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^ fivance rejoicing under Louis-Napoleomsni , ? N ^ h ! SU ^« Sw . « f " A * home g hare -ppn all the srreat standards of ftuth , the great Sarks of the nation , bfoken to piec * , and swept away for even Whig constitutionalist * , restored *) pcmw , achieved its lenith in the * heyday of Lord John Russell , whose party abolished the domination of orthodoxy by the fejieal Of the Test Sd Sr ^ ration Acts and the Catholic Btttncfy * . Snn Act The Manchester massacre paved the way for the Reform Bill , which Lord Durham and his friends composed , and Lord John fcttttll carried in Parliament , neither acknowledging the author who eave it birth nor the great mass of the people who BUDDlied the power for forcing it on the
aristocracy The reign of Russell was succeeded by the reiff ' n of Pee \ , whose greatest achievement was , not th ? enactment of Free Trade , but the final sanction given to freedom of discussion , and , therefore , to freedom of thought . Peel has gone ; but the time may still be said to take its character from his genius . We now look back with selfcongratulation at the contrast presented by the earlier years of the century , when religion , political action , food , and thought itself , were cramped by the iron grasp of Tory absolutism .
There is solid ground fot congratulation * Although , when we look a little deeper * and ask what is the relative condition of the People , not only must we say that the condition of the industrial class has not relatively improved so much as that of the classes who stand forward in front , wealthy and " respectable , " but that the improvements of the century , though in some respects they have reached all , in other respects have not reached the teal body
of the People , and in sortie even have rendered'that condition worse . Bread Was dearj the People were poor , and there were hafldlootn weavers in those days . But the handloorn weavers have since be * come more numerous and more ttbject ; and in those days of dearth we do not read of any social phenomenon so strafl » e and so shocking as that of the needlewomen Who belong to this day , the Jubilee of the century . In those days the factory towns had not begun to rise ; and in the harder times of
later years , still those districts were rising : are they any longer so ? In those days the country people were poor ; but a Poor Law had not been devised with the special intent of repelling them from asking aid . Landlords had not devised plans for sending the labourers off the fields ; and , what is more , the ill-used working man , whether in field ,
factory , or workshop , did riot then know that he was ill-used—did not then know that he might have political power , certainty of labour , and immunity from the pressure of taxation , if it were not withheld from him by the deliberate action of the State . Those things were so then , but he did not know them , and the Contentment of ignorance was a substitute for the contentment of comfort . Even
now the rural labourers do not know all what is withheld from them , but , by the blessing of God , they too shall be told . The political progress which has so much benefited the middle class in this country has dorie little more for the People , whether in England at in many parts of the Continent , than supply them with experience and large * ideas . The People helped to win the Keform HiH for the middle class , but have not yet obtained the suffrage for" themselves . Ilenoe the Chartist experiment ' , an experiment which , as it was conducted , necessarily led
to the failure in which it has Virtually expired . That Chartist agitation expired j but to the rightd of the People aid silll unsatisfied , as the Chartist convictions still hold together the elite of the People , it follows that thfl thing whioh was visibly embodied in the charter still survives , still possesses the affections of the People , and remains to be strengthened with new experience and new councils . The Chartist experiment watf a necessary experiment for tho People , and of course it jms been lost upon them even less than it has been loat upon any other Class . Government , indeed , may think that it has cNinhed Chartism i bitt the
I eunle have only gone through a severe experience to find out Where lieM tho true life of Chartism . Jho Chartism of Ireland , the Repeal movement , whieh had far ks « b « U i « r which tho famine forced upon the rulers of Ifelahd , » "d the death of O'ConrieH , have smothered the Hepeul movement without allowing its true mean * »» tf to appear , But oven prosperity— that i « , full
fare after famine , has not smothered the spirit of the Irish People * and the English People know that they may courtt upon , their fiery brethren across St < George ' s Channel—at a proper day .
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A NEW "NO POPERY ! " CRY . We are neither friends not slaved of the Pope , though we decline the atausefrieht of burning him la effigy , and protest against the injustice ^ of mobbing the Bishop of Birmingham or slandering the Cardinal Archbishop of Westminster . True , We do not , bO clearly as Our more Protestant contemporaries , see the difference between Tweedledum andi Tweedledee ; ignoring , so far as we are personally concerned , the Queen ' s supremacy in matters Of religion , we do not think the Catholics
ef of treason for doing the same ; nay , we conthat in some important particulars we prefer the Archbishop of Westminster to the Bishop Of London . Dt . Wiseman dotes not pick our pockets , he does iiot sit in the House of Lords to help to enforce church-rates and burial fees against Dissenters ; he has not received a million or so of the public money , not * does he conspire to put down every place of meeting where any attempt is made to combine religion with freedom of thought .
But we hate Popery as much as anybody , Whether it be Roman or Anglican , or Russian of Colonial . We wish to put it down , not only in England , but all the vrorld over , not excepting Rome itself , where it is Supported by French bayonets and fostered by English sympathy . But w § do not fear it ; we would not take an unfair advantage Of it , for We believe the only way to vanquish it is to give it a fair field . In this
country the weapons of Popery are purely spiritual ; they address themselves to the mind , not to the ptlrse or the person ; it is of no use to remind us that it is Otherwise where Popery is in power—it is riot in power here . Unless the new Bishops are cowards , of which no sign has yet appeared , the proposed attempt to make their assumption of titles ft misdemeanour will enlist in their defence every lover of faif play and of religious liberty .
The true policy is not to shackle Roman Catholics , but to set Protestantism wholly free and then abide the issue . But the laws of this free Protestant country forbid it . He who wishes to enlighten his countrymen as to the absurdity of the Romish doctrine , that the sun is only six yards in diameter , must first pay a tax for his paper , a tax which practically doubles the price of the article , for it not only causes restrictions On the manner in which paper is made and brought into the market , but it has to be paid before the paper leaves the mill , and , if thousands of reams lie printed but unsold , no drawback is allowed Contrast this with spirituous liquors , which may be kept in bond till wanted for sale .
The paper duty being paid , a duty of 18 d . is laid on every advertisement of the work in a periodical publication ; but this is not all , should an author desire to inake his work at once attractive and useful by inserting news , and by adapting his remarks to the current topics of the day , be must get it stamped , or he is liable tb a penalty of £ 20 on every copy , and all his printing materials may be confiscated to the use of her Majesty the Queen , who will scarcely , even in these Protestant days , set up a printing prefla in Buckingham Palace or Windsor Castle to defend the " faith of our
fathers /' It is true that this last law is not enforced to the letter ? but it is not the less mischievous : the uncertainty of the consequences of publication makes it impossible for uny one to bring out such a nettny weekly sheet as would be most instructive and interesting to the working classes . Half the No * - Popery pamphlets now circulated are liable to prosecution under the letter of the Newspaper Act ; but the Board of Inland Revenue ( a b'nitd more powerful in supporting darkness in Englnnri than the board ¦ of Cardinals ) sanctions to' pamphlets that which if reprinted in slips from newspaper ' s It would consider a flagrant breach of the law .
Against this system we raise our voice and cry No Popery With hearty good Will . ? Somer ' set House is tho Knglinh Vatican . The Excise id our Inquisition . The Secretary of Stamps is to us worse than the Pope . We know of no evil £ r ntiU > t than the suppression of intelligence of which our Government are guilty , and we intend for the future to devote ft portion of oOr eoluirinH to attack it ,. For the present ; We content ourselves with drawing the attention of oUr readers to sornri of the anomalies in the present working of thti law as e , et forth in another part of our paper in an addict ( . o
the Chancellor of thfe Exchequer by otlr friends the Newspaper Stamp Abolition Committed To this address , and to © the" ? documents about to be issued by the same body * which will shortly appear iti our dolumhs , we bespeak the earnest consideration Of all who have at heart tlte spread of knowledge add the progress of truth *
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A FllEtfCtt ELOoDMAN . Pkw political scandals have exploded so completely and so disgracefully to the originators as the affair o ( Allais . The story may stand in history as a striking illustration of our day , its manners and spirit . Not that lying spies like Allais have been unknown in other days—but because in this case the highest authorises are more or less implicated . President Bonaparte trifles with the National Assembly j the National Assembly is jealous of the President j both are playing a game of which Gfe * - nerai Changarnier is one object , popular influence being the stake * The President has his Prefect of
Police , M . Carlier ; the Assembly has its Commit sary of Police , M . Yon ; and there is a rivalry be * tween the two , especially on the side of M- Yon , whose position is the less established . M < Yon reports to the Assembly a plot to assassinate M . Dupin , its President , and M * Changarnier , its pet * and as informer he produces Pierre Constant Allais . The trial is a ludicrous burlesque : Allais breaks down in every particular j he had not even taken the common pains to verify the accessories of his fietion- ^ -foi » instance , he reports to seeing ttventyi six people in a place too small to hold them ; and his examination is a mere expostife .
The TitheS hotice 3 thitf very CUrioUs trial as one that " presents a striking contrast with our own customs in matters of police , artd at the same time affords many striking illustrations of French character . * ' We do not see the striking contrast , nor the strikingly Ftench character of the affair in its essentials . It is not so long since Dobbyn was brought forward to give his nonsensical evidence against the Irish Leaguers , or i ' owell against the Chartists . The practice of opening letters intercepted in the Post-office has not long ceased to be among the stated duties of our highest officials ; and to this day those who witnessed the trials of
the Cato-street conspirators are still amongst us — nay , all the fellow-servants of Oliver and Edwards have not yet departed . Many would suppose that the Use of blooodmen and such police manoeuvres are a peculiar growth of Fiance , perhaps a Republican innovation ; but Englishmen who are riot yet old can testify that the practice has declined with the decline of Absolute power . France , with alj its backslidings , is leagues beyond the rule of the lettre de cachet ; and in Kngland we owe the new purity which makes the Times so boastful , to the Reform Bill and other freedoms which the working nlnsses won for the middle classes .
We are less inclined to trace this bad police activity in Paris to the old practices of the Monarchy , than to a cause which is in some respects eVen more deplorable , since it can leas be removed by combating it — we mean , a certain pettiness of spirit which seems to govern all society . It not only animates the miserable sort who are born base and mean , but it rises even to public men on all sides * We ascribe it to the trading spirit which
has tfiven birth to the Utilitarian bigotry ot the day . Society can scarcely value anything that will not pap , it is iealoua of anything that ia peculiarly noblo or nigh-spirited ; it has learned to sneer at the chivalrous as " Quixotic . " It is blinded to that purer half of the satire in Don Quixote , which places nobleness , high faith , and generous purpose in the triad man . In France we have the opposite extreme to Don Quixote ' s : if we see a public minister dabbling in the busineNH of the bloodman . do we not see also tlie leading
statesmen of every party making patriotism worse than a trade , a gambling trade : while the President ? over all , manoeuvres to keep his pOst by truckling to all . It is an aggravation ot this curse , that nobleness itself has learned to abate its pride and to mistrust its own precedency ; owning a sort of fnattY ' aiH honte in presence of the moral Hcepticisiu j TfniK , We note tmen men an CuvHig . uuc waiving tlieir OWn influence , and suffering their country to fall rather than brave ttie criticism of political nJaekfe / 48 ntu \ petit inaitres . But neither i « thin foibie peculiarly " Frorich " : in our own country , also , iL in the rule to let petty feelings have precedency ovor tlie higher . 11 Franco can exhibit u Yon , can wo not siIho kIiow a Ilawe . H , who has ho contrived to conduct bis parliamentary duties a « to crcato an im-
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Jan . 4 , 1851 J ___ . __ , ' % M ^ . rftli . gJ ^ ---, ^ ..- ^ -.- ; ..-. ^ --- .-, ¦ -- ¦ ¦ -- ¦¦ ¦ -jil ; -
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Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 4, 1851, page 11, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1864/page/11/
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