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    M aY2 ^ 18 ^-! ¦ JHE;IiEAi3EB. * 13

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    THE CITY SURRENDERING. The noble member ...

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    AFFAIRS OF HONOUR. Tse affair of honour ...

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    Absolutism Still Coming On. The Matter I...

    Ti / finisters who were present . Is not that pro-^ ii / fr Disraeli deprecates the advance of " exw £ * opinions" on the Continent ; but one army fTtvfme opinions is advancing before pur . eyes f + S absorption of Europe . He professes to ^ pad Republican opinions : in jockey phras e , Sv are £ nowhere . " Lord Palmerston pleads iv Constitutionalism . .: it is rotting away from Sate after state on the Continent ; even in Engi nd it has been shaken to its roots by the levity S barefaced corruption of that very party hose Ministers have so excellent anunderstand-? \ £ with the mendicant bully of Absolutism .

    it appears to us ; that Absolutism is the one nlv embodiment of f < the three courses" that is makm" way , because it alone is knit together vnth concentrated purpose , determined action , Sd that spirit of political vitality—aggression . Absolutism , having crushed the peoples , whose brawling alarmed " moderate" folks , is now eating uD Constitutionalism ; while the public servants of Oreat Britain are charmed at the good humour with which the monster sticks to " peace !"

    M Ay2 ^ 18 ^-! ¦ Jhe;Iieai3eb. * 13

    M aY 2 ^ ^ - ! ¦ JHE ; IiEAi 3 EB . *

    The City Surrendering. The Noble Member ...

    THE CITY SURRENDERING . The noble member for London offers himself again to the citizens , and they look very much as if they could not help having him again . The advertisement which he has put forward of Ms own claims , is rendered an insult by their helplessness . To parade once more the exploits of the last twenty years , including Sir Robert Peel ' s latest and largest work—to oner himself as the head of the free trade reformers if they will act in a body- —to speak of Free-trade as the grand work of the day , when Protection is counteracted by Mr . Disraeli , and disavowed by Lord Derby almost in terms , is , to flaunt a series of pretences which ought to condemn any candidate for election . Lord John demands the votes of the London citizens with a transparent absence of

    rightful claim , as a Sultan throws the handkerchief , knowing that he cannot be refused . A candidate thus proposing himself would be scouted at any other time . . An address so totally irrelevant , whether to the present or the future , would be nothing but an act of niaiserie ; but that which is the act of a simpleton when it recoils on the perpetrator , becomes an insult when it is inflicted upon helpless people who must perforce submit . It is the helplessness of the Londoners which lends force to the disrespect of the candidate . There was a time , indeed , but a iem weeks since , when Lord John [ Russell's interest in the

    City was supposed to be very low ; but within the last few weeks it has recovered in a surprising degree ; and there may be more than one reason for this recovery . The Hebrew interest adheres to him . A few months back it was supposed that no change from the Russell Ministry could be for the worse . Some hopes were entertained that the author statesman , who has given vitality to the new Cabinet , would be ablo to give character to its measures ; and these hopes have boon disappointed less through any short-coming on tho part of Mr . Disraeli himself , than through the impractica bility of Lord Derby's more congenial adherents . The official Protectionists

    desire to have tho credit of Mr . Disraeli ' s connexion , the ornament of Stanley's high birth , « nd the results of their own dogmas . But Lord Uorby has tho full force of a dogged mind in an en ergetic bod y ; he is head of the Cabinet ; and tlio consequences are , that Mr . Disraeli ' s spirit evaporates before the Ministry can bo moved by " . while tho feeblo Protectionists , under the weight of Derby ' s retracting advocacy , sigh in pjn for all that Derby promised . To tho in ? mi 8 > i ^ ° P rosont Cabuiot has proved neither "at illustration of Torvinm which it would havo

    stimulated all forms of Parliamentary Liberalism j ° oppose , nor that high-spirited aristocratical ^ ovornment , which might havo rodoomod tho uaractor of its dogmas by a sorios of gonerous administrative measures . Like an old suit of armour lj a manorial houso , it has tho cast-iron sonv and ° cuivall 7 outsido , but tho hero is gone ; hn . nl " 3 stands before you , knook-knoed , slacki £ a ' wavoring , if you look straight into tfi . n n , onanco ' y <> u discover nothing but the Gn V om of " - "solute emptiness . Tho public bio ^ - ^ polwo what it supposed to bo imposflilati r * Ministry more fruitless , more vaoil-° ab nit m ° rc C ( mtom P tibl ° than tli 0 family

    It is upon the strength of that dawning conviction , that Lord John Russell comes back again in lordly style , and claims once more acceptance from the City of London . Perhaps he has done it rather too soon . At the meeting in the City the rapture of welcome was not quite unanimous ; the supporters who had got up the meeting , indeed carried their point , but there was one party who objected , and another party , who advised delay .

    Though no longer a virgin constituency , the City does not like to . have its favours presumed in that peremptory fashion ; and its representatives were rather nettled at the abandoned manner in which Lord John ' s go-betweens set aside all decency of appearances in proposing the hasty resumption of the match . It is evident that the platform scene had not been sufficiently rehearsed , and the managers retire to rehearse it better .

    Lord John ' s friends without the walls do not conceal the fact that they regard Temple-bar as his portal to office , and they already announce him as the leader who is to lead the Liberal forces . The matter therefore is all arranged for the Liberals of England : they , as well as the City , have been " taken in and done for "—a phrase which has ceased to be a joke , as it simply expresses the proper fact . There has been some talk amongst the genuine electors , the middle classes and well-to ^ do artisans o _ f the City , as to their submission under the nomination of the old candidate ; but the talk is faint , and evidently men are half inclined to presume that there is no other fate but submission / These matters are

    arranged by election agents , ex-whippers-in , Treasury-lords , - and a few other managers of cliquesj local and metropolitan . The fact somewhat accounts for the small pains which Lord John Russell has taken to show whether he has any claims either upon the citizens of London or the people of England , either for his seat or a return to office ; all he has to do is to save appearances sufficiently for the forms of the election agents aforesaid .

    Verily , from present-appearances , we believe that the country will submit . It rates itself no higher than the Russell standard . It may not like it . There are few men who have been spoken of so generally , within the year , in terms of slight and wearisome annoyance , as Lord John Russell ; and if the country were to choose its Minister , assuredly Lord John Russell would not be the man . Perhaps if any one were named , it would be the very colleague whom it was the object of Lord John Russell ' s last energetic act to manoeuvre out of office . Although we are so

    quiet now , there is by no means the blissful security that seems to hang over dogmatic gentlemen of the Peace party . The quiet is of a character that nobody quite understands or trusts , and men would feel more comfortable if there were at the head of affairs an active , sharpsighted , adroit , resolute man . It was expected that the Tories would supply in efficiency and practical results their shortcomings in professions ; but expectation has been disappointed , and people who want anything done loolc neither to Russell nor to Derby . The two parties have been

    fighting about the National Defences , which all are resolved to have , though the country cannot make up its mind as to details ; but the one mind capable of a patriotic grasp of the subject now belongs to neither clique . If anything is to be done , apart from old factious considerations , the common remark is , "If JPalrnerston were in office , it would soon be settled . " We happen to know that this feeling has been expressed quite recently in the Midland Counties . The friends of national independence , both abroad and at home , would fool much more confidence , apart from matters of opinion , if England wore represented bv a man not afraid of using England ' s

    power . It is tho same in that Colonial crisis , which was aggravated by tho negligences of the Whig Government , and proves too much for tho hesitations of tho provisional Tory Government ; and , in tho columns of a contemporary , tho man who has tho groatost grasp of Colonial affairs , Edward Gibbon Wakefield , has just declared that if Palmerstonworo in office , tho crisis would be settled . But Palmerston is too strong for tho cliques . In spite of past suspicions , tho people havo a personal liking for him . Tho cliques have a fear that ho might really do something ; honco their chief object is , to elect stopgaps for tho principal constituencies , and in office to keep up , in alternate occupation , Oftbinots of stopgaps .

    Affairs Of Honour. Tse Affair Of Honour ...

    AFFAIRS OF HONOUR . Tse affair of honour between the two Members for Canterbury has afforded a welconie subject for the easy-going wit that chimes in with the morals of the day . Charles Lamb , said that accidents and offences were the spice of life , without which existence would be dull , and newspapers unmarketable . Thus ' the Honourable George Smythe and Colonel Rbmilly have reciprocally stood fire , with no other fruit than a vast number of witty articles and letters in the newspapers . So generally is our fatigued social system reducing everything to routine , that not only has the affair of " honour its set order , but the subsequent facetiae regularly follow pattern . The reference to " friends" is not more systematic than the reference to first principles , and by this time , as the saying is , any fool knows how tho argument about placing an ounce of lead , with a detonating powder , in a hollow tube should be conducted to the final reductio ad absurdum .

    The accessories always have their due part in the jococitv . " Time aud place , " which are among the primary essentials of the duel , assume a peculiar aspect of humour in the commentary ; and " Weybridge , " " in the cool of the morning , " becomes m some unintelligible manner the point of a joke . A cock pheasant happens to disturb the combatants , and then " the Cock Pheasant ' himself appears amongst the correspondence of the Times to keep up the fun and protest against being disturbed before the 1 st of October . All this is iii the regular order . It is the accustomed turn of humour to call the duel an " affair of

    honour ; the time and place , be the place the most respectable of retreats , and the nour the most quiet , always become droll ; pistol , powder , and shot , are the staples of the recipe , and you wind up the joke with the " satisfaction . " The satirists of the clubs and journals , however , always seem to forget that there is a practical and substantial side to every affair of honourthat there is some real grievance at stake , for which the Law affords no remedy , and for which Society has as yet afforded no appeal . Mr . George Smythe , in the public street , accuses

    Colonel Romilly of supplanting him , with a systematic ingratitude for past" support , in the esteem of the Canterbury electors , after the Colonel had invited a coalition . Such , conduct , to use an old-fashioned expression , would be in the highest degree ungentlemanly , and no man who claims to be a gentleman , could tolerate the imputation : but where should you look for redress P If amongst the technicalities of the law , the accused might obtain , or lose , a verdict without the slightest bearing on the spirit of the matter ; although it is in the spirit of the matter that the whole force of the wroner lies . If he

    were to appeal to some " court of honour" he would be laughed at for invoking a cumbrous machinery that would pronounce judgment on some constitutional rules of morality , leaving the spirit of the matter as untouched as the Law can do . Mr . Smythe calls the Colonel a supplanter and a traitor : the Colonel , claiming to be neither , appeals to the only measure which society has yet invented to fasten some kind of responsibility on his accuser ; and until society sanctions tho invention of some better machinery for the same purpose although commentators may continuo to joke , gentlemon will continue to measure paces and demand tubular satisfaction .

    The transaction at Weybridge , indeed , afforded in its result more than the usual opportunity for pleasantry . That Colonel Romilly , who has been called a traitor and a supplantor , should exchango two shots with his traducer , and then allow himself to bo declared satisfied , is too much of a practical reductio ad absurdum ; but this fault belongs in part to tho weapon usually selected by English duellists . The universal spirit of compromise suggests the suspicion that when two gentlemen meet , as challenger and challongod , on a hostile field , they tacitly

    combine in an arrangement to evade the substantial part of the duel . The affair at Weybridge has given occasion to the open uttoranco of suspicions , that gentlemen in such oiroumstancos never do firo at each other , and that tho aflhir of honour has becomo , oven among the upholders of the institution , a polite melodramatic farce , a conspiracy in bravado . The same suspicion could not possibly attach to affairs of honour in which tho weapon was the sword . The prevailing apology for tho pietol is , that it brings men

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), May 29, 1852, page 13, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_29051852/page/13/