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a direct interest in the maintenance of commercial freedom , meet and vote a fund of £ 27 , 000 in twenty-seven minutes , and Reformers are breathless with wonder at the feat ; but nothing is subscribed in anything like that proportion to , ob > tain such truly national representation as would place the question beyond contest . Reformers all resolve to have reform , but they cannot agree upon the sort they will have ; and thus the whole body of the people is the laughingstock of the miserable minority opposed to it .
The incidents at the Conference of the Parliamentary Reform Association confirm our conclusion , and help us to the key . The objects of the Conference Were , to ascertain the degree of interest taken on the subject in the districts represented by the local deputations ; to learn the best means of promoting the agitation ; to explain an important obscurity in the original programme of the association ; and to promote a union of reformers . The interest taken in the movement , from Bedford to Bradford , from Devon to Northumberland , is considerable . The explanation as to the rating point was satisfactory—the
association showed that the suffrage would not be based on the payment of rates , but on the attestation of residence in the parish register of persons liable to rates . Some success was also attained in showing that the measure advanced by the association was not a " compromise , " in the ordinary sense of that word , but a middle term which would unite , as it does unite , the largest amount of working-class support with the largest amount of middle-class support ; a measure not proposed as the absolute and final reform , the one perfect chrysolite ; but simply a tangible concrete shape , to render that middle term
intelligible . The success in attaining union is to be ascertained by the experience of time . The palpable experience was not altogether satisfactory . The Chairman , on the first day , could not , or did not , check much interruption which came from those who " went further" than the association ; and at the aggregate meeting , the association only escaped a hostile amendment . There is interest in reform—but not enough to concentrate public action ; there is one desire for union , —but not enough to dictate self-possession ; and at this Conference , language of a studiously irritating kind was utjtered , not onl y by this or that intruder who came with some notorious " bee in
his bonnet , " but by recognised officials of the association , like Mr . George Thompson ; as though the object were not union , but defiance . To us , however , the conference is highly instructive , and , in many respects , hopeful . It has proved the existence of a strong and widely prevalent disposition to union . It has exhibited an uncredited amount of activity , of zeal , and of patriotism , as vigorous as it is disinterested . But it has also illustrated the crying wants of our day—those weaknesses of the time which paralyze public action , and render the people impotent before its antagonists . More than one speaker ,
like Mr . Varien and Mr . George Dawson , touched upon the mother disease—that selfish trading spirit which is breaking up society into a crowd of segregated , faithless individualisms , without power of united action , because without affection in a common humanity ; without loyalty to religious conviction , or chivalrous feeling . " Each for himself , " is a doctrine that destroys the power of organic action , and it is the doctrine paramount at this day . Manchester does not refute , but confirms it : men who invest a month ' s
profits in promoting a policy favourable to their commercial business , cannot find a day ' s profit for a policy which would extend a share of influence to the working creators of wealth , and would unite the country in a national power . " The ago of chivalry has gone ; " but , thank God ! it is also to come . The ago of copper halfpence , "taking care of themselves , " has passed its zenith ; the ago of . paid priesthood preaching for its ponce is on the decline 5 a now chivalry is is proclaimed by such men as George DaWHon ,
ovon m iron Birmingham ; the heartfelt accents of a Varien take hold ovon of a businoss meeting ; a Burns and an Ingram Lockhart give voice to a faith which is superior to sect . The " Dissenting" minister becomes tho minister of a catholic faith ; and if Practical Man , Esq ., M . P ., prosides , even- ho is venerable , hoarty , and woll-inclinod to boo fair play to influences which aro active before him , though his obsolete eyes cannot clearly make out what they are , or wnat they are doing . If idle demaqogucd , who have
ensconced themselves in a canting _ routine of ruffianism , have converted agitation into an institution , and have wwlearned the instinctive art of appealing , in simple , broad language , to a people , Can disturb a meeting assembled to deliberate , ijfc is still the fact , that a meeting assembled for action , like that of the Amalgamated Engineers and their allies , is too strong for such obstructions . A sense of right has seized hold of the working-class mind ; an unselfish faith has arisen to guide it in its contests ; and chivalry and nationality meet with new and animated responses wherever they find voice . Is it not Coleridge who says , that what with "¦• ' — ArtAtlATOTTf \ 4 1 \ fl fM 11 fl jngianamis
^_ _ _ J __ __ ^ ______ , _> __ J _ . . n l « t-m r ** n \ : TCTO " .. * Q sectarianism and political economy , ^ - ceased to be a nation , and will only be restored to nationality by the appearance of a foreign foe P The time has almost come , and the better spirit is reawakening . The greatest of all benefactors to this country , not yet extinct in body or spirit , would be a foreign invader showing himself amongstus . We should then unite ; we should then relearn national action ; our middle classes would then regain that bold spirit before which the idle brawling demagogue would be as a cur barking at the feet of an unheeding horse ; our . severed " classes" would once more be & People , and " reform" would be had for the asking .
Meanwhile , the meeting has confirmed our faith in these two political truths—that the hearty English feeling is yet so far from extinct as to respond to every appeal of just intent and hearty candour ; and that the true way to promote any movement , is to give the people something to do . Material action is a pleasure in itself ; to expect that large masses of people will take much trouble is in itself a fallacy ; to expect reasoning from them is to expect what is perhaps
undesirable ; they will always respond when their feelings are addressed ; they will gladly do what practical work their trusted leaders set them . Out of the material supplied byT ; ne Conference , the local representatives will find something to do tangibly ; and so far they will be successful . But the managers of the movement must continue to supply suggestions for the same kind of practical , tangible work , both to extend the confidence in their practical ability , and to keep up the spirit which they desire to arouse .
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LOUIS BONAPARTE'S TORY FRIEND IN THE FOREIGN OFFICE . Hencefoeth , it is idle to waste invective upon the crimes of a dictator , or lamentations upon the servitude of a people ; but it is the instant duty of freo journalists , who aspire less to the craft of statesmen , than to the vigilance of advanced sentinels , to unmask the designs , and to denounce the conspiracies , of a headstrong despotism , that threatens to overspread the last sanctuaries of European freedom . It is no longer a secret of diplomacy that Swi tzerland is menaced in tho very independence of her territories , and in the liberty of her institutions , by the man to whom , at the risk of hostilities , she once offered not merely tho shelter of a generous hospitality , but tho privileges of an honoured citizensnip , and the enthusiasm of a lofty compassion . Wo have heard from persons who wore at Geneva , in 1838 , how tho spirit of a brave and simple people was aroused , when tho sacred right of asylum was threatened by an army on their borders . But fourteen years have passed : tho proscribed citizen of Thurgovia is now tho sovereign disposer of Fronch budgets , and of French bayonets . Bo it his to repay hospitality with insult , —refuge with menace , —shelter and safely with aggression , if not with invasion .
Gratitude ! ( that most vulgar virtue ) would bo a flaw in tho charactor of this man , —a blomiah in his heroic biography , —a blot on his sanguinary escutcheon ; and aro not benefits forgot but tho anticipation of oaths forsworn ? Besides , tho volunteer of tho anti-papal legion of 1831 , ih , in 1852 , tho " Drat . born son of tho Church , "—tho sword of tho . Jesuit . Tho defeat and disgrace of tho Sondorbund , in 1847 , must bo avenged , and Protestant aHconilanoy bo put down by tho " soldiers of tho Pope . " Switzerland , republican and Protostnnt , ih a double foo to tho altar and tho throno .
Nevor was thoro a more propitious moment for this holy enterprise ! Schwarzenberg is prepared ( or was prepared but a fow days sinco ) to share tho perils and tho profits of a joint occupation . And what ore the perils P—
Russia , standing afar off > and somewhat given to the pedantry of treaties , when her own designB are not impeded by their observance , may frown . Prussia , ostensibly uncatholic , may protest ; and England—prbtestant En ^ lan d ! ' ' Oh | ^ England is " my intimate personal friend i " he visited rue at Ham , he entertained me in Belgravia , he patted me on the back but yesterday : where shallK find a more confiding ally ? As for Protestantism , he will keep that for Exeter Hall and Maynooth . Did not England , in 1849 , deem the restoration
of " His Holiness' to Home advisable , and is it now likely that " monc / ierMolxaesbxiry— England , par excellence , will disapprove of my resolution to crush the last strongholds of continental radicalism ? " Ah ! we will not recall the England of Cromwell and Milton : but in more degenerate days , there was a time when national honour was an article of faith in the religion of the Tories
Jealous to excess was their susceptibility , we do not say to injury and affront , but to the bare imputation of complaisant subserviency , or cringing connivance . The heart of the aristocracy of England was then , perhaps , in the right place , and , in the remotest corner of the habitable world , a British subject dared to . think , that come insult , come death , the whole mi ght of England was at his back to demand retribution and
redress . _ Cromwell , did we say ? Why , what would Chatham have said , could that great " war minister , " as your mincing Whig memoirs sneeringly call the last of the heroes , could he have listened to Edward Geoffrey , Earl of Derby , the Premier of England , delivering his profession of political faith to the assembled peers , on Friday evening , the 27 th February P For our own part , with all the respect we have often been tempted to avow for this noble .-and jmpetuous Earl , and often as he has favoured us with glimpses of a chivalry all too rare in these latter days , we have honestly failed to discern
the frankness , the high spirit , and the generous boldness , of his Ministerial explanation . We leave to other pens to criticise the vague and struggling ambiguities of his home and commercial policy . We are concerned with his announcement on our foreign relations . And we unhesitatingly and most calmly aftirm that , coming immediately after the insolent asperities of Prince Schwarzenberg , the language of Lord Derby on " treaties , " and on refugees , was of a nature to make their countrymen hang their heads for shame . If Lord Granville ' s repl y Austria was a " capitulation , " Earl Derby ' s recapitulation was a panic and a flight .
Earl Derby talks , forsooth , of religiously respecting treaties which he religiously knows to have been broken over and over again by the high contracting Powers , just so often as they were found , to bo an obstacle or an incumbrance . Nay , they have been passed by even with the consent of Eng land , when some petty kingdom for an amiable Prince had to be created . Now , concerning the refugees , mark how England , speaking through tho mouth of Derby , wanes and dwindles into tamoness and subserviency as Franco and Austria wax more haughty and more exacting .
Mark how tliis Edward Geoffrey ( how proud and high a name ) feebly deprecates tho word ho fatally pronounces , while ho would have us beliovo that ho repudiates tho act ! " No csjp ionago —but we will closely watch , and wo will faithfully report . " Words that have scarcely found time to receivo tho approbation of his own country before they are endorsed by tho official mate
journals of his Foreign Secretary ' s " inti personal friend , Louis Bonaparte . " " It ia , perhaps , not generally known , " sny * La Patric—winch then goes on to acquaint us with our Lord Mnlmcsbury ' s visits of old time to tho priaoner of Hain , and present intimato relations with tho Princo President . No ! wo only know that our now Foreign Minister bears tno namo of ono who brmnrht ¦ n . wav from homo ana
friends a most unhappy Princess , to dio brokenhearted and dishonoured m a strange land : ' only know that ho is tho compiler of memoirs of tho Borrient feats of backstairs diplomacy . ¦ J-c remains for us to hope , against hope , that wo may not liavo to learn that ho i » by tho gruco of tno Earl of Derby , and by tho dotfenorato traditions of Toryism , tho unwitting aocomplico of Switzerland invaded , and pf Belgium botrayed . Already in Belgium thoro aro ominous rumours of insurrectional movements : false rumours , it is * :
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226 THE LEADER , ^ , ; "L / .-l .-X ^^ Ay V
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), March 6, 1852, page 226, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1925/page/14/
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