Extracts.

Lyttelton Times, Volume X, Issue 601, 7 August 1858, Page 5

Extracts.

POINTS. (From tlie 'Liverpool Journal,' April 17.)

Tho "Manchester School" never minded, and keep on never-minding the; charge ■against it, that it is " un-English." ItTis not its .business to flatter the free and happy people. It is .the least cosmopolitan, and yet the most candid of parties. It believes, the English" public to be, on the whole, not so enlightened as the English public iiatters itself to be, and the consequence of takingI:up that attitude of frank contempt, on occasions of difference with the majority, is, that the Manchester School, so anxious to get before the age, gets very much behind it. This is extremely absurd, as political action. Mr. Disraeli is probably as acute a man in i detecting British weakennesses as Mr. ! Cobden or Mr. Bright, but he takes care to adulate, and manage, and conform, — and he gets position, place, —and, for all Mr. Osborne's jet'i* — power. But the Manchester School has its consolation;1 events march and-prove.it right and England wrong and then what a " I>iiin rt J tell you so!" shriek comes from the om^ cles of Nswiili's-buildinps. We are evrting again into a panic about a French invasion. There is no doubt of the panic. It is the natural re-action on the overdone cordial understanding, and prodigious may be its conserjuences. Marshal Pelissior, whose very title of Duke of MalakoiF symbolises the triumph of the Anglo-French alliance, nrrived in England on n. day when the press was. particularly engaged in showing- to the British, people that Sir i John Pakington is a true statesman, because lie is.forming' a great channel fleet; and in pointing out not only that the gonius of-'Louis-'Napoleon is 'especially treacherous, but that the French avmv and the French nation abhor England, and burn to see Watei'loo avenged. la short, the alarm is as general as when, in 1803, the late Lord Eiiesmere summoned London to be frightened at the picture he drew of a French nrmv pillaging' ft. What is the reason of all this? -'First, bad blood seems to have been got up between the two countries by the discussion on the Orsini affair. Louis Napoleon v.nd England quarrelled, and they only afJec? to have made, it up. That is. a. feeling endang-ering-suspicion, perhaps unfair, but there is moreover a fact, or a series oi facts, which should create caution. Tin-" increase and solidification of the French army might be intelligible on the ground that the Neapolitan despotism demands that precaution against its internal enemies. But against what danger, for what, purpose, is the French navy being so greatly increased in Ships and men ? When a man feels mischievous, and ha.at hand the power and means to intlx* the ill, he is terribly -tempted ; 'and what ! ■may be called an international: .instinct ' seems to warn the' British that the pro- ! found reserve of Louis Napoleon may s:gvtify patent hypocrisy. We know that he once told a French Assembly that among the things he represented was " a defeat." and we also know tho idtu's of a Napoleon are extremely limited. It is, however, in utter accident, that, this state of thing's has arisen ? We find the Turkish empire convulsed, Montenegrin insurrection, Austrian \ intervention, Russian intervention, the whole question of protection to the Christrian subjects of the Porte raised anew, and this coincident with a course of events which result in rendering- the cordial alliance between France and England some- j thing like an armed truce. Bruuow preceded Malakoff in London • the new lion j niay trace his descent on our shores to the old fox. What wots England of diplomatic intrigues ? The total revolution in | the public feeling' towards France is one of tlie most wondeiful in our modern history ; and yet John Bull takes it as a matter of course, and is-not surprised— and, surely, is not sorry.

What will Pelissier think, now that he has an opportunity of studying- the play (drama or farce?) of "free institutions'<"' Of course he will bo feted by society, including 1 the Lord Mayor, prodigiously; the empressement of the reception will be in the measure of the distrust of him, o1 his master, and his fellow niilitairos. According1 to all accounts, the Marshal-Am-bassador is exquisitely French. If the claws are dosed, he will have his eyes open, not only to what wo tire doing- in naval and military matters, but \\\ political matters; and a result of his visit, may

enable him to form more than one conclusion— not only as to the strength' of England', but us to the glory, of the British constitution. We are just now a melancholy spectacle,'no .doubt. The politics of Madrid are not more completely an affair of base personal intrigue than oijr own politics of England—-or, rather let us say, of London.' We despise and deride our Government. We so strongly.'understand the equality between tweedledum and tweedledee, that we are indifferent who is in and who is out; while those who, in the chances of the club-plot, get then* turn of office, so admirably appreciate tho: position, that they honestly confess dishonorable intention?, and proffer to accept any one's policy. It is not an epoch of principles or measures; the distinctions in, parties are recognised as being no differ-, ences ; and thus Lord John Russell becomes the hero of the hour, not by the promulgation of a great policy, but by the suggestion of a great dodgo. It is a!l dodge. Lord Palmerston moves a step; Lord John moves a step; and Mr. Disraeli slides; between the two; and the Hou<e of Commons looks on, and the counti-y scarcely does that. If the country has any interest, it is in the "fun" of watching the angryj but polite, struggle oi* the two old Whig lenders for the preeminence of the next crisis. jineh is actuated towards the other by the questions which- the swain indicated when tie smi's to his l;idy—

Perhaps it was right to dissemble your Jove,

But why. did you luck me downstairs?" Each can plead this political necessity'for having treated the other badly, and both Kiiuvr how hollow is the friendship of the two kings smelling at one rose; but the

resentment is none the deeper for that philosophic allowance on the part of these veteran schemers. Till now, they divided the rose equitably between them, in:regaling themselves with the British bouquet; but now one must incontinently put tip with the thistle—pre-knowing that lie will be the ass who takes patiently to that plant. In the same way-that this contest amuses, the public, instead of being- in a grand historical passion with the Derby itesfor the meanness of their ministerial pose, : is disposed to chuckle- at the sublime impudence— or noble modesty —of Mr. Disraeli, who has resorted to the Toots's point of view of life, and no matter how snubbed or suppressed, makes onl\' the comment—"lt's of no consequence." His way of-avoiding* a catastrophe on the batched India bill is a precedent for Parliament men. He ought to have gone out, he, knows j but he prefeired ■ to — hack out. And his press squeaks "Don't make India a party question/ which reminds one of the thief found out in petty larceny, insinuating that bygones ought to be b} rgones. Mr. Disraeli, Avhen. he broke down on a budget, took the failure manfully^ and acknowledged the smash; but the controversy about the admission of Baron Rothscliilii'mny liave intensified his Christianity since, and ie may have been with a. mystic fervour that on .Monday night, he shrunk not from the slap in the iace, hurt availed himself of his abundaney in that particular, and mildly turned the other cheek. This self-suppression ought to be affecting, but so far, is only laughable, and may be fatal to the Derbyites, unless ground be gained on a budget which they may stand by. The English don't care about India, except that they like the sepoys to be put down 5 hut they care about increased taxation at a moment of languid trade and doubtful prospects, and an indifferent financial arrangement now would have the effect of expelling the ministers amid a howl of contempt, such as would, only be evoked by a revelation-of the grossest political dishonesty in aid of the veriest administrative incapacity. '.DcVbyism or Disraelism can have but one justification —success. But we must count on desperate and daring* men. It is not quite at our choice just at present to expel them. Lord Derby has still to play the card—a general election. These Mieawbers of statesmanship can'often gain one thing— time; and, iv time, what^niay not "turn up." There is another resource for satislying the pursuing 'monster—Jonas-might' be thrown overboard. Lord Ellenbcroagh is the "bete noir"—the elephant lVnot a white one—of .the cabinet, and a sacrifice is needed. His India Bill is an abortion, his Kroomen scheme silliness; and why should Malmesbury and Pakiiigton and Henley, who are getting on so well d^parfmen.tally, suffer for- a colleague's preie.iti:)na folly? We are all tired of changes of ministries. Let us try changes.. of ministers. It's le:s trouble and ebire* to the same thing. At fliis time, when pm--

lament is a degradation, it is somewhat, that we should see a court of justice, virtuously as well as legally indignantj -sentencing Mr. Glover to a severe imprisonment for having perjured himself ;in falsely declaring that -he possessed the property qualification.of an M.P. Is it the property qualification of a senatorship that we .alone stick-to? It. is-a matter ot common.conversation that there are many -men in the House of Commons who have not the requisite qualification, and who are "clearly guilty of a subterfuge to use a mild word for perjury, in making the declaration which satisfies the. technical returning officer. The property-qualifica-"tion test has been allowed to become a -constitutional fiction, much in the same way as in the Jews debate, members suggested that the "on the true; faith of a Christian" oath had become, a formality implying .nothing. The M. P. piety was taken on trust, and so was his temporal £300 a year freehold or funded property. It was over and over decided in committees on •election petitions, based on the plea of insufficient property-qualification, that a candidate might he in possession,of the title-deeds of the property for half-an-hour -only, and this would satisfy the law; —. he got to London from the hustings, he might have parted with the property, and still be an "honorable gentlemen." But courts of law take legal views, and Glover suffers j and thus we get a new illustration of the weakness and vices of .the Oaths system. But the Beverley case may be made use of, not only in this abstract reasoning, but for the practical assistance of Mr. Locke King in asking for the abrogation of the stipulation about property-qualification, in respect to members of parliament. The solitary qualification should be—proof of being returned vby a constituency who should be absolutely free to choose their own representatives, among the poorest as the richest, —among Parsees as among Christians. rThe House of Commons itself is quite ■prepared for that view, but large classes of the public are not. Of the spirit of the house, about these safeguards, we may. judge by its summarily declining to accept Sir John Trelawney's advice, to declare 'that no member could honorably receive for services done to individuals in the course of parliamentary proceedings— the text of Sir John being taken from the blue book of the Butt committee. The House of Commons can take care of itself —at any rate it can take the chances. The proclamation against blasphemy, etc., is regularly read; but society hears a great deal of swearing for. all that. Yet, though Sir John Trelawney withdrew his motion, Mr. Isaac Butt is not the less a ruined man. He is assuredly bound for India; —via Coventry.