Current:

Leader (1850-1860), 17th November 1855, Edition 1 of 2, Page 1097, Untitled Article

Page 1097
Page 5
5 of 24

On this page

  • Text (4)
  • 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

      sneakin g and * arit of chanty aM ^ uwliKSS / of the r ich The corrective of th ^ isfe ert-ors and vices is id he sought ; not in d higher degree of tavffizs * tion , for a very hfgft aegrfp , 6 ^ civilization at the commencement of the eighfeemtl ^ century had been followed by anarchy and bloodshed at the closebut , in . the . propagation of the true principles of Christianity * unperverted by sectarianism . Lord John glanced at the immense extension of the English and Anglo-American nations , and looked forward to a time—perhaps not far distant' —when our race will number eighty millions of free people , speaking a common language , and Teading the ^ Eng lish Bible , Shakspeare , and Milton . He trusted that the day would come when we should see . realised the magnificent lines of Dryden : — » 5 [ ' ; !• > ' . :

      " Dim as the borrowed beams of moon and stars To lonely , weary , wandering- travellers , Is Reason to the soul ; and , as oa high Those glinnmeriiiff lights discover but the sky—Not light us hers—eo Reason's feeble ray " Was lent , not to assure our doubtful way , But guide us upward to a better day . And , as those nightly tapers disappear "Wh . n Day ' s bright Lord ascends our hemisphere , So pale grows Reason at Religion ' s sight , So dies , and so dissolves , in supernatural light . " The lecturer thus concluded : —

      ' " To eacli one of us—to you young men of the United Kingdom more especially—belongs a portion of tlie noble task of speeding our country on her great and glorious "way , by walking steadfastly in the full light of such truths as we already possess , and by hastening the noonday brightness of such as are only dawning . Let it not be the reproach of any one of us that , born in a land where the laws acknowledge that thought and speech are free , we have yet ever lent the helping hand of custom , folly , or intolerance , to extinguish one spark of that Divine flame which we call the soul , or ever turned away f om a righteous aud peaceable endeavour to loosen the

      fetters that still bind it throughout the world . Some there are who shut their eyes to one truth , lest it should impair another more sacred in their eyes . But one truth can no more quench another truth , than one sunbeam can quench another sunbeam . Truth is one as God is one . Go forward to meet her in whatever garb , welcome her from whatever quarter she comes , till at last , beyond the grave , you shall hail her in a blaze of glory which mortal eye can only strain in vain to contemplate . Truth is the gem for which the wise man digs the earth , the pearl for which he dives into the ocean , the star for which he climbs the heavens—the herald and the guardian of moral and political progress . " ( Cheers . )

      MR . GLAPSTONE ON COLONISATION . A x , ectukb was delivered by Mr . Gladstone on Monday evening , to the members of the Chester Mechanics' Institute , on the subject of " Our Colonies . " His remarks were to the same general effect as those lately delivered by him at Hawarden ; but , towards the close , a fresh and melancholy interest was thrown over the subject fyy a reference to the death of Sir WiHiam Molesworth , to whose efforts for colonial reform the lecturer bore high testimony . Mr . Gladstone cpncliided by enlarging on the necessity for leaving 6 uf colonies to choose their institutions , and of binding them to us by means of affectionate treatment rather than of coercion .

      « 'Defend them , " said Mr . Gladstone , " against foreign aggression ; regulate their foreign relations : these ' things "belong to thecoloriial connexion with this country . Of the duraton of that colonial connexion let them be the judges . Isay " , and , moreover , I predict , that ; if you leave them that freedom of judgment , it is hard to say when the day ¦ will come that they will wish to separate from this great nation . " ( Cheers : ) ¦

      Untitled Article

      THE REFUGEE QUESTION . A meeting , which was largely attended , was held on Monday night in St . Martin ' s Hall , Long Acre , to protest against the recent expulsion , of refugees from Jersey ; to warn the public against the apprehended Alien Bill ; and to denounce the present war policy . Mr . Miall , M . l \ , opened the proceedings , and contended that the recent expulsion of the Jersey exiles was a flagrant violation of the spirit of English liberty . He observed : —

      " Complete protection was what they claimed for the Jeraey refugees as well as for exiles in all coming timed . ( Hear , hear . ) Englishmen would not bate one jot of their national hospitality at the bidding of any one , and desired that those who landed on these shores should be welcomed to $ he full enjoyment of British liberty . There must be no registration of political refugees , no police siH'velllnnce ( ho ir ) ; tho freedom of the exile must not be placed in tho hands of any Minister of the Crown . These refugees must be partakers of the priviloges of Englishnietv / who claimed to accord this hospitality at any and every coot . He felt confident that

      if the nation was , asdt professed to be , represented in Parliament , Parliament would scorn the idea of abridging or curtailing in , any respect the right of asylum in this country . He believed Inat the alacrity with which the people undertook the war with Russia sprang in a great degree from the admiration entertained by them of the firmness . with which Turkey had maintained her rMit to shield the exile , and had stood forward , braving the despotic Courtsby which she was surrounded , and determining , in accordancb with the principles of her religion , that she never would betray those who had cast themselves upon her sympathies . ( Cheers . ) Were we to occupy a lower position in the scale of nations than Turkey , our ally ? " V . Letters of apology for absence , but at tlie same time expressing the entire sympathy of the writers with the objects ; of the meeting , were addressed to the chairman , by Mr . Cobden , M . P ., Mr . G . Thompson , Mr . C . Gilpin , Mr . F . A . Taylor , and other gentlemen . Mr . Cobden wrote as follows : — " Midhurst , Nov . 7 . "My dear Sir , —I cannot , lam sorry to say , take a part in your demonstration against the arbitrary treatment of M . Victor Hugo and his brethren in exile . But although distance from town , and other engagements prevent me from being present , I sympathise very cordially with the promoters of the meeting . Surely such proceedings as those you are meeting to protest against ought to open the eyes of at least that part of the public which is supporting the war from a sympathy with liberalism abroad , as to the gross delusion that has been practised on their credulity , by those who have told them that in the hands of our present Government the war in which we are engaged is a struggle for liberty . Depend on it , the tendency , both at home and abroad , ever since the peace of Europe was broken , has been the very reverse ; and give us but a few years more of war , and we shall find ourselves retrograding to the dark political doings of Sidmouth ' s evil days . " Believe me , faithfully yours , "R . COB-DEN . " Mr . Washington . Wilks said : — " The people were the best judges of what constituted the spirit of English law , and if this expulsion really took place in virtue of some obsolete enactment , all he could say was , that it was not and ought not to be the governing law of England . ( Hear . ) England had ever been a refuge from feieign tyranny . Not sixty years ago , when the Emperor Napoleon , then at peace with us , desired to silence with despotic authority a refugee Royalist who had fled to this country , and whose writings were offensive to him , the reply , even of the Tory Government of the day , was , ' We cannot do that . If be has wronged you , sue him in our courts . ' In order that this might be done the more readily , the Government lent the Emperor their law officers , and sued this refugee for libelling Napoleon , whereupon rose up the illustrious Mackintosh , demanding that England should uphold—against , if need be , the world inarms—the rights of all who dwelt here to print , and publish what they pleased , subject only to the common chaTice of trial for libel . ( Hear , hear . ) Louis Napoleon could not forgive the men whom he had so deeply injured , and therefore sought to pursue them even cjn Ehfelish soil . " Mr . Wilks concluded by moving" That this meeting utters its indignant protept against the recent expulsion of refugees from Jersey , and affirms that foreigners landing in the dominion Of the British Crown become at once entitled to the natural and legal right of Englishmen—a , public examination and trial by jury before exposure to any penal consequences . That , this meeting pledges itself arid culls upon tho country to . resist by all Jawful means tho apprehended attempt to carry through Parliament an ct invalidating or restricting the right of sanctuary . " ' Mr . Ernest Jones , in seconding the resolution ; observed that , in a proper place and at a proper time , he should be ready to defend the orig in ^ letter published in Jersey , and that the Attorney-General of that ialaud had stated that it was not illegal , and that the writers could not be prosecuted for publishing it—The resolution was then put to the meeting , and carried all but unanimously . No other was brought forward , MEKTINQ AT NEWCASTI-K . A large and moat onthuaiuatic meeting was hold in tho Lecture Hall , Nelson-street , Nowcastle , on Monday , to denounce the recent act of tyranny committed by the English Government in expelling tho Jersey refugees . Tho chief speech of the evening was that of Mr . J . Cowan , jun ., of Blnxdon , who observed that tho letter which had given offence did not appear in L'Hommc till twenty days ufter its fir .: t publication in London , where it had been printed in soveral Republican papers . It was , " therefore , he contended , most unfair to single out a poor refugee publication , and spare tho rest . Mr . Cowan warned the country against tho dangers of tho Bonupartist alliance , and pointed to tho rumours now in circulation respecting tho probable re-enactment of tho Alien Bill . Several other

      speakers addressed the meeting , and resolutions , sympa thising with the ejsiUs » ad reprobating the authorities were unanimously carried .

      Untitled Article

      VICTOR HUGO ANT ) THE JERSEY CONNETABLE . Mr . John Le Neveoy Connetable of St . Clement's . Jersey , has written tothei ? a ; 7 ^ iV > tt > s , todenythe accuracy of the conversation between himself and M . Victor Hugo , reported by a correspondent of that paper , and quoted in the Leader last week . The Connetable says *—* ' From a feeling of courtesy , I patiently leard out what the illustrious exile had to say against authority-French : English or local . I conceived that , under

      existing circumstances , it would have been rude on my part to have deprived him of the opportunity he seemed so anxious to enjoy , of giving vent to his pent-up feelings of anger . Bat I positively deny having seated myself , ' with downcast eyes , ' to enter into any controversy with him , or listened to his words ' with visible embarrassment , ' or submitted to be catechised as your imaginative correspondent state ? . I formally and expressly declined entering into any political conversation with : M . Hugo , and , in one word , declare the whole affair , as related in your columns , to have been dinaturce from one end to the other , and the dramatic dialogue which you have published , to be a romance . " In answer to Mr . Le Neveu , Messrs . Charles and Francois Victor Hugo have transmitted the annexed to

      the Daily News : — « Sir , —" We have just read a communication , inserted in your number of yesterday , the 12 thinst ., signed ' Lt Neveu , Connetable of Jersey , ' and entitled ' Interview between Victor Hugo and the Connetable of Jersey . ' " Beside our father , M . Victor Hugo , and M . Le Neveu _ , there were present two of tlie Connetable s officers , and we two . We declare , on our part , thai the conversation has been faithfully and exactly narrated by your correspondent . He has rather omitted than amplified . Here , for example , is a detail which we can add : — _ .

      1 After reading to the Connetable of St . Clement the declaration of tho proscrits , which enumerates alUhe crimes of M . Bonaparte , and contains tlie act of impeachment emitted by the French Court of Justice against the said Bonaparte—a declaration which is the cause assigned for the e xpulsion—M . Victor Hugo , addressing the Connetable , said to him : ' Is there anything in that which is not the exact truth ? To which the Conne ' table replied , ' It is not always expedient to proclaim th > j truth . ' " These , sir , are the facts . # " We perfectly understand the sentiment which inspired the letter of the honourable M . Le Neveu , and * . . < ... » i « ¦ >' ¦ « ~ r the same •"" •* ?¦ ' * wnicn wiu proDauiy inspire uiuuo «»« . — -- —•*< ., *» . which M . Le Neveu will understand , on his part , that we will henceforth abstain from replying-

      " Discussion 'on the grave act that has been committed at Jersey belongs to history ; contemporaries can only bring their evidence to the bar . ' Public opinion will judge between the averment of M . Le Neveu and our averment . " Accept , Sir , our sentiments of cordiality . ( Signed ) " Charles Hugo , ¦ . ! ¦ " Francois Victor Hugo . " Guernsey * Hauteville-house , Nov . 13 . " The following letter from M . Felix Pyat , originally published in French by the Times , is translated by the Morning Advertiser ^ which has opened its columns to every protest against the violence of the Jersey Governor i—the 'lawless Love i >—

      " Sib , —The English Government , by the expulsion of the refugees from Jersey , has rendered itself Bonapartisfc . It ' has committed an act at once of iniquity and of baseness ; of baseness , in not daring , or being unable to reach the authors of the letters , protected in London by the law of the country , it has fallen upon our Jersey friends , who , it pretends to say , are living under on exceptional rtiyimc ; of iniquity , because , as it is Baid , it has punished the innocent for the guilty , if we m « y call guilty men who have exercised an undoubted right in enlightening the English people upon the clangers of their alliance with Bonaparte . " The members of the Commune ll ^ volutionnalreresiding in England , therefore , reprove this arbitrary penalty , inflicted , not upon themselves but upon others , For a circumstance of which they assumed tho full and

      entire responsibility . " For the Commune RcWolutionnaire , " The Committee , ' Ymax Pvat . 41 RoHOKB . " London , Nov . 11 , 1855 . " " <* . Jo ixhdaiw

      Untitled Article

      THE CASE OF VR . FKANCK AND JUS SON . Th « melancholy < W « yJ ^ %£ ^ jER and mournful interest 5 and the my-t J ^ IJfj ^ rlJ ^^ rLc . <« , » nd ** . ¦* ,.

      Untitled Article

      mm---ms i «» . Tett 3 srara / , xjsatoetr . ^ 097

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 17, 1855, page 1097, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2115/page/5/