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really popular Government to enter into any pledge that it will make its actions , in all details , and in secrecy , conform" to the actions of Downing-street . Lord Palmebston ' s Government has done one thing which will tend , in cases of detailed difficulty , to " promote a convenient harmony of action on the part of the representatives of
America in the Chinese waters . " Whatever question may be raised as to the particular fitness of Lord Elgin for the particular mission , at all events he enjoys a very considerable degree of favour and confidence on the part of the citizens of the "United States . No man , we believe , would be less likely to prefer an improper request to any officer of the American service in China than Lord
Elgin ; and no man would be less likely to meet with a refusal . To a certain extent the case has already occurred . The Americans Lave met with difficulties in the waters of China very similar to those which have been encountered by Sir John Bowbin g , and we are not aware that Sir John or Admiral Seymour have any cause to complain of the conduct of the American officers ; we "believe quite the reverse is the fact . It is possible that Lord
Elgin" may be instructed to enlarge the field of operations in China . On that point , as usual , bur Government withholds from lis every information . The course , therefore , may greatly alter ; but of one thing we feel convinced- The appointments of Miv Buchanan , hitherto especially taken in conjunction with each other , may " be described as strictly tending to the interests of the United
States . He has iu some respects disappointed the expectations of party ; he has , we believe , exceeded the expectations of his country , although not our own expectations . It is not probable , therefore , that any appointments which he may make will be other than sueh . as are calculated to maintain the principles of his Government in its relation with the Celestial Empire , and with the other civilized countries whom the Americans will meet
in the waters of China . That the officers of the United States in China will be well supported we are certain , for we fully expect that the naval force of the United States in that part of the world will be placed at least upon a " respectable" footing .
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THE SIECLE AND THE TIMES . We have observed with more regret than surprise an article in the Siecle , purporting to be a reply to some recent comments of the Times upon the most ' salient indications of the latest census in Prance . The Times was singularly indulgent and reserved upon , this delicate and painful subject , and touched upon its characteristics Avith all the tenderness and caution which might be expected from a journal to whose enormous power and publicity an almost
governmental responsibility belongs of necessity , and in whose almost diplomatic reserve upon certain foreign questions we , for our part , very frankly recognise nothing but the just prudence of an exceptional position . Other journals , responsible only to the sincerity of their own convictions and to the sympathies of special readers , may seem to pay a more undivided homage to great principles , bufc a whisper of the Times , when the note is true , resounds through Europe like a trumpet . -
The remarks of our Parisian contemporary are signed by a man of talent and generous feeling , whose name we have been accustomed to respect for an honourable and energetic assertion of liberal principles in the teeth of a censorship whose undisguised severities are the least of the dangers which a free expression of opinion incurs under a despotism of equivocations . It is not the
open warnings so much as the secret and unremitting pressure of official intimidation that independent journalism has most to fear in the France of to-day . Of this secret pressure operating through the hundredhanded vigilance of that Bureau of Public Opinion over which M . Collet MEraitET so amiably and aftably presides , the outer world knows next to nothing . It is rather in the tacenda than in the dicenda of the
unofhcial press that the working of the directorship of Public Safety is to be detected . But we have regretted to find M . Louis Jourdan ' s signature attached to an article so feeble and so fretful in tone as this reply to our leading journal . If it be not a calumny that the Siecle , ostensibly a liberal organ , enjoys the confidence of the Palais Royal , wo can only say that , for the credii of the journal , it is a pity the hand thai pulls the strings is not moro adroitly conv cealod . The influence exercised by the Sieclt makes it important to the liberal cauBo thai its sources of information should be tin
tainted by the poison of complicity . Through out the war the Siecle , magnanimous to ox cess , won much favour in this country by it hearty attachment to tho English alliance contrasted with the shrewish bitterness o tho jLssembMc Rationale , On tho othei
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above a programme of " practical measures , ' implies nothing less tban a resolve , on Lord Palmeiiston ' s part , to effect by cajolery what a despot vTOiild effect by coercion , to convert our limited monarchy , iu fact , into an . administrative ' -monarchy- ; That is his plan . Its success depends upon the Liberal members of the House of Commons- The test of their Liberalism must be , in future , whether they will support political reforms as well as the trifles called administrative improvements .
Otherwise we shall have a session spent in passing , or attempting to pass , an amendment in the lavrs relating to the property of married women , a poor-law amendment , a new batch of legal reforms , a church-rate compromise , and a few other tinkerings of the statutes at large . The old House of Commons tried to do this work , and failed . Probably the new House will , to some extent , fail also . But Lord Palmebston , assuming that he and Mr . Hayteb , do not break down in their
plot , will continue to stand at the head of affairs , caressing the young Liberals , baulking the deposed chiefs , and twirling Parliament upon his thumb . He can do it , with the assistance of the corrupt men , the weak men , the bewiLdered men ^ and the insincere men-sunless the really independent men undertake to operate against a policy so fruitless and so degrading . "We are not writing against
Lord PAXiMERSTON . " We are only characterising his scheme of action , aud putting it to the Liberal party—will you be jockeyed ? The tone of the Government organs is decidedly adverse to political reform ; all the whispers tell in favour of the JSdinhurgh theory . " We are approaching a session in which the Premier Avill attempt to govern by a series of little coups d'etat , with Mr . Hayteh as "the St . Aunaud of the great
conspiracy . The Quarterly expounds the Palmers ton idea in a singularly lucid analysis . The Premier , it s ays , is a traitor to the cause of Reform ; he governs by trickery and manoeuvre ; he talks of progressive improvement in language which , coming from Tory lips , would be pronounced icy ; his promises of progress would
not have alarmed Lord Eldon . The Quarterly points to Lord John Russell as the true Liberal leader ; it is respectful to the Manchester party ; but it warns the country against a , Minister who treats political independence as parliamentary mutiny , and lieform , to use the words of Mr . Lowe , as " an electoral cry . "
THE PALMERSTON-HAYTER , CONSPIRACY . We have now more distinct symptoms of the Government policy—of Lord Palmerstop ' s design to jockey the House of Commons . Mr . Hatter , sends a letter , addressed to the general supporters of the Government , including Lord Blanford , requesting their attendance and votes ab the election of Mr . Denison , as Speaker : " An answer will oblige . " This request for an answer is an innovation . It means that the
Liberal members are to compromise themselves , . to accept a compact with the Ministry , to profess the faith as it is in Paxmeuston . That is one indication . Then , we have the a ttacks on Lord John Russell . Thirdly , the Edinlurgh article . Now , what can the attacks on Lord John Russell signify , except the antagonism of the Government to the chief of tho "Whiff Keformers
? The JSdinlnrg 7 t , repudiates political reform , which it calls " organic ; " Lord John Russell insists upon it , and is industriously abused ; the Liberal party is gracefully invited by Mr . II ayteii to supply Lord Palmerston with three or four hundred signatures — a requisition to him to retain liia post , and to name his own Speaker . This studied disparagement of Lord John Russeli ,, this new artifice of the whipper-in , this blue and buff flag hoisted
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a ™™ 25 . 1857 . 1 THE LEADER . 397
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THE NEAPOLITAN APOLOGY . The King of Naples has at last joined issue with the English journals , and denied that ho tortures his poHtical prisoners . There being no evidence in his favour , it is necessary to estimate the King ' s word . "What is it worth ? Have governments ever prevaricated ? If so , is Ferdinand's government likely to employ that stratagem ? Really , the reader will not expect to have the question answered for him . The Times correspondent says : — "I have come to the painful conclusion that torture , in its proper sense of the term , is practised in the 'JNvo Sicilies . " " It is an evidence of
cities are made use of , not to extort confessions , but gratuitously to gratify his Majesty's vengeance . And the Times pictures the system by which society in Naples is preserved from anarchy : " the denunciations of the secret spy—the brutalities of the policethe daily illegalities and acts of injustice which are committed—men snatched from , the bosoms of their families on suspicion merely , degraded from their position ,
imprisoned for months and years without trial —• these are facts which no one can deny . " The public does not deny them , but stigmatizes Febdinand as a tyrant . But what of a certain other Monarch ? Will any one , who has the slightest knowledge of the facts , deny that the last paragraph quoted from the Times ^ correspondent applies to Paris as literally as to Naples ? Both governments are impeached before Europe ; both have pleaded " Not Guilty , ' and neither is believed .
my caution that I expressed my doubts as to tho application of torture to Aqesilao Milano , but those doubts no longer exist . " " That that unfortunate man was tortured is tho opinion of foreign ministers , priests , military men , civilians , liberals , and royalists as well . This I say advisedly . " Ho may well say so . Milano ' s faco , when he came upon tho scafibld , betrayed the horrible secrets of his prison ; it had grown old with physical agony ; on his hands could bo seen the marks of tho " infernal machine ; " tho people knew at once that ho had been vilely tortured . Flagellation , semi-starvation , and other atro-
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), April 25, 1857, page 397, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2190/page/13/
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