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    132 '¦' . ' _ ¦' T H E LEA D ER; [No. 46...

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    The Labour Question.—Mr. Snuffles, I am ...

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    POLITICAL FOE.ESHADOWINGS. Sir J. Anders...

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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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    Ministers Have Certainly Kept Then- Own ...

    derick William remains as interesting to us as if she were still among us . Politically , the event is of no small importance ; it is a blood-tie between Xiiberal England and Liberal Prussia . Another peeuliarly interesting event has marked the course of the week . The ceiitenary of the birth of Robert Burns has roused the country . In every quarter of the land the fame of Burns has been celebrated , and justice ( perhaps a little in excess ) has been done to his greatness as a poet and to his virtues as a man . Even in Paris we hear of a marked recognition of the day being made ;

    The greatest demonstration , however , was at the Crystal Palace , where some fourteen thousand persons assembled to " assist" on the occasion . One of the notable incidents of this celebration at the Crystal Palace was the production of a prize poenij the sucessful competitor out of between six and seven hundred being a lady , whose verses were recited with great effect by Mr . Phelps . The poem is really a remarkable production ; but it is still a matter of surprise that out of so large a number of competing poems this one of Miss Craig ' s should have been found to be best . It is a real triumph

    for her . An incident of a Very different kind demands notice : it is the abandonment of the long-talked-of Dublin meeting of Orange landlords . The movement has been crushed . Those whom these coercing politicians looked to for countenance and support have turned their backs or indignantly denounced the uncalled-for attempt to rekindle the rebellious fire which has so nearly died out . A meeting of Irish members has given the finishing stroke to the atrocious blunder by declaring that in Ireland at this moment liberty , life , and property are as well cared for as they are in England . Strange if , after all , it were not so .

    132 '¦' . ' _ ¦' T H E Lea D Er; [No. 46...

    132 '¦' . ' _ ¦ ' T H E LEA D ER ; [ No . 462 , Jantjaby 29 , 1859 .

    The Labour Question.—Mr. Snuffles, I Am ...

    The Labour Question . —Mr . Snuffles , I am sure Hodge is in debt , and I am afraid your bill will never get paid . "— " I keep a careful account , ma ' am , " answered Shuffles , " and if ever Hodge can , I know he will , pay me . * - " Hodge ' s employers—for he has had seTerai— don't speak well of him , Mr . Snuffles , ; they say he is a troublesome , surly fellow , never eontent with his wages . "•^ - ' Mrs . Turnover , ma ' am , " said Snuffles ; " no labourer with a wife and six children ever was contented , that I have had any conversation , with ; unless he has become so stupified with trying to do what can't be done , that he gets past discontent , and , gives it

    up ; or unless he was a man , muddle-headed from the beginning , '¦ with not aafficient ideas to feel contented or discontented . "— - " Goodness , Mr . Snuffles ! " I exclaimed , with a smile , "I didn ' t know you were a Radical !""No more I am , ma'am , '' replied the old man , drawing himself up . " ' For Queen and country , ' is all I know about politics , and all I care . But that don t prevent me from seeing and knowing that the labourers work very hard , and don't got paid in proportion . "— - " They certainly do work hard , " I assented , " nobody will , or can deny that ; but people say , if they managed better , they might jdo very well indeed' —might not only live

    but save . " " If I thought so , ma'am , " said Snuffles , "I wouldn't give trust as I do . But I know better . I wish I didn't . I don't say but what they might manage better than they doj but how is anybody to expect them to try , try , try , when , after all their trying , they irflt only come a step or two further on the right road , without being able anyhow to reach the end of it ? A man must have a good hope , naa ' ana , or he can't do anything ; and , as things are , he can't nover hardly look forward to anything better , after all his life and all his labour , than to die at last and be buried under the name of a pauper 1 " At this point of the conversation , sensible that it would have shocked and outraged all the mairaatcfl in Ltorhtlands , especially the churchwardens .

    ana feeling besides that it was getting dangerously political in . spite of the old man ' s loyal and uound profcaelbnV of opinion , I made an opportunity of bidding him good morning . Yet , after living some years at Light-Unda , I am afraid I became almost « 3 heretical aa Snuffles Wm » elf ,-7-Z ) ic * cn « V ffowehold Worth : ' Bvkourbp Sardinian Lqan . —The IncUpendance Bttgi says s ^~ Negotiations for a largo Piodmontese loan to be guaranteed by tfoe French Government have beeq going on for some tlmo < The overtures were received as badly as / could be by all the great moneyed Interests of J ? aris and London . For this reason it ¦ eema that a loan by public subscription , to be opened iftnultaneously ad Turin , London and Paris , la decided wasf ¦ ¦ . ¦ ¦ v '

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    Political Foe.Eshadowings. Sir J. Anders...

    POLITICAL FOE . ESHADOWINGS . Sir J . Anderson , M . P . —The honourable member , at a dinner at Stirling on Thursday , made some brief allusions to politics . He said—I have always been in favour of Parliamentary Reform , deeming the peace and welfare of the country largely bound up with it ; and seeing the good results from the former bill—^ which , I believe , must be apparent to every one—I believe the time has how come for a further step ; While I am opposed to universal suffrage so long as we have so many ignorant and degraded men among us , 1 would lower the franchise , and adopt every practical means for having placed on the electoral roll every intelligent , and well-doing man in this country . I care not which plan be adopted so that this end be attained ; and also that the voter should be protected by the ballot in the exercise of his privilege . .

    Messrs . R . Palmer , M . P ., Hon . P . P . Bouverik , M . Pi , asd F . Pigott , M . P . —At a meeting of the Beading Farmers' Club , on Saturday , these gentlemen severally referred to the subject of Reform . Mr . Robert Palmer declined at present to pledge himself to any particular course on the question , inasmuch as there were already two measures before the public , and there was still the Government Bill to be brought forward . He should , however , give his support to that measure which he considered best , after giving them all due consideration . —Mr . Bouverie said the proposed measure of Reform , whether Lord Derby ' s , Mr - Bright ' s , or the one propounded in the Timesi deserved the appellation of an extension of the franchise rather than a Reform Bill .

    Whatever those schedules might contain , until they knew to what extent the franchise would be enlarged- — what the number of voters would , be under the new regime , it was very difficult to say what places should be disfranchised . As his hon . colleague had stated , at present he should pledge himself to nothing . In : Mr . Bright ' s scheme he thought there was a great deal that was good , and he thought also there was a great deal that was bad . There were at least forty members given to the metropolis . That seemed to him out of all proportion ; at the same time , he would avoid the other extreme . Every man had his own nostrum , and . he must confess that he rather liked the Scotch system , where three or four small towns were put together , and

    they , generally , sent a very good representative ; but . if the small county towns were to be deprived of representation he should think there ought to be more representatives given to the counties . If the number of voters in counties was very much increased , he prer sumed that the counties would be subdivided . He never could for one moment acknowledge that the landed interest was not to be represented in the House of Commons because there was a House of Lords . ^ Mr . Pigott also expressed his determination to follow in the steps of his colleague , and pledge himself to nothing at

    the present time . They all looked with the deepest anxiety for the measure of the Government ; the pro * duction of that would show them at once what part they were to take , and , whatever part that might be , he trusted that they had but one object in view , that was the welfare and stability of the institutions of this great country . There could be no doubt that society owed much to the Reform Bill of 1832 ; times had very much changed since then , but still they were all in a progressive state , and it was necessary that institutions should undergo repair and renovation , the same , as anything else . '

    Mr . King King , M . P ., and Lord W . Grajham , M . P . —On Thursday the members for the county of Hereford addressed their constituents in the Shire ? hall . Mr . King , M . P ., said , on the topic of Reform : —< ?• The extent and nature of the forthcoming measure being as yet involved in mystery , he would not pretend to discuss the subject , but would ask for their confidence , that he might duly consider it , and deal with it according to its deserts when it made its appearance in the House of Commons . In 1864 the hon . member for the City of London had withdrawn his bill because ho found that at that time nobody cared about Reform , and it might be assumed that the same state of things existed at the commencement of last year , for the noble viscount then at the head of the Government

    Confessed that ho had not so much as a draft of a Reform Bill in existence . In the mean time Reform had been talked about ; her Majesty had been made to promise some measure on the subject , and the Ministry were bound to redeem the pledge . But , of course , as conservatives , they had no special favour for the name of ¦ " Reform , '' which they generally associated with n revolution , " Still a measure under that najne might be a gpod and proper one . Ho then proceeded to advert to the speeches of Mr . Bright on the subject , and protested against the . working classes in large towns > being considered the people of England . He wished to see all classes treated alike in electoral matters . — -Lord w . Graham referred to the difficulties the Government would have to contend with In the forthcoming campaign , in which their sole reliance must be upon the country , who * e interest they would have , sincerely At heart in any

    measure they might introduce . After giving a warning against any ill-considered mode of dealing with the Constitution , he said that although he was far from saying that there were not in Mr . Bright ' s measure parts which might be carried out * still the general bearing and character of the measure was to transfer political power from one class to another , to take it away from the agricultural or country interest and confer it on large towns ; and this he ( Lord W . Graham ) considered neither fair nor Just . If such a measure were

    carried in its entirety , the farmers throughout England would hardly return one single member . The true object of Reform should be ' to represent more accuratel y , if possible , all classes and existing interests—land , commerce , and manufactures ; not to disfranchise one class and swamp another , but to give each its proper position ; hot to represent mere numbers , but property , education , and intelligence . Such he should call Conservative Reform ; such , he hoped , would be the kind of Reform that would be introduced , and such Reform , lie thought , they would be able to support . ¦ ¦' .

    Viscount Bury , M . P . —On Saturday his lordship addressed his constituents at Norwich . After explaining at some length the public duties which had engaged his attention in Canada , he adverted to the topic of the day . He said it would ill become him , however , to enter into the question of Reform without that due deliT beration which he honestly confessed he had been unable to give to it , although , of course , the general principles of a Reform Bill were fixed in his mind . He might refer with some confidence to the votes which he had already given as an earnest of the votes which he should give ; but into the details of a measure of Reform he did not then intend to enter . Four Reform Bills would , if he was not mistaken , be submitted to the choice of the House of Commons ; and it would be his duty earnestly and with due deliberation to weigh the provisions of those measures . He should ask himself one question .

    " Are these measures calculated to enlarge that basis of rational liberty which is intended to be secured by the British Constitution ? " He had had an opportunity of seeing various countries all over the world , and he would feajrlessly say that the people of England enjoyed a greater amount of rat ional liberty than the inhabitants of any other nation ; but he should still like to see that liberty carried a little further , and any measure which had for its object the extension of rational liberty should receive his fullest support . With regard to the franchise , he was not afraid to entrust it to an honest ; . industrious man who could understand the duties which a vote entailed . He hoped that in any Reform Bill which might be brought forward some means might be found of more accurately representing the bone and sinew of England -her honest and industrious operatives—but he was not prepared to state the exact way in which he would do this . . ¦ ¦ ¦¦ ¦

    The Right Hon . W . E . Gladstone , — Mr . Gladstone has accepted the Lord High Commissionerahip of the Ionian Islands , though his tenure of that office will be of extremely short duration , He was to open the session of the Ionian Parliament on the 25 th inst . About the beginning of the second week in February be will be recalled and his successor appointed . So that , although this temporary acceptance of office vacates Mr . Gladstone ' s seat for the University of Oxford , he will be reeligible by the time a fresh election can taka place ; while the primary measures connected with the' better administration of the islands will be introduced with greater advantage than by any successor to his office . — Herald .

    Oxford University ^ " —The Vice-Chancel on Thursday received the resignation of Mr . Gladstone , who , it is expected , will bo re-elected without opposition . The fact of the right hon . gentleman having accepted office under Lord Derby ( Chancellor of the University ) will no doubt strengthen his position , and give him a much larger majority should an opposition be attempted . Metropolitan . — -On Tuesday Mr . Ernest Jonos addressed a very crowded public meeting at tl > o Parthenium Rooms , when the following resolution wa » adopted : — " That in the opinion of this meeting any Reform Bill short of registered manhood suffrage , votp by ballot , and a more just distribution of seats , with shorter duration of Parliaments , not exceeding three years , will not be beneficial to the general body of two people . " . . Thh Metropolitan Bqrovoiis Co >«« rTTKB . —l lus body of Reformers have issued something liko a programme of what they wish to promote , and ¦ wnion points entirely to the redistribution and rearrangement of seats . The committee are putting thomso voa in communication with the members for the various boroughs Into which the metropolis Is divided , and tuey intend to hold a series of district meetings . Kensington . —A meeting has been held , and a petition to parliament adopted , praying that that place should be constituted into a borough returning two members . ^ „ „ ' . , , n . East Worobbtiuwhibb .--The Hon , Frederick O « ithorpe is a candidate for the seat vacant In consequence oi the death of Lord Worthwiek . Ho declares that ho wm go to Parliament free , bound to no party , and shackwa » y no pledges . His father , Lord Calthorpo , I * a Conservatire , and will , fto doubt , uat the great inauei . ee U »

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 29, 1859, page 4, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_29011859/page/4/