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    it surprise us to hear , in a telegraphic epigram , that Brussels had been declared ia a state of siege , the sittings of the Cham-*» a * s suspended , and a French army ordered ito fee frontier ? or that the Constitution of -Piedmont had been abolished , and that a fraternal Trench and Austrian force was providing for society at Turin ? These would be natural developments of Bon ^ pautism , Let us wait and watch , and discover , before it is too late , what is the policy of our own Ministers . '

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    THE POLITICAL SEASON . The general election of 1853 appears to have determined , permanently , the political position of the Tories . A House of Commons returned under their own auspices , with all the influences of power and corruption exerted to increase the number of their nomination borougbs , at once ejected them from office . The Cabinet constituencies were in

    "their bands ; besides the machinery of the -Carlton , they had the agents of the Treasury ; besides the Staffobds and Beresfords , they had the patronage of the Post Office and the Excise ; they spent a larger fund in bribery than had been spent in any electoral conflict for fifteen years , yet they failed to obtain a majority . Upon the first confidence division Parliament overthrew the Debby

    Idea . Have the Tories acquired the slightest accession of strength since 1853 ? Have they commanded one majority on a political question since that date ? Have they not been repulsed in whatever direction they have attempted to move ? Their ,. --party - tactics have been demon § £ ? g ^ e' 1 a 1 lures , and their ParliamenJatB ^ fnotions have been turned in * o ^ ffi 5 p ^ a ^ by the Government . And tnisnotwithstanding the fact that every Ministerial measure , in whatever interest

    promoted , has been converted by Mr . jOisbaeli , or his friends , into a party topic . Notwithstanding , too , the more remarkable fact that the Administration which has held its ground against the incessant Tory attacks has been weak , wavering , and insincere , continuously opposed , carelessly supported , and not possessed of public confidence . If the Tory party had not been incapable , Lord PaTjMekstot * must have yielded to the forces that have been in perpetual agitation against him .

    The Tory party , however , is incapable , because it is obsolete . Therefore , a Government which is only less incapable , is permitted to retain office , without being permitted to work out its policy , or , rather , its programme of small administrative measures . It has carried five bills , and it has proposed at least twenty bills which have been rejected or postponed . But the "Whig defeats do not represent Tory successes . Tims , when Mr . Lowe proposed the abolition of local dues on

    shipping , the House of Commons seemed astonished that a member of the Government should invito it to discuss serious principles in a serious tone . Tho Government itself had no such intention . It scarcely gave a public assent to the irrefutable doctrines of its subordinate ; tho liberals balanced oft ' frotn tho contest , and , perceiving their opportunity , the Tories closed with tho Board of

    Trade , and struck the bill out of the hands of the deBerted Reformer . Was that a manifestation of Tory strength ? Far from it . Lord Palmbbston had made up Ins mind to avoid debates on distinct issues . His purpose was served when the Tories tried their strength by party motions . The ^ i . ? L Kar 8 was P for w ard to cover the crj- "We want your places . " Mr . White-« u »» j a lailure in every respect , moved the

    condemnation of the Government in a speech which was hardly listened to , and which , in a reported state , was certainly unreadable , and Mr . DisBA-Eiii made a humiliating display of his eagerness for power . The Tories , who had for several weeks courted the Liberals by flatteries and promises , completely broke down , and to a great extent absented themselves from the House of Commons for several nights . .... , , .

    It is well known that they had intended to give a second assault in relation to the American dispute . Private meetings were held . But the party had become so disorganized , so disheartened , so conscious of the defects of its leaders , and of its own deficiencies in eloquence and in knowledge , that it was \ mfit for the enterprize , and Mr . Moore , who—we say it positively—had been encouraged to urge his motion , was abandoned and left in an absurd minority . The American

    debate ended without the American question being so much as explained to the House of Commons . There were many plots laid , also , for bringing the Italian policy of the Government into discredit . But the Tory undertaking failed , for a simple reason . It could not prove that liord Palmekston or Mr . DisiiAEti had any Italian policy at all ; there was , consequently , nothing to decide , and the subject was disposed of in a parliamentary conversation . It is to be remarked that the

    American and Italian questions were not raised by Tory members , but that the Tory party , recognizing its own weakness , preferred , after the Kars' failure , to wait until , by a private " count , " it could ascertain whether a Tory vote might be safely taken . - The Tories have attacked the Government on every point connected with its legislative or administrative policy—yet , whenever the Government has been beaten , it has been beaten by the liberals . Mr . Dibbaei . i , who has seen the "following" of the Earl of

    Dekby . disorganized and mutinous , has not once succeeded in making up a pure and simple majority , to display the influence of his oratory , or the extent of his political connexions . Yet in no way does he concur with Lord Palmebston . The diplomacy of the Cabinet is denounced as blustering and hypocritical ; then why cannot the Tories acquire that public confidence which would enable them to represent England more worthily to America and the Continent ? What course of civil legislation have they proposed ? They deride Mr . Lowe ' s measures as Socialist

    THE DEFECTIVE INTELLECT QUESTION . Inconsistency appears to dictate the treatment of Dove , as though his own incapacit y communicated itself to all whom he came near , —to the victim of his brutality , the witnesses of it , the jury that sat to pronounce upon it , the Judge , the Home Office . He is not to be hanged , at the earliest , until the 9 th of August ; and meanwhile the Home Office is understood to be deliberating whether or not there are grounds for modifying " tife course of justice . " The jury recommendW him to mercy on the ground of defective

    intellect ; which is in itself as inconsistent a position as any other . If his intellect was defective enough to suggest mitigation of his punishment , it can only be because ho was not completely a judge of his own actions ; but , then , if his judgment of his actions was not complete , he * did not possess that moral responsibility which is essential to the very idea of guilt , and the jury should not have pronounced him guilty . If , on the other hand , he teas guilty , lie must have been a sufficient judge of what he was doing , and he deserved justice , but no " mercy . " It is said that Mr . Baron BratviwelI ; . although

    convoying this recommendation of the jury to 1 lie higher authorities , has not endorsed it ; has , on the contrary , indicated that the verdict Avas just ; yet in that case what strange language did he xise to the prisoner ! " l > o not , " he said , " cherish hopes that may turn out to be delusive ; " a qualified expression which implies an alternative , —that the hopes might not- turn out to be delusive . Of course , on this extremely qualified caution , Dove would hope ; yet Bbamwell , who helped to suggest the hope , has not helped to fulfil it . Where is the moral effect either upon the prisoner , or upon those who might be his imitators ?

    Mr . Baron Bhamotll endeavoured to supply a test which would enable the jury to define the degree of responsibility . " If , " ho said , " the prisoner did know the consequences of his acts , and did know that they wore contrary to the law ? of the land , he was liable to punishment ; he was not liable if lie was not thus conscious . " But surely this is a false distinction . Many a man knows that he is doing wrong , and yet does not possi- ^ a the judgment that would guide him from iis commission . Men under the impulse of murderous lunacy are frequently aware that the act is forbidden , and that it will entail particular consequences on the victim and on themselves . Nothincr is more common m

    they ridicule the Civil Service Bill , they mock the weakness of a Government that is unable to carry its proposals . But the Appellate Jurisdiction Bill was of their own conception—why was that the least respectable failure of the session ? When they talk of ministers with reforming zeal , diplomatists with candour , financiers who understand "the City , " discreet subordinates , and vigorous administrators , to what traditions do they refer ? A general election would , in all probability , leave them less powerful in the Legislature than they actually are .

    connexion with madness than great cunning and concealment ; but a mistaken nect . s . sity , a totally unreasoning instinct , an entire absence of the motives that would suggest the killing , are sufficient to point out the nature of the disease . Mr . Baron Bramwklx ' s definition would bo negatived in moat lunatic asylums . The judge laid down a similarly defrelive definition with regard to " delusions . " " U , " ho said , " a man acts under delusions in one respect , and ia in other respects n man <> t sound mind , then in any consideration of his conduct ho must bo regarded as thoug h ho

    Jf , then , the Whigs have made no progress during tho past political season , the Tories have made less . They have not commanded the support of Parliament , and they have not conciliated tho opinion of the country . When , therefore , they talk of Lord Pat . mkiiston ' s fall as tho signal of their resurrection , serious politicians are amused . The nation would

    were not suffering from such deluHionn , " - — and Baron BnAMWKTjTi gnvo tho case oi a , man who supposes part of his body to be made of glass , but must nevertheless bo held responsible for tho crime , of robbery . Thin , however , i « totally to mislead tho mind of tho jury , and of all other juries , from that which constitutes tho true teat of insanity . Tbo delusion ia not the tost , nor its limitation to a particular point . In most books relating to spectres there have been instances of delusions of sense . Many remember tho cane of Niohojoai , the booltaellcr of Berlin , who saw people around him in tho room ; and there

    infinitely prefer a ItussKkii to n Dehhy Cabinet . Indeed , among the reconstructions of parties during the recess , it is not impousiblo that the Whigs may form once more under their old leaders , and hold tho ground until the Liberals have gained that power which will enable thorn to take the government of England permanently into their own hands .

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    732 THE LEADER , ___[ g r g : J ^^? ^ g ^ _

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 2, 1856, page 732, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2152/page/12/