The Press.
London, England, 1856-11-15 00:00:00

1082

Manchester. His platitudes were applauded,
and his half-confidential no-meanings were
hailed as familiar revelations of foreign policy.
His apology for superficial reasling was also
accepted as satisfactory, and WI " green 'Rd
" vivacious old age ' was cordially 4tppreciated
by Manchester. Ne*t. day another platform
was set up for—liosSuni ! The Hungarian
exile denounced the statesmen of Europe, and
was voluble in what Lord JOHN Ruasint called
the ",jargon of nationality." Mr. PHILLIPS,
the High Sheriff of Lancashire, presided, and
Sir Jolts Parma, Mr. KERSHAW, M.P , along
with Messrs GEORGE WILSON, ABSOLOM WATKIN,
key. Dr. VAUGHAN, and many other conspicuous
local celebrities, lent their approving presence
to the tribunate of the political exile. " The
" manifesto of LAMABTINE was a marvel of
" humbug and of blustering nonsense ;" and in
that same Manchester, where Lord PALM EusroN
had been so applauded not many hours before,
KOSSUTH continued in the Hlowing strain—
" Then, again, Lord Palmerston could be quoted to
"show that he also considered the integrity of
"the Austrian empire as a matter of impor-
" Lance."

Take the ovation to Lord PALMERSTON, and
compare it with the reception given to KossuTu,
and any reflecting person must see how little
to be relied on is a demonstration of the mere
platform kind. Sir JOHN PAK!NGTON, a staunch
Church and State Conservative, one of Lord
DERBY'S Cabinet, is also to have an ovation at
Manchester. And \yell does that excellent
gentleman deserve any popular honour that
could be paid to so earnest and practical a
friend to the social interests of the people.
But in weighing the worth of these demon-
strations, it is almost impossible to set them
down as representative displays. Lord PAL-
MERSTON was a leading celebrity of the day,
and provincial politicians were glad to see and
hear him. Kossum is a capital speaker, and
a man of remarkable history, and well worth
looking at; and Sir JOHN PAKINOTON is a model
English squire, and under Lord DERBY'S Ad-
ministration made an admirable Secretary for
the Colonies.

What, then, is the worth of platform ova-
tions, after all? The Duke of WELLINGTON
once profanely called " county meetings
farces ;" and after a musical festival at Bir-
mingham, on the eve of his Premiership, Sir
ROBERT PEEL and Sir HENRY (afterwards
Lord) HARDINGE were brutally assaulted by a
mob of what some persons would falsely call
" the people." We live under a form of rule
called " Representative Government ;" but the
organised platform is gradually obtaining a
dangerously dictatorial power in our free
community. Lord MANSFIELD said that he
was in favour of that popularity which follows,
and not that which is run after ; and a " mere
platform politician" is a term of reproach
amongst real statesmen. It is one of the arts
of the Liberals to keep up an organised plat-
form to counterfeit public opinion, though they
secretly despise it. They resemble the great
advertising tailors, who affect to boast that
they " never wear the clothes of their own
houses." They leave that to the " democracy."
A genuine reception, not got up for election
eering objects, or Ministerial necessities, is to
be respected. Whatever represents opinion
as distinct from clamour, is of great political
value. The great difference between Conser-
vatives and Liberals is, that the former wish
to be governed by institutions adapted to test
and register opinion, while the former arc sub-
servient to the ephemeral sentiment generated
by excited masses, and swelling into formid-
able clamour.

LORD CARLISLE AND PROTESTANTISM.
THE union of a Protestant pietist and a pro-
Romanist politician is something very strange.
It is still more singular when seen in a
Viceroy of Ireland. And GEORGE HOWARD,
seventh Earl of Carlisle, her Majesty's Lord
Lieutenant at Dublin, exhibits a most unique
instance of that eccentric coalition of op-
posite characters. His Lordship's verses
in " Books of Beauty," and in the still
less ephemeral literature of the albums of

THE PRESS.

fair patricians, together with his sentimental
lectures to unlearned societies, all testify to
Lord CARLISLE'S possession of a rich stock of
that emotional quality which the Edinburgh
Review in its scoffing and anti-evangelical days
used to call " religiosity." The preachers at
Dublin, also, whom Lord CARLISLE has most
honoured by his notice, are of a school of
divinity which is popularly known in Eng-
land as " half-methodist " His Lordship's un-
affected piety we hold in respect, and we do
not forget that in his fugitive " Diary in Greek
Waters" Lord CARLISLE gave mordant utter-
ance to his dislike of what Lord JOHN RUSSELL
would call " the mummeries of superstition."
But never, surely, within our experience did
we observe so strong a case of the dangers
which a weak, well-meaning man may work to
" the true religion established amongst us,"
as in the career of the noble Whig who does
the work of his party in Dublin Castle, and
illustrates the pro-Romanist phase of his
character in his anxiety to court the Catholic
platform in Ireland.
For, unquestkulably, if we may judge by the
conduct of Lord CARLISLE, the grand fact of the
day in the domestic politics of England is the
overt reconciliation which has taken place
between the Whig party and the Pope. Lord
lolls RUSSELL rudely severed that old alliance,
but the Stafford house Whigs, with Lord
CARLISLE at their head, have for some time
past been at work in soldering up a connec-
tion with the powerful sacerdotal influences
which sway the Roman Catholics of Ireland.
Twenty years ago there was a " Lichfield-
house compact." and a similar convention
between surrendering Protestants and subsi-
dised Romanists now exists. The first result
of this " arrangement " (to call it mildly) is
that the Pope of ROME has again attached a
formidable rear-guard to the patty which
arrogates to itself the cause of " Liberal Pro•
gress." It was observed a century since by
the celebrated PULTENEY that " parties, like
" snakes, are moved from their tails." The
Liberals of England now illustrate that axiom;
and we direct the attention of the country to
the augmented influence which, by the most
fatal impolicy, the present Cabinet is organis-
ing for the convenience and ambition of the
Papacy.
It is pleaded in excuse for Lord CARLISLE'S
systematic courting of Roman Catholics that
" his Excellency is under old electioneering
" obligations to the Roman Catholic party."
The excuse is worse than the accusation, yet
it would really seem as if his Excellency still
felt the most extraordinary gratitude to the
Dublin politicians, who sought to cover the
rejection of Viscount MORPETH from the West
Riding in 1841. Any one can see that
the present system at Dublin Castle is an
imitation of the political course followed
ny Lord MULGRAVE in the times when, as Sir
JAMES GRAHAM phrased it, " there was a short
" cut between the Castle and the Corn
" Exchange." TALLEYRAND observed of the
elder Bourbons, in 1813, that they returned
to France " having learnt nothing and for-
" gotten nothing." Lord CARLISLE, though
twenty years older, is not wiser than he was
when Lord Morpeth.
For our part, we do not grudge a fair
bestowal of honours and rewards upon the
Roman Catholics of Ireland. As Conserva-
tives, we recognise their social status; we
cheerfully admit the respectability of a large
portion of their gentry ; and we admire the
many estimable qualities which, in common
with the virtues of their Protestant neigh-
bours, do honour to their country. But we
deny that it is wise for one intrusted with the
government of Ireland to covet exclusively
the support of the Roman Catholic interest.
We cannot forget that a strong political and
religious animus is manifested against the
Protestant institutions of the realm ; and the
fact that the gentry of Ireland have been
ousted from their fair share of the political
representation of their native country, and
seats given to an adventurer class, cannot pos-
sibly be overlooked

The excessive political activity of the Roman
Catholic priesthood, and their interference at
elections, is c..lculated to give great pain to all
persons of moderate opinions. We know that