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    Untitled Article

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    Untitled Article

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    Untitled Article

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    ANTI-REFORIVI TACTICS.

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    COALTnONS AND ALLIANCES.

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    Untitled Article

    THE course pursued by Opp osition on the second reading of the Reform Bill in the House of Commons , would seem , at first view , to be alike purposeless and unpatriotic . Disclaiming all intention of dividing against the principle of the measure , they have contrived to protract , the debate , until one man after anotlier iias thoroughly committed himself and his party against everything like just or generous recognition of the rights of the people . Speaker after speaker lias betrayed the detestation and the dread with wliich the most limited enfranchisement of the working classes is regarded . Although the utter hollowness and groundlessness of such fears have been clearly exposed by Mr . Baikes , Mr . Crossley , Mr . Bright , and others , on the Liberal side , the same ignoble and unmanly apprehensions have '

    been displayed again and again ; and appeals , the most undisguised , have been made to the selfishness of tlie middle classes , who may , it is hoped , be perplexed , and for the moment paralyzed by the notion that they are " to be swamped , " as the slang phrase goes , by the admission of one out of every twenty working men to the franchise . In the face of a general election , which if the Bill passes cannot be very far off , the adoption of language like this would appear to be unaccountable , if not insane . But as the controversy proceeds , we begin to discern the real drift and tendency of the course pursued . ' Under the semblance of willingness to discuss the question generally , tlie desperate hope is entertained that by delay the Bill may be defeated this session . With the recollection of their own Bill still fresh , in men ' s minds ,

    fulness as a public man , and left him with hardly one intimate and confiding political friend . Arrogant and supercilious . to all with whom he is brought into contact * he is wholly devoid of that superb grace and dignity of bearing for which his father was distinguished . " Tetchy and wayward from his infancy , " he lias been alternately the torment of colleagues when in office , and the petulant and resentful assailant of his party whenever he has been left out . For some years past this evil has been deemed the lesser of the two , and the continuance of his ostracism from power seems to have rendered him more reckless and perverse than ever . This may in part account for his Lordship's recent course regarding Reform , and that which lie threatens to pursue after the holidays . The notice he has given of a motion for a committee to collect statistics on all points connected with the representation before proceeding with the consideration of any practical measure of amendment or relief , is a most characteristic specimen of the wrong-headedness of the man . Such a- , committee might sit till Christinas , or throughout next session as well as this , without coining to any definite residt ; and no result at which they could by any amount of assiduity arr ive , could possibly touch the vital and obvious issue that is at slake . It would be the veriest mockery of tlie people Vpatience ami of their prayers . But we cannot forget that this is the same Lord Grey who deserted the Government of Lord Melbourne in 1839 , because Mr . ( afterwards Lord ) Maoavlat was invited to join it as a Ballot-teer .

    the Toi-ies could not well fall back upon their old doctrine of " no Reform . " Twelve months have hardly . elapsed since they staked their retention of power on the success of a measure which they brought forward as a great and comprehensive change in our electoral system .. It would'hardly have done , therefore , to turn round . suddenly and . refuse in , so many words to entertain the subject at all ; and it would have been hopeless to try and get a majority against Ministers on the second reading .

    What , then , was to be done ? ISTo other tactics seemed to promise a chance of even temporary success but those of delay . The object must be to get up interminable discussions , on wide and general grounds—the wider , and the more general , the better for the purpose . Provocative denunciations of the nature of the Bill were , for this purpose , indispensable . Mere practical criticism and commentary on details would not do , for these must either lead to summary refutation or to practical amendment of the measure in committee : —and neither one nor the other was the

    object sought to be attained . The language of vague misgiving and of vituperative attack on the authors of the Bill and their motives , promised to cause afar greater consumption of time ; and by sheer waste of time the anti-Reform leaders tell their followers that it is still possible they may win . They were , moreover , encouraged in this course by the aid afforded them in , both Houses by recreant "Whigs like Lord Grey . It is certainly npt a little strange that the sinister part taken by . Lord Normanby in foreign politics should be so closely copied by Earl Gkey in questions of home politics like Reform . People begin to ask , what does it mean ? Both were for years . the confidential associates of the men who now fill the

    highost political offices under the Crown 5 and while in power they contrived to have their immediate relatives placed in the highly confidential and politically irresponsible positions of private secretary to the Queei * and private secretary to the Phince Consort . These appointments do not change with the fluctuations of parliamentary parties , but have for many years continued , by royal favour , to survive every variety of Administration . What personal ties of sympathy or sentiment subsist between these privy ministers pf the Court and their respective brethren , who make it their especial business to oppose the pviblio ministers of the Crown in Parliament , we do not pretend to say . But it is certainly a most unfortunate coincidence that the two most factious opponents of Liberal policy nt

    homo and abroad at the present juncture . should be the Marquis , of Norm an by and Earl Grey / No wonder people ask' —whnt does it mean P Of the conduct of the former with rega ^ to Austria and her hereditary minions , whom she would fain re-imposo on emancipated Italy , we have long sinco taken occasion to express our opinion . Of the latter noble lord , if wo speak with equal freedom , we do so with a still stronger sense of the duty that lies upon us to do . so ; for Lord Gkey is n man > of n , o paltry vanity or coxcombical ambition . He is a man of information , industry , and quickness of perception—a man of undaunted cournge in tlie avowal of his sentiments , especially when ho is in the wrong , and , with a certain impressive earnestness of delivery that generally commands rather than wins attention to what he says . But on the other hand , ho is n man , the vices of whose disposition have from the outset of his onreor marred his use-

    Untitled Article

    M E . BRIGHT has a singular aptitude lor placing ptibJic ' questions on the lowest possible grounds . He can conceive nothing higher than a good bargain , and recklessly vituperates those who interfere with the trade he wishes to drive . These qualities inay endear him to a limited ; circle of dealers and chapmen , but they damage his advocacy of a good cause , when , for business considerations , he thinks proper to become the champion ' of a nationaHdea . On Tuesday night he wished to guard his country against a repetition of former errors , and an entanglement in alliances to sustain dynasties and preserve the states

    balances of power , but his oration neither indicated - man , the gentleman , nor the sound moralist . One of his newspaper opponents was characterised as a compound of " piety and ruffianism , " and it was more tlian hinted that all writers who express alarm at the conduct of the French Empire are in the pay of pretenders to the throne now occupied by Napoleon III . ! This is worse than , nonsense . It is possible that some writers and proprietors of newspapers may be of Mr . Bright ' s opinion , arid look ' upon' politics chiefly or entirely with an eve to trade ; but there is a very large amoxmt of honest public opinion , which views with anxiety every symptom of ¦ Imperial aggression , and

    cannot banish from its consideration the possibility of England s being called upon to sustain by force of arms what is called the " public law of Europe . " The immense taxation to which the people of this country have cheerfully submitted , the prodigious outlay upon naval and other armaments , the expense and trouble to which thousands have put themselves in order to swell the ranks of the volunteer rifle'corps , these arc all proofs of uneasiness , and of warlike energy that require to be cautiously guided , if wo would avoid consequences disastrous to ourselves and mischievous to the general good . In our last week ' s impression wo treated the annexation of Savoy , and especially of the Swiss portion , as an

    indication of further designs , and wo are not surprised that Lord JoliN Hussell should express his belief that . " such an act will lead a nation so warlike as the French to call on its government , froin time to time , for other acts of ^ a similar nature 3 " but when the noble Secretary for Foreign Affairs adds , " that , however we may wish , to live on the most friendly terms with the Frencji Government , we ought not to keep ourselves apart from the other notions of Europe , that when future questions arise , as future questions may arise , we shall bo ready to net with others , " wo do fear something like a renewal of the pld alliances and coalitions , that . were so costly to England , without adequate benefit , to

    ourselves or to anybody else . , The French Government may bo justly condemned for its duplicity and untruthfulness in the mutter of Savoy , but , unfortunately , thoso oro qualities of which sovereigns and cnbuiols are usually proud ; and if : they alienate us from Imperial France , they should do no loss than make us . equally wary of trusting other despotic powers . Mr . Bhiout dosircs that our foreign policy shall ho such aa not to " estranges us from any of the Governments of Europetlmt it shall not bo such to Franco on 0110 side , or to Austria oxj the other , as shall make ono of those powers the embittered enemy of England . " This kind of neutrality belong to a policy which could nevtir bo pursued by a high-minded nation , because

    Untitled Article

    March Si , 1860 . J The Leader ' andSaturday 1 Analyst . 295

    Anti-Reforivi Tactics.

    ANTI-REFORIVI TACTICS .

    Coaltnons And Alliances.

    COALITIONS AND ALLIANCES .

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), March 31, 1860, page 295, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2340/page/3/