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Ttatepaying suffrage and tlie Ballot are the two fundamental p rinci p les of Mr . Brigbt's proposal . How far will Ministers go in counter-bidaings ? "We have an impression that rather than simply adopting the . ' 10 / .. franchise in counties which their rivals ' recommended in 1854 , they are likely to take the 127 . suffrageenacted in 1850 for counties in Ireland , and which their own party cannot refuse to extend to England and iScotland after having actual ! v imposed it hj way of compromise for onethird o ' f the United Kingdom . Lord John , in 1850 , brought forward an 8 / . county franchise for
Ireland ; the House of Lords substituted 15 / . as the qualification ; the Commons refused to accept the alteration , and 12 / . was finally agreed to after long discussions . Taking ' their stand on this precedent the Derbyite Cabinet will no doubt be strong in party debate . The difference between 10 / . and 12 / . is not enough to rouse any earnest feeling out of doors either way ; and if the lower qualification be carried by the opposition as an amendment , there will be no humQiation in accepting it . The ministerial choice of a f franchise for cities and boroughs will probably lie between the 6 / ., contained in the Coalition Bill of 1854 , and the 5 L proposed by the Whigs in 1852 . Here , also , it is
not inconceivable that the Government , anxious to make a show of Conservative caution for the sake of keeping their frightened friends about them , may at first name the higher figure , and then take the lower , if it should be forced upon them . After the changes we saw them adopt at the dictation of their adversaries in the India Bill , anything is believable as regards their p liability in matters of detail . The same observation is appUdable to every item of the schedules of disfranchisement and enfranchisement , if they choose to avail themselves of it . How far the result would be to destroy their Legisr
3 ative credit , and to confer upon the moderate Liberals the reputation of substantially moulding and fashioning the measure , it were premature at present to surmise . It will be quite another affair if , instead of entering into competition with Lord John or Mr . Bright , the leaders of the Tory party should bring forward a scheme of redistribution founded inainlv / upon disfranchisement , a project of a wholly different character—namely , one based on the principle of inclusion and amalgamation . It is vain to shut our eyes to the fact that any extensive sequestration of seats will array against any bill , no matter how
theoretically just , a solid phalanx of opposition hard to overcome without the aid of " pressure from ¦ without . " Pressure from without , then , as yet there is none ; nor will there be any if the struggle be chiefly respecting the mass of redistribution . The concession of a moderate franchise without the Ballot will not stir popular passions very far beneath , the surface . Mr . Bright understands this well . Hence his adoption of household suffrage and secret voting as the means whereby he seeks
to carry his large transfer of power from the landed aristocracy to the trading towns . He is perfectly conscious that he has no chance of getting His bill read a second time this session . That is not his object . His desire is to have it thrown out , and with its rejection for a text , to begin a regular agitation like that of the League for the repeal of the corn-laws . Rejected his bill will , of course , be ; it remains to be seen whether any other will be agreed to by the rival aristocratic parties in the Legislature .
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BIOGRAPHIES OF GERM AN PRINCES . No . XI . ERNEST II ., AUGUpTUS-CHARJLES-JOHN-LEOPOLD-ALEXANDEBrEDWARD i PUKE OF SAXE-COBURG-GOTJHA . This diminutive Prince , with the prodigious long name and pretentious title , is the brother of our own Field-Marshal Prince Albert . His territorial dominions are by no means so extensive as his above elongated nomenclature might induce people
to imagine . The duchy of Ernest II . is one of those royal domains in Germany to which applies the familiar saying ( which we have before repeated ) of the possibility of " putting Itheni into n rat-hole , " or ^ carryinjg them away on the soles of your boots . " It is situated in the centre of the Confederation , in that terra incognito where geography peases , and old Chaos is to be found Again . The Germans , most irreverently , oaU this " confusion worse confounded" of petty states by the very explicit , though uncomplimentary , title of " the Robber States . ^ It is , indeed , a' fortunate
circumstance for German children that such shoulc be the custom i for it relieves the tender mind—at least morally—from a world of trouble in puzzling out the boundaries of this inextricable conglomeration of Lilliputian sovereignties , whose many ramifications and subdivisions sadly disarrange geographical science . There is no man in'Germany , we verily believe—ay , not Duke Ernest himselfwho could , without much pondering and research , point out at one glance , on the map of Germany , the happy spot Saxe-CoDurg-Gotba occupies . Such a perfection of geographical ability has never yet been attained .
The ambition of Duke Ernest II . is , however , far from being Of so limited a nature as the extend of his territory . Petty ruler though he is , his political views soar high into the clouds of dynastic aspirations . This is the Prince who fondly entertains the conviction that the Imperial Crown of Germany would by no means find an unbecoming resting-place on his own hallowed head . This is Ernest II ., who , after the Hohenzollem dynasty declared themselves unwilling to accept a diadem from the hands of a " mud-spattered Revolution /'
inost considerately offered to provide the bereaved JFatherland with a new Imperial House . Some of our readers may suppose that we are merely in jest in so saying , " But we are only narrating sober truths In all seriousness—as tar as seriousness can apply to such an absurdity—the Duke of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha is an avowed candidate for the Kaisership ; and it is from his dominions that the political party who pursue the phantom of Imperial restoration have been saddled with the sobriquet of " Gothaers . "
Perhaps , after all , Ernest II . is not the worst of German sovereigns—a compliment , it must be owned , however , of no very exalted character . He lias not , for aught we know , made many political prisoners , nor shot clown Liberals , nor robbed the Exchequer of his duodecimo principality to gratify personal extravagances , nor indulged in the other pleasing peculiarities and strange anticswe have commented upon in the biographies of his fe'llownnt . ftnt ; atfts . It is true , in the earlv days of his
reign— -which commenced in 184 : 4 , when he succeeded his father , Ernest I . —he had some squabbles with his pocket-Parliament ; and as even the members of that small body politic were not found contented to remain without any voice of . their own , he dissolved them in due form . But for this we must not be too hard upon Dukq Ernest ; for a German Prince to exist without dissolving his Parliament would be an anomaly most difficult to
imagine . Prom 1848 , however , the ruler of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha conducted himself in a manner somewhat different to that of his purple-clad brethren . He cherished visions of a high political aim , and deemed it prudent , therefore , to assume a more liberal garb than he had worn heretofore . He made his little palace the asylum of such semi-popular , semicourtly poets as Freitag , the author of Soil and Maben , or as Diezel , the nondescript political writer , who , from democratic and political views , changed , chameleon-like , into Imperialist and even Ultramontane doctrines . This is the sort of political and literary society Duke Ernest II , affects .
By their good offices he is content to be presented to the world as the star of the present and the light of the future , and thus , thanks to his minstrels and jongleurs , with their tinsel and mock garlands , the paltry realities of the Coburg court are hidden from the eyes of men . The ambition of the Gotha monarch will bo better understood when we recal to recollection that theso petty Saxon principalities have , for years past , been the nursery for European Royalty . These miniature dynasties have furnished brides and bridegrooms for all dynasties . A stock of the necessary articles has always been kept onSmnd , " wholesale , retail ,
and for exportation / ' ready for all comers , from tho ice fields of Russia to the Pillar of Hercules , and our own British Thule . The names of Prince Albert and of Ferdinand , the Portuguese Coburg , are too familiar to allude to . There is scarcely a Court , ever so large or ever so small , unprovided with that indispensable article—a Coburg relative . Famous among races has it become for this making itself at home No puerile consideration , as , for instance , an occasional foreswearing of creed , has over stood in the way of any amicable family arrangement , by which a Coburg , in the language of the servants' hall , could " better himself . " Wo have had , by turns , Coburgs Protestant , Coburgs Catholic , Coburgs of the Greek Church . Nay , if
the star of Turkey Was in the ascendant , and a palace on the Bospliorus as comfortable arid secure as one on the Thames , we should assuredly behold a Coburg sufficiently unprejudiced to shave his head and swear by the Prophet , for the sake of some imperial Fatima with a caliphate and a few camels ' loads of sequins for her dower . It is altogether impossible to say what transformation , political or spiritual , a Coburg would scruple to go through to become as exalted as his more fortunate cousins . During the Crimean war , Ernest IL was busy as a bee in the hope that the disgraceful neutrality of Prussia might be put to some good use for his own
Imperialist designs . He was then fussing about between Coburg , Paris , and London—of course , for nothing more , in appearance , than musical purposes —for , be it known , he is a mighty master ot the gentle art . But in the back-parlour meetings of the " Gotha party , " and iu their terribl y ennuyant gazettes , it was whispered that the Serenissimus was posting to and fro m search of a heavier diadem for his head arid that of his beloved Alexandrine , the Baden princess , than the gingerbread one they were then wearing . Some wiseacres had even taken the trouble to lay down a plan of how Liberal Germany was to-rally round the standard of this Kaiser with his
in embryo . The Duke Ernest , grande artriee of at least a whole regiment , drummers and all , was to issue a manifesto , telling everybody how the glories of Barbarossa were to undergo a process of resuscitation from the Kyffhauser . To begin in a befitting manner the resurrection of those glories , Duke Ernest , in his quality of future German Emperor ( semper augUstus ) , was to cede the German llhinelands to Napoleon III ., which graceful courtesy the other was to repay by giving his power and support to the Imperial Restoration . We forget the exact part that fell to the lot of England in this pleasant arrangement . But of course , cousin Albert was not to be forgotten . These golden dreams have been dispelled for a while . Still , the Gotha princelet broods , with the literacy lik
knights Jof his round table , over some deed , e this , of high romance ; solacing , in the mean while , his inglorious ease with the cheering perforihance of melodies of his own and his troubadours' composing . In fact , Germany , that land of song , hardly possesses a more ardent musician . AH the hours that hang heavy on his hands during these most uneventful and undramatic times , he devotes to the muse of harmony and to the scenic arrangements in which he takes delight . We doubt , however , if he will prove himself sufficiently an Orpheus to lure the popular parties of Germany into a repetition of that paltry spectacle of Imperial revival , which the very man who once stood at the head of the Gothaers , Professor Gcrvinus , has pronounced to be an impossibility and an intolerable farce .
The t-ATB Thomas Bblshaw . <—An appeal ia made not only to tho benevolent , but to all who are interested in tho progress of arts and manufactures , in behalf of the widow and five fatherless , children of this gentleman who died on tho 23 rd December , aged forty-four in circumstances of extreme distress ; in fact for many months the suffering family had often wanted the common necessaries of life . Frpin tho letter making the appeal we take the following : —" Thomas Belshaw originated and practically carried out Exhibitions of Arts and Manufactures , at Manchester ,. Liverpool , Derby , Sheffield , Mncclosfield , Pcvonport , Hull , and other places . He successfully organised tho First Groat Industrial
Exhibition at Bingley House , Birmingham , which possibly suggested the idoa of the Exhibition of 1851 . Be that as it may , no ono will donv tuftt Belshaw ' a admirable arrangements largely contributed to tho brilliant results of that world famous undertaking . Then followed tho Exhibitions of Cork and Dublin , where his energy and talent wore equally useful ; and lastly , tho Crystal Palace at Sydcnhiun . Having been appointed Deputy Storekeeper to tho Army Works Corps , it was whilst going out to tho Crimea in charge of tho 3 rd Division , with which ho sailed in December , 1855 , that ho met with a fearful injury which , combinod with anxiety , disappointments , and neglect ; , has caused his tho
untimely death . It cannot bo denied that country owes to this unfortunate man a deep debt of gratitude , and wo trust that tho public , who havo' benefited bo much by the work of his head and hands , will nobly como forward and administer to tho wants of his bereaved widow and five children . Subscriptions nro received by tho Unjty Bank , Qannon-streot ; Mr . Alderman Moohi , Loatonhall-strcet ; Messrs ,. Elkington and Co ., 22 , Rogontstreot ; Mr . W . Donald , St . Jamou ' a Hall , and ftloaars . Bradbury and Evan ? , Boaverio-stroot . " Tub Counoii . qw India ,- — . On Tuesday w mootin g was hold at the East India House , when Colonel Henry Marion Durand , O . B ., of tho Bengal Engineers , was elootod a member of tho Council .
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Hfc ¦ •• TBTE liEADER , [ No . 461 , Januaiit 22 , XB 5 Q . »
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Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 22, 1859, page 116, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2278/page/20/
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