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Leader (1850-1860), 24th May 1851, Edition Town of 2, Page 487, Untitled Article

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      Untitled Article

      Four foreign power * are understood to h « ve sent their functionaries to this country . One is the Pope , who sent Cardinal Wiseman and hte Bishops ; but that was done openly , and we . all ] fcctow th ^ t not a man of them possesses any actual authority ^ . / The other three powers are , Austria ., Prussia , and France * who are said to h ^ v § seijt pv ^ er here their Police . If this has been done , it was not done openly . Now the Police of those three countries are not in the habit of exercising i&etelv speculative or sDiritual

      authority ; they ' are the < direct arid practised agents of Absolutism ; and their presence in this country can serye ^ no useful purpose ,, Thev r cannot h , e , lp any English interest * or any Liberal interest i they can only endanger both . It is an alarming feature in the rumour , thai they are described as "being the . "assistants" ofouz ? Pojicerj-the teachers , it should be Said . And , it b , as been asserted that these agents come at the express desire of Lord Palmerston ! '

      Reviewing , then , this startling progress abroad , and this no less startling intrusion upon our own land , is it dtffiputt to understand the real nature of the conspiracy denounced by Lord John Bussell ? Here is the real " aggression , " here the real "insult to the Sovereign : ** It is evident that while his Ecolesiastical Titles Bill is neither demanded b y the exigency" nor suited to it , another sort of measure is urgently needed . He should make one more sweeping change in the text , follow up his denunciation of the foreign conspiracy by a direct measure , at ieast to repel the encroachments of that conspiracy on ; our own country 3 and alter his bill so as to niake it ; one " for preventing the intrusion

      of foreign Police into Englahd , or the assumpjtion of " any constabular titles or power based on the authority of ' any . foreign Prince / ' We can imagine thajb such a measure might entail Cabinet dissensions not less ^ iihbarrassing than the 'original bill ; we can imagine that the whole power of the conspiracy , and all the consummate ability which it can comtoand in this country , would be arrayed against LoVrf John ; buti * & not danger that will makei ; a Russell fljnchrirorh his duty—on the contrary , if anything can ' make him vaciilatej it will be the perfect feasfeabd obvious expediency of the re- , quirement . Of all times , however ^ the present is the one wneh hfi ought least to hesitate in taking his long-appointed cornmand of the Channel Fleet .

      Untitled Article

      • ' . ' , A COLONY AND ITS GOVERNORS . " Why did you say that we should not be inundated with felons ? " cry the people of Van Diemen ' s Land to Sir Gebrge Grey , His reply is affecting :: "I uttered'the language of hope rather than experience " I Pootf little George ! he had riot been long in-public life ; and , a year or two back , he fentertained youthful delusions , as to the perfectibility of Van DAemen ' s Land ! But be now confesses hjs fault- * 4 he youthful indiscretion of " inexperience" ; a . od who will not forgive him ?

      It was a pardortable error—pardonable , we would fain trust , even in Downing-stttel ;; but he is obliged to confess that he uttfe ^ ed " the language of hope ^ and tu th * Colonies ! It vvab indeed dangerous . How dangerous the pkio , Englishman may scarcely perceive without some explanation . There is not a group of colonies in the empire without some serious grievance . The delation of the North American colonies to the Mother country received a great shock on the completion of free trade ; that revolution , patronized in l > ownin # -8 treet

      as it wu 8 , left t /> those , colonies very little that could be considered decidedly advantageous in the con- ' nection with tHe "Mother country ; eftfjecfally as the Oovertarneht at hottle did nothing to ^ warrant that connection By keeping up a supply of capital and p ^ i » le " i'i-th « VdryilMte <(!> f'rtetv'ddan ( Jri 8 » , But *' oolo » - ni » atw « i , " howwer b * nefielftl to dolohiea , to oup pauper-rMdon distriotn , arid i » the * emigrants them-Helv « i *^ hx ) W « v < er > ttx *« ibkj \ with tho resources that Govemtriont canieoibiiaaWli ^ - ^ A t ¥ oublt # oine tq the O ( K < j <» 4 at th » bottom of > li > ow « ing- « troet ; and so it

      i » not'ptxjHW * upon that ffaWteel biweau / cxcepl by cok » hi « t 8 , crthfrtry gwatletnon , » pufolio ' -sjpirlted por-i sous at hootrtv and' © the * -tOttt ( W tila 8 « te « k ¦ ¦ ' ¦ l ' b « prapWal . of agietttcahmiflinH' railway fwfaieb w « ahull explairt in our nbxt uUMjbfcrj * ott ' arfcd nn ' op ^ portvinity for proving th 6 ( ttitUlty «* " the counotstKm > i but Ministers hiteitwteatid Are Wither ^ ol 1 ! A ^ aitt ; tho WofNt lndl « 8 , injured By N ^ gfo e » &iioipMk > n » aro hampered ;« ftgfct « d » tlk WA »^ eti ^ v « xk < J !; Injured , ahd diititftcted , 'tfWAuJrtrtf / hcm < sokiAi «> 9 > gjrowiog lull of peopte & * d wealthy aa IkMf t * w « eJrwnyta bwjt ia * tAlligemt And ftufttfffrtio , **» <• ftqbMkfted at 1 ' ike otoktih nuance of tha atinvic * nutttoito ) ' «* dV * ij © k »» if > r « Lund is really linking into tho portion of —but

      we do not like to carry our plain speaking to such , excess * just here , as to describe the state of Van piemen a Land : it ia the state which New South . Wales , bjr peremptory threats , has _ recently escaped ; tl ^ e state which the Cap e of Good Hope would not in . any planner pejmitj the state which , is exempli $ ed i # the . doomed , cities , abandoned by Lot , an $ sunk uu 4 er the , I > ead , ! $ . ea . Only it \ & worse in modern times ; as you . can wejl imagine ,, when twenty thousand and more of picked reckless , felons , without women , are turned loose in a colony , con- , taming about twenty thousand children . What you shudder to think of , Van Diemen * $ Land is npiq actually enduring—in her children , —in hermaidens , we were going to say j in her youth . Do ygu understand ? As I ) ante says , ,

      " Non ragioniam di lor , ma gu ? fda e paesa : " l ^ alk not of them , the felons ; but look , and pass them by . To the colony , thus oppressed , Sir George Grey had addressed "the language of hope . * ' It was dangerous ; especially as the colony had been in despair before , and is now remanded to that despair ,

      He had gone further , he had expressed view * which were right in the abstract " : this shows how inexperienced he must have been in the office . But he is getting on : he has now learned "the practical difficulties in their execution ">—the true slang of your old offender in office , who finds that all things <* right in the abstract 3 > are , —in office ^ though only there , —** practically difficult . "

      He throws doubts on the wishes of the colonists to get rid of the convicts—a large portion of . whom are made friends by miseducation and misgovernme ' nt at homeland an impossible existence in the colony ; he doubts , because the colony is growing " wealthy" by help of convictism . The man does riot' perceive that New South Wales . , which also grew wealthy in that way , has repelled the nasty , revolting , inhuman aid 5 but it is difficult to make your thorough political ceconomist , your ' practical man , " and especially your Whig , understand that a community can revolt from a system which

      creates human fiends , and exposes your children , boys and girls , to be the playmates of those fiends , if it also " creates wealth . " Evidently poor " inexperienced " George Grey has not got so far in his studies as that . What is more , the House of Commons is not beyond him ; and the House of Commons " represents" the English people ; so that , in sober sadness , what the colonies can do to escape being governed by inexperienced George , with such appalling consequences as we have indicated , is not at all clear—unless they cut the matter short , by cutting the connection ?

      Untitled Article

      PHILLIPS'S FIRE ANNIHILATOR . It is astonishing how inclined men are to hup evil , and how slow to avail themselves of good . Many an ill—universally admitted—remains unreJressed , because people not only choose to doubt the remedy , but even reluse to look at it . The amount annually paid for insurance against loss by fire is an evidence that men consider their goods and chattels to be in constant jeopardy ; but property is not more valuable than life , and many a man who

      hfts just paid his last quarter ' s premium , to insure his property , goes trembling to bed as he considers th . <* . receipt will . avail him nothing if the ftre-eseape arrive too tardily , or if he be suffocated in his ulcep . It is a horrible thing to be burned to death . Barbaric nationn know no more deadly torture . The JnciuisitiQa ; , in its most reiiued cruelties , used fire aa ita . climax . The world is foretold to be thus

      destroyed ; and the idea of eternal torment is most graphically described as " everlaatin ^ fire . " Human naiiurc shrinks with , instinctive horror at the thought of beiug consumed alive . We know instances of persona enduring nightly torture , t , hrou » U fears of this description . Th « y will await the departure of the last guest , order their servants to bed , aud , then Wtf , h ' . irjuinbljng Bti ' p * will thev wart'U through the Uoush in the , dark , tfie bvUer tq discern tho

      ijiinuteNt trace of ine . All 1 his ih no nu > erublo that 0110 would imagine liiitiu would clutch at anything that promised , a , r «? - P ^ cyip ( wm buc 1 \ a , t ^ ite « f ; vnx ; ipty . \ K U not so ^ Umw « v , ^ , 1 Qir tli * , . ljAOiui 4 aM < K who «« > i » fl ^ F » ^ " > f < iw bundretls Hre % o I fo fuunu wendiuK tb ^» p way l « th « i V « , uxb $ iH 0 ^ 9 Works ( , o witiicss the weekly exporiine ^ wh ^ h ^ rove « fiio to \ rf no longor a . w «» % n ¦ . fty * -md } 0 ^ t w&ymto &Q * v ^ nour ^ ( frmYfHtd , * # wfc ^ || iji p ^ 04 nn < rti ( iJ | ia >* W \ -Wtifun m « rrt id invented whioh pm | ui » fl » . iV uw * l \ mf ¥ tfi iiuininiily from lire to lifoand projx-ity ; « 'uul yet nil

      mankind do nOtrusJh , ip abqdy to avail thewselv ^ a : of the . advantage ! The " Fire Annihilator" coAaiste of a very simple machiaefc similar in a ^ earapce to a watering-pot * and equally portable . In this is a block of coinposltiona in the centre of which , is a bottle containing a . mixture p . f chlorate of p . o ^* s a . n . d loaf sugar * and in the centre of ti » at again is . deposited a very small phial containing a b ) a , ck rn . ysterious-look . ing fluid . When charged , the instrument is perfectly safe and harmless , and may be kept in any convenient part of the premises . When it is required for use , the phial is broken by an instrument provided for the purpose , and immediately a vapour is generated , which , according to the size of the machine , is competent to put out a fire in the- grate * . Qjp to extinguish the flames that fill a dwelling-house or a ship . It is well known that water has no power whatever over flame . The inost it can do is to damp the adjacent buildings and so prevent their catchingfire , or to . reach the seat of the inflammable materials and render them unfitted for combustion . But , while water in millions of gallons may be pour-edt through a body of flame without producing the . slightest effect upon it , the power of the " Fire Annihilator" is peculiarly exhibited in its , mastery over flame .

      The experiments at Vauxhall , which we have now witnessed four times , have convinced our own mind of the perfect efficacy of this agent . A small model of a ship filled with shavings , resin , and turpentine ,, is fired . Water is thrown plentifully upon it , with no result , But on the application of the " Annihilator" the flames are instantly subdued . The principal experiment is on the model of a threestory dwellingrbiQuse , erected at the end of one of the gashouses . This building is filled with the most inflammable materials , such as shavings steeped in resin and pitch , pine planks , and other timber . It is arousing to see how close the spectators approach before it is fired , and afterwards how they rush to the furthest extremity of the building . The

      flarne wreathes up the pillars of the model , crackles furiously , and rushes with awful rapidity half way along the roof of the gasbouse . The alarum-bell rings . People begin to be frightened , and are half enraged for having trusted themselves within the building . The smoke envelopes every object : you can scarcely see your neighbour at your elbow ; it chokes you , and you prepare to rush out at the door . Suddenly a furious crackling in the neighbourhood of the model tells you that something has happened—the flame recedes—it is extinguished . The air is more breathable , and the smoke rushes in torrents through the pigeon-holes at the top of the building The ground floor is now comparatively clear , people rush towards the smouldering embers , and an enthusiastic cheer tells that they

      appreciate the invention . One more experiment is given to show how the " Annihilator " will purify a room of smoke in order that firemen may search for half-suffocated bodies . In the open air a large tub is filled with gas tar , and the top covered with shavings . When this is set on fire , the whole yard is filled with a smoke so dense as to baffle description . The machine is brought to bear upon the burning mass , the flames are immediately extinguished , the smoke changes to the colour of steam ; and one more cheer in given by those who had hitherto doubted the powers of the " Fire Annihilator " in the open air .

      There are , however , persons who grant that the invention is successful on this scale , but they doubt its efficacy in the case of " a genuine iire in a dwelling-house . " Such persons are neither just to the inventor nor to themselves . They are perfectly warranted , in doubting , but not in leaving their doubts unresolved . The iratter is too serious to admit of careless indifference . It is an affair of life and death an , well as of salvation and destruc-.

      tion of property , | f the " Fire Annihilator * be but a toy , let it be proved and used a ? such . But , if it be really what it pretends , let it bo instantly provided , in all parishes , and let it 1 >« used m all (\ w « Uinjr 4 u ) uses . Let it be found si < le by side with tho nre-uKc »|> c aud U »« eiiKinrs <>* th « "'« br . i « auV If it i * not « , fraud or a delusion to Cta « £ Q : ' to * lW > ifr « $ W-wity in nothing lqfis than suicide .

      But as everything in J $ n | $ la . nd— oven life—inus * tKi brouuhl down tq the commercial « t # n < laj > a , w « 4 wmA tb * t ¦ & «• . U' « W generation to generation , what insurancc-oltico can

      Untitled Article

      May 24 , 1851 . ] j £ f ) e ILeafrit . 487

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), May 24, 1851, page 487, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1884/page/11/