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Leader (1850-1860), 7th August 1858, Edition 1 of 2, Page 776, Baulot Statistics.—The Ballot Society ha...

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      The Past Session. At The Meeting Of Parl...

      it became his immediate duty to unravel and to straighten oat . We apprehend , however , that the amende for the Moniteur addresses and the Walewski despatch having been already offered by the French Government , it vras no matter of extreme difficulty for an acute and gentlemanlike person , honoured with the personal acquaintance of his Imperial Majesty , to dispel the clouds that had partly discharged themselves of their electricity . The rampant herpes who demanded with all the fervour and delicacy of the tap-room the reparation of our national wrongs by advertisement in the Moniteur , were perhaps disappointed , but the public at large admitted ^ that the Paliuerston Cabinet , whose short-coming ia the matter was more traceable to a supercilious sense of safety than to any want of

      patriotism , could not have been more successful in the brief negotiations that ensue ! than were their successors . They could not more cheerfully , to all appearance , bare advanced the State prosecutions of Bernard and the bookseller Truelove , or more gracefully have abandoned them when the subsiding excitement of the French Government permitted a hearing to reason and common sense , and possibly ia some sort loosened the screw that had been put upon our home department . The whole of the proceedings in the matter of these trials sufficiently shoved that neither in the original appeal to the law of the land , nor in the relinquishment of its pursuit , was there anything that could fairly be called "truckling" to the passions of either native enthusiasts or foreign despots .

      In dealing with the Cagliari affair , which to all appearance he must have found in a state of neglect , little creditable to the Foreign Office , there can be no two opinions as to Lord Malmesbury ' s ability and tact . . Lord Malmesbury ' s success , although his judiciously tardy rate of progress and anxiety for the peace of Europe must have been supremely unpalatable to such slapdash , belligerents as Messrs . Milner Gibson and others , the rapidity- with which , under his management , the total illegality of the capture was discovered , contrasted favourably with the thoroughly shameless indifference of his department to the sufferings and fate Of Watt and Park in Lord Clarendon ' s thne . The indemnity procured for the engineers was sufficient , and the distinction conferred upon Mr . Barber as an acknowledgment of great services rendered by a member of a service for which the Tite Barnacle class have small

      affection , showed judicious diagnosis of public feeling , and , what is better , was done in time . The courage displayed by the Cabinet in advance of public opinion—by which they were afterwards fully justified—in dealing with the very serious American difficulty , has entitled them to the warmest commendation , and will undoubtedly be received by the enlightened portion of the United States people as an earnest of more sound , political relations than Lord Palmerston , even with the assistance of his renowned out-door attache * , Mr . Wikoff , could contrive to maintain for long together .

      On the 11 th of February , Lord Grey had presented a dignified and temperate petition or statement of their case by the East India Company , on which occasion it is worth notice that Lord Derby deprecated as suicidal all legislation for India until after the suppression of the revolt . On the 18 th , however , Lord Falmerston obtained leave of the House of Commons by a majority of 145 to introduce his India Bill No . 1 . ~ In conformity with the then views of the present Premier , Sir E . L . Bulwer and other gentlemen of the present Cabinet also deprecated any change ; bat the coalition Cabinet lost no time on their instalment in office in administering to the effects of their predecessors . They plunged , without loss of time or reference to the above-recorded

      opinion of their chief , into legislation for India . A fancy scheme of Lord Ellenborough ' s for the incorporation of the vestry system of election with the main provisions of Lord Palmerstoa ' s measure , was submitted to the Home and the public as Bill No . 2 . The attempt to curry favour was so transparent , and the mechanism provided seemed such an unworkmanlike bungle , that the Bill No , 2 was knocked on the head in a very summary manner , and -withdrawn against the wish of its noble author on the 80 thof ApriL The two great political parties who were equally anxious to effect the abolition of the India Company at all hazards were glad to adopt a suggestion of Lord John Russell ' s to work out the necessary scheme for the future government of India by resolutions of the House . At length , when the . Hous * were thought to be thoroughly sick and

      tired of the- question , when its minutest ramification had been investigated over and over again , and when every silent member had been well probed , ami every loquacious one was pledged head over ears , tho Bill No . 8 wm ferreted out by Lord Stanley from the pigeon-holes of the defunct Administration , and , fitted up with a few alterations , was introduced , of course , as an invention of the present one . This act , after being well riddled during its passage through both House * , received the Royal ussent on tho 2 nd of August . It transfers , of course , to the Crown and tho aristocracy the supremacy in llindostan hitherto possessed by tlie East India Company . Lord Stanley , fortunately for tlie middle clans , from whose ranks tho Indian services have been hitherto recruited , has , on this Indian patronage question , been In opposition to tho Premier and other

      ihftuential members of the Cabinet . He already has his reward in the approval of his country ; and generations yet unborn may thank V Minister who is , comparatively speakingjtn stall * pupillari , for his pertinacity in thwarting the designs of his order upon the whole of the East Indian appointments . The eye-teeth of the whole transfer of India question were drawn almost at the eleventh hour by the House of Commons , with the assistance of Lord Stanley , and generations unborn will own indebtedness to the young President of the India Board for having so boldly and successfully vindicated the principle of open competition . The Oude despatch coKft'ete / n / M , which led to the retirement of Lord Ellenborough , demands , as one of the most singular events of the session , a few remarks at our hands . That eccentric nobleman would seem to

      hove been moved by an excessive anxiety to obtain the resignation of the Governor-General of India , and on the arrival of the post on the 12 tli of April , fondly dreamed he had him on the hip . By that mail , a copy « f a proclamation was received , wherein the Governor-General had announced , to whom it might concern , his intention of entry or re-entry—for it was never clearly decided which was purposed—into the fee-simple , o * r the suzerainete of Oude . Lord Ellenborough sat down to his desk , and , before the week was out , had drafted , faircopied , imposed upon the Secret Committee , and sent off to India a long homily upon the annexation of Oude , the severity of Clemency Canning , aud the sad inferiority of the Governor-General ' s -wisdom to

      that of the precedents he had violated . The paper in question was moved for in the House of Lords . The noble President and Lord Derby at first proposed to return only portions of it . But its full contents having somehow oozed out at the clubs , it became necessary to hazard its publication in extenso . It was therefore printed and submitted to the House without excision of those paragraphs from whose publication Lord Derby had apprehended inconvenience if hot detriment to the public service . Those paragraphs contained an utter condemnation of our previous policy with respect

      to Oude , and the general tenor of the despatch was not such as could promote friendly relations between the Viceroy of India and the Cabinet at home . It was the unanimous opinion of the public , without reference to Lord Canning ' s policy , that Lord EllenboTough ' s continuance in office was not only very inexpedient , but also very detrimental to the public service . His colleagues were indisposed to stand or fall % him . He was consigned , a political Jonab , to the unofficial world , and eulogistic speeches were made over his ministerial obsequies .

      It can be no news to the readeT that Lord Derby's Cabinet , speaking generally , have proved no exception to the rule in conformity with which each new Administration follows up and takes credit for the successes resulting during their own term of office from the policy of the last . They have of course gotten into , and scrambled out of , some minor scrapes , and have committed several mnjor sins of omission and commission . They have not dared to assail the monster abuse of the War-office , though they have been bold and resolute with the more timorous East India Company .

      In removing the last civil disability from our Hebrew fellow-citizens they have wisely carried out the public will . The political compromise by which this has been brought about has neither broken up the Administration nor the foundations of the Constitution . Although certain quidnuncs profess despair of England ' s permanence after so Tude an attack upon the time-honoured bulwarks of her institutions as is , they say , involved in the independent action of the two houses , we confess to as slight alarm upon that head as the most sagacious of our contemporaries . The admission of the metropolitan member , Baron Rothschild , to his seat in Parliament has been a nine days' wonder ; and for ourselves we are not without hope that a larger infusion of the most successful of financiers may give some of that fresh force to Parliament of which some old school grumblers pretend it stands in such sore need .

      The New Columbia Bill of Sir Edward Bulwer Lytton was a coup d ' etat of portent dire to that old vested interest the Hudson ' s Bay Company . It was rendered necessary , by the reported influx of gold-seekers from California , that an organised government should have a footing in our north-western possession of New Caledonia , and the promptitude displayed by the Cabinet , without prejudice to tho vested interest alluded to , may possibly prevent a serious amount of anarchy and even bloodshed . Wo have long ago exprensed enr opinions upon the extension of tho Corrupt Practices Prevention Act , which

      legalises the transport of voters . It wne , perhapR , with justice styled by Lord Stanley of Aldorley the Corrupt Practices Promotion Bill , and by Colonel Thompson tlie Legalised Bribery Act , It is notorious that immense sums were illegally spent at tho recent election in the conveyance of voters , nnd that indemnities wore exchanged between candidates . This our rulers have thought well for the future to legalise , but so wide a door docs it open for tho administration of bribes of tlie numerous outlying voters of tho homo counties in particular , that wo may livo to see our contasted elections as costly as in tho " good old days . " The class which fumitihes county candidates will then

      perhaps , and not till then , believe that some mechw " " is devisable which shall take the poll to thTvo ? e r £ S ™ of the voter to the poll . r inst ( * d By the Metropolitan Local Management Amendment Act an amount of real power has been bestowed ™? the Metropolitan Board of Works to which their 2 £ * cedents hardly entitle them . The fortuitous concentra ' turn of the Thames nuisance under the very nose % Parhament lent wings to the passage of thif mea su jl without sound or sufficient check upon the Bo 5 P powers . They are entrusted with the scourge of tax « Hn « to an extent of about 6 , 000 , 000 * . —or 3 , 000 , 000 / iSeSS of the estimates furnished for main intercepting drahS alone , and houseowners and ratepayers of the ^ etropoK are , beyond all this , at the mercy of their nronensK for streets , parks , and Heaven knows what other nuLin

      lirAVU'C llfiDi / iafl 4 " > v n * -t kI £ vw . 2 * — . Ji J .. . a . - _ J'C * WHO works besides , to an unlimited extent , and for an anna rently unlimited time . According to the Premier Smself , who , to all appearance , has been a rather uninfluential member of his own Cabinet , the G , 000 , OOOJ . worth of drainage works now impending must necessarily be regarded , to a great extent , in the character of a gigantic experiment . We are afraid we must ou this head quite agree with his Lordship , but here ends our opposition to the Metropolitan Board . We have cor dially resisted their imposition upon the metropolis but it behoves us henceforth , while we endeavour to direct their energies into the straight course of common sense , to encourage and loyally assist them in the performance of public duties , which , after awhile , cannot fail to be excessively onerous to even the most vestryminded of men .

      The Property Qualification Abolition Bill has at the same time abolished a sham of tremendous magnitude and respectable antiquity . As we before said of this measure , it is a satisfactory drive of the Reform wedge by the Conservative hammer . Having , we hope , none of that illiberality -which seeks to establish the divine right of particular classes , orders , and families to originate all improvements , and having been sorely tried by the deflection from the path of progress of those who have for many years been maintained by a confiding public in the sole enjoyment of the reform patents , we can only conclude our brief review of the more prominent res geatx of the late session with a not altogether vain repetition of the good old saw , Measures , not Men . Upon the whole , we think that the cause of Liberal progress lias lost nothing during the present session .

      776 The Leapel [No. 437, August 7 Lgsg

      776 THE LEAPEl [ No . 437 , August 7 lgsg

      Baulot Statistics.—The Ballot Society Ha...

      Baulot Statistics . —The Ballot Society have issued an Analysis of the Division on the Ballot , June 8 th , 1858 . " The ayes were 197 , eight more than iu the preceding year , noes , 296 ; pairs , 141 ; absent friends , 16 ; absent opponents , 56 ; Liberals absent , 32 ; absent Conservatives , 8 . The number for the Ballot , including pairs and tellers , was 221 . The number against , 318 . The number of members of the present House favourable to the Ballot is 247 . In the Parliament elected in 1817 , the Ballot was brought yearly before the House of Commons by Mr . Henry Berkeley , the numbers voting being as follows : —1848 , aves , 86 ; noes , 81 ; 1849 ,

      ayes , 85 ; noes , 136 ; 1850 , ayes , 121 ; noes , 176 ; 1851 , ayes , 87 ; noes , 50 ; 1852 , ayes , 145 ; noes , 246 . Shortly after tho general election of 1852 , the Ballot Society was established . The result of their labours is an increase in the number of Air . Berkeley ' s supporters , on each division in the last and present Parliaments * The following are among the numbers : —For 1856 , ayes , 156 ; noes , 196 ; 1857 , ayes , 219 ; noes , 287 ; 1858 , ayes , 222 ; noes , 319 . This gratifying result has arisen from the labours of the Society , aud tlie personal exertions gratuitously given of members of tho executive committee .

      Thus Royal Aoademy . —The Royal Academicians , we are happy to announce , have made one more step in the direction of common sense—though the step is but a small one , and taken under the direct pressure of the rnost imperious logic . They have made such an alteration in their laws as gets rid of the chance that aa associate ' s place in their body ( of which , our readers know , there are not too many when they are all filled up ) may remain vacant for twelve or fourteen months ,

      according to the period of the year at which a vacancy in the higher rank , of the body may happen to accrue . Tho election to the Associateship is henceforth to take place in the month of February ; so that It will follow immediately on the election which olevates a previous member of the body to the Academician's scat . The familiar figure of tho empty chair is banished from th « Academy : let us hope that the other familiar iiguro of the professor who makes no profession may soon follow it . ' —Art JoumaL

      Two Monks Amucsticd fou BicaaiNO at LiVKitroor . —James Gannon , nnd Lewis Corey , two monks , who said they camo from Drogheda , and were going to n convent at Lorretto , in Pennsylvania , where charged at Liverpool , on Monday , with begging ; in Upper Pittstreet . They went into a shop und asked for money for a person in distress . On Gannon was found 11 . 6 a . 2 d 7 and a watch , and 18 s . 6 d . on Corey . Tlioy had no papers from any Roman Cutholio ecclesiastic , and they said they had lost their property while on thoir way from Drogheda to Liverpool . They were reinnndod .

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 7, 1858, page 776, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/ldr_07081858/page/16/