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    Untitled Article

    Mark well ,- it is merely a mechanical question . A proper system of signals can be invented , both , for communication between driver and guard , and for a "warning to trains rushing into danger . In America , a guard can pass through , all the carriages up to the driver : in Germany , he can ring a bell . It is not for us , nor for the Government , to dictate how the intercourse is to be contrived ; but it must be done , under the provisions of that supreme law ,- —the safety of the people . There are difficulties , such as the necessary disjointing of all the carriages , and the awkwardness of a continuous wire or cord when carriages would have to- be sundered : but even crude

    mechanical conception can suggest modes of doing the thing . The signal to warn back a distant train might be done by firelights , or by some speedy mechanical messenger sent along the rails . Without any mechanical invention , a great deal could be done by a sentinel posted , on the engine , or by the South Eastern system of signalling " a clear line" from station to station . Iiord Palmerston forbids smoke without telling its producers how to put it down : he should command a safe railway system , and let directors find out the cheapest and the best .

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    THE WILTS COUNTY MAGISTRATES ' JUSTICE . We have long been of opinion that the economical maxim , which appraises the worth of " anything" at " just as much as it will bring , " receives its most triumphant illustration in the case of our unpaid magistracy ; but we are not ashamed to confess that we begin to doubt whether we have not been in error all this while , and whether , after all , amateur justice , which we get

    for nothing , is not dear at the price . The Wilts county magistrates , in the course of this week , have upset our old notion altogether , and left us wondering how we could so long have been victims to the generous , but utter delusion , that the value of the services of the great unpaid was not exaggerated when taken at the apparently modest estimate of those who render them .

    A month , since there appeared in . the papers an announcement that the office of the governor of the new prison at Devizes was vacant , and a re - quest that candidates would forward their testimonials by the 11 th inst ., and be themselves present in person on the 18 th , the day of election . The advertisement led to numbers of applications . Gentlemen who had been in the army , gentlemen who had been in the navy , gentlemen on half-pay , and gentlemen on no paygentlemen who had been governors of gaols , and gentlemen who only wanted to be—hastoned to prepare their papers , and inundated the clerk ' s office with assurances of their fitness , and with credentials from their friends and former officers .

    J 3 efore the 11 th , the magistrates had received some forty applications ; and on the 18 th , thirtytwo of the candidates—all , perhaps , who ( we know not at what cost or sacrifice ) had been able to find money for ( heir hotel and travelling expenses , —appeared , to be inspected and examined by the auguat body in whom lay the power of appointment . They came together as rivals , but they left as friends , bound to each other by the strongest sympathy , by feelings of tho warmest indignation , and tho most unmitigated contempt

    for the magistrates by whom they had been gulled into going a fool ' s errand , and into wasting on n urcIcss expedition money which tho very fact of their seeking such an appointment hIiowh they could but ill spare . It Ho-emed , when they got into court , that tho advertising for a governor , and tho promise of an election , were more formalities— . simple , pleasant little legal fictions , having no object but tho laying out , for tho encouragement of journalists , of a portion of tho county funds , and perhaps—for justices arc netting so philanthropic—tho providing of Home

    consoling speculations among tho prisoners nn to tho probable character of tho ruler who was shortly to bo " elected" over them ' . The appoint , merit was , in fact , made ,, and made on grounds which must have boon as patent to the appointed before they received a single testimonial as after they had road—if they did readP— -thorn all . However , it was thought decent and attentive to keep up the farce : so tho names of the candidates were called over , and those who—poor fellowshad not managed to be present , wcro struck oil ' the list ; their non-appearance being considered « o disrespectful to the worshipful Jwmcli us to vitiate all their claim to take part in tho solemn

    humbug about to be perpetrated on their wealthier rivals . The ceremony having got to this point , it was politely intimated to the expectant and eager crowd that it rested with them to determine whether the performance should be continued j but to guide their judgment on this point it was kindly told them that the magistrates had not a thought of appointing any of them , though of course they were quite ready to go through the forms of an . election if it would be the least

    satisfaction * to each or any of the thirty-one candidates to find himself in a minority of 0 . The boldest of the thirty-one gentlemen suggested , in the course of the proceedings , that this did rather puzzle him and—by this time—his friends , and that they would rather like to know what it meant . Meanwhile , however , he was informed that the magistrates , who are disposed to pride themselves on their economy , would be delighted to hear—which was strange , if they had already read them—the bestbitsof his and the others'testimonials : but that

    they had set their hearts upon the appointment of a Mr . Alexander , who had this convincing testimonial to his fitness—that if he were not appointed , he must be pensioned by the county . Not a word about his fitness—what had that to do with it P The only qualification mentioned , the only one thought of , was the saving of the pension . He may have the highest ' claims ; he may have none ; at least , he is not to flatter himself that they gained him the appointment . The saved pension is his testimonial ; the ilfawtvivre is his merit . Perhaps he will be a good , governor ; at least , he is a cheap one .

    Mr . Alexander , it seems , has for some thirty years been governor of the Marlborough Bridewell ; that bridewell winch he has ruled so long is about to be abolished , and his " vested interest" therein to be consequently imperilled . So the magistrates , alleging no other ground , appoint , lest - they should have to pension , him . They would have made him chaplain had that post been . vacant , or surgeon perhaps ; and we doubt not tlxat at future public dinners , they will instance this as a case of retrenchment ; and , after attacking Manchester men , affirm that your true economy is that practised by country gentlemen .

    Wo will uot here enter into the question of Mr . Alexander ' s fitness or unfitness for the post —that , indeed , being a question on which we cannot pretend to have any information , and which therefore ( like the magistrates , though for a different reason , ) wo may as well keep out of our view . We cannot , indeed , assert that it had nothing to do with the appointment ; and we do not sec that it is material to our case .

    The point to which we wish to draw attention is the iniquity—especially glaring juat now , when the magistrates must find hotel charges so prominent a topic in their newspapers—of bringing thirty or forty gentlemen hundreds of miles on a wildgooae chase , when an outlay of thirty or fortypostage stamps would have apprized them all

    that their A'isit was of no use . It Avas not pretended that tlicir candidature would lead to tho least chance of their success . They were ( hero for a , form ; and ' when they did pluck up courage to read their testimonials , were impatiently stopped in tho attempt to read extracts of the papers Avith which they were provided .

    1 he magistrates took no interest in tho proceedingH : for anything but tho saving of Mr . Alexander ' s pension , they did not care . There was no blush of shame on tho bench when it came out in open court that there was a doubt among themselves as to who had been fulfilling the prison duties since the resignation of the late governor , Mr . Hoy wood ; nor Avero tho visiting justices disconcerted when it appeared that , without their sanction , without even their knowledge , tho gaol hcIiooI bad been closed for three months , whilst itri tikis tor , the son of the Into governor , had been travelling about Becking vote . i for tho appointment ; which his father lately held .

    ouch a slate of things needs only narration , not comment . Wo are glad , therefore , to learn that a ooimnitteo of the aggrieved candidates have communicated all the iibove facts to Lord Palmerston , who , we feel convinced , will give them his conscientious attention , and Ay ho , indeed , dare not , after the recent invcstigatioiis into prison discipline elHewhore , neglect to inquire into the case which we havo now set boibro tho public .

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    1020 THE LEADER , [ Saturday ,

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    THE GOVERNING CLASSES , . ' No . VJX ' ' . ' ; ¦¦ -.- ' GENERAL VISCOUNT HAEDINGE , G . C . B ., Commandek-in-Ghief . " ¦ ¦ It is very unfortunate that that sublime structure the British constitution , should be only a theory . It is scarcely less unfortunate that Great Britons , as a mass believe in it as a reality . Let me do justice to the shrewdness of the Governing- Classes . They not onlv drew up a better constitution than Sieves ever hit upon ; but they have , from generation to generation succeeded in educating the governed classes to believe that their theoretical constitution was realized in laws , customs , and institutions .

    For instance . Is it not a daily boast among the most democratic classes , that "Thank God , sir , this is a free country : in this country the highest places are open to merit ? ' And they give examples . " Look at Charles James , Bishop of London—look at Hardinge . " The other day some merchants of Liverpool , in a moment of coarse conviviality , cheered Lord Derby when that nobleman , slyly answering a comparison previously drawn by Mr . John Bright , between England and the United States , was using the ordinary British argument , and mentioning , to prove his

    case , that his Chancellor , Edward Sugden , the son of a barber , had become a peer of the realm . And the instances are so numerous which appear to sustain the theory , that ordinary men are as fully impressed with the idea , that the governing and aristocratic classes are not exclusive , as they are convinced that the Crown is an exclusive institution . The House of Lords , said Lord Derby , whom we may take as the exponent of most thoughtless , mindless , British cants , —the House of Lords is open to all men . The answer is , —as the London Tavern is open to all

    men , —who can pay . The price of entrance among the governing-classes is , —subjection to thegoverningclasses . Excepting Lord Brougham , in respect to whom the circumstances were peculiar , no man ever got into the Peerage who did not go to the House of Lords as the agent of the Peerage . There are only two classes who get out of the mire into the ermine , —soldiers and lawyers . Soldiers are always Tories ; or when they arc not , as Napier wa 3 not , they are put down . Lawyers are always intense Conservatives , for obvious reasons : and the most Tory lawyers who have reached

    the Woolsack have been Whigs , —like Lord CottenJiani . Occasionally a , millionaire gets in , like Jones Loyd : and , notoriously , the most conscious of aristocrats is the parvenu Peer . Just as boroxigh owners did and do send their valets , their toadies , their " agents , " or their sons , into tho " Commons' " House , so the flatterers , the tools , and the varlets , of the governing classes are permitted to get into the Lords' House . Every new creation which is a concession to the cleverness and worth of the basely-born ambitious , is a new coat of paint to tho old House of L ords ,

    —freshening it up in tho eyes of tho prono and gaping multitude : and the exceptions , which only prove the rule of exclusivcness , are loudly made use of to demonstrate the theory of tho open Constitution . Tho Governing Claafios have a distinct policy , —to perpetuate their class ; and tho governed clauses are always applauding when they seo tho governing clasHos make uho of moan men 1 Every able man can reach tho highest place in this free country , said tho enlightened journals of tho governed classes whon tho governing- classes ( in eacli case with sensible distrust ) made Cot mini ? Premier ; made Peel Premier ; gavo

    Disraeli tho Finance Office ; a Heat in tho Cabinet to Macaulay ; and Treasury dirty work to ox-chap dter James Wilson . But did any man over get into too Cabinet who w ; w pledged to realizing tho theories of tho Constitution ? Did any man ever get a Peerage who was averse to Spiritual Peers , and indisposed to tho Conservation of tho Commons as an ante-room of tho Peers ? In fact , only very few of tho astute nyeo ] » lu «> t »» themHolviiB got the reward of admission within tho adyU of the British Temple . There was Burke who dui pood ConiiurvJiUvo work at a risky period : ami tlift

    amiable mid brilliant Charles Vox , who never < i <« . good and never said a clover tiling , " <>™ Hiiffgoator Peerage for tho incomparable Irishman . That m <> recent Wl . ig chief , Lord John . ltiiHW . ll , lost and a . m liilatod a party by lib ungenerous coldness m wwfti in useful brains . Beyond tho discovery of Mr . . ; a Wilson ho never helped « v human being in tho l »«>

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 22, 1853, page 1020, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2009/page/12/