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liberalism through the immediately following debate on the third reading of the Rothschild Mil . Lord Palmerston jauntily cut the connexion between the Treasury bench and the below the gangway , in refusing proper information upon the prompt and noble appeals of Kossuth ' s friends— "Walmsley and Duncornbe ; and the consequence was , that when Lord John went into the lobby at one in the morning with the Radicals , the Radicals felt not that they were being led , but that the association was as accidental and as unsympathetic as on the previous evening with Mr . Disraeli and Lord Stanley . Lord Palmerston , apologising in a lively way , and , as a matter of politeness , to cher Aberdeen for his revolutionary reputation ( God knows Lord
Palmcrston was always maligned and was always a sound reacliona / re—only mcompris ) may have been a ceremony contributory to Cabinet council comforts , and the pleasantries of that Greenwich whitebait in July , to which statesmen look as the real posterity . But if Lord Palmerston insists on a justification of his tendencies , the subscribers to the portrait must in decency shrink away from his friendship ; now , take away liberal Lord Palmerston , and nothing remains but a coalition consisting entirely of frightful examples . This is certain , that the Radicals yesterday evening knew that the Government had been blundering about the Refugees , and inferred from the Home Secretary ' s too audacious reserve that the Cabinet had stumbled with an intent
( Her Majesty ' s nerves must be consulted now , and dynasties hang oddly together ) , and equally certain it is that the Radicals were very angry , and that the ten minutes talk between Palmerston , Walmsley , T . Duncombe , and Bright , separated the Administration of Lord Aberdeen from the popular sympathies farther than even Mr . Disraeli , with all his knowledge of the men to be operated upon , could that morning , ruminating on his triumph , have contemplated . This was traceable in the succeeding debate ; only Mr . Bethell , who is quaintly professional and talks too much in unpunctuated italics to be either quite interesting or quite useful ,
supported the Government : and his support was as disinterested as the whitebait dinner waiters ; and only Mr . Bright supported the bill—a nice distinction , which Mr . Brig ht made unaffectedly prominent . The fifteenth debate of the same bill could hardly , one would think , be made interesting , and induce much good oratory . But last night should have been the debate , inasmuch ns Government is supposed to be calculating whether it shall not resign if defeated by the Lords ; and yet the languor of the talk was afnictingly impressive . Not that there was no provocation to the Liberals . Only conceive Mr . Bernal Osborne free ( I am mistaken in him if he does not now wish he
were ) replying in hock and soda water tones to Mr . dimming Bruce , who remnrltcd , in a loud Scotch accent , that he was not " eentollerant , " inasmuch as he thought the Jews " eenteresting" a people , certainly at present tossed arid scattered under the Divine wrath , but doubtless in time to be received into the Divine favour , " and let us not presumptuously accelerate the period ! " Was there no provocation to Liberal wit . in the absence of Mr . Disraeli , while Mr .
Walpole was showing that , if the Jews were admitted into tho House of Commons , a Jew might some day bo made a Privy-Councillor—a frightful consummation in the eyes of a Protestant gentleman ? But Mr . O . sborne is busy victualling the navy with pork , in fine contempt for the prejudices of his ancestors ; and Mr . Bright is too . savage to be satirical . Of his powerful logic , his ( luring invective , and Lis overwhelming sneers , jus adduce ;! last night , let Manchester , however , be proud , ns it in her inclination to be ; and above all , let Rndical constituencies who prefer Whigs because your William Williamson are laughed or jeered down , an they
deservo to be , observe that Mr . Bright made his speech last night in as full n House ., half full only when he rose , as Sir Robert l ' eel could get in bin Free-trade days ; and that tho ultra Quaker , ultra democratic gentleman , advocating negative ; Christianity , and attacking tin ; House of Lords , the Bishops , and tho respectable interests , was an patiently ami an deferentially listened to an Prineo Albert when he tells Lord Clarendon what bin young friend the Emperor of Austria nays of Louis Kossuth . Ho much for great ability when , it condescends to havo patience ! , and to
study tho forms of Parliamentary good breeding . Five years ago , John Bright had a worse hearing than pathetical Mr . Mm-rough could got now . Three years ago only , Lord John KuhnoII complained feelingly of Mr . Bright ' s violent manners and narrow mind . Ln . st night Lord John , blushing for hifl passion for icligioUH liberty , could not find words strong enough 1 < express his admiration for tho most accomplished of trihmutH , who Iuih become , also tho most exquisite oi elocutionists , and l , h « most impressive of gentlemen . Nut , ^ tWpitfi the intense cominiHcmtion of tho Cabinet , for Jews , wlmt . in occurring , in illutitrution of
coalition tendencies in other directions , is slowly datoagingboth the individual and collective position of Ministers in the country . This eagerness to take advantage of Kossuth ' s supposed indiscretion to placate Austria does not look well in Lords who are , par excellence , the " Ministers of England ; " and testing their principles by . their details , there are other awkward inferences . There seems , in the first place , a careful management of the " corruption" material , which is being turned up , so as to damage the Reform cause—Lord John putting up his Vernon Smiths and Labo-uchereSj to hesitate suspicions of the results of a further
extension of the suffrage ; and , in the next place , the small educational bill , the anti-press opposition , the attempt to shirk the Indian responsibility , and the postponement or putting on one side of all other pressing great topics , all show that an effect of a coalition is the effect of too numerous a corps of cooks . Departmentally , there is progress and success . Sir . tames Graham at the Admiralty , Mr . Cardwell at the Board of Trade , the Duke of Newcastle at the Colonial Office , and Lord Palmerston ( vide his activity on behalf of Austria ) at the Home Office , are doing- wonders . But there is no trace of any oneness in the Cabinet—no hint that all
the talents can resolve themselves into one genius , and conceive worthily the gi-eatness of their duties and their opportunities , as a Government . There is pettiness in the attempt to deal with the election exposures ; there is a little mind in the education bill ; and there is more reason to fear that we are to have a Budget without any of the elements of grand finance . The shame to the Treasury bench , on Thursday , was not in the numbers , but in the wretched drivel of Lord John Russell , and the pedantic , fidgettj deprecations of Mr . Gladstone , who has sunk too soon into the cant of Chancellors of the Exchequer , and too readily shirked
his responsibility as a somewhat trusted and petted statesman , by the affectation of scrupulosity as guardian of a revenue which experience shows bears very well too much minute meddling . It was said , on Thursday night , after the divisions , that Government knew they were to be beaten , courted defeat , and provoked it purposely , and in the simulated degradation had some deep design , which leading journals will be requested not to penetrate . It is undoubtedly true that it was well known on Thursday morning that the Tories would " dodge" on the first resolution ; that the brigade led by newspaper
proprietors would go with Mr . Gibson on all the resolutions ; and that if so . Ministers could not escape . But the speeches of the Ministers in the debate , while they indicate apprehensions , indicate no tact : for Mr . Gladstone was angrily obstinate , Mr . Sidney Herbert furious with Mr . Disraeli , and Lord John took no pains to anticipate Lord Robert Grosvenor in warning Liberals not to play the game of the Tories . And what are we to think of a Cabinet which is so stupidly destitute of adroitness as to quarrel with the House for 180 , 000 / . — knowing when they enter the fight that they are certain to be beaten , and that the consequence of tho
defeat would bo to weaken their own position when they come to the Budget ? Messrs . Gladstone and Herbert , and the Duke of Newcastle , at once as newspaper proprietors and as Ministers of the Crown , might be glad to get the advertisement duty off , and yet be afraid to provoke an opponent in the press who wants no change ; but if they did sock to have the abolition forced on them , they might , at least , have arranged for a more dignified retreat than they were able to command after Mr . Disraeli had spoken for the Tories , and Mr . Magnire for the Brigade . Very slight satisfaction can bo obtained by denouncing Mr . Disraeli ' s "impudence . "
His effrontery was sublime , no doubt : his cool dishonesty deserved tho hysterical reproaches of bewildered Lord Robert Grosvenor , who was shocked at the idea of voting for the motion if th ^ o was a chance of its being carried . But if the effrontery is successful , Mr . Disraeli is laughed with , and not laughed at : and though Mr . Gladstone ' s clerks will sympathise with lijm—having to get a brim new Budget out by Monday—they will nevertheless join the pleased public , and . grin among themselves . The strongest of Governments cannot afford to look ludicrous ; and Mr . Gladstone's perplexity , despitn the tragic rebuke which he now
frowns , in excessively amusing . Mr . Disraeli , in his dexterous speech , confessed , in accounting for his readiness to fiicii u cheap and universal press , that he and his party did not appeal merely to tho reason of mankind ; they address thoinselves also to tho feelings —as in offering dear loaves , say t and an admiringcountry , while it ; will condemn tho logic of Mr . Disraeli ' s conduct , will be apt to enjoy very heartily its point . Lord Robert Orowcnor was astonished lit tlio right honourable gentleman ; tho conduct of tho right , honourable gentleman , sir , can only lower tho character of public men—tho Government that was about to bo beaten cheering tho sentiment vohonumtly . But Mr .
Disraeli has never in his career aimed at the cliivalric ; and at present he is devoting all his attention , to teasing and torturing men who are conceitedly too strong , in whose liberality he does not believe any more than he does in Lord Derby ' s , and who , to get in , put him out . The character of public men is far more injured by liberal statesmen turning Austrian spies , and by a Government , pledging itself to education , carelessly refusing to take excise shackles off the diffusion of knowledge ,- and most of all , the character of public men suffers by such a manifestation of blockheadism as blindly inviting defeat on _ _ . , _ _ , « ¦>
a popular question . The character of public men suffers from public men twaddling ; and if we get over the routine deference we pay to men in position , we shall find that Lord John twaddled in his answer to Mr . Gibson and Mr . Bright . Contrast the intellect and the statesmanship of the speeches of the Manchester school , imperfect as that school is in many respects , with the speeches of Ministers—make every allowance for the position of guardians of the revenue —and you will see that both . Lord John and Mr . Gladstone fail in an appreciation of the spirit of their time . As to Mr . Gibson , so unpretending as
to put his common sense almost as commonplace , he nearly roused enthusiasm . The question should perhaps , in strict propriety , be in the hands of one of the many journalists who are now in the House . There are more journalists in the present House of Commons than ever were in Louis Philippe ' s Chamber of Deputies . But the advantages of a disinterested advocacy are manifold , and it is just to say that Mr . Gibson has mastered the controversy in a wonderful way . He exhausted the question on Thursday , and so cleverly mixed up his abstract argument and practical
illustrations that he was interesting , lively , and cheered by a tolerably full House to his last sentence ; achieving thus an oratorical success which many much abler and greater men might be proud of . If he committed a fault , it was in assuming that the House had confidence in the people , which he did throughout , whereas foreseeing defeat on the two weighty resolutions , he should have appealed to the people against the House , and dared the truth . But his faith in the faith of the House would appear to be a fact . He was speaking of the frauds on the Post-office , and went on to say , he
did not think that unstamped publications were frequently sent through the post ; " for my opinion is that there is a great indisposition among Englishmen generally to defraud any branch of the revenue . " Thereat the whole House , of all sides , people ' s party included , burst into a joyous yell of laughter at Mr . Gibson ' s simplicity . Mr . Gibson was puzzled , stared , stopped , but could not make it out , and went on again . But the moral of the yell was plain enough ; the Commons House , which also cheers and crows Smith , and admits with Labpuchere that there may be a few honest men in Hull , has no great belief
in the public virtue of the Commons ; and if Mr . Gibson had had more self-possession , which you could hardly expect of him , in the full swing of his argument , he would have taken a note of the fact , and parenthetically communicated it for the benefit of tho enlightened people . Mr . Bright made also a telling speech ; and though it might be too evident that his reason for wanting the taxes off knowledge was that , when they were off , there might be a Manchester school daily paper in London , —and it is very odd that Manchester can never get a London press platform , — his trenchant syllogisms were none the less effectual
that we could detect his motive ; since , why should not Mr . Bright dictate a morning paper in London , as well ns half-a-dozen weekly papers in the provinces ? Third in tho Manchester triumvirate came Mr . Cobden , and he was very practical , offering to make a bargain with Government , and to give up educational grants if they would leavo him free tho educational machinery of the presB . There was " a laugh" at that ; but there was a solemn point in it , which should have told more on that little-caring '
assembly . Mr . Cobden , however , made a ntrango omission in his speech : he did not specify , as ho did iu his lato LeedN speech , that tho new papers he wantH must publish without opinions ; or , in other words , that what ho means by enfranchisement of the press is tho multiplication of uncriticised orations of Richard Cobden . The Member for tho West Riding would go down to posterity as a Demosthenes--without notes : a dosiro which indicates improper unfnmiliarity with the difficulties of education , and leas consideration for posterity than is usual with that most conscientious of inon .
Incapacity for bold action—for that first function of government—leading tho nation—is too visible in tho fatuous and foehlo proceedings suggested or »< "qtiiosce < l in by Lord John KuhsoII in rogaj-d to tho election petitions . Confusion and contradiction is « till going on : commission after commitmon is issuing uj > on oppowito
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376 T H E LEADER . [ Saturday , ~ . ¦ ———^——^
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), April 16, 1853, page 376, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1982/page/16/
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