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ParisPost-office , Eue Jean-Jacques Rousseau . I presume that for all these papers , received but not delivered , the French postal authorities claim and receive payment from the English Postmaster-General . But they make no delivery , and yet charge for it , which , by common honesty , if not by common law , must be held to be nothing more nor less than swindling—obtaining money under false pretences , and cheating Messrs . Smith out of a portion of the prepaid postage . This is bad enough , but what follows is worse . Not only are the papers not delivered , and the senders in England thereby defrauded , but the French Government actually keeps possession of
the journals , coolly pocketing the proceeds from their sale as waste paper . If from the ethics of Confucius the French Government has so great a dread of foreign intelligence being disseminated in France , we may concede that they may take what precautions they deem necessary against their fearS ^ yet they ought not to make a profit out of them They are bound , if they will not deliver the papers , to return them to St . Martin ' s-le-Grand . The combination of politics and prig-gery is the meanest and most despicable feature of the whole system . Burglars mostly despise area sneaks , and so far are superior to the administrators of an enlightened despotism who descend to petty larceny .
SIR FRAXCtS HEAD . Sir Francis B . Head , alias 31 . Leo Xeulsdorf , alias Jenkins 1 had written thus far , when the Tiines of "Wednesday , by rare chance , came to hand before post time , containing the second epistle of the author of " Bubbles" and " Fagots . " That the chronicler of such unsubstaritialities should venture into a political discussion , i 3 but a fresh illustration of the character of those who " rush in where angels fear to tread . " I know not which is the most astounding , the affected ignorance or real insolence of the Governor-General en disponibilite . Before proceeding further , it may be due to your readers who must be surprised that any one ¦ who ever had the honour to hold her Majesty ' s
commisstrangers without reward . Now , I presume , whatever entertainment the representatives of the Times may have heTe is paid for ; they , no more than your own correspondent , are lodged , fed , clothed , and paid by the French Government . There is , consequently , no hospitality . The next charge is . that the 1 tines keeps an anonymous correspondent in Paris . Has Sir Francis never contributed an anonymous article to the Quarterly ? is he an entire stranger to those leaders which glorify imperial tyranny in the u base exception , " and have inflicted a deep scandal on English journalism ? Sir Francis knows , moreover , that the correspondent of English papers in Paris are not anonymous , either to th © Government or to the public . Their names and addresses are duly registered at the police , and will l > e found in the Annuaire du Contrnerce . Sir Francis B . Head has ,
therefore , told a falsehood . The Baronet would not be worthy further notice were it not from the curious internal evidence which his epistles afford that Sir Francis B . Head , the Jeukins of the present day , and M . Leo de Xculsdorf , the correspondent of Bf . Cassagnac and abuser of Englishwomen in the Jitveil , arc one and the same person . I really cannot congratulate Sir Francis on the success of his disguises , they are too flimsy and transparent ; his sleight-of-hand tricks and transformations are too clumsy to deceive the dullest clown in Corydon . One word more . Who mlRe the writer of " Bubbles" and " Fagots of Dried Sticks" spokesman of the English people ? How dare he assert that they disapprove of the language which calls things by their right names . They may not desire war , but they would rather encounter that , with all its horrors , than
abandon the right of free speech and betray the cause of freedom , of which they are sole guardians , as they are and will be sole defenders .
sion , and to represent her in the government of an English community , should prove so recreant to his national faith—to state what charm won Sir Francis B . Head from being the servant oT constitutional Government to become the votary of imperial despotismhow , in short , he took the purple fever which has debilitated his mind and unhinged his reason . Weak minds and frothy heads are generally wrenched from the rightful course by trifles , and Sir Francis B . Head ' s perversion is a melancholy instance of this weakness . Upon an evil day the blower of "Bubbles" came hither , and upon a still more evil day he went to see a review held by the Prince President . While lost and tossed about in the crowd that followed the heels of the
President , an aide-de-camp , with a led horse , approached , and , addressing the bubble-blower , asked if he had the honour to speak to the illustrious Sir Francis Head ? Being satisfied that such was the case , the aide-de-camp then said that his master , having noticed the noble air and commanding port , the Hyperion curls and fascinating beauty of an Englishman in the crowd , had inquired who that superb specimen of humanity , that model-man , was , learning that he was Sir Francis B . Head , the Prince President sent one of his own horsea to enable the eminent publicist , that had " scampered "
through the Pampas , to follow in hia train . To follow among the military myrmidons of a Bonaparte , to spring into a saddle warmed by the seat of the son of a king and nephew of an emperor , was too much for such a head , which bowed crimson in return to the compliment , and has ever since been of a purple tint . From that day Sir Francis B . Head has never ceased to bewail the fate which made him an Englishman instead of a Corsican or a Pole , which made him the representative of England ' s Majesty , instead of the plat valet of the figment of an imperial dynasty .
With respect to the Fagoteor ' s blundering through contemporaneous history , that I find has already been disposed of . I will therefore confine myself to Sir Francis B . Head ' s curious morality , and to hia practising that -which he deprecates in others . He assorts that M . Baroche , having sworn fidelity to the Republic , was quite justified in botraying it because , after three years ' trial , he was " dead sick of it" —an extraordinary item this in the code of honour of a military man ! If Sir Francis were president of a court-martial , would ho acquit John Stiles 'who deserted from his regiment because , after three years' trial , ho was dead sick of it ?" After defending the lackey , Sir Francis offers his patent staln-remover to bis master , but upon that master's
hand , -which stabbed from behind the constitution that it ^ waa pledged to cherish and protect , are stains that ¦ would make the multitudinous soas incarnadine , and which all the gums of Araby cannot sweeten . If Sir Francis B . Head undortakes to whitewash the French Emperor , ho ¦ will find quHl aura ( ravailli ! pour Ze roi do Prwae , Like all anti-Englishmen , Sir Francis falls foul of the 7 'imoa , because that paper ia the great organ of English fooling , of English love of fair piny , and of English admiration of honour , fidelity , and truth . The first charge made Tfc > y this un-English baronet ia that the Times abuses " the hospitality imparted to it . " The use of the word n hospitality * ' shows a strange Ignorance of tho signification of words , and I advise Sir Francis to consult his dicilonary , . Hospitality , in English , signifies entertaining i '
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The Fkast ok Reason and the Flow of Soul The Builder says : — " Some of our readers will like to know that at the old gate at St . John ' s , Clerkeinvell— a place of many interesting associations—a literary society has been formed by men connected with arts and literature , with a view to the conversational discuss ions of subjects rendered familiar to them by their pursuits . The old hall in which the club meets-is ' that in which the Gentleman' ' s Magazine was printed , and whence
Sylvaims Urban for many years issued this , the oMosfc of our periodical publications . In consideration of this , the club lias been called the ' Urban Club . ' At a recent meeting , Mr . Ileraud , Mr . Stirling Coyne , Mr . Blanchard , Mr . Henry Marston , and a number of other workers in the field of literature , assembled . In the course of the evening Mr . Hcraud remarked that the chief interest of literature does not lie in the popularity which it might evoke—not in the echoes of applause which might flatter a man ' s emptv vanitv , here nnd tlirre—but in the
discipline which it gave tv > tJic mind of the literary m ; m himself . It was a maxim of I'lato that ' Euclid' -was not intended for shipwrights ; but it was quite clear that shipwrights would derive benefit from ' Euclid . ' It was quite clear that , if the ship ' s carpenter had learned his demonstrations , he might accept the results , and with much beneGt apply them to lm craft . P . ut tho highest end of mathematics was not merely their application to mechanical arts or mere material good in tho world , but it was the nioral act upon the mind of tho scholar himself . " To those who wish to pursue this interesting discourse still further , it may be some satisfaction to know that another gentleman present stated that for bis part he ahvavs advocated thu Individuality of he
the Individual ; that it was with regret that perceived that German Positivism mid Cosmopolitan Despotism were gradually wearing away all the old landmarks between man and the Infinite ; and that his only hope for salvation of the true idiosyncrasy of man lay in the subjective abnegation of free will and the mental absorption of the Elemental Catachresis . More followed in this interesting strain , when a gentleman long and creditably known for hia connexion with the stage declared that , having surveyed tho great drama of life from J ans to Peru , lie was inclined to believe that the natural development of human passionn , whether in the dramas ot JEschylus , the poems of Firdusi , or tho pantomimes 01 Mr . Blanchard , was tho only proper road for lowing man back to his nrimeval state of innocence ; tliatnu oi
time and space should bo no more , and tho echo « undying song which the Swan of Avon po" * " 1 / 0 '" 1 . ?! he proudly breasted the wave , sailing downward to tno ocean of eternity , should have died away upon tho a native car of posterity , ho Bhould continue to uphold t' « faith and sanctity of tho immortal Briiwh drama . aii « a convivial evening , spent in this entertaining on am structivo manner , tho company separated nnd \\ w ¦•« to bod . —I' ^ ivrn the Critic
• Ar , MA » CH with Austria . — Tl . o very na . no or « n Austrian alliance is liatefnl to Eng lishmen . £ ««» ' « again has it been dreamt of by huccowivo J " »* o r J but it has always ended in discredit nnd Uo ™ ;\ _ last experience of ita worac than worthle « n < w » ' likely soon to be forgotten . When on tho bnnl o t' ^ torriblo struggle , in which wo nncrlilcod » m » ^ millions of treasure and forty thousand Hntisii ii . asked Austria , whoso interests woro identical w «« , « . «„«<• ., llJ tn < mn iifl « nd tllllB aVCTt . tllO 1 «»*» " 'i
of a lengthened conflict , Austria bhufllwl , intritf' « . lied from week to wcok and from month to mon n , we , under tho guidance of Lords Clarendon amdoon , submitted to bo so fooled , till golden o <^ had passed awny , nnd Russia h « d tir !?' dS l cn " strength together and to proparo for-tho drjarth counter . At the door of the Cabinet of Vlonn » fln tho ghastly reckoning of the Crimea ; an I « »« , „ , „ English Minister In tlma to come it * neked w M engagements offensive ) and dofonulvo v tn . * f ,, l 0 him , as a preliminary , domain ^''^''^" J , " ^ ,, ! lot millions hor cowardice and Insincerity eofltuj , him ask her if oho cum restore our dead . —< ""
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Experiment lately undertaken by a person previously unconnected with the enterprise strongly sunnort ti original inference , that the main fault is about 270 ml from the Irish coast , at a depth probabl y of 900 fat } There is also a fault on the other side , which is thc-3 to be about 300 miles from . Newfoundland . Curre t however , still continue to be received , although of a kiml so feeble and uncertain as to be useless for any practical purpose . At present the telegraph Is in charge of Mr Henley , who is manufacturing an apparatus such as hi «
THE ATLANTIC CAB £ E . Tiire question ns to ^ ho replacing of tho Atlantic Telegraph Cable is likely to be decided in afowdnys . Tho Company have mudo application to tho Oovomment for a guarantee of 4 J por cent , on 537 , OO 0 f ., subject to the same conditions as that of tho Rod Sea lino , and this lias boon bnckoil by memorials signed by tho loading firms , not only of London , but of Manchester , Liverpool , Birmingham , Leeds , Halifax , Bradford , Hull , Glasgow , Paisley , and Norwich . Supposing it to bo granted , contracts will immediately bo concluded for a now cable ,
and any negotiations that may bo thought dosirnblo with tho American Government will subsequently bo entered into . No attompts can bo made , with nny prospect of succosa , to lift tho old cablo until tho / etuxn of « aln > -weather at the end of April or May , and , oven undor tho best circumstances , tho expectations with regard to tho operation arp not favourable . Meanwhile it has boon doflnltivoly ascertained that the existing damage was not nt tho sjiorq ond . The laying of tho now end has boon oomplotccl to a distance twelve mllos out from Valentin , and tho portion taken up was found to bo in a porfcot condition for nil electrical purposes
experience on the spot lends him to think may yet possibly lead to some results , but in no case could there be a > opc of achieving permanentl y any satisfactory com municfition otherwise than by an entirely new line " After the unanimous expression of opinion , not merely by the commercial towns but the people at large that the work is one the nation should not allow to fail it may be presumed there is little doubt of the required help being accorded , subject to such stipulations as may protect the general interests of the public . Among other
provisions some mod th cat ions in the constructio n of the Board might , perhaps , be advantageously demanded Times ,
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SIR BENJAMIN . Don ' t you observe the vulgar sneer On the thin lip of fawning toady ? " O law , my Lady , listen here . They ' re going to make a peer of Bro'die ! " lie was a doctor , near the Park , Some kind of surgeon or physician ; How true your ladyship ' s remark , 4 The country ' s in a sad condition ! ' " But no , your fright is premature , You aucient , toad-devouring virgin , The Peerage will be still kept pure From contact with a titled surgeon . It ' s not to be ; but if it . were , While men are born , men live , and men die , Some recognition might be fair Of those who use the ars mederidi . Lords from hereditary trees ( My lady ' s gone : we ' ve sadly shocked her ) , Where were your lengthening pedigrees , If vain the cry " I'er opem , Doctor !" If the good sword may claim its fee In titles , as our codes determine , 'Twere no unseemly thing to sec Tho scalpel , laid away in ermine . You , Peer , for having understood All the dark labyrinths that our laws have , What Saving Clause has done tho good That Brodie's forceps' saving claws have ? To cut bad throats , and stretch bad necks , Are claims on Fortune ' s purblind goddess , But clear-eyed Honour gladly decks Tho man who heals good people ' s bodies . But , wise and kind old man , you know , A bauble ' s , what the thing will fetch , worth ; And Punch still bows to you , although lie greets Sir B ., and not Lord Botchworth . —• Punch ,
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1358 THE Ii BADE K . [ No . 455 , December 11 , iggR ;
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 11, 1858, page 1358, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2272/page/22/
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