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escaped in a little bark ^ and to the joy pf the faithful it was announced that a . scion of the old stock-4 sort of literary Jehoida — had been rescued to / maintain the creed of the chosen people . We all remember the classical perorations with which the advent of the infant prodigy was proclaimed . It was to be reared in common rooms , nursed by Masters of Arts , suckled hy Doctors of Divinity , As we . think upon it , a sort of . University aroma floats around us . Graduates alone were to be its contributors ; the very compositors were to be attired in academical costume ; the editor—we tremble to think , and cannot even surmise , what heights of "University distinction ; he must have attained to , and therefore refrain
from an attempt at description . Everything about it was to be classical . ¦ " Mehercle ¦!" ¦ and " Proh Jupiter ! " were to be the only forms of adjuration allowed even . tinder the bitterest provocation of short copy and illegible contributions . Our regrets become too poignant for Us to proceed . Why , O cruel Fate , were we not born some years later into this wicked world ? Then , at least , as competitors at the " middle-class examinations / ' we might have had the honour of a University certificate . Like the pauper who , " faute de mieux , " rubbed his bread against the bottle which had held the cheese ; we might have had the shadow , if not the substance ; and how- —now we shall go down to the grave unlettered , uncertiGc . ated , and xmclassed—not even a University A . A .
Recollections of our " Commercial and Proprietary" school days crowd upon us . Tag ends of the Eton grammar buzz about our cars . We fancy we have heard somewhere that ' —— . — Ingenuas didicisse fidelitef artes Emollit mores nee sinit esse feros . We conclude at once that-a paper so produced , so conducted , and so supported , must be distiiiguislied b y the enlightenment of its views , the generous ardour of its aspirations , its elevation above vulgar prejudices , and its strict regard for truth and justice . We take up the Saturday Review , our dream vanishes , and we find that even 3 fasters of Arts arc but common men .
The one desire of the Saturday Reviewers , the Pharisees of periodical literature , has been to establish the fact that they are not as other men are . On every question of public interest which lias arisen during their brief existence , they have taken the line opposed to that of the country at large . The public has neither conscience nor understanding . Whatever has the suffrages of the multitude , is necessarily wrong . " Vox populi , vox diaboli . " According to such a creed , the study of politics cording to such a creed , the study of politics
becomes an easy matter . The national feelhmevoked by the Crimean war , the outcry of healthful indignation which pi-oclairncd and redressed the wrongs and sufferings of the British army , were the peculiar objects of their derisionand . attuck . Throughout that great struggle the attempted rehabilitation of the Aberdeen Ministry appeared to bo the only subject in which their interest was lively . We were acquainted with an old member of Parliament who used to boast that he had novcr voted in a
majority while he held his sent . This legislator should be the patron saint of the Sal unlay Reviewers . On the topics of military and naval reform , on the attempt to throw open the Government scrvicos to the general public , on the Chinese war , and upon tho Indian mutiny , on university and church reform , their opinion lias been at variance with that of the nation . It must be some consolation to them for having unwillingly coincided with publio . feeling ,-ubout tho Conspiracy Bill to reflect that they have attacked
the Pftlmcrston and Derby administrations with equal ferocity . A degroo of porsoual virulence , whioh has grown out of date olsewhorc , has boon , throughout , iho charaafceriBtiq of tho organ of the enlightened elect . Iu politios , Lord Pftlmorstou and Mr . Disraeli—iu churoh matters , tho evangelical party — in litoruturo , tho Times and Mr . Dickons—havo boon tho favoured objects of their most ; invotorato sarcasms .
Of late times , however , Mr . Bright has been their peauliiir bugbear , their " pieco do ' resistance" at wlu ' oh thoy avo always oomiiiff und cutting again . Fortunately for the mombcr for Binniimhiun , lie ia strong onougji to gurvivo philippics in the stylo of &u emasculated .. Tuni us . Tho writers in tho StUnr * «« y Rooiew have au undoubted right to thoii own opinions . If , boing of the prows , and living' b , y tlio pvoas , thoy choose on every occasion to deny their connexion with tho pross , that is their oonccrn and wot ours . We only notioo theso opinions because
we are afraid they are but too truly representative of the public for whom they are promulgated . This want of sympathy with popular feeling *—this dislike to every measure of reform—this ignorance of the spirit of the age , and this personal bitterness against all who labour in the great cause of popular . progress , are only too characteristic of common-rooms and colleges . The truth is , that college dons , and clerical divines , and the whole class of University celebrities , are very good people in their own way : but according to the vulgar saying— -they are not everybody , and , unfortunately , they believe that wisdom _ is confined to them . We" should be very sorry indeed to see a system of government in which they were debarred from the proper influence they exert
at present . We should be almost as sorry to see that influence of theirs disproportionately developed . There is a story told of a Trench peasant , who was employed by his parish priest to make a crucifix for the village market-place . One day they were both passing in company before the cross , when , to the surprise of the priest , the carpenter omitted to remove his cap . "How can it be , my son , " said the priest , "that you , of all men , omit to do honour to the symbol of our faith ? " " Ah , " said the peasant , with a shrug of his shoulders , " you . see , father , I knew it when it was only a pear-tree . " This , in substance , is our reply , when classical attainments and university education are put forward as claims to superior knowledge and peculiar enlightenment . Alas ! we have known colleges and universities too closely , and too . well . " Nous aussi nous l ' avons conuu poirier . " .
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Land Reform . —That part of the Queen ' s speech which refers to some , measures for securin" ; to the landowner an indefeasible right to his land would have been more noticed , probably , than it has been had the people been duly represented in Parliament . Then t he representatives of the . landless , the homeless , and the graveless—rthose who , living or dead , are denied a fair share of the cornmon property—would at once have perceived that the time was come for them to make good the just claims of their constituents . The landlords ask the representatives of the people for favour and protection . On what conditions ? What will they give ¦
for what they require ? In this mercantile age let us have a good bargain , let the homeless and the landless dictate concessions , such as do away with game laws , entails , primogeniture , and make the land perfectly free . Let it be possessed by living men in complete ownership , but take from the possession all . privileges whatever , and enforce not the will of dead men , nor' any continuous holding after death . The representatives of the people ought to infuse the spirit of the statute of mortmain and of free trade into the new , laws'guaranteeing the landlords the possession of the land . The subject is worthy of being further referred to .
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SCHLESWIG-HOLSTEIN . We have received -the following communication from a reliablo source , and thereiore givo it insertion , although we consider the question one of so complicated a nature as to render it diflicult to get at the oxnet truth . A number of German patriots havo of Into addressed petitions to tho Diet of Holstein , ' calling upon it to protect tho rights of the suft ' oring sister province of Schloswig against the despotic encroachments of the Copenhagen Couvfc . One of these petitions has oomo from Bradford ( Yorkshire ) , bearing tho signaturo of fifty
German merchants residing there , three Gorman profossors , one a physician of that nationality , and so forth , together in all sovonty-njno signatures . A similar address has been sent to , Itzohoe by nineteen Gorman merchants at Liverpool , it ia reported that in London , too , a memorandum of tho same kind is in course of signature among Germans . In Germany itself , tho Constitutionalist Schioswig-Holstein party have also sent an address to tho Diet . All those demonstrations havo created a groat impression , and wore rocoivod as important signs of tho reawakening fueling of national independence .
Tho daao of tho . Duchies is known to be one of groat hardship . They are oppressed by a foreign etntowhfeh doos all in its power to break asunder their tlmo-Iionourod union , and to rondoir them virtually Danish provinces . This atlqmpt is one In opposition to law and publio treaties , In contradiction with tho sentiments of tho population , and tyrannic in the oxtrome . King l'Yodoriok VII . hns , however , not scruplod to omploy means the most violent to carry out this measure . lie has docrood that to uso tho moro namo of Sohloawig-Holstoin" is a sort of treason . ISvory letter bearing
that perfectly correct geographical designation is ruthlessly opened and returned to its sender . . The tyranny exercised against the G-erman tongue is equally odious . German parents in Schleswig have been fined for having employed German instructors to bring up their children ! intheir native language ! At times the Court of Copenhagen has been so ridiculously enraged against everything German , that it , made the deaf' and ; dumb asylums thei vehicle of Danish propaganda ! Within the last few weeks the King has suppressed all Schleswig-Holstein societies , whether of a purely literary , artistic ,, or even agricultural character . In his opinion , the two provinces ought to have nothing in common . Add tothis that the German Duchies are filled -with Danish employes , many of whom are not even sufficiently versed forced
in the German idiom ; that Danish preachers are ; upon German parishes , and that churches , therefore ,, often become desert , because people see no use in listening to a sermon they do as little comprehend a » they would one in Russian . Remember , further , that the same galling system is introduced into the schools ^ that the Schleswig army is drafted away into that of " Denmark , and the Holstein troops sent into banishment to the Isle of Seeland ; that Danish soldiers garrison , and dragoon Holstein ; and that repeated attempts have been made by the King to rob the German provinces of their domains , which have a , value of some 40 , 000 , 000 dols . No doubt it is easy , under such circumstances , to understand the feelings of the Schleswig-Holsteiners as well as of German patriots and Liberals at large .
The King of Denmark , in order to break all resistance of the down-trodden Duchies , has even prohibited " collective petitioning , "—thus taking from the German population the last shred of a right generally respected , by the worst tyrants , Not even the members of . the ; Schleswig Diet are exempted from this despotic prohibition . In order to make their opinions known , they have , therefore , found themselves compelled to addressindividually a memorandum to the King , in which they demand the re-establishment of the political independ- ^ enee of their province . Many of them have conferred also with the Holstein Deputies to induce them toa similar course of policy . The patriotic petitionsabo \ -e alluded to wiil contribute their part to keep the members of the Itzehde Diet in the path of national
right and justice . We have received a letter from Bradford on the same subject , which says ;— - It has created a painful astonishment among Germans here to see a correspondent of the Leader , wha writes oh the Bradford Address , display , at the same time so complete a want of knowledge with regard tofacts , and so bitter an enmity against what he supposes to be ' -ourpoor Yorkshiremen , " , ashe calls them . ' ov ignorant " silly persons . " The correspondent has wished himself that his letter may " meet the eyes of these-Yorkshiremen , " so that they may learn how wrong they were to meddle in foreign affairs hot concerning them ,, and which they , as Englis h men , do not understand . leThe
Well , the reply to all this is very simp . alleged . " Yorkshiremen" only exist in imagination ! The signer 9-of the Bradford Address are all natives of Germany , who , no doubt , have some right to make their voice heard in matters concerning their fatherland . Many of them are , besides , men . of position , whom the correspondent , Ave think , would not willingly treat cavalierement . The rest of tho article against the imaginary English sympathisers with the cause of the Gorman Duohies is also full of misstatements . The assertion ,, for instance , that there is a " Schleswig-Holstein Diet , now in session at Itzehoe , in Holstein , " doos not state the facts properly . There is a separate Holstein , and a separata Schloswig Diet , prevented from uniting by Danish dominion . But it is needless further to take up
the errors of a paragraph winch is writton on an entirely wrong foundation . Wo oan only say , in answer , that we have generally found our correspondent correct and of liberal feelings j aud having but the one intention—that of giving tho truth in publio matters—wo readily insert the foregoing reply to his communication . A tolograpliio despatch , arrived a few days ago , informs us that the addresses to which reference ia above made , have produced much impression in Holatein .
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tfo . 464 , February 12 , 1859 . ] THE L 1 A ]) EB , 211
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Mu . ConnKN . —This gentleman , in a Iottor addrossot f to tho Ballot Socioty , g » v ° s tho reasons which will prevent his attendance at tho annual dinner of that body . Mr . Cobdon says that , from his retirement , he has boon ; watching tho progress of Mr . Blight ' s movement , ana is-Btruok with tho similarity of tho ordeal through which his friend has had to pa ** , and tho ordoal ho hod himself to encounter in tho earliest stages of tho Loagno agitationl Tho misfltntenionts and misrepresentations woro tho saino . Hut tho triumph would oomo . In a to . vr yours Mr . Heig ht will , if able to persovcro , gain theobject of his wislioa , and tho clamour will bo transformed into praiso . Mr . Co'lklon mentions his intondod visit to Amorloa , and concludes by intimating that ho is likely to glvo his experience wlion ho roturntrof tho practical working oC tho Ballot in tho United States .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 12, 1859, page 211, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2281/page/19/
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