DOI issue:
February 24, 1866
DOI Page / Citation link:https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.16877#0085
February 24, 1866.]
PUNCH. OR THE LONDON CHARTVART
77
Affability itself, now be is at the top of tbe tree) dwelt npon the
“ natural tendencies” of tbe fanner, and it was found necessary to
admit tbe principle. But the amount was cut down, from two-thirds of
a beast’s value to one half, Mr. Bright was beaten in an attempt to
make tbe owner’s consent needful, and Mr. Hunt beat tbe Government,
by 264 to 181, carrying an amendment for tbe absolute stoppage of
cattle traffic by rail, until after Lady-Hay.
Friday. Tbe respected Government appeared to be blown about with
every wind of Cattle doctrine. It is not many weeks since Mr.
Gladstone solemnly warned tbe owners to expect no aid from tbe
State, and now be defends a Bill, which was originally objectionable, and
was since made much more so, for Ihe last arrangement was to throw
tbe whole compensation on tbe public Bates. Mr. Disraeli was nearly
right in calling tbe thing Crude Legislation, but there is a harder word
for it. Tbe measure was further muddled to-day.
Jamaica is to have the same Constitution as Trinidad.
Do you know, Materfamilias, what the Habeas Corpus Act is? Of
course not. Never mind, or at least don’t ask Paterfamilias until he
shall have had time to consult bis Cyclopaedia. Then he will tell you that
it is tbe law which prevents persons from being imprisoned at the mere
will of tbe Executive, and that it is suspended only in cases of public
peril. But then suspected persons may be arrested without cause or
purpose being assigned. Tbe Government asked Parliament to suspend
tbe Act, in Ireland, and a special sitting on Saturday handed over the
Irish to the Executive.
TWO REFORM BILLS; OR, THAT AND THIS.
THAT.
1 ’ll sing of an old Bill, planned by some good old pates,
That raised some rare rows out of doors, and indoors some rare debates;
That floore d 1 be questions which it raised, and decided franchise-fates,
Without “leverage” or reticence, or weak and wilful waits—
The original Beform Bill, all of John Bussell’s prime !
This gallant Bill, it cut the knots of pride, distrust, and doubt,
That fettered England’s middle-class, straight-forward, stiff, and stout;
It let plebeian vigour in, nor shut patrician out,
And it warned off Bevolution, that was roaring all about.
That original Beform Bill, all of John Bussell’s prime 1
It recognised the changes that busy Time had made,
The shiftings of our people, the transfers of our trade:
It owned for strong the growths of youth, owned rottenness decayed,
And razed no old foundations save to strengthen those it laid—
The original Beform Bill, all of John Bussell’s prime.
Over-hot and hasty Radicals declared it slow and small,
Over-cold and stubborn Tories swore that it subverted all:
But English sense saw in it ’twixt their two extremes a wall,
And, with the nation’s voice that’s God’s, to life of law did call
The original Beform Bill, all of John Bussell’s prime.
Who can forget the thrills that, swept the nation’s pulses strong,
As The Speech proclaimed its coming, watched and waited for so long;
On the stages of its passage the rejoicing nation’s throng,
Their roused wrath, terrible to those who threatened it with wrong—
The original Beform Bill, all of .Lord Bussell’s prime.
That was a time worth living in, a Bill worth carrying through,
It held the seeds of good to come, it knit the old and new;
It faggoted the nation’s strength the nation’s work to do,
Shut from its pale no class that cared to come that pale into—
The original Beform Bill of Lord Bussell’s early prime.
No class-voice, interest, prejudice was dominant therein.
Its franchise needed winning, but was not too high to win;
With workers, of hard hands or soft, it dealt as kith and kin:
Under its shade good law has grown, life risen, and wealth flowed in—
The original Beform Bill, of Lord Bussell’s early prime !
THIS.
Must I sing of a New Bill, come about none quite knows how,
But which all who ought to father seem alike loth to avow;
An accident of accidents, got in a hustings row,
Dragged up, and dry or wet-nursed, as Bright guides or fates allow—
The perfunctory Beform Bill, of Lord Bussell’s second prime ?
It saw not light in answer to the nation’s need or call,
But on a time, when old Whig chance of office had run small;
As a tub to catch the whale below the gangway was let fall—
A safe election card and theme for the kind of talk called “ tall ”—
A perfunctory Beform Bill, of Lord Bussell’s second prime.
Artful Dizzy being down upon Lord Bussell’s little game
Determined to show England that he could play the same ;
So every party bawled Beform, until the word became
For Boyal Speech a stereotype, for Cabinets a shame—
And we swarmed with small Beform Bills, in Lord Bussell’s
second prime.
There is a Bill, to do the work the old one left undone,
Iiesume old franchises ill-used, give new rights fairly won;
To find voice for new-minted thoughts through Labour’s hosts that run,—
Such a Bill were worth fighting for, and were this such a one,
We should cheer the new Beform Bill, though of Bussell’s
later prime.
To be o’erthrown on such a Bill, were to be made more strong,
Who leaves a good work, largely planned, returns to it ere long;
But to compound with weakness, and wink at well-proved wrong,
Is not the way to help the right, nor even push along
This perfunctory Beform Bill, of Lord Bussell’s second prime.
Of this Bill we’ve heard little, and we don’t like what we hear :
It promises us nothing but “ leverage ” this year:
Levers are potent to upset, but the good of them, ’tis clear.
Depends on who’s to use ’em, and the choice of hands we fear
From a one-barrelled Beform Bill,of Lord Bussell’s second prime.
Lo, ushered in with doubts and fears, without a welcome hail,
Owned by its friends not all they want, but all that they can nail;
Not as they come who mean to win, or failing, manlike fail,
But with ’bated breath comes sneaking at the Boyal Speech’s tail,
The perfunctory Beform Bill of Lord Bussell’s second prime !
LIBRARY OF FICTION.
The Reign of Terror in Jamaica. A Serial, published on the arrival of
the West India Mail. Bright, Shammyrumstuff & Co., Morning
Star Office, Eleet Street. One Penny.
We congratulate our spirited contemporary on being the first to intro-
duce the feuilleton into a London newspaper. Under the above title it
has commenced an exciting fiction in the best style of the penny
novelists, and we may fairly say that since the celebrated Gory Hand in
the Dark Cellar, we have read nothing more sensational thau the Reign
of Terror in Jamaica. Under the guise of a special commissioner, the
Fleet fetreet novelist describes his horrors with gusto. He begins
dashingly—
“ I am about to unfold a Tale of Horror ! ’’
“ I know more of the measures taken to suppress the rebellion than almost any
one individual in Jamaica. * * * The whites are generally ignorant of what I am about
to detail to you. * * * I do not believe one tithe of the atrocities have yet been
unearthed, as day by day adds to the detail of horrors.”
We have no intention of injuring the success of this fiction by telling
the points. The writer represents himself as going about among the
blacks, and being inspired by their stories, and any one who knows the
exquisite truthfulness of the negro character will feel that a romancer,
who lays his hand on a black informant, in every sense “strikes ile.”
We must extract a gem or two in order to increase the avidity with
which this Tale of Horror will be sought for:—
“ MacLaren deserves a statue of the purest marble. Faithful and true, he was hanged
that night. He did not miscalculate the nature of the (white) beings who were making a
Hell upon Earth in Morant Bay."
But this passage is the most brilliant of all. One of his black
heroines—
" Stealthily entered ; but imagine her horror when looking up she saw the grisly forms
of nine of her neighbours swinging round responsive Jo the night blast. A return to the
wood and the wet lair among the frogs was better than this."
A rebel’s house is entered by the soldiers while it is dark. He
dashes aw'ay, deserting his wife and children, but a rifle-ball hits him on
the shoulder.
"Imagine the scene—the poor creatures roused from sleep by the tramp of armed men,
the flash from the ready rifle, the cry of pain from the husband and father, and the dark
figures of the soldiers dimly seen through the sulphurous smoke."
Without making further extracts, we commend this romance of
Jamaica to all the lovers of penny fiction, and we congratulate the
enterprising publishers, Messrs. Bright and Shammyrumstufe on
the spirit which induced them to engage the pen of a spicy novelist
rather than to imitate the Times, Daily News, _ and Telegraph, who
tamely send out gentlemen with no higher mission than to ascertain
facts from credible witnesses. The writer of the novel is a true artist,
and while giving all these horrors, he is careful to supply evidence that
they are merely the creation of the sable population with whom he
gossips, and he displays real art in dressing up the crude conceptions
of the blacks into sensational narrative. We trust the Tale of Horror
will be as popular as it deserves to be.
PUNCH. OR THE LONDON CHARTVART
77
Affability itself, now be is at the top of tbe tree) dwelt npon the
“ natural tendencies” of tbe fanner, and it was found necessary to
admit tbe principle. But the amount was cut down, from two-thirds of
a beast’s value to one half, Mr. Bright was beaten in an attempt to
make tbe owner’s consent needful, and Mr. Hunt beat tbe Government,
by 264 to 181, carrying an amendment for tbe absolute stoppage of
cattle traffic by rail, until after Lady-Hay.
Friday. Tbe respected Government appeared to be blown about with
every wind of Cattle doctrine. It is not many weeks since Mr.
Gladstone solemnly warned tbe owners to expect no aid from tbe
State, and now be defends a Bill, which was originally objectionable, and
was since made much more so, for Ihe last arrangement was to throw
tbe whole compensation on tbe public Bates. Mr. Disraeli was nearly
right in calling tbe thing Crude Legislation, but there is a harder word
for it. Tbe measure was further muddled to-day.
Jamaica is to have the same Constitution as Trinidad.
Do you know, Materfamilias, what the Habeas Corpus Act is? Of
course not. Never mind, or at least don’t ask Paterfamilias until he
shall have had time to consult bis Cyclopaedia. Then he will tell you that
it is tbe law which prevents persons from being imprisoned at the mere
will of tbe Executive, and that it is suspended only in cases of public
peril. But then suspected persons may be arrested without cause or
purpose being assigned. Tbe Government asked Parliament to suspend
tbe Act, in Ireland, and a special sitting on Saturday handed over the
Irish to the Executive.
TWO REFORM BILLS; OR, THAT AND THIS.
THAT.
1 ’ll sing of an old Bill, planned by some good old pates,
That raised some rare rows out of doors, and indoors some rare debates;
That floore d 1 be questions which it raised, and decided franchise-fates,
Without “leverage” or reticence, or weak and wilful waits—
The original Beform Bill, all of John Bussell’s prime !
This gallant Bill, it cut the knots of pride, distrust, and doubt,
That fettered England’s middle-class, straight-forward, stiff, and stout;
It let plebeian vigour in, nor shut patrician out,
And it warned off Bevolution, that was roaring all about.
That original Beform Bill, all of John Bussell’s prime 1
It recognised the changes that busy Time had made,
The shiftings of our people, the transfers of our trade:
It owned for strong the growths of youth, owned rottenness decayed,
And razed no old foundations save to strengthen those it laid—
The original Beform Bill, all of John Bussell’s prime.
Over-hot and hasty Radicals declared it slow and small,
Over-cold and stubborn Tories swore that it subverted all:
But English sense saw in it ’twixt their two extremes a wall,
And, with the nation’s voice that’s God’s, to life of law did call
The original Beform Bill, all of John Bussell’s prime.
Who can forget the thrills that, swept the nation’s pulses strong,
As The Speech proclaimed its coming, watched and waited for so long;
On the stages of its passage the rejoicing nation’s throng,
Their roused wrath, terrible to those who threatened it with wrong—
The original Beform Bill, all of .Lord Bussell’s prime.
That was a time worth living in, a Bill worth carrying through,
It held the seeds of good to come, it knit the old and new;
It faggoted the nation’s strength the nation’s work to do,
Shut from its pale no class that cared to come that pale into—
The original Beform Bill of Lord Bussell’s early prime.
No class-voice, interest, prejudice was dominant therein.
Its franchise needed winning, but was not too high to win;
With workers, of hard hands or soft, it dealt as kith and kin:
Under its shade good law has grown, life risen, and wealth flowed in—
The original Beform Bill, of Lord Bussell’s early prime !
THIS.
Must I sing of a New Bill, come about none quite knows how,
But which all who ought to father seem alike loth to avow;
An accident of accidents, got in a hustings row,
Dragged up, and dry or wet-nursed, as Bright guides or fates allow—
The perfunctory Beform Bill, of Lord Bussell’s second prime ?
It saw not light in answer to the nation’s need or call,
But on a time, when old Whig chance of office had run small;
As a tub to catch the whale below the gangway was let fall—
A safe election card and theme for the kind of talk called “ tall ”—
A perfunctory Beform Bill, of Lord Bussell’s second prime.
Artful Dizzy being down upon Lord Bussell’s little game
Determined to show England that he could play the same ;
So every party bawled Beform, until the word became
For Boyal Speech a stereotype, for Cabinets a shame—
And we swarmed with small Beform Bills, in Lord Bussell’s
second prime.
There is a Bill, to do the work the old one left undone,
Iiesume old franchises ill-used, give new rights fairly won;
To find voice for new-minted thoughts through Labour’s hosts that run,—
Such a Bill were worth fighting for, and were this such a one,
We should cheer the new Beform Bill, though of Bussell’s
later prime.
To be o’erthrown on such a Bill, were to be made more strong,
Who leaves a good work, largely planned, returns to it ere long;
But to compound with weakness, and wink at well-proved wrong,
Is not the way to help the right, nor even push along
This perfunctory Beform Bill, of Lord Bussell’s second prime.
Of this Bill we’ve heard little, and we don’t like what we hear :
It promises us nothing but “ leverage ” this year:
Levers are potent to upset, but the good of them, ’tis clear.
Depends on who’s to use ’em, and the choice of hands we fear
From a one-barrelled Beform Bill,of Lord Bussell’s second prime.
Lo, ushered in with doubts and fears, without a welcome hail,
Owned by its friends not all they want, but all that they can nail;
Not as they come who mean to win, or failing, manlike fail,
But with ’bated breath comes sneaking at the Boyal Speech’s tail,
The perfunctory Beform Bill of Lord Bussell’s second prime !
LIBRARY OF FICTION.
The Reign of Terror in Jamaica. A Serial, published on the arrival of
the West India Mail. Bright, Shammyrumstuff & Co., Morning
Star Office, Eleet Street. One Penny.
We congratulate our spirited contemporary on being the first to intro-
duce the feuilleton into a London newspaper. Under the above title it
has commenced an exciting fiction in the best style of the penny
novelists, and we may fairly say that since the celebrated Gory Hand in
the Dark Cellar, we have read nothing more sensational thau the Reign
of Terror in Jamaica. Under the guise of a special commissioner, the
Fleet fetreet novelist describes his horrors with gusto. He begins
dashingly—
“ I am about to unfold a Tale of Horror ! ’’
“ I know more of the measures taken to suppress the rebellion than almost any
one individual in Jamaica. * * * The whites are generally ignorant of what I am about
to detail to you. * * * I do not believe one tithe of the atrocities have yet been
unearthed, as day by day adds to the detail of horrors.”
We have no intention of injuring the success of this fiction by telling
the points. The writer represents himself as going about among the
blacks, and being inspired by their stories, and any one who knows the
exquisite truthfulness of the negro character will feel that a romancer,
who lays his hand on a black informant, in every sense “strikes ile.”
We must extract a gem or two in order to increase the avidity with
which this Tale of Horror will be sought for:—
“ MacLaren deserves a statue of the purest marble. Faithful and true, he was hanged
that night. He did not miscalculate the nature of the (white) beings who were making a
Hell upon Earth in Morant Bay."
But this passage is the most brilliant of all. One of his black
heroines—
" Stealthily entered ; but imagine her horror when looking up she saw the grisly forms
of nine of her neighbours swinging round responsive Jo the night blast. A return to the
wood and the wet lair among the frogs was better than this."
A rebel’s house is entered by the soldiers while it is dark. He
dashes aw'ay, deserting his wife and children, but a rifle-ball hits him on
the shoulder.
"Imagine the scene—the poor creatures roused from sleep by the tramp of armed men,
the flash from the ready rifle, the cry of pain from the husband and father, and the dark
figures of the soldiers dimly seen through the sulphurous smoke."
Without making further extracts, we commend this romance of
Jamaica to all the lovers of penny fiction, and we congratulate the
enterprising publishers, Messrs. Bright and Shammyrumstufe on
the spirit which induced them to engage the pen of a spicy novelist
rather than to imitate the Times, Daily News, _ and Telegraph, who
tamely send out gentlemen with no higher mission than to ascertain
facts from credible witnesses. The writer of the novel is a true artist,
and while giving all these horrors, he is careful to supply evidence that
they are merely the creation of the sable population with whom he
gossips, and he displays real art in dressing up the crude conceptions
of the blacks into sensational narrative. We trust the Tale of Horror
will be as popular as it deserves to be.