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NOTES FOR THE ELECTIONS..- . . . ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦...
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FKACB AT ANY PIUOK. Loitn Malmebduhy at ...
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[iN THIS DEPARTMENT, AS All- OPINIONS, H...
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There is no learned man but will confess...
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A FEW WORDS TO LANCASHIRE. Sib,—Some of ...
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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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A Plea For The Better Observance Of ¦ . ...
his forces to iiiarcli against the Crystal Palace , « nd the Christian enjoymentof Suuday P Besides the " SabbathrGbsertance" part of their motive , we presume that apprehensions of disorderly * conduct are felt by the agitators if the building at Sydenham is thrown ppen on Sunday . We happen toremember ^ sdniething of apprehensions felt in certain quarters , wheii the Great Exhibition was opened to 70 , 000 spectators at a shilling £ i . 'head . The result of thatexperiment furnished one of the best and brightest pages in the social history of this country ; and the result
of the forthcomingexperiment will add another . We write positively of it as a " forthcoming" experiment , because we believe that this mischievous agitation is too contemptible as an opposition to the good sense , the brotherly feeling , and the popular interests of the country , to succeed . Should result s * soon to come , prove our opinion to be erroneous ; should this last worst tyranny
of S abbath despotism seem really likely to gain its end , then let the people raise theirvoice in protest , as we raise ours ; and let such a popular deputation wait on Lord Derby , before he can get out of town , as shall tend to quicken his official consideration a little , and m the right direction , on the subject of keeping the doors of the Crystal Palace quite as wide open on Sunday as on any other day of the week .
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Notes For The Elections..- . . . ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦...
NOTES FOR THE ELECTIONS . .- . . . ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ :.. HI- . ¦¦ . - ¦ ¦ ¦' •¦ ¦¦ . . ' . THE DEMORALIZATION 01 " MEMBEBS OF PARLIAMENT AT ELECTIONS . A point of some importance would be gained if Electors would consider how easily Members of Parliament may be demoralized , —indeed , how effectively they are demoralized at almost every election . The nobleman , the country gentleman , or the scholar , comes down to the hustings , anci visits the electors , and the refinement of the ancestral Hall , the chivalry of Oxford or Cambridge , the courtly graces of the man of letteOB ,
are at once brought into rude contact with villanous incrimination , the coarsest familiarity , and the wildest profligacy . It is impossible that these candidates should not form the lowest opinion of the people . The gentWan who is accustomed to conduct his controversies with opponents with . $ oirle ilegrecr ^ pf self-reapecti and to avoid , at least , " evil speaking , lying , and slandering , " no sooner enters upon a contest , than he is called upon to revel in all the meanness of calumny , abuse , recrimination , and the coarsest personalities . At the last election for Westminster , the Secretary of St . George ' s Outward , on the part of General De Lacy
Evans and Mr . Lushington , made it a condition of his service , that he should be free to tear down from the walls of that committee-room , all the placard bred in the Cochrane controversy , which no gentleman ought to write , nor connive at being written , nor tolerate in liis sight when they were written . Yet these were written by persons who ought to know better , and permitted by others who disapproved them . And Westminster has some prctonsions to being considered a refined constituency , Electioneering tactics are worse dsowhero . No soonor docs a contest open > than the liorough is converted into a " bear garden . " The " scoundrel maxim "— " all's fair at an election time , "
means , that any unfairness may be resorted to , m selecting and electing a Member of Parliament . Election committees initiate and sanction that public vituperation of opponents and parties , which , as individuals , they would shrink from individually , as disreputable . This vicious policy prevails still . Already the walls of stirring boroughs are groaning with the weight of contemptible imputations . Ono effect of this is , that gentlemen of refinement avoid becoming Members of Parliament , or go through the ordeal with disgust . 3 ilk Buckingham succeeds , where Snmucl Bailey ia rejected . The end of it all is , that the elected Candidate , Heoing around him all the activity of tho borough engaged in libelling ouch other—in denying sincerity or honour to each other , comos to think they must know
each other bout , and that there may bo at loast thai truth on both sides . How can you expect a member to believe in the honour and patriotism of his constituents , when ho finds them proforring tho gratification of party passion , or personal political pique , to the Holomn , impartial , and dignified discussion of public principle ? Ho acquires a contempt for thorn all . A Honsiblo person avoids the shop whore the shopkeeper puffa his wares , knowing that ho who will decoivo you , or exaggerate in his advertisement , or on his placard , may docoivo you or exaggerate to you over tho counter . So , in a contest conducted as ours chiefly are , tho best mon got disgusted , keep aloof , and abandon tho public intercut to tho electioneering gamblers , who hold thoir carnival on every dissolution of Parlinmcnt . Th 0
Member elected after the present fashion , does represent the people , —he represents their venality , their passion , their party strife , their political piques , their neglect of great public interests and national honour . Then we hold public meetings , hypocritically to deplore that demoralization which we find in Parliament , which demoralization jve first industriously created at the hustings . . , "We have changed some of our barbarous sports , but have not abolished them . If we no longer suffer the rustic patriot to bait his bull on the village green , we reserve the same luxury to the savage politician , who ,
with the newspapers' consent , baits the Candidate on the Nomination day . Then clamour ^ rage , violence , and all unfairness reign . Every " hole and corner /' and every clique ^ sends forth its orators and brawlers . The most dangerous contempt , felt by our present rulers for the people , has been engendered in elections . The common people only are not in fault : there are mobs of gentlemen as well as mobs of poor men . Whoever clamours , so that his opponent shall not be heard , —whoever lends himself to violence , when his cause requires reason , is one of the common mob , whether he wears fustian or broadcloth . There is no
difference ; except that the better the man is dressed , the more disreputable is his conduct . The philosopher , the gentleman , and the cultivated patriot are wrong , when these exhibitions drive them from the discharge of their duties . They ought to show themselves , and , by their presence and influence put down , as they might put down , these disgraceful practices . But philosophy and good sense in England is somewhat dainty and cowardly , and prefers to contemn the folly it ought to reprove . Let all , therefore , who claim to be the friends of the people , strive to bring into contempt those customs , which keep the fflost ' estimable men in the nation out of the arena of politics !
By all means let public questions be put to candidates . In no other way can we ascertain -whom we should trust with the national interests . But let the questions be well chosen and well considered . Why should they not be written , and sent into the candidate ' before the time of asking , that he might have time to consider what answer they deserve ? Personal interrogatories should be disallowed . Only such questions as afiect distinct bodies of the people should be put . Then the most suitable person as to character and influence among the electors , likely to represent the question , should be appointed to propose it . How
often does swaggering insolence and ignorant presumption , interrogate the gentleman candidate as though he were a cabman , higgling you out of your fare ? If you do not insist on the candidate being respected , and treated scrupulously as a gentleman , you have no right to complain if he fails to be one when elected a member of Parliament . At every step the candidates should find that they have courteous and earnest men and real interests to deal with . If elections had the proper dignity infused into them which befits the septennial contest for national interests , we should not have so many juvenile , trifling , and speculating political
adventurers appearing beforo constituencies . Proper public spirit , distinct purposes , serious intention , and a respectable bearing , would rebuke tho flippant audacity of so many colonels , lawyers , landed boobies , and noblo dunces who , without having rendered a single public service , or porsonated a single noble and serious principle , now venture to approach tho electoral hustings , and bawl themselves into Parliament by the aid of wrangling Committees , a noisy populace , aervilo nowspapers , and a disgusted constituency , tho majority of which it is their policy to outrage into indifference .
Whatever newspaper shall set its face against the popular tactics of electioneering agitators of tho day , and use substantial . influenco to infuse good sense , respectful languago , and manly seriousness into our local contests , will do more to elevate tho character of politics , and to sccuro a Parliament of honourable and able mon , worthy of England ami capable of discussing tho Europonn questions now ponding , than all the whining homilies can accomplish , which vainly afllict tho public ear for tho six or seven years after each general election . \ qn .
Fkacb At Any Piuok. Loitn Malmebduhy At ...
FKACB AT ANY PIUOK . Loitn Malmebduhy at bay , exclaims , in a passion , lo Mr . Mather , " Would you have mo go to war about it P " And Mr . Scarlotfc , in his last published letter , excusing his acceptance ) of a thousand francoaooni , " hopes ho may bo forgiven tho expression of a doubt whothor any negotiator could have obtained a larger compensation in tho shapo of money from tho Tuscan Government , without vory serious extremities . Forefgn Office and Tjogation know too well how to close tho mouth of " Liberals" at homo . Hold out a threat of '' serious extremities . " No ! no ! Pockot tho francosconi : eay no more about tho national honour , or tho
assassin ' s outrage—it might leadto war . We havelostour honour—we have lost all—but We have preserved Peace ! This is the Peaceof shame and ruin we denounce .
Ddpen Camtm.
dDpen Camtm .
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[In This Department, As All- Opinions, H...
[ iN THIS DEPARTMENT , AS All- OPINIONS , HOWEVBB EXTREME ARE ALLOWED AN EXPRESSION , THE EDITOH NECESSABII / X HOLDS HIMSELF EESPOKrSIBLB POR NONE . }
There Is No Learned Man But Will Confess...
There is no learned man but will confess lie hath much profited by reading controversies , his senses awakened , and bis judgment sharpened . If , then , it be profitable forlorn to read , why should it not , at least , be tolerable for his adversary to write . —Milton .
A Few Words To Lancashire. Sib,—Some Of ...
A FEW WORDS TO LANCASHIRE . Sib , —Some of my Lancashire friends tell me that you are all wrong on the war and military question ; that they do not understand how an intelligent journal like the Leader ean support the militia cry ; and that it is monstrous to do so in the face of our enormous and Wasteful expenditure upon soldiers and forts , on ships and dockyards . They say , too , that military drill is
no improvement to a nation—we are beyond that ; and that if it be , it is too expensive a luxury for men of business and artisans . Further , they allege that if we had a militia it would be composed mainly of the scum of the population ; that no honest , honourable men would willingly enter it , and that those who-might be compelled would speedily become so demoralized as to bo fit subjects for the hulks and the house of correction .
Now , Sir , I am a . plain Englishman , and have a firm faith in this axiom , that physical education is as necessary to the body as . mental education is to the mind . I believe that military drill is the best kind of physical education which a man can receive , since it compels subordination , the soul of discipline , teaches men how to act in concert without confusion , and brings out of them or puts into them the invaluable habit of
selfpossession . To me it seems as clear as a theorem in Euclid , that , given two men of equal mental and moral culture , but one of whom has had a good drillingmaster and the other not , the former will inevitably be tho better man of tho two . His bearing before his fellows will be manlier , his toughness in danger will be greater , his moral pluck will bo more sufficing , and in every emergency he will act a man ' s part . And if this be true of ono , it will hold good of millions .
Ono thing is demonstrated by history . No nation ever maintained a permanent place in tho world that relied on hired mercenaries , and encouraged laxity and effeminacy in the mass of the people . Tho" English people have , more or less , in rustic games and sports , and iu actual sound drilling , been always used to at ins . By theso means wo havo attained , in a great degree , to that position which enables Manchester to manufacture and sell cotton goods ; and by these means alone shall wo retain that position .
As to tho expense , 1 hold that argument cheaply . Tho question is not how much wo spend , but how we spend our money . Because wo may waste fifteen millions a year on a standing army , that is no reason why tho expenditure of 800 , 000 / . on a militia should bo waste . If you reduce tho standing army , and amend tho principlo of its formation , you may havo a national army at less ^ post . Granted ; but that is no reason why you should not havo a national army . Expense is relative . Arsenic is dear at any price as food ; but bread may bo cheap at 10 / . tho loaf for tho same purpose .
I should liko my friends in Lancashire , who havo plenty of courage and genuine British bottom , to remember that peace at any price is not peace with honour ; that national lifo cannot , under penalties , l ) 0 devoted to money making ; and , that as physical strength degenerates , other things being equal , bo public spirit doclincs . They , are public , spirited because they are more intelligent . How much higher , and how much more resistless would bo that spirit if their limbs wore as intelligent as their brains . Physical education io phyoicul health . A militia is a sanitary institution . Daniel Debob ,
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), June 26, 1852, page 15, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_26061852/page/15/
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