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July 31,1852.] THE LEADER. 729
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BERESFORD GREAT AND GOOD. ArpLAUSE was a...
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VON KJ3CK AGAIN. Tnn course of the trial...
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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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Physical Degeneracy Among The People. " ...
0 £ paisley are not viewed by the selecting agents as suited to the stout labour of the colonies . « Comp laints of the same kind reach us VOm the West Biding of Yorkshire , but in this case we < l 0 not know the cause of rejection . The Kidderminster _people have had to undergo a similar mortification , aiil we suspect for reasons similar to those which have _prevailed in Paisley . " conflict of the doctrinaire
Amidst the parties , * of the middle class are decidedly advancing . Althoug h they are reformers , their most recent declarations , and their conduct—which means still more than declarations—are decidedly anti-democratic , —that is to say , are decidedly opposed to sharing political power with the body of the nation . That ] party has every prospect , by working electioneering influences , of attaining to the possession of official power within a comparatively short space . We who desire that the whole body of the nation should be brought into political action , cannot but regard such a result as reactionary . We do not believe , indeed , that it would be final . Entertaining doctrines which are principally of a negative kind , and of a kind to repress the means of aggression , or of _aggressive defence , the party in question can maintain no position against any strong opponents ; and at the next period of disturbance , it would have to yield up its possession to a stronger party . In the meantime , however , by carrying still further the enervating influences which are already exhibited in the manufacturing districts , if not in the cabbage-eating districts of agriculture—by accustoming the people to the habit of yielding rather than of resisting , it would have prepared the way , either for the invader from without , or for the reactionary traitor within . The doctrinaire party o f the middle class is like the solvent vinegar with which Hannibal softened the Alps to admit his barbarians into Italy , only it is a vinegar of domestic growth in the country to be invaded . the turns little
The apathetic disposition of day attention upon these matters , sources of ulterior danger ; but they are not the less pregnant with evil . Rather the reverse : it may not be very long before we see an enraged English people calling to account those deluded _deluders , whose effeminate counsels will then bear the aspect of deliberate treason ; for we believe that when real danger arrives , the spirit and thew of the English people will again be called into action , and those doctrines will be swept to the winds . At such times , however , it may become a very embarrassing question , what to do with those poor invalids of Worcestershire and [ Renfrewshire who are rejected as unfit for our colonies , and would as certainly bo unfitted for any rougher work at home .
July 31,1852.] The Leader. 729
July 31 , 1852 . ] THE LEADER . 729
Beresford Great And Good. Arplause Was A...
BERESFORD GREAT AND GOOD . _ArpLAUSE was accepted by the immaculate Phocion as a sign that he had said a foolish thing . By converse the immaculate _Beresford may bo satisfied , from the chronic execration which accompanies him , that ho sustains himself well in the utterance of wisdom . JLiko light lie runs a direct course , regardless of less stedfast beings around him , and working out his own _great conclusions . His fame is _great at this day . Ho is a champion , not only against all England , but against things in general , and the mistaken laws of the universe , lie is tho Prometheus of 1852 , defying all . At leaRt ho did ; but ho has some human elements in him , and ho relents in Iiih greatness . Ho defied tho rabble , but he _defies no more . After saluting " tho vilest rabble he over saw , " and declaring to it , face to face , that ho " despised it from his heart , " he retires to the confessional of a public dinner , and to two hundred farmers , as Ciapelletto confesses his httlo sins , ho confesses that ho is " forgetful of every _unkindness and of every insult , " and that " ho thrown himself , " with tho condescension of a Christian , " on tho kindness even of the very lowest classes . " Ho carries his affability further , » "i < _l promises that ho " shall not recur to any ¦ _"tfly terms , if they would only lot him alone . " A commoner man might havo stuck to bin contempt for tho vilo rabble ; but by his touching confession it is evident that Haiti t _Berosford , like _Saint Ciapelletto , has a foiblo in tho shape of a sympathy " even for tho very lowest classes . " After tho death of Saint Ciapollotto , tho monks to whom ho confessed , struck with tho piety of the man , tore his clothes to pieces for relics : tho people of Braintreo endeavoured to perform a
Beresford Great And Good. Arplause Was A...
similar operation on Saint Beresford ; but a Protestant police prevented that excess of idolatry . Brutus was accused of peculation , and Beresford is accused of bribery for the interest of his party in the borough of Derby . At the Braintree dinner he denies the soft impeachment , but denies it with that coyness which so charms the lover in a blushing girl , and lends to denial all the endearing graces of confession . It will be remembered that a letter has been published signed " W . B ., " mysteriously commanding the presence of an emissary in Derby , and that the etter was seized amongst the possessions of a Rmtleman in full career with that Conservative duy . At the dinner Mr . Beresford avers , he has " had any hand in any case whatever in brib _er in the borough of Derby . " A very _specia . repudiation ; but he does not deny the letter—only challenging inquiry in the House of Commorsj . Until such time , therefore , as the House _shtU go into the whole matter , the electors , freeholders , and clergymen of Essex will believe in the Cons < _rvative assiduity of W . B ., and will regard W . _i . as only one avatar of William Beresford .
But after dtf y ing the rabble , and his exertions at Derby , Mr . Beresford proceeds to defy the Morning _Chtmicle ; and if he should come off no better front his Derby contest than he does from his contests with the rabble and the Chronicle , he will _sjeedily be fit for nothing but an apotheosis or translation to the historic heavens . He asserts that the Morning Chronicle attacks him although "he has the pleasure of sitting at the same table in his club with the editor of that paper ; " and then he moralizes : — " Such is the state of society , that we are subjected to the intrusion of those who make use of all our intimate associations , who come to the same club as ourselves , and write leading articles at the very same table at which we ourselves are engaged in our honest avocations . "
It will be observed that there are several assertions in this passage ; amongst others , that Mr . Beresford is sometimes engaged on " honest a vocations , " and that the editor of the Morning Chronicle associates with him . As to the former of these assertions , we have no evidence ; but as to the latter , the Morning Chronicle declares that "there is not one word of truth in it from beginnin g to end . " We form no judgments on these questions which Mr . Beresford has raised around him . with such gallant rapidity .. We make no original statements . We adduce no evidence which is not already before the public . All that we do is to observe , that Mr . Beresford is accused by the Morning Chronicle of having made a specific and rather elaborate statement , in which " there is not one word of truth from beginning to end ;" that he is accused of bribery at Derby , with the circumstantial evidence of an autograph note j and that he denies it in terms postponing his counter proofs to a future day ; also that he addresses the unenfranchised portion of tho British people as " the vilest rabble ; " and declares that he " despises them from his heart . " Mr . Berosford is an unconverted Protectionist , and wo take him to be the best type of a Tory in tho present Government '; representing , in fact , those claims to take office , of which they liavo since appeared to bo practically ashamed .
Von Kj3ck Again. Tnn Course Of The Trial...
VON _KJ 3 CK AGAIN . _Tnn course of the trial at Birmingham in the case of the Baroness von Bock , was such as to cast very unjust reflections upon one person at least , amongst tho defendants , who deserves nothing from tho public but unqualified respect and admiration . Amongst tho defendants was Mr . George _Dawson , well known to all our readers , and to a largo proportion of tho English public ; although tho Times , with tho arrogance peculiar to Puddlcdook , still affects partially to ignore tho influence of that truly Catholic preacher . By tho accident of tho technicalities—by the fact that tho real main case , touching tho identity and merits of tho Baroness von Bock , waH excluded from investigation—by the manifest prejudices of tho Judge , it happened that Mr . Dawson was rnado to appear at . the trial in , a position wholly false . Those who know him , and there arc many , can correct tho falso impression : the few who aro still under subjection to tho systematic _effortu made to misrepresent him before tho British public may bo misled . Without entering into any
Von Kj3ck Again. Tnn Course Of The Trial...
of the technicalities of the case , without entering into disputed points , let ? _us recall the obvious facts . A woman calling herself a lady , holding in one form or other documents which seem , to be Touchers for her genuine character , appears irt Birmingham as an Hungarian refugee , a " friend of Kossuth , " a victim suffering from Austrian tyranny against the efforts which Hungary had made for independence . Mr . George Dawson is the leader of a very numerous congregation , in Birmingham , adhering to a very Catholic doctrine . He is , moreover , although- still young , very active and influential in good works , the example and director in many a labour of philanthropy ; and his sanction would be regarded by the visitors to Birmingham as valuable in the highest degree . The Baroness von Beck , bearing her vouchers , seeks his presence , is received kindly , acquires his name as subscriber to a book which she is about to publish at the handsome price of L 1 . 4 _& ., andis taken into _thehouse of a friend of his as a guest to be nursed—for she was an invalid . In that hospitable abode , we believe , her health improved . She is accompanied by a young man , who calls himself Constant Derra . After a time of no great duration , reports come down to Birmingham that the Baroness von Beck , widow of an Austrian officer , " friend of Kossuth , " and so forth , is in reality no lady , no friend of Kossuth , but only an inferior spy m his service , and is altogether an impostor . tconsiderable probability
Whether true or no , is thrown upon this second report , insomuch that several of her patrons in that town are induced to believe it . The complete evidence on this point has never yet been made public ; but months ago we have recorded our impression , that the Baroness was not genuine in any respect ; and we have advised the several disputants on the pofrnV-to meet and clear up the discrepancies in their accounts . It is evident , however , that the Birmingham people fully believed at first in her assumed character , and afterwards in her _impostorship , —not , we are assured , without reason . In such a case a new duty was imposed on those whose influence enables them to advise and direct the people of Birmingham . The interests of true charity required that the impostor should be effectively debarred from niching the funds that belong to the honest and trul y indigent ; and in rescuing that fund from malversation in favour of au impostor , George Dawson not only exercised a degree of candour and moral courage frequently wanting , but performed apublic duty to his fellow townsmen . Birmingham is remarkable for being at once not only opulent , but very liberal ; and the sums which it gives with open hands being unlimited , are the more honourably to be consecrated to tho benefit of real want . tho
The very nature of the charge against Baroness von Beck , alias llacidula , implied a degree of lubricity in her conduct , which made it necessary to proceed actively , but not overtly , until she could be secured . It has been represented that thoro was an unusual amount of treachery in seizing her at the social party just beforo her death . The fact , is , however , that her appearance at tho party , or elsewhere , had comparatively little to do with tho arrangements . The object was , to let her go on without interruption , until the arrangements for securing her person should be completed , and then , without abruptness , but with promptitude , to secure her . That was done . Her death was an accident , resulting from the peculiar nature of her complaint , which could not nave been foresocn . The stories about her moaning and suffering from want of assistance in the _night havo been refuted , but they do not come fairly under investigation at the trial , and that negative fact was used on tho side of the prosecutor to _hiw advantage . Tho ease of Constant : Derra is entirely secondary to that of the Baroness' spy . She it was whoso position and character determined ( ho aspect of the whole affair . He appeared us her attendant , and necessarily , to a certain extent , shared in hor repute , bad or _good . Some diversities in the statement of his name contributed to tho suspicion directed to himself ; and although it is true that ho belonged t , o a noble family , it would not follow that he must , of necessity , be an honourable person , -lie was , at all events , tho attendant on the Baroness von Beck , who was supposed , in Birmingham , on strong primd facia evidence , to be nn impostor , and the attendant on an impostor cannot expect to bear a high charac-
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), July 31, 1852, page 13, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_31071852/page/13/
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