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    Untitled Article

    Ministers who were present . Is not that pro-^ Disraeli deprecates ^ advance of "<* - J ^ bpinions " onthe Continent ; fcutone army Te ^ treme opinions is | . drancing _ before our eyes ? the absorption of Europe , He professes to ? £ r Republican opinions : ln ^ jockey phrase , d w are Nowhere . " Lord Palmerston pleads ^ Constitutionalism : it is ; rotting away from State after State on the Continent ; even in Engi S it has beenshaken to its roots by the levity ^ barefaced corruption of that very party liose Ministers have so excellent an understand-TJt ^ h the mendicant bull y of Absolutism .

    T > appears to us that Absolutism is the one onhr embodiment of " the three _ courses" that is Sine way , because it alone is knit together Ztth . concentrated purpose , determined action , lad that spirit of poHtical vitality—aggression Absolutism , having crushed fhe peoples , whose hranrlins alarmed " moderate" folks , is now eating , 4 Cons ' titutionalism ; while the public servants of Great Britain are charmed at the good humour with which the monster sticks to " peace !"

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    THE CITY SURRENDERING . The noble member for London offers himself again to the citizens , and they look very much as if they could not help having him again . The advertisement which he has put forward of his own claims , is rendered an insult by their helplessness . To parade once more the exploits of the last twenty years , including Sir Robert Peel's latest and largest work—to offer himself as the head of the free trade reformers if they will act in a body—to speak of Free-trade as the grand work of the day * when Protection is counteracted "by Mr . Disraeli , and disavowed by Lord Derby almost hi terms , is , to flaunt a series of pretences which ought to condemn any candidate for election . Lord John demands the votes of the London citizens with a transparent absence of rightful claim , as a Sultan throws the handkerchief , knowing that he cannot be refused . A candidate thus proposing himself would be scouted at any other time . An address so totally irrelevant , whether to the present or the future , would be nothing but an act of niaiserie ; but that which is the act of a simpleton when it recoils on the perpetrator , becomes an insult when it is inflicted

    upon helpless people who must perforce submit . It is the helplessness of the Londoners which lends force to the disrespect of the candidate . There was a time , indeed , but a few weeks since , when Lord John Russell ' s interest in the City was supposed to be very low ; but within the last few weeks it has recovered in a surprising degree ; and there may be more than one reason for this recovery . The Hebrew interest adheres to him . A few months back it was supposed that

    no change from the Russell Ministry could be for the worse . Some hopeB were entertained that the author statesman , who has given vitality to the new Cabinet , would be able to give character to its measures ; and these hopes have been disappointed , loss through anv short-coming on tho part of Mr . Disraeli himself , than through the impracticability of Lord Derby's more con-Konial adherents . The official Protectionists

    dosiro to have tho credit of Mr , Disraeli ' s connexion , tho ornament of Stanley's high birth , and tho rosults of their own dogmas . But Lord Derby lias tho full forco of a dogged mind in an onorgotie body ¦ ho is head of tho Cahinet ; and tho consequences aro , that Mr . Disraeli ' s spirit evaporates boforo tho Ministry can bo moved by it , whilo tho feeble Protectionists , under the weight of Derby ' s retracting advocacy , sigh in

    vain for all that Derby promised . To tho Liberals , the present Cabinet has proved noithor that illustration of Toryism which it would have stimulated all forms of Parliamentary Liberalism to oppose , nor that high-spirited aristocratical Government , ' which might lmvo redeemed tho character of its dogmas by a ' sorios of generous administrative measures . Like an old suit of armour

    jn a manorial houso , it has tho cast-iron somblnnco of chivalry outside , but the horo is gonb ; j * nd , as it stands before you , knock-kneed , slaolchandod , and wavering , if you look straight into Jta countenance , you discovor nothing out the pastly gloom of absoluto emptiness . Tho public begins to realize what it supposed to ho lmposBiblo —a Ministry moro fruitless , more vaoiJJatmg , and more contemptible than tko Family Cabinet .

    t It is upon the strength of that dawning conviction , that Lord John Russell comes back again in lordly style , and claims once more acceptance froin . the City of London . Perhaps he has done it rather too soon , At the meeting in the City the rapture of welcome was not quite unanimous ; the supporters who had got up the meeting , indeed carried their point , but there was one party who objected , and another party 'who advised delay . Though no longer a virgin constituency , the City does not like to have its favours presumed in that peremptory fashion ; audits representatives were rather nettled at the abandoned manner in which

    Lord John's go-betweens set aside all decency of appearances in proposing the hasty resumption of the match . It is evident that the platform scene had not been sufficiently rehearsed , and the managers retire to rehearse it better . Lord John ' s friends without the walls do not conceal the fact that they regard Temple-bar as his portal to office , and they already announce him as the leader who is to lead the Liberal forces . The matter therefore is all arranged for the Liberals of England : they , as well as the City , have been " taken in and done for "—a

    phrase which has ceased to be a joke , as it simply expresses the proper fact . There has been some talk ambngst the genuine electors , the middle classes and well-to-do artisans of the City , as to their submission under the nomination or the old candidate ; but the talk-is faint , and evidently men are half inclined to presume that there is no other fate but submission . These matters are arranged by election agents , ex-whippers-in ,

    Treasury-lords , and a few other managers ot cliques , local and metropolitan . The fact somewhat accounts for the small pains which Lord John Russell has taken to show whether he has any claims either upon the citizens of London or the people of England , either for his seat or a return to office ; all he ha 3 to do is to save appearances sufficiently for the forms of the election agents aforesaid . ' . ,

    Verily , from present appearances , we believe that the country will submit . It rates itself no higher than the Hussell standard . It may not like it . There are few men who have been spoken of so generally , within the year , in terms of slight and wearisome annoyance , as Lord John Hussell ; and if the country were to choose its Minister , assuredly Lord John Bussell would not be the man . Perhaps if any one were named , it would be the very colleague whom it was the object of Lord John Bussell ' s last energetic act

    to manoeuvre out of office . Although we are so quiet now , there is by no means the blissful security that seems to hang over dogmatic gentlemen of the Peace party . The quiet is of a character that nobody quite understands or trusts , and men would feel moro comfortable if there were at the head of affairs an active , sharpsighted , adroit , resolute man . It was expected that tho Tories would suppl y in efficiency and practical rosults their shortcomings in professions ; but expectation has been disappointed , and people

    who want anything done look neither to . Russell nor to Derby . The two parties have been fighting about the National Defences , which all arc resolved to have , though the country cannot make up its mind as to details ; but the one mind capable of a patriotic grasp of the subject now belongs to neither clique . If anything is to bo done , apart from old factious considerations , the common remark is , "If Palmerston were in offico , it would soon bo settled . " We happen to know that this feeling has boon expressed quite irienas

    recontly in the Midland Counties , A no of national independence , both abroad and at homo , would fool much more confidence , apart from matters of opinion , if England wero reprosontod by a man not afraid of using England s power . It is tho same in that Colonial crisis , which was aggravated by tho negligences ot the Whiff Government , and proves too much lor the hesitations of the provisional Tory Government ; tho

    and , in tho columns of a contemporary , man who lias the greatest grasp of Colonial aflairs , Edward ( Gibbon Wakoiiold , has just declared , that if Palmorstonwcro in office , the crisis would bo sottlod . But Palmerston is too strong for tho cliquos . In spite of past suspicious , tho people have a personal liking for him . Tho cliques have a foar that ho might really do something ; hence thoir chief objoct is , to elect stopgaps , tor tho principal constituencies , and in oilico to Keep up , in ftltonmto occupation , Cabmota of stopgaps . . ..

    Untitled Article

    AFFAIRS OF HONOUR . The affair of honour between the two Members for Canterbury has afforded a welcome subject for the easy-going wit that chimes in with the morals of the day . Charles Lamb , said that accidents and offences were the spice of life , without which existence would be dull , and newspapers unmarketable . Thus the Honourable . George Smythe and Colonel Bomilly have reciprocally stood fire , with no other fruit than a vast number of witty articles and letters in the newspapers . So generally is our fatigued social system reducing every thing to routine , that not only has the affair of nonour its set order , but the subsequent facetiae regularly follow pattern . The reference to " friends" is not more systematic than the reference to first principles , and by this time , as the saying is , any fool knows how ^ the argument about placing an ounce of lead , with a detonating powder , in a hollow tube should be conducted to the final reduetio ad ahsurdum .

    The accessories always have their due part in the jococity . " Time and place , " which are among the primary essentials of the duel , assume a peculiar aspect of humour in the commentary ; and "Weybridge , " "in the cool of the morning , " becomes in some unintelligible manner the pomt of a joke . A cock pheasant happens to disturb the combatants , and then " the Cock Pheasant ' himself appears amongst the correspondence of the Times to keep up the fun and protest against being disturbed before the 1 st of October . All

    this is in the regular order . It is the accustomed turn of humour to call the duel an " affair of honour ; " the time and place , be the place the most respectable of retreats , and the hour the most quiet , always become droll ; pistol , powder , and shot , are the staples of the recipe , and you wind up the joke with the " satisfaction . " The satirists of the clubs and journals , however , always seem to forget that there is a practical and substantial side to every affair of honourthat there is some real grievance at stake , for

    which the Law affords no remedy , and for which Society has as yet afforded no appeal . Mr . George Smythe , in the public street , accuses Colonel Bomilly of supplanting him , with a systematic ingratitude for past support , in the esteem of the Canterbury electors , after the Colonel had invited a coalition . Such conduct , to use an old-fashioned expression , would be in the highest degree ungentlemanly , and no man who claims to be a gentleman , could tolerate the imputation : but where should you look for

    redress ? If amongst the technicalities 01 the law , the accused mig ht obtain , or lose , a verdict without the slightest bearing on the spirit of the matter ; although it is in the spirit of the matter that the whole force of the wrong lies . If he were to appeal to some " court of honour" he would be laughed at for invoking a cumbrous machinery that would pronounce judgment on some constitutional rules of morality , leaving tho

    spirit of the matter as untouched as tho Law can do . Mr- Smythe calls the Colonel a supplanter and a traitor : the Colonel , claiming to be neither , appeals to the only measure which society has yet invented to fasten some kind of responsibility on his accuser ; and until society sanctions tho invention of some better machinery for the same purpose , although commentators may continue to joke , gentlemen will continue to measure paces and demand tubular

    satisfaction . Tho transaction at Wey bridge , indeed , afforded in its result moro than the usual opportunity for pleasantry . That Colonel Bomilly , who has been called a traitor and a supplanter , should oxchange two shots with hia traducer , and then allow himself to be declared satisfied , is too much of a practical reduetio ad absv / rdum ; but this fault oolongs in part to the weapon usually selected by English duellists . Tho universal spirit of compromise suggests the suspicion that two meet hllen and

    when gentlemen , as ca ger challenged , on a hostile field , they tacitly combine in an arrangement to evade tho substantial part of the duel . Tho affair at Woybridge has given occasion to tho open utterance of suspicions , that gentlemen in such circumstances never do fire at each other , and that the affair of honour has become , oven among tho upholders of tho institution , a polite melodramatic faxco , a conspiracy in bravado . Tho same suspicion could not possibly attach to affairs of honour in . which tho weapon was the sword . The prevailing apology for tiie pistol is , that it brings men

    Untitled Article

    ¦ Ha ? 29 , J 8 S 2 ;} THE LEADER . 5 * 8

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), May 29, 1852, page 513, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1937/page/13/