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966 — ¦ ~— " " * - -' ¦ '" • ' ^ —^^——^ ...
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NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS. No notice can...
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SATTJRBAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 1858.
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There is nothing so revolutionary, becau...
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STATE OF PAUTIES COMMITTEE. Is- the pres...
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THE PRESS IN BELGIUM AND PIEDMONT. Since...
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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Transcript
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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.
966 — ¦ ~— " " * - -' ¦ '" • ' ^ —^^——^ ...
966 — ¦ ~— " " * - - ' ¦ '" ' ^ —^^——^ — gar
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Notices To Correspondents. No Notice Can...
NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS . No notice can be taken of anonymous correspondence . Whatever is intended for insertion paust be authenticated bythoname and address of the writer ; not necessarily for publication , but as a guarantee of his good faith . It is impossible to acknowledge the mass of letters we receive . Their insertion . is often delayed , owing to a-press of matter ; and when omitted , it is frequently frbni reasons quite independent of the merits of the commuuication . ¦ ¦ We oannot undertake to return rejected communications .
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Sattjrbay, September 18, 1858.
SATTJRBAY , SEPTEMBER 18 , 1858 .
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There Is Nothing So Revolutionary, Becau...
There is nothing so revolutionary , because there is nothing so unnatural and convulsive , as the strain to keep things fixed when all the world is by the very law of its creation in eternal progress . —Dr . AitxoLD .
State Of Pauties Committee. Is- The Pres...
STATE OF PAUTIES COMMITTEE . Is- the present Government were frankly to avow itself only a provisional Government , and were re garded as sncli by the public , there would be no . great objection to the position which it occupies , or to the men which Gompose it ; ' but it is understood to advance itself as a fair representative of the country ; and while its members remind us that office was thrust upon them . rather than sought , they appear to think they have some right to hold office on their own terms so long as they submit to the most distinct political conditions of the day . If they will execute Liberal measures they hold them-.
selves free to remain in power , although they are not Liberals , but Tories . Some of their leading members , indeed , might : very justly disclaim that title ; but what of that ? They must sever themselves from the more earnest and consistent of their older followers , and the Ministry would then be in the peculiar condition of having within itself a ^ Liberal Ministry with a Tory Opposition , or vice versa . Lord Derb y ^ or Lord Stanley , or Mr . Disraeli might remain- as head of a new Liberal Government if that weeding of the old Tory elements had been effected ; but the Government as it is ,
with its origin stamped upon it , is for all permanent purposes a political impossibility ; and so long as is remains in office unchanged , it stamps the situation as an unterminated crisis . Meanwhile there are two serious objections to any prolongation of the crisis , or to any maintenance of the present Government in power while its party and political relations continue unaltered . First , the majority in Parliament is debarred from its political right of possessing the Government 5 secondly , the de facto Executive is exposed to be obstructed by party combinations of the actual majority . These objections so strike at the root of our constitutional system ,
that they form in themselves , sufficient reason either for removing the Ministry or for compelling it tp adapt itself to its future . We freely ' admit that the causes of the situation do not lie at the door of the present Ministers ; they have been passive ; their utmost responsibility consists in accepting power thrust upon them . The reasons for their entry into office lie with altogether different sections of the parliamentary class j we see the causes of the Derby Ministry in the actuaL condition of the Liberal party . Before the last session was over , Lord Palmorston was unable to muster a majority even of Liberals . He saw the Opposition
sometimes led by Lord John Ituesell , sometimes by Mr . Mjlner Gibson , or by anybody else who took _ flp t the 1 question of the day . He was obliged to surifeiaatir ills resistance ofT ^ u ^ ters ^ on ^ tlre ^ rdinrBillr and on the breaking up of Parliament he seemed to retire iron * political life to his estates in Ireland , or to his sympathisers on the Continent—anywhere but the political society of England . Lord Jolm -Russell and his friends had-the most magnificent opportunities open before them for resuming the lead of tta Liberal party , and their own backwardness was the sole reason why they did not resume that load , tfrom its connexion with the middle class , whose lights have never yet been sufficiently recognised
and employed in our political system , the Manchester party would have been able to take at least a second half in the action of the Opposition . Ihe want of rank amongst its leading men would have been no ground for their being Jkept back had it not been that the prejudices of certain leaders on subjects of war , perhaps of class relations , and certainly trading relations , have rendered the party not popular all over the country , and have abridged the number of its supporters out of doors , lor these reasons the principal sections of the Liberal party
have been drawn more widely asunder irom each other , and have been enfeebled in their own action ; and of the several parties into which the House ol Commons is cut , of the five parties , the three Liberal sub-sections and the two Conservative sub . sections , the Ministerial party is that which brings together the greatest number with the most positive desire to co-operate . It is powerful through the backslidings of its opponents , strong in their divisions ; but still it fails to supply conditions which have heretofore been considered essential to the
permanent occupation of office . We see the same government of minorities in the colonies ; but that is explained by the fact that a responsible Government is comparatively new in the British settlements ; that society itself iu those distant provinces is undergoing constant alteration , with every local circumstance contributing to xitisett lenient " , and that Tbefore long probably a little more schooling in the busiuess ol representative institutions will cure this local defect . We show the same , anomaly , notwithstanding our long experience and the boasted perfection of our representative institutions ; can we acquiesce in such a state of
things as permanent ? Will the middle class be content to see the upper classes exposing their own incompetency to govern the country , and yet retaining access to office as if it were their privilege ? With such an ; exhibition of weakness at head-quarters , would the working class be content to stand excluded ; nay , would any parliamentary party , retaining a spark of political conviction or pride , consent to the permanency of such political anarchy ? It is scarcely possible that bur political decline has gone so far as that point ; if it had done so we might confess that we have beeii seized with political phthisis .
One of the causes of continuance , however , is of a very simple and obvious kind ; it is the difficulty of bringing a constitutional question to any practical issue on the basis of any inquiry that interests the public at the moment . The House of Commons is cut up into sub-sections , which neutralise each other on almost . every political or practical question , and the Administration de facto has a great advantage in the opportunity of balancing one Opposition against another in a House where there is a small Ministerial party and four smaller Oppositions . Tlvo first attempt at a political rescue lay in the design of forming an independent Liberal
party . There were meetings in one of the committce-i'ooins ; Right Honourable gentlemen—no man under a Right Honourable could be thought of—were named as the leaders of the party . Borne hoped that Lord John might consent to resume his post , others even thought that Lord Palmcrston might bo induced to own his fault , to mend his ways , and to take up his place again as leader of the Lfboral Opposition ; which , restored to its strength as a consolidated majority , would at once . turn the Derby Cabinet out of office , and re-enter Downing-street in easy triumph . Tile divisions between the Liberals , however , have been
aided by the willing and complete submission of the Tories to act under Liberal dictation , lay aside their old principles , and proceed upon the modem principles heretofore monopolised by the Liberals . This coupling of Liberal failure with Tory succession to the busmess of Liberalism , has thrown all our Parliamentary calculations at fault ; it threatens , indeed , to undermine the very ground of responsible Government ; for it , calls upon us to accept , as Ministers men who have been all their lives opposed to
r ., u ™ m , lpnin (? iploa-flnd-who . if .,, Mov haveanyconsistenoy , any maturity , of judgment , any smcevilyT arc from the training and the habit 01 their lives most likely to turn round at a critical moment and resume their allegiance to Tory principles . Wo continuo to maintain a Tory Government in ofilec therefore , at our own peril , with a great , probability that so long as we do so we shall weaken every kind of Liberal influence , break down every sort of Liberal connexion , and hand over the country to bo again the sport of some heaven-born Minister of
absolutist doctrine . At present , the state of things is only like a laborious joke ; but at the next sta ^ o it may be no laughing , matter , and our solicitudels increased by reflecting that not a man amon <> - us is clever enough to guess " what next . " ° It has heretofore proved impossible to raise an issue which shall lead us out of this entanglement The Liberal party scheme has proved a failure ; we have found that wo cannot trust in particular ' persons as habitual leaders ; if Ministers were beaten on their India bill , they accepted the measures of their opponents as far as they must— -they have undertaken to neutralise even , the claim for reform
by adopting it . There is no motion to be made about the influence-of the Crown , " which lias increased , is increasing , and ought to be diminished . " No independent Liberal could obtain much attention for a motion " on the state of the nation / ' since the nation is very tranquil and rather more prosperous than it has been recently . There lias not been yet any wholesale parliamentary corruption . Perhaps the best mode of dealing with the difficulty is , as usual , the direct mode . The substantial fact is , that our system of government by Ministers of the Crown , under a check of rcsponsibilitv ( o
Parliament is , at this . moment , a failure , because the authority of Parliament is neutralised by the subdivision of parties . If we were to hazard u judgment on the actual condition of the political world , we might say that the materials for our constitutional system have come to an end , and that the system fails for want of the men or the circumstances which give it effect . What will be the next stage in this national disorganisation ? The question would justify any member of sufficient energy and courage , who should next session move for a select committee to inquire into the state of parties with reference to the construction of Government , and the relations of the Executive to Parliament . The
report of the committee—if its inquiry were properly conducted , and it summoned the proper witnesses before it—would be one of the most interesting historical commentaries ¦ upon pur political history ever produced ; but long before that si age , the mere development of the motion , and tlic discussions . to which it would give rise , would bring the whole subject of the dead lock under active debate , and possibly to a practical issue .
The Press In Belgium And Piedmont. Since...
THE PRESS IN BELGIUM AND PIEDMONT . Since the press of France has been deprived of its freedom , that of the two neighbouring kingdoms which retain the privileges of constitutional rule has become of more intrinsic importance , as well as of more sympathetic interest to Western Europe . The influence of English journalism is undoubtedly greater in the Cabinets and salons of foreign states . The bureaucracy of ike Continent , and the coteries that Jn-west of the large cities continue to indulge iff political gossip in spite of the police , continue one way or other to enjoy the luxury of knowing from time to time what public opinion in Ihis
country is talking about . Evyu % vl » cio thy » 'w "' T " English journals arc most strictly contrabiuul , then contents , especially when they happen to be u good many degrees " above prool , " are certain to Do found " entered inwards ; " and so conscious is absolutism t . hnt the arts of political simiptflmtf nro invincible , that we continually sec in t . lic bciniofficial prints of Paris , Naples , and Vienna elaborate replies to -accusations which , according .. . ll 10 theory of paternal governments , ought nover to have been read within their confines , or , if rciul , couw only have provoked derision . But , after all , t »< j influence of English journalism is a spJch / ltJt " , « na its direct influonco abroad is necessarily conl nuil , m « rrrnat . moasuro to nrofcssional or amateur politicians . \
Jfor the many , whether in Italy , Germany , or Uo constitutional states of Northern Europe , ono goo < , out-spokon , well-written popular journal , m I 1 nmen or Italian , is worth half a dozen London newspapers of the highest merit ; . Tho soiitii »«» » 01 the British Parliament and pcoplo recorded 111 1 > iJ < j i ' OTi ^ tMlTTTOTS ^ s ^ iTqw ^ utmost moment on many critical oeonsions w ' : neighbours , but it is incapable of supi > v '" p l "" wauta of communities whoso antecedents , n «» and dialects are so widely dissimilar . iu « P »« w of Paris used to boast that a perusa ot . iIs con u » w was an indispensable of political liio ^' ° ! 181 < r the Continent ; and from 1880 to 1850 lli »¦ m J certain sense was true . But since the rest' " ¦» of Bonapartism , that brilliant , though oitcntimw
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 18, 1858, page 14, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_18091858/page/14/
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