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Leader (1850-1860), 21st January 1860, Edition 2 of 2, Page 11, PARLIAMENT :—NEW MEMBERS. OUR list of th...

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      The Pope In Ireland. A N Irishman Loves ...

      so after debauchees and despots , the axe fell on the fat foolish Lours ; so after criminals the most hideous earth had ever seen , t he Turkish sabre descended on the harmless neck of the last OoNSTA ^ TiNE . It is one of the dreadful warnings history reads to bad kings , when she cries that theii- - own unpunished crimes ^ hall be visited on the heads of their innocent children . It . is perhaps already written in Heaven , that on the 1 ) armless Pius IX . shall be visited all the crimes of the Papacy that , once useful to centralize Christianity and guard the church from despotism and wrong , has long grown a mere incumbrance of the earth . The sympathy of Ireland for the Pope under difficulties , let ¦ us conclude by saying , is generous , but it is as extravagant and irrational as Irish ebullitions generally are : it is seditious and factious ; and it is all the louder in its demonstrations , we fear , because it is antagonistic to Protestant England .

      Jan. 21, I860] The Leader'and'saturday A...

      Jan . 21 , I 860 ] The Leader ' and ' Saturday Analyst . 63

      Parliament :—New Members. Our List Of Th...

      PARLIAMENT : —NEW MEMBERS . OUR list of the New Members who have found seats in the House of Commons since the recent Election has been enlarged within the past week by the translation of the honourable member for Scarborough-to the House of Peers , owing- to the death of his relative , Lord LONDESBOBOTTGH . . Our enum . erH . tion , also , of new English members was not quite complete -. —Marylebone ought to have been noticed ; the seat vacated by Sir B . Hall , on his elevation to the Upper House , having been somewhat unexpectedly filled by Lord Febmqt . . Then South Shropshire has seen the vacancy caused by the . death of the Hon . Mv . Cr , ivE supplied by iSir B . Leighton , through the interest of the Ci . ive family . And ; lastly , Monmouthshire has exchanged one Colonel SoiiEKSET for another Colonel Somebset , —a piece of electioneering-legerdemain due to parainouut Beau ^ ort ^ influence . Those two Conservative additions are owing to the action of that ¦ aristocratic and landed element in our House . of Commons so bitter ! v as ailed by the Bright party .

      We now come to the Scotch and ; Irish catalogue , which will be found limited to the scanty number of three , — -one . for'Ireland , , two for . Scotland . The solitary Irish case is that of Cork , where inexorable death has again exerted his power . The late Mr . Fagan showed < cons : ( UM-: ible promise at one period of his public career , —a promise that subsequent parliamentary performances never adequately justified . ; His were not the shoulders upon which the mantle of the Great Agitator was destined to fall : he wanted nearly every quality which made O'CoNSrELX , great ; he possessed some , however , that the Gre ;\ t Agitator . . lacked , and it was perhaps fortunate for the peaceful destinies ' of'the Empire that it was so ordered . The death of Lord . James . Stuart gave the representation of Ayrshire into the charge of Sir James Ferguson : the contest was severe , but Conservatism triumphed . Mr . Disraeli ' s private secretary , Mr . Eable , who sat for Berwick , gave way to Mr . Majoihijanks , —and here for the present closes pur catalogue . - JL ^ mam b

      of both sides , whose absence from the House was si loss to the Irish party ; and whose neglect by Governments , which showered patronage on the less deserving , is a standing reproach . ' The Scottish" party is not specially distinguished for eloquence , but on all questions , financial , social , and political , it exhibits that strong , searching , and distinctive national acuteiiess which gives its opinions far more weight than its more impetnous and voluble Irish colleagues can claim . To the English side , whether in Lords or Commons , the palm if oratorical force must , for the present , be conceded . PALltEESTON , RUSSELL , GeAHAM , GLADSTONE , DlSRAELt have no equals . Derbt , Ellenbokox ^ gii , Brougham , Oxford no rivals . It is true that the Scottish element is largely present even in this brilliant phalanx , but we believe the English party has most right to rank them on its side . The inference that may fairly be drawn from the ^ recent elections is , that the new Reform Bill , when it comes , will not prove that bugbear which timid Conservatives are inclined to believe . There is now no " pressure from without" to intimidate j no torchlight meetings , no midnight drillings , no threats of pouring the countloss hordes of the north on the metropolis , in order to overawe the Legislature . All is C [ uiet and decorous , as best becomes a great nation . The members recently choson are not from the class of " unscrupulous demagogues" and " revolutionary Chartists , " as predicted from the last Reform Bill : they are a pretty-fair selection from the general body , ami they afford a tolerably strong indication that any new bill will not materially change , but only enlar ge ^ the composition of the House cf Commons .

      , ' ^ ' ' — _ _ . ^ v ^ v . a Perhaps the most remarkable feature in these new Elections is their , comparative lameness , and the general absence of that exhibition of Reform'furore which made the years 1831 and 1832 memorable in the history of this country . We may be said to be on the verge of another political Revolution , another lifting of the ¦" Anchors of the Monarchy , " and that too by the same statesman who proclaimed " finality , " and who declared that " one such revolution was enough in a generation . " No inference , however , unfavourable to the necessity for Reform can fairly be drawn from this fact . The public generally appears t 6 have made up its mind thut reform must take place . Boroughs and constituencies in esse nnd in posse are alike—not apathetic , but acquiescent—us to the inevitable necessity which renders the advent of a new Reform

      Bill a matter no longer for dispute or delay . The now Members , for the most part , have gone into the House unfettered by positive pledges from their constituents , and as the majority of the now Hourto are understood not to bo too strictly bound by Hustings ' promises , there is every prospect that the now Reform Bill will be ¦ debuted with less heat and receive more fair play than was extended to the first Reform measure . We have already noticed the absence of what may be termed superior debating power in the Members more recently introduced into the lower branch of the legislature . Perhaps this dolivionoy is nowhere more obvious than in what may be called the Irish party . " Irish oratory" has borne a traditional reputation which recent years have not maintained . Since Daniel O'Connexl ¦ ¦ and Sjjkil disappeared no orator of the Irish class has made his appearance worthy of higher than second place in the rank of par-0 nttninod

      Jiarnenfciiry debaters , Even Sjie . ii . and 'OojfNisr . L novor the voyy highest rank . Sheii / s oratory was a rhetorical firework , — spdrldiug , confiscating , but urimjslulceabjy artificial and histrionic . O'CONiNELL was only occasionally great , but bin greatest efforts were immeasurably surpassed by those mental athletes with whom he , perforce , was called upon to grapple in the arena of St . iSfcephen ' a . What have we in their p lace P Take the Poixarp-Uequwahts , the MAaoiKES , the HoMAUONa , and the eollootivo oratorical strength of that section which colls itself , joar tixool lenoe , the " Irish party , " antf together / they would fail to come up to the liigh oratorical standard , pf the least renowned of thoir departed countrymen . The traditional Irish gentleman is hardly to be jfound in tho House , Tlio last and possibly the best epooimen , — a mixture of genial humour , shrewd sense , and large-minded symtmfchiea , was to bq seen in Mobgan Johw O'OoNNMtt , the fuvourjto

      The Balance Of Religions. ''J^He Europea...

      THE BALANCE OF RELIGIONS . ' ' j ^ HE European international system is a balance of rel igions , as - * - ' well as an equipoise of material forces , and of forms of government . In the pentarchy of the great Powers , France and Austria weigh in the one scale for Catholicism against England and Prussia in the Protestant scale ; whilst Russia ^ as the representative of Greek Christianity , is the pivot •• on which the beam turns . RnSvsia ' s epicene ecclesiastical gender admirably fits her for this neutral position , which is analogous to that-occupied by Austria in territorial questions , and to that taken up by Napoleonic . France in the struggle between representative institutions and absolutism . Moreover , apart from the fact that th . e Greek Church is alike anti-Papal

      and anti-Protestant , there is-another . circumstance which helps riot a little to guarantee the Czar ' s impartiality in cases where none but religious interests are at stake . All-powerful as he is , there are under his august protection other doxies besides orthodoxy , whose tastes he is obliged to consult . Luckily , however , their sympathies are as evenly distributed as the antipathy of the Muscovite sultana . For . if Poland is ' fervidly Catholic , his important Baltic provinces are still , for the ' most part , as staunchly Lutheran as when they were ravished from Sweden . Hence , for nil practical purposes , the Russian quantities , the positive no less than the negative , may be treated , in . the algebra of European religious politics , as equals added to both sides of the equation . They do not affect the result .

      How then do the other factors stand ? At first sight the odds against Protestantism would seem to be truly formidable ; so much so , indeed , that there might be said to be no balance at all . Counting noses , for instance , we might be told that there are ab least some sixty millions to which ecclesiastical pastiles are a first necessity of the spiritual life , against little more than half that number to which ( except for getting rid of still more unpleasant smells ) incense is an abomination . This calculation , moreover , does not credit the Catholic Powers with a single Pope ' s nose in the ' British or Prussian dominions , and takes lor granted that the nose of every Anglican Tractarjan , and of every admirer of the Burlin ICreuz ' Zeitung will be turned up with tho true Puritan twist at the eight of a crucifix . Ifc assumes that all tho friends of His Holiness throughout England , Scotland , and Ireland , as well as in

      Prussia ' s Polish nnd Rhenish provinces , will prove 'unflinchingly loyal to their Protestant sovereigns , through whatever fiery trials the fine gold of their allegiance may have to pass . It simply does not poll them on either side , just aa , on tlie other hand , it does not count the Hungarian and Transylvanian Protest ant p , nor the Greek Christians of Austria ' s Slavonic populatio » n , nor the . Lutherans of Alsace and Lorraine , npr the Cu . lv busts of the south of France . _ If wo add to the great musses on both sidos lj » o declared minorities , the Catholic ranks swell to seventy-two millions , whilst tho Protestants receive au accession of scarcely six millions to set over against the twoh'o millions of recruits who pass over to the hostile camp . In the subsidiary system of the Minor States , the numerical balance , it is truo , is a little bettor preserved . Evon here , however , fcho disproportion is very far from vanishing . Ifc still remains alarmingly

      Even more decided , at tho first blush , seems the advantage on the side of tho Catholic interest on thoiscoro of superior cohesion and greater solidarity . Again , without going" ho fur aa to say that Protestants as a body are less in earnest uboufc their religion , there can be no doubt whatever that Catholics make theirs u question of tho political conscience , far more than thoir opponents , fciolit up as wo are into scores , of rival sects and churches , what chance do wo stand against lfcouio with her proud boast of unity , and her restless snirit of intrigue P These faofcs , it must bo granted , have an uglylook . Especially do they merit attention AfciMiimJ Jilto this . Wto iBeqm to be living in tho days of Pjstisb thicHbkmjt and Wai / wpb whb . PjiNiu ' iusss ' onoe' more . On every patch of RuifiMiiiHfc noil in Europe hosts of maddood funatics are clustering" around imtrocl

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 21, 1860, page 11, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_21011860/page/11/