Current:

Leader (1850-1860), 19th December 1857, Edition 2 of 2, Page 13

Page 13
Page 13
13 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.

      Christmas And Its Trials. Let All Who Ca...

      stand-still , notwithstanding that manufacturers axe offering their goods at prices which are considered ' extraordinary . ' But the truth is , that shippers have no proBpect of "being able to get their bills discounted , and are , therefore , unable to buy . Birmingham and Sheffield are both suffering from the loss

      of their American trade . The lace and hosiery trades of Nottingham and Leicester are in a state of dismal depression . At Kidderminster the carpet-manufacture is reduced to almost stoppage "b jr the cessation of American orders . Leeds , Halifax , and Bradford , are all waiting upon America for a return to work . The iron trade of South Staffordshire is In like

      condition . In all these places mills and manufactories are working half-time , quartertime , or are wholly closed ^ This dark picture represents , on the one side , loss of money , anxiety , bankruptcy ; on the other , misery , starvation , death . We must deplore the merchant ' s and manufacturer ' s troubles , but our heart ' s sympathies are with their beggared , and hungering workmen , left but with one resources—patience . On the last day of the Session , Mr . ~ N "

      ewdegate said : " He almost regretted that the House was about to separate for so long a period , for he did not look forward to any immediate relief of the existing distress from the steps taken by Parliament during its present meeting ; and if that distress continued without any attempt to mitigate it on the part of the Government , it might eventually beget in the people a disposition to seek other remedies , which the House might have cause to lament . " Sir George Gbet * s

      answer was really just and reasonable . He " was anxious that the passage in her Majesty ' s Speech should not be interpreted as implying the assent of the Government to the notion that the working classes were to look to Parliament for any special remedy for the local distress occasioned by the recent commercial distress . Nothing , " he added , " could be more creditable than their conduct

      during the recent privation to which many of them had unhappily been subject . " No ; Parliament can give no relief to the pining labourers ready to work , but without a market for the products of their hands . There is nothing for them but patience and reason ; the calamity must be borne . Trial , suffering , hope deferred , are nothing new to English m en and women ; and courage , endurance , and fresh hope are never wanting to either . The immense improvement observable in the behaviour of the masses on all late occasions

      of public gathering can only have come from improved intelligence and refinement of feeling , and they are qualities such as men do not exhibit only on holiday occasions , but such as show most strongly under trouble . The suffering thousands in the stagnant towns will endure the trial which has come or is coming upon them by an unavoidable

      necessity , with the same fortitude and resignation as their suffering brothers and sisters in India have so long borne their yet more terrible trial . To all , God send speedy relief . Meanwhile , as we said , against the heavy demand which will be made upon their endurance , they can make no better provision than that ot good spirits . Let all who can , then , keep their Christmas merrily .

      No, 404, December 19,1857.1 The Leadee. ...

      No , 404 , December 19 , 1857 . 1 THE LEADEE . 12 iq ' ——— ' - —¦ : : ____^__ . ¦ ¦ ¦ ' ¦ - ^ *' J . W

      Constitutional Opposition In France. M. ...

      CONSTITUTIONAL OPPOSITION IN FRANCE . M . Emimj bk Girardin , whom everybody thought to have retired from the noise and turmoil of political contest , put on hia helmet once more the other day , took , up his lance , and sallied forth in quest of adventures new . His expedition lasted a week , during which , he caracoled along the columns of the Courrier de Paris . He has now retired to hia castlo , partially satisfied , because he succeeded in drawing all eyes towards him during his gallant

      ride , but somewhat surprised and puzzled to iind that , with , all his experience , he , the roue of publicists , is not only ignorant of the real character of the present regime , but of the tone , temper , and aspirations of the party he attempted to lead . The late proprietor and editor of the Presse endeavoured to A . o what M . Petrat has been -wrongfully accused also of attempting . He wanted to found a constitutional or dynastic opposition—that is to say , he thought it possible to form and marshal , in . the press , the Legislative Chamber , the Senate , and the country at large , a patty equally faithful to the Emperor with M . de MoRNrand M . BixtA . ULT , but having another policy , and seeking to carry out that policy by voting , writing , and so forth .

      Amiable delusion ! M . de Girahdin seems utterly to have forgotten that the chief doctrine of the Emperor , and the one on which he is most fond of insisting , is , that ' all old parties are dead ; that , in fact , the great bane of France was the existence of parties , and that his government is the expression of the general will of the people , made manifest in the absence of discussion , which disturbs instead of enlightening , and in the utter silence of

      all political passions . ' Napoleon III . disdains to lean on a party : he chooses to lean on the country atla * ge . Whoever comes to divide , therefore , friend or relative—for Prince Napoleon is at the bottom of all this—is looked upon as an enemy . Parties can have no existence without discussion , though conspiracies may . Towards what points could discussion be directed ? From declarations of war and

      peace down to the smallest administrative acts , everything is how done in the name of the Emperor ; and you cannot comment on the violent bearing of a village mayor , or on the petty tyranny of a sergent de ville , without an insult to Imperial Majesty . Once allow attack , and Government is reduced to a defensive position . This degradation the Emperor never will put up with . He is the expression of the will of the nation ; and knows that will better than the nation itself . It is the will of the nation that he shall exercise complete and undivided authority ; and for fear the individual members of the nation should make a

      mistake , and suppose that they wanted something else , he undertakes to guide and . direct the expression of that will . We have had too many revelations of the way in which elections are now carried on in France to doubt this fact . The electors are so many bodies that come up to the poll in number about equal to the bulletins that are to be found in the urn ; but that there is any connexion between their wishes ( except in Paris , and a few cities where public opinion exists too strongly to be derided ) and the results afterwards proclaimed , no one now professes to assert . This arrangement

      is absolutely necessary for the safety of the Imperial Government ; because the French , however loyally disposed , sometimes do not know their own mind .. Its efficacy is not to be doubted . In no other way could the wonderful result be obtained , that in the provinces , where the terror of Red Republicanism most prevails , the Bonapartisfc candidates are always elected unanimously . On individual constituencies the effect may be startling . There was a magic mirror once , which , instead of representing the features of the person who used it , called up a clown , an angel , or a devil . The inhabitants of the ArdSchc , for example , who are

      especially remarkable for not knowing their own minds , must often be reminded of this mirror . But the general effect is admirable . One uniform result of dishonesty or stupidity attends on the elections ; and when the Corps L ^ gislatif meets , there is no more danger of tlic formation of parties than there is of water congealing into iccocrgs under the Equator . Why should the Emperor allow this happy state of things to be disturbed P M . de Gika-Rdin seems to have laid too much stress on certain expressed Governmental aspirations towards political movement that have irom time to time attracted public attention . Perhaps he took seriously the admonition addressed to the Senate a year or two ago , to the eifect that it was not to draw its salaries as if

      they were pensions , but that its members were nt least to appear to do something for their money . But he forgot to notice that this humorous ebullition of the Emperor came to nothing . The Senate hits not since distinguished itself—and was not meant to distinguish itself—for anything but its servility , its alacrity at pay-day , ana the brilliancy of its uniforms . It is still as delightful as ever to behold that august body on a summer ' s day ,

      sparkling beneath the gleams of a Luxembourg sun ; but the tranquillity of France has not been disturbed by a single patriotic proposition from that quarter , a single suggestion , a single sign of political vitality . Senaleur continues , as 01 yore , to be a term of derision among the populace . Before the last elections—whilst the Republicans were preaching the ruinous doctrine of abstention—the Government organs talked largely of the necessity of voting ; but this was for fear the polling-booths should be deserted—or rather , it was because they felt the necessity of saying something . It being determined beforehand that tliere shonld be a vast and overwhelming silent maioritv , tliere

      seemed n . o danger in provoking a semblance of political life . The victories gained here and there bj the Opposition have ., however , alarmed the Government . It perceives the possibilit y that , some day the electors , no longer caring for the intimidation of mayors and gendarmes- —provoked by some national disaster , or merely wearied by national degradation—may , by one of those sudden movements of which Erance is capable , determine to come up to the electoral urns with . Opposition bulletins in their hands , and refuse to allow them to be torn from them and exchanged for others .

      Where , then , would be the Empire ? This consideration has had its influence ; andthewo * d ' or & re now is , to check and discourage , by all manner of means , the intermeddling of the people in politics . M . de Gikabdin could not , therefore , have chosen a more unfortunate time for his move . He has had th . e courage publicly to confess his discomfiture and disappointment . The Empire does not want a party which , however friendly , could not exist without disturbing the beautiful unanimity which at present is its chief aim . And then there is tlie Opposition , which , has a

      right to be consulted in this matter . It would be foolish to disguise the fact that this Opposition , ¦ whatever profession it is forced to make in public , and of whatever heterogeneous materialis it may be composed , is radically hostile to the very existence of tne Empire . Amongst the Bonapartists , whom it is impossible to count , who may form a majority hi the nation , and who may be a miserable minority , there is no difference of opinion . They recognize the surpassing wisdom , the courage , the honesty , the patriotism of Napoleon III ., and would consider any opposition to his will as little short of blasphemy .

      ' By the grace of God and the national will * he is Emperor of the French—commissioned to govern and guard them . His very existence is an admission that they are incapable of taking care of themselves .- Why , therefore , should they discuss '' with him or his ministers the means of their preservation ? People whose minds have been corrupted jy contact with constitutional ideas , and who fancy that the choice of ministers depends in every way on the fluctuation of public opinion , may deceive themselves if they please . Ministers in France are , in reality , what they are nominally in England , the servants of the Crown . If they were the

      representatives of parties , where again , we say , would be t , he Empire ? The Opposition—Republican , Orleanist , or Legitimist—separates itself in the most marked manner from tliis autocratic system , and habitually refuses to discuss the details of Imperial policy . Its enemy is the Emperor himself . Now that it has resolved to abandon the policy of abstention , to bestir itself , to vote and send members of its own to the Legislative Body , even if they take the oatli it is not evidentl y with any intention of helping to carry on the business of the country . It must desire to assert its existence , to shake off the torpor that was

      creeping over it , and prepare for eventualities . Many of its members seem to delude themselves with the idea that these ' eventualities' are not far distant . " With the faculty for hope which distinguishes exiles—and they are to a certain extent exiles m their own country—they keep their eyes perpetually on the Eastern horizon , and ever and anon lancy they perceive the signs of coining dawn . Until their state of mind is changed—and whether it ought to be changed or not may be fairly discussed —there is no chance that they will join in anything like a ' dynastic opposition ; ' and M . de Giuahdin is obliged to admit Hint he has reckoned here also without his host .

      The Elections In Belgium. Thk Conduct An...

      THE ELECTIONS IN BELGIUM . Thk conduct and result of the Belgian elections are equally honourable to the King and to the nation , and , even the governmental press of Imperial Trance is obliged to confess , present a happy

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 19, 1857, page 13, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_19121857/page/13/