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Leader (1850-1860), 2nd April 1859, Edition 2 of 2, Page 18, ^Amr^-KT MODERN LEGISLATION

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      The Uusso-Fitfsncii Alliance. Wuatkvkr M...

      speedily brought to a close . Having once committed the would-be belligerents ; however , to a contest with Austria , 'backed by the German powers , the zeal of Russia gradually waxed cold . Whatever her expectations or secret demands may have beenj . she was , 6 r affected to be , indifferent about exacting their concession ; and during the space of nearly two months the Court of St . Petersburg has assumed a provoking air of placid impartiality between the eager expostulations , on the one hand , against the rupture of treaties , and the still more eager remonstrances that have been heard against abandoning Italy af ter all the high promises that had been made . Sooner than be stale-mated , Louis Napoleon has , evidentl y preferred giving Russia her own terms as the price" of active and ostensible co-operation . What they are we know not ; but that they have been conceded it is impossible to doubt . While Lord Cowley was at Vienna endeavouring to accommodate matters , unsuspected negotiations were proceeding between Paris and St . Petersburg , the first result of which is already avowed to be a congress on Italian Affairs , in which the five great Powers and all the Italian governments are to be represented . What schemes may be produced when the proposed conference meets , we shall know in due time . But

      • we may be well assured that if a pacific settlement be sincerely contemplated by the confederates , Muscovite interests will not have been overlooked . Meanwhile , Count Cavour has been in Paris , ¦ where he has been feted and caressed by the simple-minded monarch who dwells in that capital of iascination . The journals are full of comments on his visit , and his countenance has been watched as though , it were an European barometer . __ On the evemng of his arrival , we are told , " the index of the mind within" pointed low , and touched even the point of" stormy , " but during his visit the Savoyard quicksilver rose steadily ; and when he left , the hand fluctuated gently between " changeable " and " fair . " Of course , all sorts of circumstantial-looking conjectures are hazarded , as to the reassiu'ing tenour of the French Emperor ' s talk with the Piedmontese minister . T \ e pay no attention to any of them . Both parties to the ominous ¦ tete-a-tete have too deep an interest in secresy to render any partial disclosures credible . As for the Congress , the best we can hope for is , that it may turn out a solemn farce , and avowedly accomplish nothing . With the remembrance of what sort of international settlements and rearrangements have been perpetrated by similar assemblages , we can only pray that , as England is to be represented in the one now impending , nothing may come of it that will bind this country to recognise the thraldom and misrule of the Peninsula . We are not answerable for war , should it occur , nor shall we be partakers therein . But a new distribution of territory by the Overbearing Powers of Europe , ¦ woul d only be a re-enactment of the sins of the Congress of Vienna , and from complicity in such sins we desire to be kept free .

      434 The Leader. [Ncy 471, April 2, 1859

      434 THE LEADER . [ Ncy 471 , April 2 , 1859

      ^Amr^-Kt Modern Legislation

      Gladstone arid Sir Jaines ; when they reflect on the niatter , will find nlore reason to fear condemnation than approval froni after generations . The House may transact immense masses of business . We know that , on the average , it makes some 120 new laws every year , and that it has formed a statute-book for the regulation of our conduct so vast that nobody can read it through , and so confused and contradictory that nobody can comprehend it . There are houses in the City and other places , which , like the Commons , or like Messrs . Gordon and Davidson , do an immense mass of business , which ends something like the statute-book , in Vast confusion . We make no question , therefore , of the activity of the House

      of Commons ; we see that , besides passing so many laws , it discusses many which it does not pass ; that it plants numerous inquiries which never produce fruit ; and enters into debates still more numerous , which end in sorrow and grief . Sir James Graham , however , claims for the modern House of Commons a great superiority over its predecessors , and it might well be superior to them—framers of the corn-laws , of the Six Acts , of the suspension of cash payments , and great heaps of incongruous enactments— -without deserving the approbation of the present or future generations . As part of the public challenged for admiration by Mr . Gladstone and Sir James , we beg leave to show cause why we deny their plea .

      No one can doubt—at least , we cannot , for we have continually insisted on its existence—the great comparative prosperity , order , and moral as well as physical well-being of our really glorious community ; but we cannot give the House of Commons the smallest credit for this . We know that it affects to make the nation great and happy , and it probably believes , as it affects this—and the result is , to a great extent , attained ^ -that it is really the instrument which accomplishes it . But the House and the public have long ago given up the idea that it can by its measures provide , or in any degree improve , the means of providing the

      national subsistence . All this great and indispensable work , except in some minor details , the House trusts , and it must trust , to the , uncontrolled and unimpeded self-interest of individuals . Its great merit , indeed ,, in . modern times—that for which , we believe , Sir Janies Graham really praises it—is , that it has abolished many important enactments , beginning in 1842 , which interfered with the business of individuals . As long as it went on abolishr ing the acts of its predecessors—removing impediments to the fi-ee exercise of self-interest and unl'estricted competition—it did many great and successive good deeds . To that course , however , it

      was forced ; first , b y the deficiency of the revenue to meet the outlay it had ordained ^ and afterwards by public opinion , in conjunction with the necessity which the removal of one restriction created for the removal of others . Sir James Graham is the last man to forget , that the commercial reforms which Sir Kobert Peel began in 1842 were dictated by the deficiency of the revenue through three consecutive years , and the last man to ignore the fact , that they created a necessity to continue in the same career . The great assistance , then , which the House of Commons has given to the progress and the welfare of the nation , consists in abolishing

      noxious laws , and removing impediments out of the way of individual exertion . While it was doing this little good , it was very actively employed in doing _ a great deal of public evil , We will touch only lightly on a few examples . In 1843 the total national expenditm'O ( an evil wholly of the Commons' creation ) was 51 , 189 , 5121 . \ ; in 1857 , it was 66 , 019 , 958 * . Last year , too , it was upwards of 66 , 000 , 000 ? . ; so that since it began to do a little good b y abolishing commercial restrictions , it has added 15 , 000 , 000 / . a year to its wasteful expenditure . Every tax ordained or continued , as wo now know iwaotically , from the beneficial

      merous conditions ^ offspring the most intolerable ignorance . Mr . Gladstone was himself the g _ reat agent for establishing the noxious regulations of a maximum rate of profit The House taxed the enterprise enormously , for granting its consent to accomplish so great and good a "work ^ and helped to make that which is an honour to this ao-e and nation only ruin to . thousands of individuals Who promoted it . The , result of the ignorant and selfish interference of the Government is to distort and mar a conspicuous growth of natural society . We are aware of a necessity to apply to the House to get permission to take land , & c ., but while it should have been the business of the Legislature , to do away with this necessity in cases where

      the public convenience ought to override the monopoly established by the legislature , the House of Commons did very frequently obstruct the enterprise , and very often sacrifice the public good to enrich individuals . In the whole history of our Legislature , through times of the darkest ignorance , nothing more systematically erroneous , mischievous , and corrupt than the conduct of the House of Commons , in reference" to the construction of railways , is to be found . The legislative absurdities of the James ' s , and the legislative follies of the ignorant Edwards and Henrys , -will appear to the next generation to bo far overtopped by the conduct of the legislators of our days , in reference to this noble work .

      We will refer now to only one more illustration . There cannot be the shadow of a doubt that every individual entering into voluntary engagements has a full right to determine for himself how far he will go . In the old spirit of opposition to trade , however , which animated alike the aristocracy , the Legislature and the judges , because they one and all felt that it was a power superior to them , it had been settled that if an old man with 10 , OOOZ . lent 1 , 0007 . to an active young man to assist him in his business , on the _ natural condition that he should share ' ' the advantages , the law held the old man responsible for all the engagements of the young fortune the

      one , to the extent of his whole . In progress of trade , this ' princip le was'found so obnoxious , alike to common sense and useful action , that it ' was ' continually , by voluntary agreements of various kinds , seti aside . Such agreements became so numerous as to make the legal guarantee of responsibility to the full extent of moans afkreeora snare ; and the occasions were so many on which the Legislature was called on to overrule it , that it was at length obliged to sanction the principle of limited liability . How has it worked out the principle ?' ¦ We answer , that a greater mass of incongruity than the several joint-stock companies acts , including hanks , which arc all founded on the tnc jvqi ior

      principle of limited liability , including enabling the JBoard of Trade to grant charters , the Act for expressly establishing limited liability , the winding-up Acts , and nil the many moderni Acts connected with this one subject , is nut to be found even in our incongruous statute book . AU tiicse Acts , and many more of a similar character , nave been passed under the full light of modem knowledge , which has shown that legislation never interferes with trade without injuring the commonconvicnou

      wealth , and while acknowledging the that this light is ' light from Heaven , and can not lead astaiy . The habits , however , which the House inherits with its forms from remote ages , me more powerful than the c onvictions , of reason ; nna it has increased and multipart , m tlio niuQtccntU century , restrictions on business ., all which , m uie eighteenth century , were demonstrated to » 0 ™' variably mischievous . It has done tliw evil , too , with the ' words of assent on its lips <<> Ujo ^ ctunoB of free trade , and while jyloryiny ? in the greatest suocess it over achieved , from allowing them ioi a time to prevail over its old and evil linbitfl . To show the ommeousncBB of Sn-James Cl rohnms laudation , and the injuriousness ol the activity of which Mr . Gladstone bonatri , we could " « W illustrations ; but wo content ourselves with « sion 0 the attention of thoughtful men to these fenv .

      MODERN LEGISLATION . "I believe , " said Mr , Gladstone , " no assembly in the world transacts business to the extent which this House does . " Yet he admits , while he praises the exertions of Parliament , that it cannot keep abreast of the mass of business which is continually falling into arrear . In a somewhat similar spirit , Sir James Graham and others praise the House for its careful legislation , and boast that , since 1832 at Jieast j it has ' paid , the greatest attention to the public interests , and taken especial care of the welfare of the lower classes . Wo have , not the slightest intention of questioning the fussy zeal of right honourable and honourable gentlemen ; but when they blow their own trumpets they generally make very discordant music , which

      finds no echo in the souls of other men . Wo have not the smallest doubt that the Edwards , the Henrys , and the James ' s , in their time , wwe as well convinced as Sir Jamas Graham and Mr . ^ Gladstone now aro , that they laboured efficaciously , as well » a zealously , for the good of the nation , especially the poorer classes . When they made laws regulating tho length of shoe-points and the wages of labourers , enjoining tlio use of woollens i & v bwial shrouds , p , nu fox'bidding men to feed spirits , they sincerely thought they wore providing * or the public wblflwe , . and fortifying the true faith of the people . Succeeding generations have pi'owranced a very different opinion ? and both Mr .

      effects of abolishing taxation , inflicts on the community a vast deal more injury than is represented by the sum it tnkes from the people . Yet , in the face of this experience , the House of Commons has gone on yoar by year increasing the expenditure , and continuing unnecessarily the evils of inqreasing and enormous taxation . About ooevnl with the reform of the Parliament railways , the splendid , triumph of modern art , oamo into notice . 'The people everywhere , began to build them . How did the Commons promote the admirable work P It threw all kinds of obstacles in the wny , ond fettered thp enterprise with nu ~

      N Street View Of Italy.—No. Iv. J Pajpaj...

      n STREET VIEW OF ITALY . —No . IV . j PAJPAJC STATUS . . > The famous Lord Chestor 0 ald *« mwie ( 1 "jl , ! " ! j impressions of a tour through Franco soino lour ^ , i score years ago , by the remark tlmt m that ooun . try ho had observed all those symptoms wiuou ,

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), April 2, 1859, page 18, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_02041859/page/18/