DOI Heft:
August 18, 1855
DOI Seite / Zitierlink:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.16616#0075
August 18, 1855;j
PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI
63
PUNCH'S ILLUSTRATIONS TO SHAKSPEAKE.
" Stay, my lord,
And let your reason with your CHOLER question "-»
Henry VIII., Act i., Scene 1.
A BIBLIOMANIAC.
Somebody advertises a complete set of the
London, Gazette, from 1810 to 1854, which is
offered to the attention of the literary world and
book-collectors in general. We dare say a pur-
chaser will be found, inasmuch as there is
scarcely anything that one person wishes to sell
which some other person is not prepared to buy,
at some price or other. We confess the collec-
tion does not offer much temptation to us,
though the work may suit the tastes of many.
Some would like to have it, from an ill-natured
desire to peruse the bankruptcies of the last
forty years, as there are some to whom the
intelligence of the misfortunes of others is always
agreeable. Others there are who would find
a less censurable satisfaction in reading the lists
of promotions, and becoming acquainted by
name, with all the peers, baronets, and knights
that have been created since the year at which
the collection commences. We hope the pur-
chaser of the work will favour us with his name
and address, for we should like to include him in
the index of a small book we possess containing
the lives of remarkable characters. We hope
the buyer, whoever he may be, will find that the
book, in the language of the reviewers or puffs,
" will repay perusal."
The Shell King.
Everybody knows that Ferdinand, King of
Naples, is also called Bomba. Febdinand is
not, however, so much a monarch of bomb-shells
as he is of egg-shells, or, at least, of eggs; for
his subjects are in course of being beaten up on
all sides by a regular Commission which his
Majesty has established for administering the
bastinado. These unfortunate eggs must feel
their yolk intolerable.
PUNCH'S ESSENCE OF PABLIAMENT.
August 6, Monday. Baron Redesdale, Viscount Casino, whose
residence is Moreton-in-the-Marsh, and whose motto is Stick-in-the-Mud,
tried to prevent the introduction of the Amended Beer Bill, on the
ground that there was "no urgency" in the matter. His Lordship's
appearance is so exactly that of a pious butler, that nobody was astonished
at his dignified contempt for the "poor creature, small beer; " but other
Lords thought that the demands of the people were always malter of
urgency, and the bill was read a second time by 25 to 16, and has sinee
been passed.
In the Commons, the Criminal Justice Bill, a measure intended to
save accused parties from a long and demoralising imprisonment, was,
of course, opposed by a lawyer, Chambers, but read a third time; and
the Charitable Trusts Bill, which is designed to keep charities out of
Chancery, was also opposed, chiefly by lawyers, and had to be greatly
mutilated in order to save any part of it. The Commons have passed
what remains.
Tuesday. In the Lords, Lobd Casino, of Stick-in-the-Mud, above
mentioned, actually came out again as an obstruction, and tried to
prevent the introduction of the Limited Liabilities Bill, but was beaten
by 38 to 14. On Thursday, Lord Campbell tried to render the
measure as useless as possible, by endeavouring to exclude " small
companies " from its provisions, but this ridiculous attempt was suc-
cessfully resisted.
The Lords passed the Turkish Loan Bill, Lord St. Leonards
haviug opposed it on the previous night, and that unfortunate word
" solidairement" having again come under discussion. The Lord
Chancellor thus admits, that, according to our usual way of managing
matters, England has got herself bound "jointly and severally," while
France is bound "jointly" only; but Cranwortu adds that "it's of
no consequence." May be so, but we don't want a Toots for Chan-
cellor, nor slovenly bunglers for treaty-makers.
In the Commons Lord John Russell took the opportunity of
trying to put himself in a better position with the country, but had
better have held his tongue. He talked about the expensive character
of the War, about nothing having been done in the Baltic, and about
dangers to the common cause in Asia, and about the propriety of ac-
cepting the last Austrian proposal. He complimented the Turkish
plenipotentiary to Vienna as one of the " best informed men in
Europe;" but, as Mr. Punch had the pleasure a short time ago, of
recording the interview between the Turk and the Whig, the nation
will understand what Lord John's opinion on the subject is worth.
Then he made a pathetic and sentimental harangue about the way in
which civil and religious liberty is outraged in Italy, and muchof what
he said was very true; and, as the speech was merely an advertisement,
in case the nation should happen to want a Liberal statesman of philan-
thropic tendencies, Lord John will be good enough to send eighteen
and sixpence to our Office in return for our thus copying it. Lord
Palmerston laid it rather well into Mr. Gladstone for his previous
peace-mongering, after having helped to get us into war; and he sum-
marily disposed of Lord John's twaddle by announcing that he should
prosecute the War with the utmost vigour, and that the opinion of the
Turks was of no consequence, as it was for Erance and England to say
when enough had been done. He admitted the truth of the Italian
picture, and on Friday night, when that well-meaning but weak-minded
Roman Catholic, Mr. Bowyer, essayed a defence of the Ecclesiastical
Governments of Italy, Palmeeston told him that the best thing he
could do for his clients, was to hold his tongue. As regarded Austria,
the Premier declared, rather significantly, that she might not fight for
us; but he would guarantee her not fighting against us. By a curious
coincidence, Kossuth happened at this very moment to be drinking the
health of Mazzini.
Mr. Vernon Smith, the King of India, brought forward hid Budget in
the Commons, and showed (rather reluctantly) that the East India
Company has, for a set of City merchants, singularly mismanaged the
splendid country entrusted to them. They are in debt to the amount
of £2,( 00,000; a sham surplus has been previously exhibited, as a com-
mercial dodge; their accounts are confused and mystifying ; and there
is no longer any hesitation in admitting that torture is employed in
police and revenue cases. The decisions of their local courts were
stated to be a mass of contradiction and folly; and, altogether, the
affairs of India present the strongest conceivable case for administra-
tive reform.
Wednesday. The Commons were engaged in working up the fag-ends
of measures, and generally clearing away for the recess.
Thursday. Bather a day to be noted. There was a bill called the
Leases of Settled Estates Bill, which some persons thought would enable
Sir Thomas Wilson to steal Hampstead Heath. The promoters of the
hill said that this was not so, but there must have been some grounds
for the suspicion, or the law officers of the Crown would not have
introduced into the measure a new clause expressly pointed at Tommy,
PUNCH, OR THE LONDON CHARIVARI
63
PUNCH'S ILLUSTRATIONS TO SHAKSPEAKE.
" Stay, my lord,
And let your reason with your CHOLER question "-»
Henry VIII., Act i., Scene 1.
A BIBLIOMANIAC.
Somebody advertises a complete set of the
London, Gazette, from 1810 to 1854, which is
offered to the attention of the literary world and
book-collectors in general. We dare say a pur-
chaser will be found, inasmuch as there is
scarcely anything that one person wishes to sell
which some other person is not prepared to buy,
at some price or other. We confess the collec-
tion does not offer much temptation to us,
though the work may suit the tastes of many.
Some would like to have it, from an ill-natured
desire to peruse the bankruptcies of the last
forty years, as there are some to whom the
intelligence of the misfortunes of others is always
agreeable. Others there are who would find
a less censurable satisfaction in reading the lists
of promotions, and becoming acquainted by
name, with all the peers, baronets, and knights
that have been created since the year at which
the collection commences. We hope the pur-
chaser of the work will favour us with his name
and address, for we should like to include him in
the index of a small book we possess containing
the lives of remarkable characters. We hope
the buyer, whoever he may be, will find that the
book, in the language of the reviewers or puffs,
" will repay perusal."
The Shell King.
Everybody knows that Ferdinand, King of
Naples, is also called Bomba. Febdinand is
not, however, so much a monarch of bomb-shells
as he is of egg-shells, or, at least, of eggs; for
his subjects are in course of being beaten up on
all sides by a regular Commission which his
Majesty has established for administering the
bastinado. These unfortunate eggs must feel
their yolk intolerable.
PUNCH'S ESSENCE OF PABLIAMENT.
August 6, Monday. Baron Redesdale, Viscount Casino, whose
residence is Moreton-in-the-Marsh, and whose motto is Stick-in-the-Mud,
tried to prevent the introduction of the Amended Beer Bill, on the
ground that there was "no urgency" in the matter. His Lordship's
appearance is so exactly that of a pious butler, that nobody was astonished
at his dignified contempt for the "poor creature, small beer; " but other
Lords thought that the demands of the people were always malter of
urgency, and the bill was read a second time by 25 to 16, and has sinee
been passed.
In the Commons, the Criminal Justice Bill, a measure intended to
save accused parties from a long and demoralising imprisonment, was,
of course, opposed by a lawyer, Chambers, but read a third time; and
the Charitable Trusts Bill, which is designed to keep charities out of
Chancery, was also opposed, chiefly by lawyers, and had to be greatly
mutilated in order to save any part of it. The Commons have passed
what remains.
Tuesday. In the Lords, Lobd Casino, of Stick-in-the-Mud, above
mentioned, actually came out again as an obstruction, and tried to
prevent the introduction of the Limited Liabilities Bill, but was beaten
by 38 to 14. On Thursday, Lord Campbell tried to render the
measure as useless as possible, by endeavouring to exclude " small
companies " from its provisions, but this ridiculous attempt was suc-
cessfully resisted.
The Lords passed the Turkish Loan Bill, Lord St. Leonards
haviug opposed it on the previous night, and that unfortunate word
" solidairement" having again come under discussion. The Lord
Chancellor thus admits, that, according to our usual way of managing
matters, England has got herself bound "jointly and severally," while
France is bound "jointly" only; but Cranwortu adds that "it's of
no consequence." May be so, but we don't want a Toots for Chan-
cellor, nor slovenly bunglers for treaty-makers.
In the Commons Lord John Russell took the opportunity of
trying to put himself in a better position with the country, but had
better have held his tongue. He talked about the expensive character
of the War, about nothing having been done in the Baltic, and about
dangers to the common cause in Asia, and about the propriety of ac-
cepting the last Austrian proposal. He complimented the Turkish
plenipotentiary to Vienna as one of the " best informed men in
Europe;" but, as Mr. Punch had the pleasure a short time ago, of
recording the interview between the Turk and the Whig, the nation
will understand what Lord John's opinion on the subject is worth.
Then he made a pathetic and sentimental harangue about the way in
which civil and religious liberty is outraged in Italy, and muchof what
he said was very true; and, as the speech was merely an advertisement,
in case the nation should happen to want a Liberal statesman of philan-
thropic tendencies, Lord John will be good enough to send eighteen
and sixpence to our Office in return for our thus copying it. Lord
Palmerston laid it rather well into Mr. Gladstone for his previous
peace-mongering, after having helped to get us into war; and he sum-
marily disposed of Lord John's twaddle by announcing that he should
prosecute the War with the utmost vigour, and that the opinion of the
Turks was of no consequence, as it was for Erance and England to say
when enough had been done. He admitted the truth of the Italian
picture, and on Friday night, when that well-meaning but weak-minded
Roman Catholic, Mr. Bowyer, essayed a defence of the Ecclesiastical
Governments of Italy, Palmeeston told him that the best thing he
could do for his clients, was to hold his tongue. As regarded Austria,
the Premier declared, rather significantly, that she might not fight for
us; but he would guarantee her not fighting against us. By a curious
coincidence, Kossuth happened at this very moment to be drinking the
health of Mazzini.
Mr. Vernon Smith, the King of India, brought forward hid Budget in
the Commons, and showed (rather reluctantly) that the East India
Company has, for a set of City merchants, singularly mismanaged the
splendid country entrusted to them. They are in debt to the amount
of £2,( 00,000; a sham surplus has been previously exhibited, as a com-
mercial dodge; their accounts are confused and mystifying ; and there
is no longer any hesitation in admitting that torture is employed in
police and revenue cases. The decisions of their local courts were
stated to be a mass of contradiction and folly; and, altogether, the
affairs of India present the strongest conceivable case for administra-
tive reform.
Wednesday. The Commons were engaged in working up the fag-ends
of measures, and generally clearing away for the recess.
Thursday. Bather a day to be noted. There was a bill called the
Leases of Settled Estates Bill, which some persons thought would enable
Sir Thomas Wilson to steal Hampstead Heath. The promoters of the
hill said that this was not so, but there must have been some grounds
for the suspicion, or the law officers of the Crown would not have
introduced into the measure a new clause expressly pointed at Tommy,