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newspapers . Yet , the translations of the ^ Foreign Office are often tardy far beyond the necessity of good workmanship ; and why ? Because the arrangement of the clerks and the distributions of duties are very inferior to those which would be possible , and indeed easy . The want of order may also be fostered by late hours . If we examine a Directory which tells the office hours of different departments , we find the suspicious words opposite the [ Foreign Office , " Office hours not fixed . " But if this " not fixed" rule sanctions late
breakfasts and later descents to the office , it also sanctions extra work far into the night , and extraordinary hours , such as Paimeeston the wakeful kept , when , returning from " a house" at three in the morning , he kept clerks up till six dictating despatches ! In fact , you can scarcely look into the actual working of the offices without discovering at every turn proofs of indifferent ^ arrangement—of arrangements which do not bring out the real abilities of the men . It should
be the business of the Association to penetrate and anatomise every department , and every room in every department . The means exist . The anatomy would suggest the proper reforms ; and if the Association can lay before the public the necessary and proper reforms , no concentration of the official forces will enable the Executive to resist the league . We may have better lodging for the departments , and be thankful ; but we also demand something better in the place of every existing " board . " *
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M . MANIN AND AUSTRIA . We have received the following note from an illustrious man whom we are proud to reckon amongst our correspondents—it is M . Manin , the President of the Venetian Kepublie during its heroic struggle in ' 48—' 49 : — " Sir , —The Siecle of the ] 8 th of the present month , in an article on The English Aristocracy , while enumerating the effects already accruing through the war in the East , says , that Austria herself has entered on the path of reform .
" I believe this assertion to be inexact . Austria , if she desired it , could not free herself from her ancient system of compression , which is indispensable for the purpose of forcibly keeping the heterogeneous elements of which her empire is composed within the belt of her frontiers . She has not entered , and she will neve r enter into the path of reform . " Moreover , the disaffection of the different races subject to her domination , far from diminishing since 1848 , has increased .
" It is well to know that the Government which would dare to prefer to the equivocal neutrality of Austria , her open enmity , might count upon the energetic co-operation of three-fourths of the inhabitants of that empire . " Ilcceive , sir , the assurance of my distinguished consideration . " Manin . . " Paris , 20 th May , 1855 . " ! For our correspondent ' s opinion wo have the highest respect , but we arc inclined tcr imagmo that ho has attached a meaning to the statement of our French contemporary which was not intended ; and we are interested in tho controversy , since wo are open
to tho same answer which has been made to tho Siecle . " Austria" is not tho abstraction that who has been supposed to be ; although wo have grown accustomed during tho half century of Austrian oppressions to consider her nyatem and Metternichism as one and tho saiiio thing , yet Ferdinand was preceded by Leopold , and better government retained tho provinces of Austria before tho system of compression was invented . Even MiSTTEKNion more than oncehintod that there was another alternative ; and Station went mad from tho blended anxiety to make a bold attempt , and chagrin at impending failure . Nothing but hotter government as an aid in cultivating tho material resources of her
empire could save bankrupt Austria , and we are inclined to regard her concessions to the occupying classes in Hungary , with her aims at railway improvement , and such measures , as sufficient to constitute a practical admission that Metteentoh's enemies were in the right . Whether she has gone far enough , or will be permitted by circumstances to recover the good-will of provinces that she has alienated , we cannot say ; and for Italy at least , for ever irreconcilable to foreign domination ,, our friend , M . Manin , can speak with more authority than we can .
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ARISTOCRATIC REFORMERS . UBERAMSM IN ITS SLIPPEBS . ( To the Editor qftTie Leader . ) Sir , —My butterrnan occasionally favours me with literature as well as with his own proper commodities : now a present of some classic giant torn down to the level of the common understandinganon a political secret . My servant made a breakfast purchase the other morning , and the enclosed came with the bacon , a classic curiosity as you may perceive , with unmistakable proofs of grease .
Ordinary moralities would say , Keep sacred the treasures of the butterman ; but conspirators against public rights cause exceptions to rules . But I leave you to deal with the case . The letter is at your service—a very choice epistle to the believers in Palmerston . I am Sir , yours , Lanterne . " Yet that great Gift and Talent , Impudence ,
Accomplish'd Mankind ' s highest Excellence : 'Tis that alone prefers , alone makes great , Confers alone "Wealth , Titles , and Estate ; Gains Place at Court , can make a fool a Peer" * An Ass a Bishop ; can vil ' st Blockheads rear , > To wear red Hats , and sit in porph ' ry chair ; i 'Tis Learning , Parts and Skill , and Wit and Sense , Worth , Merit , Honour , Virtue , Innocence . " Oldham .
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" Place , Sunday . " Dear Lord , " There is to be a meeting at P- —1—n ' s to-day , to consider the course to be taken on B—n—ghm ' s motion . The parties who will attend are Gr—lie , Sea—rd , H—dd—n , G—ich , the two Gr—ts , W—der , "V—on S—th , myself and a few others . P—1—n will tell us what has been communicated to him as the result of the meeting at Al—pe ' s yesterday . Our object is to act on Reform in one body , and on a Conservative Principle — to ascertain that minimum of change that is likely to satisfy and detach moderate persons from the more violent , so that when that change may be accomplished , we may the better unite with other Parties in resisting further demands .
" We are to communicate afterwards our intended course of proceeding to IKn—b—11 , who musters the Tories to-morrow morning . " I fully believe we ( that is all three Parties ' ) shall agree on one temperate plan . " The meeting at P—1—n ' s is to be at five o ' clock ; if you should like to come , your presence would be very important . " Ever yours faithfully , « Sp . L N . "
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flK THIS DISPAIITMENT , AS AM . OPINIONS , HOWISVItlt KXTMCMlt , ARB Al . l . DWICI ) AN ISXI'UUSSION , TUB liDli'OK MliOliaHAltlLV HOLDS HIMsici . f nicsi-oNsiiii . i ! iron nonk . J
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THE TORIES . ( To tho Editor of tho Leader . ' ) May 21 , 1855 . Sin , — In general I ndmiro in tho Leader a certain independence of feeling and freedom from party prejudice ; and I hnve , therefore , attached moro weight to its opinions than I usually accord to that mysterioiiH entity , tho newspaper We . But I own myaolf considerably disappointed and surprised ut the tone of an article in your last numbor , in which you deprocato very earnestly the . possible advent of what
you call " the Tories" to office . I am not a Tory , nor an « unquestioning believer in Mr . Disraeli . I do not think you will find many who can now fairly be called Tories—you know very well that it is absurd to attempt to confound the acts and opinions of the Sidmouth Castlereagh school with those of the party who now support Lord Derby . This may do for very shallow politicians in a discussion-class , but would be utterly scouted by every intelligent reasoner on politics . I am sincerely desirous , as I believe you also are , of obtaining the best government possible for the people—I say possible , because in this world we are obliged to take second best very often—the times not being ripe for the best absolutely . Now , permit me to ask , is the present government the best possible to us ? Is it not , to an even greater degree than the last , tainted through and through with the vice of an aristocratic selection merely because it is aristocratic ? Is there a single hope from it of rational progress , of reform , either in the management of the war or in social questions ? I believe it to have utterly lost the confidence of the country . Ask every man you meet , and I am sure nineteen out of every twenty will tell you that of all shams and humbugs which have annoyed and exasperated Englishmen , there has been nothing so monstrous as the delusion of the Palmerston Administration . Well , then , who is there besides ? Lord John Russell and the pure Whigs with their traditions of liberalism out of which the nation has as completely grown as a youth of eighteen has the petticoats of three years old ? Clearly he is not the man for the Leader . Shall we say Cobden or Bright ? You well know that they could not command one hundred votes on any question of their own policy , and you know , moreover , that their views are not those of the majority of the people of England . What other combination is left ? I am not arguing that the Uouse of Commons represents the people of England ; I say , unhesitatingly that it does not . But I say that , except through revolution , all the reforms we are longing for must be got out of parties under the present order of things . So then I believe it is wiser policy , and truer to the best interests of progress and reform , that we should not offer any factious opposition to Lord Derby ' s return to office , and try to get as much as we can out of the only party which at the present time is not in a disorganised state . All our reforms in past time have been , so to speak , got out of the necessities of some political party or other . You are far too wise a politician not to know that the Whigs only cared for the Reform Bill as a means of getting themselves into power ; and my belief is , judging from what they did before , that Lord Derby ' s party will bid higher , i . e ., give us more real and substantial reform for the sake of office than we shall ever get from so-called Liberals for the sake of consistency . Not a Partisan . [ This letter was the subject of a leading article in our last impression . —Er > . Leader . ]
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There is no learned man but will confess he bath much profited by rending controversies , his senses awakened , and his judgment sharpened . If , then , it bo proiltixDiO for him . to read , why should it not , at least , bo toitraolofor his adversary to write . —MlJLXON .
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An Eccentric Old Misek . —A bag of gold and silver coin was found about a week ago by a little girl , buried in the garden of a house at Walworth . The case having been brought before the magistrate , investigations were made , and the money was ultimately found to be tho property of a singular-looking person , named George Brett , a gas-fitter , who had so disposed of it for safety . Brett , according to hia brother-in-law , is so groat a miser , that ho only allows himself one shirt , the front of which lias been long since worn out , so that he now wears it back foremost . Brett had recently had a workehed in tho garden where tho bag was found ; and tho magistrate , feeling satisfied the property was hi . s , ordered it to bo restored to him , and at tho same time suggested that lie should give a sovereign to tho little girl who found tho money , and honestly refrained from appropriating it . With this recommendation Brett ultimately complied , though evidently with painful reluctance . The Latk Haimvay KonnKiiras . — Further disclosures havo been made in connexion with the recent railway robberies , and three more men have been apprehendedviz ., Joseph Burrcll , sen ., a platelayer on tho Caledonian Railway ; Joseph Uurroll , Jan ., a brcaksman on tho same line ' ; and William Ui . rrcll , a broaksman on tho Lancaster ami Carlisle Kailway . They have undergone an examination at the petty sessions , and two cases of robbery havo been gone into , from which it appears that robberies to a largo amount havo boon perpetrated for yc rs by railway servants . Tho prisoners have boon Jomnndcil . A groat deal of tho plunder , consisting of sUk " , shawls , boots , hardware , &c , not yet identified , has been discovered by tho police , who are on tho alert . An aUon . pt , it appears , had boon made to stifle tho oillcors who had concealed themselves among tho luggage of a train in order to detect tho thievos . Sand and gravel mixed with grease was put into tho box over tho -wheel of the waggon in which they wore ; but fortunatoly this waa diflcovereU boforo tho txoia left Carlisle .
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J 17 NB 2 , 1855 . ] TIE LEADER , 519 I ,, • ¦ ' , „ . , . . . ¦ , „ , i , _ ¦ *****
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Leader (1850-1860), June 2, 1855, page 519, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2093/page/15/
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