On this page

• Text (3)

  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.

  • 

    Fin. 28, 1852.] THE LEADER. 203

  • 

    THE CRUEL SECT. Thomas Caklyle has offen...

  • 

    THINGS AND THINKINGS. A swoed—it is a be...

• Transcript

  • 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.

    Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

    The Re-0m5ned Field Voll Befobmmi 1 ^ On...

    Speaker's left hand is a gain to the Reformers ; not because it places them in opposition , but be * cause it releases them from a false position , has placed them nearer topower , nay , in power ; for surely we can loot beyond the present Anti-Freetrade , Anti-Liberal Ministry ? The interregnum between the Whig dead-body Government and the next Liberal Government should be employed in securing the largest possible augmentation to the popular power , and its most direct influence in shaping the Government .

    On one point we are quite clear , and it is well to lay down the fact at starting , that the coming contest should not be a mere Free-trade fight . Free trade must be maintained , and will be ; but the power which the Protectionist Cabinet can bring to bear against it is not nearly sufficient to cause any strong apprehension , nor will service in that fight be quittance to the Liberals for what they owe to their country . Free trade we have got , and we can keep ; and we only want something beyond it . Indeed , if the Free-trade

    party , after after attaining their object , parting from their Tory allies—always more notable in the singularity of position than in numbers — had re-organized themselves to secure an effective extension of the franchise , there would be less trouble now to maintain the victory—most likely no trouble at all . To clench the hold of Free trade , once for all , we must obtain the franchise for the main body of the people . On that we are all agreed ; we differ on secondary points , which ought not to divide us . We

    see one set demanding Universal Suffrage ; another , a rate-paying franchise ; a third , an educational franchise ; a fourth , a mixed franchise ; a fifth , a " domiciliary" franchise ; and by that separation , the jjeform party is converted ^ in detail , into a segregated series of minorities , instead of being , wliat it essentially is , and ought to be in action , a / great nationaL majority . Reformers who are in earnest , will do their best to amend that state of things ; and if there are enoughr men of sincerity and sense in each section , they

    will soon be able to consolidate the wlaolo . We are asking for , no " concessions , " --enough concessions , and to spare , have been made to the Wiiigs ; and the Reform party has lost proportionately in self-esteem and mutual reliance . Concession , politically , is the giving up something which we have , or can have , to purchase something else ; and Reformers gave up the opportunity of obtaining extended franchise to keep in the Whigs . We do not ask the

    workingclasses to give up Universal Suffrage , and be contented with a limited franchise ; we do not agree with Home Tooke aualogy , of accompanying a man who goes part way ; which is well enough in itself , but is not an adequate statement of the true policy . We do , however , perceive that a long journey may be made , and sometimes must be made , in separate journeys ; we do perceive that , to embark in a steamer which goes no further than Alexandria , is really a quicker way of ffettintr to India than to embark in one which

    goes all the way without stopping . " I will not stir a step except to go to India , " cries the " consistent " , invited to enter the Alexandrian steamer ; " because the English people at Alexandria never let travellers go beyond—by that routo no one ever reaches Bombay !" Among all the various schemes of Reform , there is some substantial portion common to the whole . Most Reformers desire to extend the franchise to every man that is fitted for it . The very advocates of " universal" suffrage would limit it to

    those who are grown up , sane , and " untainted » y crime . " A limitation they admit , as well as others ; and then arises tho question—What is the lit limitation P The Manchester men think that tho payment of poor-rates proves tho qualities dean-able in an elector . Lord John Russell thought that payment of 5 Z . sterling in rent sufnoiont ovidonco of tho requisite moral and intellectual qualities . Tho Parliamentary Roformers assume a . limitation scarcely more restricted than universal suffrage—a franchise to every man 11080

    w namo and address aro certified by being rogistorod in . the ratebooks as liable to pay rates , directly or indirectly , whether ho have paid them or not . Scarcoly any but prisoners , paupors , wanderers , and domestic servants , would bo oxoluaod by this last ; restriction , Now , while all thoso schemes havo one object—tho oxtonsion of tho franchise to every man of cortificd character — -they differ ; and the present duty of practical JXoformers is , to extract from the whole that upon

    which all substantially agree ; because that common desire would form the true will of the nation . It appears to us that the Parliamentary Reformers have come nearest to a common term ; but the urgent duty of Reformers is to ascertain whether they have so or not . The most important section of dissidents appears to be the Manchester section ; but we doubt very much whether they really mean to stand by a rate-paying clause—that opprobrium of Whig reform ; and if they do not , there is no substantial difference between them and the mass of Reformers . It would be a very happy circumstance for the nation , if it were so to turn out , and so to be proclaimed . of Protection in

    On the first reinstallation oflB . ce—on the first re-opening of the Reform field for active movement , the whole party finds itself in some little confusion ; but we trust that we nave indicated the clue to a consistent and a truly natural policy—to a policy which would be powerful , and not difficult . The Conference , which will assemble on Tuesday next , will have this question before it . There will probably be some who may stand aloof , because the majority at that Conference will not " go far enough ;" others , because the Conference will go too far , or indulging personal jealousies . The majority of the Conference , if it adhere to the principles which we have indicated , will re-assure the timid ,

    by showing that its demands are fairly measured by the actual will of the power under whose protection we all live—that of the nation itself ; it will vanquish the reluctance of the fastidious , by a dignified perseverance in its own course , without hostility to those who hold aloof—without reproaches for those who join it late in the day ; it will refer the impatient to the last political appeal—to the nation . Aiming to get at the will of the nation , to express that will , to obey it ; and to accomplish it , the Conference would then be the first public "body ' of our own A & y to se ek greatness and influence through a _ patribtic modesty and fidelity ; and we could not fear for its success while it should remain true to that

    noble enterprise . There is , indeed , one function which such a body as the Parliamentary Reform Association might fulfilmost usefully and legitimately , to the immense enhancement of its influence and power . Its primary object is to obtain a share of Parliamentary representation for the majority of the nation , at present excluded—in other wOrds , to give a Parliament to the People—the People

    being meanwhile without a Parliament , and without the agency for the collective expression and enforcement of its suffrages , which a Parliament affords . The want of such an agency aggravates the evil of disfranchisement , and tends to perpetuate the evil . Could the Association provisionally perform that species of agency—could it in such matters be a species of Administration for the People , it would make its convenience and importance felt by every class .

    Fin. 28, 1852.] The Leader. 203

    Fin . 28 , 1852 . ] THE LEADER . 203

    The Cruel Sect. Thomas Caklyle Has Offen...

    THE CRUEL SECT . Thomas Caklyle has offended the journal which has volunteered as the organ of ? the tradingclasses against the working-classes . A now spirit has come over that journal . Some year or so since , it was for a now and more popular tenure of land ; but we are now bound to conclude that it wished to sot the land froo from its present holders , in order to make it the object of mere trading laws : a change which God forbid ! Tho Weehly Dispatch at present devotes itself to the interests of employers , not as idontical with the workers , but as antagonistic ; it sots itself to promote social division—a shocking labour , to which journalism , with all its antagonism , has rarely descended ; it strivos to strengthen the prejudices of the employer , to harden their selfishness , and to hound on the tyranny of those who are already imporious enough . Wo beliovo , indeed , that it has gono far ahead of thdso to whoso selfish passions it has pandered . Tho writor that advocates tho tyrannies of trade in their most barefaced form is naturally exasperated at tho Ilozekiah who donouncos tho idols

    of tho market—and is helping to topple them over . Wo can leave tho dofonco of Carlylo to the active Secretary of tho Association which is implicated in tho attack , meamvhilo only noticing the journalism of tho matter . Tho attack is subscribed with tho well-known name of " Publioola , "

    —originally the pseudonyme of a gentleman who earned for it the reputation of vigour , and for himself a reputation as a fighting Atheist , with polemics carried to the most obtrusive and offensive lengths . We respected his outspeaking , but not his rudeness , or his blindness to ideas above him , Or his insolent refusal of all belief in the sincerity of opponents . " The king never dies , " nor does " Publicola : " the first writer of that name died , but the immortal name survived , and descended to a writer more refined , an eloquent preacher . " the religion of humanity , " a gentleman , and a popular representative of the people in the Legislature . He has recently been identified with that Roman appellative ; and our

    present object is to express our belief that the attack in question is not by him . We cannot rest that belief on its literary faults—on its ascribing to O'Connell an anecdote to be found in many an " Ana , " and identified with a more illustrious Irishman , before Daniel ' s time ; or the use of the phrase " running a muck , " as if the Malay who runs a muck always had a tilt at the manure-heap ; or the unhandy use of prepositions—but we are struck by the bitter sneer at the poor , the coarse allusion even to the odour of the destitute , and the ignorant cant about " Socialism . "

    Even from the utility pen of the Dispatch one might have expected to obtain better p hilosophy . Carlyle offends by not valuing statistics ; which are indeed worthless , unless the text gives soundness and true limitation to the figures . The writer in the Dispatch supplies an example . He boasts of the decline in the number of Irish paupers , although the workhouses had been ren- ? dered more habitable : he does not state how much of that was due to the relief of the labour

    market by the immense emigration in the year cited—an emigration which exceeded the whole number of paupers ; and he docs not mention that diroob emigration of paupers , which relieving Ireland , has deluged Liverpool and Manchester with beggary . Of what worth are statistics such as these ? Cruel to the poor , insolent to genius , the writer cannot even handle the figures to which his journeyman mind devotes itself .

    Things And Thinkings. A Swoed—It Is A Be...

    THINGS AND THINKINGS . A swoed—it is a beautiful object , symmetrical , bright , the type of power , direct , sharp , and swift . It cuts into the flesh , and lets forth the sluices of life . Well , there are worse things than pain or death . On the whole , the sword is the instrument of healthy , vigorous , keen-sighted , self-possessed , master-headed humanity ; meanness , cowardice , disease , dullwit , maladroitclumsy-fistedness cannot stand against the edge of the bravo man ' s favourite weapon . In our refinement , we have somewhat lost count with such simple truths and plain facts . Our humanitarians havo learned to think that

    there is nothing worse than pain and death They deprecate the cruelties of the sword , and " peaceful" commerce is their faith . Leonard Horner , Inspector of Factories , relates in his last report how a little girl has perished through neglect to guard dangerous machinery ; he records his complaint that self-acting mules still imperil tho lives of children . Holmfirth reservoir is allowed to deluge a whole valley , swoer > ing numbers to destruction ; but tho Holmfirth commissionors were insolvent ; and with no " profit " to secure , what duty romaineel P Peace , which turns pale at tho deadly edgo of the sword /« ci

    , pernuun uaio ihii iiixv uuuuij u <_ igu < -. uuu yxjjlaa , yjvi .-mits these things ; has , indeed , no vonoration for lifo , unless it can pay its way . Louis Napoleon establishes a piratical government in tho nox . t capital , and calls it " order . " Tho thing ordor , men do not much esteem ; for although it was secured by moral influence in Rome under Mazzini ' s government , legitimate politicians rejoice that the Eternal City was " rescued" from him , and restored to an old Pope who is impotent , an alien army , and brigands . Louis Napoleon seizes Paris by night , deluges it

    in tho blood of its citizons , and English statesmen " recognise" that an " order . " In its . ignorance , tho English pooplo dislikes tho idea that such order may bo imported hero , and resolves to keep it out . Whereupon the friends of Peace meet at the London Tavern , and deprecate any preparations for military resistance , as they hold fighting to bo unchristian . They would rather incur tho risk of Louis Napoleon , than commit tho sin of resisting him . Monnwliilo , Ihoro is rt talk about rifles ; on

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 28, 1852, page 15, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_28021852/page/15/