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Jan. 14, I860.] The Leader and Saturday ...
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THE SPANISH CRUSADERS. npHE Spanish army...
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? Tho lfttcot rumours speak of tho advan...
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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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Mb. Bright At Birmingham, T / I7"E Canno...
enfranchised , and the representative of middle class claims to a share in the power alleged to be unconstitutionally and mischievously wielded by the aristocracy— -the . ¦ time , the place ^ the office of the speaker , all conspired to give value to his utterance ; arid : to invest it with public interest ; in fact , to make it the manifesto and programme of the multitudes he is supposed to lead . Arid yet what is it , but an elaborate defence of the scheme which the Cabinet is conjectured to be maturing , not on the ground of its justice or its completeness , or its expansiyeness , but on account of its moderation and of its not being liable to the charge of being an extreme proposition .
John Russell , we do not expect ; but he seems too disjointed from the averageopinions of either aristocracy or democracy to play the part of a great leader with vigour and success . There are . thousands ¦ who gi ' atefully l'emember his services to free trade , who admire his eloquence , and are willing to believe in the sincerity of his intentions- V but he lacks' -moral dignity in his appeals to the heart of-the country , and fails to commend himself to its intellect as a statesman upon whose wisdom it can rely .
While intimating a willingness to subside into the arms of Lord John Russell , Mr . Bright told his heai-ers that the expected measure would be more moderate than his own , more moderate than Mr . Pitt's proposals seventy years ago , more moderate than a bill introduced by the late Lord Grey , and supported by Mr . Fox sixty years ago ; more moderate than the bill or proposition made by Lord Durham about thirty years ago , and much on a par with , the bill of Lord John Russell in 1852 . In this enumeration Mr . Bright thought proper to omit all reference to the plans of Mr . Hume , which for several years commanded a wide support in the House of Commons , and which were more feasible and practicable than his own schemes .
After these general remarks on the coming Bill ,, the speaker went on to say , that the county franchise might be regarded as settled at £ 10 , but that there might be differences about that of boroughs . He thought a £ 6 rental franchise would rather more than double the . electors of large thriving towns , such as Birmingham- and Manchester ; but in quieter towns the augmentation . would be but sinall- ^ in many cases not more than ten per cent . Ami this proposal he complimented as not being a very " destructive measure . " In further illustration of this scheme , he said , there
were one hundred and thirty-four boroughs returning one hundred and -ninety .-eight members , so small , that no ex > tension of the suffrage \ vould give them an adequate constituency . But , instead of using this argument for rejecting the expected Bill unless it should be accompanied by some compensatory clauses dealing with these nests of corruption , Mr . Bright added : " I am quite sure that the men who dread a measure like this , who fancy that we are extreme in our propositions—though this , you know , is riot b \ ir proposition—cannot really have examined it , or they would not say a syllable against it /' After this came some arguments to show that Mr . Disraeli
ought riot to object to such a Bill ; then followed the praise of a residential qualification as superior to all others—some remarks on the evils suffered by rottexv boroughs- —and an intimation that Lord Derby was willing to give an £ 8 suffrage ; and it therefore was not likely Lord John Russell would only offer one basedupon 20 s . less rent , following this came more proofs of the moderation of a £ & franchise , founded upon' calculations of the millions of male adults it would exclude ; and a comparison of his own Bill with that of Lord John Russell . Assuming
that each elector represented a family , the former would leave out twenty millions , and the latter twenty-two and a-holf millions . How false , therefore , was the charge that either Mr , Bright or Lord John Russell were immoderate men . ! The speech wound up , as usual , with an attempt to persuade the country that there was no occasion for national armamentsthat the people in , consenting to them were led away by " a red herring tied to a string , " and deluded by the newspapers , " who , don't give you a single fact that enn be relied on . "
We confess that this speech has not in any way surprised us . It is the natural end of the peculiar course fljx . Bright has chosen . His own plans had nothing in them to rouse the hearts of the unenfranchised , while their reckless proposals for disfranchising small boroughs raised a host of enemies whom he had no power to meet . Still , it is somewhat humiliating to find a political general imitating Gorgey , and surrendering his army at discretion , and to see that after a
series of field days and manoeuvres tho war is to be given up . If something less is to bo token now than Lord John Russell would , have given in 1852 , what value can wo place upon the services and leadership of Mr . Bright during the interval P Has ho only promoted ? reaction , and , after declaiming against aristocracy almost as vehemently as the followers of Mahomet denounced the unbelievers , is he going to settle down ns lion ' s provider for a lordly chief P
We can , understand that Mr . Biugut ' s admirers might r « ad his speech us the utterance of a dream , and supposo that ho had visited Birmingham in a stnte pf somnambulism , and addressed his constituents under the delusion that he was a Tory miniator , bound to resist democracy and prove the extreme moderation of his views ; and it is easy to imagine the merriment of the opponents of Reform . That Mr . Bright will , after all , bo a quiet follower of Lord
Jan. 14, I860.] The Leader And Saturday ...
Jan . 14 , I 860 . ] The Leader and Saturday Analyst . 33
The Spanish Crusaders. Nphe Spanish Army...
THE SPANISH CRUSADERS . npHE Spanish army- —a cigarette in every mouth , and a cross -. on eveiy breast , according to the latest accounts still remains outside Ce-u-ta * , in pretty much the same position that it did some weeks ago . The Cid himself was never , we ai-e told , so valiant as General Eciiague , the commander of their . first corps- —not even impassable roads check the fury of his chivalrous troops ; no African drenches of rain damp the Spanish courage ; no chillv flapping of tents disturb for a moment the brave men ' s
sleep . Mindful of their enlightened country , their virtuous Queen , and their unpolluted faith , even raw recruits from Basque rocks and Sevillia 7 i plains leap with joy to brave the Moorish matchlocks and the ugly Moorish j ^ oniards : bu t still , with all its lust for victory , one ' stubborn fact remains to be answered , and that is ¦ 'that the ' -Spanish'army does not move one step forward . It sings vaunting ballads ; it brags ; it lies ; it flourishes about tlie crucifix , and defies , the Infidel ; but I it does not move on . The clog is not a cowardly dog ; but still it yelps verv close to its kennel , and does not bite when it should .
Probably two out of eveiy three of tlie readers of tha Times ( the Spanish advocate ) do not understand whereabouts in . x \ frica the Spaniards landed , or wh-re tkdr forces are at present stationed . One would really think , to read the glowing and absurd accounts of Spanish ' prowess ( of how three Cacndores slew one Moor :, to wit ) , that Alfonso the Brave , Charles the Ftftii , or the Great Captain were again slitting-Moorish .. gullets with the . old chivalrous rapidity . Is it . possible . that ' . after all these feats of valour , worthy of . Charlemagne and 'his Paladins , the -Spanish army still sticks close to the little Botany-Bay town that we garrisoned for them in the old French war , and that they demanded from us . back . ' after--the . Peace with' such timid and - suspicious haste?— " Alas ! " as romance writers say , indeed it is . . . .
Yes : there they are , the gallant crusaders , so confident of their cause , so distrustful of the Moor ; their backs to the safe port of embarkation , with no foolish thought of cutting the bridge behind them , or burning the useful transport , a la Julius C . ksak , in their gallant and prudent mind . They landed in their own port , and remain just Where they landed—the brave hearts ! Tf the position of the army that vapours and squibs , but does not move on , is misunderstood by the English public , much
more is the nature of the quarrel between the Moors and Spaniards unappreciated by our countrymen . Talk of Napoleon find unjustifiable invasions of Spain , why this Spanish invasion of Africa is twice as iniquitous . To say that centuries ago tlie Moors invaded Spain , is as ridiculous a cause of quarrel as if a Cork pig merchant to-morrow were to break an Englishman ' s head because Strongbow , some years ago , landed in that city , burnt a house . or two , and put out the fire again in due time with savage drenches of Celtic blood .
Nor was BUI' piracy any just , cause for the war . The Riff pirates , it is true , are a cruel race of wreckers , who consider all cargo that comes to their iron-bound shore lawful flotsam and jetsam sent thither by a kind Providence . But Spain ,- almost without commerce , is tho lost tuition that wns required to take up arms on such a quarrel , if even indeed it were possible for any soldiers , unless they dropped from balloons to invade the It iff ( Raff ) men ' s inhospitable lnud ; nor is the crime of thoso Mahommedan savages the fault of the Emperor of Morocco , who lias but a nominal power amongst the wild races pf the lower Atlas j nor indeed would shelling Tetuan vex the BilfF men one bitfor they care no more for Tetuan than for Madrid .
, The war , we repeat , is an unjust war , the result of greedy national vanity and the old bigotry that tortured the Low Countries , and under the wretch Philip soaked our England with good men ' s blood . It is a fresh outburst of the old volcanic fire of Papal intolerance that has so long done the devil ' s work in Go » 'tf name , and devastated this world to prepare men for another . A whole herd of Papal bulls will be issued , no doubt ; priests declaring , as they trample down the shores of A . l'rica , that to butcher Moorish w . oincn and children , to burn , the happy homos '
? Tho Lfttcot Rumours Speak Of Tho Advan...
? Tho lfttcot rumours speak of tho advanoe towards J otuan . Wo Joub t tho rumour , for thoro aro no roads : tho cholera is in tho oiimi , »»« . " »* wttt sottuon oymos on . Tho Vallo Wtyro will l > e t | w " vwlloy of tho shadow of douth" to 8 o * oo of those jtaviulora if oivro is not tuJcow . . .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 14, 1860, page 5, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_14011860/page/5/
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