On this page
- Departments (1)
-
Text (4)
-
JSmrce Stiteilig^cj. -^—?—. ¦
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
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.
-
-
Transcript
-
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.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
favour , ' there have been sevend spirited rehearsals of the popular version of the Retorm Play . Lord Panmure , Mr . Horsman , and Mr . Roebuek have been the leading : actors in these performances . The moral of their speeches was to curb the tongues of those who are loud in their demands for Reform . John Arthur Roebuck , indeed , went the length _ of combating the popular doctrine of everybody ' s inalienable " right to -be represented in Parliament . His own views are that a very simple reform is all that is either wanted or that is likely to be obtained —the addition of about 120 members , to be distributed amongst the large towns , —Sheffield , with its 160 , 000 inhabitants , for example , being cut in two , and each division having two members ' * file tone of Mr . Roebuck ' s speech predicates obstruction to the Bright battalion . i -
— - ^ % ^ m ^ w . »— »—— - ^ — —;~^ _ — . _ Other meetings we had during the week , and also notice of a meeting to be held in Dublin on the 27 th of this month . The object of this proposed riieeting is notable . A . set of " considerations , " drawn up by Lord Downshire , Lord George Hill , and Mr . Lennox Naper , are to be submitted to the meeting , the ultimate object being the formation of an association to obtain such amendments in the law as may appear from time to time
necessary for the better protection of life and property in Ireland . The noblemen and gentlemen at the head of this undertaking stand above mistrust , but their object appears upon the face of it extremely open to question ; , as implying a grave doubt of the fitness or willingness of the constituted authority to secure the ends mentioned . We shall , however , know more about the proposed movement after the meeting has taken place . demon
At Birmingham ; , there has been a great - stration on the subject of church-rates intended to counteract the impression made by a Birmingham deputation which lately waited upon Lord Derby and presented a memorial in favour of church-rates . Tn London we have a great meeting on the subject of a very different kind of grievance , namely that of the Coalwhippers . The men ask to be protected from the publican middleman system under whieh they are now obliged to work , and they desire the establishment by law of an office where they would be employed and paid , and protected from the extortions and temptations to which the present system subjects theni .
An important item of the week ' s news is the departure of the Prince of Wales to Rome . He is to travel incognito , under the charge of his governor , chaplain , and equerry , which will be comfortable news to those who dread the temptations of Popery . Before leaving England he presented colours to the 100 th ( or Royal Canadian Regiment ) at Shorncliffe . The qeremony was interesting as being the first at which he has exercised the power of his military rank . He made a brief but very good speech . He has passed over to Brussels , and is being made much of at the Belgian Court ,
Jsmrce Stiteilig^Cj. -^—?—. ¦
JSmrce Stiteilig ^ cj . - ^—?— . ¦
Untitled Article
POLITICAL EORESHADO WINGS . Mr . Titb , M . P . —The hon . gentleman , in an address to his constituents at Bath , said he was sometimes asked * ' Whd wants Reform ? " The answer to this question was . " If nobody wants it , why is everybody bringing it forward ? " Nothing would have been more consistent in a Tory Government than to say , "No , we think some unimportant changes should be made in the Reform Bill , but as it was a final measure , we see no necessity for going on . bringing in Reform Bills ; we will attend to the business of the nation ; " but they did not say so . The Government had undertaken the Reform question , and it appeared to him that there was nothing in the antecedents of the two great leaders of the present party to make it inconsistent with their professions or their position . Mr . Tite then observed that Mr . Bright was attempting something that was really practicable .
What his scheme was he could only comparatively conjecture . On the part of the Government not a single fragment had escaped as to what their measure would be . With respect to the part which . Mr . Bright had taken , perhaps it was well explained in what might be considered the manifesto of the Birmingham Reformers . It was sometimes complained that many of the small boroughs returned . literary men to Parliament- ^ for instance , that Midhurst returned Mr . Warren . But , on the other hand , Macaulay was returned by the great constitueiicv of Edinburgh ; Sir Bulwer Lytton and Mr . Disraeli were county members , and . Mr . Gladstone was the member for the University of Oxford . These gentlemen did not owe their seats to the small boroughs , but to their great merit and talent . He sincerely hoped that they would not only have a large measure of Reform , but an honest and sincere one ; that the Legislature would do that which was honest , aboveboard , and
fair to all parties . Mr . Tite then referred to the question of the Ballot . Every day ' s experience , he said , convinced him-of the necessity for secret voting . Mr . Roebuck , M . P ., and Mr . Hadfield , M . P . — The members for Sheffield met their constituents on Thursday afternoon , and . an exciting scene took place in the Town Hall , the Mayor presiding . Tho crowd was great , and Mr . Roebuck proceeded with some observations about the need of Reform , argued from the origin of political . government . He was , however , interrupted by an outcry for adjournment to a larger building , and after in vain resisting such a demand , and finding he could not be heard , he left the platform . He consented , however , to resume his speech in the
Temperance Hall , and the Maj-or and the assembly met him and Mr . Hadfield in that building . Mr . Roebuck proceeded very frankly to state his convictions on the Reform question , and even to combat the views of those who think there is an inalienable right for every one to be represented . He particularly urged that such was the state of Europe that the Reform question would not mainly occupy the time of Parliament . I remember ( said the hon . gentleman ) during the last Reform agitation people said there would be a civil war . The whole country was aroused ; man , woman , and child . could talk of nothing else . Now there is an apathy about Reform , and till you can persuade tho House of Commons that it would . be dangerous to resist , you cannot expect such
a Reform as I have propounded . Well , then , we must wait . Depend upon it that England at the present moment is hotter governed than any other part of the world . I don't care where that other part is . I am told to look at America . Look at America , sir . Are there not 6 , 000 , 000 of slaves in America , and does not the declaration of independence of the republic state that all men are born free ? It should have said all white men . I say , away with the measure , talking to me about America . In England a man can say pretty well what he likes , and can do what he pleases , so long as he does not interfere with hia neighbour . This is rational freedom . There is one thing which I hope for in a reformed Parliament . I mean economical /
yovemment . But I don't think economy will vomo from 101 . householders ; since the Reform Bill , or the 10 / . householders voted . H » o expenditure has increased every year , Mr . Roebuck then spoke of our foreign policy . Ho aaid , our alliances ought to be with freedom everywhere . With France as a people let us bo on an alliance . She is a gallant and great nation , and has been a light to mankind as we have been , but she hqs not set an example of good government . We have seen constitutional government in Franco trodden out by tho hard heel of an unblushing despot . Constitutional
government has been put down , England has been insulted , and every possible attempt has been made by that despot to ally himself ; with tho Powers of Europe , tyrannical as they are . I havo no faith In a man who has perjury oi \ his lips . I recollect when at Cherbourg seeing tho Emporor of the French visit the Queen of England . It was a great sight . I saw that man mount the steps which led to our noble Queen ' s vessel , and when I saw his perjured lips upon her fallowed choeH my blood ruahod to my heart to think of that holy and good creature being defiled by tho lips of a perjured despot . Tho sight whlqh X then behold was a typo of
England . She was in alliance with this despot—she , the great light of mankind , whose writers , philosophers , whose mechanics—every man of us—have been working in the great cause of humanity . England is upon a pinnacle at which the world wonders—many admire and still more envy . She is . great because she is good . But ,, depend upon it ^ no alliance with foulness can be made without foulness attaching to the ally . —Mr . Hadfield said one of the best signs of the times is the anxiety of the honest and industrious classes to be enfranchised ,, and that man is entitled to respect who , by honest means , obtains the power to vote . All men who contribute to the taxes ought to be enfranchised ; though from policy demand is made for household suffrage , and 1 advise you to adhere to it . In 1357 we imported to the value of 187 millions ,, and we exported 146 millions , the produce of . the labour of our honest working classes . These were the results of the people's labour . Surely , these men are to Tie trusted . Surely their interests are the interests of the country . I will never while I live cease to urge their claims . Referring to the future , he said there never was a time of more hopeful prospects . The question now to be asked ( he said ) is , How can we pour on the people the blessings . :. .. .. .
of cheapness and abundance ? Can we not have returns from India and our colonies far greater than were ever known before ? The people of Manchester have issued a statement showing that we are paying for the slavegrowing cotton of America 10 , 000 , 000 / . a year more than its fair marketable value , and every ounce of that cotton might be raised in India . Let roads be made and the means of irrigation be provided , and we could have 100 , 000 , 000 / . produce a year from India—and half that would regenerate India .
Loiir > Pan-muke . —At a meeting at BrechiUj < n Monday , his lordship made some remarks on the Reform question . He said : — " We live in times when it appears that in politics we are to have large measures of Constitutional Reform when scarcely a voice in the country is raised in its favour ; but circumstances have so combined that it is impossible for any Government , whatever its political professions may be , to abstain from entering and embarking in a course of Parliamentary Reform . I have been accused of having lost some of that taste for Reform which I imbibed in early vputh , and which for many years I have followed up ; but I can assure you that that representation w not
founded on fact . So far as Reform is earned out on the principles of the Reform Bill of 1832 I am a determined Reformer . 'When I see schemes of Reform projected which strike at the very root of our mixed constitution , when I see new organisations sketched out before me which are to do away with some branches of our constitution , or to give to one , at least , tho supremacythen I confess I shall pause at that road to Reform , because I . do . not think it a safe one . If ever there was a measure from which a benefit accrued to the nation and glory accumulated on its head , it is that measure of Reform which was passed in the year 1832 . The very first act after the passing of the Reform Bill was to blot
out irom our country tne disgrace ox participation in trade of negro slavery . The next act of Reform was the Municipal Act . There are many people who had no vote before , and who have a voice now , and they may go on in the spirit of that bill and get a further voico when Parliament chooses to grant it . I assure you that free-trade is the result of the Reform Bill of 1832 , and numerous other advantages . I shall conclude by -saying that , on the subject of a Reform Bill , bo far as the iutel > - ligence of the people warrant me in going , so far will I no . I would do evervthine to forward a measure of
Reform on this basis ; but I would do everything openly , and would havo no secret transactions , either in voting or legislating . " Mr . Horsman , M . P . —The right hon . gentleman addressed his constituents at Stroud on Wednesday . On the Reform movement he observed that the two great points which excited the most intense interest in connexion with the question were the extension of the franchise and the ballot . In nil probability Mr . Berkeley ' s proposition to huvo tho ballot introduced into the Government measure would bo defeated . The most important question involved in any new Reform Bill would be tho extension of tho suffrage . Tho difficulty in every plan for extending tho suffrage which had hitherto been proposed was , that it was only a steppingstone to universal suffrage , or rating suffrage , which Ma Bright accepted avowedly as a compromise , us taking
universal suffrage at two bites instead of one . Ho ( Me . Horsman ) was against all class legislation , and universal suffrago muet place tho Government of tho country entirely in tho hands of one class , tho most numerous and tho most uneducated . Observe , tho object of representation was , that they should havo as porfect a legislative body as possible , and that it should bo a fuir representation of all classes and interests in tho country . Thoro wore throo groat elements to bo considered in representation—property , intelligence or education , and numbers ; and tho more perfect , their combination of all tho three , the more perfect tho House of Commons must bo . The result of universal suffrage would bo , nut on equal distribution of tho suffrago , but that tho oducutod classes would be swamped , and tho property class disfranchised , while tho Government of tho country would bo placed in tho hands of tho uneducated operative class . Was that a desirable or a safo state of things ? They
Untitled Article
¦ ¦¦* ¦ ¦ ¦¦ THE LEADER . T ^ o . 460 , January 15 , 1859 . OO ¦ ¦ . . . . . , ¦ . ¦ ' ¦ ; ¦" ¦' - ... ¦ : '¦¦¦'¦'¦ ¦ ¦¦' ¦ - ¦ ' " ' ' "' ' ' ' '
Untitled Article
Nuptial Preparations . —The Paris correspondent of the Inddpendancc Beige saya : — "It is time to return to the marriage , of Prince Napoleon with the daughter of the King of Sardinia . Herewith are some of the preparations that have been made for that solemnity : — - 1 . There have just been ordered in the French manufactories seventy-five batteries of the * Emperor cannon , ' perfectionised according to the system already explained in the columns of some journals . Ordinary cannon have also been ordered , as well as carbines and projectiles of all descriptions . The new cannon will not be distributed except in case of war , and the batteries will be placed in the arsenals , that the system may not v be employed by foreign armies . 2 . The arms of the chas ~ eeurs iiZpied ' are to be porfectionised in respect only to the
projectile , and a little also ro respect to precision in firing according to models given by M . Nessler , the successor of M . Minio * . 8 . Tho battalions of chasseurs on active service are to be increased from 900 and J . 000 » n « n to 1850 . 5 , At Toulon , they are collecting : all tho provisions necessary for a campaign . 0 . In tho offices of the War Department they aro studying tho plans for two camps . " Thr Orleans Family in SrAiN . —In a letter from Madrid , we road :-r- " Tno Count do Paris receives manifestations of sympathy from all classes at Seville . At tho theatre , in tho . street , and indeed everywhere , ho is saluted with respect . Oh the 29 th ult ., tho Dulio and Duchess do Montpensier gave a grand banquet in his honour , at which the principal authorities of the province and tho principal' members of the Seville aristocracy were present . "
Prussian Anti-Bigotry .- —Tho Government of tho Prince . Regent certainly Intends to open tho museums and public buildings on Sundays . Tho working classes of Berlin Beem very gratified with the result .
-
-
Citation
-
Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 15, 1859, page 68, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2277/page/4/
-