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Leader (1850-1860), 1st November 1851, Edition Town of 2, Page 1040, Untitled Article

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      Untitled Article

      1852 . The President of France they may support or any portion of Fiance which can be set up in Paris , to coerce the rest of the nation , and use its " Government" on the side of the Holy Alliance . . Never . has the world seen such a force as . that which is now to be used , as one , against the Peoples of the world—never . Millions of men constitute the armies of Absolutism , —armies not like the hordes of Xerxes , not hordes of Goths , of Tartars , or of India conquerors , diluted and burdened with camp followers ; but all fighting men , officered , armed , and disciplined according to the newest science . But there is a weakness both without and within . Within , there is some bankrupt

      decay—in Prussia bankrupt prestige , m Austria , sheer money bankruptcy . " The mercantile advices from Vienna , " says the Times in the sacred column which is devoted to truth—the " Money Market " column—" mention that the general condition of the money market remains without the slightest sign of improvement . There was no mitigation of the unfavourable rate of exchange , andlt is said that it would most probably have gone much higher but for the surveillance of the Government , which keeps all persons in dread of buying foreign bills to any extent that might excite remark . " A Government afraid to let people " buy foreign bills , "—and yet obliged to keep up immense armies ! Russia alone is strong , rich within , and ever advancing , to the "West and to the South .

      But there is a weakness in these empires , though it lies outside the conspiracy . The Peoples axe against them , —and this time not disunited . The cause of Hungary is now known to be the cause of Italy , of France , of Germany , of the Iberian peninsula ; and Hungary knows it . Hungary will not be alone this time , nor will she isolate herself . And , how stands America ? Watchful and prepared . The idea of action in Europe , at which some of our friends have laughed as an " imagination , " is becoming familiar to the American mind . We have seen what the Boston paper says . We have seen how Americans are keeping watch for the New York papers . The New York Herald

      discloses a plot in which France has been deputed to pick a quarrel with the United States , to afford an opening for a general war , in which the powers of Europe , supporting France or rather President Bonaparte , shall make a combined attack to crush the young republic . Cuba was to have been the pretext . In this paper—which , be its matter true or not , discloses the feeling—the English Foreign Minister is denounced as " the' farthest-sighted enemy of genuine liberty which the triumphs of February in France and Europe have produced . " Our own private letters attest the fact of a growing interest . But at the Southampton Banquet , the Honourable Mr . Walker may be said to have spoken the voice of his nation .

      " li \ " he yiud , " Despots should combine to overthrow the liberties of any nation , the People of the United States would be : prepared to unite with their ancestors . " " If this alliance of Despots , headed by Russia , which was the soul and body of the whole "—[ Let the words be noted—let them be wafted through all the British dominions , throughout the American Republic , and noted emphatically , for they are the plain , out-spoken words of a momentous truth—] " If this alliance of Despots , headed by Russia , which was the soul and body of the whole , should attempt to make , war upon fire governments "—

      [ As it will , as it has done—] "And if thin country should ever say to the United States , ' The time is come when the great conflict must commence between the principles of despotism and those of libeity , ' a covjUcl which he believed was close at . hand , thickk , wuuk millions ok his COIINTHYMKN WHO WOULD DKLKJI 1 TTO |(| , () CK TO TIIIC S 1 KIUKH OK BlUTAIN , AM ) IJNDICIt ITS AND Til Kilt HTANDAKI ) TO OVKRTHHOW DUMl'OTISM . "

      And what is- the reply made to thin declaration , before an assemblage of " middle-class " Knglishjnen , ( said to be ho Jo . st to manly feeling and the old national spirit—what is their response ? " Immknhk ciikkking . " Ay , the spirit was inly Nliiinbcring . England \ b not to bo luiHhed rip for ever—not lor ever will she lend her power to a secret and insidioiiH diplomacy . Neither she nor America will wait till they are assailed . The conflict v . v close at hand . Both

      America and England see the gigantic conspiracy , with the Great Bear at its head , which in stretching its va « t machinations from the Baltic to

      Afghanistan , from the Carpathians to the Atlantic—they see it ; and they are not slow to perceive that the battle of Free Nationality against the despots is to be fought on the field of Europe .

      Untitled Article

      REFORM PROSPECTS . W . J . Fox continues to support with spirit the life that he has given to the Parliamentary Reform movement . We are not satisfied with the details of the Parliamentary Reform scheme ; but we like the spirit in which the agitation is pursued ; and Mr . Fox ' s clear manly voice gives the spirit worthy utterance . Some of his antitheses deserve to be struck in lasting metal . Thetford and Arundel equal Manchester and Liverpool in Parliamentary representation—their members chosen " by a septennial revel of the grossest corruption and debauchery .

      " We talk of our constitution : why , if this is it , the banner of the constitution is a bank note and its basis a beer-barrel . " See what Mr . Jacob Bell , at once victor and victim of the St . Alban ' s election , discloses . The custom of the place is to trust large sums of money to election agents , but under circumstances which preclude any account of expenditure . A discreet

      friend sends a packet containing £ 500 to the office of an agent ; another packet ; " several" such packets . All on an understanding . The Latin for wood , or forest , is "lucus , " derived from " non lucendo "—which might be rendered "light-place , " because there is no light ; just as we call a Negro " Snowball . " Thus the " understanding" under which moneys are given to an election mediator means the understanding nothing at all about it .

      It is no wonder that powerful interests" are arrayed against Reforms ; and it is to be noted that your " Liberal" party is most strong in electionmongers . Liberals , they are called , probably from openhandedness . Were the suffrage much extended , this trade would be abolished : no man could buy up a constituency under universal suffrage . At least , none could do so , unless it were a Rothschild bent on spending the fortune of a Croesus in one election—a sight almost worth seeing for its gigantic recklessness , since it could only happen once in the world ' s history .

      Untitled Article

      THE NEW WAR AT THE CAPE . On entering upon a new and a more extensive stage of the Kafir war , it is a suitable occasion for the people of this country to consider the stern realities of the case , and the inevitable necessities of the future . The condition of affairs at the date of the last accounts was disastrous in every respect . Sir Henry Smith ' s manoeuvre of driving the Kafirs out of tlieir fortresses into the settled districts , had not attained the only thing that could justify it—success . The settled districts had been overrun by hordes of marauders ; the frontier , which in the euphemism of the Defence Association was receding westwards , had been driven in by the savages ; the settlers had been despoiled , while the invaders had largely helped themselves to supplies of provisions , arms , and ammunition . The disaffection of the native

      tribes , which every despatch had described as increasing , has been crowned by the defection of the Hottentots ; and the Commander-in-Chief is calling for 1 () , ()()() more troops . Now , it is a grave question whether that addition to the forces will be enonyh . The estimate is made by the same man that is putting forth anticipations manifestly the most fallacious : in his

      reply to the Defence Association , while enumerating the disasters , Sir Henry Smith says that he " expects much from a new commando" under a " Civil Commissioner "; and he counts upon the " despondency" of the Kafirs as facilitating a more ; extended disposal of his forces—the despondency of the very invaders who are making head against , him , and are inflicting the calamities that he confesses in the same breath ! The man who

      talks thus , estimates the necessary reinforcements at I () , O ()() ; whence we may infer that anybody who does not " expect much from a commando" under a Civil Commissioner , and does not count upon the " despondency" of the . Kafirs , would estimate the necessary reinforcements at a much higher amount ,.

      lint , whatever the needful amount of reinforccrnenttj , is Sir Henry Sinitli the proper person to intrust them to ? Assuredly not . He h « N proved his incapacity both on the political and military ground . It is necessary to confront this fact directly , and to discuss it explicitly . Henceforward the war

      must be conducted on an enlarged scale- tfc country must take the matter into its own hands and must thank the chosen servant of the Ho Government for the onerous necessity . At th " stage , therefore , it is doubly necessary that what II done should be done efficiently , and that the con duct of the enlarged war should be placed in hands that are efficient . Sir Henry Smith has not the confidence or respect of the Colonists : he reiterates again and again , that he has summoned them to his support , and they do not come ; he contrasts their obstinate backwardness with " their noble conduct in 1835 . " They have irreconcileabl y quarrelled with him for political reasons ; they have no

      confidence in his competency as a General . And naturally : he has proved his incapacity to conquer the barbarians whom he treated so cavalierl y ; 1 ^ admits that the defection of the Hottentots was " unexpected " by him ; and he has continually made such admissions of surprise and miscalculation . As brave a partisan as ever drew sword , he is as incompetent a General as ever bungled among victorious savages , confused geography , and disobedient levies . In the same document he has the effrontery , or rather the simplicity , to say , " The course I have pursued in British Kaffraria is the correct one" ! He does not know his own position politically , militarily , or morally !

      No ; the best reinforcement that the Home Government can send out is a General who can combine his movements , a Governor who can regain the confidence of the Colonists . If that obvious modicum of justice be not done , the People of the Cape have a right to declare that the Government deliberately squanders the property and the blood of the Colonists in an idle war , which the brave Colonists would soon settle for themselves if they were not debarred from the management of their own affairs .

      Untitled Article

      HIS MAJESTY THE MONSTER . An Eastern tells how there lived a Sultan who bad revelled in hideous debauchery until , in the excess of his profligacy , Fate struck him with a terrible curse—terrible to himself , terrible to his people : from out of his breast , on each side , grew two serpents , which clamoured to be fed . And the miserable monster was forced , lest they should devour himself , to feed them with the flesh and

      blood of his subjects . And so he continued , daily giving a man to each of his hated offspring ; until at last his beloved subjects , worn out with the loyal function of being eaten in detail , resolved to end the matter . They slew the crowned

      monster . So says the Fastern tale ; but ifc is no fable . The loathsome original exists in our day . The crowned monster sits on a living throne , and his name is Despotism . The two serpents grow out of his breasts , and they are fed with the substance of the living People . Tlieir names are Standing Army and National Debf . If the great monarch did not feed them , and keep them well fed , verily they would devour him .

      But it is not so easy to find them food ; for the Peoples begin to murmur . So he has hit upon a new plan . His dominions lie over all Europe , but he deceives his subjects . When "National Debt wants food , and Austria cannot muster the heart to give uj ) her quota , he lets Modena find the provision , and then he tells the Austrians that they must " keep faith with the national creditor . " Thus he contrives that Modena shall

      decide for Austria , and he persuades the Austrians that national faith binds them to make good the sacrifice of that worthy Duke . JiiBt in t" ° same way Pitt , who was Prime Mhunter to nis Majesty the Monster in 1800 , decided what should be " sacrificed by tlie People in 1851 . Thus , , Hungary pays for Austria—pays for being eaten uj ) . All Europe feeds the Serpent that grows Horn the left breast of his Majesty the Monster ,

      pays more every year . . And Standing Army hath an appetite scarcely less . This serpent is less plethoric and voraci "" but more cruel . lie devours indifferently Woo and gold ; but ho is more fond of the V ™ ™ metal . And every nation is made to provKKsanguinary morceau for the others : Italy pay * Hungary and Austria ; Hungary for Italy ; an " on . England pays for all : she in deluded " > to » _ lieving that if hi « Majesty the Monster did " ?* ,,. and thrive , " Kn lish institutions" would M ^ though English institutions have as little i with the upholding of the Imperial Monster as i English People lino with the fine ft "" !' . " ^ a-Diplomacy—Diplomacy being lackey to nifl

      Untitled Article

      1040 &t ) t $ Lea $ iet 4 [ Saturday ,

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 1, 1851, page 1040, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1907/page/12/