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    ousness by their neighbors .. Strange spectacle for the recording angel to witnessnumbers of anxious scrutineers , scanning the features , measuring , the voices of elderly women , in hopes that by denouncing them they may gain some money . This is one part of the way in which civilization is doing its work . While the police are thus inquiring in . all directions , while the jury are ' sitting on the body , ' while the surgeon , is looking into the

    carpet-hag and closely scrutinizing every particle of its contents , piecing together the relics of the story , the recording angel will see au other group as anxiously watching . Oaie is the man who has done the murder , and who is wandering about somewhere in this great town , or perhaps off by rail to take holiday in . the country . Few amongst us ask for the ( Timeq with so fevered an anxiety . And the woman , too , some few of wliose gentle hairs fell upon the body as it was mangled , is reading to see whether agony

    and disgrace are to come home to her , or whether concealment is still possible . And of all the groups , that woman who conveyed the bag to " Waterloo-bridge asks for the latest news about the murder with the greatest solicitude . She feels co-nscious as she goes about—even as if her back had eyes to see the glances that are cast upon her , and to learn whether the police , whether her neighbours , and whether Erring ton the tollkeeper , aro at that moment seeing and identifying her .

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    KING FREDERICK-WILLIAM . The death of the I £ mg of Prussia would open no question of immediate importance . Still , it would not be a commonplace event . Diplomatically , Frederick- William has been The State . His successor might be The State with a different policy . Fuederiok- "\ Vii . lia : m could not help being the representative of a cultivated nation which honours intellect , art , and learning . He is himself a scholar of the pedantic class . His court reflects the lustre of much erudition , and , as a translator would say , of the ' beautiful letters . ' But no King in Europe has been more fatally enslaved by the doctrine of paternal authority than his Majesty of Prussia . It was he who , when the burghers asked him for a constitution , vowed that no written leaf should ever come between him and ' his people . ' He had to recant his oath and accept another , but he avenged the first by violating the second . PitEDintiCK"William has not been a fostering King of the Germans . " With one of the finest armies in Europe he lias ( wisely ) stood aloof from military enterprises . The little principalities of Hohenzollerii fell to his share as a reversion . ; otherwise he will leave the territory of " Prussia us lie inherited it , minus Neufchatel . It lias not been his fortune to erect a barrier on the lihine , or to obtain securities from Slwed ' cn or Denmark for liis frontier along the saa . The truth is , that the cloudy day of Jena destroyed a largo part of that ; which l ^ EKDimicrc tick Grw . vt had built up , and tlie restoration has been attempted in vain by subsequent monarcha . Prussia is liable to . be : rent by any continental Avar ; her provinces-hang loosely together ; her state policy is inconsistent with itself . It is a combination of Protestantism and divine right , of Milton and Salmasius , of an army that crushes genius and a ohurch that deieivs to conscience . Fhk . d . kmtck-AVu , ltam wna wise When ho refused the imperial crown at " . l ? Vankiort . Ho waa not bam to bo Emperor of Uermnny . And yet ho is out of place in the conchivo of Catholic sovereigns . A prince who would Hpurn a Concordat ban no natural atlmity with tho members of a llolv Alliance .

    Stein , Schcen , and Hakdehbebo- could , not have been the ministers of Austria . Ifc was their influence , acting upon the pride or fear of his predecessor , that produced the Stadtordnung , which , gave self-government to the towns , the abolition of serfdom r the act assigning these serfs an . independent state , and the other decrees which , before 1840 , had

    been , falsified , in every detail ,, by Fbedebick III . That ICing died , and left a- military despotism to his successor , who would allow no ' written leaf' to part him from the people ; but he parted from them in bloodshed in 1848 , and , while the Uerliners were loading their muskets , pronounced ponderous orations about the wickedness of thrusting paper documents ' between our Lord and God in

    Heaven ( otherwise 3 ? bed : ebick-William : TV . and his country . ' Schcen addressed the public , and Frederick- "Williail talked about high monarchical duties ; Simon wrote , and the king "went on with his discourse ; Jacoby circulated his prohibited appeals , and every city in Prussia began to bleed for the love of liberty . The sovereign had a choice between the Germans and liussia . He preferred . 3 tussia ; she was- his sister . All his generals , all the officers of bis army down to the second lieutenants , shared his sympathies .

    Should he pass away , how will the change affect Prussia and Europe ? The Crown-Prince might abandon his claim , in which case the throne would revert to the betrothed husband of the English Princess Uoyal . Probably , however , the brother of Fiiedebice :-" William would not forego the privilege of being King of Prussia even for a few years . The best that can be said of this personage is that we know little about him . He is reputed to be a mild , generous man , of feeble intellect , with despotic views . Characterizations of this sort are seldom to be relied upon . We know

    what was said concerning the Prince Hegent of Sweden simply because he advocated the great Scandinavian Zdea . The young prince to whom the daughter of our Queen is affianced , is , as yet , almost a political nullity . His xmclc has not taken counsel of him ; nor has be displayed auy particular bias to justify an anticipation of the course he would adopt as the successor of Frederick-William IV ., who , when the sceptre falls from liis hand , will be st yled ' of glorious memory , ' notwithstanding that , -whatever his reign has been , it has not been glorious .

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    THE SOCIAL CONVENTION . At length it lias been found practicable as well as desirable to form a . special body of men for ' the promotion of social science , 'a great stride in the intellectual advancement of this country . The man to move that ' the National Association for the Promotion of Social Science be now established , ' was Lord . Toiin Russell ; who has thus stepped forward from tho old and beaten ground of Parliamentary llcform , to that of [ Social lieform . It is not surprising that tho orator who inaugurated the society should bo Lord Brougham : ; for although ho has never , that we remember , actually and positively recognized tho principle upon which all social reform must bo baaed , lie has practically assisted the development of tho idea , as well as the practice , throughout the whole of his long and active public life . Not distinctly apprehending the principle—for such we believo to be the real state of the caae—he has sometimes promoted improvements which havo betm only partial in their benefits , ami have to a certain extent increased or revived ancient eviln . In Lord Uiiouuham wo hco ono great advocate of the principle oi ' cheapness' on high ground . Ada . m Smith perceived that cheapness , tho selling price

    for _ articles of large consumption , means facility and ab andonee of production , and therefore it means advantage for both parties , in . the bargain . One form of cheapness which Lord Brougham : has done so nmcb ; to advocate has lain in the world of literature—of books , maps , and prints . In former times it was assumed that only 'the upper classes' would feel interest ia history , science , and practical subjects ; veryearly in his- public life Lord Bsougham : devoted himself to acquiring ; personal information respecting the state of all classes in the country , including ' the lower orders ; ' and he will confirm us in our assertion that tliere is more thought , more study amongst many persons of the working classes , than can he readily found among the shopkeeping class . No doubt , experience of this kind was among the xeaeons why lie and his friends established the Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge . The publications of that Society related entirely to practical , scientifical , and historical matters ; they were sold at a price which placed them within the reach of all classes ; they were consumed by all classes , and at the present day we have the results of that diffusion in a much greater amount of cultivated understanding , of practical apprehension , and working knowled ge ^ than in previous generations . Here one class was working for another to the benefit of all . Lord Bboughecam has also done much to improve the administration of justice , to render it cheaper and more serviceable . He must be held responsible for having assisted in lending the countenance of intellect to the development of our manufacturing system which has also greatly improved the condition of the working classes ; placing larger . means at the service of much larger multitudes , and substituting , say , for a comparatively limited number of handloorn weavers , on niggardly fare , hundreds of thousands of power-loom weavers , with all the attendants of a factory ,, in receipt of better pay for almost every member of the family . All this is clear and substantial gain , and it is all the result of a social improvement empirically worked out , and uuguided by social science ; and the association inaugurated by Lord Brougham , established on tho resolution of Lord John Hussell , is intended to develop the science which may guide us in its further progress .

    For our own part , we may say that we have constituted an organ , of this kind of movement years before the association was established ; and we cannot bub have considerable hope the more systematic study of the subject will result in bringing the promoters of the science to the principle which really gives to it vitality . We have the more confidence from some of the names which we see amongst the members of the association . There are all the practical men of the present day , in tho Legislature or out of it , who are engaged in the investigation of particular evils , and in the attempt to reform them . There are ' . Russell , Pakincjton , Stanley , Adder / ley , and many other promoters of education j Stanley , Southtwood Smith , and other sanitary reformers ; M . D . H ill , Stidney Turner , Lord Taluot , J . J . Field , Eaiidley Wilmot , and the great advocates of the reformatory principle ; Bhouoham , JM . T > . H ill , Fitzuov Kelly , Audurley , llASTiNUfc ) , and tho working reformers of the law ; Brougham , Cakl . lsle , SirAFTissuuiiY , Kay Siluttlnwortu , ! Fkk . i > uricic Maukioe , and tho apostles of better social and industrial arrangements amongst tho poor ; . loitN Stuart Mill , Kinomluy , Aitrnint Hkli ' S , Bkouuham , niul the moat earnest intellectual inquirers into social . economy . Amongst ) these men there avo aomo who

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    K < x 395 , October VT , 1857 . j THE LEADBE .. Qm

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 17, 1857, page 999, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2214/page/15/