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Leader (1850-1860), 13th February 1858, Edition 1 of 2, Page 155, Untitled Article

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      Untitled Article

      afOTIOES TO CORRESPONDENTS . Ifc is inroossible to acknowledge the / mass of letters we -receive ^ Their inserfcion is often delayed , owing to a press of matter ; -and-when Omitted , it is frequently from reasons quiteindependeut of the . merits of the oommunioa-Several communications unavoidably stand over . No notice can be taken of anonymous correspondence . Whatever is intended for insertion must be authenticated by the name and address of the writer ; not necessarily for publication , but as a guarantee of his good faith . _ We cannot undertake to return rejected communications .

      Untitled Article

      LONDON CORPORATION REFORM . The gratification expressed by Lord John Russell as to the provisions of Sir George Grey ' s new Corporation Reform Bill will be found to represent a general feeling on this subject ; for the present measure , as explained by Sir Geobge Grey , appears to meet as nearly as any measure emanating from that quarter can , the views of those who are friendly to the Corporation . Many of the more objectionable clauses -of the previous measure have been abandoned , and others have been in spirit provided for in private bills . The previous measure was founded upon recommendations of a Commission of Inquiry , but had not been limited to the embodiment' of those recommendations .

      The object of the Commissioners was simply to produce a measure as much as possible like the Municipal Corporation Act , at the same time modified to meet the peculiar circumstances of the City of London : but the framers of the rejected bill went beyond even that sweeping plan . In the present Bill it is proposed to make the governing body , as in other municipal boroughs , a Common Council , consisting of a Lord Mayor , Aldermen , and Common Councillors . It is proposed to

      divide tho City into 16 wards of nearly equal area , each ward to elect one Alderman and six Common Councilmen , giving 112 Common Councilmen instead of the present 232 , elected by 26 wards of very unequal extent . With tho proposed adjustment of the area of the wards there will be a considerable extension of the constituencies of the Common Council . An occupation of the annual value of \ Ql . would give a qualification ; the present .

      restriction , by which an elector must bo a treeman , ' being abolished . The Common Council is to be elected annually . One point in tho former measure which was particularly objectionable , was tho limitation of tho term of office for Aldorman to six years ; in the present Bill it is proposed to . elect thorn for lUe , but with a provision onabling the Court of Common Council to roinoVo an Aldorman from oflico under circumstances calling for such an oxorqiso of power . Tho Aldermen

      will retain their present ; mftgisteria ^ iunctiona ; but power is proposed to be given to the Corporation to . appoint stipendiary magistrates . , ... Tho greatest ( liU ' ercuco introduced with regard to the election 6 t" ollicors is in thexjaso of the Lord Major , ilithorto he has been chosen from among the Aldermen , and iroin

      Untitled Article

      V * . 41 S , V&bkujwx : IS , i 85 « . fl TIE REAPER . 1 ® 5

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      Untitled Article

      V ' \ / W ' SATUEDAT , FEBRUARY 13 , 1858 .

      Untitled Article

      There is nothing so revolutionary , because there is nothing so unnatural and convulsive , as the strain to keep things fixed when all the world is by the very law of its creationm eternal progress . —Dk-Abkolp . **

      Untitled Article

      THE DEBATE AND THE VOTE . The fate of Lord Palmerston ' s Conspiracy Bill lias yet to be determined . Last Tuesday ' s vote , although a national humiliation , was not a Ministerial triumph . It proved , simply , that the House of Commons is content to dally with a great principle , while it was far from proving that Lord Palmerston would be enabled to carry his bill , which , in spirit , is something like a Fugitive Slave Law . The debate was in distinct contradiction to the vote . Mr . Disraeli condemned the proposal in the House , and supported it in the lobby . "We should "be little astonished if , upon the motion for the second reading , the measure were rejected , or , in committee , amended and mutilated until it become a dead letter . It will then have to pass through the Hereditary Chamber , where the Law lords will undertake its analysis and revision . But , in the meantime , we must call upon the Liberal party to redouble their efforts in order to oppose the principle on which the Government desires to legislate . Very few members belonging to this section spoke on Monday or Tuesday ; upon the next opportunity we hope their voices will be heard , and that they will utter their own protests and those of their constituents . The occasion is important , tho time for action is rapidly passing ; we may be sure that every possible effort will be made to hurry on the final decision of Parliament . Lord Palmerston , it is well known , feels little confidence in his own success , and was somewhat startled by the majority of two hundred which gave him ' leave to "bring in . ' , we repeat , that was not the deliberate verdict of tho Commons upon tho merits of the question at issue . In tho list of the Government majority wo find some names which may well excite Burprise . From the list of tho minority , other names are absent which should surely 'have swelled the protest against an unwise and disgraceful capitulation . Tho Houso of Commons is yery ' English ' when it resists the Ballot ; it is very Continental when it guards tho person of a doar ally . Still , tho discuHsion was , in many respects , creditable to a British Parliament . It brought forward Lord John Russkll , who took a high part and tone , contrasting strikingly with tho ab- ; jecb—and—ostentatious—unction—of— . Mr .-J Disraeli ' s panegyric upon Lours Na- p olison . Lord John Russell opposed tho principlo of tho bill ; Mr . Disraeli affected critical statesmanship , and , although dis- satiniied , would not harshly or hastily con- demn a proposal which ho had not had time to consider . Generally , howevor , tho weight of opinion—whatever tho result when

      votes were counted—was hostile to the Cabinet scheme to change the law of Great Britain in deference to a foreign dictator . Two sophisms were employed to rebut this charge levelled against Lord Paimesston , not by Lord John Russell alone , but by Mr . Monoktott Milnes and others of his habitual supporters . It was said that the Emperor had apologized for publishing the addresses of the army , and a despatch to that effect was read to the House . " I suspect it is dated since Friday , " said Mr . [ Roebuck . It was written on

      Saturday , after Mr . Roebuck ' s attack upon Louis Napoleon had been telegraphed to the Tuileries . This altogether destroys the meaning and value of the Imperial apology . It was evidently not spontaneous . But then it was urged that the French Government having demanded one thing , and the English Government having conceded another , we

      could not be said to act under dictation Now , Lord Palmebston himself declared that Count Walew ^ ki had made no suggestion at all , except that' something should be done . ' And something is to be done , at Count Walewski ' s dictation . " What becomes , then , of the ministerial argument ? " We are not going to insinuate that Mr . Disraeli could have written the 'immortal state

      spondent at Brussels informed us thAfc amOlig the four millions of franca paid to discharge the , legacies of the First NaLbomjcW , ten thousand were paid to CantiiiLON , who kept a grocer ' s shop near , the Rue Royal © . He was personally known to our correspondent . We described at the time how Louts Napoleon received the insignia of the Garter worn by Wellington at the same time that Cantillon received his hire . Does

      Mr . Stirling think that this transaction will be explained to the British Government , on demand , by Count Walewskt or his master ? The Times of January , 1853 , might enlighten him on a question of this character . Our contemporary , condescending to violence which we have never imitated , charged Louis Napoleon with , the gratuitous massacre of twelve hundred persons . The Monitetvr declared that no statistics were in existence to prove this assertion , and the Times retorted , "Wenever said that Louis Napoleon had made an official return of the murders he has perpetrated . " Nor will he offer a diplomatic explanation of the price of blood paid to the trusty and well-beloved Cantillon .

      paper' which should have silenced the French Minister for Foreign Affairs , although he intimated plainly enough "that , had the Right Honourable Member for Bucks been in Downing-street , a Canning would have risen in judgment—which may be doubted —but it would have been no more than decent if Lord Cl abend on , when M . Ledku Rollin was thus publicly libelled , had informed Count Walewski that this

      gentleman had offered to take his trial before a British jury . M . Ledru Rollin has been visited by spies in the Imperial pay , who have solicited him to join in plots of assassination , but he has expelled them from his house , although upon the next occasion , should Lord Palmerston ' s bill become law , he might give into custody the agent of the French secret police , cite him

      ; before a court , and hand him over to penal servitude . Probably , the wretch might make a clean breast of it , and contribute towards a history of the processes l ) y which France has been governed since 1852 . We have touched , we think , upon the only merit of the proposed Act . If adopted , it may check the activity of Louis Napoleon ' s paid informers in London .

      \ < ] . i 1 I ' i I < 1 i Mr . Dtocomkb was in a hurry to be generous , and brought upon himself a cloud of witnesses to prove that the Fx'ench Emperor was a homicide at Boulogne , and that M . Dia Persigny was an accomplice in the crime of manslaughter . But this is not tho only painful reminiscence stirred up by the indiscretion of the first Minister . Tho story of Cantillott is now a fireside anecdote in nil parts of tho kingdom . Mr . Stirling , with adroit simplicity , supposes ho can scrutinize this roport to the bottom by putting a question to the Treasury Bench , as if tho fact had boon officially

      communi-< < 1 ' . 1 i i : i I I ' i cated by Count Walewskt to the Foreign Office . Without pretending to limit tho faculty of self-assurance enjoyed by the French Emperor , wo can hardly imagine him instructing M . bio Persigny to lay beibro .-tho _ . BLutiBhjQoA ' , ca jimon , t _ a _ fitnteinexit of the arrears paid up to Oantillon for attempting to murder tho Duke of Wioli / inoton , Mr . Stirling , however , was correct in affirming that tho statement had boon for Homo years in circulation . It was firat mado in t ; -ho . Leader , in April ; 1855 , when tho history of Oantillon ' s attompt was explained , and when a corro-

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 13, 1858, page 155, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2230/page/11/