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Leader (1850-1860), 24th September 1853, Edition Town of 2, Page 926, Untitled Article

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      for-things that are not apparent in the supply , and the traveller demands many things that he does not express in words , and which , could not be put in the bill . The Englishman , of whatever grade , takes a pleasure , especially when he is out travelling , in an ostentatious air of magnificence , always placing himself not in an independent position , as a man , but in- a " superior" position , as " above" what he really is , and still more above those about him . Your English traveller not only grudges being civil to those whom he meets , especially Ms " inferiors , " but takes an actual

      pleasure in being rude to them . He dislikes to ask the waiter , and prefers to " order" him . He expects to find the inn choked with stores of the particular things which he desires ; he will not wait a moment , and yet he wants to pay as if he waited to bargain . His commercial habits , the impatient spirit , the love of exacting servility in every form , require that he should be served at once . Arriving at the inn when nobody expected him , the dinner must be ready on the instant , in the primest condition , hot , " ordered , " introduced by an obsequious landlord , and served by

      obsequious waiters . If there is any lack in these things he proclaims the inn to be ill-furnished , the people slow , the waiters uncivil , arid the landlord regardless of his guests . Now , the landlord cannot put down in his bill so much " to dinner kept waiting for Mr . John Bull , who was not expected . " He cannot put down in the bill ¦ " to so many pairs of fowls , awaiting the honour of your arrival , " when Mr . Bull himself did not expect the honour of his own coming . The landlord cannot put down in his bill " to meeting your insolent manners with unbroken smiles or low boWs . "

      The waiter cannot represent that he has submitted to reproaches and oaths , for not bringing things not ordered , for serving things in the usual style , and being accused of ignorance ., which was the traveller ' s own ; for not hearing an imbecile voice , or not understanding a thick one . So the landlord sets down his bows in an additional price for his sherry , charges the spoiled fowls in the mutton cutlets ; and the waiter , who behaves more honestly , does but withhold a portion of that enormous civility which the traveller expects for the odd pence . It is the ill-considered

      arrangements , the unexpressed ambitions , the stupid want of attention to his own interest , and the bad mariners of the traveller , wliich are set down in the bill . When he storms at the wax lights or the port wine abomination , it would be much more reasonable if he reflected that he had better teach to himself or his fellows the art of expressing what they want in civil language ; for then , by degrees , landlords and waiters will learn to understand what travellers want , and begin to meet the demand accordingly . In a former article we pointed out the evils of

      the licensing system in connexion with the brewing trade . Innkeepers suffer from tho same cause , and the remedy is to reject the support of such a broken staff " . What protection does an innkeeper require P He supplies a universal want , since the demand for food and sleep will never ceaso to exist . As long as tho world lasts men will run from place to place , railway carriages will discharge their cargoes , and there will be inns to furnish shelter and repose . Of courso there must be a limit to tho demand , and though tho immediate consequence of an opening of the trade might be an excess of accommodation , a very short time would suffice to make tho balance

      even . The best men would win the day . Excellence combined with fair prices , would " attract customers , and contented numbers would take tho place of a discontented ihw . Hitherto attempts to establish cheap inns have been failures , but the fault has lain with the innkeepers rather than with the public . " Cheap and Nnnty" in a combination of words wliich , though usually applied to the productions of slop-shops and cheap tailoring establishments , may be said , without exaggeration , of soino of our " cheap" hotels Cleanliness , good Jure , and civility , are the three essentials of a good hotel . Nine traveller out of ten would rather be without the luxurioun

      additionn of wax candlea , waitern with powdered heads , and a show o ( ' vulgar plate . But ho Jong as tho only choice in between the bad accommodation of a cheap inn , and tho extravagant charges but substantial comfort of a firat-rato hotel , an Englishman will continue to natiHfy exorbitant demands , and appeano hhnBeli' by writing angry lcttorn to tho ' Mines . UoubtloBH an opening of the trade would in-

      volve experiments of all kinds , and we are glad to learn that the Crystal Palace Company have determined upon building hotels adapted , like railway carriages , to the wants of different classes . No one need then complain ; and a traveller will only have himself to blame , if he suffers his false pride or his slavery to fashion to lead him to an expensive hotel , when good accommodation is offered him at a moderate rate , on a scale and at a charge known beforehand , and familiarized to the public by a general uniformity . This is the grand point— uniformity , steadiness , and certainty of the charge .

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      THE HON " . MRS . NORTON'S WRONGS . Our readers have had a week to reflect upon the letter of Sir John Bailey , and they will probably agree with us in thinking that the statement by that gentleman , who was appointed as judge between husband and wife by Mr . Norton himself , is conclusive . Mrs . Norton has declared that she will write no more , and Mr . Norton , we anticipate , , could not benefit his case by adding another word to it . We will treat the latest letter by the umpire exactly as we treated the letters on both sides , presuming its representations to be true , without supposing that we can do anything to add to its authenticity or credibility . We take it as it stands .

      According to this statement , then , Mr . Norton invited counsel to give him an " opinion , " and supplied that counsel , not with a real case , but with " a series of invented fables which he had strung together , " and it is the opinion upon these fables , which he advanced in his letters as Sir John Bailey's . Mrs . Norton was " anxious only on one point , the restoration of her children ;" the husband was " anxious only about the pecuniary part of the arrangement , and obviously

      making the love of the mother for her offspring the means of barter and bargain . " While Mr-Norton made untrue statements of his wife ' s expenses and extravagancies , he detained her wardrobe , jewellery , and books . She offered to pay her own bills , but Mr . Norton ' s solicitor replied that " there was no undertaking , that even if she did pay her bills , her property should be returned to her . " Mr . Norton confesses to gross personal violence towards his wife : on one occasion

      kicking her room door from its hinges , and dragging her out . by force , not long before the birth of her youngest son . The wife was " reasonable" in her language , and desirous to be at peace with " her children's father . " He promised to return her children , and at his counsel ' s dictation wrote a letter wliich that gentleman posted , Mr . Norton being " base enough to write a second letter , " unknown to the arbitrator , to forbid the coming of the children— " and come they did not . " Mr . Norton admitted his firm belief of his wife ' innocence of the charge he had brought against her and Lord Melbourne , and then advertised it in the papers !

      " I then , " says Sir John I&iiley , " certainly changed my opinion . " The public had been somewhat impressed with tho rights of tho husband , and the confident statement put forth by Mr . Norton , but the public -will henceforward read Mr . Norton ' s statement by tho light of Sir John Bailey ' s commentaries . What , then , do wo find to be , according to the statement of the judicial authority , his true story of an English wife ? She is deprived of her children , and falsely accused of extravagance bv her

      husband , who withholds her property , even her personal effects ; she is advertised in the papers by her husband , who confesses her innocence j ahe is subjected to personal violence by the husband who had endearingly besought her to return ; and ultimately , when ho is made answerable for the debts of a wife whom he has persisted to hold in bondage , ho permits her to bo dragged into a public court , and moots tho exposure of the / acts by a reiteration of all that lias been refuted by his own arbitrator .

      The simple , Htatement of this mno is enough to exeito indignation wherever natural feeling lwm not been Htiiled by tho custom of the country . Bui ; wo are to reflect , that thin case had in ' Homething peculiar . Mvh . Norton in no doubt a woman sharing | , | , ( , ordinary feeling of her Hex , find on that account alone ' to be tho object of tenderiH-BH and honour . But , besides that , who IB a woman endowed with many giflH of nature which point her out lw peculiarly calling for ljonouf from any man upon whora she bestowed her hand , In this eeneo , although beauty

      cannot claim to have rights of its own vPf enhancing the sacrifice , it might at all lVei ? have constituted , with other reasons , a er j why she should have been received tot ? heart and hearth of any man as an object m precious than an ordinary gift , especially ww she had united herself to a man who has tak the pains to stamp his own grade before 5 / public . But besides beauty , Mrs . Norton is al ™ endowed with the rarer charms of genius , and > most refined accomplishments : she has wed Id feeling and grace to the English language both in its prose and verse ; and has a reputation far

      transcending the bounds of her native countrv To be permitted to provide a home for one of the most distinguished living intellectual cele brities of a country renowned in letters ; to be chosen as the companion of one of the most beautiful women , in a countr y celebrated for its beautiful women , might have extorted a sense of proud gratitude in the heart of any man fully endowed with the faculties of man ' nature Nortonit did

      Mr . , appears , not acknowledge any such sense . The woman who is received with homage in the highest society in the land who is honoured by the whole people , was by him subjected to shuffling avoidance of promises to the " Greenacre" correspondence , to c harges ' which he confessed to be false , to advertisements in the newspapers , pointing her out for the contempt of the virtuous and the discredit of the commercial world , and to personal violence .

      And yet , we have a right to say , such stories are discovered in good society , are not treated as incredible , not as unparalleled monstrosities , but are only matters of debate and of evidence , like any ordinary quarrel . The husband in this case , who thus treats his wife and judge , is still himself a judge of summary jurisdiction iu cases of wife and husband ! And although this wrong stands flagrant before the public , there is , it appears , no law which can procure redress , or even the common justice of independent industry for the woman , although that woman is a Caroline Norton .

      Untitled Article

      RUSSIA AND TURKEY . ( To the JSditor of the Leader . ) Sie , —The press of Europe is at length becoming unanimous upon the merits of the Turkish question . Blinded by the absolute recognition for years past of the disinterested and moderate policy of the Czars , the vigilance of Europe has been stilled , and her watchfulness lulled to sleep . Even when startled from her heavy slumber by the stifling of Italian , Polish , and Hungarian liberty , and by the extinction of republican Cracow , Europe did but half rise , the heavy torpor of her belief exerted too deadening an influence upon her judgment ; it spread too thick a pall over her intellect to permit of the simple principles involved once appearing luminous and clear to her understanding . Hence her slowness to comprehend the refutation Kussia has itself afforded , and henco that long lingering confidence in tho magnanimity of the Czar Nicholas , which has uaralvzcd tho action of Europe , and

      procrastinated Turkish civilization for half a century to come . But the deceptive panegyrics upon that system " which exhausted every means of procuring peace before it resorted to war , have also contributed not a little to produce tho perilous result which now keeps the whole world in suspense . The voices of B < j ' * jobbers and of potty dynastic intriguers , and tlie whimperings of the Peace Society , have been heard in the chambers of tho Government , « nu tho natural result of measuring British ieeiiiif , by tho rise and fall of the public s ™™*

      has been tho complete victory of the Jfuiwinn autocrat . Undeterred by any considerations the three per cents , the Czar has conducted jiu nianoouvros with spirit ; they all boar the uw I of an inflexible will , and of a vigoroun ml < " « . j and they have all been unqualifiedly » m >(; eB ,, ' , 1 ( , although founded upon complete injustice-Allies , with ft Rood caiiHO , with public law , wH' » . l , tico on their wide , have Buffered an lgnommio 1 * - font . And whence does so startling »» lin () I " ^ arise P Had the movements of the JMin Pou-i'i-H Wn ( WviwioA with enlightened »»»"" "' {

      and well arranged precision , would bo u i 11 ' 1 ( 1 and ho humiliating a contract have oeeuii < j ( 1 should we now bo deploring the lU-l '[) n ^ of precipitancy which him emmed the rejt ' ,. , „ . tho Vienna Note F Throug hout tlicHO » » ftff . nnl ; e negotiations tho dip lomacy of . M » I ^ Of getting its dignity and tho movite ot iw

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      926 THE LEADER . [ Saturday ,

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 24, 1853, page 926, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2005/page/14/