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    Portalis , probably the most venerable official oathbreaker extant , at their head , is described as imperial and severe in tone , look , manner , gesture The reply to the fulsome falsehoods of tl ^ ir moufcbpiece is noticeable - for a pointed allusion to the suffrage that gave the Empire to N apoleon , and the succession to his chosen heirf , it was no longer simply" the six millions of 1848 , or the seven millions of 1851 , bitt the fattr millions of

    1804 , on which his hereditary rights reposed . Rights to what ? to the Empire , in the name of the People . Among these magistrates , the fountains of law , truth , justice , and honesty , there were more men , twice and thrice forsworn , than could probably be found in any other official class . Chiefly Orleanists by sympathy , they are naturally suspected by the dominant Faction . And law is of itself an object of suspicion to men who trample all law under foot .

    Another propulsion towards the Empire comes from , the legislature which , even such as it is , is fain to fall into old parliamentary habits , and really to discuss measures , when it was only invented to register decrees . Already we hear of an opposition from a knot of members , who got elected under false pretences of Napoleonism , ( following out the morality they were taught ) and now declare themselves " Independents . " Even this corps may have to be dissolved , unless it survive to be pitched out of window . Imagine the insubordination of Members of Parliament

    who decline to wear the liveries handsomely provided for them by decree . O ! party of order ; ye who hooted down Victor Hugo _ from the National Tribune , behold your punishment ! As for the Senate , their servility outruns tyranny itself . They have already voted away as large a civil list as poor- Louis Philippe grudgingly

    obtained , not to speak of the exclusive riglit of shooting in royal forests and plantations , which had Been legally leased to private gentlemen for a term of years . All these fantastic tricks are a lesson , and a bitter lesson , to the French people . It may well be believed that , however rank and high the noxious weed of Bonapartism may threaten to grow , it is withering at the root .

    The death of Schwarzenberg is not auspicious to tlie designs of the Dictator : for the late Prime Minister of Austria was naturally sympathetic to the man of December , and his detestation of English constitutionalism increased his disposition to coquet with French despotism . But the wonders of the day come from the opposite hemisphere . The explorations of the Austrian gold fields prove them to be productive in an increasing ratio , like the coal fields of

    England . Vast sums have come over , but they arc mere foretastes . As much as 70 ^ pounds in weight is said to be lying in the bank at Melbourne . That town is without a working-class—all off to the gold fields . Not only do shepherds leave their flocks unshorn , herdsmen leave thetr cattle running wild , reapers the crops unreaped , shopmen the counter unmanned , domestic servants the beds unmade and the dinner uncoolced ; but the police themselves are off after the runaways , not as pursuers , but as companions ; promoting themselves to be vagabonds . For in that singular region of pocketed quadrupeds on two legs and four-footed ducks , your vagrant is now the man of substance ; rjvw material is the paramount capital ; and the capitalist , superseded by the fields themselves , is left destitute ; by labour , and calls out for relief . Ordinary trade is at a stand for hands , while the trouble of the labourer is only to carry his" wealth , and get his raw gold minted into coin . The other event from the south is a mournful disaster , The Birkenhead steam-ship , which had just arrived nt the Cape with five hundred troops , f ° r tnt ! Kafir war , was wrecked off > tlu ' ou £ u tne r * ^ steering of the fou r hundred and fifty-four brave v illustratesjHico more that unfornrnvi in /

    tunate pedantry qpsh ' ort Guts which is the besetting sin of sailing mfiiers . But It also suggests grave doubts as to iroii , both as to its strength and its safety ; as to strength , in resisting the sharppoints of ja rocky and as to safety , in disturbanceof ; the needle . The ship was on . a wrong course —~ but was this the master ' s fault altogether , or partly the magnet's ? : \ The circumstances are peculiarly distressing , and the too frequent occurrence of these catastrophes cannot blunt the public mind to indifference , in . px * esence of a national loss .

    Four hundred and fifty-four as brave fellows as ever trod a deck or shouldered a knapsack , the very pith and sinew of England , went down to death as calmly as if they were simply obeying orders ; nay , in the very act of obeying orders ; in sight of the shore , too , on which they were ardent to seek distinction , perhaps a glorious death in their country ' s service . Four hundred and fifty-four souls drowned ! but how many widows , how many orphans , how many affections left to mourn I

    The rashness of the captain was more than atoned by his heroic death ; and by his side was an officer who was on his way to replace Colonel Fordyce , happier , alas ! in Ms death at the head of his regiment .

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    HISTORY OF PARLIAMENT . Another debate on the opinions , principles , and policy of Ministers occupied the House of Commons on Monday night , and in its results was as ineffectual as any of its predecessors in drawing forth any distinct statement of their intentions . Mr . Osborne was again challenger and aggressor : the occasion was again the motion that the House do resolve , itself into a Committee of Supply , Gravely taunting Ministers -with mystification , and with giving explanations requiring to be explained , he flanked his first blow by quoting from one of those " Arcadian love-letters" which had passed between Lord Malmesbury and the Austrian ambassador , intimating that Lord Derby ' government would give " a frank and honest exposition of principles" to the nations of the civilized world , and then asking if it were incumbent on a Minister to give a frank exposition to the civilized world , how much more incumbent was it to give a frank exposition to the people of this country ! Why try the long range at Vienna when there was so much practice ground in this country . Then there were the indispensable measures . What were they ? Heaven and the Minister only knew . And as to the main question , that which made them Ministers , the question of Protection , what had been Lord Derby ' s conduct with respect to that ?

    " In the celebrated desertion case which he ( Mr . Osborno ) had referred to the other night , it was said : — 'las I may ( that which I would I cannot ) , With best advantage will deceive the time , And aid tliee in this doubtful shock of arms , But on thy side I may not bo too forward . ' ( A laugh . ) These were almost the precise terms used by Lord Derby to his Protectionist allies ; and this was acting a bold and straightforward course , —this was to show the very soul of chivalry ! ( A laugh . ) Thorp were , however , gontlemen on the opposite benches who , in all likelihood , would bo moro inclined to think tliat it partook more of the sly practices of the cockpit than the bold defiance of

    the tilting-yard ( laughter ) , —that it resembled mpro the peculiar practices of jNTowmarkot than the bold chivalry of JFloddon-iiold . ( Laughter- ) They had hoard a great deal of factious opposition , and tho Chancellor of the Exchoqucr , notwithstanding the almost indocont hasto with which the House had voted 14 , 000 , 0002 . whenever any one opposed a bill , cried out , Factious opposition / and complained that he could not carry anything . ( Hoar , hoar . ) But thero might bo such a thing an a factious Govornmont . ( Hoar , hoar . ) Thero might bo Buxih , a thing as a Government getting intot office on false protoncos , and , having obtained tho supplies on false pveloneas , then turning round and making such an explanation as was mado in anofchor place on tho 80 th . ( Hoar , hoar . ) Ho stigmatized tho courso of Government respecting

    Maynooth , and defied anybody to make anything out of tho official replies mado on tho Hiibject in either Houoo ; lie rallied , Mr . Forbes' Mackenzie- for tho hazy cunning which ho had contrived to throw over 1 tho Maynooth question in his Liverpool speech ; and Lord Jfaas oh the abandonment of the Irish millers and distillers ; he made tho House merry by a sarcastic allusion to tho h ybrid , animals now going about in borougliH , called Froo-trado Protectionists , while pure Protectionists canvassod tho counties . Mr . George Frederick Young was presented to the House an no longer the advocate of hucIi Utopian theories as tho corn and navigation laws existing before 1 H < LO ; and Mr . Christopher hold up an tho last of tho ' farmers' friends . ' " It was a melancholy fact that this Protection cry had sorvod its turn ; and it might now bo called , in tho phraseology of tho botting-ring , tho «

    bookhorse . ' , TjbgvliaSjie ^ d fate a great many Derbv favouritq ^ pfce Jnftdip backed them to a great fextenfc--, especially tne pocfc people in the country ( laughter )—but when the day of tne r « ce arrived they had frequently seen { people in high , position * scratching * their horses and eaving the piibjjq in the lurch . ( Hear , hear . ) So was it with tb , e cry orJxoteptkni . ( Cheers and laughter . ) ' Who would not praise Patricio ' s high desert , His hand unstain'd , his uncorrupted heart !' His comprehensive head all ; inter " ests "weighed , ' All Europe saved , yet Britain not betrayed ? ' S ^ heed s them not ; his pride is in piquet ,

    . Newmarket- fame , and judgment at a net !' ( Hear , hear , ' and laughter . ) "Mr . Disraeli had talked of large and comprehensive views , but no views , however large and comprehensive , would give the country faith in the honour of a ministry whose actions were so unworthy of a great country . Look at that blank-cartrid ge of a reform bill—that extension of the suffrage wrapped up in a military cover , and now withdrawn . ( Cheers and laughter . ) He was not surprised at the withdrawal of that proposition , because , though endeavoured to be palmed off as original , it was copied from no less a person than orator Hunt , who in 1831 laid on the table of the House

    a motion to precisely the same effect . ( Cheers and laughter . ) It was not to be wondered at , therefore , that the country party should be in a ferment at this ebullition of reform zeal on the part of the Home Secretary ^ and should -insist on his withdrawing a proposition so unhandsomel y stolen . ( Laughter . ) If Ministers wished to have a shred of reputation about them ,, they must tell the House what policy they intended to pursue . " In . reply to this , Lord John Majthebs said that Government had nothing new to say . They stood by

    their declarations , all and each . If the Opposition were strong , why did they not display their strength ? and then , rising in audacity , he exclaimed , What means this constant and nightly interruption of all public business ?—a question met by , derisive cries of " Oh ! oh I" and cheers . Did the House forget the long constitutional essays delivered at previous sittings , the speeches delivered by Mr . Osborne before , and if these interruptions were to be continued , why not bring them to a head and issue at once ?

    Mr . Roebuck played his usual part ; but while fight * ing both friends and foes , he fixed the new-point raised by Lord John Manners with great distinctness . After lecturing Mr . Disraeli for having hunted down Sir Robert Peel ; for having dropped into office as a Pro tectionist , and shirked the question when in oflice ; he lectured his friends upon the duty of instantly taking up the insolent challenge flung down by Lord John Manners . j " Were he ( Mr . Roebuck ) the leader of any Opposition he would bring that policy to a test at once . ( Hear , hear . ) He acknowledged that thero was mischief in these constant assailings of the right hon . gentlemen opposite ( on the Ministerial benches / with mere words ; but did they or not believe they were in a majority in that house ? If they

    were , let them feel it . If they were not , let the country know its own danger . ( Hear , hear . ) But by the policy pursued opposite , and on that ( the Opposition ) side of the House , the right hon . gentlemen had all the benefit of a majority , and of a minority too ( 'Hear , ' and a laugh ); they had the benefit of a minority because they did not dare to propose anything ; and they had the benefit ot a majority because tne Opposition did not dare to propose anything ( hear , hear ); but , if it wore so , between the two contending partieB the country drifted to leeward , and all tho interests of Great Britain and Ireland were forgotten through these miserable proceedings of party . 5 r lear » hear . ) Sure ho was tho country would neither justify one nor tho other . He appealed to the noble lord ( Lord John Russell ) , if ho were to represent the Opposition , to bring this matter to a test quickly , both for his ow n chara cter as

    well as for tho interests of tho country . " ... Mr . Addebley defended the "declarations , " and admitted that tlio country was opposed to Protection . ^ Mr . Ciiables Vixmebs , called up by Mr . Roebucks lecture , defended himself from the charge of not having distinctly tested tho opinion of tho House , by asserting that ho was satisfied Ministers had abandoned l rotection , and lie enlarged on the point to an extent so damaging to them , that Mr . HeNIey rose , ana roundly asserting that the country was satisfied witn the language of tho Government , he said —> - « As to tho principles on which they proceeded , he would simply answer , that their principles were now whai wj always had boon ; fchoro was no change in thoia . w " « " •' mrxr nn . vt . xr omil / l r-. ti . rrv thn wholn of their principles Uia nvv to

    depend on themselves , but on tho country ; and . uw country it was tho declared wish of the Government to gg as soon as tho measures necessary for tho prospori y safety of tho country should bo carried , { near , " « ' •' They cared not how soon this should bo ; but it wom in full time to enable , a now Parliament to a « s « rn » U m prosont year , and to that now Parliament tho .

    necessary . . necessary me »»« . raieA This scandalized Mr . Sidney Hbbbeut , wlw' ™ Ministers for advancing it , and pointed to ft «» ^ in Mr . Honloy ' M speech , that there had > " >* . »»* ' of division against tho Government during thoir ™ office , ns a proof of the groundlessness oi *» ° °

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    334 THE ' EfpEE . , „ , . { Saturday ,

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    NKWS'ftyfypW'W'ts /^ vX g > - ^ J ^ y « yteyfe'H p 6 r / , A ^^^^^ m ^\ \ \ ' ^ W )^^^^^^ l ° ^ uivaa JllsL : u N KWH ^ FfW !^ ^ j ^ m j ^^ y ••¦^ iavaa :

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), April 10, 1852, page 334, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1930/page/2/