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tional" in deference to the assurance tliat suek occurrences , frequent as they may be , are to be regarded , not as a custom , but as a breach of custom . The abduction case at Tipperary is not an exceptional case , but it is rather an evidence of conservatism in Ireland ; for confessedly , amongst Irish manners and customs , abduction ranks as ¦ well as marriage ; and it belongs to all classes . It is not denied . It is supposed that something of the
irregular chivalry of the Irisli character enters into the offence . Hen confess that they have been guilty of abduction as they would confess that they had been victorious in a duel , or that they are generously imprudent . At all events the abducer , as in this particular case , must be to a certain extent in earnest , and prepared to risk himself and his bones , as well as his purse with what it may contain . Young ladies may not like to have
their consent presumed , or forcibly discounted ; they , like the Austrian subjects , may resent a compulsory loan , of their affections . But it has happened before now that the display of desperate earnestness , the braving of cudgels and kicks , has so far invpressed the female heart , that these compulsory courtships have ended in willing matrimony , and the couple have " lived liappy ever after . " It is rather remarkable that
this practice of marriage perforce exists in a country where the rule of matrimony is far more strictly observed than in moral England or super-moral Scotland . But the case to which we refer , in the Court of Common Pleas , is so " exceptional , " that people hesitate to talk about it distinctly . The facts are obvious enough . Here is a young lady whose Christian name is "" Ellen " , and whose surname is said to be French , apparently on the strength of her having
occupied that name as a tenant-at-will . It would be rery wrong to describe the lady as admitting-the principle enunciated by Queen Dido , and regarding Trojan or Tyrian without discrimination . For twelve years , according to the statement made in court , this lady has been living ostensibly in the marriage state , and during that-. period the successive husbands , by . courtesy , have only amounted to four or five in number . She lived with a gentleman ; then with , the son of a
chronometerniaker ; then with a nobleman , who is called a venerable nobleman ; then with Mr . Kolfc . It is not exactly correct to say that she lived with the venerable nobleman : she lived Tinder his " protection , " and had a house at Eutlaudgate . With Mr . Holt , the arrangement was , that she should have a house in Iiowndesstreet , Lowndes-square , leased under a majorgeneral , Mr . Rolfc paying the rent . She furnished tho house , paid the servants , including footmen and coachman and a " proper
establishment , " with a valot for Mr . Boltand in short kept up tho mansion . He arranged , it is said , to pay her 50 Z . a month . "When humbler persons are passing through tho regions of Belgravia , looking up at the great mansions , they surmise , correctly enough , that a person living in any one of those houses muat enjoy an incomo measured not by hundreds hut ' by thousands . And if
tho surmise is not correct , tho tradosmon in tho neighbourhood have to pay for tho mistake . But if tlio passenger were to yrcsumo that tho tenant of each house , as ho passes it , is settled in life , or about to settle in life , according to tho professed custom of England , ho would make a mistake . Hero . and there , wo cannot venture to say how frequently in tho order of houses , thoro will bo a lady mnrriod only in name . Hero nnd thoro Avi ' ll bo a
voneniblo" nobloman , whoso ostensible establishment , perhaps , includoa a vouomblo lady and irreproachable daughters , but whoso actual establishment also includes a lady of a
class whom it is not polite to talk about . Here and there will be a Mr . Rolt , whose establishment we have already described . And , perhaps , in less aristocratic parts , there will be the son of the chronometer-maker , and other gentlemen who partake more or less in the life which is carried on at these exceptional mansions . For the mansions , we presume , must be exceptional—like the money , the jewels , the plate , and several other very tangible things , which Mr . Oxenham , the auctioneer , can handle ; which will sell for thousands and thousands of money , and which are requisite for such a sphere of life .
2 \ ow we have no desire whatever to penetrate into private life ; but we cannot avoid remarking the distinction observed in court between commoners , whose names are dragged forward freely , and other persons , morally in the same category , whose names are withheld because they are " noble" or " venerable " —venerable notwithstanding Ellen French ; noble , notwithstanding they are doing things which they are ashamed to have talked about . We do not desire to penetrate the veil ; we have no wish to tnow whether the "
venerable nobleman is " the old Marquis" whom we have before met ; or not the Marquis , but the noble Earl —~— , or Lord ——— , or Lord ——
. It might be either one of these men , whose habits and customs are generally well known ; or some others ; for they are no worse than their kind , and cart easily bring forward parallels . We should not care even to have known the name of Mrs . Rolfs husband during those two years ending in August , 1852 ; nor the son of the chronometermaker . Sufficient for us that there are such
people , living in such houses , conducting their affairs according to a well-recognised etiquette more or less known to each other , and able to say that they are no worse than their class . Sufficient to us that they do not belong exclusively to the rank of commoner or of noble , but to both ; not to one district of Xondon or to another , but to all , from Belgravia to Betlmal Green , from Marylebone to Newington Butts .
Ii the cases are " exceptional , " as it was said in the case of Alice Leroy , of Margaret RegLnbal , and a hundred noted c-rim-cans ., it is curious how they dovetail into each other . Unless there are half-a-dozea venerable noblemen or marquises doing all the Don Juanism of their class , there must be several persons of that select body whose wanderings can be traced in most of the well-tenanted
parishes of the metropolis . Yet , muster the body , —peers , heirs , and cadets , —ask them for their opinions on moral subjects , —and , in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred , if not more , you will find a solemn profession of the orthodox sentiments . But again let us ask , how can morals scaled by tho ratification of authorities like these be worth anything ? Ask which is right , the practice or the profession of society P Or are jioither of them quite in the
right ? We are induced to think that the last supposition is the true onq ; but at all events , lot us noto the fact , that the exceptional cases , although under tho surface , are so widely eprood as to become connectod with oach other ; and that thoso who make laws for us politically as well aa socially , tho wealthy na well aa tho parliamentary , are as often found in these exceptional cases as in
thoir recognised position . An English oiheor cruising with our fleet iu tho Black ( Sea , recently , discovered a family of Circassians , father and daughters . Tliu daughters were fair , tho English wore comely , and tho ladies were anxious to be " bought . " Such is tho custom of their country ; and a , woman understands how much she is appreciated , literally , by the
price paid for her . A " fetnme incomprise " is one who cannot get her price . The ambition of the fair Circassian is to be bought , conveyed to Constantinople , and settled for life in an harem . It is in form rather than in substance that the custom of our own country varies ; only that the lot of tho woman purchased may be of two kinds . She may be bought and married , and take her chance of happiness in the ostensible home of a venerable Lord ; or she may be bougbt ,
and not married , but taike her lot in the thlostensible home . And then , for the certainty of the harem , she exchanges the freedom of London . Three different women will follow the three different paths ; and viewing the three chances together , we are not quite sure which of the three ladies has the best of the bargain . A death-bed comparison of notes might be an interesting and a ghastly confession .
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There is no learned man but -will confess He liattt much profited by reading controversies , his senses awakened , amd his judgmeab sharpened . If , then , it be profitable for him to lead , why should it not , at least , "be tolerable for his adversary to "write . —MlLTOlT
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THE AUSTRIA !? ALULAJJCE . QTo the Editor cf ike Leader . ) Newcastle-on-Tyne , July 3 , 185 & . Sru , —I regret that you should give any sanction whatever to the Austrian alliance . I do not think that it is the business of our Government to pick a quarrel with Austria or to interfere in her internal affairs . I think they ought to have opposed the Russian intervention in 1849 , but I would neither make that , nor the partition of Poland , a ground of any attack upon Austria at the present time . But having said so much , let me say , on the other hand , that I feel it my duty as an Englishman and a lover of English principles , to protest solemnly against the occupation of any part of the Turkish territory by the Austrian armies with the permission of the English Government .
Lord John Russell informs us , indeed , that the convention for that purpose is one to -which England is not a party—in other -words , our ministers wink at what th ; ey do not formally sanction , possibly because they dare not ; and what they wink at is positively nothing less than the entrance of a fresh and formidable army upon the theatre of war . With equal dignity , with equal honesty , and with equal wisdom , they winked at the march of the Russian armies into Hungary . Instead of Austria adopting English principles , as some have fondly expected , it would seem , from this sample , that Austrian principles are making way in England—in high quarters , at least ; among the people they never can . The national instinct is intensely anti-Austrian .
No good man of any party has a good word to say for Austria , and no one will have until she conciliates her oppressed subjects . I pretend not to prophecy ; I do not say she will never do this ; but I see no sign of it , and I say that she cannot be our ally to any good , honest , English purpose , until such a blessed change has taken place . The best assistance which Austria could give us against Russia would be by justice to her own subjects , and by atonement , if atonement be possible , for her crimes against humanity . Shameless and unrepenting as she is , tho Government may embrace her , but tho people will recoil Irani her touch , nnd from tho touch of the Government that has touched her . The same shudder will bo felt in France ; from the date of the alliance with Austria tho revolutionary ferment will
re-commence . I protest against this alliance as unnatural , dangerous , and unnecessary . J If Austria hud not been content to havo observed ft strict a , nd honest noutrnlity , how just and glorioua nnd easy it would havo been for England and Franco and Turkey to havo awakened by a single blast of the trumpet Poland and Hungary nnd Italy from a sleep which is not death . Kilher thus , or by tho Austria and
downfall of Russia iilono , looking on trembling , it did seem as if tho eunshino of freedom was Again about to illuminate the European darknesej but just where its rays wero first beginning to glimmor , upon tho plains of Moldavia and Wnlluchia , tho cloud of tho Austrian alliance already intorcepta them , and the anna of England and Franco and Turkey arc dinmed in its shadow . Yours , &c , George Crawbhay .
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[ IJT THIS BEPAKlrMEITT , AS AIL OPINIONS , HO'WXVEB XXTKBUE , ASXS ALLOWED AN EXPRESSION , THE XDITOB KEOKS 3 AELLr HOLDS HCtf-SELF EESPOXSIELE FOK KOSE . ]
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July £ , 1854 . ] THE LEADER . 339
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Leader (1850-1860), July 8, 1854, page 639, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2046/page/15/
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