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speaking quite generally , and having illustrious exceptions in our eye , tne business of the editor is less effectively done , for the reason which Mr . Cobden will understand better than any other , that it is not so well paid for . We are much , mistaken if Mr . Cobden is not familiar with the very common explanation that newspapers represent the opinions of their readers , for this practical reason , that if they do not do so , readers will not buy them . It may be very wise to see toth sides of a question , and to be more anxrous about what can be said against
you , than what can be said for you ; but the fact is , that the object of most men in buying a newspaper is to enjoy the statement of their own inarticulate notions in the shape of artistical development and expression . A reader never so thoroughly enjoys a paper as when he can say , " that is exactly what I have said myself ; " and he always tries to buy that paper which can give to his own opinions an air of the greatest point and wisdom . It is looking into a mirror which tells him , not the superficial aspect , so inadequate to the expression of his real beauty and dignity , but that inner truth which is a more perfect portrait of the whole man ; a mirror which makes Simpson see with his own eyes the Socrates that
he feels himself to be . For this reason it is to be taken that the papers which are purchased represent the opinions of their purchasers . Kow , unfortunately , it does happen that all the papers which are purchased at present , and thus represent the opinions of their purchasers , are engaged in setting forth the exact opposite of Mr . Cobden ' s opinions ; and it is quite natural that he should wish , like Louis Napoleon , or Sir Peter Laurie , to " put down" all these unpleasant opponents . Luckily , however , for others , if not for himself , he can only express the wish , and cannot effectuate it . There are two advantages in his expressing the wish : —it relieves his mind , and it enables the public the better to understand how little Mr . Cobden is master either of " the situation" or of himself .
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THE RAPTURES OF AN ANGLO-BONAPARTIST " CONVERT . " ( To the Editor of the Trader . ) Sir , —Really your "Open Council" is no misnomer . Louis Napoleon ought not to be angry at the Sun , for quoting ij'om your columns , seeing what an ardent worshipper of liis has free access to them . There can he no objection to " C L . E . " painting the private side of the Emperor , if " C . L . E . V colours aro truly laid on . We have no wish to find any man altogether had , hut we ought not to have the possible good paraded as an apology for known and proved evil . No private
worth can convert public crime into a virtue . If the Vronch Wmperor has " as generous a heart as over filled human breast , " all that can be said is—so much the worse for the " generous hearts : " for , if tho late political career of our new IOmperor is compatible with hucIi hearts , the sooner we find another name for them the better . If the " slaughter" of . December was " a wise and ju . st necessity , " political crime is in future impossible . The Irish murderer , who prowls about at night , with his bludgeon , to slaughter " Hellish factions , " ought to receivo the respectful attention of the Knglish peoplehe in the " master mind , " comprehending the genius of
his " situation , a model to European statesmen . It is no uncharitable wish to express , that when the next demonstration of a " wise and just slaughter , " like that of December takes place , " C L . K . " may be in thn midst thereof . It will be strange if it doea not chasten his raptures at its wisdom and justice . Does your corres ]> oiident mean to tell the English people thai ; ( heir " sainted Queen Dowager" would Ihlvu sympathized with that slaughter , or with the perjury or despotism which has disgraced noblo Franco ? If so , he is taking a more effectual way than the vilest " Skinipole" ever yet devised , for creating popular
distrust of " sainted Queen dowagers . " If Louis Napoleon ' s tenderness to courtezans is to cover his immense burglary of the national liberty he had sworn to protect , might not an admiring word yet be spoken for our Shephards , Wilds , and Hackefcts , who certainly had this virtue , and who , it seems , wanting a " C . L . E . " to bring it out , have been too long neglected . If Louis Napoleon deserves our admiration for what he has clone , let us down with our Alfreds and our Alberts , and get Neros and Caligulas in their places . Credit the French Emperor with whatever , virtue he
has , with whatever good he does , and I will join with " C . L . E . " in any honest admiration ; but , if your correspondent assumes to tell the people of this country that the act of to-day converts into virtue the crime of yesterday , I tell him he is propagating the dangerous and immoral maxim that it is lawful to do evil that good may come ; and , when you have commended this infamous principle to the nation , what robber can you seize , what murderer can you arrest , what crime can you condemn ? All criminals mean to do well , when their ambition has succeed , and their passions are
gratified . One other thing let " C . L . E . " and such " converts " remember , —if the perjuries , massacres , deportations , and despotism of Louis Napoleon are the " wise and just acts of an honest clear-headed ruler , " what a dark , bloody , and portentous lesson is he teaching the working-classes of this country ? If a man to whom " sainted queen dowagers" minister , whom " holiest " women relieve , who has led the worthless , if not the disreputable , life of a tenth-rate man about town for years , —if such a man may wade through perjury and Wood to a throne , what may not your honest demagogue do , who spends his weary years in meritorious and hopeless toil , to perish , at last , separated from his wife , in a poor-house , under the scorn and reproaches of successful afiluence ? Can " Mr . Communist Skimpole "
be wrong , whatever vulgar prejudice may impute to him , if Louis Napoleon be right P If a gagged press , transported citizens , exiled statesmen , and a Parliament of slaves , be the exhibition of " genial fullheartedness" to a nation , no anarchy is henceforth an evil . The long lessons of constitutional wisdom which we have been teaching the working-classes , —the advice so patiently urged upon them , and so nobly accepted , that political redress is to be sought by reason through law , and not through violence , have been hypocritical delusions , if the conversion of " C . L . E . " be a sound one . A darker or sadder suggestion , to the justly uneasy misery of our working people , no one has made , than is contained in the moral of the " Convert ' s opinion of the Emperor . " Q . J . H .
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[ IN TniS DEPARTMENT , iS AU OPINIONS , IIOWHVKK itXTBTSMK AUK ALLOWED AN KX PRHS 9 ION , TIIH "KDITOlt NJICKSSAHILT HOLDS HIMSELF JtUMl'ONHlULK VOll NONJC . J
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There is no learned man but , will confess he hath rrmoh profited by rciidini ; i * o * lt . i-nversieM , bus si .-iihch uw . ikmcd . and nis judgment shnrpnnnrl . H , Uien , i I , \> c profitable for him l . o read , why . should it . nol ; , al . IciihI ,, be luleruble for hia adversary t . o writ . e * .- —M ii . ton .
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THE ACHILLI CASE—THE LAW OF L 1 KEL . ( To the Editor of the T , cadtir . ) Sill , —Tn your last week ' s number you invite the attention of " noisy Inw-reformers and barristers out , of work" to the law of libel , and its recent emendations . Now , 1 am not a law-reformer in the ordinary acceptation of the term , liowever " noisy" I may be in other departments of lift *; neither am I wholly " out of work , " although I could do a little more than an undiscriminating public entrusts to me . Nathless , as I feel some interest in the topic suggested , and am of opinion that it is of more public importance than is commonly supposed , I will , with your permission , endeavour to bo " practical , " and therefore , I hope , useful . Heforo , however , I begin , I wish to give my humble testimony to the manner in which Judge Coleridge passed sentence upon Dr . Newman , which is the peg upon which the article liangs . As it . seeniH to 1110 , he diHcbargcd a very difficult task with singular fact and good feeling . Kcnieniber , he had to punish an old and much esteemed friend , fo go through the usual " practice" expected upon such occasions , after ii trial in which \ w felt that justice , full justice , had not been doitH by Ihe verdict , and in which his next neighbour , th « pre : Mdi , ){ r . 1 ut ( t- * - at ( . hut trial , had conducted
himself , to say the least of it , indiscreetly . More than this , he had to vindicate , and I say it was his duty to vindicate , the sentence upon which the Court had agreed , from the imputation of sectarian severity , on the one hand , or undue lenity , which was sure to be attributed by the Exeter-Hallians , upon the other ; and this he did by showing that the verdict having been wrong in many instances , and substantially contrary to the evidence , the defendant would have been justly
visited with a nominal penalty , if it had not been for the evident animus so virulently displayed , and so palbably , so curiously , at variance with his previous writings . I defy any one acquainted with Dr . Newman ' s earlier compositions , not to have made the same mental observation ; and -why is poor Coleridge to be blamed for giving it utterance ? In any ordinary case , this is always an ingredient in the sentence ; why on earth is this storm in a puddle to be the exception ?
I observe that you have been led into error , in common with many others , by the reports of the proceedings . The sentence was heard with breathless attention until the last words , " until the fine be paid , " when a few enthusiastic Roman Catholics laughed at the notion of the imprisonment being contingent upon such a simple solution . There was therefore no general laughter at the sentence , nor could there , in decency , have been .
One more remark , and I have done . It is quite clear that ordering witnesses out of court , with the present system of shorthand writers , in a lengthy trial , is a farce , and the sooner it is done away with the better . A rich defendant has thus an immense advantage over a poor one ; and lie is precisely the man who ought to be most looked after , as he has the greater opportunities for subornation of others , and greater self-possession in giving his own evidence .
I have run on so long , that I must defer my investigation of the present state of the law of slander till next week . I may , however , begin here by explaining what I find is very generally misunderstood , that the 6 and 7 Vic . c . 96 , commonly called Lord Campbell's Act , applies only to criminal proceedings ; those by indictment , and criminal information , the latter of which was the course adopted by Dr . Achilli . In an action at law , to recover damages , as distinct from penalties inflicted by the Crown , the truth of the charges was a good defence ; but in proceeding criminally
( which was frequently done , and more so than will be the case , now that parties are examinable , in order to enable the prosecutor himself to appear as a witness ) , the defendant was safe to have a verdict against him , if the publication was proved . To remedy tins , the above act was passed , which enacts that in such cases it shall be competent for the defendant " to allege the truth of the said matters charged , and further to allege that it was for the public benefit that the said matters should be published , and the particular fact by reason whereof it was for the public benefit . "
This sentence , if you will permit mo , I wilt take next week as my text . 0 . G . M . Temple , Feb . 10 .
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FRIENDS OF ITALY . ( To the Editor of the Leader . ) Sib , —Have you space for a couple of words to the many " friends of Italy" who will be now engaged in obtaining signatures to the petitions to be presented when Mr . Duncombe makes his motion ? 1 . All who feel strongly about the wrongs of the Italian people are struck with the comparative unsympathy and inactivity shown by numbers of p ersona who yet hold right views upon the subject , love freedom , and mean to do something for it . May I suggest to the wonderers and the wondered at , that the commonest cause of tho phenomenon is simply inattentiveness , the want of a little mutual concentration . So the remedy for lukewarmness is easy , —once really attend to what is passing in Italy , and force tho mind to realize distant facts , and a proper sympathy must arise , to nerve ono for action . Any enthusiastic and really energetic " Friend of Italy" may test this , by trying the effect , upon Homo comparatively lukewarm " friend , " of a little word-punting in touching upon tho condition of that country . 2 . I trust the love of truthfulnesn , and a proper sense of the superiority of tho cause of Liberty to any need of " sham" help , will prevent nny " active" friend begging for signatures , and dragging uninformed and unwilling pens to the feet of the petitions . No ; let us spread information , and rouso feeling by all tho awful art « of propagandisin , but carefully abstain from small tricks and subornation of insincerity , keeping a clear conscience for the needs of future action . — 1 am Sir , your faithful Servant , ( Joj . jhno Pknhobk . London , Jnnunry 17 th , 1803 .
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NOTIONS TO OORKISHI'ONDKNTB . Will a " Kill loimlinl , " |>« ho j ^ oihI an to ueixl a copy of hiH flritl leUor , with Iiin iiiuim * and iuhln < HHP Wii thank * liim ior tho kind mid cormidcralf ! HpinLofliiHHocoiid loiter , ni ^ iuul "A Huhaoi'ilior . " "Any ono" in informed that the nu )> jocl , of Imh hitter him J ' rii-(| iicnlly lici'ii dcnll . will ) in jirint IxToni it found Hh wiiy into " I ' uMlii lah'H mid Data . " It in n notoriouH , hut * , we honour t « - iiiM'ioimi'orrcHpoiidcut to l > o uHHiirod , mi t'xo <) j > tioiiitl citan . Lettei-H on "Tho Anna of Hoollaiul , "— " Tho Jitcoino ( iiicl I ' rojiorly Tax , " &v aro in typo ,
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. 160 THE LEADER ! [ Saturday ,
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Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 12, 1853, page 160, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1973/page/16/
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