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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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TO COERESPOjVDElSrTS . It is impossible to acknowledge the mass of letters we receive . Their insertion is often delayed , owing to a press of matter ; and when omitted it is frequently from rea sons quite independent of the merits of the communication . No notice can be taken of anonymous communications Whatever is intended for insertion must be authenticated by the name and address of the writer ; not necessarily for publication , but as a guarantee of his good faith . Communications sbould always be legibly written , and s on one side of the paper only . If long , it increases the difficulty of finding space for them . We cannot undertake to return rejected communications . All letters for the Editor should bo addressed to 7 , "WeUinKton-street , Strand , londou-
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There is nothiiLg so revolutionary , 1 ) 6031136 there is nothing 39 unnatural and . coninalsive , as the strain to keep things fixed when all the -world 13 by the very law ox its creation , in eternal progress . —Dr . Arnold
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THE CHANCES OF A SrATIOFAL PARTY . Since the prorogation of ¦ parliament only two public meetings have "been held in the provinces on . the subject of the war . These meetings were at Newcastle-upon-Tyne and at Sheffield , cities conspicuous in every liberal movement of our time , and entitled , by their commercial importance and the intellectual character of their population , to tale an initiative part in an appeal to the Grovernment
to stamp a national character upo : n the war against Russia—that is to say , to deal with liussia , not merely as a territorial power , but as a political principle . These meetings were perhaps premature , in the sense that the orators and the resolutions made demands which the Grovernnient could not consider in the midst of a campaign ; and they were doubtless injudicious , inasmuch as the gentlemen who originated and conducted them insisted upon assuming the attitude of an
opposition to the government at the moment when the Government , in resolving on the expedition to the Crimea , was doing all that the most ardent anti-liusaian could demand - —for the time . But , in another sense , those meetings were eminently successful ; for , though out of time , they did manifest a national instinct in reference to the war ; and so far they did probably impel the Government , and give shape to the popular controversy elsewhere . Wo cannot but regrot , despite of the possible illogicalities , that there were not more such meetings ; but it is sit lenat
a satisfaction that the liberal lenders in Newcastle and Sheffield did not consider their work finished when the speeches were made , and the resolutions passed . They appear to have formed committees , which haro corresponded with ono another , and which have coalesced in drawing up a comprehensive scheme for furthorlibornlngitation , not merely in those two places , but in tho country generally . Tho audacious plan is to form a " National Party , " mainly having ; in view the realisation of undoubted , admitted , popular expectations in foreign policy ; in other words , to enablo England to rule at tho foreign Office with at least as much force and
precision as at the Home Office . Considering the intensity of the constitutional delusion of this country , that it is self-governed , it will strike the unreflecting as a most remarkable circumstance that two of our chief towns are conspiring to have something to do with the action , in foreign affairs , of those alert oligarchs who are termed , with some impropriety , the Queen ' s Ministers . But there is no doubt that such a conspiracy is on foot ; and it will be well to calculate its chances of
success . Assuredly this is not an epoch which can logically be selected for an attempt to induce the people of England into vigorous Liberalism . "Whatever political movement there is in England is Conservative . That faith in human , or at least English , Irish , and Scotch , perfectibility , which we used to call Radicalism , has almost quite gone out in this country . Mr . Hume congratulates himself that " we are all pretty much of one mind now ;"—Mr . Sume supposing that it is
because every one has come round to him , not at all suspecting that he has met the Tories half " way . It is Hord Aberdeen who ascertained that politicians are men with differences which are not distinctions ; and a Coalition Cabinet , which is to carry on Govemmeiit , and not to carry out principles , represents the equable apathy of a nation which has ceased to have any particular political faith , and accordingly craves , as the best political blessing——peace and quietness ^ Conservative Liberalism , or Liberal
Conservatism—anything which amounts to nothing . Not alone have the Radicals disappeared , but the " Whigs also are dead ; and though it is true that there is still a section of the aristocracy—the Peelite—which , because it has conquered the others , and is disliked accordingly , attempts to coquette with the middle class , yet it is remarkable that the Aberdeen and Newcastle party has only succeeded in obtaining partisans among the Manchester and Peace school—a school singularly unpopular both with the middle class
and the people , and a school certainly not Radical since the cry for peace is logically a cry for Conservatism . The " Reformer" is a politician who is not frequent now . This is because the unenfranchised have long ceased to crave freedom ; partly because the democracy , which is highly sensible in England , is weary of its delusive demagogues , beginning to think with Lord Shaftesbury , Mr . Carlyle , and their wives , that material and social reforms are mainly wanted ; and still more , because America and Australia have , within these
five or six years , drained the democracy of its best men . There is still , no doubt , some vague talk about the Ballot and rotten boroughs ; but even among Liberals , such as M > . Oobden , the purification of the electoral body is treated aa a chimera , and , on all hands , there is such a cynical notion of the futility of franchise extensions , that Lord John Russell , who is not an original man , and will die talking the routine twaddle of ' 32 , has become the jeeb of tho House of Commons , particularly of his colleagues in that assembly , for his ' inveterate addiction to
Schoduloa A , B , and D . Tho Liberalism of this country can generally be tested by its religious feelings ; and it * very noticeable , in tho first place , that there is iar less " infidelity" than thero was ton years ago ; and , in tho noxfc place , that tlio no-Popery ccstacy wns nevor moro ardent than at this moment , as wo may wifely infer from tho circumtitanco that our very cleverest statesman has deliberately bid for powur merely on tho strength of his objective Protestantism—having , indeed , no other principle whatever to Buggoet for tho guidance of tho period . What is called loyally— -attachment to tho sovereign ,
as the sovereign—** s as fcOBspicuous in Eagland as Cz&r-vrorsMp is in Hussia . 1 ! &a House of Lords is perhaps , on the whole ,, more popular than the House of Commons . The aristocracy was never so degradingly dull , but was never so strong . At such & moment , then , we « annob augur very favourably of a National Party , by which we are asked to understand a party pledged to obtain the freedom of mankind by the machinery of a widely-extended suffrage in England , and the wholesale deposition of despots abroad—a . party which is to take itsplace in the House of Commons , to
control the crown and coerce the aristocracy . Ifo doubt there will be a great change : oursis a nation with a temperament analogous to its climate ; and the oldest of us may live tosee a restoration of those Anglo-Saxon principles to this day encountered among our relatives , when relieved from British apathy in our colonies . Thia war , like other wars , may lead to results its fomenters do not now apprehend . But ire venture to warn warmhearted Liberals of Keweastle and Sheffield ^ that , in a Conservative age , a popular party cannot be constructed as readily as a locomotive or a dozen of ( eU 6 gers s best . " Yet it is not to be denied that a national
party , such as tbat contemplated by these provincial committees , is not only desirable ,, but , upon certain conditions ^ is a very possible confederatioai . The condition would be that this national party have nothing to do With this nation ; that is to say , that it direct
itself exclusively to a supervision of our Court's and Government ' s foreign policy . It is the nature of a Grovernment such as the present one to ot ) ey orders ; and the House of Commons , which is a mere club , entirely failing in its duty , there is needed some sort of national organisation to bring public opinion to bear upon the persons who
represent England in " diplomacy . " But this is as much as to say that Such a national party must carry public opinion with it—that , consequently , it must not be a propaganda of vague , sympathetic , Liberalism . Public opinion in . England—a public opinion by no means excluding the Peerage or other professional Conservatives—would sanction an
agitation to lead England into a pledge in favour of the restoration of Poland ; and a national party wliich commenced as a League to bring back the Poles to history , and to place them as a barrier between Russia and Europe , would—grow . It is to such a purpose the practical English people would turn their rage against Russia . " Who will lead ? The subscriptions " for the sick and wounded " indicate a magnificent national character ; but the indication ia not altogether of charity : —~ surely there is some craving , intlie old English way , for revenge ?
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HONI SCOT QTJI MAL Y PENSE . Louis Napolv . o > n-, Emperor of the French , ia to visit the English Court at Osborne , and , accompanying- ifc to Windsor , ia to be invested , in grand chapter , with the Order of tho Garter . Gorgeous Christmas festivities are to celebrate-Victoria ' s hospitality to her great Ally ; and tho English and French nations are to look on , reciprocating tho compliments of tho unparalleled season—tho alliance between tho two peoples superbly typified in tho ceremony which enrols a French Emperor as Knight of an English Queen . Happy Queen ! happy Emporor happy countries !
There is nothing ' , as Mrs . Malaprop observed , like the friendship which begins with a little aversion 5 and wo do not in tho least suspect tho heartiness of tho present afl'ootior * between tho two Courts , and between Louia Napoleon and the enlightened English public ,
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TERMS OF SUBSCRIPTION TO « *® lz Seafcer . " " Eor a Half-Year £ 0 13 0 to be remitted in advance . tSff * Honey Orders should be drawn upon the " STSAJno Branch Office , and . be made payable to Mr . Axpked B . GaxIoway , at No . 1 , Wellington Street , Strand .
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SA-TUKDAY , OCTOBER 28 , 1854
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1 ° THE LEADER . [ Saturday ,
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Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 28, 1854, page 1018, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2062/page/10/
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