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    406 THE ijJiBEi. ^Saturday,

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    THE WEEK IN PARLIAMENT. THE MILITIA BII....

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    ?Hb Week Has, Been Marked Jip Parliament...

    Connected with this subject is the pleasant little incident at Hanley , in the Potteries ; where a few boys are working allotments tinder the Poor Law Guardians , so well as to illustrate * # once Xlgfi practicability of reproductive erapl <^| jatnt and Industrial training . Assuredly from tm parish boys at Hanley to the Edinburgh Revievd in the political library of the great * practical association is making such progress as $ 0 console " the Amal g ^ mated for their present reverse .

    Louis Bonaparte ' s headlong career of spoliation and violence is arrested for a moment by the independence of the magistracy . The sword that strikes at justice bends or breaks . Even the lawless oath-breaker quails before the calm front of the Law . The intoxication of disordered , ambition is sobered by the cold austerity of an intrepid tribunal . This declaration of competency to determine the legality of the confiscation decrees is an example of reviving liberty , that will

    shake Napoleonism to its base . £ fo threats had been spared to prevent the decision ; neither threats nor insults have been spared since by the guardians of Society to the majesty of the Law . But the thunder-bolt has fallen ; and emboldened by authority , opposition has shaken off the panic of December , and beards tyranny to its face . Here * there and everywhere , hostility breaks out : in the very Chamber of Nominees , where the

    majority are Legitimists : in the law courts , in the National Guard , in the municipalities , in the provinces , what the commissaries call ¦'¦ ' disorganization 3 ' prevails . Louis Bonaparte talks of falling back upon the working class : but we know how they received him the other day . The fact , the damning fact is , the absolute impotence of the man for good , even were he disposed to do justice . His past acts , " . sit upon his arm , and take away the use on't . "

    The Empire will be acclaimed , but not accepted , on the 10 th of May . In compliance with Russia , it will be referred once more to the gigantic falsehood of a . Plebiscite . There will be the same machinery for getting 7 * , 000 votes now as in December . A tragic fate sits on the brow of the man . His path is hemmed in by those who have betrayed , or who are ready to betray him . Derision or madness may crown him for a moment : but after the praetorian paroxysm , what next— -a Restoration or a Terror ?

    But the cynical hypocrisy that masks the most flagrant corruption ! The man who enjoys the monopoly of the coulisses is determined to have none but moral and virtuous plays performed at the theatres—the Juif Errant , for instance , in which Heaven and Hell are literally brought upon the stage , and the curtain falls upon the Judgment Day I There ' s a moral with a vengeance . And whilst Paris ( that is , the Paris of authority ) is more corrupt and rotten than Babylon of old , private hate and personal vengeance are making a Tipperary of depopulated provinces .

    The disputes of labour and capital are conciliated right royally by solitary confinement of the men to whom arbitration had been promised . All Germany , north and south , is in a commercial ferment—the south inclining to Austria , the north siding with Prussia . The issue of the struggle is likely to favour Free-trade , which Piedmont is cordially adopting .

    " Sweet are the uses of adversity' —even to thqse who are prosperous . At first , the mind'is struck with horror at the sufferings of the poor missionaries , starved to death in the wilds of Patagonia j but scarcely has the first palo amazement passed , ere a cordial admiration restores the pulse to the heart , and you see that it was not all

    misery . The men who met the lawless savages by kneeling in pious forbearance j who hoped on , after starvation stared them in the face ; who hoped on in blind faith , after hope for their own worldly rescue * had quite departed ; who aided one another faithfully in the last tottering steps towards the grave ; who , to the last , repined not ,

    but lay down tCflie in fearful trust—those men could not be miserable . " Many of us at tome may differ wj $ j the mission they accepted ; njay criticize- thai * doctrines gr ^^ of practical success ; but h 6 ir few of us could d |; » « p ; well- ^ ccmld beno strong J Theje is something ^ especially affecting in the swnplicijfcy with whioh : Captain Gardiner mention ^ pfteri ( i loss , that he still had a sniflijl sum of hftlf-pence in his pocfcflfr : but what was money to him , who risked allmoney , limbs , life , affections , and lay down to die on the rugged scene of an almost hopeless effort—the servant of conviction even to the death !

    What might we not do if we had some of that spirit amongst us at home—that perfect self-sacrifice ^—that thorough reliance on J 3 od !

    406 The Ijjibei. ^Saturday,

    406 THE ijJiBEi . ^ Saturday ,

    The Week In Parliament. The Militia Bii....

    THE WEEK IN PARLIAMENT . THE MILITIA BII . Ii . Beixection , between Friday and Monday , produced a great effect upon the members of the House of Commons . The party animus which Lord John Russell infused into the debate on the Militia BUI died out in the interim ; and Mr . MoigFATT , who renewed the adjourned discussion , gravely admonished the House to look upon a matter so great as that of national defence from a point of view far above party . He opposed

    the bill , denied the danger , and stigmatised the means provided to resist it as inefficient and expensive . But a weightier blow was given to Lord John Russell by the succeeding speaker , Lord Seymottb , formerly a Cabinet Minister , but who on this occasion ostentatiously deserted his chief , supported the principle of the bill , and voted with Ministers . Here is a spectacle , said he ; all parties are agreed that some kind of national defence is wanted > yet are all parties less anxious to defeat the enemies of their country than to

    defeat the Ministry of the day . He did not approve of the whole details of the bill , but he could not object to the second reading . The next speaker was a military man of some home experience , General Repp , and Tie was naturally and decidedly in favour of additions to the standing army—preferring 15 , 000 regulars to 80 , 000 militiamen . Mr . Eixice opposed the bill , and all militia bills , as uncalled-for and inefficacious , agreeing- with the previous speaker as to the desirableness of increasing the standing army . Colonel Lindsay bolstered himself up with quotations from the despatches of the Duke of Wellington , which decried the

    enthusiasm of the people without organization , and insisted on " strong government" as the great requisite . Mr . Cabdweu . thought that the House was bound to agree to the second reading ; that it was really responsible for the safety of the country , and that Ministers might , omitting the annual militia suspension bill , act at once upon the 42 nd of George III ., and call out the militia under the old conditions . Mr , Chafmn took occasion to try and push a little railway business , intimating that if Government would lend 550 , 000 ? . at 3 percent , for thirty years , for the completion of the railway from Salisbury to Exeter , he would pledge

    himself to place in the hands of the Chancellor of the Exchequer sufficient and undoubted securities for ropayment . Admiral Bekkeijey boasted of the sufficing power of the fleet to repel all enemies , opposed the militia , and wound up by stating that ho hqd found a curious document , dated 1745—an order that if the militia were reviewed by his Majesty , the Guards were not to laugh or make game of them ! Mr . Monokton Miines advocated Lord Palmerston ' s views , and sought to make it apparent that the motive for enrolling the militia wan not fear / but a love of our freo nationality , and the necessity of standing up for it in the foco of Europe opprosscd hy absolutism .

    Mr . Mii / Neb Gibson was the only really strong opponent of the measure . Ho denied everything , f hero was no danger , no need for an increase of armaments , no need above all for a militia , and no fear whatever from Franco . He mo < fb a lengthened speech , insisting much on tho disastrous effects which tho calling out of tho militia would produce—taking tho industrious from their industry , and holding out a premium for tho idle to volunteer , take tho bounty , and bo seen no rtioro . Mr BiiiwBY HEBBititT , as bocamo a former Secretary at War , warmly supported tho calling out of the militia , and went into minute calculations to sliow that the force * of all ranka in England fit for service were very few . Ho inodo some roinarJcs about Franco , which called up Mr . Hqebi / 0 K , who in ) uh outspoken way told aoino truth *) .

    " Out of what did tho necessity for increasing our defences ariso P What did members say to ono another when talking in private P Thoy always caroo to ono conclusion , and arrived at it by ojao mode of reasoning . Thoro was only ono pooplo of whpm thoy spolco- —thoro woo only onp

    man til whpnfc . iw pj & Intid . The French werei the people —the J ^ JMiffl ^ ntvis ilyayief was the man . We know that there uirfbfMnaraF existed in the minds of the French paople a fee ^^ of je » lPW 3 y regardingthis country , which a bad man might | a * e advantage of , and we all knew that the bad rqanjwfl * fnwlnfcower . ( An expression pf dis ' - pent , ); it ' waiB fcfl vpry well to say / No , ' but that was not whatw © said ¦ ¦ t o . ^ O ; -alipther ; . in ^ vate . - ; AwiB , y . with . ppe . tences . We ell lq * Byi r that there was a man now in power in 'Fliajb . ce K-mf ^ -. & M « frvstei afe the possession of power hy brfiiifcinff ihrougb . pjl the . sanctions . by which men . were that he

    ordiimrijyb 6 unj » . (^ efir , hear . ) We kne ^ r could only retain possession of , power by pandering to the prejudices of his countrymen , and we knew that one of the strongest of those prejudices was , unfortunatel y , that to which he had referred . He had a large army , and on that army depended his power . Upon that army his power restedj and we all felt , and he dared any one to deny it , that his popularity with the amy might be indefinitely increased % undertaking the invasion of England . ( Hear , hear . ) « was absurd not tp speak the truth . This , thenj was the difficulty before us ; _ The npble lord the member for London did not state this difficulty when he brought forwardhis Militia Bill , but did he iot mean itP Was it not meant by those who had brought forward the present Militia Bill ? " x

    He laid it down that our maxim should be " Touch me if you dareV' a sally which , drew down sPme cheering . He did not regard London as at all safe from the French . " Only conceive what would be the consequence , not merely to England , but tp mankind at large , of the occupation , of London but for twelve hoursby an , invading force . ( H ^ ear , hear . ) I ) pn ? t tell Winthis was not likely to happen . Let him caU to the xecoUectipn pf the House , that Xondon was the only capital in Europe in which French armies had not planted themselves . ( Hear *) Those armies had roamed through Euwpe , checked only , first by frost , and secondly by England j and let the House be well assured that France had not forgotten this latter check , but was , on the contrary , n . PW 1 ? ^ than ever eager for revenge . ( Cries of ' OK , oJM' ) Genttemen might affect to scout this statement ; but there ? was not a man there who heard it that did not in his heart believe it

    ( Hear , hear ;)" Yes , there was danger , and great danger , ay , and immediate danger ; and gpeaking , not as an individual , but as a man interested in thedestinies of humanity as afriend ofthe people , he called upon the Parliament to strengthen Jfrigland , not for the purpose of aggressive warfare , biit of national defence . ( Hear , hear . ) But there he stopped short . The bill of the government was hot to his taste . He preferred an addition of 10 , 000 to the standing army , and the encouragement of volunteers .

    Mr . Wj & pous replied on the part pf the Government to all the objections , urging , however , nothing which has not been urged before , and introducing nothing new , except a defence of the persons likely to volunteer from the charge of being " scamps" enough to take the bounty , and desert . He wound up by throwing the entire responsibility upon the House of accepting or rejecting the bill . On a division there were For the second reading ... • 315 For the amendment .. . • • • • W » .. Majority for second reading . . 1 ^ ° . « . / i The bill was then read a second time , and comnditted for Monday .

    COUNTY TRANCHI 8 E . A short debate , before dinner , took place on Tuesday , upon Mr . Locke King's annual motion for leave to bring in a bill conferring the franchise on IQt . county householders . Lord John Manhebb cordially opposed the bill on the part of the Government , Mr . Campbell , Mr , Hprae , Mr . Prummond , Lord Robert Grosvenor , Mr . Bright , Mr . Packe , arid Mr . WaWcy delivered short speeches for and against the plan . An attempt was made by Lord John Rubsbix to get up a party debate . He made one or two di gressions Irom tho

    tjie franchise question , rallying Ministers on roluctanco they displayed to pressing on impormn business ; stating that he thought the question ot ww franchieo ought to be considered as a , whole , not m parts ; and successively bantering , in a dull fashion , the Secretary for tho Colonies , the Solicitor-General , and Mr . George Frederick Young , on thoir anfl ™? trade spoechos . But his lure wus without efl ' cct . in Chanoktooii of tho Exopb ^ eb , in reply , avoided « allusion to the Frco-trado topic , and confined mmsolf to a criticism on tho working of tho Reform J *» ' » ahd what he considered its one great defect—tlio o *

    elusion pf the working-classes ! " I have ofton stated to tho Houue , and I repeat it no ^ , bocauso it is ft deep and gincero conviction on my i j ^ that in the construction of that memorably law , , form Bill of 1832 , thoro was ono groat dofioioncy , »» " . T . was a want of consideration of tho rights of the w « "Vj cjassofl to tho franohwe ( hoar , hoar ) j and . I was W h ^ to hear Hie noblalord , thp author pf that Boft > rm ^ ^ recent occasion aokndwledffo that doitoionoy , and eay ^ ho had boon induced to adopt the opinion I have jujiproBsod—an opi » ion whioh I bolievo to rtw » w " jj time consider with eo muph ftvypur . ( Hear , hparf ;

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), May 1, 1852, page 2, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_01051852/page/2/