara , and in our universal hospitality we afford an asylum to the most vicious principle of foreign despotism as well as to the most unfortunate of its victims . It

      is now clear how the thunders that shook , not the arsenal , but the glasses on the Green Dragou tables , were ' reported to the Syracusan listener at the Tuileries . The whispering galleries of Imperialism extend under the Channel . John Rogers is a delator , and he perambulates the streets of London , quite in an unofficial friendly way , with French officers upon secret service . We have had these shadowless Schlemils of the Empire dogging wayfarers to their doors , haunting quiet streets ,

      infesting public rooms , and taking notes of conversations and amateur debates , but we were scarcely sure that among these political eavesdroppers were gentry with British blood in their veins . It is good for us to know that so thoroughbred a Briton as Sergeant John Rogers is one of the class , and that he steps noiselessly into the society of strangers , to profit by their remarks . He is quite in the right to maintain a tranquil incognito , for were he identified , there misrlit be a breach of the peace , which

      the whole world would of course deplore . It is the fate of devotion to be misunderstood . Even nobler members of the executive and ministers of justice than Mr . John Rogers have been compelled to wear their vizors down , and ' circulate' in the assumed humility of private citizens . Thus the eminent Mr . Calcraft suffered latel y from the vulgar prejudices of a mob of gentlemen at an hotel , on account of his indiscretion iu rattling upon a Uj bla , while waiting for kidneys and stout , a small clioui with a hook attached , and a little coil ot hemp carelessly enveloped in a silk handkerchief . Air . her gcant Rogers may console himself tor he bruW

      bluutness of the questions put uy w , *«»« James by remembering that other men have been honourable , and have endured . His duty is , n seems , from the admirable bit of autobiography extorted by Mr . Edwin James , to attend the meetings of debuting societies—in plain clothes— to w notes of who arc there , and what is said lie walks up-stairs ; his name is not asked ; he ( iocs not spoofe-it would be too bad m Mr . John Rogers to discuss < democracy and despotism —( " »" . J ™ all , ho hears nothing very shocking . biucc jnovember last , however , it has been part ol h s duly to watch tho French and Italian refugees . Lute y , ho has had official interviews with Eliza lludio . U « doubtcdly , the British Government i » uu » ng what i tr „ . „ , „„„ ., <„ ... uiinimi . Since the l-runcli spies

      have boon over hero , Mr . Rogers has been wig i o ca in conveying messages from the Couumssiuuo a w tlvemrand-from-thom-to-Uio-Gonunis . swnQrti . iii " tho alliance has gono so far us to result m a iubw between tho British uud tho Imperial police

      The Railway, The Press, 1hb Soldier, And...

      THE RAILWAY , THE PRESS , 1 HB SOLDIER , AND THE PRIEST . That extensive camp , tho Austrian E »» 1 >» J' "Jg 0 itself rather puzzled sometimes how to rceoneu .. any modern progress with its old and »» Vi whift »» - tutions—the cannon and tho aword . Met wJioim

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), April 17, 1858, page 14, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_17041858/page/14/