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Leader (1850-1860), 11th February 1854, Edition 1 of 1, Page 137, " <tv o • I dDOBlt (LflttttnL ^i« UVWlUUt«.

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      Untitled Article

      when on Tuesday he said , amidst general cheering , that the " hawnore of the Haowse" demanded the investigation required by the sensitive Butt . Yet what is the sin of Mully or Bullivan in tapping the Treasury of an occasional 5 l . note , —as if they were expected to be for eTer at hand for Hayter ' s purposes in the smoking-room , and ruining their constitutions with Mr . Steers' incomparable Kinahan , for nothing ! —in comparison with the crime of Lord John ltussell , who , "between 1846 and 1851 , placed the -whole power and patronage of the British Empire In the

      hands of the Russells , Greys , and Elliotts ? These poor fools of Irish members do betray their country , and do facilitate enormously an English Government's despotic management of Ireland . But the English Governments who seduce and buy them are surely somewhat vicious , too ? Lord Jolin , of course , knows nothing of the dismal transactions between a whipper-in and loose members ; and Hayter will take care to tell Lord John R assell nothing ; they are both * ' men of the world , sir , " and know political exigencies . Hayter has a carte-blanche—has the

      Treasury patronage , and some control over a considerable slice of secret service money ; and if Hayter didn ' t manage to keep a current majority floating about the lobbies , why Hayter would be dismissed from the enjoyment which is experienced by a shrewd nature in seeing other men convert themselves , -by his agency , into knaves . And it is to be observed , that the anger on . Tuesday against corrupt members was not because they asked places , from Government in requital for votes to Government , but because they made a profit out of the persons for

      whom they got their places . No member would be ashamed to acknowledge that he expects , if he , supports Government , to have all the small Customs , Excise , and other Government situations , within the district , represented by him , placed at his disposal . That is the system : and such a system implies " Government by party , " or a bargain between members and Governments ; and it is a system , which mcm"ber 8 will be sorry to see abandoned , for it enables them to keep up a useful connexion with the influential men who carry small constituencies .

      Inns , Parliamentary corruption is part of the * ' constitution ; " and the cause of it is — narrow constituencies ;—the existence of a class of " influential men . " And , thus , it has to be admitted that the only chance of rendering occasional British electoral rascality innocuous , and a British House of Commons thoroughly independent , is in a wide extension of the suffrage . As long as the Mullys and Bullivans can -work a constituency through a Hayter , and the Butta . are dependent , not on the Opposition of the ifouse of Commons , but on the favour of a great Earl , who

      city constituency ? Yet again this year Lord John will "be defeated on the question of the oaths , by the friends of Mr . Disraeli , who has vindicated Caiphas in a work to be found , now , in every Conservative and possibly Church library * For the personal interest taken in the efforts of Lord John , a most complacent Sisyphus when the House of Lords crowns the hill , there is still an audience to be got whenever Baron Lionel Rothschild sits in the Speaker ' s gallery to wonder how it is he cannot get a seat near Mr . Disraeli , to be reverenced by MLully and Bullivan , who , beloved though they are of

      priests , would even cut Hayter if an appointment was made » for them at Sequin Court . On Monday the Jew question » drew a crowd , as visual ; and , as usual , the House of Commons cheered Lord John ' s practical reasons for not binding by oaths a Parliament which is so frequently inattentive to pledges . Lord John was abler than usual : his mind seems in the age du retour—more acute this session than it has ever been before ; and , though © n Thursday lie renewed one of his cotips of last session , and led a strong Government into a large minority on a small question , yet the estimate of him seems greatly

      raised—of his talent , certainly , if not of his tact . It was unfortunate that Mr . Cay ley ' s proposal to give him a salary as " loader" came so immediately after the petty catastrophe referred to , which brought to mind his feeble and fatuous career all through the last year ; and it really did seem as if Sir Charles Wood , with his haw-aw manner , was ironical in the eulogy which he delivered ( or rather shot out ) upon his noble friend ' s conduct of the business of the House . Bat there can be no doubt that there was affectionate heartiness in ilie cheers of Mr . Cayley ' s and Sir Charles's compliments : * and that the question . of paying a " leader" of the House of Commons was decided pn grounds distinctly not personal , —as , also , though Mr . William Williams very likely fancied they were

      frightened of him , not economical . Lord John said it was " unnecessary" that he ' should enter into the reasons which induced him to occupy an unsalaried place in the Cabinet ; and the House said " hear , hear" to that ; the House , which doesn ' t know why Lord Palmerston resigned and went back , being happy in its ignorance of the arrangements of the governing classes , —being quite ready to approve of Lord John ' s appointment as War Minister , or Minister of Education , or whatever he may happen to hit upon ; and being , generally , utterly indifferent to such remarkable matters as were , for the first time , brought to its notice in the course of the Albert revelations . This being , it is * unnecessary" to renmik , an elaborately self-governed country .

      For instance , asking questions last night in the Lords and Commons , whether we are at peace or war , —and not getting the slightest answer one way or the other : —Lord John Russell merely informed an eager but respectful House , that the fleets had returned to Beicos Bay ( which is news some of the papers have , I think , anticipated ); and Lord Clarendon only stating that , " in point of fact , —ah , —I may say—that , —ah—Count , or General , —he is a General as well as a Count— OrlofFs mission to Vienna had reference to—ah—yes , —the relations between—ah—Austria and Russia !" Saturday Morning . A " Straktceb . "

      uses an orator aa he would use a tailor , we shall hare eternal Dr . Grays endlessly enraged at un < patriotic " men of the world , sit . " And , in tlie same way , we shall have a Hudson contriving a despotism in " private business , " by adroit and venial distribution of preference shares . To do the House of Commons justice , however , it always limited Hudson to " private "business ; " while all Belgraria was caressing him the House laughed at him , and crushed him , and despised him ; for he was not suited to them , and had as little business there as

      Gully had beforo him : and so , on Wednesday , when the liuge carcase of the railway king was convulsed with sorrow , and whale ' s rather than crocodile ' s tears were pouring down , his ample cheeks , they watched his tortures in silence—the stern , unforgiving silence of judyes , who pitied but condemned . Had Hudson been a philosopher , he would have laughed rather than cried ; and jestingly inquired whether it was really true that passionate political purity is the

      leading characteristic of British parties ? "Whether it wns worse in a railway king to buy iron to sell to his company , than in an aristocracy to impose taxes which raised their own rents ? Or whether , if he ia forced to resign , Stafford—who made the public pay for tin hotel dinner to his political frienda—ought to be allowed the House of Commons' gallery fur a perpetual nap-place after gorging in the gorgeous refreshment rooms ?

      Isn ' t it odd that the IIouso of Commons , which admits Hudson , and Mully , and Bullivnn , would be unclnistianiaed by the admission of a casual rich Tory Jew , eccentrically chosen by an enlightened

      Untitled Article

      There is " no learned man but -will confess he hath . much profited by reading controversies , his senses awakened , and his judgment sharpened . If , then , at lie profitable for him to read , why should it not , et least , be tolerable for hia adversary to write . —Mijlxon

      Untitled Article

      MR . COBDEN DISBELIEVES IN ANY ACTIVE SCEPTICISM . CTo the Editor of the Leader . ) 147 Floet-street , Tob . 8 , 1864 . Sir , —Mr . Cobden ' s late speech on Secular Education in Manchester was calculated to serve the majority of this country , and if unjust to a numerous minority , the public i 8 still debtor for his services . . From these services it is not my intention in any way to detract ; and without any such risk , it i 3 , I trust , possible , to make a brief comment upon a singular passage in that speech : —

      the political platform an instrument of religious antfer gonism—which is more than can be said an the part of their opponents , who have nailed a board from the pulpit on every political plank in the land . If thefe . be no * " active theological Bc 6 pticisim" ia the country—the Clergy , Church and Dissenting , have been egregioudy misled ; for the press , platform , and pulpit teem with replies to quiescent writers , with refutations and demolitions of a nonexistent party . . . ' One journal , representing a considerable number of active " theological sceptics , " has proposed tdputs Mr . Cobdeh's scepticism , as to sceptics , to a practical test . It has proposed that the Honourable Memlerr for the West Riding should throw open his . own , drawing-room , and the editor of the journal aforesaid undertakes to fill it every night with fresh , doubters , from the metropolis alone , as long as the . Honourable Member shall find it convenient to grant ' seances to the disciples of FyrrKo . But why is Mr . Cobden" sceptical as to sceptics ?* For a reason { which the great Anti-Com-law oratory will not , upon reflection , think not discreditable- ?—they have not obtruded themselves upon tfi ^ - meetings of Mr . Cobden ' s friends—nor rntemperately advanced the claims of tEeir own consciences—cor

      sought to press forward their convictions out of ¦ season . In this course of discretion and good senses they will strive to continue , although the penalty may be that their existence may be ignored . . " " "" . , ' * One body of politicians in this country did , for a long period , force themselves , their claimsland-ppa- " positions , upon every meeting Mr . Cobden attended . The Honourable Member believed in their activity . ' The " sceptics " are cb-operative , ' not aggressive ; thelir * fraternal democracy does not mean antagonism an « t denunciation of every body whr >; fiula to " see , with their eyes or to go so far as themselvies---they desire to act as an auxUiaiy ^ band in reform &ovememi ~ they will help where they can , and be silent where they cannot aid—oppose tney will not any . who work , - in the same direction . . ¦ - ¦

      The Leader , three years ago , contained a letter from Mr . Samuel Lucas ( dated-Nov . ; tV i 85 (>) -s « Jtt which that gentleman affirmed—what ; he doubtless believed would prove true—viz ., that the Manchester National Public School Association woidd ; guarantee a system of " free secutaf- InstrVictiba' ' pf' ^ ilc 1 f Englishmen could avail themselves . " This ground has"been abandoned long since . 'Thesegularists ^ st body have no recognition , of their claims , of conscience in the Manchester School plan- ThV" sceptics" have 16 ri £ kejen ^ hiir ; y £ t they -have noMeifc attempted any vexatious agitation in favour of m right asmnportant and sacred , to them as the right

      of the Christian is to him . They might have thrown into the secular educational question an element s of discord—they might have asserted th « ir own claims to recognition in a manner , abd with circumstance not easily set aside , which would long delay and embarrass the settlement of the great , question of National Education . Because they have' not done this , let not the public suppose that therefore they are without activity , that true sign , of earnestness Not strong enough , indeed , to carry any measure-on their own behalf ; there was yet the course open to them to prevent anybody else from , or embarrass any other party in , carrying a wider measure- This

      policy has been but too often embraced in thuf country . I repeat , if the rejection of this disastrous policy is to subject them to -be ignored as a party ^ it will prove small encouragement to working-class publicists to study a course of political usefulness * . If the Leader , which has ever vindicated the rights of conscience , on the part of ' the friends of Freethought in this country , permits this statement on their behalf , it- will no less perform an act of public justice than encourage political practicability

      • To deny that anybody is active , is to deny tlmt it is earnest , for earnestness ever proves itself by its activity . Establish the want of earnest- ' ness in tiny party , and you teach the public to contemn their claims , and justify the Government in refusing to discuss them . The voice of the Leader is powerful enough to award " sceptics " so much public recognition of their policy , as to reader unnecessary that antagonism which Mr . Cobden ' s language would jubtify , and , if uncontrauicted , vromld force upon them .

      Within my observation it has been a maxim of the Whigs to refuse a reform because there was no public opinion in its favour , and then to refuse it wtieii there was , because that was the " pressure from without . " They would grant nothing to reason , when there was no clamour , and when there was a clamour they would not concede reform , becausq " that was yielding to force , what they had refused to reason . " They cried up public opinion as the only arbiter to which they could decently " bow , and then denounced vehemently as an agitator and a demagogue any who attempted to create tae opinion .

      In some such spirit Mr . Cobden has treated us ; h « ignores us because we do not make our claims exist * ence felt in the discussion of secular education , and lie would deuounce us if we did . —If ours faithfully , G . J . Holtoaku , ,

      " I don ' t believe in the existence of any active scepticism in this country ; I don ' t believe in the existence of a sect of sceptics in this country , and I believe if there be a body of men who , as politicians , think tliey might propagate scepticism amongst us , they are u clique that might be put into any drawingroom , and be as harmless a clique as ever any drawing-room contained . " "As politicians , " sceptics do not attempt the propagation of scepticism ; as secular sceptics , they < lo one thing at a time , and leave to others to mix up the affairs of tlie soul and the affairs of ths state together . They know the p lace for their opinions , and would abhor as Jesuitry the attempt to malco

      Untitled Article

      ~ Fbbru ^ ry 11 , 1854 ] T H E * V > Lffl ^ D'lMis- 137

      Untitled Article

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  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 11, 1854, page 137, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2025/page/17/