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Leader (1850-1860), 20th December 1851, Edition Country of 2, Page 5, HALIFAX AND NORTHAMPTON MECHANICS INSTIT...

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      Adhesion Of The Jesuits. The Following L...

      haracter and qualities of the President of the republic , proposed the following toast— " Glory nd Gratitude to Louis Napoleon Bonaparte , the Saviour of the Country and of Civilization . " This toast was received with the greatest enthusiasm , nmidst r epeated cries of " Vive le President de la Kepubli que ! " " Vive le Prince Louis Napoleon !" General Petit , the vice-president , then gave " A l ' Armee , '' which he introduced by a short but notice of their servicesThis toast

      eulog istic . was drunk amidst loud cries of " Vive l'Armee , " " Vive le General Magnan . " In reply to this compliment , General Magnan replied , " No , my comrades , I have done nothing more than my duty ; it is not to me that these praises are due , but to the brave soldiers who have supported so much fatigue , and who , by their devotedness to the cause of order , have deserved well of their country . " The 2 nd of December was fi xed on for the day of meeting next year .

      M . Berryer has written a strong letter to M . de Montalembert , denying that either himself , M . de Falloux , or any of the party , intend to rally to M . Bonaparte . Berryer ' s language is most decided . Not less so is that of other Legitimists . General Cavaignac is at liberty . He was married to Mademoiselle Odier in Ham . The Emancipation of Brussels says , in its number of the 17 th : —* ' Yesterday , it is stated , M . de Pergignv passed through Brussels . The French envoy proceeds to Germany . We are assured that he has had an interview with one of our Ministers , to whom he has communicated a despatch from his Government of grave importance . "

      Lamartine has written to the Government Journals to say , that his house has not been attacked , and that he has not called in the armed force for his protection ; said Government Journals asserted that the freres ( style Bonapartist ) had sacked the house of M . Lamartine .

      Dec. 20, 1851.] 2c^0 &*&&**? 1201

      Dec . 20 , 1851 . ] 2 C ^ 0 &*&&**? 1201

      Continental Notes. In Madrid The News Of...

      CONTINENTAL NOTES . In Madrid the news of the coup d'etat was attended with singularly similar consequences—the sudden , dissolution of the Cortes . The decree of the Crown alleges that , " the very grave events" which had occured in France , and ?• the imperious necessity of attending to other matters of service no less important than the discussions of the Chambers , fully justify the counsel given by the Cabinet to the Crown . " Mark , Narvaez left Paris just before the usurpation of the 2 nd of December , ostensibly to be present at the confinement of the Queen . His presence in Madrid is followed by the coup d ' etat there , as well as at Paris ! Odd , isn ' t it ? Correspondence in the Morning Chronicle from Rome , dated December 10 , gives some idea of the reception given , by the Pope to the startling , but possibly not unexpected , announcement of the coup d ' etat . " 'She news of the late decisive steps taken by the President of the French Republic , reached here last Sunday , and in a very few hours spread through the whole city . The Frenoli general had a meeting with the Papal authorities , whom he acquainted with the facts , assuring them that the Papal Government might rely on the support of France as heretofore . Very different opinions

      are entertained with regard to the impression supposed to have been made at the Vatican by this important change . The Government of Pius IX ., I believe , expresses itself much pleased at French prospects (?) . The subjects of Pius IX ., being in general more or less disaffected , are pleased at any events in the French Republic , which might in any way entail a change here . However , to judge from the general opinion , there seems to be no doubt that considerable alarm prevails at the Vatican . These bold steps , however they may be backed , have more or less risks attached to them ; and chance is not pleasant , even with odds in favour . It is curious to observe the interest now taken

      in politics by Italians of all classes . Before the year 1848 very few persons paid attention to what might be passing in other parts of Europe , or even in other provinces of Italy . Now , the inhabitants of the Peninsula may in general be said to expect changes ; and as lor the Romans , they are regularly on . the qui viva with regard to every rumour of political hue , being under the firm conviction that a continuation of the present system cannot be persisted in , and that the signal for whatever revulsion is to occur , will be given by the very country whose troops support the Government under which they live . This activity is , no doubt , in great part kept alive by Mazzinian agency ; but . the spirit of discontent would prevail even without that aid . "

      1 'he Piiidmontese . Gazelle , of the 115 th , quotes letters from Verona , iinuouncing the arrest ; of several pernons of note , including the richest bunker of that town . It is believed these arrests are owing to coupons of the Maz / . ini loan havingbeen found in the possession of the prisoners . Prince Hchwnrzenherg , Writes a Vienna correspondent of the Cologne l ! "" Htt : y lias desired the Sardinian Government to receive tin ; Austrian garrison into a Piedinontese "irtrcsH . This news is corroborated by the J min correspondence of the same paper . To " | w must be udded tin ; news from Bologna ° > tin ; extraordinary movemen Is in the Austrian garrisons on each Hide of the river Po . Two regiments of ln <> garrison of Molognuhnve been ordered to advance ° u tlio ioud to Koine . From Trieste large

      detachments of troops have sailed for Ancona , whence it is presumed they will also march upon Rome . Lord Westmoreland has at lenth delivered his credentials . News comes , via Berlin , that the Frankfort Diet is resolved to send a diplomatic note to the British Government , emphatically requesting it to take measures against the political refugees residing in England , whose machinations threaten to disturb the general peace of the Continent . The Diet , it is said , has been instigated by Austria , whose notes , having had no success , will be strengthened by those of Russia , Prussia and the Frankfort Diet . The strength of Austria , strengthened as above , will fall idly on the solid breakwater of English law . The new Ministry of Hanover has been defeated by overwhelming majorities .

      Egyptian news has some points of interest . It is reported that the Sultan maintains the same determination as heretofore , to insist on the execution of the provisions of the Tanzimat . Rumours were also current at Alexandria that , finding there was no hope of support from Lord Palmerston , the Pacha was likely to obtain it from Russia ; and a Russian nobleman of distinction , about to visit Egypt on the plea of ill-health , is said to be charged with the negotiation of an understanding with the Egyptian Viceroy .

      The Reform Campaign. Meeting At Stockpor...

      THE REFORM CAMPAIGN . MEETING AT STOCKPORT . The annual meeting of the Stockport Reform Association , held in the New County-hall on Tuesday , afforded Mr . Bright , M . P ., an opportunity of explaining and insisting on the Reform resolutions agreed to at Manchester . The room was crowded by respectabilites of all shades , and numbers of the ¦ working people . The occasion of Mr . Bright's speaking , was the sentiment given by Mr . Hampson , president of the Association : —• " John Bright , Esq ., M . P ., and speedy success to the scheme of Parliamentary reform , so ably expounded by him at the late delegate meeting in Manchester . "

      Mr . Bright went over a good deal of ground , not generally interesting , hut appealing especially to the people of Stockport . He went back to the Freetrade struggle ; he touched on the colonial question ; he expounded his own just and generous views respecting Ireland , referring her immeasurable evils not to " race , " but Anglo-British misrule ; and , coming again to the Free-trade topic , he said that the reason why the corn laws had been so

      long upheld , why colonial grievances were unredressed , why we had so large a standing army in the United Kingdom , was that all this time we had been governed by a sham representation . The points of his speech most interesting to us then followed . This representation was to be reformed by the Premier ; and to influence him in the determination he might ultimately come to , Mr . Bright said the Manchester conference had been held .

      " The resolutions that were passed , were passed in the belief that a law based upon them would give to the people of this country that representation to which they are justly entitled . The object was not to take care that every particular individual in the country had a vote , nor that every Member of Parliament should have precisely the same number of constituents ; but they were prepared up o n this view , to obtain the sanction of the good , the liberal , the well-intending portion of every class of society ; and judging from the mode in which they have been received , I am happy to believe that the conference

      did not wholly fail of the object which it had in view . ( Hear , hear . ) Now , with regard to the franchise , the resolutions proposed that a principle which has existed time immemorial in this country should be adopted—the principle of voting within parishes , which I believe no one ever complained of as being too extended a suffrage or too contracted ; that every person liable to rating , every person rated in fact , every person who has a right to have his name on the rate-book , by virtue of any occupation he might hold , should have the franchise ; that , in point of fact , the rate-book should be a copy of the register of the electors . "

      With respect to the ballot he made the following admission . Of cour . se he was for the ballot . " I don't know what has been done in Stockport ; but I saw a great many large factories as I came over your great , bridge just now ; and large factories have come to give very much the same power in their locality as large landed proprietors have in other districts . And although 1 believe there are in all towns many who , though possessing great influence , yet scrupulously abstain from using that , influence upon any elector ; yet , whenever any of these large- establishments , whether of land or mills , and the large power which they confer , come into the hands of a man who ik not just or conscientious , it can then be exercised , and often is exercised , against tlio Interests of the constituency , and against the public interests . ( Hear , hear . ) 1 should like to find a man who could give an argument against , tho ballot . " ( dhecrs . )

      Tin ; other speaker of note was Mr . James Kersliaw , M . I ' for Stockport . He backs the Manchester Resolutions . Tu the course of his speech he said " No doubt there were people even yet who would sayfeeling that , they themselves had much political capital to lose , and not willingly to relinquish it . without a struggle—that to grunt a large measure of reform by enfranchising the working classes would be to encourage a revolutionary principle and endanger property . ( A

      laugh . ) Why , what had he ( Mr . Kershaw ) , and thousands of others , such as those who assembled at the Manchester conference , and were at this meeting , to gain , if there was any such ground of fear ? His and their property was engaged in manufacturing and commercial pursuits ; and the peace of the country could not be placed in jeopardy for a moment without that property being jeopardied with it . ( Cheers . ) Tell him of a country in Europe where revolutions had occurred from granting the people too much power , and he would tell them of ten where they had occurred through withholding from the people their just share of political rights . ( Cheers . ) It might not be a polite way of putting the fact , but when honourable gentlemen talked of such dangers , it was all nonsense—and they knew it . ( Loud Cheers . )"

      We may ask how this statement of Mr . Kershaw agrees with the first extracted from Mr . Bright ' s speech . Is will be seen that Mr . Bright brands as neither " good , liberal , nor well-intending , " all who do not come within the scope of the Manchester Resolutions . The Marylebone Parliamentary Reform . Association met on Thursday at the Literary Institution , Carlislestreet , Mr . Nicholay in the chair , and agreed to the following resolution . " That any reform of the representation of the people which does not include the principles advocated by the National Reform Association , can neither command nor deserve the confidence and support of the peop le of this country . "

      The resolution was proposed by Mr . Michell , seconded by Mr . D'Iffanger , jun ., and supported by Mr . Serle .

      Halifax And Northampton Mechanics Instit...

      HALIFAX AND NORTHAMPTON MECHANICS INSTITUTIONS . Two evening parties , otherwise soirees , were held on Tuesday night , one at Halifax , honoured by the presence of Sir Charles Wood , M . P . for the borough , and Mr . Cobden , M . P . ; and the other at Northampton , at which Earl Fitzwilliam , and other lords , Mr . Layard , the explorer of Nineveh , Mr . Charles Knight , Mr . George Cruikshank , and sundry and divers provincial personages , were present . HALIFAX . The meeting here was the annual celebration of the institute , and it was held in the Odd Fellows ' -hall . The Mayor , Mr . Waterhouse , presided . Sir Charles Wood seconded the adoption of the report , wherein it was stated that the institution has 401 members and 227 subscribers . Sir Charles Wood was not happy in his oration . It is extremely dull , the main point in it being in illustration of Avhat is now a commonplace , that general education is for the welfare of the country . He also said that the peop le must be left to speak for themselves ; aided in their efforts they ought to be , but they ought not to be driven on faster than they were willing to go .

      Mr . Cobden completely outshone the Chancellor of the Exchequer . His speech was very ingenious . He contrasted the condition of the Huddcrsficld Institution with this at Halifax , and gave the palm to the former , while he described the latter as superior in Social prosperity . " P > ut there was another test which he might apply , not only to Halifax , but to other places more populous than Iluddersfield . Halifax was a first-class Parliamentary borough , and Iluddersfield was only a second class borough . Now , they all knew there waa in certain quarters a sort of manipulation of Parliamentary boroughs going on at the present moment . They would not ask

      their right honourable representative the Chancellor ol the Exchequer to tell them anything aboutit . ( Laughter and cheers . ) He ( Mr . Cobden ) had heard Lord John Itussell say something to the effect that an educational test would not be a bad franchise to be admitted into this country , and he had been trembling— -he hoped their right honourable member would not say anything about , it at the next meeting of the Cabinet . —( laughter and cheers ) ; but if he was to say , ' iiuddersfield has l (> , "> 0 members in its Mechanics * Institution with only one member , while Halifax has two representatives and only 200 members in its institution : and while

      Iluddersfield lias built , and provided accommodation suitable for her institution , Halifax , which has got plate glass windows , luxurious private houses , and superior mills , has thrust her institution into a garret ( lau < ilihr and loud , cheer-a )— -he ( Mr . Cobden ) hoped nothing would be uaid about it out of that hall ( hear , hear ) ; but if it ; was , that it would be mentioned with the distinct understanding that the men of Halifax had resolved that , before the : coming year runs out , this stigma , this great , stigma on so important , a parliamentary borough , . should l > e wiped out , and that they would have ; i nobler a far nobler—institution than iluddersfield . (( 'hecr . i . )"

      After referring to the fact ( hat . the people of America are better educated than the people of England , Mr . Cobdcu . said : — " Their right honourable representative hud alluded to the universal concurrence there was nowas to the propriety of giving every possible facility to the education of the people . And be iiad stated that the ( jlovernment . could do no more than to work hand in hand with , and according as they were , on a level with the intelligence and opinion of I he people ; that , they cannot , force u system of education ; and that , they could only follow what the public mind indicated as the |> at . h to be pursued . ( Hear , hear . ) Hut there were ways in which the Uovcnuucut might aict , by removing the

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 20, 1851, page 5, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_20121851/page/5/