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THE TOMAHAWK. A SATURDAY JOURNAL OF SATI...
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I ~ " ' ' ' ~- No. 152.] LONDON, APRIL 2...
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2 HE TRIBUNE OF THE PEOPLE—" IN RETREAT. 1 '
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Happy is the man who can exchange the tr...
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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Transcript
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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.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
The Tomahawk. A Saturday Journal Of Sati...
THE TOMAHAWK . A SATURDAY JOURNAL OF SATIRE . < £ btteii tip frxttfux & ' 1 $ eckett . " INVITAT CULPAM QUI PECCATUM PRETERIT . " ¦ " ¦ "
I ~ " ' ' ' ~- No. 152.] London, April 2...
I ~ " ' ' ' ~ - No . 152 . ] LONDON , APRIL 2 , 1870 . [ Price Twopence . .. ~ ——— . ——— . — . — - — - — . —
2 He Tribune Of The People—" In Retreat. 1 '
2 HE TRIBUNE OF THE PEOPLE— " IN RETREAT . '
Happy Is The Man Who Can Exchange The Tr...
Happy is the man who can exchange the troubles and anxieties of this wicked workaday world for the calm repose of Arcadia . There is something particularly pleasant in the notion of piping to lambkins and wearing silk tights and particoloured ribbons . The pictures a la Watteauy fill the minds of business men with visions of bliss . What can be more delicious than the soft shade of green trees , what more musical than the silvery ripple of tiny streamlets ? So long as it does not rain , and the lambkins are patient and clean , the shepherd ' s life is one to be envied—one to be eagerly sought for . Without comparing for a moment such a very great man as the Right Honourable John Bright to such an insignificant personage as a keeper of sheep , we may perhaps be permitted to hint that his very sudden retirement from the labours and responsibilities of debate is not so unlike the Arcadian pictures to which we have alluded , as it might first appear . Mr . J ohn Bright for many years has been before the public , and during that time has appeared in three distinctly different characters . As it would appear that ( for some time at least ) the right honourable gentleman has no intention of changing his role , we will seize the present opportunity of reviewing his career . We will examine his morals and conduct in all three of his individualities , and will leave it to some future historian ( we trust at a very distant time ) to compose his epitaph . The first , and certainly most popular of Mr . Bright ' s characters , was that of the Agitator . Had we the pen of the now defunct Morning S / ar , we might enlarge upon his peculiar merits by the columnby the page . We might ruin ourselves in type by emblazoning his name in the biggest characters—we might dub him the " Tribune of the People , " and hail him as the " Workman ' s friend . " Unhappily for us ( if not for the world ) the pen of the now defunct Morning Star was buried with that ill-fated periodical , and until the public taste undergoes a radical change , seems unlikely to be exhumed . This being the case we can only write of Mr . Agitator Bright according to our poor lightspoor lights that show us a statesman with sweet words 011 his lips and humbug in his heart of hearts . We frankly confess that we could never admire that ingenuity which set class against class , and which petted the Rough at the expense of the Aristocrat . More than once we have been favoured in . these columns by letters from our " Working Man " Orator Stubbings , mcl although we have found our correspondent ' s communications particularly forcible , and very much to the point , still wo have
not grown enamoured of his character . Mr . Bright , no doubt , regards our warlike contributor with feelings of deep-rooted respect and budding affection . In him , no doubt , the Great Agitator recognizes a Working Man of the best principles and the clearest arguments . In fact , if the truth be told , Mr . Bright is not unlike our exceedingly respectable Orator Stubbings . We do not wish to imply that the President of the Board of Trade ( in retreat ) carries a big stick , and wears heavy boots , with which to enforce his opinions more forcibly than other men . But we do say he is a bully , a " genteel " one , perhaps , but still a bully . Unquestionably , Mr . Bright had a great deal of power in his first character . Invective and not argument was his forte . " To abuse" was the verb he conjugated in all its tenses . With him an aristocrat was really " bloated , " a working man indeed a saint . He praised America because America was Republican , and the very opposite to England . He had sympathy with the Irish because the Irish hated their fellowcountrymen . Bitter , savage , and perverse , he cried down what wasto clear the way for the advent of what should not be , —sometimes what could not be . By these means he gained the hearts of the illiterate and unthinking , of Jack Smith , the dram-drinking workman , of Bill Styles , the successful burglar , of Pat O'Doolcy , the budding Fenian . When his arguments failed to move the " House" he found friends to fight his , cause in the streets and parks . Long processions of " roughs " and disgraced vestrymen marched away to the music (?) of tenth rate German bandsrejoicing at the strains of the Mar-, seillaiseand indulging in the ecstacy of " See the Conquering , Hero Comes . " These long processions meant , nothing if not intimidationand because they did mean intimidation they re-, ceived at once Mr . Bright ' s warmest sympathy . " Bully and storm and possess " seemed to be the right honourable gentleman ' s motto at this stage of his career . If you cannot get the educated to listen to you , appeal to the Mob ; if arguments won ' t avail , why turn to bludgeons and stones . So Mr . Bright played the part of the Tribune of the People , and prospered . He was the popular man of the day among the roughs and the petty tradesmen . Supported by bludgeons and cheered by beery voices , he found his way to the Treasury Bench , and on that stage played his second character , " The Cabinet Minister . " From the moment he assumed this role Failure marked him as her own . At first he tried to combine the chains of office with the freedom of Agitation . It was not a success . The Mob scoffed at himand his colleagues frowned . The Right ,
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Citation
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Tomahawk (1867-1870), April 2, 1870, page unpag, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/t/issues/ttw_02041870/page/3/
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