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    J . B . Slick follows this up by the thrilling exclamation , — " Yet this is the man , all powerful , at the head of a nation , burning to ' venger Waterloo , ' that a portion of the English press vilifies and abuses almost daily ! " For the " safety of our country" we are insolently told " to mind what we are about . "Louis Napoleon , Emperor , is not a man to be insulted with impunity . " ISfo i he is a " determined person : " by " holding him up to execration you peril his life . " If the French choose him for their Emperor , " what the devil is it to you P" All parties in France are disgusted at our abuse of him , and— " it ' s truly

    dangerous to aggravate such a nation ; " then , lugging in a kindred spirit , he says , " You can neither write down or put down Lord Derby , or Louis Napoleon . " We are , it seems , playing with edge-tools ; we are " doing a monstrous ( read mons'ous ) dangerous thing . Napoleon the Great broke the peace of Amiens because he could not stand the criticism of the English journals of that day ; and , says Bull Slick , after delivering that choice morsel of historical criticism , " perhaps through your senseless rancour you will compel" Napoleon the Little " to break the peace of Paris , and give England another twentv years' war . "

    Our readers will have foreseen that the ministerial champion of British cowardice has been verging rapidly to a climax ; and we hope they are now prepared for this terrific peroration . " England is vulnerable , and no mistake—and it is easy for Louis Napoleon to find out the sore place , if he is driven to act hostilely . The British press is goading him to do so . Louis Napoleon is supported by the French Romanist clergy . Irish Romanist bishops are proceeding to Paris—for no good to England , beyond a doubt . Ireland , under present circumstances , ruled by priests , is one of England ' s sore places—1798 may be re-enacted .

    " Suppose a French force made a dash at Liverpool and Manchester , and sacked them both—which could be done in no time , the inhabitants would have to thank the press for their ruin ; nay , more , London itself might be sacked ; there is very little to prevent such a catastrophe . The red coats have been seen in Paris , and the French forget it not . I hope we shall never live to see the tricolor of France planted in Printing-house-square . " The last hypocritical wish is terrible in its bathos : think of avenging Waterloo by sacking London , and the capture of Paris by the capitulation of Printing House-square !

    There are only two other considerations suggested by this delectable composition , —Who is the author , and what is its moral ? And certainly the question , who could have written it , is a puzzler . It cannot bo Maidstone or Malmesbury , although it has the fire of the first , and the contempt for the English tongue manifested by the second . Mr . Disraeli is busy ; and besides , too mueh of an Englishman , at least in an histrionic Nense . Lord March could have done it ; and tho Marquis of Gran by might if he tried liarel . Tho

    writer confesses to bemg " half Yankee ; " but although it has nil the in . solence , if , has none of ( lie genius of 1 Ijillyburton . No ; the " half-Yankee " assertion must bo merely for effect . Wo have it : the letter must have been ; i joint , production by the Warwickshire double's iSpooner and Newdegate ; while the centenarian of Shoe-lane herself must have corrected the proof . Seriously , gentle ; reader , do you not , even while- you are smiling at friend . HombastciH , also

    panne a little- secretly to contemplate that " powerful Htciim fleet , " and huge nr ; eton ; in guard " in the hands of one man , " and that , iimn the most unscrupulous , the least bound by moral laws , the best perjurer in Europe- ! And while you reflect , on his means of mischief , do you not remember that tin ; outpost , of the British government is garrisoned by his intimate- friends , ; ui < l that , tin ; British people arc still prohibited by law from drilling themselves to the use ofurnisF

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    JIOW SlIAIili LOUD DAIillOUtSIK UK ntOVlDKI ) FOR . Wk shall never be slow to recognise the chums , nor eager to abate ; the influence , of a true aristocracy . JVoblca . se obl ' ujc : and IJiohc who fulfil tho obligation deserve the honour . It wen ; ungenerous to deny the presence in our House of Peers , of men who to noble names wed noble lives , well Hpent in the flervice of the State ; men of blamoloHH honour , vUiviilroUu activity , M » nl

    large-hearted sympathy with the humbler classes of their fellow-subjects . The names of those who have won their spurs in the field , leap to the lips , for their biographies have become a , part of the nation ' s . In the less sounding annals of civil service there are reputations not less faithfully won , and honours not less gloriously achieved . It is the sign of a great people , to be proud of its great men . Detraction is the cheap resource of blustering demagogues , which those who seek to level uptvards do well to shun .

    If we were asked to select a list of our best men of highest station , we think we could satisfy the most implacable hater of aristocrats , that wealth is not always divorced from worth , nor gentle blood from gallant merit . Witness our Hardinge , Carlisle , Ellesmere , Newcastle , Harrowby , and others ; witness that young nobleman , who , in the early prime and vigour of manhood , amidst universal satisfaction , governs our vast Indian

    empire . The Marquis of Dalhousie is one of those men of whom all parties and all classes in the nation may be proud : he is an ornament to any administration , and throughout his public career has ever justified the general esteem . His merits have been recognised by successive Ministers , while the sincerity of his opinions has never been sacrificed , nor his political consistency

    questioned . It was under the vigilant eye of Sir Robert Peel that he served an apprenticeship in that official department which can least tolerate indolence , or incompetence . As President of the Board of Trade he proved himself equally indefatigable in the mastering details , and able in their exposition . To tke supervision of the E ail way Board , at a time of extraordinary pressure , he brought unwearied assiduity and a vigour of direction that seemed to consolidate the

    enterprise it controlled . When the Whigs returned to power on the secession of Peel , and the Governor-Generalship of India fell vacant , that splendid prize was , as if by the national dictation , conferred upon a political rival in preference to all mere party claimants . Leadenhall-street ratified , and the country applauded , a ehoice that reflected as much honour on those who conferred as on him who received the appointment . And , as we have said , his career in India has been hitherto without a flaw . Now , Lord Dalhousie is a poor man ; and , to such a man , to be poor lends a grace beyond the reach of wealth . It gives new dignity to the work , and new zest to the reward .

    Some years ago , an office fell vacant , little known to persons unread in Black Books , entitled " the Governorship of Deal Castle , " a valuable sinecure ; the chief , if not the only , advantage of the appointment being a modest sea-sido residence rent free . This Governorship was , we believe , offered to Lord Dalhousie , and accepted . By tho death of the Duke of Wellington , the Wardcnship of tho Cinque Ports , formerly a post

    of importance , now si men ; sinecure with a big name , a bonne boucho for the reigning Minister , tumbled into the lap of Lord Derby . It was reported that , in accordance ) with a " custom , " tho Premier himself would , in addition to his other grave ; and numerous responsibilities , and his vast estates , undertake the onerous duties of a signalman atWalmer , and appropriate the comfortable old Castle attached to the cilice ; .

    After many elays , however , of tacit acquioscene ' . e in the ; rumour , a careless paragraph in a Ministerial journal denies the assumption of the WardeMiship by Lord Derby , except ad interimwaiting the aerceptance of Lord Dalhousie , to whom it Intel been offered . Wow we cannot , but eemsieler this ele ; sire ; to provide suitably for a , man so deserving as Lord Dalhousio very creelitable to any Government ; , especially to the ; present e > ne . ' Tho country , not unaware , we > may suppe ) sc , of those qualities of Lord Dalhousie we have ) bad the ; pleasure to describe , will gratefully and gladly aelel its testimony te > bis ele'serts .

    It n \ n , y \ imlocci , oxeito a moment's doubt in minds even iudisposeel to cavil , thai this graceful abandonment , of a " custom" shenihl have been so long concealed from tho public , approval , anel ntle-ntion may be ; directed rather to Caleul . U than to YViilmer . But , let that pass for the moment , " What wo have' te > insist ujion now is why not abolish sinceuinis ho uhiiIcsh as the WanleMi . ship of the Cinque ; Porfn aneltlie ; Constablcship e > f tho Tenver ; anel if your ze-al for the ; public nervico be ho sine-ore ; that you eanne > t Henel aTe > ry te > Cale-utla without , recognition of tiu ollicer se > emiju > n , Lly tlowerving an Lord DulUouaie , i * there iiOt

    many a field of active national usefulness open to the abilities of such a man , to whom idleness were almost disgrace . Not to mention manv other great public exigencies for which even the genius of official Toryism may appear barely sufficient , is there nothing in the way of a thorough reorganization of the Poor Laws , of the Railway Administration , of the Mercantile Marine , that would do more honour to the energetic capacities of a Dalhousie , and to the disinterested public spirit of Lord Derby , than this questionable perpetuation of a barren sinecure long since condemned by public opinion , and , in that regard , doubly unworthy of the present Governor-General of India , be his successor who he may .

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    THE SUFFERINGS OF WOMAN . " Whatever absurdities may have been spoken about Woman ' s rights , " says " E . C ., " a correspondent of the Times , " a deep feeling of shame must attend the contemplation of Woman's wrongs ; " and the writer claims the assistance of that journal in exposing the injustice of the law which makes a woman lose all hold over her own property if she be married , or which makes the unpropertied woman , however virtuous , thrifty , and solicitous she may be for her children , see all her earnings swept away to supply the vices of a . debauched husband . We are too apt , in . reading communications of this kind , to let our

    minds rest only on the ultimate fact , without calling to our perception the misery which is inflicted in the process towards that ultimate fact . We do not discern , as we should , the condition of the woman who toils against hope , who carries back in her hand the humble exchange for bread and clothes to her children , who sees them snatched from her by the man that once said he loved her—we do not feel the gloomy uncertainty , the sinking heart , the exasperation , the rage , all rendered vain by the hopelessness—we do not attain to the distinct perception of this scene , happen as it does , to a greater or less extent , in , thousands of houses right about us , every week , every year . But independently of these civil disabilities , there are certain personal rights which would not last a day after woman should be politically enfranchised , or man should attain to the full sense of the justice which he owes . Occasionally the wrong bursts forth in some flagrant scandal , as in the recent " tragedy" at Paris ; but if suck overt tragedies are exceptional , how much less exceptional are the cases which never come before the public eye ! Even when they do display their horrors , one feels that there is something more . In this Paris case , we hear not tho beginning . A man is murdered , and a romance of real life flashes upon the public ; but the narrative has not the completeness which belongs to

    fact not less than to fiction . We find two English gentlemen in Paris , with habits of frequent association ; one of them , the younger man , has a wife , amiable and engaging ; in a child-bed fever the lady declares to her husband that her infant child is not Ins , hut his friend ' s ; the two men meet immediately afterwards , and tho husband kills his rival and Hies , and the lady is lodged in a madhouse . ± Hot is very frightful , but it is far from being all . There is a practice of hushing up tho truth about these ; matters , though the truth is generally better to be known than half the truth witli a lement of false inference .

    comp _ One fact is remarkable ; : at tho desire ot tno physician , the husband hud consented that when liis wife became dange-rously ill , the friend nhouia be Hummoneel , anel that bo should te ; nd her sovoral elays and several nights . Surely the moral necessity for such attendance must have ; suggested to any man of tho world enough to provent that surprise which can alone justify or extenuate the murderous attack P A man who w prcimml to take ; vengeance into lus own hand h rigorously , usually courts explanation beiom

    events e ; oine to , such a pass . . But still that is not all . It is perfectly well In . own in Paris , that the intimacy which le ; ei w this fatal result hael been tho subject of rcjnarK . We do not say tluwo things to aggrava te tno bunion of the fugitive , but we ; say them b < . ' « J ° the ; v tend to expe . se that barbarous routm » m ttiich affairs which innkoH the point at issue a mere nmttor of quarrel between two men , JiUi out any regarel to the , inte-reHs or feelmgH ol t « woman . Whe , is the ; hclj . lusH plaything of othcis uuMsiojM . Tho xcij cuncUmr ol a wuid licitf

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    968 THE LEADER . [ Saturday , ' ' ~ —*""* " —————***—*— ' —~——*—~™— ^

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 9, 1852, page 968, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1955/page/12/