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    States , or to adjust our differences . That , said the courteous House , is exactly as Lord PAiiMERSTON pleases ; the House will not presume to interfere ; so we are to hope that during the recess , the Administration wul act precisely as it has not acted during the session . But there is some difficulty in believing this . As to the "War—or the Peace—with Kussia , Mr . Roebuck has epitomized , in an epigram which deserves reputation , the invariable anof that nature

    swer of ministers on subjects : " When , we ask what the Government are about to do , we are met with the objection that we are too early ; and when we venture to inquire what they have done , we are told that we are too late . " Lord Paxmebston , who has learned something from theMoniteur , gives for answer , this : — " What I design to do will , I trust , when done , be found perfectly consistent with law and propriety . "

    When he is negotiating a peace , it would be indiscreet to expect any information ; when the peace has been negotiated , the English House of Commons may debate , or do anything else as meaningless , but to vote dissent would "be a breach , of faith , and imperil our alliances . That is the simple process by which foreign affairs , in difficult times , are ^ removed from the jurisdiction of Parliament . For observe , Parliament dare not change the Government while delicate diplomatic transactions are pending . Besides , what have we to hope for from a change of Government ? Bill

    Then , no one expected a Reform during the past session . But the House of Commons , going further than the Ministry , refused to entertain any political suggestion of any kind whatever . Mr . Bjsbkeley made his Ballot motion ; for form ' s sake , a Government member replied , and the House dismissed the subject as a nuisance . Sir Joshua Walmisiet was still less successful when he proposed to introduce a debate on the extension of the franchise . The House would not assemble . Mr . Berkeiet , the member for the Ballot , clung to it , until Lord Pal-MEESton , anxious to avoid a division , pledged himself , next session , —to inquire .

    Lord GoDEition , who is too much in earnest to be a fit member of the present House of Commons , moved a resolution on the subject of Administrative ^ Reform , to which the Commons assented , and the subject was thus disposed of in the least objectionable way . It is xlue to the Government , indeed , to admit that they have made some progress in this direction , having dug away the ground under the feet of the City Association of Reformers . Their County Police measure was well-timed and not

    ill-constructed . They had prepared , however , a plan for the Reform of the Reformers , and for the remodelling of the City Constitution . That plan , of course , they were too weak and too insincere to carry into effect . It was withdrawn , and it lies in limbo , with Mr . Lowe ' s Partnership Bill , the Oath of Abjuration Bill , the Church Rates Abolition Bill , the Divorce Bill , the Married Women ' s Estates Bill , the Ecclesiastical Courts Bill , the Appellate Jurisdiction Bill , the Formation of Parishes Bill , the Church Discipline BilL on which Ministers and their friends have been baffled and

    beaten , and which lie over to form a part of the futilities of 1857 . Several general debates took place on education— -Lord John Busskli / s , Sir John Pakiwgto »* 8 , and , Mr . Wai ^ oi-ic ' s schemes . Lord John RuesExt ' s bill was rejected , the House of Commons having no real intention of educating the people ; Sir John Paring-TOK ' sviews were politely laid aside ; and only Mr . WALPOiB ' flwei-o adopted . But as the Mouse , when it adopted them , never meant them to be carried out , they , too , were

    reconsidered , and a majority was juggled among the dissentients . It was not so easy to suppress the Maynooth motion of Mr . Spooneb , who actually carried it upon a division , Mr . Spooner being in earnest , though even he might regret that he had ^ superannuated himself by succeeding in the one object of his political life . However , the Commons rescued him , and the Government , and the Tories from their dilemma by laughing loudly while Mr . Heebert talked incoherence against time , and the question of Catholic endowment in Ireland was settled by the hand of

    the clock . Lord PaiiMeeston created Lord Wens-IjEYDa : le a life peer . The House of Lords condemned the creation . Lord Pai ^ ebston asked the House of Commons to send up Lord WENSiiETDAiiE as a Deputy Speaker . The House of Commons refused . So Lord Palmebston gives up his principle , and presents Lord Wensleydai > e , and the heirs male of his body , lawfully begotten , for ever , with a ticket of admission among the peers . That is the

    urbane way in which the Prime Minister suffers repeated defeats . He knows the House of Commons dare not turn him out ; be gives the members a holiday , one time by sea , another time by land , at the public expense ; he talks of Italy in a style that implies a contempt for the judgment of his hearers ; when the House censures his policy , he observes that " there seems to be an objection j" and the House bears all this , and deserves it , for Lord Paxmebston , political infidel as he is ,

    eclipses the entire House by his vigour , by his self-possession , and by a certain sort of courage , though not of the best quality . And now Parliamen t adjourns . It has done nothing , and the nation has not shown that it expected anything to be done . While the recess lasts , Government will have its own way in affairs of foreign policy . If our American interests are jeopardized , if our name in Europe is disgraced , if Italy and Spain be abandoned , let us not ascribe the responsibility to Lord Palmebston ' s nation has

    Cabinet alone . The political duties to perform , and does not perform them ; the Parliament is weak , devoid of feeling , and spiritless ; and the Tory party , like the Whig party , is utterly without a policy . It can do nothing but cavil , and make factious diversions under cover of popular pretences . Why , then , should we anticipate that the session of 1857 will be more profitable than the session of 1856 , or that any session will be profitable while we continue to bo governed as we are ?

    Untitled Article

    THE COUP D'ETAT TRADE . Mabtiai , law has been proclaimed throughout Spain . Until a week or two ago there was no dread of any revolutionary movement ; on the contrary , partial attempts at disturbing the existing order of things were notoriously a failure The man most trusted by the average Spaniard was EsrABTEKO . He was responsible to the country for the Crown , and to the Crown for the country . If any mistrust existed as to the unscrupulous and despotical adventurer who occupied the Cabinet iu a strange partnership with

    Espabtebo , it was supposed that " tho Liberator " was effectively , as well as in title , bail for O'DoNNEiiL . The journals occasionally got up imaginary movements , and the Ministers talked of interfering . Strangely enough , there was one person who rather impeded any decided interference with the journals of a particular colour . The journals which enjoy this species of patronage amongst the official ranks were of a reactionary tone , and the Minister who objected to interference with them , although not with ultra-Liberals , was O'Donnell . Such is the state of things

    when somebody represents to the Queen the necessity of violent measures ; when Espaetebo is found to be suddenly opposed by hig strange partner-lieutenant , O'Donnell ; and the result is , that Espartebo actually disap-Eears , O'DottnelIi remains master of the eld , and the whole of Spain is placed in a state of siege—the state of a country which is supposed to be in actual rebellion . m •* ^ . 1 J J _ l _ _ 1 T . \ .. * 1

    We have heard of another country which was treated in a somewhat similar manner . It was a large and highly populous island , with a very numerous Negro population . At the date in question the Governor of that island had not long been appointed ; he had discovered , from some sources which to this day remain totally unknown and unconfirmed , that the Negroes were on the verge of a

    universal insurrection . Military parties were sent over the whole island in order to take measures against the revolt . The officer of any one of the military parties thus distributed would come upon the estate of a planter , and inform him of the contemplated insurrection . A single case will show the object of this strange precautionary measure . The Planter receives his official visitor with .

    surprise ; he has heard ot no insurrection amongst his slaves ; in fact , he does not believe the story , and he avows his disbelief . Now surely the Planter ought , at least , to know more of his own men than a Lieutenant of infantry from a distance ; particularly as the Lieutenant does not think fit to disclose a single fact in proof of the asserted revolt . A sudden light breaks upon the Planter : he

    is so confident of his slaves , that lie offers to be bail for the whole body of them ; and as a step "to make things pleasant , " he offers a kind of free-will offering , say of three thousand dollars . The Lieutenant sees that the Planter understands matters ; he has further to go in the course of his visitation , and he will call as he comes back . During the absence of the Lieutenant with his men , the

    Planter bethinks him that three thousand dollars is more than he is obliged to pay ; and when the Lieutenant returns , the Planter is avowedly more convinced than ever that the slaves thought of nothing less than a revolt ; bo he proposes to make things pleasant on rather less expensive terms—to give , say only one thousand'five hundred dollars . " Remember , " says the Lieutenant , " that I did not ask you for any money at all ; but since you have mentioned a sum , I cannot , oi

    course , take less . " And he goes away emptyhanded . Soon after , however , ho returns again , retaining his original conviction that the Negroes intended a revolt ; and to punish them , a number of them are flogged . The flogging is so severe that many of tlicm are permanently injured , and some of them arc killed . The Planter estimates tho injury to his property at the sum of ten thousand dollars . Other proprietors had not heen guilty of the same backsliding , but equally make

    perceiving tho proper way to things pleasant , they had persevered , and had secured immunity for their estates . It has been said that during the suppression of that apocryphal revolt , as many as ten thousand Negroes were killed . They wore tho property , of course , of the planters who hud viewed tho subject after what wo nuiy < - ' "" our friend ' s " second manner . " No Negroes were flogged to death on tho estates of the planters that had made things pleasant . The Govornor resided in tho island not « v < i'y

    great number of years ; ho entered it n notoriously poor man— -indeed it was his poverty , joined with tho favour of hi . s Sovereign , which caused him to receive tho appointment ; he left tho inland in tho possession of ft large fortune . That island was Cuba—tho ( Governor was General O'DoNNEiiL .

    Untitled Article

    708 THE LEADER . [ No . 331 , Saturday , a . k ^ -V

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), July 26, 1856, page 708, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2151/page/12/