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the encouragement-and, in short, the treasonable accomplicity of Lord Palmerston. Each gives us the same maps of the world to delineate the progressive encroachments of Russia-each gives us the same statistical table to show the enormous increase of her population—and each endeavours to terrify us with visions of a gigantic futurity, in which Russia, like Noah's flood, is to overflow the whole habitable world. We know not whether the Urquhartites are aware that these terrific tables and accusatory maps are by no means an original idea of the author of The Progress of Russia in the East,' from whom they have successively borrowed them-nor was Russia the bugbear against which this system of statistical indictment was first essayed. The French had long before employed the same kind of geographical and arithmetical tactics to demonstrate the perfidy, the ambition, and the gigantic aggrandisement of England. We have before us one of these bills of indictment against England published in Paris during the early days of the Restoration, and often repeated, in which all that Messrs. Urquhart, Cargil, and Co. can allege Russia to have swallowed, are but penny buns compared with what England is accused of having voraciously devoured out of the common inheritance of mankind. New Holland at one side of the globe and the north-west of the American continent on the other, each is extent almost as large as Europe itself-the boundless tracts of South Africa-the wide Polynesian region— and, most important of all, our vast and still growing Indian empire-afford, we assure these gentlemen, a very serious set-off against their Russian statistics. Even while we are writing, we find our government erecting into a British colony the islands of New Zealand, which happen to be the exact antipodes of the British Isles-to which we had not even the prima facie title of discovery, and which in point of extent are larger than the United Kingdom. Have these gentlemen, who are so indignant with the Russian invasion of Circassia and Khiva, not heard of our operations in Cabool and Affghanistan? Do those who complain so loudly of finding Russian agents at the court of Persia forget that they were so found by British agents sent on a similar errand; and that when England complained to Russia of the presence and proceedings of these agents, the latter might-instead of replying, as Count Nesselrode did, in a friendly and conciliatory tone-have answered, Sister, sister-where did you find the

bodkin?"

6

We throw out these hints, because we think it right that those itinerant demagogues, who have been preaching a crusade against Russia in our great towns and usurping into their own hands the proper functions of her Majesty's government, and thereby en

dangering

dangering the peace of the world, and, in fact, our own colonial empire, should be made aware-or at least that the less informed public, which might otherwise become their dupes, should be made aware that there are two sides to those questions, and that such declamations are liable to be retorted with an effect the very opposite of what they are intended to produce. The plain truth is, that whenever, from local circumstances, civilisation comes in contact with barbarism, war inevitably ensues, and civilisation thinks itself justified, and in some cases is really forced in self-defence, to make successive acquisitions of territory; and when two powers have begun, like England and Russia, on opposite sides of a great cake, like central India, and have eaten their way into the vicinity of each other, there will be jealousy and apprehensions, and each will be inclined to think the other an interloper, who is, in fact, only an imitator. So it is with France in Africa-so it will probably be, by and by, between the United States of America and their neighbours on both the north-west and the south-west; so between Peru and the Brazils; so between Chili and the Argentine republic-whenever the respective parties shall find on their frontier a cause of alarm, or an opportunity of consolidation. Let us be assured that such results, though they may be modified, delayed, or accelerated by the accident of moderation or ambition in individual rulers, are essentially attributable, not to the wiles or weakness of a Nesselrode or a Palmerston, but to the necessity of things and to the passions and interests implanted in human nature. It is, as it were, the original sin of political society, and, like the effects of the original sin of the first man on his individual descendants, is to be deplored, checked, corrected, and, if possible, punished; but then that nation only which is wholly guiltless can be justified in throwing the first stone.

We know not how many of these Urquhartite meetings may have been held-we believe they have been numerous-but it will suffice for our purpose to notice two, of the proceedings of which a printed report is before us,-one at Carlisle on the 22nd, and one at Newcastle on the 24th August last. In both cases the principal performer was a Mr. Charles Attwood, who seems to have made a tour of agitation against Lord Palmerston personally, or, as is expressed by a ministerial paper which affects to take his lordship's part, going about the country in order to demand the judicial slaughter of an old man sixty years of age,'-a form of deprecation-an appeal ad misericordiam-which, we are satisfied, was never suggested (as Mr. Attwood seems to suppose) by Lord Palmerston himself-his Lordship would not, we suspect,

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have exaggerated his own age, nor even admitted that sixty was the climacteric of political incapacity. The question, as propounded to the men of Carlisle by Mr. Attwood, is

'Whether England and the men of England shall be sold as slaves to a foreign power-to the foulest and most cruel tyranny ever established by the sword upon the earth. The tyranny that destroyed Poland is arming itself to the destruction of England, and finds, as we believe, a traitor in the English cabinet to barter away the English crown and English nation.'-p. 4.

And then, after enumerating everything that Lord Palmerston has done, or omitted to do, for the last ten years; whether with Russia or against it; whether with France or against it; in Spain, in America, in Persia, in China, in Sweden, in Italy, in Austria-and to be sure a most strange catalogue of blunders, inconsistencies, and misconduct it is-he concludes that all has been done in treacherous collusion with Russia; and that even his lordship's impolitic and insulting conduct towards that power was but a deep finesse, prompted by her and executed by him, to blind the people of England, till Russia should find it convenient to invade us, and extinguish our name and liberties together!

Then came a Mr. Hanson, who assured the meeting that— 'the power by which they should bring Lord Palmerston to justice as a traitor, would give them freedom.'—p. 15.

Next a Mr. Cardo exhorted the meeting to demand

'an investigation into the conduct of the minister, who, himself, being an agent of Russia, and a traitor to his country, was employed in promoting a scheme which, if successful, would banish the last hope of liberty from the land.'-pp. 16, 17.

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And, after several other speeches, a resolution was passed unanimously, and with loud cheering'-

"that this meeting perceives with alarm and indignation the interruption of friendly relations between this country and France: that we consider this interruption to have been brought about by the treasonable agency of our foreign minister, in concert with Russia, the secret and common enemy of both countries: that we regard it as the more dangerous, as being accompanied with an open alliance with that secret foe, whose machinations in almost every region of the globe that foreign minister has been for years, ostensibly or pretendedly, engaged in endeavours to counteract that we view this alienation of our friends, and alliance with our foe, as equally opposed to the national sympathies, interests, and character, and injurious to the cause of freedom and civilization: that we disclaim all participation in the ungenerous insult which has been offered to the brave French people, whom we

esteem,

esteem, and to a minister who has ever been the advocate of British alliance and that we view with astonishment and resentment the conduct of the leaders of the two factions, and of both Houses of Parliament, in allowing the existence of such a state of things without detection of its cause; in receiving its denunciation without investigation, and in abandoning their posts and separating at a crisis which has been prepared by treason for the destruction of the country.”—p. 16,

This farce having been played at Carlisle on Saturday, the chief performers proceed, like a company of strolling players, to Newcastle, where they repeated it on Monday, with little variation, but with one or two notable accessories. The mayor of Newcastle had been invited to summon the meeting, to which he replied

'Gentlemen,

Newcastle, 20th August, 1840.

'I have deemed it right to comply with the requisition you put into my hands, by appointing a meeting of the inhabitants of this town to be held on Monday next, at twelve o'clock at noon. At the same time I must inform you that, being of opinion that such a meeting can be productive of no public good, it is not my intention to be present at it. 'I am, Gentlemen, your most obedient şervant, 'To Messrs. Attwood, Doubleday, and Gray.' 'JOHN CARR, Mayor.'

We cannot understand why the mayor should have deemed it right' to call a meeting which could, he thought, be productive of no good; but surely, having by his authority assembled a public meeting, his authority ought to have been present in his own person to ensure the preservation of order and the public peace. No man-above all a magistrate-has a right to collect a large body of people, and then run away from the responsibility of the consequences. We notice this to show the disorganised state of our internal government, in which magistrates are equally afraid to resist what they know to be wrong, or to do what they must know to be their duty. On this occasion, a Mr. Doubleday, one of the itinerants it seems, made a long speech, in which he said

I hereby declare my conviction that Lord Palmerston is a traitor, and ought to be impeached; and, if found guilty before a tribunal of his country, his head ought to roll upon the scaffold.-(" Hear, hear.") I am sure Mr. Frost was found guilty upon less conclusive evidence.-("Hear," and cries of "Shame.") I have told you that Lord Palmerston is a traitor, and I think him one. I happen to KNOW that this man was, a few years ago, as poor as a person called a lord could well be conceived to be,-that he was hunted about, and had half-a-dozen executions in his house at once, and now, without any visible cause, without any visible means of making a better livelihood, this man has suddenly become rich, has paid all his debts, and is

living upon the fat of the land. What rational conclusion can one come to but that he is enabled to do this by means of Russian gold?'* He then proceeds:

'Lord Palmerston may, if he chooses, make war upon France for himself, and for the corrupt, imbecile, and degraded cabinet by which he is upheld; and for the degraded persons, whether the Duke of Wellington or Lord Melbourne, who support him. He may make war for them; but I stand here to say, that, by the living God, he shall not make war for me-(applause). We are told of the Russian fleet, with 40,000 men on board, who might land here within a week. I say, France has also a fleet, into which she could put 40,000 men, and land them in this country, in as short a time. And I here speak for myself, and say, that if it comes to this alternative-if I have to choose between M. Thiers and a French army, and Lord Palmerston and an army of Russians-my mind is made up, and I will join M. Thiers and the French and I say, further, if that French army, under such circumstances, enters the mouth of the Tyne to-morrow, I at least will not lift a hand in hostility. This is my determination, Gentlemen (!): what is yours? Whether would you prefer the French or the Russians ?— (loud cries of "The French," "The French.") Would you, in such a case, lift your hands in hostility to France ?-("No," "No.") Are you unanimous ?-("Yes, yes: put it to the vote.") If you are, hold up your hands. (Here a forest of hands were raised immediately, amidst loud cheers and shouts of "The French,' "The French.") Gentlemen, I thank you sincerely, from the bottom of my heart, for the noble and generous feeling that you have displayed. You may depend on this, these cheers will be heard at Paris; and that show of hands will teach M. Thiers, and the brave and democratic people of France, which way the wind sets in the North of England-(loud cheering).'— p. 35.

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We need make no detailed comment upon this abominable trash; we shall only say that, utterly contemptible in itself, it is very important as an illustration of the policy of a ministry which encourages these sort of public meetings, and of the retribution which is sure to fall on them for it. But Lord Palmerston is himself peculiarly responsible for it: he may thank himself for being the object, because his indiscretion has been the original cause, of these disgraceful scenes. The speaker took care to let him know from what quiver the poisoned weapon was takenthat the arrow was feathered from his own wing. Mr. Doubleday,

This calumny is so impudently asserted, and must reach so many people who know nothing about the matter, that it is as well to say that Lord Palmerston's paternal fortune was suitable to his rank and station-that he is a kind and improving landlord of considerable estates in Ireland, and that, except from any increase produced by such improvements, he is certainly not a richer man than when he entered political life three-and-thirty years ago. Lord Palmerston's public conduct is open to much and severe criticism, but no one who knows anything about him would doubt his personal honour.

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