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Leader (1850-1860), 26th January 1856, Edition 1 of 2, Page 86, Untitled Article

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      Untitled Article

      instance of the operation of bad law , rattier than to generalise -upon the principles to -which these laws may be traced . Our duty , as * we interpret it , is to probe more deeply and more calmly the permanent causes of these passing evils . " With more leisure and less space than our diurnal contemporaries , and partaking , necessarily , in some degree , of the character of essayists , we conceive it would be to trifle with our readers , and to be false to our own opportunities , were we to nil our pages of discussion with Stale sarcasms and warmed-up severities .

      In the pi-esent case the Times had contributed its overpowering publicity to a very just and very powerful condemnation of the magistrates , and the inestimable Punch had lashed the offenders with his best baton . The exposure was complete , the verdict universal . We , in oxly humbler capacity , could do no more than remind our readers , as we have so often reminded them , that there was nothing in these instances of arbitrary and cruel county-law either exceptional or astonishing , —nothing that was not the natural fruit of a system more barbarous and more intolerable than the .

      legislation that taxed our bread . We are fond' of crowing over our poor distracted fellow-creatures on the Continent , who have sometimes hastily , and with violence , removed the landmarks of that Conservative tradition , which , under the name of " the wisdom of our ancestors , " it is our peculiar pride and glory to preserve in this favoured land . Assuredly we should be sorry even to exchange a bastard feudalism "for the more modern revivals of

      C ^ esarism bureaucracy :. But that b&s&ird feudalism which ^ s set to administer the law , because it possesses , or is supposed to possess , " a stake in the county-, " without the slightest reference to fitness or intelligence , is , in the opinion of some honest and moderate ine . n , a disgraceful anachronism in this latter half of the nineteenth century . If our correspondent has honoured xis with a sustained attention , he will be able to refer back to some very unequivocal opinions of the Leader , on the subject of county magistrates .

      let us repeat that we have never entertained any violent objection to the owners of the soil conducting the business of their counties under proper control of the ratepayers ; nor do we see cause why they should cease to wear the uniform of deputy-lieutenantii and the rank of Justices of the Peace ; but , in the name of law and order , and society , in which we too Have a stake , we' shall always protest against the administration of the law being confounded

      with the occupation of the soil—against justice being treated as a privilege instead of a responsibility . In the case of the poor lad Hoile , indeed , there was a degree of harshness and virulence displayed on the Bench , which was an outrage upon the commonest decency and humanity ; but it must not be forgotten that the Game Laws arc still in existence , and that , if the spirit of those laws is condemned by a LoNDBsBoitouGix , their letter is affirmed by a D'aeth .

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      flW IKIS DICI'AHTMRNT , AH A . LI , OPINION « , noWBVKJl lEXTUKJIH AHB AlLOWItn AN UXIMCBHHION , IKK JCDITOK NBOESBAMXiY nOLDS nXMHUbtf IIEBL'OHHIHI . K lfOK NONK . ]

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      loftier urn than to regulate that balance of power which for a century and a half has been the mere bete noir of routine-bound diplomatists and philoliistoric statesmen . I confess myself one of that email minority who coincide in the general opinions expressed by your correspondent . I had imagined , however , that the bulk of the people of England were as dissatisfied as we were with the want of a defined object , or an honestly-stated principle for which to combat at so enormous a cost , but that once engaged in the contest they thought it advisable to proceed at all hazards , on the look-out in the meantime for a favourable opening through which to back out with

      some degree of eclat . In this I was mistaken , for in the acceptance by Russia of the Austrian proposals such an opening has occurred , and , if we are to judge of public feeling by the opinions of the press , instead of being greeted with thankfulness and eagerly clutched as an omen of peace , it seems to have proved only a clamper to the aroused pugnacity of the nation , and a positive disappointment to its expectations . This unlooked-for humility of . Riissia appears to have fallen on our spirits as would a shower of rain on a Fifth of November , and like whining schoolboys we vent our disappointment that our vast

      preparations for the campaign of ' 56 are not after all to astonish the world , that our squibs and our crackers must be laid by , safe from the fingers of the Manchester school , and let off upon some future occasion . No one will for a moment deny the wisdom oi due caution in treating * with Russia , and of not being over anxious to grasp her proffered , hand of friendship ; bub a man must be a superficial observer of public feeling who cannot detect behind this ostensible motive for the continued , war whoop of the press , the lurking gangrene of a wounded military vanity , which of all national epidemics is the most childish , the most fatal . .

      That our statesmen should be in fluenced in their actions by such petty considerations is not to be conceived / but that they may allow themselves to be oveiTuled by the clamour of the noisy and unreflecting , who mostly svyel 1 the ranks of a war party in all countries , is more than probable . Moreover still more probable is It that some of them may truckle t . o this pugnacdous feeling , knowing that a return to peace , now , whilsfctheindignation of thepeopleatthe blunders in the commencement of the war is nob yet cooled , will be more dangerous to our shakeir political system than a continuance of the struggle allied with a man who , parvenu us he may be , is not supposed to be tainted with the vulgarities of extreme opinions . __ --- v 4 ¦*

      ' 4 ^^ — - — _ ^ _ — . _ , * . __ - g ^ ^ ¦ ** " V _ Surely oi \ r wisest course is to avail ourselves of the present golden opportunity , and make peace if at some sacrifice . We have grave abuses to . reform iii our own houses , and England and France will better serve the cause of liberalism in Europe by the force of example than by that of arms . ¦ . Even supposing , that should the war continue , Louis Napoleon and Lord Palmerston were unwillingly forced to enlist popular sympathies id their service , a case now more than ever remote , seeing the late disposition of Austria , Avhat would civilisation gain , as Sir Arthur Elton remarks , from the state of

      uncontrollable anarchy which must result from this policy ? Liberty boru in stormy periods ami baptised in blood , has ever been a sickly bantling , and lias never yetj readied maturity . Yet to ilioso professing liberal opinions who do not choose to accept the present opportunity of returning more or less to the status quo , this anarchy , is the choice of the two evils in prospect shouldthe war continue ; the other wretched alternative being the accession of Austria and Prussia to the Alliance , thereby addiug tho presti « jo of our good name and of victory to the power of Despotism iu Europe . Yours , &c , Paris , 23 rd Jan . Pantacikuel .

      THE ADVANTAGE OF A PKACK . ( To the Editor of the Leader . ) » jr , —Your correspondent , Sir Arthur Elton , m a series - of letters ln the Leader , has endeavoured to demonstrate to hie countrymen how * little tho preoent watf will m the end either bonoflt thorn or the cftuuo of omhflation . Ho founds hia opinions on the fact that the pohcy of thoso who dirtict this war haH no

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      There is no learned man but will confess ho hath much profited by reading controversies , his acnaen i . owalcenea , ana hia judgment sharpened . ]!' , then , it ; , do profitable for him to read , why should it not , at least ; T ) O tolerable for his adversary towita ?—Milton .

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      THE , THEORY OF CONSUMPTION . ( To the Editor of the Leader . ) Sir , —The Leader is a roview remarkable for clearheadedness , straightforwardness , hitting directly tho point of nny question , and tho absenco of all dodge or quibbling m its argumentation . I am sorry to observe a total absenoo of these qualities in tho letter of Dr . M'Oormack , admitted to your columns of Doc . 22 nd . Ho \ v far lie exhibits that Hibernian " obfuscation" of ideas ho would imputo to othern , your readers will best judge . His remarks arc tho noarost to Mapuy of any tiling I havo evorboforc noon , in tho only part of tho Leader -syhoro Buoh could possibly find entrance .

      challenges me with the "inconsistency " . the " singular pretension , " twice repeated within afew liuCR —of " reviewing , or proposing to review , " a work 1 had not taken the trouble to look into . My letter makes no pretensions of the sort , as all readers of it very well know . Not a word of review is expressed hinted at , or intended ; such waa both inadmissible aud uncalled for . The reviewer of Dr . M'C . in the Leader is one , I imagine , who seldom leaves it t <> any man to finish up his work after him . Again ; diversion , or manoeuvre the second , of Dr . M'Cormack's— -and an allegation quite as far-fetched and confounded as the last—I am charted with

      misstating or understating : his views . Now , if any charge of this sort attaches at all , it is to the reviewer iutlio Leader . But the reviewer makes no mistake . The passage wliich Dr . M'C . singles out and admits to embody his views is correctly quoted in the extract hi th-Leader . On that extract I found biy letter . Where , then , can be the room for charging me with mis-statement or understatement ? The charge i « in fact simply silly—nonsensical—trumped up only to " obfuscate , " Hibernian fashion , your readers—iu other words to throw dust in their eyes , and \ inder its cloud to make his escape from a disagreeable conclusion . A parting word , Mr . Editor : this lettei is extorted

      from mo I am . not controversial . There is no call for controversy in the present question . I re-assert simply what I did in my last , that Dr . M'Cormack ' s theory is neither new nor original . Whose exposition oi that theory is most up to the mark of modern science , keeps closest to the received facts of the latest physiology aud pathology—makes fewest assumptions , and leaves fewest difficulties—I leave it to the jirofession to decide , for that is the only competent tribunal ; and its award I am content to abide by . i have the honour to be , sir , Your constant reader , John Baibirnie , M . A ., M . D . , Bridge of Allan , Stirlingshire .

      Tho wmplo quoBtiouH at ihbvio between M'CVrninck and mynolf aro : —Int . Arc our theories identical ? and 2 nd . Which lias tho priority of promulgation ? To settle the above questions in nil that tho reader expects iu any reply of Div M'O ' h to my lottm- in tho Leader of Doo . 1 , —tho object of that letter being uimply to identify Dr . M'Cormuolt ' H alleged new I and original DtsoovJEBV with tho theory published in another medical work more than a your-before . I Now , instead of stioking to this plain point , what I does Dr . M'Cormaok treat us to ' ( An entire 1 diversion from tho Hubjoct . A totally groumlloHH and 1 irrelevant allocation in made . Dr . M'Cormaok

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      Russia and Tuhkey in 1772 . —The subjoined piece of foreign intelligence , dated March , 1772 , shows how little the designs of Russia have varied in the last eiglity years ;— "Warsaw , March 14 . —Since the arrival , of two couriers at the Russian ambassador ' s house here , tlie news of a peace seems to be vanished , and there is an appearance that this object is not so far advanced as we had wished . A foreigu Court seems nitich inclined to favour a peace , but the propositions of Russia are somewhat difficult to accept . According to the preliminaries , Moldavia and WaJlaehia were to be restored to the Turks : the Tartars of the Crimea and their neighbours-were to

      be declared a free people , exempt from all protection , and their fortresses not to be occupied by foreign troops ; Turkey was to pay Russia for the expenses of the . war 80 , 000 , 000 dollars , of Lyons ; but Russia , will not accept these preliminaries , and hath sent Lieutenant-Gerieral El ' mpt with a body of 12 , O 0 D men , which , joined to that of General Romanius , who is near Slonim , B . resSe , and Piusk , will reinforce the Russian army considerably . Poland is also comprised in these preliminaries j the confederacy is to cease for the future- its operations ; the nation to hold a free Diet , xinrestrained by nny foreign troops ; and the government of the republic i . s to be regulated and established on a lasting foundation . "

      Salvage . —The dispute at Liverpool between Messrs . Brarnley Moore and Co . and the receiver of tho Droita , with regard to fees charged iu respect to tho salvage of a chain and anchor dropped from the 1 'ied-nefe , lion been terminated by the Board of Trade having directed tho receiver to return tlu amount .- Tho caso excited much interest among tho shipowners at that port , not from it « intrinsic imliorfcunee , but from its boiutj considered to aflbrd a

      means of tosting a general principle . In their reply to tho Board of Trade , acknowledging the award , Mcuhvh . Bramloy Mooro and Co . atato it to bo n matter of ( notoriety that a systematic plan of plundering Hhips is carried on in tho Mersey ; that it in no uncommon thing for tho buoys of nnehors to bo cut away , in order that the anchoi-H may hftorwarda bo picked up a « fsalvngo ; and that , iu their opinion , the fees claimable in Kiich cohob opemto to prevent ilu system from being vigorou » ly in . it down . — Times .

      Communication bhtwicisn CIuaho and Diuvkh . — Thi « BoriouH want in railway trains in secured by n now invention about to bo appliod on tho South-Woutorn Rmhvay . Every tram will havo a guttnporcha tube extend ing itn whole length . This tube will bo formed of partw which nro attached to ouoli other by a Hnriivg clip , ho that tho longtli of tho tube cuu be made to correspond with tlio length of any t rniii . Thin tube in connectod with an air luntip in tho

      gunrd ' H von iu front , and with tho gunrd'H van at th «; end of tho train . By a Htroko of thin pump tlio air is forced through thy tube U > the onponitc end of tho train , and producer a very load and Hhrill \ vhintlo at a mouth piece-attnvhod to tlio tubo in eaoh guurd ' n van , and to a mouthpiece -which oxtends alao cIoho to tho ougiuo-drivor . Oho whintlo inonai " Look out , " two whintlcH Hignify "Caution , " anil tliroo ¦ whistles donoto daiignr .

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      gfr TM IiBADM , [ No . 305 , Saturday

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 26, 1856, page 86, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2125/page/14/