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Leader (1850-1860), 11th November 1854, Edition Town of 2, Page 1066, Untitled Article

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      fifty years the then member for Manchester may not be cheered for denouncing- the anti-Russian war of 1854 ? For our own part , we do not think that that day will ever arrive ; but there is none the less reason why we should be tolerant of Mx . Bright—whose moral courage is at least all the more to be respected , that , chief of a very small band—taking his stand , ¦ with his sixty Greek firms of Manchester , in a Peace Society Thermopylaae- ' -he dares to face

      a unanimous nation . As to tne Greeks themselves , -we cannot see why they should be lynched for expressing their public opinion in opposition to ours . They are a race—a religion—a nation : they hate the Turks , and they rejoice when they fancy Russia is succeedingin destroying Turkey . Our eivil « protection " of them , as residents among us , only amounts to a permission to them to pay our taxes and swell our trade j it does not entitle our police

      to take them into custody when they deride the patriotic City men , who , according to the Greeks , are profoundly ignorant of what the -war is really about . It is said that their public manifestations of joy at the delay at Sebastopol are indecent : hut that is only a complaint that they are not hypocrites . England , City men included , can afford to endure their joy ; to despise the Greeks—and to take no notice of them .

      But the best way to meet Mr . Bright and the Greeks would be to reason with them . We , for ourselves , venture to say to these gentlemen , —You are in a great error in condemning ^ this war merely because the Turks are barbarians—because the Greek Christians , who are represented by the Czar , and against whom we are making' war , as if to defend the integrity of Turkey , are the best portion of Turkey . We grant you your whole case ; but you are still quite wrong . If this were a war for Turkey and for Turkish institutions , it would he a very absurd war . But it happens to be a war against Russia : and that fact constitutes it a

      sensible—more , a holy war . Our national pretence of defending the integrity and independence of a Sultan who , in accepting our defence , becomes our satrap , is a mere pretence . Our Government ' s ( Palmerston ' s ) profession of faith in the Turkish capacity to attain civilisation is a sham . Yet , still , the war may be vindicated . In the first place , the Government , which has no liberal conceptions or contemplations , and which takes as its allies , in crushing a ^ despot , other despots , is perfectly right in insisting on the maintenance of the Balance of Power in the East . But Mr . Bright and the Greelts overlook the circumstance that this

      empire is sustaining the Government because the vvar is believed to be a war against the principle of despotism , —for human freedombecause there is a national faith in the " eventualities" of the war . Mr . Bright is unworthy of himself in condemning the war because the scene at Alma was " terrible" and " hideous . " Did he ever

      see a man under tho surgeon ' s knife for cancer ? Thousands have fallen : bub , in a whole nation , groat emotions and large sympathies have been aroused ; and it is that , and not prosperity , -which makes a national life . Loss of life is not the greatest sorrow to humanity : there are evils scevtor armis t there is such a thing as a dead world .

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      PRIESTS AND POLITICS IN" IRELAND . The Chinese are a people of curious common , sense . "When they speak of their priests they speak of a man who is in the Jos-House business ; just as we should speak of a man who isin the Public-House line ; indicating a man who has a particular trade , to which he confines himself , out of which nobody in the least regards him . We wish the Irish had the Chinese notion of priests .

      A very singular fact has just presented itself in Ireland . Mr . Duffy , the faithful leader of the Young Ireland party—that is , of the party which is what we should call Radical , and the French would call Republican—has been protestingj in energetic language , against the act of a certain Roman Catholic Bishop who has prohibited one of his priests , a Father O'Keeffe , of active renown , from taking part in politics . Mr . Duffy says that an independent party , for

      Parliamentary purposes , cannot exist without the aid , direct and manifest , of a patriotic priesthood : and he considers t ( iat if the bishops generally imitate O'Keeffe ' s bishop—and there is a fear that the English Government has got Rome , through Dr . Cullen , to effect that state of things—it will no longer be possible for the Nationalists to fight any fight at all against the landlords , the traitors , and the Government priesthood . In that protest there is a melancholy picture of Ireland .

      There can be no doubt that in Ireland there are many justifications for the prominent part hitherto taken in politics by the priests . The great agitation for Roman Catholic emancipation was a religious agitation ; and , so far , the priests were in , their proper places . In all the general elections subsequent to 1829 , the agents of O'Connell were the priests ; and in ,

      the recent agitation for Tenant-Right the priests led tho way—and not only Roman Catholic , but Presbyterian , clergymen . What would have become of tho people , and the popular cause , if the priests had hold aloof ? In Ireland there are two political forcesthat of the " Castle" influence—in Ireland it is the influence of corruption—and that of tho Conservative landlords—in Ireland it is tho

      influence of intimidation . It is not tho gentry who load tho people in Ireland ; there is no such middle class as ours : and when a popular candidate stands for a borough or a county , nl most all tho attorneys aro against him—ho must therefore seek an electioneering agent in tho priest . Apparently , therefore , it is a serious blow to tho people for tho people ' s prelates to warn tho people ' s priests from tho hustingsand tho platform ; and , in this case , the injury is

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      of constitutionalism as developed in Sardinia . Protected by an English citizenship and passport , employed in reporting for an English journal , and desirous of watching the growth of constitutional freedom in a new land , Mr . Nicolini expected that his honesty would be hostage for his fidelity , and that the Sardinian Government , which claims generous construction for itself , would know how to appreciate generous frankness , in others . He was mistaken . We regret to find that he had overrated the sagacity , the courage , and the generosity of King Victor EmanueFs Government .

      In France , too , there is a spy question . The Soule question is settled ; tne Emperor has thought better of it ; he has discovered a reason wh y he should not persist in his fear to let the American Ambassador to Spain pass over French ground . The Emperor Napoleon was apprehensive that Mr . Pierre Soule intended to become a resident in France .

      Dreadful fact ! If the plea were true , we must presume thafe the Emperor Napoleon considers the permanent presence of self and Soule incompatible . Does this show the power of Soule , or the weakness of Napoleon ? In the meanwhile , the Emperor has discovered that the basis of his fear , not the fear itself , was erroneous : the American Ambassador in

      Madrid has no intention of residing in France . Why Napoleon should have conceived an intention so totally incompatible with Mr . Soule ' s functions we do not know . It indicates a great alacrity of sinking into fear . In the meanwhile , the Emperor Napoleon has favoured us with an exposition of one of the means by which he lives politically . It seems he cannot do without a spy ; the Fouch 6 is essential to the Napoleon . This is a .

      humiliating confession . The Fouche-ism must also be co-extensive with the Napoleonic influences . That is certainly an Idee Napoleonienne . In London , in Madrid , in Veniee 3 the Emperor must be represented by the lowest kind of scoundrel that infests society . That is the rapport which he preserves with the heart of allied countries . Go where you will , if there is French material , there is the Napoleonian idea embodied in a specimen of the Fouche tribe . Enter a French harbour

      armed with an Italian , an English , or an American passport , and you are from that moment watched as if the Emperor upon his throne conceived that the passage from Marseilles or Lyons led straight to his heart , —not in the sentimental sense . Ascend the hill which leads to the fortifications of Lyons , and while you take note that the guns of the fortress are pointed , not outwards against an invading enemy , but inwards against the people who were invited to vote " Yes or No , " and

      intriguing- against sharpers in the lowest classes of political society , and becomes implicated in paltry crimes . The assassin and the master of spies are upon an equality ; and whichever has the worse , he can scarcely claim much sympathy -with bystanders , who do not share the treachery of either . Our Government , it is hinted , has its eye upon the Greeks amongst us , who are openly exulting in their sympathy with the Czar , and who are suspected of supplying him with , information . Our Government has never

      meddled with that class of political tricks without having had its knuckles rapped for its pains . Letter-opening , we trust , is an offence that will henceforward he left to letter-carriers under strong temptations , or to pickpockets of the ordinary class . The use of spies may he left to swindlers and foreign emperors . The present temper of the English people , its hearty support of Government , arid its waiving of many projects of its own , show that the generous , game is , after all , the best game for Cabinets . Those who create spies breed a class to inform against the authors of their wretched being .

      SPIES ABROAD AND AT HOME . This Piednoontese Government , we regret to say , has recently disgraced itself by setting its spies upon honest men , and exiling 1 patriots whoso politics wore known through their frankness . Wo allude particularly to tho case of Mr . Niooliru , soixio tirno since an associato of Mazzini , and avowing his own opinions ; conceiving , however , some hope in tho power

      most especially concentrated upon the manufacturing quarter of the town—while you take note of these phenomena , you shall note the spy which dogs your carriage , not unknown to the driver . Go to see the lions in Paris , and if you are experienced and quick in . such matters , you shall discover that the valet de place who leads you from sight to sight is instructed to

      report your itinerary to his Imperial master . There is reason in the roasting of eggs , and you cannot cat an omelette without its becoming an affair of state . Engage a courier as your travelling servant on tho return to England , flatter yourself with the delusion that although intelligent ho is faithful , and you will find by some abrupt disappearance of the man that you have boon paying wages to tho servant of the " Einporor .

      A his , avo conceive , is a losing 1 game with Governments . Tho monarch that meddles with spies breoda in others the suspicion he fools , creates instruments to delude as well as to inform him , descends to tho part of sharper

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      1066 THE LEADER . [ Saturday ,

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 11, 1854, page 1066, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2064/page/10/