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hnir 21, 1852 ; THE NORTHERN STAR. ,
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XEVER FEAR. Never fear, never fear! See ...
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Kemetos
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The JhbUnBstiew. No. 62. Londoii: Richar...
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History of the Whig Ministry of 1830, to...
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A SUBSCRIPTION FOR EUROPEAN FREEDOM. TO ...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Hnir 21, 1852 ; The Northern Star. ,
hnir 21 , 1852 ; THE NORTHERN STAR . ,
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Xever Fear. Never Fear, Never Fear! See ...
XEVER FEAR . Never fear , never fear ! See the light is yonder gleaming , Timefor action now is here , Men have long-enough beep dreaming ; Break the bigot ' s staff , and say , " Join the stream ! bring on the day 1 Every doubt shall pass away : Never fear ! Never fear , never fear ! light and darkness straggle ever , Long the battle may appear ; Bat shall darkness gam it ! > ever . Face to face the foes have met , And the clouds are o ' er us yet , But the day will brighter get : Never fear !
Uleret fear , never fear I See the march of education ; Hot alone to wealthy peer , Bnt to men of humble station . All shall burst the darkened cell , Learn to read , and write , and spell , Anda littlemore as well : Never fear ! Never fear , never fear ! Popes and Cardinals have flourished ; Tyranny must disappear , By the soil no longer nourished . Men a little wiser grow , AU things change and onward flow , Popes have come , and Popes will go Naur fear !
Never fear , never fear ! Hope shall whisper words of kindness , . Prejudice shall disappear , Stripped of all its wretched blindness ; Scales from bi ^ ot eyes shall fall , And mankind , both great and small , Find the world was made for all : Never fear 1 J J . Bubbidob
Kemetos
Kemetos
The Jhbunbstiew. No. 62. Londoii: Richar...
The JhbUnBstiew . No . 62 . Londoii : Richardson and Sons , Fleet-street . This is the quarterly exponent of the views of the Roman Catholic party in this country , and whatever may he said as to the tenets of the Church of Some , or the political consequences of its ecclesiastical systern , it ia impossible to withhold from the ' Dublin Review * the credit of great literary ability , conjoined with controversial powers and critical acumen , which would do honour to the best disputants trained in the most ultra-Protestant school of free inquiry and full discussion . Into the doctrinal and purely
polemical asjeists of the question between Papacy and Protestantism , we are happily not required , hy our position as political journalists , to enter Were we inclined to do so , however , -we should find in the article on Father Gentili ample proof , that however "C atholicism may succeed in subordinating the will , the passions , and the intellect to one great purpose , and thus present an example of organisation and unify not to be found among Protestant sects , this object is attained at the sacrifice of some things
higher and more precious to humanity than what is gained in their place . Few can lament more deeply the incoherent , incongruous , and subversive state of society than we do , or more anxiously desire to see its jarring elements harmonised , Its conflicting interests reconciled . But , in order to produce a genuine and lasting unity , it must he produced by fusion , not mechanical compression . The combined and harmonised action of society should spr ing from the enlightened action of all the human faculties—not from the obliteration of all that constitutes the life of each
individual , and his perversion into the unreasoning instrument of the will of a supreme superior , whose decrees must neither be questioned nor evaded . Father Gentili seems to have given much trouble to his superiors before they could reduce him to the requisite mill-horse obedience . He could not help thinking for himself , and , as a consequence , occasionally acting in accordance with his own profound conviction of what was right ; and Ibis brought down upon him repeated and severe reproofs . In one instance , a wide field of usefulness opened up to him in the religious instruction of a large number of the poorest aud most destitute children in Rome , as well
as poor adults , who were charitably removed , to some extent , from temptations to evil courses . To this work he devoted himself with great zeal , notwithstanding his first scruples , arising from the obedience he owed his superior , ' who had commanded his return . The Abate Kosmini speedily convinced him that the Church of Home permits no such independent action on the part of its priests . To give way to benevolent impulses , to speak frankly the feelings and emotions of the heart , to enter upon
works of mercy and charity , without leave of the Superior , is designated in the article before ns ' the deceit of the Devil and his own self-love . The Abate writes to him in the following style : You say you felt an inspiration to do so . But I wish you had fewer inspirations , and more firmness , and more obedience above all This talking with so many about our affairs , and your acting as my procurator , are not entirely in accordance with the spirit < if our Institute , which recommends ns rather to be unobtrusive , humble , and contented . '
It appears to have been a long time before Father Crentili's mind was deprived of all re-active and independant volition . In a subsequent part of his career , while residing in this country as a missionary , in Leicestershire , it was resolved by Father Pagani , the superior , to remove him to Birmingham , on a new mission . For what appeared to him sufficient reasons , he opposed this change , defeated it , and wrote to * the Father General' to explain his reasons .
The reply breathes the very essence of despotism . It is a severe and stern exposition of the supreme ' holiness' of a total abnegation of your own judgment , and a perfect obedience to your superiors , ' which * eems to be the Alpha and Omega of the Roman Catholic Church in ecclesiastical matters , and which , as we know by the recent revelations from Naples and elsewhere , is but too faithfully and strictly applied to matters political also , wherever the opportunity permits .
We cannot help giving the impressions produced ^ rpon the mind of an Italian and a sincere Catholic by his first sight of London , and his subsequent opinions when resident among the green pastures and white fleeces of Leicester . Father Gentili is , however , not singular in interpreting God ' s judgments ¦ according to his own notions , and devoting to Satan all that does not exactly hamonise with what is right and wrong ; the spirit of Bigotry is the same , whether it displays itself in the Roman Catholic Priest or the itinerant Ranting tub thumper , though the -expression at it may be more polished in the one than the other . Here is Gentili ' s description of London : —
We seemed to be really entering the cify of Pluto : blacK booses , a black sky , black shipping , and black looking sailors—filthy to an extreme degree—the waters of the Thames were tinged with a colour between black and yellow , and emitted a stench highly offensive : on land , there prevailed a confused noise , with horses , carriages , and men of every condition running and crossing each ¦ others' path—in fine , to make a long story short , here the devil is seen enthroned , exercising his tyrannical sway over wretched mortals . His missionary life in Leicestershire seems to have "been scarcel y more agreeable : —
Here I am , among heretics ; alas ! what a humiliation it is for a son of Holy Church to behold his mother here in the most deplorable slavery ! "What errors , vices , mise . lies , and folly prevail ! Who will give tears sufficient to my eyes to weep over such a desolate state of things 1 Cod ' s judgments are inscrutable ; but it appears a divine malediction has fallen upon this land . It is a chaos , where nullus ordo , sed sempitemus horror inhdbitat . Even nature seems to concur in reducing it to this condition ; for the country , generally speaking , presents nothing to view but hay and oak trees . The atmosphere is almost always cloudy , and whenever it shows itself serene , it appears with
a leaden coloured veil , which weighs down ones spirits . 0 where are those evenings and days of another climewhen at morn , or at noontide , I could raise my eyes towards the sun ' s brilliant beams , and at night , to the starry vault of Italy ' s azure sky , and feel at the same time , my soul , of the world unmindful , wholly absorpt in God Where , in fine , amid the warbling of nightingales , I used to raise my voice in psalms and canticles , in behalf of my own necessities , and the Church's wants , to the Creator ' s eternal throne ? Here , on the contrary , a flock of garrulous crows continually stunning my ears , render my abode still more dismal .
Now , we can easily comprehend how an Italian should long for the brilliant skies of his own bright ' - "limate ; but really we must protest against our hay-£ elds , 'brave old oaks , ' and pleasant old r ookeries , being denounced as evidences of a ' divine maledict ion' upon England , because she is * heretical / Sup-
The Jhbunbstiew. No. 62. Londoii: Richar...
posing the . . Cardinal Archbishop . of Westminster succeeds in restoring her to the fold of the One True Church , shall we have 'the sun ' a brilliant beams , ' the starry vault of Italy ' s azure sky , ' and the warbling of nightingales , in the north of England ? But enough of this , which we have only introduced to show how much we differ from the essential principle of the- ecclesiastical system of the Romish Church . The first article ia a readable and well executed review of Wordsworth ' s Life and Writings , which is characteristically introduced by a tirade against the 'Libraries of frantic novels , ' which
Are issued weekly and monthly by the press , at prices varying from a peony to a shilling , the least faults of which are , that they corrupt the taste , and the worst , that they corrupt the-bearts of the rising generation . Numerous infamous bookshops ( continues the author ) are supported in every large town in the united kingdom , by the almost exclusive sale of these immoral publications . Tbey are sold in the streets and at the railway stations , and aro read by the idle at home , by the traveller ou his journey , and above all ' on Sundays , hy railiners and tradespeople , who are confined to sedentary occupations during the week . The best of these publications are written as if all the functions of the soul as well as the toils of the body were confined to
this world ; they never cast one earnest glance heavenward , and if the name be mentioned at all , it is merely as a figure of speech to express earthly felicity . Their virtue is the outpouring of mere natural benevolence and kindheartedness , and thus they are calculated indirectly , to effect that which the worst openly attempt , the destruction of the faith and morality of the gospel . From the weakness and corruption of the human heart , such writings , however contemptible as literary productions , will be far more widely circulated , and consequently far more remunerative , than those which touch with the most exquisite tenderness the highest and holiest impulses and sympathies of man ' s immortal spirit .
Shepherd ' s ' Early History of the Popery' from the Protestant point of view , undergoes a searching and severe ordeal , and the grounds on which a ' Catholic University' should be established in Ireland are ably set forth from the Roman Catholic point of view . Indeed , of all the articles in the present number , this is the one we should most recommend to the attention of the general reader . At the present time , when education is exciting so much interest , all who are active in the cause should know what can be said in favour of the supreme importance of dogmatic and authoritative theological instruction , and the utter subordination of secular and scienific instruction .
The article , however , which is likely most deeply to interest the general reader , is that entitled ' State Bishops . ' There the Catholics fairly have the Established Church on the hip . Whatever may be said against the utter abnegation of will and thought required from such a man as Father Gentili , still his life , devoted to the service of his fellow man , according to his own sincere convictions and his death in the midst of labours directed to the amelioration of famine and pestilence in the terrible year 1848 , present a marked contrast to the . selfishness , greediness , and vulgar wrangling about stipends , not unmixed with the actual - dishonesty , which has characterised the career of too many of our State Bishops . They are indeed shepherds who shear , not tend their flocks . ' The Age of Honesty' is a well
written exposure of the fradulent adulterations which are now perpetrated in almost every department of industry and commerce under our high pressure competitive system . Taking the revelations of the ' Lancet' and other recent authorities , here is a portrait of ' the Englishman' as a French draughtsman might sketch him from his own writings : — The Englishman is naturally of a sad and melancholic disposition , and chooses his habitation accordingly . It has been gravely asserted by an Alderman of London , ( a gastronomic officer of the corpora tion , ) that its most cheerful and healthy spot , is the great cattle market called Bchmidtfeld , and the rich merchants have their warehouses and shops close to graveyards , where they imbibe a pestilential and roost noxious air , at every breath .
The water supplied to him and his family to drink , is ef various qualities , differing one from the other in the amount of animal life with which each abounds . The " Lancet" has published a series of pictures , full of animation , representing the scenes which occur in every glass of water drunk in different localities . These comprehend not only Lainbetb , Southwark , and places inhabited by the poor , but Hampstead , Richmond , and many other fashionable abodes of the rich . When he rises in the morning he refreshes himself at breakfast with a cup of tea , black or green . The first is often composed , according to his own statements , of sycamore , horse-chesnut . or sloe leaves , or of a tea already used , and got up again with sulphate of iron and mica .
The second is invariably a perniciously drugged compound , containing China clay , Prussian blue , verdigris , arseniate of copper , potash , and various learned preparations of lead . Or he prefers coffee , which , with few exceptions , is a mixture of chicory , itself grossly adulterated , with a portion of coffee , and sometimes acorns , mangel-wurzel , and ground corn . To this he adds milk copiously diluted with water , and perhaps a dark sugar , swarming with hi eons acarides , and filled with cane splinters , sand and grit . If he be recommended cocoa , and procure soluble or homeopathic preparations of it , he is , more than ten to one drinking an infusion of flour , potato , sago , arrowroot , or Indian com , possibly coloured by some metallic earth . Nay , further , if for the sake of health he procure
for himself or children more expensive foods , made up in half-crown packets , under the name of Exvalenta , or Revalenta , Soojee , Prince of Wales's food , & c , he has the cruel satisfaction of knowing that he is taking water and pea-flour , or potato-starch , or lentil flour , which costs , to the mendacious advertiser , ( that denies its presence in his nostrum ) just one penny . With these deleterious drinks he eats plentifully of bread strongly impregnated with alum , which makes it light , not only in quality , but in weight . When he comes to dinner he does better , because be feeds greatly upon meat , in which none can excel him . But the moment he turns aside from the simple produce of the field or garden , he relapses into his conscious participation of noxious aliments . He drinks beer or porter ,
potently medicated with coculus mdicus , grains of paradise , copperas , or liquorice ; or Jwjne manufactured from indigenous berries . If he season his meat with what he calls mustard , he knows it isjnainiy flour coloured and spiced with turmeric ; if with pepper , half of it is flour . Into his salad he pours oil not of the olive , and vinegar not of the grape . If he relish his arrow-root , it is proof "that his taste is Hibernian , and loves the potato ; if he prefer felly , and buys isinglass for it , he knows , all the time , that it is a perfectly different animal substance . In this way he lives contented , always muttering threats and grumbling at the dishonesty in the world , always confident be can do anything he likes , and that he ought to have the best of everything , but still submitting to a tyrannical system of vexation and roguery .
With respect to the authorised adulteration of coffee by chicory , the writer says : — The most astounding case of adulteration , connected with this vegetable , remains to be told . Wo remember a certain notorious radical , in the days when the term was almost libellous , of the name of Hunt , who was prosecuted , and cast in heavy penalties for selling , not even under the name of coffee , but under that of " breakfast powder , " an innocent farina of roasted beans . Well now , in these days of free trade , the same authority which pursued him , permits the adulteration of coffee with chicory , and thereby opens the door to every species of fraud . For what does
the reader think chicory is ? Why itself the most adulterated of adulterations . The following is a list of the substances with which this drug , called by the Chancellor of the Exchequer " a wholesome and nutritious " substance is occasionally mixed , previous to its being added to coffeepowder : Carrots , parsnip , mangel-wurzel , beans , lupin seeds , wheat , rye . dog-biscuit , burnt sugar , red earth , horse-chestnuts , acorns , oak-bark tan , mahogany saw-dust , Venetian red , and though last , not least , baked horses ' livers . Round about the cauldron go . In the poisoned entrails throw .
If so foul an outrage upon honesty , decency , health , and humanity can be fully substantiated , we can hardly think any severity too great in punishing it .
History Of The Whig Ministry Of 1830, To...
History of the Whig Ministry of 1830 , to the Passing of the Beform Bill . By J . R . Roebuck , M . P . 2 Vols . London : Parker . The appearance of this work has been nicely timed Simultaneously with the proposal of a New Reform Bill , Mr . Roebuckgivesusthe bistoryof theparty , who introduced , and the story oftheinfluencesand obstructions whichaccompanied the passing of the first , some twenty years ago . Many of ihe more prominent and influential actors in that great political drama are still on the stage ; but how changed is the cast of the piece ! Among those withdrawn by death are Lords Grey andDurham , Daniel O'Connell , and Shiel . Macauley has retired from active political life ; Stanley and
Graham have become the opponents and rivals of those with whom they then fought side by side ; and even the first Lord Chancellor , under the Reform Bill , now faces a Whi g government from the front oppositionhench in the Lords . Other changes might be enumerated , but they wo uld lead ns astray from the main object of this notice of Mr . Roebuck's work . Briefly the result of all these changes may be summed up in this : The first Reform Bill so far transcended the expectations of any measure likely to emanate from the ruling classes , that the country became suddenly almost delirious ; and in its frenzy raised a cry for « the bill , the whole bill , and nothing but the bill , ' which has descended to us as the most notable incident of these times . The se-
History Of The Whig Ministry Of 1830, To...
cond Reform Bill falls so farbelow either . the feara of the Conservatives , or the hopes of the Reformers , that it excites neither antagonism nor support . It has fallen almost still-born . Lord John has imparted to his last production his own political torpidity . He is the Rip Van Winkle of politicians . Having fallen asleep in 1832 he has woke up in 1852 under the impression that things have been standing still ever since . To write contemporary history is , perhaps , the most difficult task that can be undertaken . Especially difficult to the man who has taken ah active and necessarily to some extent , a partisan part in the events narrated . It appears to be a law of nature that the historian should get at a considerable distance both from the times and
the actors before he can esti mate truly tho relative magnitude and bearing of events and men . On the other hand , what is gained in general accuracy , is perhaps lost by the absence of those minute details which give life and vigour to the so-called historical novels of the author of' Waverley , ' and ahost of imitators who have aimed at filling up the outlines traced by History . But it is not easy for a man to rise above the passions and prejudices of his times , or even to get more than a partial glimpse of the facts themselves ; and perhaps of all men living , the * hon . and learned member for Sheffield' is the one from whom we should least expect such superiority . Acute in perception , within a narrow range of observation , and epigrammatic in stylehe is a capital
, pamphleteer ; but the very qualities that fit him for that position , or the part of a biting and caustic critic in the House of Commons unfit him for the measured and dignified impartiality of history . His 'history ' is characterised by all the peculiarities of his speeches , even to the snappish and snarling tone which pervades them , and the prevailing tendency of his mind , to turn ' the seamy side of everything outwards . ' It there is any person for whom the cynical senator entertains a sincere respect for , it is the ' noble friend ' from whom he has evidently derived a large portion of his inspiration in writing this history ; and even he does not escape a ' showing up , ' which throws a strong suspicion on the truthfulness of other parts of the narrative , in which it is evident that Lord
Brougham could alone have supplied the information which tended to his own self-glorification . . As an illustration of this , take the two following stories in conjunction : — I have often heard Lord Brougham relate a circumstance connected with this celebrated motion , which vividly illustrates the ignorance of the Administration , even at the eleventh hour , as to the real feelings of the people . The members of the Cabinet who were , not in the House of Commons dined that day with the Lord Chancellor ; whose Secretary , Mr . now Sir Denis Le Marchant , sat under the gallery of the Commons , and sent half-hour bulletins to the noble lord , describing the progress of the debate . They ran thus : — " Lord John has been up ten
minutes ; House very full ; great interest and anxiety shown . " Another came describing the extraordinary sensation produced by the plan on both sides of the house . At last came one saying : — " Lord John is near the end of his speech , my next will tell . you who follows him . ?' " Now , " said the noble host and narrator of tho story , " we had often talked . over and guessed at the probable course of the Opposition , and I always said , were I in Peel ' s place , I would notcondescendto argue the point , but would , as soon as Lord John Russell sat down , get up and declare that I would not debate so revolutionary , so mad a proposal ; and would insist upon dividing upon it at once . If he does this , I used to say , we are dead beat ; but if he allows himself to be drawn into a
discussion , we shall succeed . When Le Marchant ' s bulletin at length came which was to tell us the course adopted by the Opposition , I held the note unopened in my hand , and laughing said—Now this decides our fate , therefore let us take a glass of wine each all round , in order that we may , with proper nerve , read the fatal missive . Having done so , I opened the note , and seeing the first line , which was—* 'Peel has been up twenty minutes , " I flourished the note round my head , and shouted " Hurrah hurrah ! Victory ! victory ! Peel has been speaking twenty minutes ; and bo we took another glass to congratulate ourselves upon our good fortune . " Such is the anecdote ; which proves , among other things , how uncertain as guides are such anecdotes for history . The events
doubtless occurred much as Lord Brougham is accustomed to relate them ; but Sir Robert Pool did not speak on that night's debate , Sir John Seabright seconded Lord John Russell ' s motion , and Sir Robert Inglis was the next succeeding speaker , in vehement , nay , fierce reply to Lord John . But I relate the story , because it proves how little aware the Ministry was of the state of popular feeling ; how little tbey knew of the intensity of that feeling , when they believed that Sir Robert Peel could so have disposed of the proposed measure . So daring and insolent a disregard of popular opinion would have risked everything which Sir Robert Peel and every wise man holds dear . The next is evidently Lord Brougham ' s account of the mode in which the King was persuaded to dissolve Parliament in April , 1831 : —
On the morning , however , of the 22 nd , Lord Grey and the Lord Chancellor waited on the King , in order to request that he would instantly , and on tliat day , dissolve the house . The whole scene of this interview of . the Kins and his Ministers , as related by those who could alone describe it , is a curious illustration of the way in which the great interests of mankind of en seem to depend on petty incidents , and in which ludicrous puerilities often mix themselves up with events most important to the welfare of whole nations . The necessity of a dissolution had long been foreseen and decided on by the Ministers ; but the King had not yet been persuaded to consent to so bold a measure ; and now the two chiefs of the Administration were about to intrude themselves into , tho Royal closet , not
only to advise aud ask for a dissolution , but to request the King on the sudden—on this very day , and within a few hours , to go down and put an end to his parliament in the midst of the session , and with all the ordinary business of the session yet unfinished . The bolder mind of the Chancellor took the lead , and Lord Grey anxiously solicited him to manage the King on the occasion . So soon as they were admitted , the Chancellor , with some care and circumlocution , propounded to the King the object of the interview tbey bad sought . The startled Monarch no sooner understood the drift of the Chancellor ' s somewhat periphrastic statement , than he exclaimed in wonder and anger against the very idea of such a proceeding . " How is it possible , my Lords , that I can after this fashion repay tho kindness
of parliament to the Queen and myself 1 They havo jost granted me a most liberal civil list , and to the Queen a splendid annuity in case she survives me . " The Chancellor confessed that they had , as regarded his Majesty , been a liberal and wise parliament , but said , that nevertheless their further existence was incompatible with the peace and safety of the kingdom . Both he and Lord Grey then strenuously insisted upon the absolute necessity of their request , and gave his Majesty to understand , that this advice was by his Ministers unanimously resolved on , and that they felt themselves unable to conduct the affairs of the country in the present condition of the parlhment . This last statement made the King feel that a general resignation would be the consequence of a further refusal : of this , in spite of
his authority , he was at the moment really afraid , and therefore he , by employing petty excuses , and suggesting small and temporary difficulties , soon began to show that he was about to yield . " But , my Lords , nothing is prepared—the great officers of state are not summoned . " " Pardon me , Sir , " said the Chancellor , bowing with profound apparent humility , " we have taken the great liberty of giving them to understand that your Majesty commanded their attendance at the proper hour . " " But , my Lords , the crown , and the robes , and other things needed , are not prepared . " " Again I most humblyentreat your Majesty ' s pardon for my boldness , " said tho Chancellor , "they are all prepared and ready—the proper officers being desired to attend in proper form and time . " " But , my Lords , " said
the King , reiterating the form in which he put his objection , " you know the thing is wholly impossible ; the guards , the troops , have had no orders , and cannot be ready in time . " This objection was in reality the most formidable one . The orders to the troops on such occasions emanate always directly from tbe King , and no person but the King can in truth command thorn for such service ; and as the Prime Minister and daring Chancellor well knew the nature of Royal susceptibility on such matters , they were in no slight degree doubtful and anxious as to the result . The Chancellor , therefore , with some real hesitation , began again as before , " Pardon me , Sir ; we know how bold the step is , that , presuming on your great goodness , and your anxious desire for the safety of your kingdom and happiness
of your people , we have presumed to take—I have given orders , and the troops are ready . " The King started in serious anger , flamed red in the face , and burst forth with , " What , my Lords , have you dared to act thus ? Such a thing was never heard of . You , my Lord Chancellor , ought to know , that such an act is treason , high treason , my Lord . " " Yes , Sir , " said the Chancellor , " I do know it ; and nothing but my thorough knowledge of your Majesty ' s goodness , of your paternal anxiety for the good of your people , and my own solemn belief that the safety of the state depends upon this day ' s proceedings , could have emboldened me to the performance of so unusual , and in ordinary circumstances so improper a proceeding . In all humility I submit myself to your Majesty , and am ready in
my own j-ersonto bear aU the blame and receive all the punishment which your Majesty may deem needful ; but 1 again entreat your Majesty to listen to us and to follow our counsel , and , as you value the security of your crown and the peace of your realms , to yieid to our most earnest solicitations . " After some further expostulations by both his Ministers , the King cooled down , and consented . Having consented , he became anxious that everything should bo done in the proper manner , and gave minute directions respecting the ceremonial . The speech to be spoken by him at the prorogation was ready prepared and in the Chancellor ' s pocket . To this he agreed—desired that everybody might punctually attend , and dismissed his Ministers for the moment , with something between a menace and a joke upon the audacity of their proceeding .
Here it will . be seen that the Ex-Chancellor holds himself up as the man ' who did it all , ' even to the extent of lording it over the king in an exceeding
History Of The Whig Ministry Of 1830, To...
T ^ a ^ TZ ' - ' ^ « Pect to the cha . racterof the 'Sailor K « ng ' who , during Mb short reign , achieved so much popularity by hi ! aooarent share in passing the Reform Bill , it apuea £ Zt Lord Brougham and * Roebuck ¦« fe ! S £ y in their estimate of his character . There is indeed usuallyXvast disparity between the fulsome euloeies ' lavished on living monarchs , and the plain dealing criticism which follows them to their graves : — " Lord Brougham , " says Mr . Roebuck , " ia accustomed to describe IV . as frank , just , and straightforward 1 believe him to have been very weak and very false ' a finished dissembler , and always bitterly hostile to the " Whig Ministry and their great measure of reform . He pretended
to have unbounded confidence in them , and great respect for their opinion , even while lie was plotting their overthrow , and adopting every means in his power to hamper them in their conduct , and to depreciate them in the estimation of the world . All the documents I have seen which relate more immediately to the king , —and they have been , for the mo 8 t part , letters written by his command , and at his dictation , —have led me to this conclusion . As a lookeron , scanning carefully every word , and comparing letters written at different periods , and under very different states of mind , I could not resist the evidence which forced this opinion upon me , though I can well understand why Lord Brougham finds it impossible to share it with me . Tho kindness and generosity of his own nature make him g ive
easy credence to kind professions in others . The off-hand , hearty manner of the king , therefore , imposed upon his chancellor . The very weakness of the kind , too , gave him strength . His capacity was notoriously contemptible ; and Lord Brougham could not , for a moment , believe himself the dupe of parts so inferior ; and yet , in truth , was he deceived . The trained artifice of a mean spirit misled and cajoled the confiding generosity of a great and powerful mind ; and , to this hour , Lord Brougham asserts that the king was a sincere reformer , and earnest , throughout the struggle which followed the introduction of the Reform Bill , in his expressed desire to have that measure passed in all its integrity . My opinion as to this matter is fully stated in the history which I have given of nil the
transactions connected with it ; and I am now only anxious to declare that in that opinion Lord Brougham does not coincide , and for it cannot he held responsible . " It is a wonder that , with a sovereign so hostile and double-dealing , and a ministry really but half inclined to do their work , that the bill ever passed at all . It can only be attributed to' the pressure from without , ' which made it impossible for them to recede from the position they had taken up . We well remember that they were willing to do so if they could . We were actively engaged in the struggle in Edinburgh , and came into frequent contact with the leaders of the Whig party in that city . At the height of the excitement a baronet , now deceased , who was in the confidence of the government , and who became afterwards a species of member manufacturer general for Scotland , received a letter iu which an opinion was
asked as to whether the bill would be accepted with a £ 20 instead of a £ 10 Franchise . The answer to that question was , a black-flag procession , and a meeting in the King ' s Park , at which resolutions were passed of a nature which , in conjunction with the attitude taken by the people at other similar demonstrations , convinced Lord Grey that the time for wavering or fluctuating had passed away for ever . Mr . Roebuck sketches a number of portraits of the public men who took an active part in the great parliamentary revolution , and had space permitted we should have liked to enable our readers to contrast his picture of late Sir Robert Peel with that drawn by Disraeli , the which we gave a short time ago from his life of Lord Q- . Bentinck : we must , however , reserve this and further notice of what , with all its faults , is a book that will attract much attention , for a future occasion .
A Subscription For European Freedom. To ...
A SUBSCRIPTION FOR EUROPEAN FREEDOM . TO THE PEOPLE OF GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND . It is no longer a time in which the people of these islands can stand aloof from European movements . Our present and future interests , our honour , perhaps our existence , are all more or less involved in the result of the war which , begun four yearssincein Europe , will have soon to berenewed . Whether late sad events in France may or may not retard the moment of renewal , still it is clear that the present state of the continent is but a state of truce—a . mere breathing-time until the opponent armies- " Cossack or Republican "—shall be prepared to fight out their quarrel . On which side should we appear ? On the side of tbe Czar and tho Jesuits—Brute-Force and Fraud—or on the side of Right and Freedom , the party of European Democracy ? Can we hesitate ? Now especially , since France
has fallen into the Russian camp ? The more need for our exertion , the more momentous our duty . Have not our hearts already promised for us-burning with indignation when despotic " order" reigned in Warsaw—when heroic Rome fell before her dastardly assailants ? Did not our voices repent the same generous impulse when millions shouted welcome to the Prisoner of Kutayeh ? Poland is yet unredeemed ; Italy is in bondage ; the Hungarian Exile has left our shores : our voices are hushed—can our hearts be silent too ? Have we done enough in feeling strongly , in giving tongue to our vehement thought ? When Despotism , trampling upon 3 ? ranDe , scowls on us across the narrow seas—when already we are bidden to drive the refugees , the martyrs , from our shores , or else beware the Cossack—shall we be content , with some talkers who never do , in " passing the challenge to America , " calling upon America to give active service to the cause of progress , because , we can afford only a wordy sympathy ?
Let us do something to show that bur sympathy is not mere ' idle wind "; something to disprove the imputation that we aro but a set of selfish traders ,, with no abiding reverence for tbe heroic and the true ; something in earnest protest against the cowardly and unprincipled dogma of non-intervention which is put forth as the sum and substance of our faith in God , as our best interpretation of duty to our neighbour . Let us make at least a beginning of real help for the struggling peoples of Europe . To this end we , whose names are hereunto subjoined , ask our countrymen and countrywomen to aid us in raising
A SUBSCRIPTION FOR EUROPEAN FREEDOM . We propose to collect a subscription of one shilling each from every earnest friend of freedom : one shilling yearly , if the continuance of the struggle shall require it : and that the sum so collected shall be paid into the London and Westminster Bank , to the joint credit of Joseph Mazzini and Louis Kossuth for the use of the European Democratic Committee . The province of the undersigned will be simply to act aa treasurers : to receive and acknowledge subscriptions , from individuals , from individual collectors , or from committees { which it is hoped will soon be formed in every locality ); and to account for the entire sum to the whole body of
subscribers . So soon as a sum of £ 50 shall be collected , a credit will be opened with the London and Westminster Bank in the names of Mazzini and Kossutb ; and thereafter each of tbe treasurers will pay in his receipts so often as they amount to £ 10 . It is requested that all persons collecting for this subscription will furnish to the treasurers tbe name , address , and calling , of each subscriber ; except when any subscriber may prefer giving only initials , or such mark as may identify that particular subscription in a printed list the undersigned promising to publish , on the 1 st of January , 1853 , a list of all who shall have contributed to the subscription ,
The subscription is limited to One Shilling from each person , in order to obtain the greatest possible number of aubscribers ;* that Europe may see how many of us really care for the freedom of the nations , how many of us abjure the shameful doctrines of non-intervention and peace-atany-prioe . The subscription will not indicate a preferrai of war , nor any disposition to meddle with the internal politics of other countries ; but it will be an emphatic recognition of the duty which the strong owe to the struggling , which one people owes to another—an assertion of the universal right to combat iniquity—and an expression of respect for those who dare all honest things to achieve their freedom . We would havo it distinctly understood that the subscription is not for any special mode of action ; but to help
the struggle for European freedom in whatever manner it may seem good to Europe to work that out . Neither is it for any particular form of freedom which we may think best fitted for such a time or place ; but for such freedom as the nations themselves may choose . Only on these grounds let any subscribe . It is to help the struggle for European Freedom : not merely for Italy or Hungary . The money is not for any local preparation , for any partial attempt : but for the European War , whenever and wherever that shall again break out . We would offer it as our contribution to the Cause of Humanity , our protest against the policy that excludes us from bearing our share of the warfare in which
all Humanity is concerned , the earnest of our intent to he again a nation among the nations—an organised and active worker for Freedom and for right . Rev . Charles Clarke , 155 , Buccleuch-street , Glasgow ; Thomas Cooper , 6 , Park-row , Knightsbridge , London ; Joseph Cowen , junr ., Blaydon-Burn , Newcastleon-Tyne ; George Dawson , M . A ., Birmingham ; R II . Home , College-road , Haverstock-hill , London ; Dr . Frederick Richard Lees , Leeds ; William James Linton , Miteside , Ravenglass , Cumberland ; Henry Lonsdale , M . D ., 4 , Devonshire-street , Carlisle ; Eev . David Maginnis , Belfast ; George Searle Phillips , West-parade , Huddersfieid ; James Watson , 3 , Queen ' s Head-passage , Paternoster-row , London .
N . B . —bmgle subscriptions may be sent in postage stamps ; but it would be better to send a number of sub . scriptions together by a post-office order . All sums below twenty shillings to be sent to one of the Honorary Secre taries to the Subscri ption—Joseph Cowen , junr ., Blaydon-Burn , Newcastle-on-T yne ; W . J . Linton , Miteside , Ravenglass , Cumberland , ; to whom all inquiries are to be addressed . * Xheywhocan afford more , need not stint their liberality . They can subscribe to the Polish ilefugce Fund to the Kossutb Fund , or to the Italian Loan .
Fflftews
Fflftews
Bou-Land.—The Extent Of Bog-Land Reclaim...
Bou-land . —The extent of bog-land reclaimable in Ireland amounts to 3 , 000 . 000 acres . An Embrace . —" Once more locked in each other's arms I" as one cab wheel said to another in the Strand . Pleasures may be aptly compared to many very great books , which increase in real value in the proportion they are abridged . "Man" says Adam Smith , "is an animal that makes bargains . No other animal does this—no dog exchanges bones with another . " Trained Ostriches . —Some ostriches are said to be in gaining in London , and that they can beat the swiftest race * n ° ree . They are ridden by a little boy . A drunken man lately tried to get a policeman to arrest 'h »« own shadow . His complaint was that an ill-looking scoundrel kept following him . j ^ pitap h in the cemetery at Liverpool . — " What her chat ? . !« tf £ . known at Ae da 7 judgment . Reader , think ^ what thine own will be — win
. " _ - "" ho uwn ne . tn Xt J £ m . ? ? distovy of the Restoration" ia notallowei hm » £ t l ^ for 8 ale io Prance , in consequence of its Dott 6 « ! p memo , yoftheK » P « nw . ' hiffl ^ SSZ" ^ . T K 1 ^^ ^ ? ting - saw ) tn o . ajj £ ¦ n r religion ; being determined , abe "( S « V ™ £ " ""SP » I 5 > th » m , ] J . « d the next . - ^ v ?^ n ^ £ 2 JTJ : » £ - > !^ 5 J > 3 " -r ' m . rt £ pi ^ n ? P ^ "l ? u thelate ^ avy gales , the sea XJS Shr iaL ? 'W haS * een terrific - ™ » n e in several places six miles mland-a crcumstance which has not been known for the last twenty years . a ! p 5 ? LlJI , i . p t 0 N f , , -M - P elletier d'Aulnay , the President of the Court of Appeal , stated last week that at tbe present moment there were upwards of 30 001 ) persons in prison in France for political offences . '
Thb Ragged School Shoe-Blacks , during the Great Exhibition in London , cleaned 101 , 000 pairs of bonts and shoes , and received the sum of £ 50512 $ , 10 d „ being an average of 2 s . 23 d . per day for each boy . A Female Thbeshbr . — There is a woman thresher to ba seen at Rockliff . She can knock off twenty stocks of wheat in one day , and " lap" the straw with tho greatest case . She offers a challenge to any man in Cumberland . —Carlisle Patriot . Law Febs . —From the report of the Common Law Com * missioners it appears that the fees on an undefended astiou amount to about £ i Is . 6 d ., including a fee of 2 s ., to the Chief Baron ' s coachman . " The Commissioners rccoM * mend a revision of the fees . A wag , passing through a country town , observeda fellow placed in the stocks , " My friend , " said he , " I advise you , by all means , to sell out . "— " I should have no objection , your honour , " he replied , drily ; " but at present tbey seem much loo low . "
Londo . v Banking . —The transactions of fifty out of seventy London bankers are from four to five millions per day , and c 5 o n n balanced at the clearing house for a sum , in cash , of ± 220 , 000 . On settling days at the Stock Exchange , & c , the amount is often eighteen or twenty millions . CoontotBanks . -A million issued by a country banker , to the factories in his district , igfifty times more beneficial than five millions issued by the Bank of England to wholesale dealers in London , for general circulation . The former system fosters industry directly , but the latter serves only to raise the price of commodities . A Roqoe ' s Excusr is always Ready The first consideration with a knave is how to help himself , and the second , how to do it with an appearance of helping you . Dionysius the tyrant stripped the statue of JupUer Olympus of a robe of massive gold , and substituted a cloak of wool , saying , Gold is too cold in winter , and too heavy ia summer—it behoves us to take care of Jupiter . "
Paddy ' s Compliments . —A sudden gust of wind took a parasol from the hand of its owner , and a lively Irishman , dropping his hod of bricks , caught the parachute . — " Faith , ma ' am , ' said he , " if you were as strong as you are handsome , it would not have got away from you . "— " Which shall I thank you for first , the service or the compliment V asked the lady smiling . — "Troth , ma am , " said Pat , again touching the place where once stood the brim of what was once a beaver , " that sweet look of your beautiful eye thanked me for both . " The BmtbiiKavt . iir f s ° eo ! ld ™ nl F ° urlh * W 7 _ „ Sate . Hate , Hate , Rate . Rate In Commission 6 .. 8 .. « .. 5 .. 0 Readv for Service .. ; II .. 21 .. 10 .. 2 a .. 40 Building nearly completed 8 .. 11 .. 0 .. 0 .. 0
Total ' . 25 40 25 31 40 Making a grand total of ninety ships of the line , thirty four of fifty guns , and forty frigates , beaides corvettes and smaller vessels , and exclusho of steamers . The Russian Fleet . —The Russian force in the Balt c at the present moment " ( says the " Portsmouth Tunes and Naval Gazette" ) numbers forty-two sail o ( tho line , all powerfully equipped , ably manned , extensively stored , and ready for action . Novel Action . — One of the Lowell girls , hav ' mg , owicg co tho dirty state of the footpaths , fallen and hrofes her thigh , brought an action against the muncipal authorities , and recovered the sum of more than 1 , 000 dollars damages .
extracts from pwxch . England ' s Best Securities . —Her Government Securities . Epitome of Ordnance Management . —All their pieces are farces . A Morbid Appetite . —May it not be maintained that a vegetarian who eats gooseberry fool is a cannibal ? _ Cavalry Reform . —How can a horse which costs so very little as that of a British Dragoon ' s be , with any sort of pro * priety , called a charger ? Roma ; * Artillery . —If the C . inon Law were introduced among us , the next thing the importers would probably do , would he to institute nvxrtyr-practice . Noble Lord . " Here ' s this confounded newapapni * speaking the truth again . Ah ! they manage these things better in France . " A . Colouradle Excuse . —The reluctance shown b y many military men to abandon the red uniform , atiscs from a natural disinclination they feel to deserting their colours .
University Intelligence . —A tutor asking a fast undergraduate to give an account ol the Judgment of Paris , the rapid student replied , he believed it was unfavourable to > Louis Napoleon . A Dry Fact . —The Protectionists complain very bitterly of the drain upon the land . But practical agriculturists are always telling us , that a thorough draining is what the land most requires . Fashionable On-dit . —Such is the excitement prevalent on the subject of our national defences , that it is said tho Lady Patronesses of Alnuxck ' s seriously contemplate giving a series of cylindro conical balls .
A . Very Mild Complaint . —The Earl of Derby complained of the disorderly arrangement of topicsin the Queen ' s Speech . If the noble Earl ' s parly had succet ded in their struggle to perpetuate the starvation Jaws , the disorder might have been , not in the Speech , but in the country . Political and Social Prospects . —Parliament re-assembles , and the season returns . The consequence will be that parties will pursue their old courses , both in tbe house and out of it ; there will be the usual intrigues : and very late hours will be kept almost every night , with very doubtful benefit to the constitution .
The Great Un-Read . —Mr . Hume made some remark on Thursday evening with reference to the priming of the papers of the House of Commons , which ought to be of uniform size , and it was ultimately agreed to refer the matter to a . Committee . We think the buttermrn and wastepaper dealers ought to have a voice in the matter , for they have certainly the largest reversionary interest in the publications of the House of Commons . Perhaps So . —Our Social Ri porter informs us , that , from statistics of his own collecting , he is now prepared to show that the quantity of quadrille parties last New 1 ears Eve was fully twenty per c » nt . above the average . Wo suppose this increase is mainly attributable to the fact , that people thought it appropriate to begin Leap Year with a Hop .
Theatrical Intelligence . —We understand that two new pieces at tbe Lyceum Theatre bave just be > n suppressed by our ever-vigilant censor , in consequence of their sarcastic titular allusion to the position and prospects of ( he Princo President of France , The pieces in question are called "The-Prince of Happy Land " and "The Game of Speculation . ' The Sibthobp Parade . —Colonel Sibthorp boasts that he was never inside the Crystal Palace , and still wants it pulled down . Will no consideration induce him to spare that wonderful building ? He could at once preserve an
ornament to the Metropolis , and obtain a great personal triumph , by persuading tbe House of Commons to keep up the Temple of Peace—for the purpose , in wet weather , of drilling soldiers in it for national defence . A Startling Free Trade Question . —The "Morning Herald" asks—" Shall we band over our noble "West Indiau colonies to the rattlesnake and the naked negro ? " We think not . We are convinced that England will commit no such act of injustice . Or if the rattlesnake and the naked negro are henceforth to be the sole proprietors of the soil , confident we are , that England will make due compensation to the
scorpions and mosquitoes . . Heroes and their Highlows , —Army clothiers and their employers cannot be expected to be metaphysicians ; but they display an ignorance of which anybody ought to be asnamed , as to the nature of the human understanding , and toe requirements ofthesoleofmanin supplying the soldier witn the most abominable boots . Our troops are shod aPP """"' rather with a view to increase tbe halt , than to assist me march ; and in the event of invasion , what can we expect of men thus crippled but a lame defence ? A Cabinet PiciURE .-We always looked upon Lord Palmerstonas a great politician ; but we ' " f d / ° t „ il time , on tbe opening night of tho s mIob , that he is a ' so a great wtist . \ Ve glean this fact from his announcement to i the House ,: that he would not trouble it with the letter he b wrote to Lord John Russell , " «? ' «»> * « , » Mt " ? f ? letter contained . " We can only imagnw > th « t , ns the tone of 1 the letter was rather severe , the " illustration must have e been satirical ; and that Lord Palmerston sent the Premier a a " large cut , " as well as a tremendous dig .
A Pair Tax on Knowledge . —They manage some things better in Prussia , as well as in France , than they do here . The Prussian Gorernroent has imposed on political periodicals a stamp duty of half a pfenning for every 1 C 0 square inches of superficial contents . —It is not for us to least . We are not going to brag of Our superiority to other journals . But if English political periodicals were chMged withs'ft'np dbty according to their superficial contents , we can only say that we do not Know which would have the be satisfied , the government or '' PuucV
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Citation
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Northern Star (1837-1852), Feb. 21, 1852, page 3, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/ns/issues/ns2_21021852/page/3/
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