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Leader (1850-1860), 28th October 1854, Edition Country of 2, Page 10, TO CORRESPONDENTS. is impossible to ackn...

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      1018 The Leader. [Saturday,

      1018 THE LEADER . [ Saturday ,

      Terms Of Subscription To " ©&« Fuatrtc."...

      TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION TO " ©&« fUatrtc . " For a Half-Year £ 0 13 o To be remitted in advance . J ^? Money Orders should be drawn upon the Steaitd anchv Office , and be made payable to Mr . Axfeed B . ljaoway , at No . 7 , Wellington Street , Strand .

      To Correspondents. Is Impossible To Ackn...

      TO CORRESPONDENTS . is impossible to acknowledge the mass of letters we receive . Their insertion is often delayed , owing to a press of matter ; and when omitted it is frequently from reasons quite independent of the merits of the communication . o notice can be taken of anonymous communications . Whatever is intended for insertion must be authenticated by the name and addres * of the writer ; not necessarily for publication , but as a guarantee of his good faith , ammumcations should alwajrs be legibly written , and on one side of the paper only . If long ,, it increases the difficulty of finding space for them . ' e cannot undertake to return rejected communications . U letters for the Editor should bo addressed to 7 . ¦ Wellington-street , Straud , London . •«""!»

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      W V_-A -''^ - ' ¦¦¦ Satuudat, October 28...

      w V _ -A - ''^ - ' ¦¦¦ SATUUDAT , OCTOBER 28 , 1854 ..

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      .Here Is Nothing So Revolutionary, Becau...

      . here is nothing so revolutionary , because there ia iiothing-ao unnatural and convulsive , as ' the atlaib to-keep things fixed -when all the world is by / the very law of its creation , in eternal progresB .-rDB . Arnold

      The Chances 0f A National Party. Snyqe T...

      THE CHANCES 0 F A NATIONAL PARTY . SnyqE the prorogation , of Parliament only two public meetings have been held in the provinces on the subject of the war . These meetings -were at Newcastle-upon-Tyne and at Sheffield , cities conspicuous in every liberal movement of our time , and entitled , by their commercial importance , and the . intellectual character of their population , to take an initiative part in an appeal to the G-overnment to stamp . a . national character upon the war

      against . Russia—that is to say , to deal with [ Russia , not merely as a territorial power , but as a political principle . These meetings were perhaps premature ; , in the sense that the orators and the resolutions made demands which the government could not consider in the -midst of a campaign ; and they were doubtless injudicious , inasmuch as the gentlemen who originated and conducted them insisted upon . assuming the attitude of an opposition to the Groveraraent at the moment when the Government , in resolving on the

      euqpedition . to the Crimea , was doing all that the most ardent aniirJJussian could . demand — -for the . time . But , imanother sense , those meetings were eminently successful ; for , though out of time , they did manifest a national instinct in . reference to the war ; and so fax they did probably impel the Government ,, and give shape to the popular controversy elsewhere . We cannot but regret , despite of the possible illogicalities , that there were not more such meetings ; hut it ia at least a satisfaction that the liberal leaders iu Newcastle and Sheffield did not

      consider their work finished when the speeches were made , and the resolutions passed . Thoy appear to have formed committees , which have corresponded with one another , and which have coalesoed in drawing up a comprehensive achemeibr further liberal agitation , not merely in those two places , but in the country generally . The audacious plan is to form a " National Party , " mainly having in view the realisation of undoubted , admittod , popular expectations in foreign policy ; in other words , to * enable England to rule at the foreign Office with at ieiistas much force and

      precision as at the Home Office . Considering the intensity of the constitutional delusion of this country , that it is self-governed , it will strike the unreflecting as a most remarkable circumstance that two of our chief towns are conspiring to have something to do with the action , in foreign affairs , of those alert oligarchs who are termed , with some impropriety , the Queen ' s Ministers . But there is no doubt that such a conspiracy is on foot ; and it will he well to calculate its chances of

      success . Assuredly this is not . an epoch which can logically be selected for an attempt to induce the people of England into vigorous [ Liberalism . Whatever political movement there is in England is Conservative . That faith in human , or at least English , Irish , and Scotch , perfectibility , which we used to call Radicalism , has almost quite gone out in this country . Mr . Hume congratulates himself that " we are all pretty much of one mind

      now ; " —Mr . Hume supposing that it is because every one has come round to him , not at all suspecting that he has met the Tories half way . It is Lord Aberdeen who ascertained that politicians are men ¦ with differences ! which are not distinctions ; and a Coalition Cabinet , -which is to carry on Government , and not to carry out . principles , represents the equable apathy of a nation which has ceased to have any particular political faith , and accordingly craves , as the best political blessing—peace and quietness

      Conservative Liberalism , or Liberal Conservatism—anything which amounts to nothing . Not alone have the Radicals disappeared , but the "Whigs also are dead ; and though it is true that there is still a section of the aristocracy—the Peelite—* which , because it has conquered the others , and is disliked accordingly , attempts to coquette -with the middle class , yet it is remarkable that the Aberdeen and Newcastle party has only succeeded in obtaining partisans among the Manchester and Peace school—a school

      singularly unpopular l ) oth with the middle class and the people , and a school certainly not Radical since the cry for peace is logically a cry for Conservatism . The " Reformer" is a politician who is not frequent now . This is because the unenfranchised have long ceased to crave freedom ; partly because the democracy , which is highly sensible in England , is weary of its delusive demagogues , beginning to think with Lord Shaftesbury , Mr . Carlyle , and their wives , that material and social

      reforms are mainly wanted ; and still more , because America and Australia have , within these five or six years , drained the democracy of ita best men . There is still , no doubt , some vague talk about the Ballot and rotten boroughs ; but even among Liberals , such as Mr . Cobden , the purification of the electoral body is treated as a chimera , and , on all hands , there is such a cynical notion of the futility of franchise extensions , that Lord John Russell , who is not an original man ,

      and will die talking the routine twaddle of ' 82 , has become the jest of the House of Commons , particularly of his colleagues in that assembly , for his " inveterate addiction to Schedules A , B , and D , The Liberalism of this country can generally bo tested by its religious feelings ; and it " is very noticcablo , in the first place , that there ia lar lesa " infidelity" than there was ten years ago ; and ,

      in the noxb place , that the no-Popery ecstacy wns never moro ardent than at this moment , na we may safely infer from the circumstance that our very olovercst statesman has deliberately bid for power merely on tho strength ot" his objectivo Protestantism—having , indeed , no other principle whatever to suggest for tho guidance of tho poriod . What ia called loyalty—attachment to tho sovereign

      as the sovereign——is as conspicuous in England as Czar-worship is in Russia . The House of Lords is perhaps , on the whole , more popular than the House of . Commons . The aristocracy was never so degradingly dull , but was never so strong . At such a moment , then , we cannot augur very favourably of a National Party , by which we are asked to understand a party pledged to obtain the freedom of mankind by the machinery of a widely-extended suffrage in

      England , and the wholesale deposition of despots abroad—a party which is to take its place in the House of Commons , 'to control the crown and coerce the aristocracy . No doubt there will be a great change : ours is a nation with a temperament analogous toits climate ; rand the oldest of us may live to see a restoration of those Anglo-Saxon principles to this dav encountered among our

      relatives , when relieved from ' . British apathy , in our colonies . This war , like other wars ,, may lead to results its fomenters do not now apprehend . But we venture to ^ warn warmhearted Liberals of Newcastle and : Sheffield r that , in a Conservative age , arpopularrpaTty . cannot be constructed as readily asa'locoradtive or a dozen of " JRogers ' s best . " Yet it is not to be denied that a national

      party , such as that contemplated by theseprovincial committees , is not only desirable ,, but , upon certain conditions , is a very possible confederation . The condition would be that this national party have nothing to da with this nation ; that is to say , that it' direct itself exclusively to a supervision of oiir Court's and Q-overnment ' s foreign policy . It is the nature of a ( 3-overnment such as the

      present one to obey orders ; and the Houseof Commons , which is a mere club , entirely failing in its duty , there is needed some sort of national organisation , to bring public opinion to bear upon the persona who represent England in "diplomacy . " Biit this ia as much as to say that such a national party must carry public opinion with it—rthat , consequently , it must not be a propaganda , of vague , sympathetic , Liberalism . * Public opinion in England—a public opinion by nomeans excluding the Peerage or other pro ~ fessional Conservatives—would sanction an

      agitation to lead England into a pledge in favour of the restoration of Poland ; and a national party which commenced as a League to bring back the Poles to history , and to place them as a barrier between Russia and Europe , would—grow . It is to such a purpose the practical English people would turn their rage against Russia , w ho will lead ? The subscriptions " forth © sick and wounded " indicate a magnificent national character ; but the indication is not altogether of charity : — surely there is some craving , in the old English way , for revenge ?

      I-Ioni Soit Qui Mal Y Pense. Loms Napole...

      I-IONI SOIT QUI MAL Y PENSE . Loms Napoleon , Emperor of the French , is to visit tho English Court at Osborne , and , accompanying it to Windsor , is to bo invested , in grand chapter , with the Order of the Garter . Gorgeous Christmas festivities arc to celebrate Victoria ' s hospitality to her great Ally ; and tho English and French nations are to look on , reciprocating tho compliments of tho unparalleled season—tho alliance between the two peoples superbly typified m tho ceremony which enrols a French Emperor as Knight of an Eng - lish Queen . Happy Queen ! happy Emperor ! happy countries !

      There- ia nothing , as Mrs . Mnlaprop observed , like the friendship which begins -with ft little aversion ; and wo do not iu tho least suspect tho heartiness of the present affection betweon tho two Courts , and botvveon LouJ 9 Napoleon and the enlightened English public ,

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 28, 1854, page 10, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_28101854/page/10/