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Leader (1850-1860), 21st July 1860, Edition 2 of 2, Page 3

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      Jt?£Y 21, 1860.1 Tlie Saturday Analyst A...

      Jt ? £ Y 21 , 1860 . 1 Tlie Saturday Analyst andLeadei \ 667

      Lord Fermoy's Motion. A Certain Order Of...

      LORD FERMOY'S MOTION . A CERTAIN order of snobbish politicians have constituted themselves special defenders of the House of Lords . Animated by the most painful flunkeyism , they can only be contented when an hereditary peerage manages their affairs . Ordinary < mortals are . ' satisfied wtien Mr . Jones the merchant , or Bsotvir the spinner , with hundreds of other commoners sitting in the " Lower House , " settle the concerns of the nation ; but our " line folks" regard subserviency to Lords as the purple and fine linen , of their existence , and consider their gentility elevated whenever

      they degrade their humanity into a servile worship of a lew hundred landowners who have grand handles to their names . The National—that queer production , a Tory-Unitarian review—is perfectly convinced that the Lords are the greatest blessing we live under , and the most perfect representation of public opinion . Happily the country thinks otherwise ; and , without nunl ^ 'ism on the one hand , or rampant equality doctrines on the other , can survey the scene with a rational if an angry eye . An hereditary peerage is not a , thing conformable to any sound doctrine of physiology or politics . Great qualities of mind and morals

      cannot be made to descend by summons of the Crown , nor does the peerage practice of breeding in and in find itself supported by learned savants or successful graziers . Moreover , if the children of the aristocracy- ^ -the peer tadpoleswere , really better than the progeny of Nokes and Styles , their surroundings are not the best suited to develop the loftier capabilities of their nature . Legal arrangements invest them with compulsory riches , almost beyond the power of their imprudence to destroy . They can obtain honours without desert , wealth without work , and eminent - position in the State , without possessing

      the abilities or the industry to discharge the duties which belong to the offices they hold . -They are brought up in idleness and conceit ^ taught that they are fine porcelain ^ while the classes ^ below them are only crockery and earthenware . As a body , they contribute nothing to our science , our literature , or our art . Very few of their names are inscribed upon any roll of fame , and their best apologists do-not rate them higher than the heavy ballast which is to steady the vessel of the State . At the best a peerage is a provisional institution , to adj ust a balance in the absence of an overruling power of enlightened opinion .

      It may be well that certain forms of self-interest connected with cotton-spinning and trade should be balanced by another form of self-interest connected with land-owning upon an artificial aud gigantic scale ; but we hope that society tends to something better than the mutual ¦ check of class interests , and that we are moving on towards the time when virtue and intellect will be the best claims folionour , arid the wisest opinions will be the most certain to prevail . jN " o political philosopher would encourage assaults upon an old institution like the English Peerage , either for the sake of gratifying destructiveness , or of obtaining a greater con-GovernmentIt is to

      formity to a mere theory of . easy see the useful work which the peers may do if they choose ; and as they have capacities for utility that are not yet exhausted , our efforts should be to make them useful , and not to sweep them away . At present they are in the false position of active insurrection against the progressive principles of our time . As . drags upou the wheels , checking but not stopping motion , their utility might be admitted ; but when they attempt to reverse the engine , aud carry us backwards into dark tunnels from which wo have emerged , then they assume functions that they cannot be permit tod to exercisewith due regard to the safety of the State .

      , No ouo oxpects good measures to originate in tho House of Lords , and tho country is grateful when they permit any to pass through . This ought to have satisfied our hereditary legislators , but , with abundant complicity in the House of Commons , and tho faint applause of decaying newspapers and reactionary reviews , they claim to preserve all their own privileges ^ and to share those of the Commons besides . Mr . Gladstone ' s great speech indicated plainly enough "tli © ~ - pic ? oi 5 r'iofiy — oiT" 7 TBls < Si 5 feiii ~ Sfr-threr . —Jiorcte : l > 3 r- *^* fcaokiiijgf : on to bills of . supply n clause cither repealing the Paper Duty , or what would under all circumstances bo bettor ,

      one suspending its collection , ior , the current year . 1 or some curious reasons of incapacity or cowardice , Mr . Bright and his party did not adopt th , is course , but permitted votes to bo taken as quietly as if no aggression had occurred . They did not even coinbine to threaten Lord Palmerstok with any specific opposition .

      but virtually betrayed the cause which they had espoused and the party whieh they pretended to lead . JS " pt being able to get the Manchester school to agree to anything , Lord Pebmoy determined to make another endeavour to re-open the question by proposing a resolution that affirmed—as Lord Paljoirston , Mr . Gladstone , Lord S . Russell , Sir George Guet , Mr . Collier , and ' Mr . Botrverie did on the committee—that the conduct of the Lords

      was an " innovation - " and which likewise affirmed that the House of Commons ought to adopt some practical action to repel it . The Manchester party determined to oppose this on the o-round that it would be lost , and the Liberal cause damaged by such a result . "When it came before the House the Premier—who could not venture to deny its affirmation , and who must have quarrelled with Mr . Gladstone if he had expressly voted for doing nothing—proposed to get rid of it by proposing the " previous question . "

      The House had , therefore , to decide whether they would vote upon the question or not , and the Liberals , rescued Lord Palmerston from , his awkward position by following his lead , while the Tories , who reckoned upon him as their Premier , voted with Lord Fermoy in the hope that at the next step they would receive his present support . Mr . Bur gut ' s party pretend that they have saved us from a defeat , but , in point of fact , they have done much to

      ensure impunity for the Premier ' s tricks . If the division had gone the . other way , either Lord Palmerston must have staked the existence of his Cabinet upon the carrying of Lord Termoy ' s motion , or he must have made another pointed advance towards the Tories , and have thrown off his Liberal mask . Under these circumstances , his Cabinet must have broken up , and we should soon have had a dissolution of Parliament , and a general election would have returned a new House of Commons in no temper to play

      the part of lacqueys to the lords . All through the Session Lord Pal * ojrston seems to have reckoned that he- could tame the Cerberus of the Manchester party , arid his followers , by the sop of the French Treaty . For that they mildly submitted to postpone Reformj and lest they should throw the slightest impediment in the way of its completiorijthey hayjJ submitted to his palpable treachery in scheming and hatching the coiir spiracy of the House of Lords . ¦¦ _ should have

      It is to be regretted that Mr . Gladstone depreciated Lord Fermoy ' s motion , but he is heart and soul with the people , and if a well-advised plan of action is concocted by the Liberals , there can be no doubt it will have his hearty support . Next week the paper question must come on again in a new shape . The Treaty with France must be fulfilled , and British paper makers will have - ^^ laimHK ) -compen 8 ation 4 f ^ he- ^ xGise-is-retained-an d French paper introduced for a duty less than the impost they pay . Some portion of the Paper Duty must , therefore , be remitted , and it would be competent for any independent member to

      propose that it should be entirely given up , or , at any rate , not collected for a year . There may be some advantage in the latter course , as it offers the Lords a new proposition , which is perhaps advisable . Arrangements should also be made to make it impossible to collect the Paper Duty under the present law , which is capricious and unfair in its operation , and has only been submitted to m the belief that the duty would soon pass away . Lord Fermoy and Sir John Trelawny will stand well with the

      country for the important services they both performed , and the inhabitants of Marylebone will wot be surprised that their legal member did not display his eloquence or record his vote in their support . If the Manchester party have either integrity or intelligence , they will endeavour to atone for their culpable inaction by doing something next week . They should not fear temporary defeat , and it they possess no moral courage , tho sooner the independent Liberals disown them tho better . _____

      Brighton has shown its opiuion by returning Mr . W in . th tho Chairman of the Constitutional Defence Committee , and he should lose no time in consulting with Sir J . Tbelawny and Lord Fermoy , who have shown , that they are not afraid to not . - - ~ - - - ' — - - -- — - ¦— ' -- - - - : - ¦¦¦¦

      The Supplemental Budget. On Monday. Mr. ...

      THE SUPPLEMENTAL BUDGET . ON Monday . Mr . Gladstone had ' a most disagreeable task , It became his offloial duty to provido for that China War which tho imbecility of an aristocratic negotiator , and a rash admiral managed to get up . No omi Wcw this war , andperhapa . no one expects it o * n have a aatisluctoiy

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), July 21, 1860, page 3, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_21071860/page/3/