Current:

Leader (1850-1860), 14th July 1855, Edition 1 of 2, Page 668, Untitled Article

Page 668
Page 8
8 of 24

On this page

  • Departments (2)
    • f^/ T\ '7iCf\A s->> ^3MI%/ *H* £J* '^ V @9rf&& && ifr' i% \*S — it^X JC t%/ <\P JK jL' 4 C\/& (<^y v ' j t
    • " $uMtr Malt*.
  • Text (10)
  • Transcript

    • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

      Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

      Untitled Article

      I ^ ORD JANU S RUSSELL . Lobd John Russell ' s last escapade has given the coup de grace to his repute and to the British constitution as it is in Russell . " Contraries in extremes do often meet , " and Lord John has always "been noted for an infirmity of purpose which amounts to inflexible audacjiv . He rushes from his resolve with a directness that nothing can turn aside , and takes flight with a rashness that no counsel can intimidate . Sydney Smith ,

      whose allusion to Lord John s daring has often heeii misconceived , perfectly understood the character of the man . He did not mean that Lord John would have taken the command of the Channel fleet in the face of the Spanish Armada , or have undertaken an operation in order to effect the rescue of a martyr ; but that if it were distinctly his duty to conclude a p eace at Vienna , we might expect to see him rushing to the command of the Channel fleet in order to lead an attack upon the commercial navy of the Austrian Lloyd ' s ; or , if it were his duty as

      British Minister to find bread for that fleet , we probably should discover him at Guy ' s , performing the operation in question , not for the sake of the sufferer , hut for his own sake , as finding there t he most opposite occupation into which , as British Minister , he could rush . It must have been on this principle that , being sent to Vienna for the purpose of dictating terms to Russia and controlling the vacillations of Austria , he accepted the propositions of Count Buol , and returned to London an Austrian agent for sacrificing all the objects of the war to Russia . There is not another man in the country whom

      infirmity of purpose would have terrified into an iact of such imperious effrontery . It is Lord John RusskMi ' s peculiar talent to provide surprises for his friends by being always the opposite of what they expect him to be , and repaying their fidelity by betraying all their hopes . When he has been in office , he has often postponed the measures which they expected him to carry , untiL he had lost the power of carrying them ; and then he

      proposed them with so much determination , that lie resigned rather than give them up . The Irish Appropriation clause was a splendid means of beating the Tory party—the boast of the Whigs while they were in power and capable of carrying it ; but never carried . Lord John was the advocate of free trade , but not its promoter until Peel was already coining into office , and ; then the penitent Whig leader offered to make a beginning , in order to shut out Pjjei . from that work winch

      he accomplished . Subsequently , after having helped the Tory Protectionist deserters to turn Peed out , and being again in oilice , in the full possession of power , of opportunity , aifd of party traditions , Lord John suffered his own Cabinet to dwindle into an antiquarian relic , the mero counterfeit of what it had been ; and ho wh 6 , being neither bo deniocrAtic ; uor so frde-trading , nor so thoroughgoing a minister na that old Tory , had umirped the place of Pebl , was at lawt obliged to give way to a Premier of no greater -rank than Deiijiy . Lord John was rescued from

      political superannuation by Lord ivuEitDEEN , who formed The Cabinet of the Elders , with a few recruits from the junior rank a of statesmanship . And how did Lord John repay that roscuoP He professed a most patriotic willingness to unite for the p ' urpose of rescuing the State from the disgrace into which it had fallen

      Untitled Article

      THE BALTIC . The St . Petersburg journals of the 6 th report that on the night between the 2 nd and 3 rd , the gunboats of the allied fleets destroyed a large number of Finland vessels near Grossischra ; and that on the morning of the 3 rd , Krasnafagorka was bombarded for five hours , and the Telegraph barracks almost entirely destroyed . A letter from Trebizonde in the Moniteuv mentions the death of SchaMyl as certain .

      Untitled Article

      Vienna , July 11 . Marshal Kadetzky has demanded reinforcements for the garrisons of Milan , Verona , Venice , and other Italian fortresses . 40 , 000 men will shortly leave for that destination . By the last American mail we learn that Alvarez has defeated the Government troops near Mexico . A telegraphic despatch from Barcelona , dated the 11 th inst ., announces that order reigns in that city .

      Untitled Article

      SHALL WE HAVE THE TORIES ? Thk struggle for power between the two aristocratic parties which is taking place in the form of the different want-of-confidence motions , is not an edifying object of contemplation . The only point for sensible men to consider is , what we shall gain by exchanging Whigs for Tories . There will be no change in the character or objects of the war . We shall still be left fighting for limitations of ships , modifications of protectorates , and the other authorised objects of monarchical diplomacy . The idea of a real crusade in favour of liberty under the leadership of Lord Derby is simply preposterous . Mr . Disraeli makes peace and war speeches in rapid alternation , according as the chance of beating the Government by a junction with the warlike [ Radicals or thd pacific Radicals appears the best . He now denounces the expedition to the Crimea as ill-advised : but no 6 ne at the time was more active in decrying the Government fdr'xroi undertaking it . It is clear that from such minds as this , acting under the pressure of a dozen opposite influences , no straightforward and manly counsels in war or peace can come . The probability is that if Lord Deku y and Mr . DrsiiAKiii have any view in the matter beyond that of riding into office on the first wave , their view is'favourable to peace ; and we should not be surprised if the imitator of BoLiNGBBOKE were to follow in the steps of his , model by crowning Alma and Inkermail with another treaty of Utrecht . We have as little confidence in Tory prom i ^ a of Administrative Reform . The Tories adtjpted Administrative Reform in . the first instance , not for its own sake , but as an antidote to the dosiro for Parliamentary

      villes , and so are obliged to hire a .. But the class character of a Tory Government based on " the laud , " is far more oligarchical in essential respects than a Government of Whigs , which is compelled by its very want of support from the landlords to make concessions to the Liberals on whose votes it live s * Does any one suppose that the purity and efficiency of the public service are the real objects of the intriguers who figure iii the scandalous chronicles of the

      Disuael 1 Reform ; and in that sinister sense alone they are its authors . They would probably , for the sake of place , graciously grant us some scanty measure . J 3 ut they would not , and could not , touch the root of the evil . The root of the evil is aristocracy : and aristocracy is the very essence of Toryism . If the lory Ministries appear less oligarchical than the Whigs , it is because the Tory Lords are more ° stupid than the Russei / ls and

      Gean-Dockyard Committee ? Does any one suppose " that if L ord Derby got into power he would throw open the great offices of state to men of the people ? The last Tory Ministry was composed of the common ingredients of dull Tory Lords and Corn-law Squires . Even Mr . Disraeli's private secretary was not a young aspirant of himself t

      merit , whom . IS . man , pretending o stand on his merits , might have been glad and proud to raise into public life , but a younger son of a particularly exclusive Duke . It matters not whether a man be a member of the privileged caste himself , or a hired and liver ied flunkey of the privileged caste , no reliance can be placed on him for the promotion of unprivileged capacity . Through the whole of the Administrative Reform

      movement , and the debates arising from it , the Tory leaders have shown , that , however glad they may be to play a popular card , they shrink instinctively from earnest reformers , and from reformers whose mission is direct from , the people . On the general Radical programme which the more unscrupulous and ambitious Tories are inclined to put forth , we have spoken our mind . It is pure political Jesuitism of the worst kind . The grand experiment tried by Louis Napoleon has strengthened hopes , which , however , were entertained before , of

      turning the extended suffrage against liberty , and of crushing the intelligence of the country by ita ignorance . This detestable scheme is congenial to men compared with whom the lowest demagogue of a pothouse , if there is a particle of honesty in his illusions , is a noble typo of political . morality . Fortunately in tin s country the case is totally different from what it was in France , and we should see the engineer on this side of the Channel " hoist with his own petard . " In France they had got rid of their landlords and their tithes . Universal suffrage combined with landlordism and tithes would bo an institution of a

      somewhat explosive kind , and produce results scarcely dreamed of in the gentle philosophy of [ Lord John Manners . There is one condition on which wo aie ready , and more than ready , to have the Tories in power to-morrow—and that is , if those who put them in" power eeo their way cleurly to a purification and consolidation of the Liberal party , and a real hearty

      movement in advance for objects worth a grand political struggle . But how ninny men nire there on the Liberal benches who havo tbo courage to join in such a struggle , : or a real appreciation of its ends ? What sort of scone would the Liberal caihp presont on the morrow of the change—ono of union and settled purpose , or of aimless ' recrimination and disorder ? Do what you will in the interest of progress with tho two aristocratic

      factions ; but act with your eyes open , and remembe r that the stationary Whigs are weak , that the retrograde Tories may be strong .

      Untitled Article

      There is nothing so revolutionary , becau . se thereis nothing so unnatural and convulsive , as the strain to Keep things fixed when all the world is by the very law of its creation in eternal progress . —Db . Ahnold .

      Untitled Article

      > yy ; T SATURDAY , JULY 14 , 1855 ,.

      F^/ T\ '7icf\A S-≫≫ ^3mi%/ *H* £J* '^ V @9rf&& && Ifr' I% \*S — It^X Jc T%/ ≪\P Jk Jl' 4 C\/& (≪^Y V ' J T

      \ rjB f *****'

      Untitled Article

      ^ 31 ° Ftvbfence is now the price for an Unstamped copy of the Leader , and Sixpence if Stamped . A Stamped copy -of this Journal can be transmitted . through the Post-office to any part of the United Kingdom as frequently as may be required , during fifteen days from its date , free of charge ; but it is necessary that the paper should he folded in such a manner that the stamp be clearly visible on the outside . The Leader has been " registered" at the General Postoffice , according to the provisions of the New Act relating to Newspapers , and it has , therefore , the privilege of transmission through the post beyond the United Kingdom .

      Untitled Article

      a ** THE LEADED [ No . 277 , Saturday ,

      " $Umtr Malt*.

      " $ uMtr SHFairi-

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), July 14, 1855, page 668, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2099/page/8/