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    for Brighton . Such an appeal might be drawn up tinder the sanction of the general body , and meet with a ready and loud response . But even here we are only upon the outskirts of a Liberal ' -policy . The principle of religious freedom is represented by the admission oJ the Jews . ; but beyond lies the continent of political iteform , and upon that the real muster-will take place . Nearest to the eye stands the Ballot : this commands the adhesion of nearly two hundred members ; of kindred imand

    portance is an extension rearrangement of the franchise : unless that be included little faith will be put in the sincerity of the united Reformers . The necessity for Church Bate abolition , is a mere detail in comparison , although it represents , with the admission of the Jews , the principle of religious liberty , for which Lord John jRttss : e : li . has done something , and about which he has said a great deal . The day for mere agitation has gone by . The time for quiet political jointstock companies , like the Administrative

    Eeform Association , and the Ballot Society , will never come . We must find a substitute . And what could be better than a system of co-operative action between the Liberal party in the House and the public out of doors ? Certainly , there are men in all the great towns who would willingly form into circles , around which the middle and working classes would congregate . If such an organisation were formed in connexion with a mixed association in London , and the

    independent benches in the House , there would Tbe the strongest possible guarantee for effective legislation next year . Nothing will be done in private rooms at the Eeform Club ; still less by the irregular action of individuals ; but it would be possible so to marshal the party as to present broad political aims to reflect the light of public opinion , and to create a stir of sympathy in the multitudes whose vague expectancy is at present m istaken for indifference .

    The first necessity , perhaps , is a movement in the House of Commons . The rejection of the Jew Bill is an opportunity , not for a flasli-in-the-pan , but for a campaign . * Thank God , we have a House of Lords ! ' is the Tory cry . "What should be the cry of the Liberals ? Nothing seditious ; only a word to rally the real representatives of the nation and encourage them to settle , by one easy vote , a very vexatious question . If they will not , they are worthless ; if they cannot ,

    Parliament is a sham , and the constituencies must measure their influence against that of the Tory peers , backed up by a section of the prelacy . It is not the Rothschild problem alone that is to be solved ; it is the Liberal party that has to be vitalized and put in motion . We have now no retrenchment ; we have jobbery in high places ; we have irresponsible departments ; we have a finance administration liable to every species of fraud . The Prime Minister is opto Reform Lord Rttsse is

    posed ; Jomsr li * preparing , apparently , to combine his forces with those of the Government ; the old organisations are used up ; Liberalism must do something to regain its lost credit , or half the patriotic members will lose their seats at the next election . The first session of the young Parliament is drawing to a close ; perhaps the crisis of the Jew question may result in a debate whioh will enable The Popular to say , when their constituents fi \ ce them , " We have not sat for six months as dumb as dead

    drummers , nor have we been drilled altogether into a ministerial regiment . " Lord John Russell ' s proposal of a bill to remove doubts has prevailed , for the time , over Mr . Dili / wtn ' s resolution to remove difficulties . It ; is a more scheme for tiding over the Session , for amusing Parliament , ana throwing dust in tho publio eye . A paid

    Registration Association has done this , and we commend its work to the notice of the City electors . But if Lord John Russell hangs fire , Mir . DiLLvmr , we presume , will be ready . The bill to remove doubts may be disposed of , without much delay if the House of Commons be sincere ; arid then as the Lords , in the exercise of their privilege , declined to admit Life Peers , let the Commons , in the exercise of their rights , determine to admit the Jews .

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    THE ISTHMIAN DERBY AND HIS D ^ MON . Lobd Debby is exclusive in his tastes and policy . He is anxious to keep the tw-o Houses of Parliament politely select , but his personal attention is bestowed chiefly on maintaining the purity and selectriess of the Jockey Club . While thus engaged in protecting the two Houses of Parliament and the Turf , his exclusion is especially directed against two classes of people , we might infer for some common reason—Jews and gamblers . The author of the Irish Reform Bill of 1832

    resists the admission of Jews into the House of Commons ; quoting in his justification Lord Lyndhttbst ' s phrase about the Irish— " They are aliens in blood , aliens in religion , and aliens in language . " Lord Debby , who is a great man for authority , alao finds another justification for the exclusion , of Jews . He turns to the Parliamentary History of England , and discovers that the Jews presented a petition , through Manasseh : bbbt Israel , Rabbi of Amsterdam , praying that their ancient banishment from this country might be

    withdrawn . This petition was addressed to a person of great prudence , who ' acted as in all other matters with good advice and mature deliberation . ' Who is it that is thus quoted by Lord Derby ? His Highness the Protector , Oliveb Cbomwell ! Lord Debby is so decidedly Conservative , that if he could , it appears , he would uphold the Commonwealth ! Moreover , Lord Debby cannot abide a Jew , and he will not have him either in the House of Lords , the House of Commons , or the Jockey Club .

    While he is keeping Jews out of the two Houses of Parliament , he is for keeping out gamblers , or at least persons who are implicated in ' flagrant cases of disgraceful fraud and dishonesty which have been , legally established . ' H is obiect , indeed , is a larger

    one : " It has become a subject of general observation and regret that the number of men of station and fortune who support the turf is gradually diminishing , and that an increasing proportion of horass in training is in the hands of persons of an inferior position , who keep them , not for the purpose of sport , but as more instruments of gambling . [ And although the evil ' cannot be cured , ' he urges the stewards to exercise a ' wholesome influence . '" ] You cannot debar any man , whatever his

    position in society , from keeping race-horses ; nor do I recommend a vexatious and inquisitorial scrutiny into tho character and conduct of thoao "who do so . But when among thoir numbers aro found those against whom flagrant cases of disgraceful fraud and dishonesty have been legally established , it appears to me clearly within your province to stamp them with your reprobation , and to exclude them from association on an equal footing with tho more honourable supporters of the turf . "

    In spite of the exclusivoness of this proposal , there is a certain degree of modesty in it . Lord Derby admits that ' persons in an inferior position , ' those who lceep horses merely as instruments of gambling , tho traders of the tuvf , or even persons unconvicted of ' disgraceful fraud and dishonesty , ' can all associate ' on an equal footing with the more honourable supporters of tho turf . ' But he thinks that the Jockey Club would bo justified in excluding any person who had boon convicted of holding money won by cheating with loaded dice ; and the Jockey Club accordingly has issued decrees of exolusion from tho houth at Newmarket .

    Now if any man will mount the Grand Stand at Epsom , and look down upon the host of persons who figure below as owners of horses ^ or as holders of betting books , he will not be able to detect in that crowd any tangible difference between ' the more honourable supporters of the turf' and sharp gentlemen who play into the hands of a Mr . Aidkins ; between gentlemen like Palmeb , who assist their racing matters with a little arsenic , or those who are engaged in the lowest tricks of the turf and stable . It is only the convicted that Lord Dukby has any hopes of excluding . in these eccentric

    When a man indulges antipathies , it may be supposed that there is some particular reason , and we infer that these two courses of exclusion have something in common . The Government , the public , the two Houses of Parliament , have discussed the subject of the Jew Bill without any reference whatever to a kind of trade at which Jews , by the policy of this country , were limited . As Lord Debby said , a Jew would have been excluded from Parliament some years back , because he could not hold landed property . The refusal to hold that kind of property forced "him , ^ if he desired to obtain wealth and standing , to

    hold movable property , money ; and it was as much as anything the oppressive legislation of this country which obliged so many Jews to be usurers and brokers . Lord Debby , however , has in some way been stung by a Jew , or is jocieyed by a ' sporting person of inferior position , ' or he would not show this special antipathy to the two classes . Historical question—Who is the offender ? In his speech on the Jew Bill , there is one mysterious passage which suggests all kinds of conjectures : —

    " A Jew may possess in some instances very peculiar faculties and very peculiar advantages , and I do not think on the whole that I should feel comfortable if a Jew were made Chancellor of the Exchequer . ( Laughter . ") He may very possibly have some natural sympathies which would interfere with a due discharge of the duties of his office . The Chancellor of the Exchequer may be a Jew under this Bill , and very possibly will be . If the noble Member for the city of London should succeed in obtaining his seat under this bill , he would make a very efficient , and undoubtedly he would be a very influential Chancellor of the Exchequer . "

    Lord PaIiMebston would exclude the Jew from that most sacred office . Now it is not the religious principle that can disqualify a man for superseding Sir Geobgke Ooknewalij Lewis , but it ia the blood and genius of the Jew , the indelible hereditary character , that Lord Debb y dreads . What has happened ? What is to happen when the Earl next has to appoint his own Chancellor of the Exchequer ?

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    THE EDINBURGH TRIAL—DOUBTS AND REFLECTIONS . The more reflection is bestowed upon the case of Madeline Smith , the more do doubts arise respecting the validity of the charge against her ; and some points in the case are exceedingly difficult to reconcile with the truth of the charge . There is no doubt that L'ANanxiEB was poisoned . The accumulated evidence establishes the fact that he was poisoned on the 22 nd of March , and died under the effect

    of the poiso ' n ; but the same evidence also shows that he was poisoned on the 19 th and 22 nd of February . Now some of the most eminent medical men in London , men well acquainted with both the theory and practice of medicine , hold it to be impossible that tho poison from which , L'ANaiSLiEit died could have been administered to him by Madeline , Smith , even if he saw her on tho 22 nd of Maroli , whioh is n . ofc proved . The difficulty is to \ inderatand how ho could havo gofc down all the food , liquid or solid , in which so

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    686 THE ^ LEADER . [ No . 383 , Jitey 18 , 1857 .

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), July 18, 1857, page 686, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2201/page/14/