Current:

Leader (1850-1860), 28th February 1857, Edition 1 of 2, Page unpag., Untitled Article

Page unpag.
Page 1
1 of 24

On this page

  • Departments (3)
    • «rp ¦¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦/ . ^r ^ / "^' s^^V' VV"V V -V ? A POLITICAL AND LITERARY REVIEW.
    • CCcnttnti:
    • Jitumttflf ttfeiBeek,
  • Text (7)
  • Transcript

    • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

      Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

      «Rp ¦¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦/ . ^R ^ / "^' S^^V' Vv"V V -V ? A Political And Literary Review.

      « rp ¦¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦/ . ^ r ^ / " ^' s ^^ V' VV"V V -V ? A POLITICAL AND LITERARY REVIEW .

      Untitled Article

      VOL . VIII . No . 362 . ] SATURDAY , FEBRTJAIJ / Y 28 , " l 857 " . " Ttocis {^ igg' : ™ : ;; IlS % f -

      Untitled Article

      "VTOT only Ministers , but Members and constix \ tuencies , Lave been put to sore trial during these early weeks of the session , and the events are gradually convincing the public that the first good measure will be to sweep away the present House of Commons . It is , night after night , proving itself totally incapable of controlling either Ministers in office or members who want to get into

      office ; equally incapable of selecting the best men for those posts . " Where it is a question of honourable obligation towards the servants of this country , as in the case of JTitAisrKXiN , —of Parliamentary Reform , as in the case of Locke King and Sir Joshua Walmsle y ' s motion , —or of finance , —the true description of the position in which honourable members are placed , can be described by no words except saying that they are befooled .

      No questions before the House of Commons have been plainer than those which arc raised by the Budget . We described it last week . It is nothing more than a- proposal to continue the Budget of 1856 , with three alterations , one of considerable magnitude and two of minor importance . The Chancellor op the Exchequer proposes to give up 9 d . out of the Is . 4 d . in the pound Income-tax , —that is the largest alteration ;

      he proposes that the diminution of the * tea duties , fixed by the existing law for the present year Gd . out of the Is . 9 d ., shall be only 2 d ., and that . the sugar duties shall likewise be diminished in the same diminished proportion . He justifies this modified abatement of the taxes by the necessity of paying some outstanding bills on account of the war . Government will be quite open to an inquiry by the House of Commons , whether they have paid

      grand to propose before the popular assembly ; and instead of looking closely into the bills , he chooses a magnificent-philosophical system of accounts ., to balance the yeai-s 1853 and 1800 . This is not the way in which business men manage their business ; but it bad the effect- of enlisting Mr . Gl / udstonk , the author of ¦ tlie . budget of 1853 , which Mr . Disraeli is so anxious to fulfil in i 860 ; and out came the spiritual member for Oxford University with a flood of arithmetical vituperation hurled at Ministers for not having executed in 1857 his desigiis for 1 S 50 .

      His allegation was crammed full of blunders , as wlieii he persisted in assuming that they must continue their present rate of expenditure into subsequent years without the slightest warrant for the assumption . The debate thus set going consisted of fanciful accusations , wire-drawn by Mr . Disraeli , and swelled into a Ciceronian scolding by Mr . Gladstone , with cool replies by the Chancei / lor ov i'he Exchequer and Mr . Jamks Wilson . The replies were thoroughly tedious , because any man of sense

      could anticipate each ' argument as it was advanced . The common hci'd of members occasionally joined in the debate , only to show lhat they failed to understand it ; while here and there a party num . stood forth to mark a new position for himself , as in the ease of Lord John Russell , who magnanimously exposed some of Mr . Gladstone ' s fallacies , while he constituted himself the patron of the tea and sugar trades against the proposed increase of taxation upon those articles .

      Mr . Gladstone- had already announced that lie intended to assume the post of champion to the tea-pot and sugar-basin ; but what tradesman or what man . of business would select that heated missionary in lieu of Lord John Russell , who has taken up the subject upon its plain business merits ? The supplies of tea arc interrupted by the war with China , and although tlie stocks on hand arc large , the commodity is peculiarly un » uited for any increase of fiscal burden . The supplies of . sugar arc falLing short , from tlie failure of produce in the Western countries and the diversion of the Mauritius trade

      to grapple with the subject : it is at the mercy or accidents . Last week it would have caTried Mr . Locke King ' s motion , but for the comparatively feeble , accident that Lord Palmekston is personally adverse to reforms . It is this incapacity of ? the House to arrive at anything like a definite conclusion which suggested to Sir Joshua Walmsley the appointment of a select committee to consider the

      impediments to the equalization and extension of the franchise . The motion was made as a pis alter ; the objections to it are perfectly obvious . It was indeed a censure upon the House of Commons ; for it implied that in a debate upon the constitution of the House and the political liberties of the people , the fewer the Members tlie better the discussion ; and there is much truth in Sir Joshua ' s practical

      sarcasm . A . disposition is gaining ground not to invoke the House of Commons itself in reform , at least in the earlier stages . As Mr . Locke Kino is proposing to extend the ten-pound franchise in counties , so in Scotland a party of Reformers is proposing to extend to that country the English forty-shilling

      franchise ; and the two proposals arc more parallel than might in the first instance be supposed . Practically , the same sums represent higher values in Scotland than in England ; and the poorer class in that part of the island is better educated , more intelligent , and more independent . At present the county franchise is , at least in many parts , entirely in the hands of n few individuals . The leaders of

      the new movement are endeavouring to strengthen it , and in fact to settle it , before they bring it into the House of Commons . Dr . Uegg , who constitutes a deputation from Scotland to England , attended a meeting for the purpose in Palace-yard , on Tuesday , and there he met a number of members who had supported Mr . Locke King ' s motion , with other active Reformers . Nothing could have been more inconsistent with tlie real spirit of our Government than tile

      declaration of war against Persia , our relations with that country still being withheld from the cognizance of Purl lament ; nothing more repugnant to that spirit than Sir John Bowuino ' s sudden change of policy towards the local government of Canton . The treaty of Pckin secured right of entrance for British subjects into fivo ports , Canton an >« noStl » ftt ^ In consideration of the character (* f tw ^ 9 $ J 4 < k ^\ &l various local circumstances , s ^ l fcc ^ wO ^ wiiliworS ^ ' , niissioners , after negotiation " ^ li nm ! ifflm ^ lsfciSnli ^"' Commissioner at Canton , hapjj ¦ Kitttfc ^ % e ^ - ( Trd [ H (^ until the present day . Sir JojympMWh ^^^ lsi- liO - w | Sv ; * ^ ££ ] £ = >¦"" '*

      towards Australia ; the consumer sullers , and this again is an article which the Oiianckli . ok ok xue ExciLJ 5 Q- ( jEitis relieving rather thun burdening . As to the debating , it was for the most part an idle parade ; the result was well known ; and when the division - \ yas announced of 2 S 0 to 206 , it scarcely told any news to the members on either side . In the many reforms which press upon its own constitution , tlie House shows an equal incapacity

      the bills at the proper time , and whether they were not paying too much to the contractors and the crowds of temporarily employed officials who have been engaged . That is tlie sole practical question . A . member should say in the name of his constituency , " Let me see the bill ; if it is correct , let us pay it off as fast as possible , and then return to peace taxation . " Instead of thus leading i \ % House of Commons to the performance of that plain English duty , which every tradesman in the country could understand , Mr . Disraeli attempted a dod ge for the purpose of concealing his own defeat . By remitting so large a part of the Incometax , Ministers have taken from him the motion which he claimed as his own ; he wanted something

      Untitled Article

      "The one Idea which History exhibits as evermore developing ; itself into greater distinctness is the Idea of Humanity—the noble endeavour to throw down all the barriers erected between , men . byprejudice " and oixe -sided news ; and , by setting aside the distinctions of Religion , Country , and Colour , to treat the whole Human race as Ofie brotherhood , having one great object—the free development of otot spiritual nature . "—HumhoUlt's Cosmos .

      Cccnttnti:

      CCcnttnti :

      Untitled Article

      REVIEW OF THE WEEK— i-aoe Naval and Military 201 i A Diplomatic Duel 205 ' German Protestantism .... 211 Imperial Parliament 194 Miscellaneous ...- 201 i The Warning to Reformers 20 U ! A Bh .-dle . v of Novels 211 State of Trade 19 ( 3 Postscript 202 . ! The Victoria Cross 206 j Rip van Winkle Awako . 212 Tlie Great Colliery Explosion . ; .- 19 ti «» p-m r-nnivir * ir Pree Emigrants and Cotton 206 the ARTS- " Accidents and Sudden Deaths ......... 197 -OPEN COUNCIL- ¦ Mental Alisouation . 207 ™ »• , vt 9 i « Ireland ..... 197 " Common Sense of tho Bank Theatrical fciotes .. - . , 212 Australia ... " 197 Charter Question" 202 LITERATURE— TJie Orient . 197 puri ir * affair *; - ¦ ¦ ¦ ' „ ' „ America ..-. ... 197 PUBLIC AFFAIRS- Summary 203 _ ¦ ; Continental Notes 198 Mr . Disraeli ' s Debate ... 201 . The New Edition or Bacon 203 i The Gazette . 212 Our Civilization 199 China in Parliament ... 201 The Life of Louis Napoleon 203 I — , *»««« -r ,- i- ¦ ac-p-aiuc—Gatherings from the La \ r and Po- Official Refusal of a Final Search Christianity and Infidelity 210 i cowini ^ ciai . Ai-tAiRS . lice Courts ... 200 for Franklin ... ; 205 Hieroglyphic Science .... 210-1 City Intelligence , Markets , &c— ....

      Jitumttflf Ttfeibeek,

      Jitumttflf ttfeiBeek ,

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 28, 1857, page unpag., in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2182/page/1/