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Apbu.11, 1857,] T HE !L E ABEB. 349
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FUNGUS. * FUNGI. The Emperor of the Pren...
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NEW SPECIAL MEN. The new Parliament abou...
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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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The New Parliament. Drstuibtttma The Mem...
atlantic or Continental war—both all but impossibilities—could save the Premier from the absolute necessity of attempting at least to solve the question ; it is understood , indeed , that he has yielded to the representations of his colleagues , and to the vigorous sutntnons of the electors , and that a Bill , combining several points of the Liberal programme , is in process of amalgamation . As we have said , two-thirds of the new House of
Commons will assent at once to the general principle of Parliamentary reform ; even the Tories confess that it can no longer be postponed . The only danger is lest the Reformers in Parliament should be satisfied with too small a measure , and lest the Ballot should be a second time sacrificed . But there are good men and true keeping watch out of doors , and they will rally the people , while Lord Pa . lmeb . ston confronts the Legislature .
Apbu.11, 1857,] T He !L E Abeb. 349
Apbu . 11 , 1857 , ] T HE ! L E ABEB . 349
Fungus. * Fungi. The Emperor Of The Pren...
FUNGUS . * FUNGI . The Emperor of the Preneh . is engaged in a new reform ; he is about to purify Prench society of the Marquises , Counts , and Viscounts that infest it . All spurious titles are to be put down by the action- / of . the penal law . The proceeding is attended with two classes of danger . It will expose the hollow character of the recent nobility , and it will exasperate the spurious into a temper that may be dangerous even to the State . Titular confusion in France arises from the confusion of the Government . There are many sources
of nobility in that country . If we use the word title in its widest sense , it may be acquired in France by inheritance , by the purchase of domain , and by creation . There Were the nobilities of the ancient monarchy , which the Revolution cancelled ; there were the titles of the irst Empire , de facto cancelled on the dethronement of Napoleon ; there -were the restored titles of the Restoration , winch also recognised the imperial titles ; there were the permissive titles , of Loins Philippe ; and now , in addition to all these , besides the new creations of the second
Napo-Leon called the Third , we have a number of nobles who Lave been created by themselves . The confusion was increased by the fact thab the old nobles were expelled from the country ; many of them died abroad , their possessions fell into the hands of aliens ; and while in some cases the inheritance strayed into
wrong hands , the title has been divorced from property , and has become a bauble handed down from beggar to beggar . Thus in French society you meet upstarts who have brought their patents by servility to tlie State , officers who have risen from the ranks to be Dukes , mediaeval nobles out at elbows , and nobles who have no more right to their name than Count Fathom . And such lias
been the confounding of classes , the degradation of some of tlie old nobles , the prostitution of modern titles , and the success of the spurious , that it is nearly impossible to tell the gold from tlie brass . Tlie course taken by the Emperox has been to call from M . Abdatucci a re port upon the subject ; thab report is referred to tho Council of State ; and the Council is to suggest means for enforcing penalties against false assumption . The recommendation must involve the
action of tho penal law , and unless the Government is to act in a very arbitrary manner , we may hear of legal proceedings . It is more than possible that men may be accused of the false assumption of title who will be . \ ble > to establish their claims , although they . vill bo unable to establish any character for honest y even in the lowest sense of tho word . In fact , tliis kind of action ia likely to set tho courts of law exposing at once tho damaged
character of some of the old nobility , the contrast between the true old nobles and the modern creations , and the extent to which some fictitious nobles upon sufferance have assisted in the present regime . ! For it is impossible that men who are called upon to lay down titles which they have assumed and have borne by courtesy , should not defend themselves by explaining how they have served that State which is now so cruel to them . The legal noblesse will hardly come out of such inquiries without some ridicule , and the illegal noblesse will come out with a thorough hatred of the Government whicTx has exposed ifc .
Besides , how grand the retort which the stripped nobles can make ! If they hare given themselves patent of nobility , who was it that set them the example , if it was not Louis Napoleon himself ? Men who have made themselves " Viscounts and Marquises may perhaps , on being compelled to cancel their patent , avenge "themselves by compelling the self-created Emperor to take off his tiara , lay down his sceptre , and reappear before the world as plain Charles Louis BoNAPATtT / E .
There is a , further impolicy in the whole proceeding . Any nobility rests its genuine character upon some reality . Originally it was based upon real power ^ which grasped a privilege ; and the title was only the name of the power . Even after feudal excTusiveness of possession had ceased , society still looked up to the Duke or the Marquis , though , there was nothing in his dukedom or marquisate but the name . You cannot make society
respect Dukes merely because they are genuine or legal—that is , because they have a piece of parchment in their strong-box ; And any run at the active clever fellows who are calling themselves Marquises and Viscounts is likely ' enough' to expose the spurious character of every sort of aristocratic title in Prance . The people will look up to P . EL 1 SS 1 EB . because he has been really a successful man . He teas Duke of Mala koff—that is , a leader at the Malakoff .
JBut what is the Count be Mokny besides being " le plus grand brocantcur de l ' Europe ? " In English we might pardonably translate his title to mean Count your Money ; for that phrase would really express the whole value of the man . He i 3 rich , and has become so by gigantic jobbing . It would be far more close to the fact if the Emperor were to entitle him the Grand Jobber .
New Special Men. The New Parliament Abou...
NEW SPECIAL MEN . The new Parliament abounds in new men . " We feel some pride in remembering that , in nearly every conspicuous instance , we had pointed , before the elections took place , to the names of the new Liberals . It is satisfactory to find that wo had correctly interpreted tlie sentiments and sympathies of tho Reform party . Among those members who have just received their political commissions , by virtue of family influence , however , there aro some who may legitimately bo avoIcomed under tho common standard . Tho
House of Commons will not unkindly sec Lord Lincoln , Lord James Stuaiit , and Viscount MiiLauiTD take their scats by tlie side of tho latest development of the traditional Lord Ai / moitp . Jfrom another social department it will receive , with pleasure , Mr , " WYi , i ) , Mr . Saxisuuhy , Mr . Hop woo . i > , Mr . II . D . SuiriUDAN , Mr . NicoLr ,, Mr . Towns / end , Mr . liouiMiXT ,, Mr . Gin'iN , Mr . Platt , Mr . IjocKK , Mr . Polic y , Mr . W . O . Postj < : it , and Mr . Aykton . Wg have already noticed the accession of Mr . Coninqham , " Mr . Hacicnr , ooic , Mr . Watklns , and Mr . McOuLijAQH . It remsiins , perhaps , to shake hands with Sir
Fre » eiiick : Smith , wto ' " ¦ hardly knows where to stop " m reform measures , Mr . J . T . Mobeis , and Mr . B . N . Philip s , and other gentlemen who will enter St . Stephen ' s porch , by right of writ returned , for the first time . A few names , however , call for further and special comment : " Eothen " Kingiaxe , who brings into Parliament his broad , clear , masterly English intellect , his fine culture , and his ' ieebrook' nerve , with his unflinching liberalism and contempt of all servilit y— qualities now in high demaxid
for tlie service of Keform . Mr . Kutglake , perhaps ^ will do liis work best in the department of administrative improvement , and of questions relating to the army . He is neither a pedant nor a circunuocutionisfc ; nor will he the less zealously or effectually prosecute his aims in the direction of Law Reform for having given up the wig aud gown , in which he served an honourable and not undistinguished apprenticeship ,- for tlie larger science of legislation . Mr . Kinglake then , is a special new man . New and special also is Major-General
"Eedan" Windham , a thorough Liberal , whose Parliamentary attack will alarm all military jobbers , pedants , and idlers . He may be expected to lend effective aid to the promoters of army reform and army education ; he is known to hold advanced views -with respect to "the purchase system , to the establishment of " economy and efficiency" as the motto of the " War-office , and to tho development of a national Militia reserve . These are points on Avhich our journal has emphatically insisted , so thab we may cordially recognize WindhajM as a special new man of particular value . ¦ ¦ . ¦ '¦¦¦•¦ ¦¦'¦ ¦ ' ¦ ¦ '¦' ' ¦ . ¦ ¦ : ¦' . .. .. . . - ¦
We may nominate , thirdly , Mr . Augustus Smith , Who in some sense is the / Stamford Raffles of an island realm . He is governor and owner of those singular outlying fragments of England , the Scilly Isles , peopled by a small but most enterprising and intelligent community , and his administration of those territories has been pleasantly called " an enlightened despotism . " Au
absolute government no doubt it is—would that all absolute governments were like it ! But the member for Truro is potentate by virtue of a title possessed by no other sovereign ; his dominion is his private estate . Ho has extinguished pauperism , stimulated tho trade , and improved the agriculture of the Scillies . Moreover , he has created tlie best unsectarian schools for the education of children that are to be met with in the
United Kingdom . The District Inspector of Schools will testify to this . Will not Sir John Pakington and Lord John ifcirssErx appreciate the value of such 21 man whom Educational , Poor Law , or Administrative topics aro debated ? Ho will speak with genuine authority . Such legislators cannot fail to attain influence and reputation in the House of Commons . We
must note again Sir Ahtilur Elton , whom we indicated long before the dissolution as a probable member of the next Parliament . Ho has studied statesmanship and legislation , lias been an attentive observer of home and foreign politics , is practically familiar with tho wants and feelings of the poor ; in his own county he is known as a reforming landowner , and an active magistrate . Beyond thoso local limits his writings have attracted the attention of all Liberal critics .
We have selected four examples of representative men , without meaning the slightest disparagement to other new members , with whom , no doubt , they will frequently diacuatf the necessities of tho period for which tlie Parliament of 1857 will have to legiiihite —not a very long period , probably . It would bo impossible to review , individually , tlie
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), April 11, 1857, page 13, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_11041857/page/13/
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