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Leader (1850-1860), 1st January 1859, Edition 2 of 2, Page 17, . • ¦¦ • ? . , . ^ . There is nothing so...

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      No. 468, January 1.1859.1 T H E Leipbb, ...

      No 468 , January 1 . 1859 . 1 T H E LEiPBB , 17

      Ad01707

      NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS . w ,, notice can be taken of anonymous correspondence . N whatlvlr is intended for insertion must be authenticated Rhename and addressI of the writer ; ™ t necessarily fL nublication , but as a guarantee of his good faith . thSS " o acknowledge the mass o ? letters we revive Their insertion is often delayed , owing to a press £ ? matterT and when omitted , it is frequently from reasow qu ? te independent of the merits of the communica-We cannot undertake to return rejected communications . OFFICE , NO . 18 , CATHERINE-STREET , STRAND , W . C ., The commodious premises formerly occupied by the Morning Herald .

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      ^- /~ Vjy —?- Saturday, January 1, 1859.

      ^ - /~ Vjy —? - SATURDAY , JANUARY 1 , 1859 .

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      % \ M \ t MatnL ¦

      . • ¦¦ • ? . , . ^ . There Is Nothing So...

      . ¦¦ ? . , . ^ . 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 creation in eternal progress ^—Dr . Aesolp .

      Ledffed. On The Same Principle, It Is Up...

      ledffed . On the same principle , it is up-hill work making hew jokes , when there is nothing new to joke about . Diogenes in search of an honest man , or Coelebs in search of a virtuous wife , were not more at fault than our pantomimic dramatist in search ; of a virgin subject . Prom the siege of Troy to the fortunes of Kenilworth , from the loves of Undine to the sanitary condition of the Thames , every theme , ancient and modern , has been ransacked for novelties , and in vain .

      ^ r THE PANTOMIME OF POLITICS . Pantomimes are the order of the day . Columbine has put on her smiles and spangles ; the Clown has donned his motley ; pantaloon is prepared for his periodical persecutions ; and upon every stage Harlequin reigns supreme . The creators of this Pantomimic world have had no easy task . From the days of Pharaoh downwards , the difficulty of making bricks without straw has been

      acknow-We also have our own peculiar pantomime . The programme we present gratis to the public . To adopt the very language of the playbill , we shall now produce , on a scale of unusual magnitude and magnificence , embracing all the efl ' ccts of the stage , and employing all the resources of the company , an entirely hew , grand , senatorial , comical , popular , fiolitical , and peculiarly parliamentary pantomime , bunded upon precedent , and entitled ' Reform . " The lamps are lit , the actors arc in position . Let

      the curtain rise . The plot , in accordance with true art , is simple . The Princess Reform , daughter of the mijghty monarch Progress , is courted by a host of suitors of every rank and shade of politics . The Princess being anxious to discover whether the ardour of her admirers is due to sincere appreciation of her charms , pr to a desire for the possession of those vast official treasures which arc expected to be the guerdon of her successful wooer , appeals for aid to Mercury , the patron deity of thieves and politicians . We have now a scries of brilliant transformations . Beneath the wave of the Caducean

      wand , all things arc changed : Palmcrston begins to think , and Lord Derby tries to work ; Gladstone knows his own mind , Lord Stanley becomes lively , and Disraeli sincere . Even Vcrnon Smith grows eloquent , and Roebuck distrusts his own integrity ; the lion Newdcgato and the lamb Bright lie down and are at pence together ; Graham forgets his cunniqg , Cox becomes refined , Williams grammatical , and Ayrton—well , Ayrton remains a bore : 99 nihilo nihiljit . To enumerate the various episodes of our

      phanwwmagoric scene would require tho power of a hundred critics . Wo labour beneath a superfluity Of Artistic . wealth ; wo havo a host of stars of the highest magnitude , each qualified for tho Wgneat parts . Without depreciating the claims of other performers , havo wo not lor tho part ° f the chaste and virtuous Columbine , Gladstone , WV » Stanley , and Sidney Horbort , subject to perpetual allurements and always triumphant

      over vice : For the part of Harlequin is there not Lord Palmerston , the colleague of Castlereagh , the disciple of Canning , the friend of liberty and of Louis Napoleon . There is the Premier , too , the Stanley of aristocratic Whiggery , the Lord Derby of democratic Conservatism , not to speak of Bulwer Lytton , dramatist , novelist , orator , sometime author ofPelham , and now the ruler of our colonial empire . So powerfully is the part of Clown represented that we can afford to neglect the services of Spooner and of Drummond . Have we not the worl 4-renowned , inimitable , Buckinghamshire aerobatjthe creator of the protection juggle , the expositor of the Caucasian mystery . The rote of Pantaloon is filled to general satisfaction by the never-faihng British public , the people of England , always deluded , always paying the piper , always coming off the sufferer , and still confiding . We might , indeed , sum up the qualities of our performers in the very language of theatric criticism by asserting that our Columbines are engaging and perform with gracethat our Harlequins do their utmost to be funny , and succeed marvellously in getting into scrapes and out of them again with no less felicity—the Clowns accomplish a series of tours deforce which have only ceased to seem miraculous from our knowledge of their former exploits—and the Pantaloons bear killing and cuffing with a complacency that baffles conjecture . Our first tableau is the Ministerial Council . Chamber , which on this occasion is not the Hall of Harmony . Her Majesty's Ministers , in conclave assembled , enumerate their several plans for obtaining possession of the person of Reform . ¦ The Premier asserts that rank and wealth combined will outweigh the chances of all rival democratic suitors . Lord Chelmsford coincides , and protests that , after alU there is nothing like blood , Walpole puts his trust in militiamen , and Pakin ^ ton in Quarter-sessions . -Lord Stanley upholds a diligent discharge of official duties ; Bulwer confides in the power of elegant composition ; and the Chancellor of the Exchequer trusts to pluck . An angry discussion is followed by a unanimous resolution that the hand of Reform mlist be secured , and the cheaper the price given the better . A p laintive solo is then sung by the member for Miahurst , to the tune of the " Last Rose of Summer ; " and , as Warren passes out of view , the scene changes to a ducal mansion . The ; forces of Russell and of Palmerston are arrayed in arms . The star of Bedford is in the ascendant , and again we behold another dark conspiracy against the virgin virtue of Reform . Lord John Russell asserts his claim to the hand of the maiden , on the plea of his previous liaison with her mother , and quotes " Matre pulchrafilia pulchrior . " Lord Palmerston hints at the advantages of somewhat anticipating tho marriage ceremony , and adds that . Reformers might take a hint from Glo ' ster Gale . The Duke of Bedford considers the connexion low , though perhaps desirable ; and Lord Clarendon observes that the thing would be managed better in France , while Vernon binith suggests the expediency of detaining their rival ' s correspondence . Elopement first and desertion afterwards is the course resolved upon . The conspirators slowly retire as the cx-Prcsidcnt of the Board of Control performs a pas soul expressive of his friendless and forlorn position . The coffee-house at Guildhall rises upon our view ; darker and darker appear the fortunes of her heroine ; Roebuck and Bright , Cobdon and Gibson , havo laid hands upon the maiden , and partly by wiles , partly by violence , nrp drawing hor Closer to them * while a host of minor radicals— Roupells , Williamscs , and Coxes —stand b y and applaud tho outrage . So certain are they of their prey that they begin to divide the spoil . Tlioir only question is , what amount of her property they can hinder her from enjoying , and now much they can safely settle on themselves , lnnoconoe is about to be overpowered , when , at tho very crisis of her fate , the assailants begin to quarrel among themselves—rof a suddon they refuse to act iu concert . Bright considers himself undoubtedly the man of the day ; Cobdon , though a man of peace , declines being ojectod from his proper position ; Roebuck entertains a supremo contompt lor ovory ono present except himsolf ; Ayrton cannot conscientiously follow any one but ono whom his modesty forbids him to name ; Cox holds that all leaders are tyrants after the fashion of Wat Tyler ; and Williams throws out dark allusions to ' a poorago and tho premiorship . From words tho disputants fall to blows—a grand dramatio combat is represented on a scale of Manchester magnitude ; amidst tho tumult , the Princess osoapos . Vice io

      foiled and virtue triumphs . Mercury appears and claims the whole body of conspirators as his liege subjects . The dazsiling Halls of unsurpassable Humbug open before our view , and the entranced spectator is left to gaze with eager eyes upon the realms of fascination . ' There are true words spoken in jest . We could wish that at the bottom of our farrago there were not some sour sediment of truth . Politics and pantomimes are too much alike , with the exception that the triumph of virtue is not a matter of so much certainty in the former case as in the latter . The piece , of which the above is but a barren sketch , will be produced next month , without fail , at the Theatre Royal , Westminster .

      Origin Of The Complications Of 1858. The...

      ORIGIN OF THE COMPLICATIONS OF 1858 . The most conspicuous event of last year , though now almost forgotten , was Orsini ' s attempt to destroy the Emperor of the French . To it we maj refer—in subordination to the great original wrbnga which suggested it—the complications of continental politics ^ the change in our own Ministry the formation of a Government here without power , and its final surrender to the people of all that bad descended to us coercive in the character of the national institutions . In the annate of mankind it

      will be a memorable year for Atlantic telegraphs , the reconquest of India , commercial treaties with China and Japan , a sign only of the general brotherhood of mankind that is fast making itself manifest , in contrast to the antagonism of Governments ; but like its many predecessors , it will certainly be eclipsed and forgotten in years still more memorable to come . On this occasion ,, and in this place , we have no intention to refer to all the circumstances worth remembering ; we confine ourselves to a slight political sketch of a few circumstances connected with the event mentioned .

      The .. established and honoured wrongs , such as the usurpation by the semi-barbarous empire of Austria of the fairest provinces of Italy , and her conjoint protection with France of every native misrule , and such as the usurpation by Louis Napoleon of the government of France , were in full bloom at the beginning of the year , and are apparently without a curled or withered leaf at its close . Of such wrongs the unquietness in the States of Italy , the uneasiness in France , the continual apprehensions of its rulers , and the frantifi attempt of Orsini were the consequences . The former , being chronic

      conditions of society , excite no vivid interest , though teeming with important consequences ; the latter , like a violent access of inflammation pr convulsion , startled the beholders , and attracted the attention of the world . On France , which honours or worships the empire and the Emperor , it was the means of imposing new and scandalous laws worthy of the Reign of Terror , placing all men under the surveillance of police , allowing the Government to prescribe the residence of those who displease it , and to imprison or banish them without a trial . Acquiesced in almost without a murmur by the French

      two centuries after personal liberty had been by our Habeas Corpus Act fully guaranteed here against the tyranny of Government , they teach us that the ideas of our neighbours of personal freedom are not more advanced and correct than those of the soldiers of a despot , or the eunuchs of a harem . By the outrage of Orsini the world has been taught that the French , clamorous like children for pageants and shows , like them , at the first signal of alarm , get overwhelmed with terror , and trample liberty to death . The Orsini outrage occasioned the angry letter of tho Colonels , ana the exasperated feelings of the English and the French—occasioned M . do Montalemoert's visit and his letter—occasioned his appeal acrainst tho consequences of the Orsini laws , and

      , j \ < j the final remission of his sentence by the Emperor , — occasioned the dismissal of M . Billault and the substitution of General Espinasse as Minister of tho Interior , and occasioned all tho loss of character whioh the Government of France has lately suffered . If the leaves of despotism then appear scarcely curled or withered , beside it liberty lias grown and expanded , and will in due season overgrow and stifle it . From tho conduc . t of the Fronoh , however , it is plain that as yet they prefer despotism and its consequences to freedom . , From tho Orsini outrage thoro sprang additional reasons for coolness , and even aversion , between the two despotisms which are rivals for influence over Italy . From tho displeasure of one Emporor at the conduct of the other tho opinion 1 ms been

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 1, 1859, page 17, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_01011859/page/17/