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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 TO CORRESPONDENTS . w « notice can be taken of anonymous correspondence . N vv ^ ver is intended for insertion must be authenticated by- name and address of tho writer ; not necessarily fw publication , but as a guarantee of his good faith , n fjimpossible to acknowledge the mass of letters we re-VAvo Their insertion is often delayed , owing to a press of matter : and when' omitted , it is frequently from reaso , S quite independent of the merits of the communica-We ' cannot undertake to return rejected communications . OFFICE , NO 18 , CATHERINE-STREET , STRAND , W . C ., The commodious premises formerly occupied by the Morning Herald .
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THE PANTOMIME OF POLITICS . Pantomimes are the order of the day . Columbine has put on her smiles and spangles ; the Clown has donned his motley ; pantaloon is prepared for his periodical persecutions ; and upon every stage Harlequin reigns supreme . The creators of this Pantomimic world have had no easy task . From the days of Pharaoh downwards , the difficulty of making bricks without straw has . been
acknowledged . On the same principle , it is up-hill work making new jokes , when there is nothing new to joke about . Diogenes in search of an honest man , or Ccelebs in search of a virtuous wife , were not more at fault than . ' bur-pantomimic dramatist in search of a virgin subject . From the siege of Troy to the fortunes of Kenilworth , from the loves of Undine to the sauitary condition of the Thames , every theme , ancient and modem , has been ransacked for novelties , and iu vain .
We also have our own peculiar pantomime . The programme we present gratis to the public . To adopt the very language of the playbill ,, we shall now produce , on a scale of unusual magnitude and magnificence , embracing all the effects of the stage , and employing all the resources of the company , an entirely new , grand , senatorial , comical , popular , political , and peculiarly parliamentary pantomime , lounded upon precedent , and entitled " Reform . " The lamps are lit , the actors arc in position . Let the curtain rise . The plot , in accordance with true art , is simple . The Princess Reform , daughter of the mighty monarch Progress , is courted by a host of suitors of every rank and shade of politics . Tho Princess being anxious to discover whether the ardour of her admirers is due to sincere appreciation
of her charms , or to a desire for the possession of those vast official treasures which arc expected to be the guerdon of her successful wooer , appeals for aid to Mercury , the patron deity of thieves and politicians . Wo . have now n scries of brilliant transformations . Beneath tho wave of the Caduccnn wand , all things arc changed : Palmcrstou begins to think , and Lord Derby trios to work j Gladstone knows liis own mind , Lord Stanley becomes lively , and Disraeli sincere . Even Vornon Smith grows eloquent , and Roebuck distrusts his own integrity ; the . lion Newdcgalc and tho lamb Bright lie down and are at peace together ; Graham forgets his Qunning , Cox becomes refined , Williams grammatical ^ and Ayrton—well , Ayrton remains a bore :. exnihUo nihilfit .
over vice . For the part of Harlequin is there not Lord Palmerston , the colleague of Castlereagh , the disciple of Canning , the friend of liberty and of Louis Napoleon . There is the Premier , too , the Stanley of aristocratic Whiggery , the Lord Derby of democratic Conservatism , not to speak ^ of Burner Lytton , dramatist , novelist , orator , sometime author of Pelhant , and now the ruler of our colonial empire . So powerfully is the part of Clown represented that we can afford to neglect the services of Spobner and of Drummond . Have we not the worldrenowned , inimitable , Buckinghamshire acrobat , the
foiled and virtue triumphs . Mercury appears and claims the whole body of conspirators as his liege subjects . The dazzling Halls of unsurpassable Humbug open before our view , and the entranced spectator is left tp gaze . with eager eyes upon the realms of fascination . , There are true words spoken in jest . We could wish that at the bottom of our farrago there were not some sour sediment of truth . Politics and pantomimes are too much alike , with the exception that the triumph of virtue is not a matter of so much certainty in the former case as in the latter . The piece , of which the above is but a barren sketch , will be produced next month , without fail , at the Theatre Royal * Westminster .
creator of the protection juggle , the expositor of the Caucasian mystery ; The role of Pantaloon is filled to general satisfaction by the never-failing British public , the people of England , always deluded , always paying the piper , always coming off the sufferer , and still confiding . We might , indeed , sum up the qualities of our performers in the very language of theatric criticism by asserting that our Columbines are engaging and perform with gracethat our Harlequins do their utmost to be funny , and succeed marvellously in getting into scrapes and out of them again with no less felicity—the
Clowns accomplish a series of tours deforce which have only ceased to seem miraculous from our knowledge of their former exploits— -and the Pantaloons bear killing and cuffing with a complacency that baffles conjecture . Our first tableau is the Ministerial Council Chamber , which on this occasion is not the Hall of Harmony . Her Majest y ' s Ministers , in conclave assembled , enumerate their several plans for obtaining possession of the person of Reform . The Premier asserts that rank and wealth combined will Outweigh the chances of all rival democratic
suitors . Lord Chelmsford coincides , and protests thafc , after all , there is nothing like blood . Walpole puts his trust in militiamen , and Pakimjton in Quarter-sessions . Lord Stanley upholds a diligent discharge of official duties ; Bulwer confides in the power of elegant , composition ; and the Chancellor of the Exchequer trusts to pluck . An . angry discussion is followed by a unanimous resolution that the hand of Reform must be secured , and the cheaper the price given the better . A p laintive solo is then sung by the member for Miqhurst , to the tune of the " Last Rose of Summer : " and , as
Warren passes out of view , the scene changes to a ducal mansion . The forces of Russell and of Palmerston are arrayed inarms . The star of Bedford is in the ascendant , and again we behold another dark conspiracy against the virgin virtue of Reform . Lord John Russell asserts his claim to the hand of the maiden , on the plea of his previous liaison with her mother , and quotes " Matre pulch ' ra filia pulchrior . " Lord Palmerston hints at the advantages of somewhat anticipating the marriage ceremony , and adds that . Reformers might take a hint from Glo ' ster Gale . The Duke of Bedford considers
the connexion low , though perhaps desirable ; and Lord Clarendon observes that the thing would be managed better in France , while Vcrnon Smith suggests the expediency of detaining their rival ' s correspondence . Elopement first and desertion afterwards is the course resolved upon . Tho conspirators slowly retire as the ex-President of the Board of Control performs a pas sett I expressive of his friendless and forlorn position . The coffee-house at Guildhall rises upon our view ; darker and darker appear the fortunes of her heroine j Roebuck and Bright , Cobdcn and Gibson , have laid hands upon
the maiden , and partly by wiles , partly by violence , arc drawing her closer to them , while a host of minor radicals—Roupells , Williamses , and Coxes —stand b y and applaud the outrage . So certain are they of their prey that they begiu to divide the spoil . Their only question is , what amount of her property they can liindor her from enjoying , and now muoh they can safely settle on themselves ; Innocence is about to be overpowered , when , at the very crisis of her fate , the assailants begin to
quarrel among themselves—of a suddou they rcfuso to act in concert . Bright considers himself undoubtedly tho man of the day ; Oobden , though a man of peace , declines being ejected from his proper position ; Roebuok entertains a supremo contempt for every ono present except himaolf ; Ayrton cannot conscientiously follow any one but one whom Ilia modesty forbids him to name ; Cox holds that all leaders are tyrants after tho fashion of Wat Tyler ; and Williams throws out dark allusions to ' a peerago and tho premiership . From words tho disputants fall to blows— -a grand dramatic combat is represented on a scale of Manchester magnitude ; amidst tho tumult , the Princess esoapos . Vice is
To enumerate tho various episodes of our phantasmagoria socno would requiro the power of a hundred pritics . We labour beneath n , superfluity w artiatio wealth ; wo have a host of stars of the highest magnitude , each qualified for the togncBt parts . Without depreciating tho claims of other performers , have we not for tho part of tuo chaste and virtuous Columbine , Gladstone , W » a Stanley , and Sidnoy Herbert , subject to perpetual allurements and always triumphant
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No . 458 , Januaky 1 . 1859 . 1 TEE LEOBB . 17 ,
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There is nothing so revolutionary , because there is rio-- thing so unnatural and convulsive , as the strain to keep things fiked when all the world is by the very law of its creation in eternal progress . —Dk . Aksold .
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SATURDAY , JANUARY 1 , 1859 .
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ORIGIN OF THE COMPLICATIONS OF 1858 . The most conspicuous event of last year , though , now almost forgotten , was Orsini ' s attempt to destroy the Emperor of the French . To it we may refer—in subordination to the great original wrong 3 which suggested it—the complications of continental politics , the change in our own Ministry , the formation of a Government here without power , and its final surrender to the people of all that had descended to us coercive in the character of the national institutions . In the annals of mankind it
will be a memorable year for Atlantic telegraphs , the reconquest of India , commercial treaties with China and Japan , a . sign only of the general brotherhood of mankind that is fast making itself manifest , in contrast to the antagonism of Governments ; but like its many predecessors , it will certainly be eclipsed and forgotten in years still morq memorable to come . On this occasion , and in this place , we have no intention to refer to all the circumstances worth remembering ; we confine ourselves to a slight political sketch of a few circumstances connected with the event mentioned .
The established and honoured wrongs , such as the usurpation by the semi-barbarous empire of Austria of . the fairest provinces of Italy , and her conjoint protection with France of every _ native misrule , and such as the usurpation by Louis Napoleon , of the government of France , were in full bloom at the beginning of the year , and are apparently without a curled or withered leaf at its close . Of such wrongs the unquiet ness in the States of Italy , the uneasiness in France , the continual apprehensions of its rulers , and the frantic attempt of Orsiniwere the consequences . The former , being chronic
conditions of society , excite no vivid interest , thougo . teeming with important consequences ; the latter , like a violent access of inflammation or convulsion , startled the beholders , and attracted the attention of the world . On France , which honours or worships the empire and the Emperor , it was the means of imposing new and scandalous laws worthy of the Reign of Terror , placing all men under the surveillance of police , allowing the Government to prescribe the residence of those who displease it > and , to imprison or banish them without a trial . Acquiesced in almost without a murmur by the French two centuries after personal liberty had been by our Habeas Cornus Act fullv cuaranteed here against
the tyranny of Government , they teach us that the ideas of our neighbours of personal freedom are not more advanced and correct than those of the soldiers of a despot , or the eunuchs of a harem . By the outrage of Orsini the world has been taught that the French , clamorous like children for pageants and shows , like them , at the first signal of alarm , get overwhelmed with terror , and trample liberty to death . Tho Orsini outrage occasioned tho angry letter of the Colonels , ana the exasperated feelings of the English and the French—occasioned M . dp Montalcmbort ' s visit and his letter—occasioned his appeal asrainst tho consequences of tho Orsini laws , and
tho final remission of his sentence by tlip Emperor , — oocasionod tho dismissal of M . Billault and the substitution of General Espiimsse as Minister of tho Interior , and occasioned all the loss of character whioh tho Government of Franco has lately suffered . If tho leaves of despotism then appear scarcely curled or withered , beside it liberty has grown ana expanded , and will in due soason overgrow and stifte it . From tho conduot of tho French , however , it is plain that as vet they prefer despotism and its coaseauonoes to freedom . From tho Orsini outrage there sprang additional reasons for coolness , and oven aversion , between tho two despotisms which nro rivals for influonoo over Italy . From tho displeasure of ono Emperor at the conduct of tho other tho opinion has been .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 1, 1859, page 17, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2275/page/17/
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