Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Vol. 66, No 409, November 1849Various
History
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Vol. 66, No 409, November 1849
Various
England -- Periodicals; Scotland -- Periodicals
he could not have spoken in a more warlike strain, only the temper
and tone of his remarks would have been different. A hero is bold but
temperate: a demagogue blustering and pot-valiant.
It is but right to say, that this impudent and mischievous trash,
though of course abundantly cheered by many of the poor creatures who
knew no better, did not altogether impose upon the meeting. Mr Bernal
Osborne could not find it in his conscience to acquiesce, even tacitly,
in this monstrous attempt at imposition, and accordingly, though "he
coincided in much that had been said by the member for the West Riding,
he must take the liberty to say that, in exposing the weakness of
Russia, he had gone rather too far. Forewarned was forearmed, and
let them not lay it to their hearts that the great empire was not to
be feared, but despised." And therefore, he, Mr Osborne, "would be
sorry if any man in the meeting should go away with the impression
that the monstrous Pansclavonic empire was to be thoroughly despised."
Neither did the chairman exactly approve of the line of discussion
which had been introduced by Mr Cobden. He said, with great truth,
that they had nothing to do at present with the resources of Russia;
their business being simply to consider the wrongs of Hungary, and to
give utterance to such an expression of opinion as might act upon the
British government. Mr Salomons is a practical man, and understands the
use of mob-meetings, which is to coerce and compel Whig administrations
to do precisely what the frequenters of the London Tavern desire.
Better versed, by a great deal, in monetary matters than Mr Cobden,
he knows that financial discussions are utterly out of place in such
an assemblage; and, moreover, we have a strong suspicion that the
latter part of Mr Cobden's speech, to which we are just about to refer,
must have sounded harshly in the ears of a gentleman of the Hebrew
persuasion, initiated, after the custom of his tribe, in the mysteries
of borrowing and lending. Up to this point we have considered Mr Cobden
in the united character of peace-maker and bully: let us now see how he
contrives to combine the hitherto antagonistic qualities of free-trader
and restrictionist.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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