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    session of the race . There is no necessity for doing so . Government has not exhausted the subject . With regard to inquiries , it has but scratched the surface . It has , in fact , asked such things as Sir Charles Trevelyan and Sir Stafford Northcote desired to ask—no more ; it has made suggestions such as Sir Charles and Sir Stafford approved . It lias used its opportunity for going over a broad surface , but a real public body might beat it by ploughing deeper . And auxiliaries might be found . We have already seen a public officer , of high rank , mount the roof of the Admiralty , and look down into the Horse Guards ; how much more easily might that officer look into his OAvn department ! Mr . Osbokxe is not lost to the public , because he happens to be in the Government . He ¦ would not refuse to answer questions put to him b y a member of Parliament . There is no department that would be so instructive as his own . Why do not the Administrative Reformers , then , concentrate their attention upon that one office ? We have no favour for the Admiralty ; and if opportunity existed for investigating another , let that other be taken ; but whether it is the Colonial-office , or the Admiralty , let us have a thorough investigation of some one department . Let us understand how it is composed ; how the business is done ; what are the forms , what the time occupied by the individual public servants , what their capacities are , what are the mistakes , what are the checks upon * errors , what is the amount of money expended , what the amount of waste in maladministration , what the degree of light periodically thrown upon the department by its accounts and reportsin short , what the department is , how it works , what it does , what it costs , what it might dp , and what might be saved . If the Administrative Reformers set out upon the mission of running the round of all the public departments , they would have a task before them for many " a year ; but the public would thoroughly support them . While anatomising one department , they would inevitably drag all the others into practical improvements of a provisional kind . This , then , is the course to set out upon—a round of compulsory inquiry into all the public departments , with a view to anatomising them , fastening upon one to begin with . The anatomy would be the first step towards the design of a reform . Let us know what the Admiralty is , and then we should learn what would be the proper measures for making it what it ought to be . This is work to be done in Parliament . Haifa dozen men could accomplish it if they set about it in earnest , showed a definite purpose , and called for public support . But here again the Administrative Reformers have failed in using the opportunities that lie before them . They have endeavoured to act too rmich as an association simply of the persons engaged . They have not laid their plan of operations before the public ; they have not said : " We intend thus to explore the ptiblic offices , and this one in particular ; and we ask you to make your members grant us the committee necessary for the inquiry . " They have fallen too much into the plan of endeavouring to compete with some local interest for the favour of the local lawyer , who always settles elections . In fact , they have tried to fig ht the corruptions upon electioneering tactics . This will not do . They will not find the electioneering lawyers support them , except here and there ; they would find support from the public . Nox is it onl y the vote-holding classes that would lend them an efficient help ; there is also the class that ought to have votes . They might stand before the working classes and say ,

    ' We want to anatomise your Government ; we want to show you how your work is done , or undone ; how your money is taken out of your pockets , and wasted ; we are obstructed by a feeble non-representing Parliament ; you are robbed by bad servants—jobbed away by narrow constituencies , who send members to be the agents for procuring pati'onage . An extension of the constituencies to purify them is a good thing , and if we get a purer Parliament , we should have Administrative Reform . Administration of the public department is also a good thing ; if we get it , it would help us in procuring extension of the franchise and purification of the constituencies . Either helps the other . " The working classes know this , and if they saw a bold spirit in the Administrative Reformers , they would call upon the House of Commons to obey the demands of the Association , or to let them know the reason why .

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    December 29 , 1855 . ] THE L E A D E B . ___ 1 * 49 .

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    ABRAHAM AND NAOMI . The confession of Abraham Baker is a moral tale of which the autobiographer himself could not read the moral . It is in its way as affecting as Charles Lamb' s Rosamond Gray , but it is -without a Matravis . No novelist could more powerfully depict the Avorking of simple and powerful emotions in the man's breastnone could better paint the struggles of a strong love with an understanding too slow to apprehend its own working , or to utter its own meaning ; and too deaf , as it were , to catch the accents of impatient love in another . No story was ever plainer , except to the very man that tells it . He " took up with this young woman about two years ago " —for , he repeats several times , that he always explained himself , even to her , in the most homely and humble way — too humbly perhaps , not with sufficient confidence and strength of will , —too homely , not Avith sufficient imagination to conceive the very drama he was acting . They Avere fellow-servants and had to bear the chances of separation ; but their mutual affection surmounted obstacles with the proverbial power of lovo . Both Avere " seriously " inclined in religion , and in one respect only does Abraham complain of Naomi ' s conduct , which appears in all things else to have been without reproach . He was kind to her beyond the usage of his class : he helped her mother ; he treated herself with unbroken respect . " When we met avc Avere almost too happy to see each other , " he says ; and he draws no distinction in saying so , between himself and Naomi . But , notwithstanding her " serious'' turn and her lovo , she exasperated him with a certain coqucttishness . When she was absent , she sent him letters "joking about young men ; " when he had to take a new place at a distance , she told him that as he was going so far away they had better part , and *| she sent me a note and a box Avith a few things he hud g iven her . " He " felt that "— " I wont into my bedroom and could not help crying . " Three days afterwards , hoAvever , she sent him a letter saying that she wished to see him again , and asking him to write two lines to say that he ; had forgiven her . His answer is characteristic . " I complied with her wish . I told her that I would forgive her everything and wished to meet in peace again . On the Sunday following I would bring my likeness and tAVO books for her . We spent a happy evening and were sorry to part- when ten o ' clock came . " Ho was out of work , and Went to live at Southampton for nearly a month . " Naomi kept writing to mo and I to her . She wished very much to onmo and live with mo , and who was rnthor jonlonn of ino , hut her own mothor know there was no occasion for it whatever . What time I had to spare in tho evening I went to the chapel . " Ho obtained a p laoo with . Mrs . Poynpkr , "U <

    through him Naomi obtained a place in the same house ; she obtained it without seeing her mistress , on the strength of a very high character : — "We were very glad to sec each other . I told her that as we parted once , I wished to remain with her as another fellow-servant . Her -reply was , ' Very well . ' * If Mrs . Poynder should hear of our intimacy as has passed , we must only speak the truth . Wo knew right from wrong in every Christian , way , a ? we had always done ever siuco we had known cr . ch other , and hoped that vre may continue the same . ' Her answer Avas , in a very Christian-like . lmrnnor , ' Very well . ' " Mr . Povnder went to Anglesca ; Abraham with him , Naomi remaining Avith her mistress : — " I never in my letters sent hev any juke 3 to upset her miud , which she frequently did iu her . ? when I was at Anglesea . I put my thoughts back to when I was at Bombrklge , and thought of it very much , a . * Mrs . Poynder hail workmen in the house . Naomi oontinuedto write in a joking way . I wrote and told her not to send any more jokes , it soA'ery much upset my mind receiving so much from her in that way . She "wrote and told me she would not do it again . In the co \ ir 3 e of a short time I asked her if she would like to see me any more ; if not , she would bo kind enough to send my box and a few things to No . 8 , on the Strand . She wrote and told ine she did not wish to see me any more ; neither should she send my things to the Strand . " He did not Avish to go back to meet her , but Mrs . Poynder Avas about to move : " there was much packing to be done , and I did not like to leave her Avithout a man-servant . " Many traits came out which show that for all his exasperating quietude on the surface , Abraham was a real gentleman . He does not appear to haA-e been at all aAvarc of the struggle that was going on in the girl's mind . When he returned to Southampton , he ; did not sec Naomi until some time after he had been in the house ; as he passed the kitchen door , a fellow-servant said , " Baker , here is some one wants to see you . " It never occurred to Abraham , apparently , that Naomi had caused him to be called in . It is not probable that their fellow-servant did it spontaneously , because she had seen nothing particular in their intercourse : " I did not judge from their conduct that he was in love with her , or she with him . " And what did Aijraiiam do when he entered the kitchen ? He offered to shake hands with her , and hoped she was well ! And ( Ms was when he hardly knew what he was about for love , —so much that lie Avas on the point of an insane murder . He " spoke tocher several times—respecting the woi'k ; " what if he had spoken of something else V He says that she had never shown her temper sIjoav so much before ; but even in his i * eproaches he seems never to have been hurried into speaking out . He said nothing more to her that day , nor the next , but continued , as th (; American Indian says , eating his OAvn heart , " until I used that unlawful weapon . " Who docs not understand thi . s tale , so simply and so powerfully told by the principal actor ? It is curious that he can describe with the force and clearness of a Godwin or a ( JiooitOK Sani > the signs of emotion that he could not interpret . It Avill be seen that he had deep feeling at his heart—that he had sufficient power of utterance to make the girl coiihc ' ious of that feeling ; but that a dreadful reserve , an unconquerable restraint kept him from expressing himself or giving utterance lo any strong wishes or decided purpose . Tlio girl on the other hand , it is clear , hud a strong , < Jeop , and faithful attachment to him—but she was impatient—she was exaKperated at l « i « coldness on the surface . Who whs only too happy to see him , grieved to part ; y v . t sho partedand returned ; sent him buck his presents , revoked them ; coquetted and gave ; Avay to his decided wishes , when those wishes were expressed , with a " Christian-like" resignation . It is clear thatshci Avas exasperated at A » ka . HAM

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 29, 1855, page 1249, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2121/page/13/