Current:

Leader (1850-1860), 21st May 1853, Edition 1 of 1, Page unpag., Content*:

Page unpag.
Page 1
1 of 24

On this page

  • Departments (2)
    • Mtms of the Wttk.
    • Content*:
  • Text (7)
  • Transcript

    • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

      Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

      Untitled Article

      VOL . IV . No . 165 . ] SATURDAY , MAT 21 , 1853 . [ Price Sixpence

      Mtms Of The Wttk.

      Mtms of the Wttk .

      Untitled Article

      T" ) ARLIAMENT reassembles after a brief hoh-_ L day , to continue its duties and endure the tedium of bootless or fictitious oppositions . In some minor circumstances , indeed , it finds the position of affairs slightly altered . The measure for reconstructing the Indian Government is again put off to the 2 nd of June . A deputation from the City has restored heart to Lord John Russell on the subject of Jewish Emancipation , and he now talks as if he might be able to settle the question by favour of a bill to come down from the House of Lords for newly regulating the oaths

      taken in Parliament . And the most formidable opposition yet organized to any part of Mr . Gladstone ' s budget , is that of the grocers and tea-dealers , whose interests he has not sufficiently consulted in certain details touching tea and raisins ; a committee of magnates is appointed to watch and control the proceedings of the Government , and Mr . Moffat is held to his duty , his commercial being higher than his ministerial allegiance .

      Inquiry by a parliamentary commission at Canterbury into the prevalence of general bribery in that city , has been a fitting pendant to that of the dockyard committee . Canterbury has been one of those impartial boroughs that were open to conviction by the force of cogent arguments in gold and silver . Voters at Canterbury were hired as supernumeraries are engaged for a stage performance , and the " star" who could muster the largest number of supernumeraries carried away the election . That was the system ; but inasmuch

      aa such a plan is against the law , evasions were necessary , though not difficult—for money can evade every law . In England you must not purchase a voter , but you may purchase a flag-staff , and the voter may be thrown in , as yendor * in fear of the Newspaper Stamp Act used to sell a straw , with an unstamped newspaper , as a

      supplement . The supernumeraries , however , have feelings ; they are not to be bought by the gross , without consulting their sensibilities ; and hence it is necessary to have a stage-manager . Such a person , for example , as Mr . Brent—an alderman long resident in the borough , known for his cleverness , thoroughly consistent in reform , a faithful adherent of the Liberal party , and a

      politician of unblemished sincerity . Nevertheless , it does so happen , by a coincidence which enables malicious people to talk , that Alderman Brent has been viewed with favour by liberal administrations , and that four of his sons have attained positions of an official kind . To realize the full benefit of this organization , there is no doubt some connexion between the local manager and the

      centrical manager ; and it does appear that the Ciceroacchioof Canterbury , Conservative or Liberal , had some sort of relation , more or less defined , with the Secretary of the Treasury for the time being . This relation resulted in a peculiar sort of insight , which the Canterbury Ciceroacchio had at times , that there would be lying for him a sum at the banker ' s , available for political purposes . This sum emanates from " fund , " whose

      existence is proclaimed before the commissioners ; but where it is treasured , in whose name , who forms it , nobody will say . That gentleman of universal knowledge , Mr . James Coppock , appears to have a thorough insight into this matter , but the difficulty is to get a thorough insight into Mr . James Coppock . However , there stands the

      peculiar relation—mysterious , avowed , unintelligible—between Colonel Romilly , certain colourmen , Alderman Brent , the Secretary of the Treasury , " the fund , " and Mr . James Coppock . Unguided by explanation , the careless public drifts to whafc conclusion it pleases ; one conclusion being , no doubt , that it does not become Liberal patriots to be too severe upon Mr . Stafford

      or even "W . B . From Parliament it is pleasant to turn to congregational virtue . Exeter-hall and all the offlying branches or unrecognised adjuncts to that great meeting-place of lay sectarianism , have been crowded this week by those pietists and philanthropists who come up to town when the thornblossoms appear in the hedges . Universal " peace " now shines with equal smile upon England and

      upon murderous Austria or Naples ; protection of aborigines confesses its tender regard for the Gaikas who shot our soldiers from behind the bushes ; anti-slavery would preserve Cuba to slave-trading Spain , and hinders the sober efforts of American patriots by hysterical impatience ; Exeter-hall , in short , seizes an enthusiast-novelist like Mrs . Stowc , with her attendant satellite and husband , to make a peep-show of her , and has been rampant tliis week . One set of speeches is

      like those for any year—mutatis mutandis—for Exeter-hall cannot learn . We verily believe that if Louis Napoleon wure enthroned under the portico of the Galle ™ in Trafalgar-square , witnessing the classic performance of English soldiers passing under a Gaulish yoke—when even Mr . Cobden would be busy in Yorkshire , arousing the

      people against the foreign invader , and leading them to the struggle—some Peace Society at Exeter-hall would be preaching friendly demeanour towards a foreign potentate , and the best we could hope would be , that an Aborigines Protection Society would present a memorial to that clement person in favour of the poor British .

      Peace , indeed , is beautifully illustrated by the letter of Lord Robert Grosvenor to the papers . Englishmen , it seems , are still subjected to a system of hindrance and insult by the officials in Austria ; but we are growing used to it , and the most spirited of our noble families can do nothing better than complain to the Times , possibly in hopes that the journal may reciprocate a beneficial influence with the potentates who persecute England .

      As to foreign events , the signs are more important than the events . It would seem » to concern us little , for example , that King Leopold is passing from capital to capital , exchanging courtesies with the King of Prussia , walking hand-inhand with the Emperor of Austria , and meeting diplomatists who have for months been

      undermining his influence . But Leopold is not a man who does things for nothing . If he receives and gives courtesies , it must be for a political purpose ; and unless monarchy is condemned indeed by its own incorrigible tyranny , the influence of Leopold , which must be promoted by his personal activity , must be also for the benefit of national independence and freedom on the

      Continent . France is very jealous of it , and is strcngthening her position at home in various ways . For instance , she is reviving the punishment of death as a defence of the throne ; though the people do remember that the guillotine can cut two ways . She is strengthening her credit by manoeuvres with the Credit Foncier and the Credit Mobilier , partly to carry on her immense building operations in Paris , partly to assist the municipalities of France in the same process . Now , bricks arc not seeds

      Untitled Article

      r < r ¦ / ™ 7 j § iz a ft t r »

      Content*:

      Content * :

      Untitled Article

      NEWS OF THE WEEK— p a gb London Sewage 487 Doctrines of Intervention and Books on our Table . „ ... 500 The Week in Parliament 482 The « Free-Press" Question ... 488 Non-intervention , _ The Past Power ' s Residence m China ..... 600 Tie Week in Parliament 482 Lovelorn 488 Consequences of those Doctrines . Three New Novels 600 Election Exposures 482 „ . ,, Too -i « ,+ *> . tt 4 . n 2 T »«» T » 5 aii -GVhn , ;*; , ™ aqq Miscellaneous 488 —Letter II *»< s PORTFOLIO HSHiP ™ :::::: s -: M ^ 3 'n s zzess&ssslx : « a -- - » - ** *> » letters fromParis 483 ¦« Certain Tendencies of the NewCom- THE ARTS—^ S S ^ r . .::::::::::::::::::::::: " : ™ blic *™ Rs- mutatio * of the Debt *» EiZT 501 Mercantile and Marine Education ... 485 The Cauldron 489 OPEN COUNCIL— The Mousetrap 501 , A Working Man ' s " Country Party" 485 Stowe on the Whole Duty of English- The Law aa to the Administration of The Lawyers 601 Anti-Slavery 485 men 490 Oaths 496 The Zulu Kaffirs 502 " Wages Movement 486 A Rebuke from Mazzini 490 The Law of Oaths " ... 497 The Merry Wives of Windsor 502 American Notes 486 Labour and Liberty , in France and Income and Property-Tax 497 Cremorne 502 American Energy in Science 486 England .. 491 ,, _ .- „ . --., „ ,- rnwiMcnriAi arraiRS Eevolution in China 486 A Guillotine Hint for Louis Napo- LITERATURE- COMMERCIAL AFFAIRS The Conquered Gaika Chiefs 487 leon 491 What is the Seal Cause of Table- . City Intelligence , Markets , Adver-Letter from Melbourne 487 " Universal Principles , " and the Moving ? 498 tisements , &c 502-504

      Untitled Article

      "The one Idea which . History exhibits aa evermore developing itself into greater distinctness is the Idea of Humanity—the noble endeavour to throw down all the barriers erected between men by prejudice and one-sided view 3 ; and by setting aside the distinctions ot ± iengion , Country , and Colour , to treat the whole Human race as one brotherhood , having one great object—tlie free development ot our spiritual nature . "—Eumboldt ' g Cosmos .

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), May 21, 1853, page unpag., in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1987/page/1/