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unemployed builders ; they arc doing less even than the tioket-of-leave men , who have been assembled by the instrumentality of Lord Carnarvon and Mr . Henry Mayhev ? , to tell their difficulties . We laugh at the Italians for suffering themselves to be cajoled , by us amongst others . Are "we not in alliance -with Axistria ? who lias just insulted the Lombardo-Venetian Kingdom by an amnesty . * clogged like others , ¦ w ith conditions that frustrate it , —for instance , it excludes the refugees .
The death of the Princess de Lieven will not undo that inner circle' of diplomacy which really manages the world ; and we have our domestic inner circle quite as much for the management of our world at home as abroad . If occasionally a gentleman does venture to be outspoken , he is voted unmamiered , and "the wellbehaved talk of cutting him . Take the case of Sir
Robert Peel . The very organs of the Ministry to . which he belongs are quoting the Billingsgate of the Prince de Ligne , or , as the printer of the Press wittily calls him , the Prince de Linge , in . reply to the outspoken account which Sir Robebt Peel gave of his travels on ' the Continent . The Prince calls * the Baronet a ragamuffin , and a toper . The Indian Mail brings us some more detailed , accounts of the lieAVS from Persia and China . From
Persia the accounts are satisfactory . The-Persians made a more gallant resistance at Bushire than we might have expected—a resistance which implies some stamina in Persia , and therefore a greater advantage in bringing her to her proper place in the Asiatic system . At Canton , Sir John IBowring is rather in difficulties , hence his demand for troops . He is not strong enough for what he has undertaken . Descending from politics and law to police , "we have to note that Lord Campbell has denied the inherent right of an Archbishop of Canterbury to prevent Archdeacon Denison from having a fair trial on appeal . The Church in this country is not above the law .
_ Our aristocratic class , —that West-end class that sits upon ' the shoulders of the country , is represented in the courts by Vane Tempest , late a gallant officer , who has been buying jewellery and giving it away . The jewellers apply for payment , and he pleads " Infancy . " The plea is characteristic in evexy sense , as an assertion of privilege .
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tone of ' men about town , ' " I am told he is famous in his own county for fat hogs and tall rhododendrons " My rapture was certainly damped by this supercilious remark , but rekindled when another acquaintance oh served : * ' Ah ! his lordship is" a man of considerable promise . He made a very fair speech on the address in reply to the Queen ' s Speech , last session ; and , you know , he was a double-first . " I did not know any ' thine about it , but of course I assented with a nod ; nor do I now quite understand how any man can be more than firet , or how he can be a double , except he is beside himself . However , that is not much to the point .
This exhibition of a youflg Earl was to be combined with one of his social antipodes—the much-abused 1 tick ' t-o ' -leaf-m'n . ' It appears this budding legislator had applied to Mr . Henry Mayhew to commune a meeting of Ms proteges , in order that from their own lip 3 their peculiar grievances might be ascertained , and , perhaps , useful suggestions obtained for remedying the practical defects of the system . ' VTith characteristic kindliness of heart that gentleman at once responded to the wishes of the noble aspirant after ' useful . knowledge and exerted himself with so much success that nearly one hundred of the unfortunate outcasts were persuaded to lay aside their natural suspicions , and to meet in the large and handsome room belonging to Salter ' s
Coffeehouse , in Victoria-street , Farringdon Market . It was nearly eight o'clock when I entered the spacious and lofty hall . Even at that hour only a small number of the guests had assembled , though the pavement outside-was dotted here and there with small groups of individuals of a vacillating disposition—curiosity and fear struggling for the mastery . My heart beat audibly , and the bloo d sang in my ears , as with quick , faltering step I approached the platform , supporting the noble presence of an Earl , condescendingly seated in a cliair of no uncommon pretensions . Timidly raising my eyes , I beheld the folds of an elegant white silk handkerchief proudly , but gracefully , swelling out of the long-descended bosom , reminding one of the pure white berries of the mistletoe pendent at Christmas time from the boughs of a sturdy oak . Not that there was anything oak-like about the philanthropise lord , who had abandoned for a time his
rhododendrons and azaleas , and relinquished his horticultural pursuits to study the physiology-of Botany Bay . Presently . I ventured to look yet higher , and with bated breath gazed on those aristocratic features—the mild , slumbering eye , the well-bred nose , the softly-reposing moustaches , the modest , retiring ; chin . No pigeonfancier in St . Martin's-lane would have hesitated for a moment to give him a certificate of race . Perhaps my allusion is not sufficiently obvious . There is , sir , an aristocratic class of pigeons called Almonds , from their colour . The bills of these "birds , by breeding in-and-in , become so very soft that they cannot pick up the peas with which base-born pigeons are usually fed . It at once struck me that the noble lord in the ordinary chair was a ' soft bill , ' and altogether an Almond pigeon of unquestionable descent . On his right sat the Levite " who was content to dwell with the ( noble young ) man . " It seems that ia exalted circles it is
customary to retain , as a part of the establishment , a private chaplain to transact the great man ' s rel igious business , in addition to a secretary or amanuensis for purposes of spelling and grammar , and a butler to drink the old port . Or , as my informant irreverently expressed it , " Your swell can ' t do without his bibleholder , any more than without his ready letter-wi tor and ' bottle-jack . '" I was glad to observe that the reverend gentleman did not look at all ashamed of hi . s pupil , or unbecomingly oppressed by the tightness of his own immaculate choker . Ho had evidently wrapped himself up in his virtue and a comfortable top-coat buttoned up to tho throat , and was piously resigned to his fate in having fallen among thieves . On his right hand
again , sat a lay figure . Take this as a bad pun , if you choose , but I am serious in calling it bucIi , though my facetious companion tried to impose it upon me us a young aristocrat , who was being reared to sit in the House of Commons . As far as mere sitting goes , very likely it would be quite as useful ns many of the animated creatures who aro sent thcro to learn how to sleep with their hats on . But this was too palpably a wooden figuro to bo mistaken for one of the yloriouB old gentlemen of England . Tho face , too , was wretchedly carved . From some accident , the features lnul been spoilt , and so others had boon picked up at random , and glued on anyhow . Ho , no ; call mo ? yokel , if you ploase , but I know a man when I sco one , and I liiiow a lay ilgure , too , and can toll the difference .
Wo have received the following letter on tho subject of this singular conference frohi a well-known and esteemed correspondent of the Leader , and we recommend his communication to the serious attention of our readers : — THE " MONSlEtrlt AltX KALMIAS . " { To the Editor ofI 7 ie Leader . ) Stn , —I belong to that class of poisons whom you Londoners somewhat contemptuously designate ns " yokola ; " in other words , I am a ' country cousin . ' It is , therefore , needless to montion tlmt the greatest treat I anticipated in my visit to tlio metropolis was tho sight or a real lord , ftnagitw , then , tho sudden thrill that shot through mo when a friend offered me a ticket to bcc a live JMirl . It ih tmo my benefactor spoke rather slightingly of tlio illustrious young nobleman , : \ a a Monsieur mix Kalmias ; " adding , in tlio nil akmirari
On the left sido of tho noble chairman sat a serenelymajestic boing , whom I at once roeogiiized iir Mr . Ilunry Maylicw , from having had his likeness pointed out to mo in tho picture of London Notabilities , gratuitously exhibited to tho public , outside Mr . ViclcrcBs ' fi witiouutl spirit establishment , at the corner of Wellington- . street North . Around the platform , but bolow it , wure congregated several decent , respectable-looking gentlemen , Whom my cicerono represented to bo persons connected with newspapers , and that sort of thing , but I suspect hu wim laughing at me . "Why , they w < m > all well < -lotheil , and looked tolerably well led , and there was withing ftt > all wild or desperate in their appearance , llcsiilo . s , they were all on good terms with one another , and chatted together as pleasantly no you and I could do . Facing them sat tho " tick't-of-leaf-m ' n , " ns they called tliem-
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98 THE LEAD E R . [ No . 358 , Sa . tuhda . y ,
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MEETING OF TICKET-OF-LEAVE MEN . A gathering of ticket-of-leave men convened by Mr-Henry Mayhew , at the request of the Earl of Carnarvon , who presided , took place at Tarringdon Hall , Snow-hul , on Tuesday evening . Between eighty and ninety attended , and were admitted by simply showing their tickets-of-leave at the door . The police were rigorously excluded . The appearance of the men is described as for the most part resembling that of costermongers ; but hero and there were to be seen a few of the flash 1 swell mobsmen . ' Lord Carnarvon was supported by Mr . Henry Mayhew , the Rev . Mr . Portal , Mr . Beach , Mr . Wyld , Dr . Mackay , and a few other gentlemen .
The first person to ascend the platform ( saj's the account in the daily papers ) was a tidily-dressed and simple-looking bald old man of about sixty , who prefaced liis recital with tho words , " Fellow-men and brother sufferers , " and wont on to describe himself as on « who had " seen more trouble in his time than any othei man this day in England . " Being- tho same individual Who told his tale of distress at the former meeting ifi the National Hall , in tho character of a dock labourer , who was constantly harassed by the police in his endeavours to support himself by honest industry , it is not
was Mr . Mayhew . { Hisses . ) Theymight hiss him if they liked ,-bat Mr . Mayhew convened these meetings , and said upon the cards that lie intended to make them and their difficulties known . [ A . " Voice : ' You take it in a wrong light . ' ] Perhaps he did , but he was a poor man , and could not express himself like Mr . Mayhew . He wished , however , to speak the truth , and not to relate mere fictions . Lord Carnarvon ought to know that Mr . Mayhew called these meetings , where he extracted information from the men privately , and then published it in his work . ( Confusion . ) That gentleman stated the other day in u Sunday newspaper that while a ticket-of-leave man could make his 5 / . a week and keep a pony by his old practices , it . ' , was useless to expect him to become a clerk upon a salary of 15 s . a week . A nice man was Mr . Mayhew ! { Laughter and hisses . ) It was nonsense to talk of shutting out the police while such a man was- —~"
The Chairman at this point cut short the speaker s invective , which appeared to be fast reaching its climax , and appealed to the good sense and good feeling of the meeting to support him in confining the discussion to its legitimate scope . Shouts of applause followed this remonstrance , and the indignant orator was compelled to sit down . The third speaker was a costermonger , who also spoke last year ; and he stated that he had a wife and child and an aged mother to keep , but he thanked God he was
able to do so by honest industry . He only expected the workhouse for his old age , and he got no more than one meal on some days ; "butthat wasfaT preferable to three meals and a pannikin of soup in the Penitentiary . " His ticket was of no use to him , because he was not one of the learned ones , but one of the ignorant ones , who had had to " rough it" ever since he was fourteen . In this as in the previous case , a very favourable testimonial to character was produced at the close of his speech .
Two other speakers also received excellent characters from their employers , who were present , and who had not previously known , thoxigh one had suspected , that these servants of theirs possessed tickets of leave . The sixth speaker , a mason , and a middle-aged man , very well dressed , inveighed with great bitterness against the persecutions of the police . How , he asked , could a ticket-of-leave , without a character , expect to get work , when ^ thousands of -workmen who had never been in gaol are now starving for ' want of employment ? He had tried for a year to get employment , and could not , and he wouldn't starve . " The way in which his kind friends ' lent him a hand' was to set the police to hunt him down without cause . His married sister had her house
lately broken into , and when the police went to inquire about it , his niece told them , ' Oh ! I have an uncle who is a housebreaker . ' { Laughter . ) By this means the police were set upon him ; he had been dragged about by them from one court to another upon every variety of false charge . Once he was accused of stealing the hat ho had on , and it was only by the hatter ' s coming forward to prove his purchase of it that he was ultimately liberated . He ( the speaker ) was a ticket-ofleave man himself , and he now lived with a ticket-ofleave woman ; and of course that was sufficient to justify
his apprehension for every conceivable depredation committed in his neighbourhood . If a mat was stolen from the next door to his , ten to one but the police would be down upon him for it . " After denouncing the inconsistent benevolence of the country , which lavished its care upon the foreigner and the negro , and neglected the oppressed and the destitute at home , the speaker concluded by entreating for himself and his class a chance of returning to the paths of honest industry , and by declaring his conviction that transportation would never stop crime . Mr . Mayhew said that if the last speaker really wished for employment ho should be happy to furnish him with the name of a gentleman who -would givo it to him . ( Applause . ) Two or three other tickot-of-leave men having addressed the meeting in a similar strain , tho Chairman thanked tho persons present for their orderly behaviour , exhorted them to Btrive to become honest once more , and called for a sho w of hands to ascertain whether tho men would ptcfer to have a ticket of leave in England or one in the colonies . All , Without an exception , signified in favour of the latter , and tho meeting shortly afterwards broke up .
necossitry hero to repeat the greater part of his statement . The only addition to his former narrative was that xn April last he obtained a situation upon Mr , Mayhew s recommendation , and ho thanked God that ho Lad beeti able to keep it ever since . He had to work very Bard for his living , but he knew many like himself who ¦ wo uld be only too glad to change positiona with him , andtorcturntohoncst pursuits . Many now ran about the streets playing ttitoir old games , who would jump at tBto clinnco of emigrating to Australia ; drul ha was very sorry for tlio day that ho had himself conic homb from tho colonies , After giving some particulars
illustrative df tho alleged dishonesty and tyranny of the police , tlio speaker sat xtown . __ A fat , burly-looking young man , in a rough overjacket and a witlo-awako liat , next claimed to be heard , and began by demanding somewhat bluntly , " Who ia Mr . Mayhttw ? " Having had that gentleman pointed out to lum , ho set himnelf wry rudely to catechising lmrl but was soon compelled to desiBt by tho feeling of tho assemblage . Ho then remarked that " he meant no offence , but ho wished to caution tho men against ranking themselves so public , nnd risking their lives to coino * Uero for tho eolo benefit of another man . That m « . n
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 31, 1857, page 98, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2178/page/2/
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