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KING BOMBA TURNED PROTESTANT. of
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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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sent them . This passage is as follows : " It is also the law and custom of the Parliament , that when any new device is raised on the King ' s behalf in Parliament for his aid , . of . - the like , the Commons may answer that they tendered the King ' s estate , and are ready to aid the same , only in this new device they dare not agree without conference with their executives : thereby it appeareth . that such conference is warrantable by the law and custom of Parliament . ' Modem members have affected an independence of their constituents , quite fatal to the idea of representation , and it as common to hear them boast that they never " gave a pledge , their intention being to remain , politically speaking , " loose fish to the end of their days . One of the most important functions of an M . T :. is deliberation , and if constituencies attempted to extort pledges so as seriously to take away this function , a very mischievous result would follow in lowering the character of the legislature ; but in practice ,, pledges are never asked for except in cases where they ought to be given if the candidate intends to be a representative at all , and so far from , electors attempting to exercise too much control over their members , the rule is that they exercise too little . The lower sort—in character , not necessarily in station—do l . pester their representatives for places and subscriptions ^ but there is a decided want of supervision of the representative , work . Having propounded his theory of representation , Mr . Roebuck complained that the Parliament was " twitted with having done nothing . " He declared that his colleague and himself had worked very hard , and added , " I believe ^ the best thing that could result is that we have done nothing . ' To explain this paradox , he proclaimed the vulgar fallacy , " that the people of England are peculiar , for being only able and willing to undertake one thing at one time "—the one thing , during the session being the foreign relations of this country . We can easily admit that in England , as elsewhere , there Can only be one subject which is the most popular subject of the day , and that favourite topics have a tendency to diminish , the interest felt in all others ; but there was no positive wish that nothing should be done excepting to make provision for defences ; nor in that direction has the Parliament even attempted to do its duty , The people out of doors , with more hindrance than , help from the Government , have made an important volunteer movement , but the House of Gommons did nothing more for our defences than vote , without investigation , any quantity of money the Cabinet chose to ask for . At no time were the debates on our foreign relations so -destitute of serviceable talent , and unless jealousy of France can be so called , no attempt was made to lay down any intelligible principles of action ; and when the session concluded , the Government was found maundering in the Queen ' s speech about the treaties of 1815 j as if they were things for which any sane Englishman would draw the sword . If the House of Commons had really gone into the question of national defences , and had made any progress towards systematizing and giving permanence to a volunteer movement , large enough to diminish the amazing cost'of the regular services , Mr . Roebuck might have been entitled to boast of its labours , but the fact is , that we are as far as ever from a really national system . We have not even settled the preliminary questions of what should be done by the navy , and what should be loft for land forces , and we have entered upon an expenditure of millions in fortifications without determining the work they are to perform . All we know is , that the military authorities intend to make them , an excuse , not for diminishing the standing army , but for asking fox more troops . With reference to Reform , Mr . Roebuck sjiys- ^ " We intended to carry the Reform Bill , but the opposition was too strong forus , and the people of England did not support their representatives . " It is not correct to say that the Reform Bill fell to the ground because of the strength of the opposition . It fell because its own friends did not take the trouble to keep it up ; and if constituencies are not to " pester " representatives with their opinions , why should the latter make the non-expression of opinion a reason for standing still . " The small Reform scheme of Lord John Russkll was an attempt to forestall agitation , to make the Legislature act from its own energies , and not wait to bo kicked onwards by external force . ' Its refusal to adopt this course is quite fatal to Mi * . Roebuck ' s or to any wiser tlioovy of independence , and the result has proved that nothing can be done xintil the ruling classes are made so xmcomfortable , that for their own sakes they consent to exohango . If foreign affairs remain in the same unsettled state , Mr . RojSBtiCK promises that the 'next session will be as barren
as the last ; but the House of Commons is not to be blamed for it , " because sir , we ( the House of Commons ) are the living voice of the people of England . " Here again is that morbid egotism which Mr . Roebuck takes for political wisdom . Mr . Roebuck is In the House of Commons , and therefore it is the living voice of the people of England , and is to be complimented , because " have done much good by doing nothing . " . We have no wish to underrate the good that has been done by the fact that one great Senate in Europe is ; free ; but we must have wiser and nobler utterances than we had last session , before we are entitled to . call our Parliament " the harp of the liberty of the world . " The world wants to know what sounds the harp meant to give , or what principles we intend to maintain ; and it is still sorely puzzled to guess whether old doctrines of balance of power or new doctrines of the rights of nationalities will be the foundation of our action . Everyone sees that the French Emperor may force us into war by practically asserting his monstrous claims to readjust boundaries according to principles that ought to be put down ; but the comfort the people of Europe would derive from our wish to repress Imperial ambition is much marred by doubts whether ive should ally ourselves with the thirty little tyrants of Geri mamyor play the old game of trying to make Austria a Counterbalance to France . A truly English policy would set these questions at rest , and take away from Louis Napoleon his most dangerous weapon , the opportunity of playing off the rights of the nationalities against the Sovereigns who support the Treaties of 1815 . Towards such a policy , however , the House of Commons has made no advance ; arid it is difficult to believe that the intereste of Europe have been benefltted by the blatant absurdities of Mr . IdxGSLAKE andSir Robert Peel . In one thing Mr . Roebuck admits the House of Commons to be imperfect , " talk , talk , sir , is the curse of that . house ; " and he added , with an acidity singularly indicative of indigestion , " and I think it is the curse of this room . " After this the Cutlers should provide no more cutlets for their billioiis member ; and if fate and fortune should dissolve the present connexion , we recommend them to inquire of a new candidate before backing his pretensions , '' Pray sir , how is your liver . "
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796 The Saturday Analyst and Leader . [ Sept . 15 , 1860
King Bomba Turned Protestant. Of
KING BOMBA TURNED PROTESTANT . of
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rr ^ HE last resort baffled rascality is to protest . Ihe dis-X honest debtor whose liability will be wiped out by the statute of limitations next month , when compelled to discharge the claim before this mode of liquidation operates , pays it under protest . The man of elastic conscience who , relying upon possession being nine points of the law , " annexes " property he has contrived to lay his hands on , protests against its restoration to the rightful owner . The tenant who wants to live rent free protests against ejectment . The highwayman caught m flagrante delicto protests against being brought to justice . And last , but by no means least in the concatenation of delinquency , his Majestv the late King of Napj . es protests against the decrees of Heaven and the unanimous determination of the Italian people . The French Emperor is proud to declare that he rules by the grace of God and the popular will , . By the Krace of God and the will of the people , as well as to the unipeakable satisfaction of the people , the King of Napi . es has ceased to rule at all , His departure only cannot be described in the language Cicero applied to . Cataline . because it would be an insult to that classic desperado to compare him with the ferocious poltroon who at Naples is just now so happily •« conspicuous l > y his absence ; " and who has rat her dropped off , like a mortified linqb , than - rushed forth with the desperate , though fugitive fury of the old Roman demagogue . We have heard of men who , like Cjp-sar , have been equally great with the sword and the pen . But it has been reserved , for his Majesty the late King of Napxks to illustrate the antithesis of that accomplished character , ana to show that his abuee of the pen is even more deplorable than his non-use of the sword . Wo cannot say that he fought badly , for he wouldn't fight at all ; on this subject no Uns baffled criticise , because he has furnished no materials lor it to operate upon . But if we may judge by what analogy there is . and reason from his writing to his fighting , the otter . would have boon about the very worst that wus ever oxhilMtecl . ^ s well run away first as last , " we can imagine hisMnjesty njutteiing to himself fis he took flight , and made a literary splutter , to cover hie retreut after tho fashion of those nameless > " noisome animals whose defence from the hounds resolves itseu into the fact that ; tho latter are not destitute of noses .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 15, 1860, page 797, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2365/page/4/
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