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Leader (1850-1860), 20th February 1858, Edition 1 of 2, Page 184, Untitled Article

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      Untitled Article

      , QA THE LEADER . [ No . 413 , February 20 , 1858 . j . o 4 u ¦ . .

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      as implying the denial , not of any mental influence , bust of any authority capable of being enforced in any of our courts : ' I take them as meaning that the Queen is the supreme head of this nation , and that no laws can be allowed to have any authority in this country other than the laws to which the Queen and her Parliament have assented- For instance , suppose the Pope were to issue orders with regard to the approaching Lent , directing that certain fast days should be kept . Roman Catholics might be bound by these orders , and the fast days might be observed accordingly ; but if anybody were to point out some person who had not observed it , he could not go into any court and obtain the enforcement of that decree . " . -

      Sorely a frank and earnest desire on the part of the Roman Catholics to assist in getting rid of the disabilities which keep their Jewish brethren from political equality with them would make lighter of such imaginary differences . The considerations which have induced Lord John Rxjsseix to abandon the principle of providing a single oath for members of whatever religion , and which he regretfully ascribed to the jealous opposition of Protestants , should teach the Roman Catholics that , on their side , something of concession , if not of actual compromise , would both be wise and just at the present . They have once before received the boon of legislation in their behalf , and may , by the very act of conciliation now demanded of them , help forward the day for further boons , an unobjectionable adjustment of the present oath as soon as

      any . But , altogether , the temper of the Roman Catholic members appears better disposed towards the present bill than it . has towards any previous measure . And on the point of admitting Jews to Parliament there is a decidedly healthy feeling in the House of Commons . Indeed , the Question of the right of Jews to take an equal share in the Government of the country of which they are as much a part as their fellows , whether Protestant or Catholic , has over and over again been settled ; the one

      great difficulty has beentheoath which they have been called upon to take , and . which it was obviously impossible for them to pronounce . But at length a Form of oath is proposed such as the Jew may conscientiously and without reservation take , to the acceptation of which his Protestant brethren in the House of Commons will , it is to be hoped , offer no serious opposition . Should the House of Commons pass the bill with any approach * to unanimity , the Lords can scarcely refuse the forms necessary to make the bill law , or decline to assist in closing the perennial dispute which divides the Legislature and keeps one member for London City in a chronic state of invidious exclusion .

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      DE . LIVINGSTONE AND THE COMMERCE OF AFRICA . Da . Livingstone has laid open to science , and now undertakes to lay open to commerce , the interior of Southern Africa , from the border territories of the Atlantic to those of the Eastern Ocean . No longer associated with any missionary league , he is free to pursue this great work according to the bent of his own judgment . He has demonstrated the existence of a great line of water communication from the western settlements northwards , begun by the Coanga , continued by the Kasyo , and completed by tho Leambve , all out communicating with the

      navi gable Lake Ngami . Thence another line , of similar importance , trends eastward along the course of the full and broad Zambesi , which , in fact , is a prolongation of the Leambye , and which , dividing into several channels , is poured into the Indian basin at Quillimano . Throughout this great region , Dr . Livingstone has discovered tho materials and facilities of an extensive commerce , as yet undeveloped . The sugar-cane , several fibrous substances of great strength , previously unknown , indigo , quinine , senna , wax , honey , iron ore , copper , and malaohite , exist in abundance . wi that

      ¦ th coal and gold . " The country is so tortile , , in the gardens cultivated by the natives a constant process of sowing and reaping goes on all tho year round . It likewise grows immense quantities of """ gito ^ HGnKe ^^ Fho traveller found immense quantities of tho plant ulfacinya , from the cultivation of which in Kashmore Government derives a revenue of 12 , 000 / . a year for a . hundred and twenty-eight thousand ass-loads . 'JNie question is , then , whether tho Zambeai is penetrable by European commerce . , Dr . Livingstone , Captain Hyde Pabkeb , and Lieutenant Hoskins have declared it to be practicable ; and the Portugueso appear disposed to favour such an inland irofllo . The first necessary object is to secure ft

      safe and permanent avenue to the healthy highlands on the edge of the central basin ; and , although the Zambesi has not been surveyed , it is known to contain ample depth for navigation by large vessels during four or five months in the year . The course is thus navigable for upwards of three hundred miles ; above this point there is another reach of three hundred miles , occasionall y obstructed by sand , but without mud-banks . Along both banks the cotton cultivation might be developed without limit , in addition to the ordinary commerce of the country . Dr . Livingstone says : — " It is on the Anglo-American race that the hopes of the world for liberty and progress rest . Now it is very

      grievous to find one portion of this race practising the gigantic evil , and the other aiding , by increased demands for the produce of slave labour , in perpetrating the enormous wrong . The Mauritius , a mere speck on the ocean , yields sugar , by means of guano , improved machinery , and free labour , equal in amount to one-fourth part of the consumption of Great Britain . " On that island , however , land is excessively dear , and far from rich ; no crop can be raised except by means of guano , and labour has to ni xuuia cilia j

      De Drougnt an . me way no . . aju * m . . v , « the land is cheap , the soil good , and free labour is to be found on the spot . Dr . Livingstone , with his brother—separated from him in America for seventeen years—proposes to complete the great and patriotic work of his life by establishing , with the aid of the British and Portuguese Governments , an open highway from the sea to the fertile and salubrious interior of Africa south of the Equator . In this endeavour , the good wishes of the civilized world attend him .

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      POLITICAL NOTES . ThBn story of Cantixlob ' s reward has been very clearly explained by Mr . Stirlin g , and , without desiring to rip open a painful question , we will state the points which may be relied upon in proof that the French Emperor actually sanctioned payment of that scandalous legacy . In the Moniteur of August the 14 th , 1853 , it was stated that none of the legatees named by Napoleon I . had been paid in full , ' except some servants , ' of whom , as Mr . Stirling says , " Caktillon was certainly not one . " In May , 1855 , however , the statement of the Moniteur showed that Cantillon was ' the only person who had been paid in full . ' In the April of that year , it will be remembered , we published information from a special source that he had received ten thousand francs . Now , taking these points together , it is proved that the bequest was made by Napoleon 1 ., and , that it was not disavowed by Napoleon III ., while a reasonable inference ( even if we had no positive information ) would be , that between the August of 1853 , and the May of 1855 , the amount of the legacy was quietl y forwarded to Brussels .

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      The increase of French spies m London is ^ becoming a nuisance . They have been assisted , i t is well known , by our own detectives ; but there is some danger that if the foreign principle of hunt ing down tho suspected be adopted in Great Britain , it will considerably abridge the liberties and comforts of those who , in peace and quietness , enjoy our national hospitality . The gentleman who applied to Mr . Bubcham for redress , was told that the law provided none . Public feeling , however , is hostile to the spy . We , in England , abhor a man who uses the knife , but wo respect a man who , on proper occasions , uses a ' box of fives . ' He might be fined ; but the amount would bo forthcoming .

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      The Hyde Park Demonstration against Lord Palmbrston ' s Conspiracy Bill , is intended to serve an excellent object . It would , if really nationa and dignified , swell tho current strongly against an odious and disgraceful measure . We hesitate , however , to approve of these open-air mass meetings . That arranged for Sunday is no doubt in the best possible-hands ; ' -but-c « a- 'ifc * be-oertain- ^ tlMit-ft-vulgar tumult will not bo created which would servo no one so inuoh as tho French Emperor P It would be worth his while to subsidise a thousand ' roughs to convert the Hydo Park gathering into the , somblanco of a ribald and random mob .

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      Chvta Jtomanus ia in a lunatic asylum at Naples , goaded into iuaanifiy by tho royal police . There was a time , we think , wlion tho members for Newcastle would have started , up on tho floor of Parlia-

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      ment to ask why this humiliation had been endured . Lord Clarendon and Lord Palmerston , in their pleasant way , have excused the Neapolitan Govern . , ment ; but Count Cavoitr has distinctl y shown the seizure of the Cagliari steamer to have been illegal under the common code of nations . We doubt whether France would have left two of her subjects thus unprotected ; but , after all , our relations with Naples Lave sunk into an intrigue . Lord Palmerston will not have Muratism ; Louis Napoleon will not have Constitutionalism ; between the two the ' intervention' amounts to acquiescence , and Civis Jtomanus is driven mad by Neapolitan ill-\ isage—a scapegoat of diplomatic civilities , and a set-off to the official ' rupture . '

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      Attempted Murder by a Maniac . —An attempt has been made on the life of one of the prisoners confined in the Preston House of Correction by Thomas Kershaw , a young- man who was recently apprehended at Over Darwen on the charge of murdering his father , the particulars of which case appeared in the Leader a fewweeks ago . Kershaw has lately been placed in one of the hospital -wards of the prison , where two of his fellowprisoners , named Collins and Gorner , were appointed to watch him and prevent his doing himself any injury . He has latterly shown symptoms of mental derangement , having frequently talked in a very strange and incoherent manner abont Louis Napoleon , and likewise offered the most extravagant sums of money to the "Governor to

      permit him to escape . He appears to have taken an immense dislike to Collins , to whom he made a coiifesr sion of the murder of his father at Over Darwen , adding that he ( Collins ) had told tales of him to the Governor , and that he had better keep the poker and tonga out of the way , if he valued his personal safety . One night , Kershaw contrived , on some pretext , to withdraw Collins into a private part of the prison , arid the moment he had got him there , he endeavoured to fracture his skull with a spade that lay near him , but was frustrated in his design . Between four and five o ' clock the following morning , as Collins was reading by the fire , and Gorner and -two invalids were asleep in the same room , Kershaw suddenly leaped out of bed , seized

      a large iron coal shovel from the grate , and struck Collins four heavy blows on the head with it , the last of which rendered him' insensible for ten minutes . His screams for " help aroused the sleeping inmates of the chamber , when Gorner , after a severe struggle with Kershaw , succeeded in overpowering him , and , further as- ^ sistance arriving shortly afterwards , the maniac was secured and manacled . The wounded man is progressing favourably . Kershaw was subsequently brought jefore Mr . Winstanley , jun ., in the hospital ward , and committed for trial at the Lancaster Assizes on the two charges . He has since been very wild and rambling in his manner and conversation , and has often stated that some person had a razbr with which he meant to put him to death .

      . Transport of Troops and Stores to India . —The select committee of the House of Commons , appointed , on the motion of Sir De Lacy Evans , to inquire into tho transport of troops and atores to India , met for the first time on Tuesday , The committee consists of Sir De Lacy Evans ( in the chair ) , Lord Goderich , Sir John Pakington , Lord Stanley , Mr . Crawford , Mr . Danby Seymour , Mr . Osborne , Captain Vivian , Mr . Horsman , Mr . Willoughby , Sir E . Colebrooke , Mr . Byng , and Sir J . Elphinstone . Mr . P . Melvill , Secretary to the Military Department of the East India House , was called as the firat witness . He said that " in February , last year , there was a deficieucy of about 500 . 0 men . There had been a number of men withdrawn in 1854 , and

      remonstrances hud been addressed to Lord Dalhousie on the subject , Tho events in tho North-Western Provinces , including tho outbreak at Meerut , occurred on the JLOtli of May , and , as the communicatipn by telegraph was then complete , tho intelligence would be received by-Lord Canning and Lord Elphinstono tho following day . Lord Canning sent wT > rd that he did not consider it necessary to send out a steamer . The news was received by tho Court of Directors on the 27 th of Juno , and immediately tho Directors asked her Majesty ' s Government to place at their disposal four regiments to be sent out , in addition to four regiments of infantry and two cavalry regiments which were then on their way . Tho Board of Control instantly acquiesced in tho application . Lord with

      Canning lost ten days by not despatching a steampr tho news . Ever since 1864 there had boon a deficiency of European troops in India , and tho Government promised to make up tho deficiency as soon as possible . " The witness gave further evidence , tending to show that j , horo ™ hMJififlPUilojj !« 0 . u XJ 2 n » i !» 2 P art of tho Eaat £ ndIfl Company , but that there hail Been on tliTpfrt"Of "the —~ India Board . Troops could not be sent out to India during tho winter , because then thoy would arrive in tlio hot season , which would bo prejudicial to their health . Mr . Molvill also stated that tho chief reason why troops woro sent by sailing ships was booauso tho difference of expense between those vcshoIs and steamers is 10 / . ana 50 / . a man . Ahi / njmnoio of Fish . —For somo weeks pa » t , the mouth of tho Tecs has abounded with flab , chiefly aprata and horrlnga .

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 20, 1858, page 184, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2231/page/16/