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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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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.
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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 ,
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Citation
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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/
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