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Leader (1850-1860), 6th February 1858, Edition 1 of 2, Page 137, Untitled Article

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      Untitled Article

      No . 411 , February 6 , 1858 . 1 •' , THE- LEADER , 137

      Untitled Article

      hensible part of the transaction is the encouragement given to the most ignorant and most dependent class in France , whilst all others are notoriously gagged , to flaunt an insolent bravado , and swear to trample out the last spark of public virtue . By degrees the barracks may come really to believe they are the most important estate in the country ; and whilst a disarmed and silenced population are preparing for brighter things , some discontented general , colonel , or corporal , grossly imagining that Liberalism means merely a personal dislike to the present Emperor , may undertake to be

      the saviour of bis country , and definitively p lace Trance at the mercy of a succession of Praetorian mobs .

      Untitled Article

      THE PRUSSIAN ALLIANCE IN EUROPE . "We have nationally advanced beyond the point at which the marriage of a Princess would affect the character of our foreign policy . Xet some considerations arise out of the alliance of Queen Victoria ' s daughter with Fbedebick-William of Prussia which deserve to be stated . It will be remembered that , when the plan of this union was somewhat unpopular , we analyzed the Royal class in all parts of Europe , and showed that , deducting Roman Catholic princes , married princes , pauper princes , ridiculous princes , princes in peril , and boy princes , Prince Fbedebick-William stood alone as a fitting

      is a bayonet , and that his mot d ordre is 1 Silence ! ' Prussia is , in some degree , a constitutional kingdom ; it venerates intellect , it encourages education ; it is opposed to Concordats and Jesuitry ; it acts as a check upon Austria ; its capital is a great centre of literary growth in the midst of Germany . It contains no population of Croats or Tartars ; it has no drill-sergeants on the Don or the confines of China . It has no Algeria or Cayenne . It has , what Austria has not , a Baron Bbnsen . It has , what in France is extinct , a press comparatively free , and religious discussion . It does not , like France , exist upon the brink of anarchy . It does not , like Austria , chain a Lombardy to the foot of a G-erman throne . Even the Polish subjects of King Fbedebick-William are satisfied , in comparison with those of the Emperor Aiexandeb . Fbedebick William is a despot , and Louis Napoleon is a despot ; but if the latter be of ' a new sort , ' the former is of the old , and the older the better . The world will not be astonished if , when the husband of our princess wears the Prussian crown , he should prove of a quality newer still .

      husband for pur Pbincess Royal . His religion , his political inheritance , his rank , were suitable . This view , not very general then , has now become so popular that some halfdozen of our contemporaries have done us the honour to reproduce and acknowledge as their own the reasonings and explanations of the article in question . To this we can have no objection . It gratifies us to find that the point at which public opinion would arrive , after some wanderings , had been so accurately marked . It may be added , however , that no slight influence may be exerted upon Prussian diplomacy by the Pbincess Royal herself . We know that

      the wife of the reigning King , being Russian , Russianized the policy of the Court . Then why should not the English consort of a future King Anglicize , to some degree , that policy ? The intercourse between the two Courts will probably continue close , and the interchange of visits will be frequent . The younger branches of the families will mingle from time to time . An English tone , perhaps , will be created . In fact , it may be

      assumed that British diplomacy in Prussia will become more powerful through the marriage of the Pbinoess Royal . Of Prussian diplomacy in England the same might : be said , were the policy of the British Government so personal as that of a German military monarch . But we have our supremo Parliament , which we are about to reform , thus laying a popular hand upon foreign affairs , and securing the responsibility of the Minister . It would be the fault of the

      Euglish people did Fredeuiok William , as prince or sovereign , exert more than a legitimate influence in Downing-street , We wnnt , however , a great Protestant ally upon the Continent , aa a balance to France , as a reserve in tho event of contingeucies . Prussia , if far behind us , is on tho same pnth-j--- ~ Frttno ©^ s ^ iourlyr--divergiug .- ^ -W-itljL the Freuoh Government the Engliali people can have no possible sympathy . We do not hate the Emperor ' s authority , but he detests our freedom . It is a dangerous and a flourishing example continually before the eyes of a people who havo now boon openly told by their master that his sceptre

      Untitled Article

      ALIENS AND ALIENATION . We trust that the bill to be introduced by Lord Palmebston" on Monday evening will involve the abandonment of no national principle . If it does , we still hope that there may be sufficient virtue in Parliament to ensure its rejection . Lord Campbell pronounces the existing law sufficient ; Lord Debby has spoken out to the same purpose ; and we look to the Liberal members of the House of Commons to be in their places when the enactment is proposed , in order that an immediate check may be applied to the

      Government policy . The motion for copies of any correspondence on the subject that may have passed between the two 'Cabinets is a very proper one . But we at once doubted whether it would be successful . Lord Palmebston was not desirous of showing how far he bad acted under implied menaces . It is humiliating enough to have been jockeyed by M . de Pebsigny into a legislative surrender . If , as Lord Campbell affirms , the crime in question may be [ reached by the actual law , what can Lord Palmebston mean uuless to

      appease the colonels of the French army , ior whom , on Thursday evening , Lord Gbanvillb was so eager to apologize ? If an address of the Blues , demanding to be employed in overthrowing the French Empire , were to be posted up on a public building in Whitehall , the Count be Mount might assume a different tone . But let us beware lest , while conciliating the French Emperor , we do not incur the contempt of the French people . We have already disappointed and alienated some of the best men in the country by our gratuitous congratulations showered upon the author of their abasement , for our public opinion has not always been so manly as it

      now is , and time was when the Corporation of Cambridge might have adopted a less creditable tone . Louis Napoleon is driving a population of liberals out of France into England , and if we are to maintain a force of secret police in tho service of his Empire , he might surely aflbrd ua a subsidy , instead of burdening our tax-payera with the cost . We wilUrQpeat _ LQrjO&fcL M ;^^^ guage on this subject , to which we referred last week . He was challenged to say whether the Government was about to adopt any restrictive measures with regard to the refugees , and in reply he made the following remarkable declaration :- - " I can only- repeat that which I think has been

      stated on former occasions in this House , that any such application would be met with a firm and decided refusal . ( Cheers . ) It is , indeed , obvious that it must be so , because no such measure could be taken by the Government of this country without fresh powers by Act of . Parliament ; and I apprehend that no- Government could , even if they were so inclined—and the present Government are not so inclined—apply for such a power with any chance of

      success—( loud cries of' Hear' ")—inasmuch as no Alien Bill , 1 believe , within the course of this century , has been passed ever giving to the Government the power of expelling foreigners , except with reference to considerations connected with the internal safety of this country . The British Government has never undertaken to provide for the internal security of other countries ; it is sufficient for them to have the power to provide for the internal security of their own . " This is the principle which Lord Palmebston will abandon on Monday evening next .

      Untitled Article

      Metropolitan Destitution . — The Rev . Robert Gregory , Incumbent of St . Mary ' s , Prince ' s-road , Lambeth , adds his testimony to that of the Rev . Mr . Churton , which we quoted last week , to the effect that great destitution prevails at present among the poor on the south side of the water . Writing to the Times , Mr . Gregory states : —" We have a population of 15 , 000 , with one or two exceptions , all poor . Out of such a multitude , sickness and want of work at all times create much distress . This is now increased and intensified by the unusual scarcity of work , and by the severity of the weather . from

      Scores of families exist upon an allowance of bread the workhouse , hundreds upon the furniture and clothing they had purchased in more prosperous times . The sick and ailing have their sufferings greatly added to by the diminution of the comforts they require , while many have to endure the greatest privations . I have lately seen rooms stripped of nearly every article of furniture , and even the bedclothes pawned for food . We opened a kitchen to supply the more necessitous with soup at Id ; a quart ; but even this is now less sought , when it is most wanted , because the penny cannot be raised . ' * The local Visiting Association is in want of funds , and can positively make no grant . —Similar complaints have been uttered from other parts of the metropolis .

      The late Attempted Assassination . —The investigations of the London and Birmingham police show that the engineer who made the shells used in the late attempted assassination of the Emperor of the French had not the least notion that those from whom he received instructions were refugees , or connected with any political party , but thought they were for some scientific experiments counected with legitimate warfare . The order and correspondence relating to them were carried on in the name of a foreigner known to' the police , but not in custody . The police have their eye on certain refugees in the neighbourhood of Leicester-square , who are supposed to have been concerned in the plot .

      Extraordinary Suicide . —An extraordinary case of suicide occurred last week at Rugby . An elderly married woman , named Mary Over , put an end to her life by hanging herself . From tbe evidence of several witnesses , given at the inquest , it appeared that she had been for some time in a depressed state of mind , and cherished the absurd idea that she was reflected on in the popular novel of " Tom Brown ' Schooldays , " as she had formerly been a matron at Rugby School . The jury found , " that the deceased destroyed herself while in a depressed state of mind arising from monomania . "

      New Indian Bishoprics- —A strong appeal is to bo made to the Government by the Archbishop of Canterbury , the Bishop of London , and the other ecclesiastical dignitaries and distinguished laymen who compose the governing body of tho Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts , and the Church Missionary Society , to subdivide tho diocese of Calcutta before appointing a successor to that see , which has become vacant by the death of Dr . Daniel Wilson . Mr . William Salmon , a lay vicar of Westminster Abbey , one of the gentlemen of tho Queen ' s Chapel Royal at St . James ' s , and ft musician of considerable faculty , died on Tuesday week at his residence in tho Lower Cloisters , Windsor Oaatlo , at tho ago of aixty-nino . Ho was buried in St . George ' s Chapel , with full choral

      s . Adulteration op Flour . —John Manloy , a miller of Erwick , near Exeter , has been convicted by tho bench of county magistratou of mixing alum with his flour . Ho admitted that ho had boon in tho habit of mixing six ounces of alum with ovory sack of flour , in ignorance of tho luw . Ho was condemned to pay a penalty of 20 / ., with costs . . ' H \ lBMBBR 8 'rOK ^ 'IIH ^ SoO 3 rrifla . U < VI \ : iiI ^ SITXJB 8 ,= ^ AjlWfcl lie meeting wua hold at Jodburgh on Friday w , tho Provost in tho chair , to potition Parliament In favour ot granting mombora to tho Sootllah Univoruitios . New Rkformatoky Scmooi ,. —A largo and convoniont building , to bo usod as a fomalo reformatory and refuge for discharged prisoners , has boon oroctoil at Exotor , and will Uo opened shortly for tho rocoption of inmates .

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 6, 1858, page 137, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2229/page/17/