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    i^ 1 THE LEADER. [No. 381, Satttrpay,

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    THE COUP D'fcTAT TRADE. Mabtial law has ...

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    The Session Of 1856. Pa.Bi-Iairi!T«Rr Ra...

    States , or to adjust our differences . That , said tbe courteous House , is exactly as . Lord Paxmebston p leases ; the House will _ not presume to interfere ; so we are to ^ hope that , Suring the recess , the AdministrattSn will act precisely as it has not acted during the session . But there is some difficulty in believing this . " ~ As to the War—or the Peace—with Russia , Mr . Roebuck has epitomized , in an epigram which deserves reputation , the invariable anof that nature

    swer of ministers on subjects : " When we ask what the Government are about to do , we are met with the objection that we are too early ; and when we venture to inquire what they have done , we are told that we are too late . " Lord Palmerston , who has learned something from the Moniteur , gives for answer , this : — " What I design to do will , I trust , when done , be found perfectly consistent with law and propriety . "

    When he is negotiating a peace , it would be indiscreet to expect any information ; when the peace has been negotiated , the English House of Commons may debate , or do anything else as meaningless , but to vote dissent would he a breach of faith , and imperil our alliances . That is the simple process by which foreign affairs , in difficult times , are removed from the jurisdiction of Parliament . IFor observe , Parliament dare not change the Government while delicate diplomatic transactions are pending . Besides , what have we to hope for from a change of Government ?

    Then , no one expected a Reform Bill during the past session . But the House of Commons , going further than the Ministry , refused to entertain any political suggestion of any Icind whatever . Mr . Berkeley made his Ballot motion ; for form ' s sake , a Government member replied , and the House dismissed the subject as a nuisance . Sir Joshua . " WaIjMESKEY was still Ies 3 successful when he proposed to introduce a debate on the extension of the franchise . The House would not assemble . Mr . Berkeley , the member for the Ballot , clung to it , until Lord Pjll-HSBBton , anxious to avoid a division , pledged himself , next session , —to inquire .

    Lord Godekioh , who is too much in earnest to be a fit member of the present House of Commons , moved a resolution on the subject of Administrative Reform , to which the Commons assented , and the subject was thus disposed of in the least objectionable way . It is due to the Government , indeed , to admit that they have made some progress in this direction , having dug away the ground under the feet of the City Association of Reformers . Their County Police measure was well-timed and not

    ill-constructed . They had prepared , however , a plan for the Reform of the Reformers , and . for the remodelling of the City Constitution . That plan , of course , they were too weak and too insincere to carry into effect . It was withdrawn , and it lies in limbo , with Mr . Lowe's Partnership Bill , the Oath of Abjuration Bill , the Church Rates Abolition Bill , the Divorce Bill , the Married Women ' s Estates Bill , the Ecclesiastical Courts Bill , the Appellate Jurisdiction Bill , the Formation of Parishes Bill , the Church Disci p line Bill , on which Ministers and their friends have been baffled and

    beaten , and which lie over to form a part of the futilities of 1857 . Several general debates took place on education—Lord John Russell ' s , Sir John Pakihotow's , and Mr . Walpoljo ' s schemes . Lord John Rubber's bill was rejected , the House of Commons having no real intention of educating the people ; Sir John Pakino-TOK Bviews were politely laid aside ; and only Mr . Walpole's were adopted . But as the House , when it adopted them , never meant them to be carried out , they , too , were

    re-considered , and a majority was juggled among the dissentients . It was not so easy to Buppress the Maynooth motion of Mr . Spooneb , who actually carried it upon a division , Mr . Spooler being in earnest , though even he might regret that he had superannuated himself by succeeding in the one object of his political life . However , the Commons rescued him , and the Government , and the Tories from their dilemma by laughing loudly while Mr . Heebebt talked incoherence against time , and the question of Catholic endowment in Ireland was settled by the hand of the clock .

    Lord Palmebston created Lord Wensietdaie a life peer . The House of Lords condemned the creation . Lord Palmebstok asked the House of Commons to send up Lord Wensleydale as a Deputy Speaker . The House of Commons refused . So Lord Pal-MEKSTOir gives up his principle , and presents Lord Wensietdaie , and the heirs male of his body , lawfully begotten , for ever , with a ticket of admission among the peers . That is the urbane way in which the Prime Minister suffers repeated defeats . He knows the House of Commons dare not turn him out : he gives the

    members a holiday , one time by sea , another time by land , at the public expense ; he talks of Italy in a style that implies a contempt for the judgment of his hearers ; when the House censures his policy , he observes that " there seems to be an objection ; " the House bears all this , and deserves it , for Lord Palmebston , political infidel as he is , eclipses the entire House by his vigour , by his self-possession , and by a certain sort of courage , though not of the best quality . And now Parliament adjourns . It has done nothing , and the nation has not shown that it expected anything to be done .

    " While the recess lasts , Government will have its own way in affairs of foreign policy . If our American interests are jeopardized , if our name in Europe is disgraced , if Italy and Spain be abandoned , let us not ascribe the responsibility to Lord Palmebston ' s Cabinet alone . The nation has political duties to perform , and does not perform

    them ; the Parliament is weak , devoid of feeling , and spiritless ; and the Tory party , like the " Whig party , is utterly without a policy . It can do nothing but cavil , and make factious diversions under cover of popular pretences . Why , then , should we anticipate that the session of 1857 will bo more profitable than the session of 1856 , or that any session will be profitable while we continue to be governed as we are ?

    I^ 1 The Leader. [No. 381, Satttrpay,

    i ^ THE LEADER . [ No . 381 , Satttrpay ,

    The Coup D'Fctat Trade. Mabtial Law Has ...

    THE COUP D ' fcTAT TRADE . Mabtial law has been proclaimed throughout Spain . Until a week or two ago there was no dread of any revolutionary movement ; on the contrary , partial attempts at disturbing the existing order of things were notoriously a failure . The man most trusted by the average Spaniard was Espabtero . He Avas responsible to the country for the Crown , and to the Crown for the country . If any mistrust existed as to the unscrupulous nnd despotical adventurer who occupied the Cabinet in a strange partnership with

    Espabtero , it was supposed that " the Liberator " was effectively , as well as in title , bail for O'Donneli-. The journals occasionally got up imaginary movements , and the Ministers talked of interfering . Strangely enough , there was one person who rnthor impeded any decided interference with the journals of a particular colour . The journals which enjoy this species of patronage amongst tho official ranks were of a reactionary tone , and tho Ministerwho objected to interference with them , although not with ultra-Liberals , was O'Donnbll . Such is tho etato of things

    when somebody represents to the Queen the necessity of violent measures ; when Espahtebo is found to be suddenly opposed by his strange partner-lieutenant , O'Donneil ; and the result is , that Esjpabtebo actually disapp ears , O'DoNNELL remains master of the field , and the whole of Spain is placed in a state of siege—the state of a country which is supposed to be in actual rebellion . We have heard of another country which was treated in a somewhat similar manner . It was a large and highly populous island , with a very numerous Negro population . At the date in question the Q-overnor of that

    island had not long been appointed ; he had discovered , from some sources which to this day remain totally unknown and unconfirmed , that the Negroes were on the verge of a \ iuiversal insurrection . Military parties were sent over the whole island in order to take measures against the revolt . The officer of any one of the military parties thus distributed would come upon the estate of a planter , and inform him of the contemplated insurrection . A single case will show the object of this strange precautionary measure . The Planter receives his official visitor with

    surprise ; he has heard ot no insurrection amongst his slaves ; in fact , lie does not believe the story , and he avows his disbelief . Now stttely the Planter ought , at least , to know more of his own men than a Lieutenant of infantry from a distance . ; particularly as the Lieutenant does not think fit to disclose a single fact in proof of the asserted revolt .

    A sudden light breaks upon the Planter : lie is so confident of his slaves , that he offers to be bail for the whole body of them ; and as a step "to make things pleasant , " he offers a kind of free-will offering , say of three thousand dollars . The Lieutenant sees that the Planter understands matters ; he has further to go in the course of his visitation , and he will rail as he comes back . Duriuer the

    absence of the Lieutenant with his men , the Planter bethinks him that three thousand dollars is more than he is obliged to pay ; and when the Lieutenant returns , the Planter is avowedly more convinced than ever that the slaves thought of nothing less than a revolt ; so he proposes to make things pleasant on rather less expensive terms—to give , say only one thousand five hundred dollars . " Remember , " says the Lieutenant , " that 1 did not ask you for any money at all ; but

    since you have mentioned a sum , I cannot , course , take less . " And he goes away emptyhanded . Soon after , however , he returns again , retaining his original conviction that the Negroes intended a revolt ; nnd to punish them , a number of them arc flogged . The flogging is so severe that many of them arc permanently injured , and some of them arc killed . Tho Planter estimates the injury to his property at tho sum of ten thousand dollars . Other proprietors had not been guilty of the same backsliding , but equally

    perceiving tho proper way to make things pleasant , they liad persevered , and hu \ secured immunity for their estates . It has been said that during the suppression ot that apocryphal revolt , as many as ten thousand Negroes were killed . They were tlio property , of course , of tho planters who had viowed tho subject after what wo ninv call our friend ' s " second manner . " No Negroes were flogged to death on tho estates of the planters that had , made things pleasant . The Governor resided in tho inland not a very

    groat number of r ears ; ho entered it a notoriously poor man . —indeed it was hia poverty , joined with tho favour of hia Sovereign , which caused him to roceivo tho appointment ; he left tho island in tho possession of a large fortune . That island was Cuba—tho 0 <> - vornor was Genoral O'Donjoll ,

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), July 26, 1856, page 12, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_26071856/page/12/