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1 i THE TOMAHAWK: A SATURDAY JOURNAL OF ...
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No. 83.] - \ LONDON, DECEMBER 5, 1868. [...
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THE LATE CIVIL WAR.
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The late Civil War! Where? in America? N...
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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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.
1 I The Tomahawk: A Saturday Journal Of ...
1 i THE TOMAHAWK : A SATURDAY JOURNAL OF SATIRE . (& YxWh \ s % % tt \& x a' § Mktt "INVITAT CULPAM QUI PECCATUM PRETERIT . "
No. 83.] - \ London, December 5, 1868. [...
No . 83 . ] - \ LONDON , DECEMBER 5 , 1868 . [ Price Twopence .
The Late Civil War.
THE LATE CIVIL WAR .
The Late Civil War! Where? In America? N...
The late Civil War ! Where ? in America ? No . In England . We have had a General Election in Great Britain and Ireland , and we have , in consequence , had a Civil War . Fellow-subjects have armed themselves against one another , and everywhere detachments of the standing army of the State have been held in readiness to act against their own
countrymen . This , in plain language , has been the condition of Great Britain and Ireland for the last three weeks . The exercise of the greatest constitutional right which we , as a nation , possess , namely , that of electing our own representatives , cannot be carried on without the intervention of the military . This is not creaitaDie xactout it is tless true
a very The Anglo-Saxons , may be none an ne order-loving . race in general , but it cannot be denied , that on particular occasions they are more violent and brutal than any other civilized race . We leave it to connoisseurs in morality to decide what moral superiority is shown by those who break a fellowcreature ' s head with a bludgeon , or smash his features into a jelly with their fists , over those who prefer to use the knife on such occasions of brotherlv intercourse . However , even in
Ireland , where we know the shillelagh nourishes side by side with the shamrock as an emblem of national honour and generosity , knives and firearms seem to have been used during the late soldiers elections are so by metime others s than admiringl foreigners y termed , or . hire Some d butchers philosophers , as the , considering the religious bigotry which was inevitably aroused by the Irish Church Question , and which was assiduously cultivated by the supporters , if not by the chiefs , of both parties , « - ^ - ^ m icu 4 Aft ! liiuiiiicu <« /^ 1 % ¦*¦ % J"h >>] 4 iu *^ % J ^ J" ^ ' *¦ % ^ V *«*«^ 4 »« m I * % 4 >^ h 4 * !• . M . . * " * ^ fc « ¦«• A * a-M * m W A KA i . k JM . . _ . A . a ^ . _ .
iLi < ** xy *^ uuiigiaiuiaic tuc luuuu ) ' Uix LUC tUlU " paratively small list of killed and wounded which is the result of the election contests . Perhaps , some member of the new Parliament will move for an accurate return of persons killed or injured ; but we , who look at moral facts rather than the arithmetical details of statistics , are quite ready to base our observations on the lowest return that any admirer of British institutions may be able to compile by the aid of his sympathies , or of his imagination . There is but little srood in endeavouring to imnress nnrm tlne >
intelligent electors and non-electors of this country that there is no political virtue , and not much argument , in breaking their opponents' heads . This is an obvious truism ; and like most truisms , will never be practically believed or acted on by those who are determined not to believe or act on it , however often it be repeated . What we wish to do , is to try and make some
how suggestions are these towards disgraceful ; the scenes solution of of violence jthis difficult and bloodshed problem to ; be prevented ? It has . been forced upon the perception of many writers , and thinkers , during the last week or two , that , after all , nominations are practically useless , except to facilitate rioting . Why should
not the names of the candidates be affixed to the church doors , and published generally throughout the borough , or district , which they aspire to represent ? We do not know why ; except that this is obviously the most sensible course to pursue . It is at the nominations , generally , that the worst element of election mobs—the non-electors or roughs—have a grand opportunity for a vigorous display of their partialities . But even the abolition of the ceremony of nomination would do but little ; there would still remain those numerous gatherings of the constituents , which are convoked by the various candidates previous to every election . Electors will inflict on themselves this somewhat unnecessary torture , and of course they have to asic 01 tneir
a rignt questions proposed representatives , and to hear from them some profession of faith , even though experience teaches them that these professions often , owing to circumstances over which , of course , the candidate can have no control , fail to be fully realised by his future practices . What , then , can we do ? Given , a public meeting , at which Jones , the Liberal , meets the electors , how are we to prevent the supporters of Smith , the Conservative , from being present , and testifying their presence by whatever forcible methods they may please to adopt I As to only granting admission to those who have previously received tickets , practically we know this to be little protection against disturbances .
Besides , if the meeting is to be of any real value , all opinions ought to be represented . Though it may be a confession of guilt , we think it would be better that special constables should be sworn in on all such occasions , to serve till the elections arc over ; that plenty of these special constables should be present at every meeting to keep order in the room , and to prevent any person armed from entering . In fact , all sticks and umbrellas should be left at the doors . In the case of open-air meetings , a strong cordon of constables should keep the ground , as soldiers do during a review , and no persons who may come with an obvious nv ^/ 1 pf ja vm 1 n ii f 1 n n W f \ f Mit / 1 i cfiivTWA ^ iner » g tli ja w noorn rWI-VWW fcJAJ cTi rkiiirf \\ ck Cb o \^ AXJLll 1 nr % if i c ± A An
^/* W \ AWbW < LA * 4 & A * UibAVJll > ^ VU * ** j ^ - W U . A Vt M \* L (• V * V * Ull the ground . These suggestions may not appear to be very brilliant or original ; but we believe that most persons will bear us out in stating that , for some inscrutable reason or other , there is very rarely any care taken by the proper authorities to keep the peace at public meetings of a political character . It is one thing to attempt to suppress such a meeting , and
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Citation
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Tomahawk (1867-1870), Dec. 5, 1868, page unpag, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/t/issues/ttw_05121868/page/1/
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