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    it ^ irijs *? w ' radwii" that G ^ ernmentf would have rei ^ ily acce&ed ^ tp a " request from the Cteograf ^ e ^^ werfcy for an increased grant of money . Bui ^ Ams cfttne delays , originating" certainly as l ^ tSf ^ ffi t ^ e XJolohkl Office , an wiln the AustrahaV Goninuttee , or ( General Haug ; nor is the ^^ y jat jiiblge , or either of its Presidents , suajpfected of obstruction . . By taking the expedition Mflr (^; Tits ftiirn . hands , Government overrides these to

    j ^ wji ^ SBad ^ -brings the expedition , of course , 4 ^ pTe ^ cbmriaiid of resources . But Government t ^ aiin ot piki / & commission of this kind into the liands of s foreigner : the command therefore is ^ ven / to Captain Stokes , already known for 1 ^ survey of the Australian coasts ; and the Duke of Newcastle has p ledged himself that the original ^ rotjjecitor , O « neral Haiig , shall have in the expeoitibh . such a position as his merits so well de-: ~ xnand ; . '"' ' ' * i I * , " ¦ '

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    followed Lord John's argumentative pitching of House of Commons' nets to catch corrupt members , there was discernible an intense doubt of the alleged-benefits . Just as neither judge , bar , nor jurymen , olject , on the opening of assize , to tlie reading of the Queen ' s good-natured proclamation against drinking and swearing , so the House does not object to patting on record the mast revengeful " acts " against corruption . But the House , with all its loud proclamation of desperate intent , is , practically , a BoytHorn —very mild , 1 indeed ; because the House

    finds rt necessary to take electors as it flads them . Sir , it ' s a good scheme , said Mr . Napier , vhp tliinks night and'dayliowto keep out the errors of Bopery ; and , sir , I am sure we ought all to be grateful to the noble lord for looking after corruption so much . But it ' s no > use : the evil is a moral evil ; and you can trust only to a moral remedy . ( Hear , hear , from the Tories . ) Sir , said T . Duncombe , and , sir , said J . Wwlmsley , excellent democrats , it's a capital schem « . But it ' s no use : you must adopt the Ballot , if you are in earnest , for if you had the Ballo ^ no

    body would bribe , not being sure of their man . These were the -two classes of objections on the two sides of the HAufer : —the Tories postponing earnest thought of the matter until Sir F . Kelly and Mr . Walpole have propounded their plans ; and the Radicals ^ resolving to look upon the scheme as part only of the general Reform Bill of the Government , the reality of the proposed preventives depending very much whether they are i 6 be applied to the existing constituency or to newly-grouped and widely-extended constituencies .

    Apropos of the discussion , it may be here suggested that the proceedings illustrated the evil and the folly of Government plans being- spoken instead of being laid on the table . Last night Lord John , who spoke sadly and in a low voice , was not heard by many menilxers , and was misconceived by many more : so that he , or somebody for him , had to be constantly explaining or contradicting . At the same time it must be admitted , whatever was shown , of the morality of the House , that wonderful vivacity was shown by most of the

    by Dr . Gray are no ncvelty in political contentions ; but hitherto the House has treated tlem with disdain : Lord J . Russell last session pooh-poohing Mr . Duffy ' s suggestion , that Parliamentary corruption had not disappeared with the Pelhams , as a trifling sneer , not entitled to the slightest weight , whether a fact or not a fact . And liow then explain the sudden delicate sensibility of the House this session , unless upon the principle which implies that every prude is at heart a coquette ? Mr . Butt was solemn , pathetically solemn , in his declaration that Irish

    members were occasionally " upright and independent ; " and the House cheered with a gloomy earnestness , which radicated that they had heard that somewhat doubted . Mr . Join O'Conneli was shocked at the " miserable calumny , " that an Irish member ever attended to any personal interests—Mr . John O'Conneli being of a family which for twenty years " bled" Ireland out of 20 , 0001 . per annum—Mr . John O'Conneli being sent to the bar , and" Mr . John O'Conneli's tailors being paid , by the contributions of pauper peasants ; and Mr . John

    O Connell , with , on his own showing , no ostensible means , returning to Parliament purely from a belief that his absence is injurious to his own , his native land . John O'Conneli was never cheered before in the House of Commons ; but even a John O'Conneli was acceptable at the moment as a witness to character ; and John O'Conneli sat down amid applause—particularly the applause of the Irish members in the neighbourhood of his own seat , these being the gentlemen on their trial , these being the corps of Mr . Sadleir and Mr . Keoeh—renegades from

    the Brigade to Lord Aberdeen . But these cheers , like Hudson ' s teara next day , proved slightly too much . . Why should Mr . Isaac Butt take upon himself to vindicate Great British Parliamentary purity ? Mr . Butt is a barrister in bad practice , who turned up as a Protectionist orator in the days when l * ord Derby was a Protectionist agitator . Now , there were two reasons why Mr . . Butt ' s advocacy of the principle of Protection was suspicious . He was not a landowner , and he was an Irish lawyer ; and in plunging at Protection he had none of Ihe excuse for that

    blunder iu political economy which might be urged for the classes personally interested in the controversy- But Mr . Butt ' s Protectionist oratory brought its results : he was entered in Lord Derby's list us a useful maa in the House of Commons , and accordingly , there Mr . Butt is , nightly , wandering between his seat in the House And his corner in the smoking-room . He is there out of pure patriotism : and as the place lie represents is a borough with about fourteen bon . it Jide voters , Ms lofty mind is free for independent action in his country ' s favour . He ,

    honest Irishman , is devoted to a party of English peers who main tain an alien church in Ireland , and who are but mildly enthusiastic in favour of such land laws as would render an Irish tenant somewhat more respectable than an Irish barrister serving an English party . He does not sell places ; not he first because he is in Opposition , and can't get places ; and next because his soul revolts from the meanness . No : his aims are loftier : he has the worldly wisdom to know that the high is as attainable ) as the low : that men get what

    they pretend to ; tind that it is just as easy to bully a big Minister as a little whipper-in;—so he doesn't smoke with Hayter , but would dine with Aberdeen—and did actually dine with Lori Derby . Hence , aa ho never trafficked in small Customs places , like Mullj or Bullivan , or any of his Irish friends , he is pure : and will sit solemnly as chairman of a committee to inquire whether Dr . Gray is a slanderer . That is comic ; Imt morality must not mnkc those distinctions ; and just as Nero and the Incendiary of a liayriclc ure loth reprehensible , so ,

    when we talk of L ^ irluvnientaiy corruption , we must endeavour to understand who is really the most contemptible , the little member who , as a broker between the Treasury and Christian constituents , does not hesitate to pocket tlio commission ( which , you'll see him spending in groat grandeur at his club ) , or the magnificent noble -who , UkQ Lord Derby , fi ghts for corn-laws which plunder a people , or like the Duke of Northumberland , sells a Navy on -which a nation depends . Xord John never broadened his phruscs wiih greater emp hasis , and never crossed his arms more austerely , than

    speakers in their rapid appreciation and keen analysis of Lord Join ' s propositions , —Mr . Phinn ' s , for instance , being cot so much a sketchy criticism as a masterly , though , unpremeditated , essay on the whole question . As to the tone of the discussion , it is noticeable that the conscientious Tories , bewailing a " moral evil" which they so largely benefit by , did

    not crowd the dming-room less eagerly than usual as tlie seven o ' clock joints came on ; and that the democrats , who are champions of a democracy they would cheat into honest voting , were ( J . am informed ) very hilarious toward ten , in the smoking-room , when Lord Clarendon ' s solemn silliness , in answer to Earl Fitzwilliam in the Lords , came , after matters more interesting than a mere question of war or pea « e , to be liglitly chatted over .

    v , y a "sinatmmBr in pariiament . £ jg& 8 iT " : « igi . ^ r ^ ¦ John Russell , last night , « the ^^ Ka ^ entary electors of this country are generally ^^' ^ ii ^§ t " : i ;^ n ^ therefore , Sir , I bring in a hill to ^ r ^^^ eir tendencies to be bril > ed and intinii-^^^} , i ^^ eF 0 '' Shy said Mr Lucas , on Tuesvd | y ^>* it is a notorious fact that all the Irish mem-^ t | j |! rhQ . feaye ordinarily supported Whig Govem-. ments ^ ' and : who generally . support . the present toaffic places Bell their

    : <^ yei ^ ment ^ in and country . " ¦^ A ^ hed silence ^ " Sir , " said Mr . T . Duncombe , ^ n t ^ charge which has J 3 l | efii' -d ^ GJ&dk aghast English members also ; and I ^^¦ j ^' ^| ble :: 'l pr ^ . ! r (^ rd J . Russell ) to . grant a . c ^ uunittee ^ to inquire into the notorious . suspicion ifj ^^ o ^ - ^^ hif J | ouse are very frequently given < by ^^ ngUsli gentlemen , in consideration of the recries

    ' ^^¦ ¦ p B ^ B ^^^ - ' ' -i 9 ^ i& scrip . " ^ C ^ oud of i $ t $ j ^? b $ 0 ty : '^ -Si r / J said Sir * V Thesiger , on Irfonday ^* the noble lord ( Lord J . Russell ) is asking xiatb aboluh what he calls useless oaths . Sir , I op" : ^ p ^ fthatI icnotion ; for if we do wlrat the noble lord ; Wish ^ TOS tio do , we shall unchristianise the Legis-Ifitare . " < Ix )> id cheer 3 from the Tories . ) - V ' ^^' ; - ; a ^ - ' t ^' . contrasts of ' the week . ' It has Jbeen alwe ^ k , of two questions : Shall the Legislature ^ beunchri ^ iianised by the admission of Jews ?—Shall

    fcorruption , of electors aadielected , be put a stop to ? -And , very'oddly , very fewpeople perceive the moral of * he contrast . > For we do believe , 4 n < lreat Britain , that -we are a very ^ llrst-rate nation , all in consequence ) of our adoption of the Reformed Religion ; and sotpien-!( did is our training in our reverence for ourselves , ; that we really suspect nothing seriously wrong in

    jthecircuinstance that , after eighteen hundred and fifty #$ ars of ClarisJtianity ^ eTeralcentnriea of Reformed Religion , ditto of the blessings of the invention of printing , and twenty years of the working of " Reformed " ^ Representative Institutions , we are complacently -occupying » week in -the consideration how we are to check British rascality in our picked electors , and British " man of the world , sir , " tendencies in

    , our enlightened representatives in the Commons jHpuse . In fact , at all our breakfast-tables yestcrnday morning , we hesr-hear'd privately , as something satisfactory and re-assuring , the philosophical conclusions of oar leading journal , apropos of Lord John ' s Corruption-Cure Scheme , that , after all , Englishmen had never yet realised the idea that the franchise was an honourable trust , or that the Representative could be aa honest man ! We are , indeed , a »' jonderful people : absolutely entitled to pity the jFurk as ft barbarian : particularly as the wretch does nofcbelieve in Christianity ,

    Despair was the tone of the debate last night on the Government ' s plan for instituting electoral morality in Great Britain : and it is very extraordinary that the profoundest and most melancholy despair of the people was expressed by the democrats—who rather wailed than spoke . Lord John ' s scheme ia a good one , as something to look well at a moment when it is supposed * ' something must bo done ;"

    and if he had only made some provision for the effectual punishment of ayents , and some other proyjaion against corrupt " pairing" of petitions between the Coppocks and Browns , there would be nothing to say agninst a piece of legislation which would then do all a . law can to make saints of scamps . But 5 n all the light-company firing speeches which

    Collective holies have no consciences ; or it must have suggested itself to the House of Commons last nig-lit that this was hardly the best week for reading a lecture to the constituencies on their sins , since the accuser had been accused , also . Members who understand matters , and who do know that the country won ' t go to the devil because certain Irish members are poor , and are obliged to make such arrangements with Hayter as to keep on good terms with their laundresses , were not shocked by the sceno on

    Tuesday . But theic are a mass of simple-minded folks in the provinces who don't comprehend how the governors can "bo scamps , and the administration , nevertheless , efficient and respectable : and that sceno of Tuesday has doubtless produced its impression on the " out-of-doora " mind , —an impression that Mill further the public notions of Reform in a more excellent method even than an ngitation headed by Mr . " Cobden . The impression would be all the deeper and more conclusive if the

    out-ofdoors' nation would anticipate the technical committee obtained by Mr . Butt , and philosophise on the question of Parliamentary corruption . If it Tvere analysed , then the indignation of Mr . Butt at the idoa of any Irish member being otherwise than rampantly putriotic and ferociously pure , would strike the public as excessively comic . As Mr . L . ueas pointed out , eharges of the nature of those urged

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    ^ ^ Hfii IiEAiDER . TSatxtrdaV ,

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 11, 1854, page 136, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2025/page/16/