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    Untitled Article

    Nemesis toher ; bat for Prussia the best chance in a doubtful future lies , not in the treaty stipulations which her princes have taught allies to mock—not in political institutions , "which are little without they have a soul in them , —but in the being guided by a Prince who can lead his country as the head of a nation , and can sympathise with his people as a man .

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    A . HOUSE OF ACCOMPLICES . Theke is a curious caprice in the law which dictates the application of moral sentiment in this country . Nothing is truer than the averment about the two men , of whom one may steal a horse whilst tbe other must not look over the ledge . Many a lady whose children bear an hereditary coat of arms upon sufferance has "been received at court , when those who have done no worse have pined to

    death in disgrace . There is many a company which men will : not enter , because the conduct would disgrace those associated with it , while we find honourable gentlemen eagerly seeking seats , by purchase or otherwise , in that House which has so frequently and so notoriously disgraced itself . For indeed , whether we regard inconsistency , servility , self-falsification , fraudulent tenure , or many other offences against common honour and honesty ,

    aa well as against law , we really do not know any assembly in the country that can boast so large a number of achievements as the House of Commons . It not only defies honesty but appearances ; and it has become so callous by being able to cite precedent for every act of meanness or delinquency habitual in the body , that it is a serious question , whether any man "b y becoming a Member of the House does not ip&o facto render himself hardened against any appeal to his honourable feeling as a man in questions of

    Parliamentary licence . We know there are exceptions to this statement , for no body , politic or otherwise , is irredeemably vile . It is useless to appeal to Government against the House of Commons , since they are both in a story ; and what we have said of honourable members may also be said of right honourable members—the " right" and the " honour" being literally a joke to both classes . There is no appeal , then , from Philip drunk to Philip sober , for , drunk or sober , Philip is equally a sad dog .

    The case which the House will discuss on Tuesday next would alone suffice to establish our charge . It is now nearly forty years since some member of the family of De Bode has been asking for the money which was paid by the French G-overmnent into the English Exchequer on his account . Everybody admits that the claim was a perfectly

    just and reasonable one , technically aa well as equitably correct , and that the only mistake made wa \ s not by De Bode , but by the Commissioners appointed to distribute the money . The stages of the stoiy are ¦ well known . The Baron dc Bode was an English subject , born of an English mother , in England , possessing property in England , lie suffered loss during the continental war—the

    lordship and land of Soultz in Lower Alsace were confiscated ; and vnidcr thjp treaty of 1815 , the French Government paid over a large sum of money to the English Government to satisfy the claims of British subjects whoso property hail been confiscated . The Baron de Jiodo claimed , and he was met by

    various objectionN—that lie Mas not a British subject , that his property was not confiscated as that of a Britiah subject , that Home of the property had been suffered to lapse , and that the evidence had not been completed . The objection about lapsed property was ahown to arise from tho Commissioners' ignorance of tho French language ; for tlioy m ' mtranshited a word . Indeed all the

    objections were abandoned . It had however , taken some time to overrule them , ; and by the end of that time , the money was ail expended . ~ 6 ut how ? It was not exhausted in satisfying payments , A balance remained , and by an Act of Parliament in 1819 that balance was placed at the disposal of the Lords of the Treasury . So they first of all denied what they afterwards admitted , that the Baron de Bode was an English subject ; they next kept him off with imaginary objections until the Treasury

    had had time to embezzle the money ; and then they told him the money was all gone . Such are the pleas which Government has continually advanced to rebut the claim ! Only last year Lord Lyndhurst put the case witli all the clearness , solidity , and eloquence which peculiarly belong to him . - But year after year Parliament has abetted every successive Government in refusing redrea&for this outrageous act of dishonesty—this swindling of an individual wlose claim for redress the State defied , simply because he was an individual , and could not find any stronger power to take up his ease .

    Now , we say that not only are the bodies corporate answerable for that > gross act of wrong , but that the individuals concerned are so , and we say that above all , the Hoxise of Commons is answerable , with every member in it , —individually answerable . Ministers might plead that they are , to a certain extent , restraived by the repeated decisions of that body which holds the purse strings on lehalf of the public . The House of Peers might

    fairly plead that , in , a money matter , the authority of the Commons is superior to that of the Upper House . But the Commons absolutely possess the power of ordering reA * esa and furnishing the meana ; and it would not be a grant to the De Bode family , but a restitution . The De , Bode money is still in existence , —merged somewhere in our great public liabilities ; and , until the family be paid , we are keeping back

    their property . The House of Commons can order restitution of the money ; and so long as the House neglects to do so , the whole body is guilty of misprision of embezzlement , and not only the whole body , but every individual member of it . The De Bode family have a perfect right to begin with the first honourable gentleman whose name stands at the head of the list , under letter A , and to terminate with the last honourable gentleman under letter Y ; saying to each individual , by name , you are an

    accomplice in conniving at this act of erabezzloment ; you continue to be an accomplice until , at least , you give your individual vote for restitution ; you are , one and all , disgraced by your active participation , in dishonesty , which is aggravated , not alleviated , by its long duration . On Tuesday next the-subject comes before the House , and every man who feela that his own personal characber for honesty is of value to him will be there to absolve himself from disgrace by the only act which can secure his absolution individually—that of giving at least hia single vote for a return to honesty .

    Untitled Article

    BALLOT OR NATIONAL FRANCHISE . Tin ; arguments against the ballot arc arguments in favour of a universal suflrnge . Sir William Molesworth demolished Lord Palmcrston ' a sophistries , but he could only do so by proving the total fallacy of the present limited suffrage , and convicting l * ord Palmcrston of having argued in favour of " universal suffrage . " The franchise , Baid Lord Palmcraton , is a trust , and tho elector acta under responsibility to " the public . " But why , asks Sir William , should an elector bo ao influenced , unless tho public are better

    judges than he is ? If the public are letter judges , why make them execute their better judgment by the proxy of an inferior elector ? The whole community must be able to choose representatives , and then they Qught to have votes , and the suffrage would be universal . Unquestionably so . Xord Palmerston says

    the responsibility keeps a man in the right course ; but ,, from the reports of the select committees , it is evident that an honourable sense of the responsibility does not keep the electors in the right course . Again , then , we find the electors acting by a standard inferior to that which Lord Palmerston

    vaunts for Englishmen in general . He thinks that those who enjoyed the opportunity of the ballot would not take advantage of it , — that they would avow their opinions . Some few ,-he admits , might not do so—" shopkeepers , or tenants , or a few persons who might be under the apprehension that a certain vote might be productive of some

    injury to their conditions or their pursuits . ' ' Once more , then , the few are held up as inferior to the many . Tho shopfceeping class , who are timid and anxious aboiit their interests , are described as people who might take advantage of the ballot . Very good ; but let us remember that . the ballot is

    intended exactly for the shopkeeping class , who , upon the whole , obtained the largest portion at the last extension , of the suffrage . The millions of Englishmen , who probably would be as outspoken as Lord Palmerston says , are not the enfranchised class , and at present the ballot is to them not a practical question . It may not be wanted for the million , but it is wanted for the hundred thousand : why , then , refuse it to the electors who want it because the multitude who are enfranchised

    do not want it P The only force of > the argument is to shovv , that those who need the ballot , the comparatively few , are inferior in independence as they are itiLinteBigenceiio the multitude that are not yet enfranchised . There is , indeed , a far more serious argument than this , and it is one almost admitted on both sides . Sir "William Molesworth

    answers it , as a matter of debate m the House of Commons ; but he does not dispose of it as a political fact in the state of the country . It is this . The ballot , argue its opponents , will not succeed , because it will still be possible to bribe people collectively . Xou will not be able to give to an elector five shillings , or five pounds for his individual vote , but you will be able to say to him , you shall have such a fee if such a candidate be elected . Now it is well known

    that the available voters can easily be reckoned up in any borough 5 they can be made known to each other , as they are . known to the agents ; and their common interest ; can be rendered as distinct to them collectively aa it can individually . This is a kind of compact which is not apt to be vitiated by treason . Men will be true to " W . ! B . " or Frail , hovrever they may be false to their country . Indeed in our times their country does little

    for them , professeB to care little for them ; while W . 13 . declares , in tender voice , that ha has their interests at heart , and Frail feea them . As neighbours in Canada are invited to a " husking frolic , " " building bee , ' * in which nil tako part to accomplish tho house-building or tho thrashing for a newlyarrived neighbour , bo the mana ^ ea ^ le electors of a given borough may be invited to an

    electing bee , and ench man will feel that more or less of success depends upon himself . Wo believe this is a true representation . Men who can get five pounds out of AV . B ., and nothing but a workliouse allowance on the " repulsive" system from their country , will be still open to Frail influences . " While , therefore , they aro willing to bo "bribed , and men ambitious to ait in Parliament are willing

    Untitled Article

    June 17 , 1854 . ] THE LEADER . 565

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), June 17, 1854, page 565, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2043/page/13/