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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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to the mind is the trouble taken to ebbbrate this nothing , the importance attached to it by the public , and the pomp made to attend it . Why speculate on the Queen ' s speech beforehand ? You would not trouble yourself with anxious speculation as to what Lord Mountcashel should say on the 4 th of February : then why cast about to guess at what the Cabinet Council will compose , studiously reduced to the level of Mountcashel insipidity ? The one most hardly used is the Queen ; who is brought from Windsor Castle , and must ride in stake from Buckingham Palace to the House of Lords , on purpose to utter Downing-street platitudes in the face of Europe . Of all the parts
actu-THE QUEEN'S SPEECH . The royal speech on the opening of Parliament is an old joke * and journalists are generally suffering it to drop belbw criticism . Most of the humorous ideas which it suggests have been said too often for repetition . We are tired of Rearing how Charles the Second was the first to read his spedeh , and how he gave as his reason that he was ashamed to look his subjects in the frice ^ since he had so often asked them for money . We have grown hardened to the platitudes studiously elaborated to be platitudes and nothing else—nothing more dangerous . But the wonder which does remain unfamiliarized
ally rejected even by second-rate or third-rate actresses , probably not one would be so utterly pointless as that specially written for Q , « een Victoria ! It is taking a mean advantage of her dependence on the Ministry . Yet she performs her part with the best grace and courage—utters the Cabinet platitudes with finished elocution , does her best to read the annual slipslop into music , and imparts what emphasis she may to nought . It is surprising how well it is done . But why do it at all ? It certainly is not worth the doing . We wonder that some day , just before Parliament meets , Queen Victoria does not rush to find some Minister capable of writing her a better part—one worth her reciting .
As it stands , most certainly it is not worth the public ' s being anxious about—or hurrying to the newspaper offices for second editions to read that blank prize—known beforehand to be blank ! The day ' s wonderment about the rbyal speech , is one of the most curious instances of the English adherence to habit : having formerly been anxious , John Bull feels bound to be so still ; he is eager upon principle , and is agitated with the punctuality and regularity suited to the emotions of a man of business .
If there is a truth worthy of note , peeping out through the blank countenance of the speechstudiously blank as the face of a hardened offender making his periodical appearance before the magistrate—it is in that closing sentence : We have every cause to be thankful to Almighty ( Jod tor the measure of tranquillity and happiness which he has vouchsafed to Us . " You have , O Ministers , every reason to be thankful to Almighty God ; but also to the English People—even to those numbers who are not included in the " prosperity" which you glorify , and to those agricultural labourers whom , while condoling with agricultural distress falling on at
landowners and occupiers , you do not mention all . Yet what is the distress of the most unfortunate landlord or the most ruined farmer , to that of the wretched labourer—that wretched being dependent on those—most miserable in every part of him , inside and out ? And in gratitude for that so preoiouH "tranquillity , " what arc you going to do ¥ You do not say—unless it bo that you are going to bring in some " measure " to crown your humbuguboufc the Papal aggression , and one to register ( feeds , &c , relating to property . Hut what has tho People to do with that ? AIho hoiiiu inea-Hiire « for the improvement of the law " may he submitted , " —and may not : what then ? You oi'Jy
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promise this deed register and this anti-Papal nonsense , which you dare not make more than a solemn trifle . ' , Such , then , People of England , is the amount promised you by the Government—a deed registry and an anti-Papal measure ; Ireland is not mentioned , nor the Colonies . Now , one more question occurs to us , O People : What are you going to do ?
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LAW FOR THE RICH AND LAW TOR THE POOR . Tiifi law iar open to the rich and the poor much after the same fashion as the London Tavern was said to be by John Hbftie Tooke , in one of his riidst felicitous sarcasms . The relative positions of the law and the London Tavern are hot exactly the same as they were in the time of Home Tooke . We have seen on several occasions that the London Tavern is riot quite inaccessible to working men , and we are willing to take this as an earnest of the . future accessibility of the law . As a step towards this end let us consider what is the nature of our laws ' , and how their improvement may be promoted . Laws may be divided into enabling and disabling laws ; thus the Reform Act tables certain holders of property to vote at Parliamentary elections , the Newspaper Act disables those who cannot pay for stamp ' s * from publishing newspapers . All laws in this country are made by the rich , that is , the holders of property ; they pass one set of laws to enable themselves and another set of laws to disable the poor , that is , those who have little or nothing to depend on but their labour . As there are two sorts of laws , so there are two methods of law reform . The man of enlarged sympathies and strong faith conceives a principle , and endeavours , not always with much success , to work it out ; the practical man , as he calls himself , who sees a little beyond his nose , perceives an abuse , and tries to get rid of it without looking farther . The successful reformer must combine the two methods ; grasping a principle himself , and teaching it to all who will learn , he must adapt himself to the capacity of the moderate obstructives , and show how his principle is already
practically recognised in theory , £ tnd how it is vitiated in practice . In doing this he must keep in view the distinction between enabling- and disabling laws ; he must endeavour to extend the former to the poor and the latter to the rich . As , for instance , the borough franchise is given to the £ 10 householder , it is impossible for any obstructive to object very strongly to a similar franchise in counties ; the county franchise is given to the forty shilling freeholder , or holder of property worth £ 66 , it would be an easy matter to show that any inhabitant of a borough possessing that sum in cash or furniture is unjustly treated by being disfranchised . Oh the other hand , a disabling law should be enforced against the rich till they are sick of allowing
it to remain on the statute book . The laws against blasphemy were made , not to act against such men as Shaftesbury and Bolingbrokc , or even as Hume and Gibbon , but to keep down such persons as Carlile and Hetherington , and others who had more frankness than polish , and who were likely to mislead the lower orders . When Henry Iletherington was convicted of publishing a blasphemous book , he obtained writs against Fniser and Moxon , and the latter gentleman was in his turn convicted of selling Shelley ' s Queen Mab- convicted but not imprisoned , for his prosecutor never prayed judgment against him , as Iuh object was attained : a law was passed forbidding prosecutions for blasphemy except at the instance of the Attorney-General , who is not likely to interfere in such
maters again . Of all the disabling laws , we know of none more noxious than the Excise laws , and tho worst ol these is the Newspaper Act . Passing by the iniquitous provisions of which that act is full , the one provision that no record of fact shall ever he deemed legal without paying a tax , to tho revenue , is Huilicicnt to challenge our MMonishmcnt and indignation , lint , happily , a record of fact is a blessing
desired by everybody ; scarcely any periodical is without some such record , and thus scarcely any unstamped periodical abstains from breaking the law . Nor in this the only part of the law universally broken ; comments on news , if given oftener than once in twenty-six days , require ; a stamp , but every weekly paper gives comments on news , and is therefore amenable to the law . Yet more—every registered newspaper is bound to ntamp every copy , but the Sturnp-oiflicu Keiidtf a list to Parliament ot
fifty-one which omit to do so . Is the law , then , a dead letter ? Not entirely . The hairdresser who operated on Morleena Kenwig , in Nicholas Nickleby , drew the line at a baker , and kept the coalheaver at a distance from the genteel temple of easy shaving . In like manner Mr . Thomas Keogh draws the line at a Cockney , and will not suffer bumpkin to violate the sanctity of the law . John Cassel , and Charles Dickens , and Messrs . Bradbury and Evans , and Mr . Francis , live within the sound of Bow-bell ; therefore the Freeholder , and the Narrative , and Punch , and the Athendum may
stamp or not , as they please . Mr . Batty lives m Fleet street , and may publish his slips from the English Churchman , ostentatiously advertizing the number of thousand copies which he has sold , and for every one of which he is liable to a fine of £ 20 ; but Mr . Bucknall lives in Stroud , the Norwich Operative and Messrs . Jarrold in Norwich , and Mr . Beaumont in Wakefield . These are bumpkins , and must be put down . Such is the operation of the law , but such is not its intention and spirit . The real intention
of the law was to discourage working men from studying politics . The poor reader is aimed at , and the rich capitalist is not allowed to assist in instructing him . The law , though so frequently broken , has as yet proved an efficient barrier against a good cheap political press ; the middle classes have their dear political papers , and eke out the smallness of their number with the scraps that are permitted to find their way into cheap publications : the working man is left to grope his way in the dark as best he may .
This then is a case of a disabling law , and we recommend that it should be enforced on every one with a view to its repeal . True , no private person is allowed to prosecute , but anybody may point out to the Board of Inland Revenue , at Somerset-house , some instance in which the law is broken . The illegal publishers are a privileged class , and should be made to feel that their position
is an unfair one ; those who have any right feeling will demand the extension of their privileges to the whole community , as the Athenceum and the Freeholder have done , and as the Household Narrative and Punch ought to do . Publishers who are inclined to speculate should write to Somerset-house and try to get the authorities there to define the exact degree of latitude allowed . Are jokes news if not contained in Joe Miller f Are lies to be
considered as unobjectionable , or are they to come under the head of news ? What distance from the Post-office disqualifies a publisher from breaking the law ? These and other questions should be put as seriously and respectfully as possible , and the answers made public . And to conclude , we think some attempt should be made to get an answer from the head of the board ; Mr . Thomas Keogh has sso stultified himself and his office by his contradictory letters , and more contradictory practice , that we should like some higher authority to be applied to . Mr . John Wood has the
character of a sound financier , and a man of sense and of liberal views , if the censorship of the press is to continue , let him take it in hand himself , and not trust it to his subordinates . It is the usual practice of the Board of Inland Revenue to acknowledge and answer communications ; in another part of our paper will be found a memorial from the Newspaper Stamp Abolition Committee to the Board , which has as yet been unacknowledged . If Mr . John Wood cannot answer it , he had better hand it over to Lord John Russell , and let him try his hand as the
censor of the press : if tho office in to exist , it ought to be in the hands of u responsible person , and who so fit as the head of the Church and Defender of the Protestant ; faith ? Let us hope that when the Premier enters on his new function , he will draw the line more ju . st . ly than his predecessors , and that lie will put the rich and the poor on mi equality so far aw the newspaper laws are concerned : it he do this , he must abolish the restrictions altogether ; for the rich will not , and the poor ought not , to bear them any longer .
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m . TViere is nothing so revolutionary , " DecaTlse ipeie is Sffitf 66 uSnteal &d convulsive as the rtttin to kdetTtHings flxea wh . eh ajl Jfce . world i * Uy . the very law of its creation in eternal progress .-De . Aknold .
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- ^ . . ©¦ SATURDAY , FEBRUARY 8 , 1851 .
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ADUIiTKItATrON OK COKFHK . Mu . ( iRANti . ky Biuikkuoy NeeniH determined to lose no time in stirring up Ministers to a sense of what they owe to the country . On Wednesday evening , he questioned Sir Charles Wood as to what he intended to do in regard to the ndulteration of coflee ; whether any protection is to be given to the honest ineivhiiut against the fraudulent dealer in chicory and diN # ui < sed parsnips ? Sir Charles replied , rn one might have anticipated , that he did not intend to intcrfcri ; with the chicory trade ; upon
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T&L 8 , 1851 . ] ftttt & ** '& ' # & * 25
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 8, 1851, page 125, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1869/page/9/
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