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Leader (1850-1860), 27th January 1855, Edition 1 of 2, Page 86

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      We do not kna ^^ ethar * s presumptive Btory caiLbe Jeceiv ® d . as evidence ft *;!*** AB ^ Ecr andiia colleagues are viflains of tte basest stamp , out-Herodmg the bloodiest bravo of a melo-dramatic theatre i but , at aU eveiits , to Btatemexjt enables us to measure the credulity of aweE-informed Englishman , And Ma moral seose of what is possible .

      Evidently " dark deeds" are contemplated in the Biai&h House of Gammons , though not always by the persons said to perpetrate them . ICet Mr . Cqbdbn asks us to condemn a Barthelemy Cabinet on such constructive evidence - and 800 persons in soiree assem bled , temperately enjoying the drink which " cheers but not inebriates , " ratify the condemnation which the accuser asks !

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      POSTAL SERVICE 1 ST AUSTRALIA . The subjoined challenge ought to arouse attention and endeavour m the Australian

      eolonies : — ( To theEditor of the " Leader . " ') " 16 th January , 1855 . " Sir , —In a recent numbfer of your journal you expressed the opinion , that if the colonists of Australia wanted steam communication -with this country they must not look too much for assistance , but take the initiative for themselves , and strenuously endeavour to settle this question upon a principle worthy of the importance of their position and the future which ia before them . " This view of the case , I am happy to inform you , is now largely concurred in by those in England , who bare . interested themselves in the question , for they are convinced that it can be better decided , to please the various interests ^ concerned , by the local

      autfeonties than by the magnates of Downing-street ,-who only proceed upon official reports , -or the partisans of rival steam companies , who only have in view the subsidy granted by the Government' And surely , Sir , this- is the most reasonable way of treating the colonies . It is their question as much as it is-that of this CQuntry ' si they have the best information as to their peculiar wants ; they have wealth , steamers , experienced- commanders , and the whole of the machinery necessary to organise a powerful and effective service . It may be that jealousies and differences of opinion may arise between the various colonies , but I have as much faith in their being amicably arranged by the advocates concerned at the antipodes , as by capitalists on the Stock Exchange or elsewhere in England . _ '

      . . . . " Be this , however , as it may , the colonists of Australia are entitled to legislate for Jhemselves on this subject . It is upwards of ten years sfnee , lirEngTand , that steam was first proposed for these distant settlements , and what has been done ? We have tried the route by the Cape and failed ! We have left untried the route vid Panama , and now , with a tightened money-market and a great European war , is not the time to look upon it as practicable ! We have been making experiments on the Indian line , which have been abandoned because , it is said , of a positive loss of 40 , 000 i per annum . .

      " Now , then , it is time to let the question be considered by other -parties , and the colonists , I know , will not shrink from their responsibilities , for they think it consistent with their intelligence , their increasing importance , and their principles of selfgovernment that they should have such duties imposed upon them . But it is only natural if they grant subsidies to steamers already in the colonies , and devise in their respective legislative councils a line of communication which shall connect the colonies with one or both of the great steam routes belonging to the eastern or western hemisphere , that some portion of the postage should be conceded by the English Government , and that their efforts should be met in a wise , liberal , and comprehensive spirit . " I am , Sir , your obedient servant , " William Pcbdy . "

      This letter is written by a man who perfectly understands the subject , and is responsible for his statements . As manager of the Bank of South Australia , Mr . Puwdt is in a position to observe , and to state a case with absolute independence ; and there is nothing here that can bo gainsaid in the colonies of Australia . Attempts have been made lately to charge those settlements with the overtrading whicb , by its reaction , threatens such eerious inconveniences to our commerce ; but the charge is incorrect .. Trade and industry were disturbed in Australia j the wool-clipping was suspended , because tho shepherd

      preferred gold-diggmg ; tan labour « tood stai , and at one thne Adelaide was almost deserted ; while Melbourne , a city of gamblers , exhibited the extraordinary suburb of Canvas Town . But speaking generally , there was no " overtrading" there . The extravagantiLy-OTercalculated supplies were sent from home i cotton goods , ironmongery , slopclothing , and other consignments , were sent in quantities , as if the nouvemtx riekes ot Australia -scanted nothing but coats , waistcoats ,, and trousers , or fire-irons , or cotton prints ^ and of course much was returned on

      hand . . ' . One item we may set down against Australia : this was the overtrading . . The charge for postage was a comparative trifie , but , asi the serviee was a loss , it ought to have been borne at least in part by the colonies . The difficulty which at once presents itself is the diversity of interest and of view which prevails in the different Australian colonies ; but these differences are not greater than

      those which existed between the thirteen colonies of America when they agreed upon the declaration of independence , and what is more , upon the war of independence . They carried the day , and succeeded in establishing a republic "; cannot the Australian colonies so far agree in action as to establish a postal service ?

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      « A STRANGER" IN PARLIAMENT . [ Our readers will welcome the reappearance of our esteemed correspondent . The independent and almost personal view which he tates of ^ personal qualities on the stage of public affairs is wellknown ,-and it must be equally well understood that we are desirous of preserving to our correspondent perfect freedom for his pen , even when it differs from our own opinions . It is equally necessary to the independence of the critic and of the Journal , ± hat the personality of the one and the impersonality of the other should be kept entirely distinct . We desire to state once

      for all , that the " Stranger" speaks for himself , not for the Leader ; although , starting from the same point , we may often be g lad to find him expressing the feeling and the policy of this Journal . 3 QtNEER consequences may come from the Ministerial crisis . But ^^ wfiatever we " may ' see ^ what we do see , is this—that the political quidnuncs are looking remarkably foolish . There is no doubt that they ought to have foreseen this . There was ' something so unusually absurd in the conduct of Lord John Russell on Tuesday night in proffering a " statement "

      about foreign affairs which was utterly unintelligible , and which was unintelligible because , among other reasons , Lord John obviously knew nothing of what was going on at Vienna , —there was something so suspicious in the circumstance , that when Lord John was boggling over his explanations ^ in answer to the ironical entreaties of Mr . Bright to be good enough to make himself understood , not one of his colleagues would whisper a hint in his ear—that one * ought to have seen there was again another of those hitches in the class conspiracy which are denominated Ministerial crisis . And , on general grounds , one ought to have suspected that a man like Lord John Russell , distinguished by unscrupulosity in politics and feebleness of intellect intensified by a disease of

      vanity , would be certain to select a disjuncture like the present to hit upon the coincident baseness of playing the deuce and playing the fool . But—distrust the sagacity which awaits events to ratiocinate —you may rely upon it that when Parliament met at Westminster on Tuesday , no one—certainly not Lord John Russell— -calculated on a crisis . Mr . Roebuck , for one , did not think he was doing- anything extraordinary in moving for his Select Committee to inquire into tho catastrophe of the British governmental system ; and Lord EHenbbrough ' s notice of motion was taken as a matter of course . And , though it stood as a possibility , and irrespective of these notice ? of impeachment , that there would bo a reorganisation of tho Coalition—and Lord John and Lord Derby are alike fooling

      themselves ' £ T they now count aa anything morethat reconstruction—a handy-dandy change of offices to make all comfortable ¦ . —? would have taken place , without this eccentricity , in as quiet a manner as the last moving . on the congenial Lady-day , when the Duke of Newcastle stepped down one pair of stairs and stepped up another pair of stairs in Downing-street , and when Lord John Russell , having nothing to do , condescended to take a salary for doing it . Lord John Russell is in ecstasy in a fuss : hut , after all , the probability is that they will think as little of it at Vienna as they did of the analogous act of that celebrated student who travelled to the source of the

      Danube , and , stopping the spring with his old hat , gloated over the confusion , he hoped to produce in title many cities watered by the great stream . Yet we should be grateful to Lord John Russell . What have we , outside English public , to do with the causes and the consequences ? He had no thought of England when he said on Wednesday to Lord Aberdeen , by way of remodelling the old joke" By-the-by , let us swear eternal enmity } " and England has little very to hope from the results . " The great families did not consent to partition the . English Government for the benefit of the

      English : it is not English policy that Lord John has condemned or . proposed ; and the reconstructions he may eompel will not be based upon any aristocratic admission that the men of brains and business members ought now to be brought in- in preference to a new relay of old lords . Is a great nation to be excited because a Duke of Newcastle is to be put down in order that a Lord Palmerston may be put up—because one set of Peers , Peelites , have excited the jealousies of another set of Peers , Whigs £ JE 3 an _ empire to be convulsed because a club is agitated ? Tweedlecium is getting

      the advantage over Tweedledee by taking advantage of the popular disgust with Tweedledee , because Tweedledee , being highly bred into intellectual stagnation ^ and being by misfortune placed , during a great war , in a responsible position , has managed , punctually attending his bureau at 9 a . m ., and never going to bed before midnight , and wearing overshoes in this weather with conscientious assiduity , to sacrifice 20 , 000 gallant plebeians- —and the national prestige . We cannot but conclude that Tweedledum , who is old and crafty , deserves his triumph over Tweedledee , who is young and not crafty , not dishonest . But let the outside British public have the self-respect toehold alooffromlhese miserable intrigues of heartless incapables—and , sympathising with neither , leave Tweedledum and Tweedledee to fight it out until such time as the brains and business members of England are prepared to relegate both Tweedledum and Tvveedledeo to their important duties of country gentlemen . The enthusiastic alacrity of liberal-popular-papers to name this and that man for possible vacant places is pleasant , as an unexpected simplicity in our century , but is too hopeful . Those journalist * who have for some years been suggesting to the British press that our aristocracy is an imposition , not only politically but intellectually , may rejoice that their day is coming—when another coalition of crack lords is required to sustain a little while longer the public delusion . But the day has not come yet . Nearly every Peer and Peer ' s relative , of presentable appearance for public life , has been tried and has broken down : the standard is so reduced that capacity to speak the English language ia no longer insisted on , for doesn't Lord John get on without that ? and it is only under extraordinary circumstances that common decency of moral character is insisted on , for isn't there and ? But there are one or two more loft : and they will now have their chance . There ' s Lord Derby—he was a frightful failure in Peace—but , isn't there War ? There is Lord Groy , omitted from the first coalition ; he drove all our colonies into rebellion , but the Crimea is not a colony . Thero ia Lord Ellenborough ; he was tho jest of mankind for being a Brummagem Bonaparte ia India : but a Brummagem Bonaparte might mapago in a sham war . There ' s Lord Dalhousio—there ' s Lord Elgin—they are heroes still , for wo know nothing of them , and therefore hav ' n't found them out . Wo hav'n ' t exhausted the Peerage

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  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 27, 1855, page 86, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2075/page/14/