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732 THE LEADEB, __jjj[gi SSa^ATTO^r ^
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THE POLITICAL SEASON. The general electi...
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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.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
The Constitutional War In Spain. We Are ...
it ' . ' surprise us to hear , in a telegraphic epigram , that Brussels had been declared iA a Btate of siege , the sittings of the Ohain-Ibers suspended , and a French army ordered to the frontier ? or that the Constitution or Piedmont had been abolished , and that a -fraternal French and Austrian force was providing for society at Turin ? These would be natural developments of Bonapabtism . ! Let us wait and watch , and discover , before it is too late , what is the policy of our own Ministers .
732 The Leadeb, __Jjj[Gi Ssa^Atto^R ^
732 THE LEADEB , __ jjj [ gi SSa ^ ATTO ^ r ^
The Political Season. The General Electi...
THE POLITICAL SEASON . The general election of 1853 appears to hare determined , permanently , the political position of the Tories . A House of Commons returned under their own auspices , with all the influences of power and corruption exerted to increase the number of their nomination boroughs , at once ejected them from office . The Cabinet constituencies were in their hands ; besides the machinery of the Carlton , they had the agents of the Treasury ; besides the Staf : foiids and Beresfobds , they had the patronage of the Post Office and the Excise ; they spent a larger fund in bribery than had " been spent in any electoral conflict for fifteen years , yet they failed to obtain a majority . Upon the first confidence division Parliament overthrew the Derby
Idea . Have the Tories acquired the slightest accession . of strength since 1853 ? Have they commanded one majority on a political question since that date ? Have they not been repulsed in whatever direction they have attempted to move ? Their party tactics have been demonstrable failures , and their Parliamentary motions have been turned intoMbr ^ uinphs by the Government . And tfciB ^ notwithstanding the fact that every Ministerial measure , in whatever interest
promoted , has been converted by Mr . XJisitAEiiij or his friends , into a party topic . Notwithstanding , too , the more remarkable fact that the Administration which has held its ground against the incessant Tory attacks has been weak , wavering , and insincere , continuously opposed , carelessly supported , and not possessed of public confidence . If the Tory party had not been incapable , Lord Paxmebston must have yielded to the forces that have been in perpetual agitation against Mm .
The Tory party , however , is incapable , because it is obsolete . Therefore , a Government which is only less incapable , is permitted to retain office , without being permitted to work out its policy , or , rather , its programme of small administrative measures . It has carried five bills , and it has proposed at least twenty bills which have been rejected or postponed . But the Whig defeats do not represent Tory successes . Tims , when Mr . IjOwu proposed the abolition of local dues on shipping , the House of Commons seemed astonished that a member of the Government
Bhoukl invite it to discuss serious principles in a serious tone . Tho Government itself had no such intention . It scarcely gave a public assent to the irrefutable doctrines of Its subordinate ; tho Liberals balanced off from , the contest , and , perceiving their opportunity , thq Tories closed with the Board of Trade , and struck the bill out of the hands
of the deserted Beformer . ~ Waa that a mairifeptation of Tory strength ? Far from it . Iiprd Paxmebston had made up his mind to avoid debateB on distinct issues . His purposo wna served when tho Tories tried their stre ngth by party motions . The fijU ( of Kara was put forward to cover the # "We want your places . " Mr . Whitrsibx / ifc failure m every reBpect , moved the
condemnation of the Government in a speech which was hardly listened to , and which , in a reported state , was certainly unreadable , and Mr . Disba ^ bTjI made a humiliating display of his eagerness for power . The Tories , who had for several weeks courted the Liberals by flatteries and promises , completely broke down , and to a great extent absented themselves from the House of Commons for several nights . , , . tended to
It is well known that they had in give a second assault in relation to the American dispute . Private meetings were held . But the party had become so disorganized , so disheartened , so conscious of the defects of its leaders , and of its own deficiencies in eloquence and in knowledge , that it was unfit for the enterprize , and Mr . Moore , who—we say it positively—had been encouraged to \ irge his motion , was abandoned and left in an absurd minority . The American
debate ended without the American question being so much as explained to the House of Commons . There were many plots laid , also , for bringing the Italian policy of the Government into discredit . But the Tory undertaking failed , for a simple reason . It could not prove that Lord Palmeeston or Mr . DisiiAELi had any Italian policy at all ; there was , consequently , nothing to decide ^ and the subject was disposed of in a parliamentary conversation . It is to be remarked that the
American and Italian questions were not raised by Tory members , but that the Tory party , recognizing its own weakness , preferred , after the Kars' failure , to wait until , by a private " count , " it could ascertain whether a Tory vote might be safely taken . The Tories have attacked the Government on every point connected with its legislative or administrative policy—yet , whenever the it has been
Government has been beaten , beaten by the Liberals . Mr . Disba : e : li , who has seen the " following" of the Earl of Derby disorganized and mutinous , has not once succeeded in making up a pure and simple majority , to display the influence of his oratory , or the extent of his political connexions . Yet in no way does he concur with Lord Palmeeston . The diplomacy of the Cabinet is denounced as blustering and
hypocritical ; then why cannot the Tories acquire that public confidence which would enable them to represent England more worthily to America and the Continent ? "What course of civil legislation have they proposed ? They deride Mr . Lowe ' s measures as Socialist , they ridicule the Civil Service Bill , they mock the weakness of a Government that is unable to carry its proposals . But the
Appellate Jurisdiction Bill was of their own conception—why was that the least respectable failure of the session ? When they talk of ministers with reforming zeal , diplomatists with candour , financiers who understand " the City , " discreet subordinates , and vigorous administrators , to what traditions do they refer ? A general election would , in all probability , leave them less powei'ful in the Legislature than they actually are .
If , then , tho Whigs have made no progress during the past political season , tho Tories have made less . They have not commanded the support of Parliament , and they have not conciliated the opinion of the country . When , therefore , they talk of Lord Pat . mhiiston ' 8 fall as tho signal of their resurrection , serious politicians are amused . Tho nation would infinitely prefer a lluasEi / d to a Debhy Cabinet . Indeed , among tho reconstruction a of parties during tho recess , it is not impossible that tho Whigs may form once more under their old leaders , and hold the ground until tho Liberals have gained that power which will enable thorn to take tho government of England permanently into their own hands ,
THE DEFECTIVE INTELLECT QUESTION . Inconsistency appears to dictate the treatment of Dove , as though his own incapacity communicated itself to all whom he came near , —to the victim of his brutality , the witnesses of it , the jury that sat to pronounce upon it , the Judge , the Home Office . He is not to be hanged , at the earliest , until the J ) th of August ; and meanwhile the Home Office is understood to be deliberating whether or not there are grounds for modifying " the course of justice . " The jury recommended
him to mercy on the ground of defective intellect ; which is in itself as inconsistent a position as any other . If his intellect iras defective enough to suggest mitigation of his punishment , it can only be because he was not completely a judge of his own actions ; but , then , if his judgment of his actions was not complete , he did not possess that moral responsibility which is essential to the veryidea of guilt , and the jury should not have
pronounced him guilty . If , on the other hand , he was guilty , he must have been a sufficient judge of what lie was doing , and he deserved justice , but no " mercy . " It is said that Mr . Baron Beamwjelh , although conveying this recommendation of the jury to the higher authorities , hns not endorsed it ; lias , on the contrary , indicated that the verdict was just ; yet in that case what strange language did he use to the prisoner ! "Do not , " lie said , " cherish hopes that may turn
out to be delusive ; " a qualified expression which implies an alternative , —that the hopes might not turn out to be delusive . Of course , on this extremely qualified caution , DoA'E would hope ; yet Bramwell , who helped to suggest the hope , has not helped to fulfil it . Where is the moral effect either upon the prisoner , or upon those who might be his imitators ?
Mr . Baron Bkamwelt , endeavoured to supply a test which would enable the jury to define the degree of responsibility . " If , " ho said , " the prisoner did know the consequences of his acts , and did know that they a \ ere contrary to the laws of the land , he \ vas liable to punishment ; he was not liable if lie was not thus conscious . " But surely this is a false distinction . Many a man knows thiit he is doing wrong , and yet does not posses the judgment that would guide him from ils commis s ion . Men under the impulse of murderous lunacy are frequently aware that the act is forbidden , and that it will entail particular consequences on the victim and on themselves . Nothinjr is more common in
connexion with madness than great cunning and concealment ; but a mistaken necessity , a totally unreasoning instinct , an entire absence of the motives that would suggest the killing , are sufficient to point out the nature of the disease . Mr . Baron Biiamwru ' s definition would be negatived in most luiuitic asylums . The judge laid down ft similarly defective definition with regard to " delusions . " "If , " he anid , " a man acts under delusions in one respect , and is in other respects a man of sound mind , then in any consideration ol his conduct ho must bo regarded as thoug h ho
were not suffering from such delusions , - and Baron BiiAiiwjsi-r . gave tho case ol a man who supposes part of ln ' a body l <> ho made of glass , but must nevertheless he held responsible for tho crime of robbery . Thitf , however , is totally to miaload tho mind ol the jury , and of nil other juries , from that which constitutes tho true teat of insanity . Tlic delusion is not tho tost , nor its limitation to a particular point . In most books relating to spectres there have been instances ol delusions of sense . Many remember tho ease of NioiioivAi , tho bookseller of Berlin , who saw people around him in the room j and there
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 2, 1856, page 12, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_02081856/page/12/
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