On this page

• Text (2)

  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.

  • 

    Untitled Article

  • 

    Untitled Article

• Transcript

  • 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.

    Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

    Untitled Article

    Tiih Islington Murder . —Celestino Hoinmor has boon found guilty of the murder of her child by cutting its throat iu tho oollar of her house . The ciroumstunoos aro bo well known that thoy nood nut hero be ropoatod , Tho -woman is only four-aud-twonty years of age , and looks a more girl ; and tho child whs inoro than ton . Tho prisoner Buicl tlioro wcro "o roaeoiiB why judgment should bo stayed ; and nho wih Bontoncod to death , She appeared overwhelmed wMi grief and horror . ANaLO-FauNon Swindlers . — Throe moil , wunod Bornrd , Barmbd , imcl Schoollor , have junt boon condomnod to -various terms of imprisonment by tho

    Paris Tribunal of Correctional Police , for oxtcnsivo swindling Ly moans of establishing prottmdod niorcontilo Iiouhos at London , Bristol , and other placet * in England . Borard and Barrabd had been concerned in tho inaurrootion of Juno , 1848 ; and had both had Homo connexion with tho Sooialist pronn . 'I '"? latter was editor of tho revolutionary paper , La Vrai Ph'e Jhwheanc . " Qo . vvo . h 6 ' a » amo npponrod , rather moro thuu two months ago , in connoxion ¦ wiUuui allogod Hwiudliug ouso winch was brought boforo tho city magistrate *) , but which broke down i ' or want o sufficient evidence . Tho faota will bo found iu Leader of January 20 th and February 2 nd . *

    Untitled Article

    though the basis of Peel ' s Acts of 1819 and 1844 is correct . But the Duke of Akgyle says that the present time is full of difficulty ; " so we must defer the inquiry . The House got into Committee on Lord John Russell ' s Education resolutions , every part of which finds objection from some side op other : Manchester objecting that it is not secular enough : ; Ml " . Henley , that it is too secular ; while Sir James Graham

    as an " Infant Jesus / ' is sung by secret muses in other strains : — Voyez done quelle e s trange chance ! II ne manque a 1 'Enfant de France Que d ' etre tant soit peu Francais . Thus French society ioujours frondeur polishes Its chains , as in the times of that wily and fascinating Cardinal , in whose career M . » e Bro& 1 « i e found so tempting stud a& > ba $ Kant a pajtallel ,

    when he described the " facile and necessary superiority of a man in posseao&n of power , pw suing one single interest , and tlast his own , wha sees before him nothing but- a wearied nation greedy of repose , disgusted of illusions , honourable men disarmed and discouraged , adversaries divided , jealous of one another , embittered by reciprocal animosities , and is himself resolved to stick at nothing for success . " But the protest of a man like M . de Broglie , of high name , ancient lineage , and unsullied personal reputation , who , within the measure of his convictions has remained true to the dying injunctions of his father —• " Forgive , and serve the Revolution "—is not the whisper of a salon . It is the protest of independence against servility , of character against corruption ; and it may well have struck one among the audience at the Academy , the ^ Foreign Minister of Constitutional England , emerging from the Tuileri . es .

    There is , indeed , one other revolt in prospect , hut the theatre is more distant , though it concerns us nearly . Sir Charles Hotham , the Governor of Victoria , proved to be so incapable of governing the ; colony , that he literally broke downjunder the attempt to form a Cahinet ; and there is some doubt whether it is possible to construct a Cabinet according to the European pattern , and with a strict observance of English etiquettes , out of Melbourne materials . So conscious have the

    colonists become of this fact , that they propose an expedient to meet the difficulty . Of course it is quite necessary that they should have men at the head of affairs to guide the business of the colony . They do not desire to be positively without a Governor ; but some of them have sent over a memorial requesting permission that they may elect their

    Governor themselves ! Let us imagine a Viceroy of Ireland , elected by universal suffrage , and w < j should have , within sight of our own shores , a picture of what the Victorians propose . The idea is not bad . We do not see how it is to be grafted upon English monarchical institutions ; but it does not follow that it will not be carried out some day or other in Australia .

    Our super-excellent Parliament has been doing its best , as usual , to show the want of some such revolt at home , if it were only to rouse honourable members from their slumlers of indifference . They have had important subjects before them ; but , however important the subjects , the measures were not very important , the debates were trivial , and the results almost nothing 1 . We might have thought that finance , education , and the quartering of sojdiors upon private eitixens , were topics sufficient to elicit definite conclusions , substantial measures , and busincss-liko treatment ; but every body seems to meddle , and nobody executes .

    Mr . Muntz has demanded from the House of Commons , by resolution , *¦ an equitable adjustment" of tbo Income-tax j and there was a debate upon the subject , full of allusion to the 4 f difficulties" of making tho tax just . Everybody confesses that it is unjust ; so tho British People arc labouring ' under a tax unjustly arranged , and there is no man capable of setting it straight . The resolution , of course , waa dismissed .

    Finance fares no bettor . Lord Eolinton ticnuouted ' Mi inquiry into the state of tho currency , which everybody allows to be unaatiafactory ,

    alhas discovered that it is not Voluntary enough' — for he comes out as the champion of the Voluntaries ; and bo the House of Commons talks abou t education so indefinitely as to prevent us from getting at the thing . The Lord Advocate is niggling at little measures , for the purpose of coaxing schools into Government control throughout Scotland . But he is afraid , to use his hand boldly , and almost asks the House of Commons to let his bills pass oa ^ -as they have done at the second reading—out of pity .

    The billeting point is important , and the result of the debate involves not less important considerations . Mr . Cowan objected to the Jbf . leting of militia-men upon private families in Scotland . He is answered 9 that there are no "barracks , that the Executive cannot spare the convenience ^ that billeting on publicans creates objection 5 n England , and that Scotland must- put up with the inconvenience . Now , there are two further questions involved here . In the first place , Mr . Peel , who brought an adverse division upon , his Government by his absolute tone , does not differ in the slightest

    degree from his colleagues when he thus puts the convenience of theJExecutive as the one paramount object . Bat he does differ from them in one quality —in frankness . They all agree with himin practices , but they put on an appearance of " deferring to the ^ wishes of the people as expressed through the House of Commons ; " and thus less ingenuous men filch divisions out of members , while Mr . Peel ' s openness makes members rebel against the Government . For our own part we prefer a man like Peel , to a man like Sir George Grey ; who conceals tlie same departmental superciliousness under a cloud of " soft sawder . " But , secondly , we infer from the ministerial statement that , as jsoon , as the war has been all settled , they intend ^ entixely to disband the militia , and to fall back upon the old system of a mercenary standing army—an unpopular force , under the sole control of the Executive . The Oath of Abjuration ia again in debate . Mr . Milner Gibson has a bill at its second reading , to alter the oath , if not to abolish it : and the

    Paul Veronese . However , membeis do not care either for pictures or the public money , unless a party . use can be made of either ; and so they leave it all to Ministers , as the Clown in the " Winter's Tale " says : the managers of his family " leave it all to my sister , and she lays it on . " Certainly , our representative system wants mending . Some of us are far less ably represented than the swell mob who having assembled in public meeting , under the presidency of Henrt

    Mayhew , have d « ielared then * difficulties in declining business , and . taking up some calling more consistent with general opinion ; and have laid the foundation ) we trust , of a charitable society , constructed to assist them in tbeir laudable objects . Henry Mayhew is the first man who , whea t he question was asked how to reach the helpless and stray parts of society , thought of taking counsel from their wishes and experience . He has supplied the complement to that review of tlie subject which men like M . D . Hill , Charles Addeeley , MaconochiEj have given us .

    Mr . Clayton , one of the authors of the Clayton-Bui wer Treaty , has delivered a speech to hi s countrymen , in which he expresses the convictio n that the people of England do not intend to go to war with the United States ; and Mr . Na . thanibl Hawthorn e , the eminent American author , now Consul at Liverpool , has been able to ascertain in

    the city of London , whose hospitalities he has accepted , how true is this opinion of Mr . Clayton ' s . The true guarantee of peace between the two countries is publicity in the proceedings of the two Governments . If we do not have some rupture commenced under the cover of seeresy , there will be no rupture at all .

    The deadly list of crimes is heavy this week . Some of them come before us again , as in the case of CeleStine Soaimer , convicted of murdering her illegitimate child at Islington . Tlie story of the poor child going down stairs into a strange place , addressing even her mother in terms of timid respect , with the title usually given to strangersher gradually catching at the idea that her death was intended , and being led into a cellar where she was slain—equals anything in " Bluebeard" or the dark romance of the nursery . But the newest romance is the murder of Sarah Kelly—once a maid of Kent , an innkeeper ' s daughter , who eloped with a roud—obtained a dower through a successful action for breach of promise of marriage—lost all by one of the chances of Dublin life—plunged into a wild career , and again , by that means rose to wealth , became a landed lady , and is assassinated iu the Irish fashion , by disguised men , in the presence of her nephew ! It is a wild story altogether . Some Irish customs seem to be inextinguishable .

    second reading is carried by 230 to 195 . Ministers undertake to contrive a fresh oath in committee , the purpose of which will still be to abjure any but a Protestant succession , but to discontinue the abjuration of the Pbktenoeb and his successors who are entirely defunct , and the exclusion of Jews by an accidental phrase in tlio oath . So , that , at last , Rothschild may get into tho House of Commons ; not through the exertions of his noble colleague , Lord John Russell .

    An attempt has been made to bring the Executive to a sense of responsibility in the matter of the National Gallery . Mr . Otwav moved to cut down the vote for that institution by ^ £ 650—the travelling expenses of Herr Otto Mundleii . Sir Charlkh East-lake has a thousand a-year for continuing that purchase of worthless pictures which was denounced by a select committee of the House of Commons . Only a special agent has been added to tbo establishment— Horv Otto

    Mundlicr j and the first achievement of tho new ivud much more expensive staff ia to purchase that vory indifferent nnd more than doubtful specimen

    Untitled Article

    338 T H E L E A D E R . [ No . 316 , Saturpay ^

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), April 12, 1856, page 338, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2136/page/2/