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    that party ; by his own party as a staunch , energetic , thoroughly safe man . But Peel had qualities infinitely too great for a mere party man . Very early he evinced a faculty of close , keen , and steady observation , as when he noted to Plumer Ward the change in the opinions of the people , and the cleverness of Henry Hunt . As soon as progressive opinions attained the concrete shape , Peel recognized them , and could appreciate then- weight and strength—their dynamics . His

    intellect was not stationary , but slow : like the hour-hand of a clock , its movements were not seen , but it steadily pointed to each distinct stage in the onward advance . His earlier contemporaries , however , mistook that slowness for standing still — as children think that the hour hand does not move . "With immense self-possession , belonging to a powerful frame , with feelings deep rather than quick , Peel had still a kind heart . His kindness to Haydon took the public by surprise : not those who had known him

    better , and who knew , moreover , that his generosity could go far beyond mere money gifts : from him came spontaneously the manly recognition of merits in opponents ; and we have known instances in which he acknowledged zealous professional aid at a time of family trial with the handsomest expressions of gratitude—for services , indeed , which wealth was powerless to repay , though his sterling eloquence of acknowledgment paid with usance . He was manifestly and confessedly ambitious ; but

    it was late in life before the public knew that his ambition was ennobled by a large heart , an untiring observation of practical life , and a clear head , which saw that a true success only waits on a high and honest ambition . As he successively outgrew some partially finished stage of his career , he surprised his enemies and alarmed his friends—the latter often unable to follow him . His restoration of the currency anticipated the judgment of a subsequent generation . Catholic Emancipation he accepted as a pupil accepts the lesson of his

    master—as a working apprentice already far advanced in his art . The Reform Bill came too soon for his progress ; but he grew up to it—outgrew it . He was the only statesman able to decree free-trade at the date of its maturity . He has foreshadowed the principles of Irish regeneration . Clear head for tangible subjects , a strong heart to sympathise with large bodies , a strong will to do what lay within his power , these were the resources of Peel . Party was to him an instrument , not a master ; and at the time of his death , without a party , he was the arbiter of all .

    Among our statesmen there are few indeed that look to the nation as such . Most of them seek to derive their teaching from some special party—Peel would take his from any party that had a trustworthy message to bring . But , according to his lights , he always kept party in the second place—the nation in the first . It was the only master he acknowledged in practical statesmanship .

    Other men exceed him in speculative Liberalism ; many desire to be more popular : but they will sacrifice national aspirations to Whig necessities many who do not want his heart lack his will . Working on behalf of the nation , proud to be the servant of the nation , he was the sole acting patriot . * ' Who is there to take his place ? " It is vacant .

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    MEN ARE MEASURES . Blessed are they that expect nothing—especially from hopeless sources ; the Daily News expects much from the Whigs , and is fain to betray a condition by no means blessed . Among the symptoms that presage the downfall of the party is the sorrowful embarrassment in which their able advocate finds himself . The Whigs accept aid in the hour of danger , but forget it in the hour of ease . " It has been a poor , bootless , and disappointing session ; " the recent debate on foreign policy nearly gave the Ministry its coup de grace , and the Daily News trusts " that the lesson of the last momentous week will not be lost upon the Whigs . "

    " The liberal cause and principle—political , commercial , social—is threatened with reaction ; the late unanimous adhesion of Liberals to the Whig Ministry is a proof that all are conscious of this , and that all would prevent it . But by trusting and supporting the Whigs , they depend on the Whigs acting henceforth frankly and manfully to promote and strengthen that cause . Power hns . j * o »^ e « a . given into their hands from any personal aifectibn ^ a ^ lave for their beaux yeux , but in an ex-^ - K ptai ^ on that AhcYyotild take means , in common with ' " *«•*•«» / the / otoying out of their principles and the ; , _ ... strengthening oil th ^ ir cause . " / If this is a true ^ tatement of the Radical policy , .. we can imagine nothing more hopelessly based on * i ¦ > 5

    the Rusticus-expectat" principle . If our contemporary trusts that the Whigs will not let the lesson of a week be lost , we can only say that the trust proves a total incapacity in the Radicals for being taught by the lesson of a life . See how their sufferings are described by the same pen : — "If any party in Parliament and in the countryhas cause to complain of Lord John Russell and his Cabinet , it decidedly has been the Radicals . Excluded most

    sedulously from power , some portion of their ideas stolen without gratitude , and the rest repudiated too often with contumely ; use made of them to stir public opinion , and keep at bay the exigencies and assaults of the fanatic aristocracy , and this without gain or acknowledgment ; we are not surprised at the more eminent men of the thorough Liberal party preferring to brave any contingency rather than by a strained vote in favour of Ministers secure to them the power to continue past unfairness and old manoeuvres . "

    Yes , the well-born Whigs—and most of the superior Ministers are well-born—treat their Radical volunteers much as Lord Ashley treated one of his factory clients when he offered the hospitality of his house to his travelled ally by sending himinto the kitchen . The polite Ministers perfiaps hesitate to associate too closely with " persons of that class . " Brought up in the midst of prejudice , it is not wonderful that scions of the house of Bedford and other " distinguished" families should be given to this supercilious behaviour ; the wonder is that the Radicals should put up with it . If , indeed , the sacrifice gained anything for the

    country it might be respectable ; but it gains almost nothing , except a yearly bunch of " bills " which never blossom into " acts , " but die in the growing or fructify into abortions . The Radicals gain nothing by their subserviency beyond the satisfaction of having been " put upon . " If mortification is spiritually wholesome they may hope for all the salutary influences of self-abasement . As the Pope washes the feet of twelve beggars annually , the Radicals annually whitewash the Whigs by voting black white ; and the Whigs repay them in the manner described so eloquently by the veteran pen from which we have quoted .

    But the 8 ame witness testifies to the fact that the Radicals are not unanimous in their subserviency ; their leaders seem really to have been awakened from their delusion . It was time . If we look through the records of past sessions , we shall find none more barren in the attention of any popular policy , none more destitute of genuine nationality . The " popular " members appear only as men playing into the hands of the Whigs , or deviating occasionally into independence on subjects which , to be frank , excite very little sympathy

    among the People . Even in foreign politics , if any sign of nationality is to be found , it must be sought in the speeches of Conservative or Tory members , like Graham or Disraeli . The Whigs are confirmed faineants , and the Radicals have settled down into the position of being their apologists . A few have awakened to a sense of that degraded , useless , and unpatriotic position . If the lesson of a life has not been lost upon them , —if , as the Daily News says of the Whigs , the Radicals would throw themselves upon the country , —we might once more have

    popular representatives , a popular party—a party endowed with the strength of popular sympathy , and able to speak in the name of the true nation . It was time , we say : a little longer , and the old " Radical" party would have stood confessed as obsolete and worn out as the Whig party itself . ** Not men but measures , " has been the cant cry : we have had enough of " measures " made to keep up the credit of a party , but thrown overboard on every difficulty . Men are measures : you cannot have measures effectively consummated , or congenially administered without suitable men . The mistake of the Radical party has been to accept

    the Whigs on the score of professions , with the most obstinate disregard to acts . At one time there was some advantage in the mere recognition of principles , and one might feel gratitude even to those who would " greatly daring dine " : but that prae-reform exigency is out of date ; and to keep a man in place merely that he may mouth " progress , " without the slightest movement in fact , is as feeble an act of simplicity as ever was exhibited to the world : yet it has been kept up for years . At last , however , we hope the leading Radicals are going to rouse themselves from their bondage , and to throw themselves fairly on the country . Do not be afraid : jump boldly , we say , —we will catch you .

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    HOW LARGE TOWNS ABSORB SMALL ONES . Mr . Carlyle , in his last published Latter-day Pamphlet — " Hudson ' s Statue , " questions the

    popular belief that railways have been among the greatest blessings of this marvellous Nineteenth Century . That all men and women in cool possession of their senses like better to travel by railway than by any other conveyance is an undeniable fact . But , along with the many advantages , one unexpected and disastrous result is pointed out by Carlyle . " Much as we love railways , " he remarks , " there is one thing undeniable , railways are shifting all towns of Britain into new places ; no town will stand where it did , and nobody can tell for a lonsr while yet where it will stand . "

    Nor is this the worst evil . The facility of travelling is causing a rapid transfer of business to all the great centres of trade . The large towns are swallowing up the smaller ones . ' * Reading Basingstoke , and the rest , the unfortunate towns , subscribed money to get railways ; and it proves to be for cutting their own throats . The business has gone elsewhither ; and they—cannot stay behind their business . " This is all perfectly true . The tendency of " the Wen" to monopolize business is not a new thing , but the process has been terribly accelerated by the railways .

    The same process is going on in the more thickly-peopled parts of the United States . The New York Tribune utters frequent complaints of the way in which the trade , and even the employments , which used to sustain many pleasant and flourishing villages and towns , are concentrated in the large cities ; and in a late number of that journal"A Country Tailor" expatiates very

    feel-, ingly on the sad change . While the wholesale clothing establishments of New York are rapidly increasing in number , he complains that they are absorbing the employment of the country , and thus " casting many an honest and hard-working man and woman out of employment , " or drawing them to live in the unhealthy city . The editor of the New York Tribune admits the evil of which

    the rural tailor complains , but he does not despair of linding a remedy , if the working men will only act wisely . The plan which he proposes might easily be adopted in London , or any other large town : — " Let us suppose three or four hundred of these slavish piece-work tailors would now resolve to drink no more liquor , smoke no cigars , waste no hours nor means , but save every shilling they decently could until they should have an average of 100 dollars each beforehand . Then suppose they should go out on one of our railroads—the

    Erie or Housatonic for example—and buy a hundred or two acres of fair land , with the buildings upon it , say 10 , 000 dollars' worth in all , and put on new dwellings and implements to the value of 10 , 000 dollars or 15 , 000 dollars . Having done this , let them all migrate to this their purchase and new home , bag and baggage , electing one of their number of proved integrity and capacity , both as cutter and buyer , to keep shop for them in the city . Let them now buy for present cash a good assortment of cloths —say 5000 dollars' worth—and all go to work making clothes for whoever may choose to employ

    them among their brother workers in city or country , and making up sale-work when the orders shall be slack . Every morning their business man here may make up a package of orders and cut clothes for making up , and every day a like package of finished garments may be sent down to him from the hive , with directions to purchase and forward by return train any articles they might be in need of . A good farmer may easily be induced to join them on fair terms and take the management of their out-door work , and occasionally , when the weather is fine , trade slack , and take the

    the farm work hurrying , all the men may wrinkles out of their backs by a day ' s planting , hoeing , haymaking , or harvesting . So the women might take charge of the housework in sections , each doing a week's cooking , washing , &c , then work two weeks or more at tailoring , and each child might be trained to proficiency in both tailoring and farming or housework . With each person or family a rigid account should be kept , charging all that he or she had of the concern , and crediting their work or whatever might be contributed to the common fund . Each should be settled with at the close of every year or oftener as may be deemed desirable . Each

    person should be employed on the work he or she could do best , but devote some time also to acquiring skill in other departments . And finally , a more perfect and beneficent combination and division of labour might in this way be obtained than in any clothing establishment the world has yet known . Rent , vegetables , fruits , &c , would cost next to nothing compared to city prices , and the workers would get all they earned , be the same less or more . Ultimately , shoemakers , blacksmiths , carpenters , &c , might be received into the concern , or might get up similar villages of their own , and exchange products by wholesale with the combination of working tailors , to the signal advantage of all concerned . "

    What do our associated tailors and other tradesmen say to trying an experiment in this direction ? Out of thirty or forty thousand tailors in London , what should hinder a few thousands of them , at least , from clubbing their wits together , and , by the joint force of union and economy , emancipating themselves from their present wretched life of unblessed toil , disease , and misery r

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    348 mite 3 Lea %$ v . [ Satcrday ,

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), July 6, 1850, page 348, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1845/page/12/