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arrangements are visible , it ; depends entirely on the whims of Mr . [ Layard , who is exposed to much Ministerial politeness , whether or not before the session closes , we shall have a debate — with , what are technically called explanations—on the position of the nation and the policy of our rulers in regard to Russia . As yet the Liberal party would seem to have made only one condition as to the war ; that there shall he specially provided for this war a Minister of War . The . u ^ ^ ¦ _ ~« _ . ¦ _
concession having "been made by a Court and Cabinet not indisposed to gratify public opinion , when public opinion insists on the creation of a new office with , a new Secretary of State ' s salary at the disposal of aristocratic parties , the House will , on Monday , on the vote of supply of 17 , 000 ? . for the new office , have to discuss the extent to which they are
satisfied with the new arrangements , it being observable that none of the several war-offices is abolished , and that no amalgamation of the various departments has taken place . The opportunity will be provided for the Liberals to intimate if this is what they meant by their agitation to procure efficiency in the war ; not having at all agitated as to what the new minister was to l ) e efficacious about .
Couriers are flying between all the Courts of Europe ; negotiations are everywhere in progress amongst statesmen ; but the peoples are profoundly ignorant of what is being negotiated . The several publics , vith more or less of free -presses , indulge in suspicions of the tenour of this courtly and cabinet correspondence ; and where there is definite action ascertained , the public is found absolutely in opposition to its Grovernment . In Prussia , the King is ostentatiously in
antagonism with his people ; in England , Lord Aberdeen , by position the most powerful Member of the Government , is distinctly unpopular with the nation . A Camarilla opposes the wish of the Prussian people ; in England the Cabinet , while refraining , in conformity with the traditional policy of the English aristocracy , from openly opposing the people , may be reasonably suspected of
not intending a clear national policy—because it abstains from consultation with the House of Commons . It would bo illogical to suggest the possibility of what is called treachery in the Government . Great faith may be placed in Mr . Gladstone ' s conception of what England expects , and in tlie Duke of Newcastle ' s energy in obtaining : a successful war , if only for the credit of his department . But for the Go vernment ' s own . sake it is bound
to be more explicit . There is obviously a delay in pressing on yvith the war . Delay , on our part , not only in providing our troops in the East with adequate commissariat , and our ships in tho Baltic with sufficient troops in time ; but also in " negotiation" tho instigation of Russia , at Berlin and at Vienna ; and tho House of Commons will not overlook tho fact that tho English recess is contemporaneous with tho [ Russian winter . AVhon wind , and rain , and
ice have rondered further operations impossible , and when the non-existence of the House of Commons renders a rapid treaty possible , it may bo too much to cxpeot that our practical statosmon should dot ' er to tho vague Liberalism of a nation that is without an organisation of its will . Tho Duke of Kowcastlo'a lottor to the pooplo of Sheffield , intimating the absolutism of hor Majesty ' s proper notion of her real prerogative , should suggest some caution to Ihtit representative House which haa oomo to regard tho voto of
sible Government , but about the best 0 o- i vernment England ever has enjoyed , that the Radical party , or the party which for want of a better name we must denominate the ; Radical , has abnegated its historical fune-l tions in becoming Ministerial—and Minis- terial merely to spite the Opposition . The Government , with all its negative stren gth of position , is positively becoming weak in ° reputation ; and it atill remains practicable for the Radical party so to develope and organise »^ ^ ^ " * j _ ^ _
itself in the House of Commons as to insist upon the conditions on which this war should be continued . Aprofound , eventhough partisan writer , in the new number of the Quarterly , says , intending his aphorism as an insinuation against Lord Aberdeen , " " What a people obeys as instinct , all true statesmen confirm as policy . " The instincts of the people of
England at this m oment condemn the routine and technical conception formed by our Government of the method of treating Russia It is therefore the duty of the Liberal party to ' make provision that the Secret Diplomacy which is rampant in every capital in Europe shall not be permitted to arrest the magnificent career of the united Freneh and English nations , armed against the Power which is out of place in the century .
supplies us a form—which gives the monoy and considers what for—afterwards . We havo ventured repeatedly to suggest , in the course of this sonaion , nnd without joining in nny of the partisan invective against n Coalition which b not merely tho only pos-
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THE BRIBERY BILL . A veby stringent measure fox the prevention and punishment of bribery and intimidation —a measure so acute in dealing with electioneering evasions of the law , that there is a general suspicion . Mr . Coppock was consulted in the details—is now being passed through the House of Commons : and the House expects that the country will admire the House because of these inexorable arrangements for " purity . " Yet , apparently , to not
one of the current " bills" in progress , or abandoned , is the country more indifferent than to this Bribery Bill ; and is the reason this —that the country believes just as little as the House believes in the efficacy of the "bill ? This last is the most earnest anti-bribery bill that the House of Commons lias yet ventured on : and it would be admitted , if it could be taken , for granted that the defeated candidate would always petition , that , under this bill , abuses of the franchise would always at least
be punished . Still the country is calm at the assured prospect of its purification : and thus wo have a double highly curious phenomenon . We have a great country proclaiming , in its senate , that its picked political constituency , supposed to govern the governors , is rotten and immoral ; and , further , we havo a great country not minding in tho least so astounding a proclamation . Tims , while the sin of the sinners is great , thero may be a deeper national crimo committed in the indifference
of tho virtuous to tho sin . However , it might bo asked—Can we bo expected to care about our political corruption at a moment when we arc engaged in defending civilisation by repressing [ Russia ? Perhaps this apathy is explicable in a more logical way , nn <[ in a sense more honourable to us . It might be shown that thoro is a sad amount of exaggerated nonsense talked about " doctoral corruption . " The million , or
thereabout , of doctors , who best know themselves , know that a man doesn't necessarily take a bribe us soon as ho is enfranchised ; and wo may fairly interpret tho coolness of this body to mean—that they do not boliovo the rogues among them preponderate over tho really independent and honoBt . Thou , with regard to tho " national" indifference , wo must romomber that the nation is composed of several millions of tho uneiifruiioluHed , so that it is not their business "to attend to what l arliament ia doing in tho moral management
of a selected class of the reputed qualified political critics . Further , we must not forget the very general conviction among th « " men of the world , " that though taking a bribe for a vote may be a censurable eccentricity , very properly to be put down , yet that , even assuming there- is as great corruption as " friends of the people" in the House , assert , the electoral corruption is practically nugatory- in itg
results on the national policy and progress . This class , who directly influence the mass of tangible opinion , regai'd constituencies as an endurable machinery , which appeases popular prejudices , and gives the appearance of selfgovernment , but which does not influence the movement of actual " Government . " Thus we are to be comforted with the belief , that if the electors are caitiffs the elected are
pure ; an analogous process , somewhat vindicating the theory , being the extraction of purest perfume from the most villanous refuse substances . " The system works well " is the phrase of a practical nation ; winch ia thus reconciled to the existence of horrible anomalies ; and which , therefore , regards a bill to suppress bribery -with the same languid enthusiasm , which would be excited if Mr . —— ¦——»• or [ Lord——were induced , to ask the respective Houses of Parliament , i ; o which they belong , to debate a resolution , enuneiatory that virtue is a good things
Nevertheless to that other large class , who , as Englishmen , are somewhat proud of England ' s history and position , and who object to the defilement of a great nation by corruption—and , still more , to the insult to the nation offered in the cool aristocratic cant which concludes that there is a universality of political corruption—it would be more
pleasant if the facts were faced about bribery bills , and if the truths were honestly talked out . This class , assuredlyj does not place great faith in the professed anxiety of a House of Commons which , exists , as now constituted , under a false and vicious political system—leing radically untrue to its pretensions as a People ' s House—to coerce the stray poor elector into such honour as will enable him to resist the
vulgar wiles of the rich candidate ' s agent . The class of politicians who happen to be in . earnest in politics , and have a faith rather than a party , can only regard a Bribery Bill as a measure to obtain a true election of a House of Commons by the country ; and they comment on this particular bill Dy saying , " This is not tho way—you must pass out of the foetid atmosphere of corrupt little boroughs into the air breathed by the nation —you must appeal over constituencies to the country . " Some men , as in the debate in the
Commons did several Radicals , ask for the ballot as a means of tricking even tlie oxisting electoral body into independence both of bribes and of intimidation . But—the question not at all being whether the ballot is not good for itself—this is only another method of libelling the nation . The existing constituency , dospite all its taints , is strong and pure enough to get us tho Ballot and " [ Reform" proper—in tiroo ; all tho sooner , if the liadicals would not perpetually talk as if the oxisting constituency "was not , on tlie whole , thoroughly [ English , nnd thoroughly national . T tho Bri
Aiewod from any point of view , - bery Bill does not obtain groat nttontion . Historically it will bo utterly rosultless j and the moral of tho matter is this : —when Parliament logislatos on such a matter for a nation Avhich is not attending to that legislation , thoro must bo something wrong in tho relations ijeUoen representatives and ropresoutod—so called . ' When tho People ' s House consents to bo a reality , ceasing to be a sham , tho protiont " People" will generally consider whether tlioir votes ought not to bo . always givon for principle , and not sometimes for money .
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July IS , 1854 . ] THE LEADER . ctf& 9 ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ BWiBBBBBBBBBMBi ^^ M ^^ fcB ^ fcaHMa ^ B ^^ Hta
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), July 15, 1854, page 659, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2047/page/11/
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