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Leader (1850-1860), 14th April 1855, Edition 2 of 2, Page 15, THE TORIES AND THE rjSELITEb. Tub Mornin...

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      Our Families Again. Again " The Families...

      eurred liabilities that he cannot meet—tradesmen and other honest folks are liable to that contingency , although they do not wantonly drag upon those liabilities by engaging in turf transactions—it is not only he * has been a sporting character , but the liabilities thus , wantonly incurred he does not confront . He disappears . And there are dark insinuations as to the nature of these liabilities . Yet there is no getting over the fact that , by the usage of society amounting to a law , he is , par excellence , " the Honourable Francis Villiers ! " There may be other persons of the name of Viixiers , and even christened Francis : but he is the

      " Honourable" of those names , These cases of exposure in high life are becoming so frequent and so various as to make us ask whether ie the exception proves the rule' * —that is , whether these exceptions to the fulfilment of the title " Honourable , " prove that honour is the rule . We really doubt it . In

      strict logic , as John Stuart Miix tells us , an exception does not prove the rule , but proves that the statement of the rule is defective ; and a multiplicity of exceptions proves that the fact is inconsistent with the statement of the rule . We have then to ask how many per cent , of our aristocracy are , more or less , in the same boat with the Honourable Francis ?

      The peerage has always contributed a full share to the causes- celebres of our criminal courts , and we have had crimes which the silken halter and the axe have failed to expiate . But really the last twelve months or so have become so fertile in noble and honourable misdeeds , that we begin to ask whether the aristocracy is not rather outshining other classes in the same department . When Alice Leroy broke from the revolting prison into which she had been kidnapped from Belgium , she

      disclosed a clientela for the house of Madame Denis which must Jxave been wealthy , and was probably aristocratic . The girl Reginbal disclosed similar facts respecting the house of Maemaysee , in Newman-street . There was an old nobleman at both places ; and the " old marquis , " who was not a marquis , has become quite a familiar expression . Subsequently , the case of French versus Holt let us into the interior of a house in Belgravia ; and here again there was a nobleman involved , not according

      to conventional ideas of morality , though not in any serious manner . The case of Sefton or Derby versus Hopwood has been contributing its "life" to the daily newspapers , like the feuille ton of the French journals . It shows that the grown-up children of a gentleman connected with the land can pester the last days of their father by quarrelling about their interests as indecorously as the children of vulgar parentsrather more so , since the school of their

      operations is enlarged . The case of Hope versus Aguado brought us in connexion with the land and aristocracy , and more family feuds . That of IIandcock versus Delacour again dragged a nobleman into the field . Here the aspersions were so serious , that the Marquis of Clanricarde has thought it necessary to defend himself before the public with statements that have in no single instance been accepted as satisfactory . Lord Ci-anrioarde interfores for the defence of his conduct in this

      most extraordinary case , and leaves the whole matter still n controversy ; some of the persona to whom ho had referred adding themselves to tho number of his accusers . The position of the Order of Nobles is getting serious . Tho number of tho Poors is not so great as to constitute it a very numerous body , and if these cases aro oxcoptions , wo want to know how lnrgo a percentage is to bo allowed for such exceptions ?'

      Everybody is avvaro that a comparatively small proportion of offenders aro brought to ju stico , oven in tho humblest class ; but a fortiori

      do offenders escape in those classes which have money , influence , and almost every means of purchasing immunity . The number of the Peers , therefore , who are brought into court on account of irregular transactions within the cognisance of the law , is probably smaller than the numbers of those persons of noble birth who are implicated in such transactions , but escape being brought to justice . How great a percentage must we allow out of the noble families who are in question ? We have already had before the public in these transactions , more or less directly implicated , seven or eight noble families ; and there are some others connected

      with similar transactions in years not long gone by . But , excluding eccentricities like those of an Irish viscount who figured some years in the case of Alice Lowe , and comparatively harmless peccadilloes like that of the noblemen disclosed in the case of Holt versus French ^—excluding such cases , we have some ten noble families involved in the grossest irregularities . How many more , we say , have escaped being brought to account ? Is it another ten ? Have we twenty noble families involved , or thirty , or forty ? Taking the lowest account , it appears that the criminal percentage in that class must be rather high .

      The gentlemen of the Commissariat in the East are aggrieved with Lord Palmerston , because , when somebody had said in the House of Commons that the public departments which were manned by gentlemen had broken down , he pointed to the medical , commissariat , and transport departments , manned by men unconnected with the peerage and the land , and therefore not " gentlemen . " The officers of the Commissariat call upon Lord Panmure to vindicate their honour , intelligence , and zeal in the endeavour to

      conduct duties which the system prevented them from accomplishing . Probably , if they were to confront the facts as we view them , the officers of the Commissariat might be disposed to reverse their request to Lord Panmure . If the departments are manned by those who are not gentlemen in the parliamentary sense , the construction of their department , its administration from above , and the supreme responsibility , lie with the governing classes ^—with the families , noble or landed . The breakdown of the Commissariat is chargeable against thoses by " whosedecree the departments are

      established as they are , not against the individuals comprised . But we doubt very much whether , amongst the classes whence the medical , commissariat , and transport departments in the East are manned , there is anything like the criminal percentage which we have indicated for our aristocratic classes . Accepting Lord Palmerston ' s definition of a gentleman , we are inclined to doubt whether any member of the class that mans those subordinate departments , and that carries on our great works in the professions , in trade , and in practical science , will not learn to exclaim with pride , " No , thank God , I am no gentleman 1 "

      We have some right , indeed , to charge the disgrace of the individual upon the class , since tho most outrageous charges may be current , be undenied , bo reiterated , " -and then be met by denials that break down from their own incompleteness ; and yet tho class itself will make no difference whatever in its demeanour to the individual . Let a man bo convicted of breaking certain conventional laws which others break universally , " under the rose , "—

      or lot him be guilty of some still greater enormity , such ns picking his tooth with a silver fork , —and ho may become an outcast from society . But to bo accused of implication in any of tho transactions to which wo have referred , leaves him still free to pass without challongo amongst tho Peors of tho realm assembled in state , or tobo presented to his Sovereign in Court .

      Aratiiil^ 13856,] The Leabbm 351

      Aratiiil ^ 13856 , ] THE LEABBm 351

      Thanet Union Industrial Jparm.. We Have ...

      THANET UNION INDUSTRIAL JPARM .. We have received the usual report on the state of the Thanet industrial farm , for the year 1854 , in the form of an abstract of the accounts , which we subjoin .: — ISLE OF THAJSTET UNION . Abstract of Garden Account ( the Produce of Twelve Acres ) , for the Year ending 28 th of November , 1854 . Debtor . £ s . d . Creditor . £ s . d . To Stock , brought By Pigs , sold .. 227 4 2 forward 160 11 0 „ Potatoes .... 25 5 4 J „ Balance of Tools 7 12 0 „ Green Peas 0 16 0 , ' „ Pigs bought I 62 4 3 „ Turnips 0 6 3 „ Food for ditto ... 123 3 7 i „ Parsnips 0 6 0 „ Rent , Tithes , „ Cabbages 0 5 6 J Bates 34 15 1 „ Plants 0 15 „ Tradesmen ' s „ Onions I 0 1 O Bills 7 19 6 I- 1 „ Seed Potatoes ... ! 6 11 0 Total sold ... 254 5 9 „ Sundry Seeds ... 3 2 1 •—**• ,, Manure bought 3 2 4 ByCabbages . consd . 21 15 0 . „ Plants ... I 1 10 0 „ Potatoes 57 4 0 „ Sundries j 6 6 3 „ Parsnips 17 10 0 „ Ten per Cent , on' „ Onions .... 5 8 0-Piggerics 7 0 0 ,, Turnips 5 6 0 „ Grains S 4 0 „ Broad Beans ... 4 0 0 „ House Manure 5 0 0 ,, Potatoes used ,, Coal 2 0 0 forSeed .. 16 0 0 " Straw """¦ " 8 ° ° Total consumed 127 2 0 442 1 li Valuation byMssrs . Manser & Dadds 190 12 0 Balance of Implements 10 0 0 200 12 0 Summary : — Articles sold 254 5 9 Ditto consumed ... 127 2 0 Balance ...... 139 18 74 Ditto in store .,..,.. 200 12 0 581 19 9 . 581 19 9 "We , having carefully valued the crops and stock in hand , and examined the foregoing account , certify that it is correct . Wilulam Manseb . John Bajdds . N . B . — The balance shown by this account is to be partly attributed to the labour of the inmates , not being charged , as thejt-would be idle if not so employed .-AH the beneficial effects , of course , do not appear on the face of these figures ; and , we need scarcely say , that the trading profit is a matter of minor importance compared with other considerations . The minds of the inmates are employed . Many of the unfortunate have , therefore , the less occasion ^ to brood over their reverses in life , and a healthier tone is introduced throughout . Besides the ordinary school instruction , the boys are taught lessons of practical industry , —very valuable to them after leaving the union . In this respect , therefore , the rate-receivers enjoy a superior education to t ^ e chttdren of the rate-payersas the union school so far exceeds the national school . But indirectly the rate-payers have their full return in the tendency which such instruction has to prevent the backsliding of young paupers upon the union . In ^ most parish business , as well as national business , too much attentioa is paid to routine , and family interest is all-powerful . The influence of the clergyman and squire must be propitiated , even before good can be done . The Thanet Union , fortunately , has men of capacity in its resident managers , and the state of the farm is a sufficient proof , both of the capacity and of the genuine interest which the local officers take in it . The motive for zeal will probably be increased by the newly introduced principle of promotion among the subordinate officers . •"

      The Tories And The Rjseliteb. Tub Mornin...

      THE TORIES AND THE rjSELITEb . Tub Morning Herald has been dclivored of a grand scandal about an alliance between tho Manchester men and the Pcelitos . Wo only wi 3 h the scandal may prove true , though the Herald seems not to have tho Blightcst ground for its assertion . An alliance of that kind would not bo a political millennium , but it would bo a . step out of oligarchy and intriguo towards honesty and manly endeavour , and wo should look to it . with Jiopo for tho people Appearances , however , are rather the other way as regards tUo principal Peelito , between whom and some of the others we believo tho political uuion to bo less intimate than is commonly supposed . It will bo in-

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), April 14, 1855, page 15, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_14041855/page/15/