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    Untitled Article

    S ^ prSfe « ad-partiaKty . MlU Italy for the Italians , and ^ EtaiiaBa lor Italy V that is a isummary of their © pinions . One great t > rga * iza « io » is spreading from -the central states , northwards and southwards , so exten-8 iv . e , that it may be said to embrace the larger part of the Italian manhood , and so secretly worked , that concentrations of the Austrian troops frequently take place at points where no real activity prevails . The Capuan

    fortress -strengthened by the engineering skill of two Russian generals , the Papal prisons fuU of the proscribed , the Austrian police in Tuscany , the Austrian troops in Parma and Modejff * , the Austrian army watching the Central Congregations in Iiombardo-Verietia , the Austrian teachers compelling their Italian pupils to learn and speak the German lanit demonstr

    guage , the political and milary ation against Piedmont , all prove that repression is not order , and that a cowp d ^ etat is the worst sort of salvation for society . How will this end ? We want no prophet , but a plain reasoner , to answer the question . It cannot end , except in a successful revolution , whether constitutional or democratic , which shall restore the natural relations of

    governors and subjects . No permanent systems are established by the code of oppression . The opposing parties—the despotic governments , and the disaffected nationsare preparing , on one side for attack , on the other for resistance . Whence it may be concluded , that both parties cannot remain for ever in the same attitude . One must surrender , or draw the other into an engagement . „ _ _ to

    We suppose that England may be said have an interest in the political condition of the Continent . The question is , what course should that interest dictate to our diplomatists and statesmen . If England has anything to gain—if , indeed , she does not lose , in a moral and material sense , to an incalculable degree , by the prevalence of absolute and barbarous authority , we are much deceived . We think it possible to show that England has a direct and palpable interest in the freedom of France and Italy .

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    ROEBUCK . The Administrative Reform Association have sent for Mr . Roebuck , who has formed his Ministry and explained his principles . He himself is to be [ First Lord of the London Tavern , Messrs . Tbavebs , Mobxey , and Gassiot are to be his Secretaries of State . The Conservative , Samuel Bbown , disappears— -very properly , too- ^ and the Association announces itself in readiness to act as the BcaUblding of a new party in Parliament .

    In Parliament , as actually constituted . The proposal carries with it a suggestion of failure . t ) epend upon it , the present Parliament is the best you can get from the present constituencies , and the present Ministry is the best you can get from the present Parliament . 5 Tou may correspond with the electors ; you may penetrate the secrets of influence and agency ; you may watch the intercourse that takes place between an independent member and a government in want of supporters ;

    you may stand at the doors of the public offices , and examine the credentials of the candidates , but the political caste will have its < way > : landlords will chock the votes of their tenantry ; tradesmen will be intimidated by their customers ; pertinacious applicants , who can work a petty local interest , will have situations in the excise ; parliamentary loaders -will provide for their friends ; the army will continuo to bo what it is—the asylum ot younger sons , tho property of the Equestrian order .

    Because you expect to make a bad macbiae work well . 3 Tou may , indeed , regulate the movements , and mend the gear , so that matters may not go from bad to worse . ; but , really to improve your system , you must improve the political organization of the country . At the ; apex of our parliamentary constitution stands the prime minister ; at the base th e constituencies are grouped , in irregular masses ; you must widen and strengthen the foundations , if you would ennoble the structure .

    Plainly , nearly every man who sits in the House of C ommons represents some special interest , which has sent him there . Not the interest of the Cabinet only , or of the aristocracy , but the interest of the aristocracy and the Cabinet mixed up and identified with other interests , equally narrow and partial , which , are not those of the nation at large . Without

    counteracting this power that encloses the Legislature , and determines all its Acts , it is hopeless to expect administrative purity , the exercise of patronage on high principles , the conduct of public business with exclusive reference to the public interests . That can never be until the nation . at large determines that it shall be , and possesses itself of the means , to enforce its will .

    Can we confide the issue to the Administrative Reform Association—even though Mr . Samttet * MobIiEY , who could not have faced another general meeting , has resigned the chair to John Arthur Roebuck , member for Sheffield , an earnest and an honest man , on whose name will fall a ray of English history ? No ; if all he means is contained in his programme .

    The members of the Council of the Administrative Association were empowered , we may infer , to dethrone Mr . Moelet , and to appoint Mr . Roebuck , who will probably find the post more congenial to his faculties and to his habits than the chairmanship of the Metropolitan Board of Works . But already some of the subscribers are asking upon whose authority is the Portfolio of Correspondence entrusted to Mr . Mobley , the Portfolio of Finance to Mr . Tbavebs , and the Portfolio of Statistics to Mr . Gassiot ? The circular affords no information on this point . It has , inthis respect , all the brevity and all the absolutism of a decree . It has

    occurred to many persons , who have a right to speak on these subjects , that the political sections throughout the country will not feel that they are called upon to adopt Mr . MoRiiEY as their London agent . Indeed , with Mr . Roebuck in the chair , the contrast becomes more painful between the genuiiio politician and the eager but unpolitical reformer . It is not a question of politics ,

    the City Reformers say , but a question of business . They want the public business and the private business of th « country to be conducted on tho same principles . It would be dangerous to extend tho parallel too far . This idea , if it means anything , means that the British merchant , as a merchant , carries out his transactions with more ease and effect than tho

    Government -as a Government . Perhaps it would be as well , however , to remember that n Government is not a merchant , or even a contractor . In tho civil and military administration of a great empire , ' many qualities of intellect and of practical capacity are required totally and essentially distinct from

    those which enable a shipowner to complete his contracts , or . a-tea-merchant to manage . « thousand clerks , to ainasa a million , to bay Etruscan villa , and to look contemptuously on tho break-down of tho public dopartmerits . Ho is quite right to look contemptuously on tho break-down . But is ho right iu

    supposing that governments . so simple an aflair as the London Tavern . Reformers pretend ? We , for our own part , expect little amelioration in the conduct of public business until our Reformers have arrived , at ; a higher appreciation of state duties , and of the capacities essential to their performance . Ho doubt , if Mr . Roebuck ' s plan be carried out some good practical results may be obtained ?

    As Lord Palmerston took care to distance the Association under the MoiiiiEx chairmanship , so he may endeavour to keep ahead of Mr . Roebuck and his three secretaries . Yet it is not to be concealed that the City Association has been a deplorable , and not a very creditable failure ; and we feel sincere regret in avowing that not much more is to be anticipated from it in its new form .

    The point at which it is connected with the real political interests of the country is that suggested by Mr . Roebuck—the formation and support of a Liberal party in the House of Commons . But on what basis ? The basis of Administrative Reform , technically and in detail . The first political society that arises with powerful leaders and large objects will sweep it out of sight . Even were a general election to take place , what would be the aim of the Association ? To return such men as Mr . Tite , Mr . Ingram , Mr . Joseph Paxton—useful in their own station , but , except as 'votes , utterly lifeless and insignificant in the House of Commons .

    It seems to us that if Government stands in need of Reform , Reform stands in need of Renovation .

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    - HOW TO KEEP UP THE MILITIA . Among the benefits we have derived from the war has been the revival of the old constitutional force of the country—the Militia . One of the possible , we will not yet say probable , disadvantages which attend the greater blessing of peace , is the dissolution of that force . What is only possible , it is our duty to prevent from becoming even probable , and to do our utmost to retain the great benefit which has accrued from the war .

    The characteristic of the struggle , so far as we are concerned , has been that we have carried it on with volunteers . While other countries rely on conscriptions and forced levies , England has relied upon the willing agency of her citizens to vindicato her policy . The result of that reliance has shown tho power of voluntary service . The Militia not only gave 30 , 000 meu to the Queen ' s army , but every embodied regiment wns prepared to enter on service beyond the limits of Great

    Britain . To these constitutional corps wo entrusted in great part our home and foreign garrisons ; and those not so employed formed the bulk of the camps of instruction established by tho Government . If the full force of the Militia , as voted by Parliament , was never raised , we must trace that to thenovelty of the voluntary system , and to the fact that tho people had been bo long , unacin aib

    customed to thorr military duties , " banding tho Militia regiments , the Government act on a perfectly sound princip le , because it is never intended , nor is it noeossary , that those regiments should be permanently embodied . Their future sorvico ia aecured , provided that an adequate staff bo retained , and that tho regiments are invariably called out for training every year , and that they ue kept rocruitedup to their duo comp lement oi

    men . . ..., In order to keep up tho Militia , it will uthovo their loaders , tho territorial aristocrac y , to sustain tho military ttpirit iu ovory wit y i to promote an esprit dc corps among i > " ? n > ° when disembodied by encouraging thon wuticipatiou in athletic sports ; to provide- iol tho contingencies of tho recruitment by " »

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    ^ g- jTBE LEAPil . [ No . 32 £ ^ Arra&A : ] r ,

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), June 14, 1856, page 566, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2145/page/14/