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    ' ia - ^ ^^^^^^ Wl ^ e- doubt not , been das-<^|^|^^ iij |^^ M ^^ Stious senates of elaborate ^ tgOT ^ j ^^ iifFavour of the instantaneous ^ rtoip (^^>| . aesjpoSgms by the sacrifice of the C ^ r ^|^ . ^^^^ 5 ng ^ alvvays from the ipa ^ S 8 iLg ^ ff ^ ^ jryg 2 jf en who , after the gin and the ¦ Qi ^ sjtes ^^^ ak home in elusion of their inotherifatRMiheir masters . But we little expected the controversy to turn up in a great journal which , having eight pages of type , must be published with some deliberation : or

    that we should have to speculate upon the chances of the war being hurried to an abrupt conclusion , in consequence of an eminent Eng-3 ish gentleman ' s appeal to the casual contingent of tyrannicides , within reach of the respectable -circulation of the Daily News , to hurry to St . Petersburg ( he would not refuse a loan for -travelling expenses ) and rid mankind of a crowned Ruffian .

    Sneaking practically , we might suggest , in ¦ alleviation of the Roman ardour of the Republican veteran , -who , grandly consistent , repudiates the orthographist among ; other constituted authorities , that it would not do much good to assassinate the Czar . It is observable that the crowned Ruffian is beloved of about 60 , 000 , 000 of people , and that the Caligulan process not being applicable , you would only

    exchange an old Czar for a young Czar , to whom we should be supplying the malignant stimulus arising but of the fact that we had converted a great villain into a great martyr . If Mr . Landor would occasionally read the mediocre annals of tame , correct-spelling mortals , termed modern history , he would remark that Russia has always been a despotism , tempered by assassination ; that the

    vigorous act to which he would subject decaying Nicholas has greatly expedited dynastic accessions in St . Petersburg ; and the result nevertheless is that the despotism elaborately increases and intensifies itself—a consideration fatal to the logic of Mr . Landor's murderous appeal . Even tested by his . favourite Roman annals , Savage Landor might ascertain that the argument of the poniard is syllogistically a blunder . The stab of Brutus was scarcely such a hit as he hoped it would have been ; the

    death of one Csesar gave " the Caesars" a purply life of some five centuries ; humanity descending more and more debased into the Lower Empire just in the measure of the fashion of that dismal practice , now recommended from Bath , as the only security for the redress of the miseries of mankind . Legitimate tyrannicide , and decree the death of a despot by formal process , and under the sanction of the national laws , and still the gain is not complete . A regicide to whom the honour has been given , we think , of a place in the heroically illogical Imaginary Conversations , said : " Alas ! I fear we

    did not Mil Charles Stuart — we only killed Charles the Martyr . " Cromwell would have stamped out " the brood , " —if he could ; as it was , he sent to the block a king who had committed crimes , and he thus called into existence a younger and more active Charles Stuart , who had no crimes on his head ; , and who , therefore , got the upper hand of the Republicans . Danton , too , a practical regicide , whom Mr . Landor would respect , died in the conviction that Louis should have been left in the Temple : martyrs arc such nuisances in political mattors . And , of course , the illogicality of assassination is all the more obvious when the

    tyrant is snerificod , not by the hand of one of Ins subjects , but by the dagger or revolver , of a stranger—an Anachnrsia Clootz , Of course wo Knglishrnen , who are so hystorically fre « , and eelf-govcrncd , despise the Russian races , who leavo us to ask of ono another the question— " Is it right that ono man shotild bo loft to cause all those horrors to mankind ?" But when the Russians , who cannot got over

    national prejudices , think their political system best , and their religious creed the real thing , are convinced that the Czar is right in this war , ought Mr . Landor , who takes his politics from Brutus , the Dispatch , and other classical authorities , to take for granted that the 60 , 000 , 000 are all wrong ? On the whole , therefore , we venture earnestly to remonstrate with Mr . Landor upon his fierce intentions . We trust he will not go to St . Petersburg .

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    Sttbely the English People is tlie most impotent giant that ever existed ! It is unable to do that which fragments of it can do . Like the servants of Foftunio in the fairy tale , it can only do its work when it is mutilated or in fetters . Its total incapacities for some things have been declared in the pleasant verse of Punch , where John Bull confesses his powers and his impotencies" I have bridges , I have locks , I have warehouses and docks ,

    SEA BREEZES FOR THE BRITISH CON STITUTION .

    All most perfect in their plan and constitution ;" and "I am better off than any man that I know ; " yet I " cannot "build a public institution , " oi * make a statue . There are things which are in his power to do , physically and intellectually , yet "which , strange to say , he can only accomplish , when he is cut up or sent abroad , and cannot do when he is whole and at home . Who was it that went to war with Russia ? Was it Lord Aberdeen ? ] STo man would deny it more distinctly than the noble Earl . Was it Lord Clarendon or Sir

    William Molesworth ? ' 25 To , for they opposed it and have praised it . Now , Sir "William would as soon think of eulogising his own edition of the Works of Hobbs as be guilty of self-praise on a public subject ; and yet he has praised the war : ergo , it is not his . The despatches of Ministers show that they did not contemplate it . Where then do we find the first declaration of the necessity ? In the public journals , iftfow we are not going to be guilty of self-praise ; the public journals could not have originated this great and just war , if they had not been supported , instigated , and anticipated by the real author . Who then was the real author ? It was the

    English People . The English People , therefore , can go to war . Delenda est Russia can be its decree ; it can interfere to save Turkey , but it cannot help itself to the representation which is the inborn right of the Englishman ! It secures independence for Turkey , but leaves its own free and independent electors a ridiculous mockery . An election has just occurred which ought to make any Englishman blush in this year of grace 1854 . Lord Dungarvan and Mr . Nicoll proposed themselves as candidates for the borough , of JTrome . The viscount is a member of the aristocracy , Mr . Nicoll is a man of the people , and what is the

    joint number of their supporters ? At nine o ' clock 123 electors hare rushed , to the poll ; by noon the number has swelled to 298 ; and four hours later nine more electors have thrown themselves forward to sustain Dungarvan , and two have harried to the support of Nicoll . It is the first battle of the Alma at an English election . Throe hundred and ten , it appears , is the number of adult male inhabitants of the town of Promo ; at least that is all the numbers recognised , by Parliament . In a Parliamentary sense it has no other inhabitants , It is , therefore , a paltry place to have its own special representative in a United Kingdom containing 20 , 000 , 000 of inhabitants .

    We are , however , a froe and an energetic people , and the inhabitants of Promo showed their courageous resolution—they rioted ,

    What was the good of that we cannot for the life of us understand . "We have no doubt that the English blood was stirred , and that some of the mob felt determined to stand up for their rights ; so they stood up to be cut down like celery , !> y the swords of a small body of yeomanry ; " who , " says the Electric Telegraph , " are now parading the streets , and charging and dispersing the people . " What a characteristic picture of England , free-governed , and . self-governed ! There is still the stuff of their race . Englishmen can

    stand up for their rights , but they do it in small parcels , exactly so apportioned and assorted , that when they stand up the yeomanry can . cut them down , and throw them by . In order to stand , up to show what he can do , the Anglo-Saxon , as we said last week , is obliged to cross the sea , and there he learns to " talk sense . " There is one text in a profound moral writer , which the popular politician should nevex lose sight of . When the foppish footman in the Precieuses Ridicules declines to pay tlie porters of his chair , on Pistol ' s t > rincinle— "base is the slave that

    pays , " one of -the porters remonstrates . ( Moliere could take the measure of the " moral force" party . ) The other , seeing how powerless argument was , seizes one of the chair poles . " Ah ! " cries the aristocratically repudiating footman , " youtalk sense . " And he pays . t The G-eelong volunteers show Sir Charles Hotham their rifles , and the inhabitants show him . their own energy of self-government

    developed in every form of local organisation . "Ah ! " cries Sir Charles Hotham , "I am charmed at your self-reliance , " and he wishes they had more rifles . An address is read from the clergy , and Sir Charles " receives it with extreme pleasure , " because the clergy " claim no special privileges in this country . " The Licensed Victuallers approach , and he is struck with " the influence the Licensed

    Victuallers exercise over society . " Plainly , Sir Charles would not pass a Beer Act ; he is for voluntaryism , and against a State Church ; ¦ he is for placing the rifle in the hands of every al ) le-bodicd man . In short , he is for doing exactly that which the colony has done for itself already . How strange it is that Englishmen cannot do these things when they are counted by millions , or when they are in our own bracing climate ; but that they must split themselves into little sections and go to the hot

    region of Australia . lor our own part , we have an idea that all those things can be done without the voyage , and that the Anglo-Saxon , looking after his own interests , making his governors admire him aa Sir Charles Hotham admires , would be more respectfully treated by his officials , more faithfully represented by his mombers in Parliament , more justly governed by laws for the interests oi the greatest number , more free in his actions , industrial and commercial as well as political , and , therefore , bettor oft * .

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    NURSERY BE PUBLICS . Win trust that our renders will not have been bewildered or dnzzlod by the idle reports which have mingled with the winds of the Atlantic , and have persuaded foolish people that thoro is some project for " annexing Sim Domingo to the Union . " American imagination , indeed , is sometimes impatient ,

    expansive , and iar-soemg to such extent , that it despises the elements of space , time , and probability , and thoro are persons oven in America , who arc already indignant on behalf of the North , that ; the South should bo fortifying itself by San Domingo . It ia as if Scotland should vehemently protest against England for adding to the injustice inflicted through the Union , by annexing Madeira to

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    ^^^^ J ^ C ! available , /^ jfe ^ THE LEADER . [ Saturday , LL—L ^ L ~ iL ^ n . * ± \ s \ - ¦ . . .. — . , .. __

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 28, 1854, page 1020, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2062/page/12/