The Press.
London, England, 1854-01-21 00:00:00

THE PRESS.

JAITVARY 21, 1854.

SKETCHES OF RADICALS.
18. THE UNCONSCIOUS RADICAL.

IT would be a pity to pass over—without, at all events, the slight
notice demanded by their party--a class of men whom I may call
Unconscious Radicals, gentlemen who on various public occasions
talk sheer Radicalism, under the guise of liberality, philanthropy,
enlightenment, or what not—for the sake of a round of cheering and a
quarter-of-a-column's report. We had a specimen of this kind of thing,
this polite " Bunkum " (to adopt a Yankee expression), the other day
at Oxford, from a mild and harmless Peelite. It is amusing to see
one of these lymphatic mediocrities coquetting with Democracy, like
a thin man in spectacles at the Zoological Gardens giving a penny
bun to the bear. Up gets Meagre, 111,P., and, with infinite vapoury
phrase, presents Democracy with a penny bun; and goes home (to
gruel) with the foolish notion that he has done rather the liberal
thing, and —ah conciliated popular affection, you know !
Such men as Meagre, the philanthropic Lord Foozle, and some (who
dine in the cause of the poor man), seem not to know that the upshot
of their proceedings is to favour Radicalism, and are, in a word,
Radicals without knowing it. A few words may be addressed to their
understandings—or, if an appeal in that direction be useless, to
their fears.

Meagre might as well understand that the British Radical is
made of stern stuff. If his head is wooden, it is of British oak. He
does not thank Meagre for his kindness, or care a fraction for his
civility, except, of course, as a homage to his consequence. Ho reflects
that his importance is the source of Meagre's vapoury phrase; and,
indeed, the Radical is not grateful as a general rule. Cuckles, of the
Morning Rasper, for example, is rather annoyed than otherwise when
a solid benefit is conferred on the people ; and feels that insolence is
shown to the Rasper thereby ; the Rasper, which has so often
denounced the present system of things as incapable of all popular
benefit. Does Meagre, does Lord Foozle suppose, that these fellows
are imposed on by postprandial rhetoric ? Pooh, sir ! their object is
to get the government of the country into their own hands ; and the
object of a sensible man should be to keep them permanently out, a
thing quite possible to achieve, but not to be done by polite, indefinite,
speechifying, where, every time the lymphatic speaker talks of
"progress," the listening Rad thinks—" i.e. Democracy."
Just as Meagre, then, does Democracy a personal service for the
sake of the aforesaid round of cheering and quarter-of-a-column, so
Lord Foozle and other Liberal lords are perpetually doing the same
thing. Our friend who volunteers the information to Europe that the
day of privileges is gone by—(he individually being nobody apart from
his order)—is surely a marvellous spectacle ! That he means it one
cannot suppose—the army and navy lists, with other public docu-
ments, do not allow us to suppose such a thing. What, then, does he
mean? He only wants to get a cheer or two from, the casual hearer,
at the expense of his own order—that is all. Meagre has an equally
lofty object. He wishes the surrounding spectators to see how deftly
he can hand the bun to the bear, and thinks the bear delighted. His
own tacit and reserved notion (as a Peelite of the great middle
class) being probably to the effect that an enlightened moneyed in-
terest is to govern this country, and just to talk amateur demo- '
cracy in public, now and then, by way of amusing the bear. Let
Meagre reflect that he is a Radical when he is making these demon-
strations, and that the exclusive moneyed interest is not a tithe part so
popular in the country as the aristocracy, whatever he may suppose.
The time is coming when we shall have to divide men much more
definitely, and to ascertain with some precision what principles are to
govern the country, and to which principles each individual inclines.
For my part, I want to know what " progress " is—what " enlighten-
ment' is—and then I shall be able to estimate the value of Meagre's
services when he helps—Radicalism, under these names. If by "pro-
gress " is intended the improving labouring people's daily life, the
establishment of libraries for those who require them, and so forth, I
cannot, for the life of me, understand why these objects cannot be
hieved without universal suffrage—the advancement of Cuckles of
the gasper to great power, or other such measures as I know to be
contemplated by the persons whom I have made the subject of these
Sketches." The slavish idolatry of machinery which is the charac-
teristic of the time makes our geniuses propose cobbling institutions,
at
little
complaint, as if that was all that was needful. But it is e,
too bad that every alteration should be baptised " progress,'
though you can no more help it than you could prevent a man from
calling his cob " Eclipse," if he was so minded.
.t Against the Radical himself—the downright outspoken Radical—
Lis easy enough to argue on his own grounds. But one has a right
from
when one finds dilettanti dabbling with the business, and,
sheer love of an odd " cheer," helping men in objects which are
as fatal to the Meagres and the Foozles as to the general establish-
ments of the realm. Fireworks are all very well in their proper places,
1,3 u he is but a foolish private individual who lets off squibs to amuse
himself when they must inevitably help the work of the incendiary.

61

THE ABERDEEN UNIVERSAL REMEDY.

As the day appointed for the meeting of Parliament approaches, the
unfortunate nobleman at the head of the affairs of an unfortunate
country is getting into a state as nearly approaching wildness as the
tame nature of the noble earl will permit. We understand that he
counts the days and estimates the hours and half hours of grace
between the present time and that at which he must advance to the
table of the House of Lords. He had notched upon a stick the num-
ber of these interesting days, and was one morning despondently
removing a notch, when he received a painful shock from the Home
Secretary, who came in and said, "Ha ! ha ! going to cut your stick
already ? No, no ! wait for the division." So the stick was thrown away.
The noble earl likewise complains constantly of the inconsiderateness
of his colleagues in fixing the day so early as the 31st, when they
might have had another week's respite ; and he also objects to that
Tuesday because it is the eve of Ash-Wednesday, and because it is the
last day of Hilary Term, and because he once knew an old woman who
was ran over on a Tuesday. He wrings his hands, and is obviously in
a very unprepared state to meet his trial. But he has great hopes,
which he shares with the other Peelites, that much may be done by
abusing Mr. DISRAELI. Indeed, this is now the great card of the
Cabinet. They have played it in the newspapers, and in a thick and
stupid pamphletwith great savageness, but they hope it will do again.
It is the Premier's answer to almost any question that can be asked
him, " Abuse Disraeli." Lord CLARENDON went to him the other day
for final instructions as to a despatch to America on the Central-
region question, and the Premier was exceedingly pettish because the
poor Foreign Secretary could not manage to introduce something
against Mr. DISRAELI into the Honduras paragraph. The earl makes
no secret of the fact that in his opening speech he intends to charge
the late Chancellor of the Exchequer with having caused the strikes,
by allowing his novel of " Sybil " (which describes such scenes) to be
published in a cheap form, with having brought Consols down to 92, and
sent the loaf up to a shilling, and coals to two guineas a ton ; and these
Free-Trade phenomena his lordship has no doubt he can successfully
ascribe to his dreaded antagonist, while he has also reason to believe,
though he cannot exactly prove it, that, by means of some intrigue with
the Earl of DERBY, Mr. DisitAELl brought about the snowstorm which
has occasioned so much suffering. In short, distressed and terrified
RS is the Earl, he has this one comfort left.

The other Ministers, especially those who are not in the House
of Commons, intend mainly to rely upon this defence against all
charges. The Duke of ARGYLL means to urge with terrific force that
Mr. DISRAELI cannot reason ; and Lord CLARENDON will meet the Oppo-
sition Peers with an equally overwhelming answer, that Mr. DISRAELI
cannot smoke. The Duke of NEWCASTLE will lay all colonial disturb-
ances, especially the destruction of the Canadian Church, at the door
in Grosvenor-gate; and even Earl GRANVILLE, who is too good-natured
to be very vindictive, designs to let off an elaborated joke about Bon-
jamin—" the son of the right hand "—pursuing a lelt-handed policy,
but this it is hoped the hon. member for Bucks will survive. The
LORD CHANCELLOR also means to be down upon him for having made
Vivian Grey say that to be a great lawyer ono must give up all idea of
being a great man. " Look at me!" Lord CRANWORTH means to exclaim,
"am I not both ?" And the Chancellor will indignantly demand
whether a man who could write such a sentence is fit to speak on
Turkey and Russia.
In the House of Commons there are, perhaps, reasons why this
felicitous line of defence should be pursued more gingerly ; but, never-
theless, it is to be the staple of the Ministerial arguments. The
Cabinet is wonderfully "up " in Mr. DISRAELI'S history, and it is
thought that the pages of Hansard will be enriched with a series of
memoirs of him by the various members of the Treasury bench.
Lord JOHN RUSSELL means to argue that the hon. gentleman can know
nothing of the constitution, because his father wrote learnedly upon
English history. Mr. GLADSTONE will dispute the possibility of Mr.
DISRAELI comprehending the next budget, because he has written
novels ; and Sir JAMES GRAHAM will make it equally clear that he can-
not understand the navy estimates, because he is a friend of the Duke
Of NORTHUMBERLAND, and is not, like Mr. GLADSTONE, too humble to
suppose it possible that a mere gentleman should presume to call a
duke his friend, except " with regard to the difference in their stations."
Sir CHARLES WOOD even means to muster courage to allude to Mr.
DISRAELI'S budget, and is busily learning its points, that, if possible, he
may avoid any dreadful blunder in stating them. And Sir WILLIAM
MOLESWORTH means to be especially severe upon the folly of a states-
man who, having once held certain views, has modified them, without
the inducement of place to do so.
It will be seen, therefore, that the case of the disgraced and
moribund Cabinet is simple almost to severity. It is the old lawyer's
story of instructions to counsel, "We have no defence to this action,
but please to abuse the plaintiff's attorney." And, as heaven tempers
the wind to the shorn lamb, it is matter of congratulation that such a
topic has providentially occurred to the Coalition at a time when it so
much stood in need of support. There can be no doubt that, if the
Ministers unite heartily and loyally in abusing Mr. DISRAELI, the
country will be convinced that they are all active, patriotic,
far-sighted,
and sagacious men.