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204 T H E L E A DEB. ^^'a^^y,
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Fta]-TJUD.rc IN NATIONAL DEFENCE. ?' ' B...
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OUE "" FAV0UE1TE FOB "THE -DERBY." The R...
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'WABE HAWK. What next P—" A decree of th...
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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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Things And Thinkings. A Swoed—It Is A Be...
which the Sheriff-of'London advertises store of rifle uniforms , comely , of neutral tint , heath-like in hue , with rifle aud accoutrements ^ to match . Think of going to one ' s haberdasher s tor a nne I The Sheriff will probably turn an honest penny bvthe " panic . " A respectable hrm is accused of selling gunpowder to the Kaffirs : the-charge is indignantly denied ; but gunpowder ,- it is admitted , may have been consigned to a merchant at the Cape . ' It is a sin to prepare against aggression by Louis Napoleon , but to provide Jiatnrs with gunpowder is free-trade ; and to deal in rifles or rifle uniforms , made while rifle talk is in fashion , is shrewdness in commerce ; Commerce being the handmaid of Peace !
The Amazon is destroyed by fire ; numbers mourn their relatives perishing in that twofold visitation , and a nation mourns genius lost . Inventors of fire-preventives rush into advertisement ; an exhibition of the calamity invites the shillings of the curious , in a great thoroughfare ; and a dreary theatre makes an attraction of a concert for the benefit of the survivors . Parsimony had withheld the means of checking the fire ; rapacity , trading on the awful lesson , offers those means ' : and a more flaunting rapacity parades the funeral on the boards of the stage , as a makeweight , in the vain effort to attract " overflowing houses . " A Grovernment is wanted—a set of men fit and
authorized to govern this vast empire ; and our constitution turns out a set of gentlemen too heterogeneous for a dinner-party—the Government of a Derby , a Walpole , a Malmcsbury , and a Pakington , with a Sugden for " keeper of the Queen ' s conscience ! " It is not a Government , but an experiment—a new way of poaching eggs in the crown of a hat , tried on the Treasurybench while England is waiting for a Cabinet .
A church , with the cure of souls that cannot , in this busy , erring world , take care of themselves — it is a beautiful idea . " A London Clergyman . " is writing to the JPost , urging that one of the first subjedrsubmitted to Convocation should be church patronage ; which is so administered now , that the working clergy are starved , incumbents as well as curates , while the few are nurtured in luxury . The priest has forgotten the care of souls in the care of the corporation sole , himself , insomuch that the idea of the living church is merged in the " living "—his own gains !
Henry Brougham died some time back , and is entombed among English worthies in Westminster Abbey ; being succeeded in the emoluments and titles by the present Lord . Brougham . The original Henry enjoys , indeed , a curious posthumous survivorship in one place , University College . At the meeting of proprietors , this week , a companion , who aided him in establishing that sole college of free education , now dismayed in his utilitarian mind , for tliat Henry Brougham was not always present in the flesh in that scene of his most ' enduring vitality , proposed to oust him .
Another companion , who could better appreciate the presence of a living memory , rebuked the idle pedantry in a strain of clear , generous , goodhumoured , hearty eloquence . And afterwards tho same spoaker repeated a truth which wavering [ Reformers would do well to bear in mind" When in this country a great reform has once been achieved ; it is idle to think of extinguishing it . " So said James Graham . Wo grasp at "institutions , " and let the spirit evaporate But human nature is too strong for tho pervorsost it i riht at last
statesmanship—wll got g . By tho blessing of God , neithor Whig Russell nor Protectionist Derby is tho typo of eternity ; and yet , bo it remembered , tho present day is always part of eternity , tho ground wo stand on is part or tho universe , 1 ho laws of Omnipotence aro not suspended for lack of contiuuanop bills , though Parliament bo dissolved ; nor aro tho things that surround us , in their substance , other than parts , of material truth , although wo may bo confounded by our , own habit of looking moro to seornings than realities . . .
204 T H E L E A Deb. ^^'A^^Y,
204 T H E L E A DEB . ^^ 'a ^^ y ,
Fta]-Tjud.Rc In National Defence. ?' ' B...
Fta ] -TJUD . rc IN NATIONAL DEFENCE . ? ' ' Btuub in their littlo nosts agroo , ' is an example , wo / bar , more poetical than ornithological , " said Hartley Coloridgo ; and wo neod not mako vory ( loop rosoarchos into tho laws of human notion , or a vory distant journey on tho continent of Europe , to discovor that tho bonovolont p latitudes of tho Peace Society huvo little moro of tho true , tho limply , and tho practical in
them , than has this haekneyed verse of Dr . Watts . The solemn absurdity of imploring monarchs , who only reign b y _ the grace of gnnpowder , to reduce the number of their guardian angels , is well paralleled by the bitter mockery of exhorting nations , stifled , gagged , and bound , to trust for their deliverance , to moral force ,
public opinion , and an intellectual . struggle . Moral force with a Schwartzenburg , or a Louis Bonaparte ! Can public opinion be nourished without food P Can it make itself heard without a tongue P And it is -difficult to understand how an intellectual struggle is to be carried oh , when nations are forced to be dumb under penalties , and when rulers , on principle , have made themselves deaf . _ ¦ ¦ ' .,
Physical force can only be met by physical force : absolutism itself will admit of no other argument . _ # . When a certain point in civilization has been reached by a people , or by other peoples in close proximity to it , despotism becomes possible only by means of physical force ; and the despotic rulers cannot , dare not , suffer the existence of free speech , which , if not the only right of man , is at least that one which is absolutely
indispensable to the fulfilment of the mission of mankind , ensuring the ultimate recognition of all rights and all duties . Despotism , by the showing of its apologists ,. substitutes the wisdom of one , or of a few , for the wisdom of the race ; strives to confine all thought , even of the rulers , into a fixed channel , and shuts out infinite sources of light by the compulsory silence of a nation . Rulers and peoples alike are blinded and der graded . Slaves and tyrants alike are incapable
of being men . " But the public opinion of other nations—the voice of English sympathy ? " Have we not seen its effects in Poland , in Sicily , in Hungary , in Rome , and in Naples P Patriots deluded , stimulated to hope and to action b y half promises , officious advice , and doubtful hints ; sovereigns annoyed by " humane" interference and petty demonstrations ; and both learning , from the results of its lukewarm inaction , to doubt the practical value of English sympathy . It were vain , indeed , to think that such sceptical
coquetting can ever disturb the vigorous absolutist policy , based on strong though malignant faith . For a despot may have a faith ; and ihe faith which leads him to devote all his energies and all his resources to a certain intelligible purpose , will never be shaken , but will , on the contrary , be strengthened by every experience of those insipid phrases and formal protests , which his achieved successes wring from our hereditary placemen . The Czar Nicholas believes it to be his destiny to lead a crusade against revolution :
ho acts on that belief , and he is right to do so . But tho English nation also has a destiny and a faith , and would fain act upon that faith , and strive to fulfil that destiny . The English nation hates Russian and all kindred principles , and would , at tho fitting time , welcome any prospect of contest with such principles . How much longer are we to lie beneath the weight of reproach for neglected opportunities P Nothing is to be , hoped from the professed principles of our rulers—rather , we might say .
official managers—who , instead of principles , hare tho traditions of diplomacy . The loading Whig and Conservative statesmen agree that war may bo necessary to presorvo tho balance of power , or to defend somo tame , pot sovereign , from invasion ; but that , when mere morality , or mere men aro ooncorncd , no active interference is possible , and that silence should be observed in respect to the treachery and massacre which have occurred , for foar of giving offonco . And the Poaoo and Economy School , the most liberal party that can bo said to be represented in Parliament , protests against attention to foreign
affairs , unless what they call British interests are involved . Short-sighted doctrine ! But is thoro not a gleam of sunlight from tho cloud in that quartorP For those Manchester men do hate despotism , were it only that it interferes With traao ; they have also a wholesome dislike to our own Btanding army , for it causes our heavy taxation . And . they manifest , not only liberal , but somo really onllghtonod tondoncios . Is not oxponso thoir greatest objection to war , and increase of tho debt thoir greatest dread P Can thoy not soo in an independent body of volunteers , tho nuclous of a national army , and in tho successful campaign of such u forco in some noble cause ,
approved by ^ the . Legislature , tho first pr oof « r its efficiency for ail purposes of a standing arnLo Do they forget that Tery few years LavfpaS ] since England virtually earned on . a war in g with twelve thousand of her sons , ( it matt * not whether it was well or ill-done , ) with + costing the country a penny P . ' * Are our alliances for ever to be 4 ynastic and diplomatic , and never moral , progressive aiiS national P Are we to expend millions of taon p and thousands of British lives to substitute Ferdinand for a Joseph , but not to lift'a iW
or stir a step , when a people is being murdereri to make room for a Pope P Is the Foreign En listment Bill to be suspended , even in time of peace , for an . Isabella , but never for an Italy p When dawii again shall break upon the Continent the people of England must be set free to show that they can do more than sympathise with the people of other countries . Precedents for a Free Trade in war will be found in the past practice of both Whig and Conservative governments Why should it not enter into the policy of a more liberal party ?
Oue "" Fav0ue1te Fob "The -Derby." The R...
OUE "" FAV 0 UE 1 TE FOB " THE -DERBY . " The Right Honourable Benjamin Disraeli has committed the inexpiable sin of-. writing two or three remarkable works of fiction . He has shown himself endowed with rare gifts of intellect and imagination . But not content with the inbre tranquil triumphs of the Man of Letters our new Chancellor of the Exchequer boldly descended into the arena of public and parliamentary life ; and there he has , year hy year , fonght his way up , steadfastly and unflinchingly , against the taunts of birth , and the sneers
of fortune , and the suspicious intolerance of respectable dulness and conventional distinction , out of the impatient and dream-haunted obscurity of the glowing scribbler of romance into the full blaze of personal and party triumph ! There are many who can recal the rhetorical dithyramlrics of a young Semitic adventurer , now many years ago , whose transccma « ntal Reclamation shook with scornful laughter the most matter-of-fact asoerohiy in the world . "The time will come , " said , that Semitic youth , Ihi ™ - ^ with the prophetic consciousness of a high destiny , " when you shall hear mel" And , lo ! as we write , the mere man of genius is the Leader of the House of Commons , and a Tory Cabinet Minister !
A great deal of unfair astonishment has been vented on the fact of a man of figures-of-speech , and not of balance sheets , being entrusted with the money-bags of the nation but was there not a fatality in the selection—tliafc the chapters in " Sybil , " and elsewhere , on the Hebrews , might be fulfilled ? Yes ! this mere man of genius was alone found worthy to lead the forlorn-hope of the disjointed Protectionist forces . By sheer force of character , by ardent and undaunted energy , by unremitting industry , he has dared to dissent
cleave his path to power . However , then , we may from his professed opinions , we are not ashamed to confess a warm sympathy with the man who was once , as the French say , " impossible , " and is now indispensable to the jealous caste , of which he is not so much the instrument us the master . In clubs and coteries the namo may be received with idle laughter , and by noodlcdom with something W " indignation , as a " base exception" to hereditary cxclu-Biveness ; but we hail with a sbrt of exultation the apotheosis of tho Promotheus of the Country Party !
'Wabe Hawk. What Next P—" A Decree Of Th...
' WABE HAWK . What next P— " A decree of the Prcsidont of tho RopuM « offers a reward of 50 , 000 fr . to such person as sllftll rcn the voltaic pile applicable with economy to mnnufnctu ^ , as a source of heat , or to lighting , or chemistry , or chanicB , or prncticnl medicine . Persons of nil t " ^ may . compete for this prize , and tho competition is opened for live years . " Lpnfo Napoleon means
Wq remember a modal of Napoleon tlve Great rcprcs ^ as Lovo , with tho caglo by his side , the thuudcrbo t hnnd . Nnpolcon tho Littlo lias been ransacking tit ^ scum , where he found tho cocked hat and bootfl , i Joyinn bolt : and , unablo to find it , ho is thus ndvc ^ ^ for it , under guise of promoting discovery ! ^ . ^ rnmiuna take care ; ho will be found flomo day s ^ bearded and nuked , on the column in Place hurling the bolte at all and sundry .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 28, 1852, page 16, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_28021852/page/16/
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