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Leader (1850-1860), 16th October 1852, Edition Town of 2, Page 982, Untitled Article

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      Untitled Article

      revenue tables of 437 , 397 / . on the year , the Protectionists take no advantage of that circumstance to deny the prosperity of the country , p ? r the sue > cesses of reduced taxation ; a feet jyhieh shows how thoroughly they must be disheartened . Lord Derby has been formally elected Chancellor b ) r the Oxford Convocation , and the University seal has been duly stamped upon the instrument In the absence of the rear University , this strange alliance between the more political and more timid of the High Church party and the regular old Lion and Unicorn Parsondom , aided by the other causes to which we alluded last week , has attained its purpose . How long such an inauspicious victory of timeservers and obstructives will avert the coming storm , a very few years will abundantly pi * ove . But even this election has not passed off so snugly as its authors and abettors had designed . The Senior Proctor , understood to be a man of distinguished attainments , a sound churchman , a liberal Conservative , and a hearty Reformer , large in his views and earnest in his convictions , disturbed the dreary farce of the ceremony by a bold and striking protest , of which not even the dead language could dull the force . Indeed , the language of Tacitus , wielded with the masterly elegance of the scholar , terse , incisive , and exact , fell upon the ear of that lettered audience with an almost Roman effect ; and more than one passage aroused the helpless dissentients , and disturbed the consciences of the acquiescent . Mr . Lake has secured a page of honour in the history of the University for his year of office and his own name . With manly energy he has vindicated the fresher mind of the new generation from the torpid tyranny of the old . One capital result spi-ings from this election : it reanimates the discussion of the University ' s shortcomings . For our part we shall not forget the hint . Perhaps even Lord Derby may turn round on his constituents , and , for the sake of popularity , end where he began , by proposing to throw open the University to the Dissenters ? One satisfactory trait of the present time , and we must give credit to all parties for it , is the absence of any unfair allusion to Queen Victoria , or her predilections . The Queen has been visiting Preston and ISangor , and has been excellently reeived by the Democrats of the North . The theoretical sniti-nionarchical , or anti-aristocratic asperities of the English working-classes always melt before the conciliatory presence of nobility or royalty . " What overwhelming influence a few noblemen or gentlemen might attain , if they would only cultivate a mutual intercourse between their own class ami the working people—if they would but take the pains frankly and freely to begin that intercourse .

      Untitled Article

      THE QUKKN'S RKTURN . 11 KIt Ma . jkH'L ' V left lialmemd on Tue-sday morning ; nul drove to SteMieliave-n . II we . she entered n . e'arriage ! prcpareel Cor her on the rsiilwuy , anel steamed to tfdinbiirgli , which she readied the ! same evening . Hhe w : is received by : i guard of honour ; anel along the ronel to Hnlyrood torch-hearers were intermixed with the . soldiers , producing mi original iind striking efleet . At the palace the DuehcHH of Kent visited the Queen . Tim next morning Her Majesty set out at half-past ei ; . « -ht , and the train dashed along at a great speed , stopping only

      n . very short Time at ( Carlisle , and / lying along to Preston , wliere great preparations were made to receive \ wv—descrilxul elsewhere . Leaving Preston , the train carried it « re-gnl Vnu \ , vid Wiirriiigton to Chester , where hIio was received by the Marquis of Westminster , the Jtisliop of Chester , and other persons . The next place of note was Itungor , where the Queen arrived about eight , and slept for the night . The Bnngor people provided u ftUe for her ; among other things , bonfires were lighted on the IuUh , ami tlm town was partially illuminated . Afler receiving addresses from Hie

      Corporation and the ^ fj hop , Her Majesty left for Windsor , proceeding through Shrewsbury , Birmingham and pxford , and reaching home early on Thursday evening by the Great Western Railway .

      Untitled Article

      THE QUEEN AT THE PRESTON STATION . [ a special eeport . ] Under a calico booth , with an impromptu carpet to match , the Queen of Great Britain has just alighted with her royal family . The Prince appears more gentlemanly and less military in his imperial bearing than he did a few years ago . Her Majesty I have not seen since she called at Farnham , just after her return from Blair Athol , in the days of Louis Philippe , whom she was accompanying to his embarkation . She is now more matronly , but has lost none of that intense womanliness , which would arrest attention and excite interest , were she not a Queen . She looks as fresh as a wood nymph . The Prince of Wales seems a delicate boy with a thoughtful interesting face , so fhr as he can be observed . The other children are not well distinguishable amid flurried c ivic dignitaries , who seem not unlikely to tread upon them . Preston did not outwardly and visibly appear to be very ambitious of the honour of Her Majesty ' s call . Had it not been for the exertions of Dr . Monk , the mayor , ( the Queen is a favourite with all the mayors ) who , with Mr . Townley Parker , M . P ., and Mr . German , had the chivalry to go to Balmoral on Saturday , to learn Her Majesty ' s pleasure , it is likely that the dead bones of Preston courtiersbip would not have been stirred at all . The station where Her Majesty has alighted is in a kind of swamp . A stranger imagines that the station has got bebogged there , and can never get into the town . As you descend the hill to . it you are made sensible , when within the buildings of the station , of two kinds of air—confined air , and air that ought never to be at liberty . The authorities have made the station pretty , but it is out of their power to make it sweet . Glazed ginghams , paper flags and artificial roses , adorn the railway station . The race of cavaliers who spread costly ermine under queenly feet is extinct in Preston . Had the ladies of Preston subscribed a silk shawl e : ich , the tribute would have been more courtly . If the town is chary of expenses—if the common people cannot be asked for help , where are the gentlemen whose purses should have been at the disposal of their royal mistress ? The feudal lords had homage of old to give—the cotton lords give glazed calico . I make no reproaches , draw no inferences , only state facts , and they mean—what they mean . When the working class withhold loyal manifestations there is , at least , a kind of consistency in it—but those who scorn them for it , and who take credit for the profession of royal appreciation , should have more of the real spirit . We are passing , here , through the observance of a dead custom—not a living reverence . If the true reverence were here , we should see it in the alleys of Friargute as well as aspiring to the court of St . James's .

      It' the chivalry of Preston could not get beyond paper Hags—if the station could not he transmuted info an imperial stall , why not . send to Manchester , buy up the plate looking-glass and line the narrow railway pass with it—so that the Queen might have seen her own fascinating smile , and the reileeied delight of her royal children—there might have been delicacy in the compliment . Certain railway officials wrote ! to Balmoral , expressing an opinion that , tfieg could not insure Her Majesty a cordial reception , and therefore she had better puss on . Did they go the right way about it ? The

      aristocracy of the- Town Council wished to keep the people away—wished the station-party to be " select . " Their modesty supposed that the Queen would be best pleased to see them . This is one of the peculiar ways in which aristocracy seeks to make royalty ¦ jiopn / ar . The working-class of Preston are not fervent loyalists , but they are genuine men , and would show no rudeness . If a . vote were taken here on the question of hereditary or elective monarchy , a majority would be registered in favour of the e ' leetiiie crovvnship . Kill , I ho sanu ; people would be too noble to oiler any personal indeeorouMnesH to the Queen . They . would ntmid . ip for

      principle and for conrtesi / , too , if properly treated . I ' . ut hen ! then ! is little cliaueo of political integrity coming out except with ill-feeling , because ! good fooling is not appealed to in a frank , out-spoken way . A vap id proclamation , such : ts now appears on the walls , soliciting co-operation on this " happy occasion of Her Majesty's condescension" is jiud . the language ! whieih will not ae-complisli the cud in view nor improve the tone of the ! negle'e-fed people ; . Disseint from a politie-al edlice ) anel perfect petrsounl respce ' . t , anel evem esteem for the ! rcprcHoutntivo of it , k <» long a « it in continued and genially filluel , is eiuite pe > , snible ) to the Premtem

      mindif gentleinei * were here who knew the art of trusting it As it is , the reception is flat . Some working men indeed , " lose time" in order to be here—a greater sacrifice than their employers make , or their employers would " give" the time . The Queen passes through a scattered throng , "but scarcely a cheer greets the royal ear . She reacbes the station : It is curiosity , not enthusiasm , that has called the assembly there together A single and feeble shout welcomes the alightal . Her Majesty walks up the platform in a right queenly way

      Her bright eyes can be seen with marked effect by all on-lookers . The Countess of Sefton offers courtly and distant welcomes . The Earl of Derby gathers unread addresses from the Bishop of Manchester and the cor . poration ' s representative . Her Majesty is very hearty in her manner , the Prince courteous , but apparently iiot hearty . A short luncheon , followed by the departure and the faintest public exclamation ends the visit .

      They should have brought up the 4000 Oldham " boys" with the gutta perch a throats , I heard on Monday week—or tried a genuine cheer b y the Preston workmen . Her Majesty would have remembered the echo to the last day of her life . All the cheers of all the superfine West Saxony , Her Majesty has heard during the last six years' excursions , would be drowned by that one fustian-jacketed national shout—if Her Majesty ' s advisers would do the proper thing to the people , and interest the nation's heart . The clergy from first to last , old and young , remained uncovered . They entered the station so , and they stood so to the end . No other order of men there had

      the same genuine courtliness of manner . The mayor , Mr . Copland , and the superintendents of the station , particularly Mr . Bromley , offered attentions to the accommodation of reporters . The other officials were too excited , or too thoughtless . When the Queen had departed , the multitude were allowed to pass through the room in which Her Majesty had eaten . A piece of gross curiosity , that made some blush whom the crowd forced through . A superintendent of police shouts out these revolting words : " Cast your eye on the table , and make haste through . " The road lay through the kitchen . The pictures borrowed to ornament the luncheon-room were ticketed with the names of the artists and lenders . The names of the artists , when they happened to belong to the town conveyed , perhnps , a graceful compliment to the Prince ' s refined patronage of art—but the names of the lenders—what could excuse that snobbism ? Ion .

      Untitled Article

      LORD DERBY ELECTED CHANCELLOR OF OXFORD . 9 Tuesday was the day fixed on for the election of tlie Earl of Derby to the office of Lord High Chancellor of the University of Oxford . Although it was well kn own that no opposition would be offered to the nomination of the Earl of Derby to this high office , some curiosity was manifested to witness the forms under winch so unusual a proceeding would be conducted . Accordingly , before the arrival of the Vice-Chancellor , the ' Convocation House was tolerably well iillcel , the assemblage comprising a rather large proportiem of ladies anel children . Twelve o ' clock was the hour fixed lor the ! commencement of business ; but it was nearly li'i Hpast ; before the silver maces of the bedells were seen at the head of the ; procession in which the Vice-Chancellor moves to discharge his public Auctions . This want <> i punctuality oec-esionod some murmurs , as it wns K "j " rally supposed that what was about to take ; p lace won « be . " entirely of a formal character , and that iiotluiif , would occur to ruille the smiling surface of an appaiv "' unanimity . In this rewpeet , however , some p <«>!> « ivcke > ne ! d * without their host , and the elee-tiou # w »< jj quite se > tame ! an afiiiir as had been anticip ated , as \ u be seen pmseuitly . The debate which amsei was «

      dueteel , as usual , in the ) Latin tongue . , Thi ! Vie-e-Clmncellen-, Dr . Plumptre ' , as soon as hj ^ inkeu his seat ; , aimouneeel that Convocation l «« l * . ^ convened for the ! purpe > se > of electing a successor t « lalei Chancellor , the ; Dnlcn of Wellington . , Dr . Bliss , the ! registrar of the University , W ' \ n , the ; Bribery Act , and the ! statutes of tnl \ ' Illv'' ™ , J , 01 lV specting elections ; anel when this part , of « . !¦<> f ! t >™ ^ , hael been despatched , the se'iiien- pmctrtr ( tin ; '' - ^ C . Lake , of Halliol Colh'ge <) stood up , anel very to the ! surprise- of the majority of tin * hhsouiD »>' . ^ permission e » f I he Vle-e-Chane-eillen- to aelelrcsn i- < ^ turn . The Vic « - (? liaiic

      he ) gave the ) pe'iinissiem ele'sired . | jtlk » % Then followed a protest , from the Vu . v . W- - ^ whe > fills the ) important oflie-e ! of Honior l »« « l ' whe > besides is tutor of Balliol Ce > llegu . ^ , lie > otmorve > el , that , nn it appoareel that , tll (? J ' ' * ' | , ( lllii Lonl Derby would bo ur . e > p ,. 0 H « d , l « o nlieml . | 0 . rlud to bo spuml lue , iiocoBbity ot guying wyw

      Untitled Article

      TllK MKKTI . N ( J OK PARLIAMENT . Tine general hnpressiem in oflicial epiai'ters is that . Parliament , will iiM't ; t about , the ! f > th e > r (! tb of Nove'inbeir , but that , the- Quoe'ii's Spee-cb will ne > t , b f Hint month . It is generally unde'r-Ktooel , he ) we ! V « T , that to-nie > rro \ v ( Friday ) the ; elay ol assembling will hi' positively fixed . — M < truing fleru / d .

      Untitled Article

      9 S 2 THE LEADER . [ Saturday ,

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 16, 1852, page 982, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1956/page/2/