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    ADMINISTRATIVE REFORM . stino of the Administrative Reform Associander its new organization was held last Satur-; the . London Tavern ; Mr . Roebuck , M . P ., in lair . The room was well filled , and several ers of Parliament , together with other persons e , were observed on the platform . Roebuck , who was greeted with loud cheers , ised the meeting at considerable length . After ng to the apathy which has recently pervaded iblic mind , he remarked that for the last few H e have been in a state of great danger , but le country has not been sufficiently alive to its in , and that , having gone on supinely from o step , it is now " on the very brink of a predown which it may be hurled to-morrow . " nvernment of the country , being entrusted to

    hands , pursues , not the interests of the people , ere party interests ; and the people themselves light chiefly to blame for this . " Men , if you them in an irresponsible position , will act as > n&ible men always do—for their own interests , it for the public good . " Every now and then , ople have cried and called out aloud at extrary instances of corruption ; but they have not For examples , Mr . Roebuck referred to the ir with Russia , which was brought about by erial imbecility , and managed by corruption ; » the diplomatic quarrel with America , now suing war with our kindred on ttoe other side Atlantic . The people of England and of lited States , like the gods of Epicurus , are too Jeave the affairs of the world to manage tbeniand they suffer for so doing . In referring to in lean campaign , Mr . Roebuck observed : —

    t me tell you that we owe a great debt of gratithe press . ( Loud cheers . ') Upon that occasion , 3 d for the first time a great experiment : publicity roduced into the management of an army , and 3 told that destruction would be the inevitable . ence . ( A laugh . " ) What was the consequence ? bat destruction was the effect of the inefficiency rulers , and that that inefficiency was discovered db of the press , "whose representatives were sent ( fikeers . ) tching the more immediate object of his ad-Av . Roebuck proceeded to consider the best al means of remedying the evils from which

    er : — s idle to talk of Administrative Reform unless 3 ready to have Parliamentary reform . ( Loud The evil is there . ( Renewed cheers . ) Just for jnt consider the state of things in this country . ye a House of Commons which is in effect the ¦ n power . You may call the State a monarchy will ; we may talk of her most gracious Maud nobody speaks of her with greater reverence yself—but tli £ real power of this country is in tae of Commons , which is said to represent the In that House you have by j'our apathy alle whole government of the country to be in the af some half a dozen families of the land .

    ) I see them night by night , one-half ranged iide of a green table , and the other half upon the 3 e . I find among : them party fights and indivitcs ; but I do not see the interests of England nant . I am not now speaking of the gentlemen ve now possession of the Government of this as demons in human shape ; they are men , and 11 act as men always do in their position , ask , who is to blame for this V I unhesitatingly y < m ; for upon this occasion you are to me the tatives of the people of England . I have very itly brought to your recollection the mischiefs lave followed a system of irresponsible goveratlio war with Russia . But there is . one event

    angs over our heads , brought about , I am bold by ministerial incapacity , which is ten times ireatening than anything which you have yet ough . I refer to the disturbed state of our udencc with America . How was that brought "Why , if you had had in the Government of mtry any men who knew anything of the lawn Jnited States , as they ought to do , they would own that to attempt to enlist men there was , in contravene the American laws . And lot me toll t they learned this , and learned it , too , very There has been a blue-book recently issued , and irliest portions of the book there is the opinion of is

    whom the Government themselves say an mand intelligent lawyer of America , who told at to proceed in the course they were pursuing . cad necessarily to n collision with America , aflfier Ali , thoNawab of Surat , hero entered the , and took a seat on the platform amid some ; . ] We have been interrupted by a remarkable ' . A gentleman from tho other sidu of the globe e among us , showing the power of tho people of 1 1 and can we bo longer apathetic when we have singular instance of the consequences of our * Wo are now on tho brink of a war with i , -which is our chief customer , -whoBO people are ' our blood and bone of our bone—who are but

    Englishmen transplanted to the other side of the Atlantic , connected in every way with us , upon whom we depend , and who are dependent upon us . We are upon the very brink of outraging humanity in going to war with our brethren on the other side of the Atlantic . The cause of this is a want of knowledge , or a want of something else worse than a want of knowledge , pn the part of your rulers . Why do I bring forward these illustrations ? It is in order to impress upon the minds of my countrymen that they are chiefly affected by all that concerns the interests of England nationally , and that in the pursuit of wealth , which is the besetting sin of the present day , they forget everything else . ( Cheers . ) The people of this country are like the people of America—they worship the almighty dollar ( a laugh ) ; and so long as you do that , so

    long you will be made , like beasts of burden , to bear the yoke ; and you deserve to bear it . You are unworthy of the name of freemen if you do not act up to the obligations of freemen . ( Cheers . ") What is it , then , that I deduce from the homily which I have read to you ? It is that you should take part in the business of the Government . How can you do so ? I think we can show you a mode of doing it . I have said to you that the House of Commons is the governing power of the country . Now , the great aspiration of my heart has been from the first time that I took a part in politics to see the House of Commons thoroughly reformed . ( Loud cheers . ) But upon that question I ha % ' e seen the people of England hot and cold—at one time ardent reformers and at others shivering at the very mention of the name of reform . ( Shame !) Well , it may be a shame , but I am not auswerable for the shame . "

    Mr . Roebuck then showed that members of Parliament may be influenced by a fear of losing their position ; for , he observed , amidst much laughter and cheering , " they are very keenly alive to their seats , and , if you can affect them through that part , you will affect them very vitally . " He added : — " I have seen in the House of Commons this phenomenon—I have seen the Government of the country maintaining itself in power by a very small majority , and at that time I have always found that there was a set of gentlemen who stood apart and made much of themselves . ( A laugh ) They had not made up their

    minds , and did not know how they were going to vote . They wanted to be courted . I have in my mind ' s eye several of these individuals . I recollect when the ministry of Lord Melbourne had got only a majority of four , a punning gentleman said , ' Coming events cast their shadows before ( by four ) . ' What ia the consequence of this state of things ? I recollect one of these waiters upon Providence was suddenly seized with a very large amount of virtue , and how was that overcome ? How was the yielding goodness of the man made to follow his own private interests ? Simply by giving him an invitation to the Queen ' s Ball . " ( A laugh . )

    Such men could be influenced for the good of the country by being threatened with the loss of their tents . If a professing Liberal turns out to be a sham Liberal , his constituents , at the next election , should intimate their intention to abstain wholly frcm voting ; and the result would soon be seen . " As chairman of the Sebastopol Committee ( concluded Mr . Roebuck ) , there was brought before me a scene of imbecility and corruption of which I can give you no idea . I felt , as I walked , the very ground palpitate under me with putrefaction ; but things were so artfully managed —and we had no power to make men speak out — that we could not discover it . ( Hear , hear . ) Though wo felt it at every step wo took , wo could not bring it

    out . But I hope , by your aid , and that of the Administrative Reform Association , to drag this hydra into the light of clay , and shame it again into darkness . I trust wo shall establish , on the ruins of imbecile and inefficient Government , a Government such as you ought to haveindustrious , honest , and sagacious—pursuing , not their own interests , but yours , and holding up you , the great people of England , as what you are often said to be , ' tho envy of surrounding nations '—as a people instructed enough and civilized enough to take into your own hands tho management of your own national concerns , and in so doing to conduct those concerns so that the result shall be the greatest happiness of the greatest number of the people . " ( Loud cheers . )

    Mr . Morley then moved : — " That tlie exigencies of tho present time , and tho singular incapacity lately shown by the various depurtments of tho Government , render it the imperative duty of tho people to take an active part in tho management of tho national affairs , in the hope of introducing therein the energy , honesty , and intelligence that ought to distinguish tho administration , of a greut and civilized people . " In tho course of Inn remarks , Mr . Morley alluded to the shortcomings of tho body of which he had

    recently been chairman : — " He was not in tho slightest degree disponed to boast of what had boon done by tho Association during tho last twelve months . Ho looked with much regret at any mistakes that might have been committed , and h « was not there to extenuate those crror » ( hear , hear ) -, but ho

    was conscious that the few who had taken a leading part in the management of the Association ' s affairs had done what they could to excite public attention to the evils and corruptions of the administrative system of this country . He would say to tliose who cavilled at what the Association had done , ' What have you done ? ' " ( Hear , hear . ) After dilating on the mismanagement of Government , and on the prevalence of nepotism , Mr . Morley proceeded : — " The mode of action adopted by the Association would be this : —They would keep a ledger account of the doings of every member of the House of Commons , and , going back to the commencement of the present Parliament , they would ' post up '—that term was pretty well understood in that room—every vote , and every

    incident that would betoken the motive of each vote . An abstract of a member's account would be sent to any one who might require it for the purpose of information . ( Laughter . ) They would enter into correspondence with constituents , and furnish them with fact 3 that would enable them to decide whether tbeir representative had done his duty . ( Hear , hear . ) They would endeavour to get a very accurate record of that kind prepared before the end of the present year . They would have very few public meetings . Their object would be beat worsted out quietly and unobtrusively ; it might be secretly . They had the means of getting into correspondence with respectable men in every borough and market-town . In the agricultural districts they might have but little chance ; but they would have correspondents in boroughs and market-towns , and they expected to be able to influence the counties also . " Mr . Gassiot , Mr . Travers , Mr . Eyne , Mr . Jacob Bell , Mr . Meclii , and Mr . T . Wall ( a working man ) , having addressed the meeting , and the motion having been carried without a dissentient voice , the proceedings terminated .

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    AMERICA . The progress of the civil war in Kansas is the chief feature of this week ' s news from America . The town of Franklin has been captured by the Abolitionists , after a desperate light , in which three Pro-slavery men were killed . Other fatal encounters are reported . Governor Shannon has issued a proclamation ordering all the unauthorized military companies to disperse , and warning outside parties to keep away from the territory , as he had suflicieut power to enforce tlie laws and protect the citizens . In the Senate , the member for Illinois' has introduced a bill for the pacification of Kansas . It simply proposes to abolish the territorial government of Kansas and the laws passed by its Legislature , and to extend over the distracted territory the government and laws in force in Nebraska . After a sharp discussion concerning the merits of the Nebraska Act , the bill was referred to the Committee on Territories .

    At a meeting recently held at New York , the chief speaker of the evening concluded his observations by remarking that , if he read the signs of the times rightly , " there were yet to be other Concords , Lexingtons , and Bunker Hills . " He exhorted his hearers to be " up and doing , " and told them to " put on their whole armour , and go out to the battle , " adding : — " The great question now before the people of this country is , not tho emancipation of the negro , but the emancipation of the white man . ( Applause . ) We are bound in the bands of slavery to-day ; we are gagged ; we are prevented from talking out thoac sentiments which animated the kearta of the men of 1770 . The crisis has come . Hero are two antagonistic powers about to come into collision . — freedom and slavery . The question is , which shall we receive ? ( Loud cries of ' Freedom ! Freedom / ' ) Which do you desire to transmit to your descendants ? Which shall be the governing principle of our American institutions ? (' Freedom ! Freedom / ' ) Freedom , you say ; then labour , and fight , if need be , for it . "

    The nomination of Mr . Buchanan and Mr . Breckenridgc for the Presidential position hud been ratified by Democratic must * meetings ut 1 'liiladelnhia and other places . The New Jersey Know-nothing Convention haa recommended Commodore Stockton for the Presidency . Tho latest advices from Hayti Htate that tho rebels , ( J 000 strong , were before Aux Cayes . Business was suspended and martial law proclaimed . From the New York commercial letters we loam that there has been a fair degree of activity in the stockmarket during the past fortnight , accompanied by some improvement in prices . _ . is tained in

    An illustration of American manners con an account from Louisiana Of a duel between a Mr . Robertson , the editor of a Know-nothing paper , and a Mr . Murks , of the democratic journul , tho Cuddo News Murks was tho originator of the fight , Which Robertson desired to decline . The two untugonists kept firing at one another continually , until a brother of Marks entered the arena ( which was iu the public postoffice ) , and actually joined in attacking Robertson , who Boon received a shot in the skull , which wuu instantaneously fatal . No arrest * were made . Mr . Kulph Waldo Emerson , tlio celebrated American , author , bos made a moat eloquent ftnd noble upeecn at a

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    TOft . 28 , 1856 . ] ' THE LEADEE . 60 ^

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), June 28, 1856, page 605, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2147/page/5/