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therefore , when the rows come on , in positions to mouth at one another with surprising and ludicrous effect . They are certainly not entitled to be described as men—there is nothing manly in their notions of offence or defence , of sarcasm or repartee ; and they are not to be compared to children , for they are too malignant and too malicious . Their plaints of the conduct of one another do not suggest the existence of either self or mutual respect among them ; and the House to which they appeal , and which grins at them , ^ half in pity , half in aversion , has no guarantee even for earnestness in their bickeringsdoubting if the " holy show" is not pour passer le temps , and if they don't all go and make it up over
whisky afterwards , and therefore enjoying the confusion less eagerly . This is a very remarkable circumstance in these Milesian brawls , as it is in all Milesian brawls , whether in back streets or senates , and it is * a circumstance which should operate to the destruction of the theory that the Irish is a witty or a humorous race , which it certainly is not—that there is never any " fun" in the rows . A jest , a mot , a smart saying , never comes from Irish senatorial lips—they deliver only vulgar , brainless abuse , in heavy , foolish fashion . Gaiety itself is graceful ; but your Irish orators , in these days , attempting the inflated , solemn style of talk—every one of them stands upright , looks austere , and delivers himself like Xorval when Norval was In
the act of giving his name and address . What amusement the House does get is consequently at the expense both of the fame for brains and the reputation for respectability of gentlemen from Ireland , who are set down not only as being injudicious and somewhat loosely moral , but as dull dogs who are only useful for worrying one another . If they had that sense of humour which is supposed to be a national trait , they would have with it a sense of the ridiculons . and so
would avoid these sinister " scrimmages . " They make fools of themselves ; and in a sober , advertising way . Captain Magan , the teterrimous occasion of the wars of the week , enters battle in a red shirt ! You find it difficult to realize the picture of Captain Magan , who , you know , has suspicious-looking moustaches and prononce eyes , wearing a red shirt ; but it is a fact ; and what are you to think of the party who let loose a leader in an oriflaimne!— " this style , 5 * . ? " The idea of a man talking of public honour in a red shirt ! What treasury whip would keep a compact about income-tax with a man in tittlebat moustaches and a
red shirt ? And that is from the deficiency in the party of a sense of the ridiculous—a sense which keeps parties , like individuals , out of many improprieties . Take another Irish incident ' of the week . At the Thursday sitting—at about one in the morning—when all the business was over ; when Secretary Wilson had his hand on the peak of his hat , about to take it off , and wink at the Speaker—which is motion of adjournment —when only about seven members were left ; and when even Mr . Brothorton looked as if ho could go home and eat his cold cabbage—a gentleman rushed in , lurched about , and ' took his stand near the middle of
the floor . "Misther Spaikcr , Surr . " All eyes were on the voice and the reeling figure ; and dead amazement crept over the faces of the seven members , and Secretary Wilson removed his bund and shut his eyes . The voico was undoubtedly in the possession of the floor , —it wns a mattor of calculation when it would take possession , horizontally , of the said floor . " Surr , " said it again : and the Speaker said , " Order , order , " in faint and appalled terms ; and tho eyes of the seven members and of the thin galleries were on tho gentleman in tho staggering voice who could not get beyond the exordium of his oration . What
was it ?—has anything serious happened ?—for one did not know at first whether it was drink or agitation which affected tho orator . Something came ut last . " Surr , tho bill ( stagger )—inspection of nuns—honourable gentleman—in his place—bill—on nuns ( stagger ) , I ' m a Catholic—want time , —when will it come on ? consider" ( stagger , and situ down ) . It was only n " question : " tho drunken gentleman wanted Mr . T . Chambers to say when ho would fuco the Government again with his bill for tho inspection of conventual establishment * : and Mr . T . Chambers answered , with crushing politeness . Then tho voico staggered up toinun
again "in reply . " " Suit—( stagger)—holy J religion ( stagge r)—inshult to Ireland : " and tho voico and tho man dropped again ; and Mr . Wilson opened his oyoa , took off hia hat , winked , and tho House adjourned ; the theory in tho gallery being , that tho drunken gentleman would bo taken homo in a cab by Lord Charles Russell , as Sorgoant-at-Arms , — -rather n fine chivnlric nobleman—who goes through that sort of inconvenience for tho sake of Ihh Hulary . The drunken gentleman was an Irish gentleman , of tho essentially " religious" section of tho Iriah representation ; and rather vonorated by tho priests , and ,
accordingly permitted to assist in the government of the British Empire . Well , that is not an uncommon scene—uncommon neither of the man nor of his party ; and , of course , the English House does not excuse it ; because , however merciful it would be to the gentlemen who come in " gay , " and happy , and graceful , and laughing—as several very notorious , and estimable gentlemen punctually do at 11 o ' clock p . m ., —it can only feel disgust for those who are offensive , because they are stupid , and who never get drunW but they insist upon the wrongs of Ireland and the » ights"bf Popery . So that , on the whole , Irish meuirJlrdom is not advancing in the British Parliament .
But , as before said , dogs , however dull , can worry one another ; and the pack have their purposes on Budget debates . Weary , very weary , are such debates at all times , but more peculiarly oppressive are they when is is ascertained so accurately as just now which way the divisions will go . It has even ceased to be amusing to watch Mr . Disraeli's inconsistencies ; or one might go with some pleasure , if it were not so exhausted a one , to hear Mr . Disraeli denounce a Legacy Duty ( to be balanced by reductions in customs and excise ) and a continuous Income-tax , after having , preliminarily , glanced at such passages as this in the
re-issued " Sybil . " " Here , too , " ( viz ., in the precincts of Westminster Abbey , ) " was brought forth that monstrous conception which even patrician Rome in its most ruthless period never equalled—the mortgaging of the industry of the country to enrich and to protect property : an act which is now bringing its retributive consequences in a degraded and alienated population . Here , too , have the innocent been impeached and hunted to death ; and a virtuous and able monarch martyred because , among other benefits projected for
his people , he was of opinion that it was more for their advantage that the economic service of the State should be supplied by direct taxation levied by an individual known to all than by indirect taxation raised by an irresponsible and fluctuating assembly . But , thanks to Parliamentary patriotism , the people of England were saved from ship-money , which money only the wealthy paid , and got in its stead the Customs and Excise , which the poor mainly supplied . Rightly was King Charles surnamed the Martyr ; for he was the holocaust of direct taxation . " But
wondering reflections upon the career of Mr . Disraeli are out of date ; and as he and the party seem satisfied- — they talcing their statesman as they take their cook ( Disraeli in the House , and Palanque at the Carlton )—and both chefs content if they succeed in stimulating the jaded appetites of their employers , the public has nothing to do with the arrangement . The criticism , however , is legitimate that Mr . Disraeli is very dull of late . We know that ho can bo humorous and
lively on a Budget , as also that ho can bo solemn and mal-apropos at an after dinner speech ; but all his wit was exhausted on his own Budget—on Mr . Gladstone's he is only and unhappily argumentative ; insisting on being severely logical , and yet not having a word to say against the most perfect financial scheme of our times : and his own genius in such encounters being completely overshadowed by that of Mr . Gladstone , who in tho first place , happens to be on the right side ; and , in the next place , is far more closely master of his subject , and speaks financial essays , as distinguished from " financial excrcitations . " Last
night , tho lassitude which the Budget compels fairly conquered the House ; Mr . Disraeli could not force himself up to tho speech clue to his party ; and tho debate ended , to tho astonishment of a full House , at eleven , no more speakers being forthcoming—a cause of adjournment which never occurred before , in the memory even of Mr . Hume . Those who did speak , oratorized in a dim ami melancholy way—yawningly going through a public duty—except , indeed , Lord Goderich , who w . w brisk and pointed , indicating all the qualities for hhcccss in the life he has selected , and whoso vigorously delivered advice to tho country gentlemen to have some common hoiiho , if not common
decency , about taxation , was all the more impressive that it ciuno from one whose own interests are likely to bo affected by legislative progress in those principles Mr . Gladstone- m unreservedly laid down . And tho House , finishing business at eleven , was perplexed how to kill time till a sleeping hour , and unfortunately hud no hotter Hiibject than humorous denunciations of tho corruption of" Jtyo . After eleven , the House of Commons gets v « ry candid about the public : and member after
member admitted last night that the constituency oi Rye wuh it very hfllpless body , but that really it ought not to bo disfnin « liwe < l , seeing that it was not a bit worse than most of the other places to whoso votes a largo class of English gent lemen are indebted for giving them a night-house at Westminster , available after tho Opera is up , and when ball-rooms get too hot . For there arc ovils which tho ballot would not
remedy , —a profound consideration , which may reconcile us to Mr . H . Berkeley ' s disappointment on Tuesday . There were 100 Liberals ( going to give a safe Radical vote ) waiting in the lobby and library for the motion , from seven till eleven ; having nothing to do , they divided at eleven , in favour of a Protestant state interference with weak ladies , in nunneries ! Philosophic Radicals ! Consistent Liberals ! Appalled at such a vote in an enlightened House , Mr . H . Berkeley took time to consider , balloted for a place last night , and is now postponed till the , when further election and dock-yard exposures may suggest new arguments for the Ballot panacea for an enlightened country , which cannot . be trusted by the " people ' s party : " people ' s party at present being . very busy in taking you by the button , and -convincing . you that there would be no corruption if you-got the ballot , because the briber could not bribe you if h ' e . could not be sure you would really give your vote for him . Older and less mortifying logic for the ballot was ,. that it was a protection to the intimidated classes of the enlightened land ; but nobody seems to think about that now ; or would it not be urged on Lord John Russell , that he has no rig ht to disfranchise bullied labourers in the dockyards ? for that if they are subject to improper influences , they are entitled , as Britons who never shall be slaves , to the concealment of the ballot . The suggestion , however , once made , as now , will be repeated . The Radicals will repent of the cheers with which they received Lord John ' s announcement this 1 day week ; and coalescing with the Tories will defeat [ the Government on the Disfranchisement Bill—a result which will still further endear Lord John to the Peelites . They were furious with him , it is understood , for leading the Government into a minority lobby on the Convents Inspection motion ; for they can hardly appreciate an affectation of " civil and religious" liberty enthusiasm which ends in putting them in a ludicrous position , as against not the Tories , but the Liberals too , and so passing them through a scrape , and not rewarding them with any additional capital . But Lord John was verv proud of what Lord Edward Howard , called his noble-minded oration ; " and as he was used to Government defeats when he was Premier , he may tell Lord Aberdeen he didn't mind that sort of thing a bit ; and having made a mess of his leadership , but gratified the Irish gentlemen who turn up on the wrongs of Ireland arid unsteady legs at about one , Lord John went to get ready to go to Ireland as a sort of supernumerary Viceroy—being without office he likes to make himself useful , which is a merit it is to be hoped Lord St . Germans will appreciate—fully convinced , that his vote on tho nunneries would be balanced against his bill on Ecclesiastical Titles , that on tho whole he had made a coup as a statesman , and that on general civil and relig ious liberty grounds he would be rapturously received in Dublin ; and of course it is his policy to show tho Peelites—who probably snub him in the Cabinet , and certainly laugh at him everywhere—that he ' s the " popular man" of the Cabinet sifter all , and as Veneer-Liberal must be treated decently . * A Stbangjib . Saturday Morning .
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/ May 14 , 1853 . ] THE LEADER . 471
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PREPAID TAXATION . LETTER II . ( . 7 * o tho J ' Jditor of the , Leader ) Srii , —With reference to tho letter on " Prcpaidtaxation" which you did mo the favour to insert , I am induced by your kindness to return to the subject , giving some details of , a practical , character in my proposed scheme . There cannot be any certain computation * us to tho result of the whole , but taking tho data of the Times us to bankers' cheques ( one of my items ) to be correct , then ; would bo from that source 700 , 000 / . a-year ! thus giving to the country , at an easy rate , with increased protection to the payers , with my other items , at , least 1 , 500 , 000 / . pnr annum . Such a result , as lids is worth considering . It would relievo every one of tho YOOl .-clnrks from the operation of the Income-tax . It might , bo made to mitigate tho Limber-duties , malt in a degree , hops , silk , and tea . Schedule 1 . —With regard to vailway-tickots , with a proposal of Id . on the third class , lot us supposo any one individual to make thirty journeys a-year by that class carriage , ho would pay either with" or without a return ticket , — Third class . . . . 2 s . Gd . per annum . Second class .... 5 . v . Qd . „ Fi ™ t class . . . . Is . (] d . „ The . so are items not burdensome at any time , and , considering that travelling is cheaper by tho proportion of
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* Lord John KuhhoII was , it is understood , to havu gonu to Dublin this week ; but it would uppeai that ho hau boon detained in town by iuditipouition .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), May 14, 1853, page 471, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1986/page/15/
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