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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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contended in American , affairs . The festival —one of the most truly successful which have ever teen ¦ witnessed within the classic wails of that illustrious gathering-place—was intended to celebrate , not only the eightythird anniversary of American independence , but the founding of " the Amexican . Association" in London . It was , therefore , adouWe event ; but the political significancy . was quadruple . In the political meeting-house of Englishmen , a large company of eminent
THE AMERICAN DINNER . The peculiarity which attended the celebration , of the 4 th of July , afc the Xondon Tavern , on Monday last , was in complete liarmony with all for which this jouraal has
Americans met to commemorate not the severance of the colony from the British Government , but the establishment of an English colony in its political maturity . The reunion of America and England was distinctly recognized on the occasion , not only by the assembled company , but-by our truly gracious and intelligent Sovereign , who sent her own picture to be placed on the right hand
of "Washington ' s , and so to look down upon the assemblage with all the meaning that that truly graceful acb could convey . The American Minister announced that the Tight of search , the right even of visit , no longer constituted any question between Great Britain and the United States , our own . Government having given up both the points . This is no news to our own readers , who have been aware of the fact for several weeks . * But
not the less was the official announcement welcome in that peculiar assemblage ; welcomed by Englishmen as well as Americans , who joined at the festive table . There needed therefore no apologetical reason why the 4 th of July might be celebrated in London . Rightly considered , it was an English as well as an American success . "With pardonable partiality of patriotism , the Chairman maintained that
the declaration of American independence was a greater event than any that has l > eenwitnessecl Bince the great sacrifice which , through death , gave life to Christianity . But the event cannot be separated from the great series to which it belonged . It was not only carried out by Englishmen , Imt it was suggested to them by their English antecedents , and was in reality nothing more than an application of the English constitution . The series may be Baid to have had its beginning
in those days when the Barons of England met John on the field of Buunymede , though indeed that event was itself not the beginning . " We cannot trace the commencement of our constitution ; we lose it in the early rights which the Saxons acquired for themselves and imported with themselves , added perhaps to some -which they found already implanted in the soil , and augmented by Others which their successors carried out for themselves . Por it is a great historic fact ;
to which we have constantly borne witness , that the liberties of Englishmen have on all occasions been acquired by themselves , before they have been authentically recognized in our Parliamentary , records , Magna Charta was thus a Parliamentary and royal recognition of . rights already acquired . It is to be remarked , too , as a fact which has never been sufficiently borne ¦ in ¦ mind by Englishmen of all ranks , that , in those days , the lordly Barons spoke up for the classes beneath them , and that Magna ChaTta records the
rights of the plebeian freemen as well as of the Barons . This same fact is conspicuous in our subsequent Charters ; and . we have always thought it a mistake in our modern " Chartists , " that they overlook the significancy of that union in the acquisition of political rights . If we had depended solely on the parchment , our constitution would have had a very frail existence ; for it needed more than one renewal of the great Charter to keep alive the rights recorded . It was the refusal ; to acknowledge the Petition of Rights which brought Charles I . into his troubles
—the Petition of Rights declared by the greatest of all English lawyers to be not the concession of new rights , hut the declaration of existing rights . Public opinion , sustained by the bravery and will of Englishmen , established the success of the declaratory act ; while the refusing cost Cha . ht . es I . his head . This new item in the already lengthening list of great public events confirming the principles of Magna Charta , contributed to lend a force and stability to the British Constitution
which greatly aided the efforts-of patriotism in subsequent days . It shook the heart of James the Second while attempting an encroachment denied to his father . It strengthened the great lawyer Soacehs and his bold compatriots , in standing by the Bill of Rights . It confirmed the politic compliancy of William the Thiri > in affixing the royal signature to that new record of English rights .
The tax question between the American colonies and Geokge theTiubd was exactly of the same kind : the colonies stood by the spirit and letter of the English law , which Geokge the Tjiiiu > denied ; and in accordance with the uniform result of previous contests of the same kind , tlie colonies
sueceeded and Geob&e failed . The victory of the Americans had an immense effect in this country , to which we owe in no small part the stilL-contiuued vigour and enlargement of Liberal , that 13 , English , constitutional opinions on this Bide of the Atlantic . To the same sustained series of
lessons we owe the intelligent submission with which WiLUAM the PouitTH affixed his signaturo to the Reform Bill ; a statute which falls short from carrying out , for modern days , the full spirit of the first Charter as applied to the existent state of society and of the country . It is the same series of lessons which has sustained tho Liberal party in calling for measures to realize for our country , with all our social changes and developments , a more complete application of the principles of tho Charter ; and tho same scries of lessons which has contributed to dictate the high-minded and admirable policy of Queen Viotouia , whoao whole reign will
stand conspicuous in British history for the fidelity with which she adhered to the best spirit , as well as to the letter , of the British Constitution . And she has reaped her reward as one of the most successful monarchs —perhaps the most thoroughly successful that ever sat on the British throne . The history of England and America is thus a common history . We have not only a common language , a common law , a
common trade , and common interests , in the lower sense of the word , "but we have a common political history . For convenience , we make a distinction between " England " and " America ; " but the staple of the population of both countries , and the vis mtce on both sides , are English . Thus , the celebration of the 4 th of July is even a more important English , event than many which we have considered national .
Tins community of action as well as of political spirit and history will be strengthened by the founding of the American Association . Ostensibly and in motive it has more modest purpose . It is an association to relieve poor Americans , if any such exist , and sometimes , we know , curious beings of American birth stray to this side of the Atlantic and have to be helped back again through ' the- generosity of Americans . There never has been , we believe , any . difficulty" in this process ; but the association will have other uses . It will
impart a greater consistency to the public opinion of American s in this country , and most usefully . One of the happiest strokes in the admirable speech of Mr . JDallas was his distinction between the popular species of " militia" which the Americans employ in their diplomacj ' , and ^ regular " army" European diplomacy—the latter standing apart from the country , and shielded by the Court from the guiding pressure of public opinion . It "will be a great advantage to have
a sort of tete de pout for American public opinion on this side of that broad river , the Atlantic . It could be nothing but official mistakes which could ever betray thetwo coun tries into warlike conflict , so horribly destructive to the property and industry , the very life of men and women , in both countries . Such an equally dreadful and , silly event can never happen , so long as public opinion , in the United States and in England , shall be informed on the questions at issue . "We are
proud to believe that our own journal , during the last few years , has had some influence in proclaiming the substantial merits of certain questions on . both sides , and has succeeded in rallying public opinion to its work , with the happiest effects : for it has been by the force of that ruling power , in both countries , that tho dangers of war within that period have been superseded and set aside . And this appeal from the thoroughly unconstitutional methods of diplomacy to public opinion has
been tho strictest application of tho principles of the British Constitution to questions between two countries so united by blood , interest , and common law , that they can scarcely be considered foreign to each other . The addition of every linlc which unites the two is an incrense of strength to eacli . Tho electric cable may have failed ; but our regret is more than compensated by the success in " laying down" the American Association .
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THE RAILWAY DIFFICULTY . Can any lover of out-of-the-way slnlisl . ics tell U 3 how many waggon-loads of blue-books mid acts of Parliament Railways , within the last ten or a dozen years , hove added to our legislative lumber ? Who wi 1 take the trouble to reckon up tho number of hours in recurring sessions that mystified members of both Houses hnvo wasted in committees on railway bills , respecting which it is no slander to say that at tho end of their wearying and prolltloss
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There is nothing so revolutionary , "because there is nothing so unnatural and convulsive , as the strain to keep things fixed when all the world is bythevery law of itscreationm eternal progress . —DB . Aimom . ^
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SATURDAY , JULY 10 ,. 1858 .
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NOTICES TO CORRESPONDENTS . Rtrsxicus Abhobmis is thanked for his suggestion , which shall have full consideration . No notice can betaken 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 his good faith . Ic is impossible to acknowledge the niassof letters we receive . Their insertion is often delayed , owing to a press of matter ; and when omitted , it is frequently from reasons quiteindependent of the meritsof thecommunicntiou . We cannot undertake to return rejected communications
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• "We believe wo shall not be wrong if we express our belief that tho question will be found to have boon settled to the satisfaction of both Governments . " —Leader , June 19 th .
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J tfo . ^^ Juiy 10 , 1858 . ] T HJET _ LEADER . 661
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Leader (1850-1860), July 10, 1858, page 661, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2250/page/13/
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