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. _ , ~ (*rJT\ Oj\r\Ps~\ vJLmI^/ /^j^y ^j'Pfy^uV <=<V X" A /^V" - - y^I; Jv i^V -V Jv \ s ? PvG" f^i A - ^""^ \^—^ ' ' ""* SATUEDAT, MAT 22, 1858. ' ¦ - ¦¦ ¦ . ^ v ¦; -. ¦ . ¦ ¦— ftl llilC Slu 111 1*0 4 There ' » nothing so revolutionarybecause there is nothing so unnatural and convulsive, as the stram \2^l^f^^^ti^iiiogTViB .-Di^iS
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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.
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NOTICES 1 O CORRESPONDENTS . Wo notice cau bo taken of anonymous correspondence Whateveris intended for insertion must be authenticated by the name and address of the writer ; not necessarily for publication , but as a guarantee of hisgoodtfaitli . Ibis impossibletoacknowledge themassof letters we receive . Their insertion is often delayed , owing to a press of matter ; and when omitted , it is frequently from reasons quiteindependeiit of- the meritsof the communication .
. _ , ~ (*Rjt\ Oj\R\Ps~\ Vjlmi^/ /^J^Y ^J'Pfy^Uv ≪=≪V X" A /^V" - - Y^I; Jv I^V -V Jv \ S ? Pvg" F^I A - ^""^ \^—^ ' ' ""* Satuedat, Mat 22, 1858. ' ¦ - ¦¦ ¦ . ^ V ¦; -. ¦ . ¦ ¦— Ftl Llilc Slu 111 1*0 4 There ' » Nothing So Revolutionarybecause There Is Nothing So Unnatural And Convulsive, As The Stram \2^L^F^^^Ti^Iiiogtvib .-Di^Is
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WHAT IS THE BROADEST BASIS OF A LIBERAL MINISTRY ? Evee intent on the restoration of certain favourite leaders , the Times , a little after date , moralizes a , funeral oration on the late PaIvMEkston Government , its deficiencies and shortcomings , with a view to adumbrate the enlarging hopes for that political phoenix the next Palmerstonian Administration in its regenerate condition . It is careful to tell tis that the last Cabinet was horn of a cross between two misfortunes , the Aberdeen misfortune and the Debbt-Disk-jleli misfortune , PAidtfEEsrON being in possession of the remnant of the old "Whigs , whom in politeness he could not turn out .
"A Ministry formed in such a manner , " it says , " , of course , deficient in ability , largeness of view , and even popular sympathy . The only wonder is that it did so well . The majority of the Cabinet were mediocrities . They were neither the best of the old men , nor had they any new men mixed with them . Some of them iveie wanting in capacity ; one or ' who had capacity were destitute of application . The Chancellor was notoriously one of the weakest men who ever held the Great Seal , and , with the greatest opportunities that ever a Law Reformer possessed , did nothing for four years , and would have done nothing till the end , had not the Premier and the Attorney-General taken matters in "hand . Men like Mr . Labouchere , Mr . 33 aine 9 , Mr . "Vernon Smith , and Lord Clanricarde , each
for very different reasons , certainly added no strength to the Cabinet . Lord Panmure , with much pretension to liberality , was ever ready to lend an ear to the reactionists of the military clique , and , had he remained in office and escaped the vigilance of Parliament and the press , ¦ would probably have undone most that has been effected of late for improving- and popularizing the service . As a general rule , the Ministers were of the old class of placemen t and had been so long in office as to be incurably afflicted with the disease common to the race . A morbid antipathy to every suggestion of Parliament and every impulse of the public is generated by the atmosphere of the public offices , and the old Whigs were possessed with it beyond the power of reason or ridicule or invective to cure .
" But , the Tunes goes on to say , " it is now tinao to look to the futuTe . That the country must have a stable Government , a Government witli a policy , and that support which a policy ensures , is becoming sufficiently obvious . Every day -will bring the Liberal party of all sections more and more to the samo conclusion . Do people consider how narrowly we have escaped six months of recess under Lord Ellenborougli ? Are they prepared to see Parliament quietly prorogued , and the country , with Asia in a flame , surrendered to the care of the authors of the Secret Despatch ? Tho time will Boon como for the construction of a Liberal Ministry on the broadest basis . "
W hat wo -want , however , is not a broadbased Cabinet onl y , but a strong Government . On tho second night of the debate on Mr . Car . dwei / l' 8 resolution , Mr . JIoeimoK wound up his defence of Lord Derby ' s Government b y expounding a new political doctrine , which , from itB Bpeciousnesa , may find a too ready acceptance out of the walls of Parliament . "Sir , " ho said , addressing tho Speaker , "I lidiove that good government , that tho linppiricos of tho i > c (>|> 1 « , that the advnneo of liberal measures , which wo al desire , are moro to bo obtained from that weak Government —( pointing to the Treasury bench )—than from the
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OUH POSITION IN INDIA . Sin Coltx Campbell lias entered upon his tliird campai gn against the Indian rebels . With a force consisting of less than ten thousand . Europeans , accompanied l ) y a siege train , he has marched -from Oucle and penetrated the liohilla . country , where , if the enemy contest the ' ground with real 1 'ulaii vigour , the opposition will he serious . Unless they retire , his first encounter with them will probably be a little to the north of iFuttchghur , beyond which' the country is entirely in their possession . At that healthy and commanding station , however , Brigadier Scat ' on , with his slight force , formed the Vanguard of the British army , and , in the first week of April , attacked and defeated two thousand five hundred of the insurgents . Thus , the way is open to the Cominjinder-in-C / liicf us far . as Furruckabatl , ninety-five miles to the north-west of Lucknow . A few days' march would bring him to Bareilly , where the Naua Sahib , the Nawab of Futteligjiui , the Khan Bahadoor , and other rebellious chiefs were reported to have concentrated their resources , awaiting an attack , from the south-east , it may ho inferred that Sir Colin Campbell had informed himself of their strength , and of any works they had raised for the defence of the town ; hut it is probable that the enemy , persisting in the h'abiun
tactics which have been so disappointing to the British commanders , will not make a decided stand at any point where they can he brought into full action to sailer all the penalties of defeat . The question is therefore important , ¦ whether the military line will be so completely closed round Bareilly as to leave no way open for the retreat of an organized army . JJW t fijdicr Coke , descending from the head of ' llu : Doab at lloorkee , may baillo liny movement towards the north-west ; and . it will be remembered that a ll . y ing column still scours the Delhi districts , so thai , we
may regard the rebels as cut oil' in that ch rue lion . Eastwards tliey could only inarch upon the mountains of Nepaul , and it is possible that the lactu'S adopted by the Ghoorkas in retiring within llieir own frontier have been suggested by flic I vvolohl necessity of sheltering themselves from the licat ot the plains and of repelling the insurgents ,, should they attempt , to ensconCv ! themselves among I he lower Jlimaliivan viillcys . At all evenb , . '"' l g Bnhadoor ' s battalions form an effective niuipart east of Baroilly . Upon t he soutli-wi ; sl ., the ILolnl a borders arc not so thoroughly occupied ,, the double river line being held only by British positions
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strong insolence of this —( pointing to the front Opposition bench ) . I have seen , Sir , both 1 1 have tried them both , and I am sure that -we are farther advanced , in a course of improvement and liberty than "we should have been under the guidance of the noble Lord ( Lord Palmerston ) . If we seek simple honesty—if "sve want justice for the people of England—if we seek the happiness of the people of England , and good government for England , "we shall give a decided negative to the resolution of the right honourable gentleman the member for Oxford . "
That is , to overthrow a weak Government and to replace it by a strong one , to displace a Government without principle by a Government that must , defer to principle—to remove from power a Government that acts only under compulsion , for a Government of free action . This is to bring the march , of political improvement to a dead stop .
Now we do not hesitate to say that Mr . BoEBtrcK ' s conclusion is entirely fallacious , drawn as ifc is from the . assumption that a strong Government at the present time must of necessity have Lord Pai / mebstok at its head . Lord Palmebstost may , indeed , return to office , but his shortcomings will be in no way consequent upon his strength . If he should return to power with nearly the same Cabinet as that which formed his late Ministry , he would not form a strong Government
because it vould not be led by the natural leader of the Liberal party . But just now it is not at all a question of strong or of weak Government , hut of a Government that shall fitly represent the eountr } 7 " . It is no more proper for . A great nation to wait upon the powerlessness of one Government , than it is for that country to bear an insolent and tyrannous opposition to its will and to its wants . The first and last requirement of the present time is a direct Administration , a Government whose strength "would ' lie in the
completeness of its accordance with the wants and wishes of the country , and in its utter independence of party . We want a Government organized upon a basis infinitelywider than that upon which our Governments are at present organized ; we want a Minister whose foreign policy would be as open and honest as the dealings of a high gentleman—a policy of non-interference with the internal arrangements of other countries , but ottering moral support to all peoples moving towards social and political freedom ; whose domestic policy would tend constantly to reform , and to the development of the people ' s , power of self-government . Such a ' Government would draw strength from the
only source that can give stability to a Government—the healthy support of th « governed . Cabinets have hitherto sought for strength inquite another direction , —in a mere majority within Parliament—a support that carries with ifc the elements of instability . In the present condition of the franchise , tho representative Chamber represents only a minority of the people , amidst whom are constantly developing new political influences , and therefore naturally tending to a readjustment of the representative system . Out of doorB there is a constant move to abolish a state of
things under which ib is in the power of a certain rich few to arrange , moro or lesa completely , before a general election , the composition of the House of Commons . The Minister -who relies at present upon hia accord with tho feeling " out of doors , " command the majority in Parliament . But lnialocl by tho immediate effect of that power , relying upon his majority in , Parliament , ho disregards public , opinion , Ilia majority falls away ; and he again illuwtratcs for tho hundredth time tho fact , that tho Ministry-which must bo full y and permanently successful in our day must possess a foundation broader than that of a niero majority within the walla of Parliament .
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A Minister at the head of a Cabinet formed upon the basis we " have indicated would rarely , if ever , "break down in the possession of apparent strength ; for Jiis policy would be to represent , before all else the power , the life , and the ideas of the country itself . The : firet duty of such a Cabinet would be to enlarge the basis of the House of Commons , which , under the present franchise evidently rests upon an insufficient basis ! The new Cabinet , then , must , by its measures and men , be such as would command
a majority of the H < mse of Commons , after its next reform— -it must , without waiting-for that period , represent the unenfranchised as well as the enfranchised classes . A Government so constituted aud so supported would be " strong" in tbe only way in winc h strength is either desirable or attainable ; and it is only to sucb a Government that the country will he content to look for the progress which Mr . Roubttck tells us to seek from none but a weak Government , moving upon , compulsion , like that of Xiord Djeebt .
Looking around for the means to get out of the present into the future , we must recognize the position and " claims" of eliiefs of the party now representing , however inadequately , the liberal opinions of the country ; and the question suggests itself ,- —would Lord pAiiMEitSTO ^ head a „ Cabinet such as the country demands ? Again , Ave must ask , has Lord John Russell the command of men to form the complement of such a Cabinet ? We confess that we are not prepared with a list of the twelve or thirteen men required ; but we believe that we have stated the grand political necessity of the dav .
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.. ¦ . ; : . ¦ ; : . : : ¦ . ¦ . ' ' - . . % 494 THE LEADER , [ No . 426 , May 2 % , 1858 , I
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There is nothing so revolutionary , because there is nothing'so unnatural and convulsive , as the strain to keepthings fixed when all the world is "by thevery law of itscreationmeternalorogress . —Db . Abnoid
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^— -r \ y > / 'T ~ SATUEDAY , MAT 22 , 1858 .
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Leader (1850-1860), May 22, 1858, page 494, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2243/page/14/
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