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    nothing about family influence . Perhaps if he would say Whig family influence it would do as well . The family influence which made the Duke of Northumberland First Lord of bne Admiralty , and put Lord Lonsdale at bhe head of national education , is purely beneficent . Lord Ellewbobotjgh mores in the Lords that the war has been mismanaged ; that is , that he ought to have managed it himself . He would have done some things rigorously and well ; but his good sense stands ecorded in the Somnauth proclamation , and

    lis programme of a campaign in Asia savours > f the wild elephant . Lord Pailmebston dearly tries to knock Mr . Latabd ' s head [ gainst Lord EtiE ^ BOEOTTGn . Mr . Layard : leverly evades the collision . The Ministry rill have a hard week of it . Lord Eli / ensobough is said to be confident , but it will Lardly be a recommendation with the Lords hat he gets wind for his saijs from the uarter of Administrative Reform . However , he British aristoeraey , if it falls , will fall obly , intriguing to the end .

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    AGITATION . ( To the Editor of the Leader . ') ir , —In our country , just now , everything is ready > r the Revolution—except the Revolutionists . Distay , despair , are the sensations of the class of men ho feel some responsibility to the huge , helpless ation ; but the emotion does not suggest action . Te are drifting , as a people : or , if we act at all , it is , hile crying for a Revolution , to attempt a change . Te want certain things done on the instant , and , lerefore , we enter on an agitation : and that is ir old national plan—so traditional that we do not jserve that we have a House of Commons

    conructed by the constitution specially to anticipate citation , —to be the' agitator ^ We know , by exjrience , that agitation in England is a seven years ' isiness ; but we can't help that . It relieves oxr elings to enter on an agitation ; and not the less lat we don ' t very well know what we are agitating r . We don't know in the least what administrative iform means : but it relieves our feelings . " Eheu !" a ridiculous exclamation : but it calms the tragic

    nsations of an oppressed heart . If we do not see the way to remedy , we recognise ie difficulty ; and that is something . We are in a eat war , of which we are sick , but of which we , nnot get rid : we are sick of it because we find that ir rulers have made it a war , not for human free-> tn , as we desired , but against Russia , and for desive treaties merely ; and wo cannot get rid of it , scause the enemy , comprehending our statesmen , els sure of baulking them , and , accordingly , laughs our pacificating diplomacy . In this war we o isolated in the world ; France disdains us for

    Lving become tho vassals of the Emperor of the : onch ; and that Emperor assassinated , England auld have either to carry on war single-handed gainst Russia , or to join the French nation in an med Propaganda of republican opinions—an uneasant prospect to tho English aristocracy . Our ethren of America arc not with us in the war ; we se their alliance in caressing the bloodstained hands Louis Napoleon . Austria , " master of the situation , " , n be contemptuously neutral or safely defiant of i : a ( probable ) junction of Austria and Prussia—all ermany—against Louis Napoleon , rendering his allilce something worse than worthless to us . Meanwhile , irrying on this vast war , from which wo expect no

    rritorial advantages for ourselves , and no better adjustment of tho map of Europe for purposes of jrmancnt peace , wo find onr prestige as a potent : oplo disappearing . Our aristocracy , worn out , arc sridod by ourselves : and wo , ourselves , arc in turn to jest of Europe , for our delusions about tho war , ir faith in an imbecile Parliament , our relianee changes of old Ministers , our affectionate revption of tho hero of the coup d \ ftu . t , and , gearally , fpr our chaotic conduct in dealing with slitical confusion . We aro a failure in tho war , in rerything but fighting , which is but a part of miliirywork : and wo are compared to the bull-dog—a ighly admirable animal , in sticking to tho enomy ,

    but ludicrously incapable of everything b $ * - ' the stupid rush and the blind bite . Our fleets are sailing about in idle grandeur , and at an expense which proves that we are a great people : but they can do nothing . Our army , foiled at Sebastopol , is about to take a tour in Asia : our War Department thinks , perhaps , that a Xenophon may turn up in the compelled retreat : and a man is so much wanted that it would be worth the sacrifice of any army to get at him . We have a summer before us , of enormous waste of life and wealth , doubtful glories , —and no results . And the winter before us is worse . The weather-wise augur badly from the spring ; and certain it is , that unless we have a very prodigious harvest , wheat will be at 150 s ,: —^ that , if we have a bad harvest , we shall have something like a famine . Agitation going on , our governing class more and more exposing their utter destitution of governing power , our nationality more

    and more disappearing as we subside into an imperial province under the French Lower Empire , there would come , in such a winter , a political spirit answering to the old Chartism that dates from the days of over-population ; and then—Insurrectionsperhaps Revolution . Not to mention several committees to inquire , &c . Parliament , already , is not leaving it altogether to the Ciliy men , who spare an hour a day from their avocations to save the country , to avert the Fate whose shadow is over us . Lord Ellenborough , a nobleman of Roman behaviour , is to move a vote of censure on the Government ; and such a thing is possible as the House of Lords , not less demented

    than the rest of us , aiding in a movement against their own order . If Lord Ellenborough succeed , and Mr . Layard , a gentleman of Greek acuteness , obtain subsequently , in the Commons , a partial success for a similar motion , Lord Palmerston would resign ; and then ? We should get , plus Ellenborough , the same Derby Government which we laughed out of office , in a quiet era , two years ago . They would do a little at administrative reform : but they could not alter the circumstances of the world—they would continue a statesman ' s war , and be beaten by the Russians , who are the cleverest statesmen . The nobleman of Roman behaviour might take a Roman view , and lift us into sight of a future worth fighting

    for . Forcing the small minds of the French Emperor and of his own chief into a grand conception , he might say , Let France and England go forth and conquer : he might revolutionise Germany , unite Italy , restore Poland , convulse Asia , annihilate Czardom , and insist on there being but two powers in Europe—London and Paris . A few words , and a few more millions , would suffice to arm mankind against the despotisms that are diplomatising us . Then , if we were still to have a long war , we might be content : this generation would have done something . But a nobleman of Roman behaviour—who is sixty-six years of age—will soon be red-taped round about him : and under the despairing influences of a governing caste , which is likewise worn out , he will conduct the war with the impotent politeness expected in these days from a Minister . When he

    dies , we shall have some other War Minister , a little older ; or , if Lord Derby is thrown out , we shall have Russell , or perhaps Palmerston again ;—still wanting revolution , still we shall but beseech the Queen for a change . Layard may get in ; Lowe , too ; nay , Laing ; even Lindsay : —and when we have got for them 5000 / . a year each , our changes , will be completed . That is our revolution ; leave the system ; House of Peers ; aristocratic House of Commons ; governing class ; and put in a man after our heart , who is sure to be put down when he is caught in . And no greater change seems possible , if we are to confine ourselves to change , for , however we may abuse the old lords , there are no young lords of any ability coming up , and our new agitation as yet supplies no great man to wield it—no Cobdcn , no Bright .

    Tho best hope that springs out of the administrative reform movement is , that it will gradually and , best , imperceptibly become a parliamentary reform movement . Certainly , it is not our conclusion that the country is to be put upright again in Europe by infusing more into tho House of Commons of the hapless metropolitan mombcr clement : —the coming man will not come out of a pot-house . But were a cry now raised for large extension of the suffrage , it would have more meaning and more philosophy than that too often imbecile cry has previously had . As these

    middle-class meetings go on , it will be seen that our Government is not to bo nationalised but by an utter sweep of tho aristocratic system , and that the middlo-claas will seek in vain to get power from the aristocracy , except upon tho condition of sharing it with tho people , and with those men who would depend upon tho people—tho adventurers , landless but brainful , who thrive in revolution . And that cry of Reform the Parliament , so raised , would mean Revolution , —tho Whigs then would gather in among tho Tories—tho " order" would stand by itself , in

    resistance . With wheat at 150 s ., a few orators and writers , of power and point , could then do a good deal with the English people . Woe be to the men who , conscious of this dark future ^ still cultivate their conceit and hold back from guiding the present . In the political . position , with these prospects , the English nation has a right to the service qf the men to whom she gave power for some higher purpose than the debateof crotchets . There are two men in the House of Commons of pre-eminent genius and of lofty . public virtue , who belong ¦ to the country and not to tue caste , but who are still inactive . We want leaders in this movement to give it shape , to use its power , to make it patriotic . Why is it that Mr . Gladstone and Mr . Bright do not head us ? They wish to . con * trol the war . Well : if they will lead us , w-e will give them power . Heading this agitation ,. they

    would be the Government in six months . But we fear the appeal is in vain . Then , the next best thing to a great man , is a great personage ; and we would say to the Queen , were we right honourable naen , r-r-Your Majesty , your reign has been so calm in constitutional routine , that you forget your hereditarypowers to save your subjects . Your nobles are ruining us , anarchy is impending , and we pray youl ? Majesty to nationalise the nation by anticipating , as your grandfather and your uncles on different occasions anticipated , the votes of the Commons aud the Lords , and choosing a Ministry of your own . We prefer your Majesty to Louis Napoleon , as our own Sovereign ; and we pray of you to put aside his Proconsuls , the Palmerstons , Malmesburys , and Russells ; and bring into your councils honest , independent , intellectual Englishmen , who will serve you and England as your Majesty may determine . That appeal cannot be heard . Therefore , without consternation , we await the winter . It is not the particular business of the Leader to avert revolution . Non-Ei-ectok .

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    " THE STRANGER" IN PARLIAMENT . [ The responsibility of the Editor in regard to these contributions is limited to the act of giving them publicity . The opinions expressed are those of the writer : both the Leader and " The Stranger" benefit by the freedom which is left to his pen and discretion . ] Why was Mr . Disraeli in so rapacious a , hurry foe " papers ? " You would have thought , on Monday , when he was in such a fuss about them that he asked his question before Lord Palmerston had got into the House , and so brought up Sir George Grey , who naturally knew nothing about the matter , that human affairs were to turn upon these precious

    protocols : —and the House thought so too , for when Mr . Disraeli , on Sir George ' s helpless answer , intimated that' if he didn't hear of them next day he'd take the sense of the House on the subject , the poor , dull , honourable members cheered . Well > there the papers are now—one of the customary ( gratis ) Government contributions to the Retrospective Review—capitally cooked , admirably unsignificant , carefully inconclusive , and not telling us of anything that has happened within the last twenty days : and what is Mr . Disraeli the better for them ? We are in the same position as before : there are what Mr . Bright calls " strong

    rumours" from Paris ; as strong rumours from Vienna : diplomacy is undoubtedly still in the ascendant : hut Parliament is not in the least aware of what is to become of us under the auspices of the couple of desperadoes , Napoleon and his Viceroy Palmerston , who have now taken Europe in hand . The two views taken of the facts confirmed by the papers , one view being that there ought never to have been any Conference , and the other that the Conference ought not to have been broken up , could have been taken , and were taken , before the Foreign . Office ' s translator sufficiently recovered from his dyspepsia to oblige the British Empire with these protocols ; and though Lord Grey ( followed by ¦»*¦_ . •»«¦!! /~ i : i . imnnrnrv member of tho Milner Gibson honorary member ot tho

    , „ Mr . , as Peace Society ) has heroin obtained some official basis for tho speech ho is going to make on tho 21 st for the purpose of convincing tho growing Peace-at-any-price party that ho is the man for Premier , yet tho country gains nothing by tho long postponement of tho amusement derivable from a discussion of the Vienna business . Mr . Bright is sensitively anxious , with all his eagerness for a say on the new aspect of allairs , not to risk tho possible p-nco by inducing any premature Parliamentary rhetoric : —patriotically ho consents to adopt Palmerstoii ' s suggestion that the interests of tho publib service require that tho House of Commons should not interfere until its interference is palpably of no

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    # * - ¦ lH-t . \ % 1 && 5 J Tg \ B £ H A _ DKE It ; 448 ..

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), May 12, 1855, page 447, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2090/page/15/