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Leader (1850-1860), 3rd January 1857, Edition 1 of 2, Page 15, Untitled Article

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      Untitled Article

      and Akd-eews mrfifc and improper . Wexkteliin " , therefore , is tlie Premier ' s man , which will damage him with some people , and . sorve him with others . The question is , however , what right had Mr . IiANKesteb , to "b e so candid ? Did Lord Paimerstqnsay , " That ' s my opinion of Mr . Anixeews , and tell Mr . Aitdeews I said so ? " or did he merely intimate confidentially that Mr . Andbews was a coachhuilder , and Mr . 'WEOXJEiiiN - c a better

      sort of man , you see r In either case lie was wrong : if he intended to influence the election , his interference was m ost uncalled for and improper ; if lie did not , the private utterance of his views explains how fa ? he is grateful to his friends . The Southampton people will know what we mean . Then , as to Mr . Lattkesteb , lie should have been expelled from the meeting for daring to thrust forward such an observation .

      We cannot be -supposed to care much for the result of the election . Factiously , we lidpe that Sir Heset Butlee will be kept out . Generally , Mr / . "W " Eec"i ! iiiN " though his lallot enthusiasm is suspicious , might make a tolerable Member of Parliament . Locally lowever , the . excellent Mr . Andbews has every claim , and , if the upset price of Southampton were not so unconstitutionally large , he should be our candidate .

      Untitled Article

      THACKERAY ON THE GEORGES . No one satirist is like another . The genius of satire is essentially centrifugal , and darts off to new aspects . If Hog-a . ktii could hare written history , he would have given us such memoirs as T : eiackeray has supplied of tbe Georgian era , —such as the first notion ; yet we reflect that Hogarth , wonderful as a mirror of vice : and mannerism , had no tenderness , no refinement , no litercs kumcmiores , and we see that wo libel Titaotctctcav with a

      comparison which does nob do justice to Hogarth . Voltaire might be the better parallel , but the biographer of the Georges does not exclusively bind his genius to the reductio ad absurd urn . He has been taken to task for not treating of the history and politics of the era ; and in defence he declares that he never attempted to do so ; but how little the man knows himself ! He deals "with the men and women of the day , —their manners and customs , in court and company , —their gowns and coats , —and what are these but the politics of any day ?

      The lecturer exposes to vis the inconsistencies of theory and fact . We made a king divine , and ascribed his elevation to Providence . The article failing in this country , partly for the veiy small accidents which really terminated the Stuart line , we sent to Germany for a king , as we do for Berlin ironmongery or Berlin , wool ; and wo got one . In those days , as Tiiaokekay says , noblemen carried the candle to the king , aiid contended with each other for the honour of holding his

      shirt when ho wna pleased to thrust his head through the neck-opening thereof . And that king—that anointed , whom the highest in the land were glad to candle and clothe—that ' D . Q . ' was a vulgar fellow , who could not rise even to the conception of kingliness . He had subjects , and sold them , as his descendant George III . sold sheep . Ho had mistresses , ' the Elephant * and ' the

      Maypole ; ' and , despising the pretended loyalty of tho English , lie retired to the realities and substantial delights of life , bonnes fortunes and beer ! The very divines who would have put a common mortal upon tho cutty-stool , and railed at beer , elevated that same Gkohqk into an anointed whom it was treason and blasphemy to cnll in question . Well , wo can despise tliat kind of conduct now , becauso when we look at pictures of

      the Geobgkes and their subjects , we see them in queerly-cufc coats , ridiculous cocked Jiats , preposterous ruffles ^ breeches and stockings that exposed without setting , forththe leg . The gravest statesman of that day is to our eyes a ' figure of fun , ' and we can laugh at tie pantomime pomps of holding the candle or the shirt .

      Yet , as Thacke&ay remarks , the vice is our own still . At the openin g of th « Crystal Palace , noblemen consented to walk "backwards for a mile , and prided themselves on coming featly down the stairs of the royal dais without stumbling . Half of the magnificence which rules the day is silly ; and , being silly , is vulgar ; and Thackeray makes us see it in undress .

      The influence of his satire is limited , because he speaks above the heads of the vulgar . In a country town , a Henry Vincent will carry away the multitude , who can see nothing in Thacserai ' s grave and quiet statements of incongruous facts . His lectures are those at -which the audience must , in the veritable sense of the word , ' assist , ' by their own comprehension . He is a democrat more formidable than "Wat Tyler , and yet he can only be listened io by the courtly and the refined .

      There is , however , a strong hold which the satirist has upon the multitude . Mostly the herd will raise to the highest places very poor creatures indeed—a Geoeg : e of Britnswick : to wit—and for this reason : for your average man , there is nothing ligher than your average man . ' Genius' is eccentric ; the great statesman is before his time , or behind it ; the really sacrificing Christian is not of this world ; but the king -that can go into stage-play dignities satisfies the average man in the invidious desire to set himself above his

      betters . If a man is cleverer , better , nobler , braver than John Smith , John Smith sees that he recovers the vantage by proxy in the person of Mr . Smith , ' to whom John's betters will bow as they will to an . idol . John ' s envious dislike of superiority is doubly tickled , by reflecting that the idol is after all nothing better than a very ordinary Smith ; so that

      the better , the nobler , the braver , and wiser are after all placed with their neek under John's foot ; and John laughs attiiem for their folly , baser than his own stolidity . If , too , a George I . goes in for beei * and Elephants , ' does it not condone Coal-holes and such passages in unpublished memoirs of John Smith ? It repeals , as it were , thoae acts of Parliament which are made for " the better

      observance of the Sabbath , " and which are kept up in front for the sake of appearances , but are so little regarded behind the scenes ; and your avexMge man is glad to find his own uneasy conscience seb at rest by this grand illustration , on the sacred throne , in the person of the anointed . Now , for taking us behind the scenes , and teaching us the humour of the thing , there is no Cicerone like Thackeray—lie is as good at the work as the " Czar of Muscovy" in taking tlie Man of Feeling over the madhouse .

      Untitled Article

      SWISS MERCENARIES . If tho Swiss desiro to obtain the unreserved sympathy of tbe liberal populations of Europe , they will reca . 1 their mercenary troops from Naples , and tho other states of Italy . They cannot entitle themselves a nation without fear and without repi'oach , until they censo to furnish the janissaries of despotism . It is not well for tliem to be gathering on their mountains in defence of the principles of national liberty , while from twelve to fifteen thousand of their race , in Naples , wear tbe Bourbon livery aud perform the duties of Mamelukes and sbirri . The

      statue of "Wilxxaji Tei * l ought not to stand too near the effigy of an Asiatic mute . This is the moral inconsistency which gives bo much power to Manin's appeaL But for the Swiss , freedom would have no home in Central Europe . But for the Swiss , despotism would not exist in Naples . The King , who inflicts on Milano eight Lours of agony in his chambre ardente near the Capuan gate , has a body-guard of Switzer soldiers , who should be ashamed of their

      employment . It is true that they are volunteers , and tlist in 1848 and 2849 similar volunteers- entered into the battles of the revolution in Italy j bttt they sre , at Naples , for the purposes of oppression only . The King cannot trust the national troops ; he must have aliens , cut off from all Italian sympathies , to do the work which , no Italian would do , upon , the citizens of Italy . These men degrade themselves , and dishonour their country . In justice , ifc must be added that the Swiss Government has . passed laws to

      check the mercenary system ; but Naples is a testimony to their inadequacy . An opportunity is now presented for the recal of the Neapolitan body-guard , and the outlawry of those Swiss to decline to abandon the licentious service in which they aire employed . The mere existence of such aforee is enough to justify an insurrection in Naples . But what is not justifiable , when the Commandant of the Swiss guard is the one man in the kingdom who does not fear the King , and who plays Tabqtitk with no more ehanee of punishment than an Egyptian Pacha ?

      Untitled Article

      There 13 no learned man but wiE confess he hath much profited by reading controversies , his senses awakened , and has judgment sharpened . If , then , it be profitable for him to read , why should it oiot , at least , be tolerable for iais adversary to write T—Miiiow

      Untitled Article

      with the moon ' s rotation . John Taylor has confused his mind by the use of tbe words separate , " " independent , " " relative , " " subordinate . " The only question is , does the moon turn on . its axis ? If it does , the motion by which it does so must be " a separate , independent , axial motion , " there being no motion of the earth to originate , and no rigid bar connecting the earth with the mooa to comnmnicate , such a motion " relatively and subordinately . " John Taylor lias plunged into a terrible quagmire in

      ask-THE MOON'S ROTATION . ( To the Editor of the Leader . " ) Sib , —I have only just seen your paper of the 6 th of December . Allow me to correct an inadvertency in my last letter . I should have said , * ' I do not know that the moon , in revolving round the earth , has any relative and subordinate motion , " &e . I see John Taylor has detected this verbal inaccuracy , and , in exposing it , has explained what tie meant by " the moon ' s relative and subordinate motion ; " namely , its motion along with the earth round the sun . I am sorry that , even with this in itself very lucid explanation , I am yet unable to understand what the moon ' s relative and subordinate motion has to do

      ing the question , " Can it bo proved that the moon turns on an axis witldn herself" ? " There I would leave him , reminding him , in parting , that the earth , while performing one revolution on its axis , moves ^ roughly speaking ) 1 , 800 , 000 miles through space , and that this motion , so far as the earth ' a rotation ia concerned , might just as w « U describe the circumference as the segment of a circle . Thanking you for your courtesy , I remain , sir , your obedient servant , WlJULIAM KBNWARD .

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      [ IM TUI 8 DEPARTMENT , A 3 AH , OPINIONS , HOVXVEB BXTDBTJIE , ARE AIAOWED AX BXFUBSSIOX , TUB EDITOR HBCBS 3 ABU . Y HOLDS HIMSELF RESPONSIBLE FOR NONE . J

      Untitled Article

      The Scotch Franchise . —Tho Edinburgh meeting , in support of extending the Scotch franchise , has been a great success . Dr . Bogg , the leader of tho movement , was present , and ho wna supported , in liia arguments by Bailio Blackadder , Councillor Gorrio , Mr . 1 ) . M'Laren , and other leading . citizens . Tho meeting unanimously affirmed , as a principle , that " a man should be as easily fouml by tho State ¦ whon rights are to bo enjoyed as when burdens arc to bo l ) orno . " If nothing else is forthcoming , it ia clear that tho question of Reform must now bo raised in tho noxt session of Parliament by tho Scotch members . —Morning Star .

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      __ Jaota . by 3 , 1857 . } ' TEH LIABEB , lg

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 3, 1857, page 15, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2174/page/15/