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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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AN AMERICAN DIFFICULTY . Mr . Gkorge Peabody is a well-known American mnUumnaire . He gave a great dinner iu London on the 4 th of last July in honour of American Independence . It appeared that the affair did not go off quite satisfactorily , and Mr . Peabody has rushed into print . We find the following in the New York Courier ; — " The Boston Post publishes a letter from Mr . George Peabody- of London , in answer to an anonymous letter recently published in the Post , containing reflections on the patriotism of Mr . Peabody on account of the manner in which the dinner , given by that gentleman at London on the 4 th of July last , was conducted . Mr . Peabody states that the conduct of D . S . Sickles , Esq ., ihe American Secretary of Legation , at the dinner referred to , stamps Mm as the author of the anonymous letter to the Post .
" The anonymous letter contained the following statements : —' This being an entertainment avowedly given in commemoration of our national independence , the Americans present were greatly surprised to meet a number of Englishmen at the table ; and also to observe full-length portraits of the Queen and Prince Albert , on each side of a small picture of Washington , at the head xrf the table . The absence of any likeness of the President of the United , States was noticed . When the toasts were given , what was the surprise of the American
portion of the company to hear the Queen proposed with a most servile speech , and this , too , on a national holiday , before the President had been named ! The result was , that several gentlemen did hot rise , either for the toast itself , or when the air of ' Rule Britannia , ' which followedj was performed by the band . The President of the United States was next given , with some lukewarm introductory remarks , when the whole company rose , without exception , and drank the toast With all the honours , spontaneously cheering the chief of onr Hepublic .
" In answer to the above , Mr . Peabody says that it was -well known among the resident Americans that EugUsh gentlemen were to be present , as they had been on all similar celebrations given by him ; that the picture of Washington was a fine half-length one , and the only one that could be procured for the occasion , and that it was the same one which he , at the request of Mr . Sickles , sent to him to be transmitted to Mr . Belirtfmt for a celebration at the Hague on the 22 nd of February last ; that no portrait of the President could
be obtained ; that he did not propose the health of the ¦ Queen in a servile speech , that ' Rule Britannia' was not performed at aH , and that only one person refused to rise when the Queen" was given . With reference to toasting tbe Queen before the President , Mr . Peabody says it was simply according to the rules of courtesy , and that Mr . Buchanan , to whom he had before spoken on the subject , sanctioned his course in doing so , and stood , at the dinner , doing honour to the Queen , while his Secretary of Legation was sitting , silently looking on , "
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MONBODDO REFUTED . It ia said that " the great feature" of the proceedings of one of the days of the meeting of the British Association at Liverpool was the discourse of Professor Owen , on the subject of anthropomorphous , or man-like apes , and their relation to the human species : — " The small concert-room in St . Gcorge ' s-hall , where the address was delivered , was crowded to excess . The arguments , founded upon osteological and anatomical facts , which the learned professor adduced for the purpose of proving the perfect distinctness of species between
man and animals of tho highest group of quadrumana , were illustrated by a series of anatomical sketches and crania of man , tho chimpanzee , and the ornn . g-outniig . Tho quiet but withal irresistible mode in whieli the professor demolished tho theories of those who , confounding ' gradation' with 'development , ' have recently revived A transitional or development theory , the genns of which * wpro enunciated by Lord Mouboddo , was received with much applause ; and liis arguments , founded upon the structure of the vertebra ) , tho crania , and , nbovo nil , upon tho development of tho don ^ al scries in both man and other animals , against tllQ possibility of any trnnaflMatofcion oaf « pccjoa , werq logical anil oonolusive , "
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ENGLISH NEWS FKOM RUSSIA . The Journal de St . Pfitersbowg is a vomarknblo paper . Its dealings with Russian afrUira arc unfortunately sometimes liable to correction-, but of the extraordinary nccuiraey of Ha information on matters connected with the army rind navy of England , the following extract gives decisive proof : ~ " Lieutenant Perry , who was on board tho Tigor when it waa tnUori by tho KuHsiuns at Odosan , Imn b <; on brongSit boforo a cowt-martinl . Tho young mini hua been uo ~ quitted on account of tho Jong and loyul aervicca of hU rather , but ia obliged to leave tho royal nuvy of England and aall his comminsion . This haa onnttod fc rout oxoitoroont , and numerous subscription Hats aro alroady opqnod Ift favour of UauJwyuU Pony . " ' ¦
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THE KNOW-NOTHINGS OF ENGLAND . " Diogenes" has an article on the Know-Nothings of England . This may pio ' ve an important suggestion at the present moment to Lord Derby , who has declared himself , recently , at . Liverpool , to be qualified to lead some such party . What Diogenes remarks is this-: — - ¦ ' ' ' ¦ ' . ¦ . ' ¦ The papers have recently been a good deal taken up by accounts of a new party which has sprung up in America , calling themselves the " Know-Nothings . " A correspondent of the T"imes has given a long account of the constitution and opinions of the party , as well as speculations on their probable influence upon the future of that country .
But we have Know-Nothings in England too . How is it that so little thought is devoted to their principles and influence upon society ? We have them here amongst us , not as in the United States , " a secret society , its members bound by oath both to secresy and obedience , with well-organised councils , signs and symbols ;• " the . Know-Nothing race in England" make no secret of it , but at every turn we meet them face to face , thrusting their Kn ' ow-Nothingism , with distressing prominence , upon our notice ; bound by no laws , ruled by no councils , but one vast floating mass of ignorance .
The American Know-Nothings exert their influence chiefly upon the elections . Not so in England . Here the Know-Nothing element acts in a far wider sphere-It is the English Know-Nothings that fill our gaols ; that vegetate in festering holes and cellars , spreading ¦ disease and death around them ; that make our streets unsafe to walk at night . It is the Know-Nothing spirit that expands into the cunning of the pickpocket ; that bursts out in tho ruffianism of the wife-heater ; that sinks into the sensuality of the drunkard . Dangerous may be the increasing power of the Know-RTothings in . America . But how infinitely more so is the tremendous body of Know-Nothings which our own neglect has suffered to grow up among ourselves !
Honry-l » eacled thieves , who have been Know-Nothing 3 from their cradles . Children , mere babies , left to the teaching of such men , or sent to gaols instead of schools ; Know-Nothings , who in time will be as dangerous as their ciders . Femalo Know-Nothings grooving up in brutal ignorance , until we wonder why they arc depraved , Know-Nothings of all ages , -whom onr negligence has made ao , until they have at last got past our bearing , -when wo imprison them or hung them for some outbreak of tho Know-Nothing spirit which turns round and scourges us . What is tho influence of the American Know-Nothing party when compared to this ?
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IXAX CULTIVATION IN CORK . This cultivation of flax as a product of Ireland , seems to bo gaining ground , and not without results . The Cork fexantiner states that tlio guardians of that city hflvo passed tho following resolution : — * ' That wo find , with tho ( rreatcst satisfaction , that tho grout flax operations of JSdntuml Burke Iiooho , Eflq ,, M . P ., have been so aucceasful as to enable him , In addition to tho extensive omployment glvon by him In his own union , to tako out of this workhouse fifty young woman , with a view of placing them in a position to earn their livelihood by their own industry ; and wo earnestly wish that all landed proprietors , who are in a position to do so , would imitate such « n excellent example ; and that wo tender him our best And wannest thanks for tho relief ao fur afforded to tho ratepnyera of this union . "
It appears tho nnnunl support of these fifty women in the workhouse , wna between 300 / . and 400 / . a year , nnd « s Mp , Itocho ia nbout to employ fifty bova hi tho « : imo manner , ho is sn . \ d to benefit at once 100 luiniiui beings , nnd , diminish rnten <> f jh /> unltw by 7 CM oyoar ,
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LORD DENMAN . to ^ o Dbnman d ied on the 22 nd inst . at Stoke-Albany , Northamptonshire . He was in his seventysixth year- . Although for the last three or four years Lord Denrnan h ^ s paased front before the public eje , his death will read many events of interest with which he was intimately connected . Daring the exciting summer of 1820 his name was , with his u brother Brougham ' s , " in every mouth . For long years after he was a sort of popular saint , through the virtuous sympathy that our people have the happiness of being subject to with those whom they understand to hare sacrificed worldly objects for something higher . la the conflict between the claims of law and Parlia mentary privilege , from 1836 to 1841 , he was the central figure ; and with these salient points of the history of our time the name of Thomas Denman will ever be associated .
His personal history may be summed up thus : t—He was tbe only son of the well-known Dr . Denman , and brother-in-law to Dr . Baillie and Sir Richard Croft . He married the daughter of Mr . Vever , a . Lincolnshire clergyman , and had fifteen children , of whom eleven survived , five sons and six married daughters , when Lady Denman died in 1852 . He was called to the bar and went the Midland Circuit , and his professional career became early an honourable one , and his name was connected especially -with causes and . trials in which the liberty of the press -was concerned .
Mr . Denman was introduced into Parliament in 1818 , by Mr . Calcraft , who had him returned for the borough of Wareharn . He ' immediately distinguished himself by his earnest advocacy of popular freedomside by side with Brougham a-nd Lambton—on all the many occasions furnished by the troubled years of 1819 and 182 O . In those times of a Manchester massacre , a Cato-street -conspiracy ,- Burdett letters , and prosecution of authors and printers , Mr . Denman was always found vigilant and eloquent iri opposing Seizures of Arms Bills , Seditious Meetings Bills , Blasphemous and Seditious Libels Bill ? , and doing his best to spoil the whole machinery of moral torture and intellectual restriction framed by the Eldonc , Sidmoutha , and Castlereaghs of those days . His popularity was already great when his advocacy of the cause of Queen Caroline , oh her return in 1820 ,
made him the ldoTo'f more than , " the populace , " with whose admiration he was taunted , so scornfully . He accepted the office of Solicitor-General to tho . Queen—at the sacrifice , he well . knew , and everybody knew , of his fair professional prospects . From the hour that , as one of her Commissioners ( Mr . Brougham being the other ) , he met the Duke of Wellington ah . l Lord Castlereagh as the King's Commissioners , it was felt that he had ruined himself , if'professional advancement was the object of his life . Not only were all the liigh offices of the Ijuv cl « sed to liini during the reign of the King , who was not yet crowned , but his " brothers , " who were in the course of nature to succeed h im , were nlniost ns virulent sis the King against all aiders and abettors of the Queen ' s claims . Mr . Denman suffered , as lie knew hu must , a long abeyance of professional advancement .
The city of London , however , elected him their Common-Serjeant . In 1830 he waa made Earl Grey's Attorney-General ; and on the death of Lord Tentcrden , in 1834 , he became Chief Justice of England . In a short time , Lord Denman pronounced the decision that brought on tho perilous quarrel between the Law Courts nnd Parliament . The history of tho controversy need not be given here , as it may be found in the chronicles oi' the time , ami seen to involve much more than Lord Penmsm ' s share in the
business . It was he who brought on the struggle by hia decision , in November , 1836 , that the authority of Parliament could not justify the publication of a libel ; whereas the House of Commons could not surrender their claim to publish vliat they thought proper , in entire independence of the Law Courts . The Hansards" were bandied about between law and privilege ; the sheriffs of London were imprisoned , quizzed , pitied , « nd caricatured ; but thoughtful men felt that tho occasion was one of extreme
seriousness ; nnd Lord Penman hnd to hour the responsibility of having perilously oYerBtnurieil one oi tlto indispensable compromises of tho constitution . Ho was confident throughout Unit ho was right , and patriotically employed in vindicating the liberty ot the subject from oppression by l ' nrliamcnt : nnulnrlinmoiifc wns equally convinced that tlio national liberties depended on their repudiating thocoutro * oi the law courts . A more difllcult question can never
occur under a constitutional government ; > umI us pretty euro to come up from time to tune , xn . w o controversy opened mid conducted by Lor . 1 " «•»»» " . the ropecftive cl-ima were left uim * tk « l ; and . nothing was done K doubtfull K y l » r « y « d » ng ( or ^ tlic , Mnglo ss ^ i ^ in ^ i : r rjcj 2 SPnt in ! o « rm "" of tho In > voourtflun uivcrf « . l of argu ^ mo » £ for X ? i « o of buucwiwIto combntoota whenever tl > e buttle flhftW bo ronowed ,
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A STAFF TOR OLD AGE . Perhaps a practical pun is intended by the appointment given by the Minister of State in France to an aged actress . She is to support herself on all the sticks in the Exhibition next year , for we hear that—M . Fould , Minister of State , tubing hi consideration the advanced age and straitened circuOTstances of Mdlle . Georges , the eminent tragic actress , has' accorded to her the privilege of taking charge of the umbrellas and
canes at the Exhibition Palace next year . This may be thought a miserable resource for the latter days of a lady who basked so long in the sunshine of pubh ' c admiration , but the truth is , Mdlle . Georges has obtained a splendid appointment , and one which many a gallant colonel ' s widow , " who "wears her heart out in making interest for the privilege to keep a cigar-shop , may be content to envy . The Canstitutionnel calculates that the net profits of the guardianship of the canes and umbrellas will amount to lOO . OOOfr .
Mdlle . Georges is Napoleonian , and was worthy of some nobler functions in the reign of the nephew of the uncle of whom she has such touching sou venire .
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September 30 , 1854 . ] THE LEADE Ii . 921
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 30, 1854, page 921, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2058/page/9/
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