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Leader (1850-1860), 2nd October 1852, Edition Country of 2, Page 13

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      Lord John Russell At Perth. Lord John Ru...

      « + 1 i p men who " rushed with enthusiasm into Z arms of despotism P" Was it in Naples P Tt him ask Mr . Gladstone . Was it it in central Ttalv P £ e * nim ask ^ jOr ^ Minto-Minto !—The name should make Lord John ¦ Russell blush for his allusion to Italy and 1848 . jf it was licence that was then awakened , what was it that the father-in-law of Lord John Russell was sent to cheer with his open sympathy P Tf there was a going back to despotism , how much share had England in that re-action , after h aving , for the third time within the century , inveigled ' Sicily onward , by an affected sympathy , in order to betray her by abandonment ? Lord John Russell ought to be ashamed of his

      P harisaical boast for England— " we are not as other nations ; " when England has committed herself to a sympathy with those other nations in the hour of their advance , and separated herself from them when adversity claimed her help . This protest is due to countries whose wrongs and misf ortunes must not be forgotten in the day of England ' s prosperity , as assuredly they will not be forgotten in the day of England ' s adversity . For , should England ever descend in the scale of nations , and be threatened by the barbaric powers now rising in the worla , she will owe a shield and a defence to the representatives of those patriots , whom Lord John now wrongly denounces as the champions of " wild licence . "

      But the substance of Lord John ' s speech at Perth most chiefly concerns us in our own country . His acceptance of the word Democracy is a political fact . It is a distinct and a corroborative political fact that the public has endorsed his acceptance . Taken together , the two facts are a great advance in political philology . Heretofore the Democratic party , so calling itself , has applied the word to designate one class alone ; which ,

      however numerous , however deserving the esteem and the profoundest respect of the politician , still does not include all classes . The democracy —the government by the people — ought to include all classes of the people , especially classes existing and exercising great influence defacto . Heretofore the classes directly or indirectly sharing the Government , have excluded that class which is the most numerous . This is

      equally an error . The working classes have been mistaken in the first half of the word " Democracy ; " the constitutionalists , like Lord John , have practically erred in the second half of the word . If we now understand the Perth manifesto , the practical error is to be amended , and the whole people is to be taken into the scheme of Government , which is to include Queen , Lords , Gentry , Middle Class , and Working Class ; it is all those classes that constitute the people of England , and you cannot omit ono without cutting off a constituent part of the Democracy . Heretofore indeed the fault has been , not that

      any one class arrogated to itself too much , but that it asserted itsolf too little . From luxury , from the apathy of peace , from the want of public flpirit , or from whatsoever cause , the aristocracy has not been enough of an aristocracy—it has not enough stood forward to act upon high principles , upon generous regard for others , upon the spirit )(

      < sacrifice for country , upon chivalrous courage in the i ' aco of doubtful events—the real traits of an aristocracy worthy of the name . The middle class has accopted the suffrage , but , for want of courage , for want of faith , lias not done enough with it , especially to help the class which helped it to the franchise . The working -chisH has not been loss traitor to its

      country ; and we boldly challenge it to recognise ' ' faults : it has frittered away its energies in "ootless agitatioiiH after they were known to be J'ooUohh ; it ] ma Hufl ' ered itself to bo misled into mtri guoH by paltry beggars who wore petitioning lor 'Is pence ; it has in chins objects forgotten its <*> untry . This last is the fault of every class ; and 1 iiceb

      ° , y whomsoever Humrnoned , every class V ' act for tho whole people , can pursue its '"lereNt in the tooth of every obstacle , can carry " - « will iu the l , eeth of every danger , England 1 really own a democracy capable of controlling | ' » own governments and of restoring its country ° 1 'liJit high position of national power and pride * ' n the enervated doctrines and practices of l "e day have for the moment , hazarded .

      October 2, 1852.] The Leader. 9* 5

      October 2 , 1852 . ] THE LEADER . 9 *

      Tkk Day Of T1ik Woftkkk. Tu ' R " (> |)(...

      TKK day OF T 1 IK WOFtKKK . tu r " (> |)( M V '> poHiajiH , within tho present eenha / ' , , '' "' ' ' y within tho present ' generation , 0 Llle working clmison boon more " tranquil "

      than they are at the present moment . At no period within the same range have they been so well off . We know well , indeed , that the tranquillity of the working classes is not exactly that toorough contentment which the superficial politician , making up his accounts for the parliamentary campaign , is so willing to believe it . We know as well as the members of the working class themselves , that the tranquillity arises in part from mere weariness of agitation , the want of invention amongst their political leaders , and the want of confidence also in the most active of

      those leaders . We know that it partly arises from faults which the working class share with others in these commercial days , and which are often denounced at public meetings—the selfishness which makes men quiet when they are doing well for themselves , the want of generous spirit which makes them draw back into themselves , and mistrust all when they have been deceived by a few . It arises also from a still more serious fault which distinguishes the working class and the middle class , egregiously , as compared with cultivated

      the other less numerous but more classes of the community , the miserable want of the love of country . Disgusted with the operation of our institutions upon themselves , many of our working classes go to America or to Australia to learn the love of country ; and then the country is -not England . The more cultivated classes , who have not so largely lost this virtue , are greatly to blame for the extent to which it has declined in quarters where they might have kept it alive by more active attention , and a more noble-minded intercourse with their " inferiors . "

      Furthermore , the tranquillity in part arises from the real absence of physical _ discomfort throughout a much larger proportion of the general community than we remember to have seen in such pleasant condition . Statistics , we know , might exhibit higher wages , say in Stockport , twelve or fifteen years ago , or amongst certain classes in Yorkshire even two or three years back ; but the working people of the manufacturing districts are sharing in a prosperity far

      more general than any exhibited at the most prosperous times of the cotton manufacture ; and at no time since the growth , of that manufacture has so large a share of agreeable and wholesome food visited the lips of tLe labouring class in the agricultural districts . The stimulus of " distress " fails the political agitator ; and the superficial statesman of the public meeting is not less gloomy than the superficial statesman of the public office is elated at " the tranquillity of the country . "

      For our own part we are in every way cheered at the prospects ; not because we share in the red tape satisfaction at the political apathy , nor because we hold that the working classes have yet attained all to which they are entitled . The political apathy appears likely enough to be cured by tho great movements which the world is preparing . When once the conflict of principles shall break out on the groat fields of contest , every Englishman will become a tiling of value to his country ; and then , the working classes , —

      which possess , but scarcely rate at its true importance , the great political power that lies in numbers , —will become a thing of valuo ^ to the ruling classes of the country . Already , if we are not too sanguine ; , wo discern in Lord -John Russell ' s speech at Perth , a sign that the Engglishman , of whatsoever class , will not , unsought , be won by the active statesman of the day . God bless the ' hour when the value of the Englishman , whatsoever his degree , shall again be recognised by the working statesman , and by the people .

      There are also unmistakeable signs that the labourer is becoming a thing of value to the employing classes . This is in great part due to three concurrent causes . En the first place ; , Kreetntde , which has ho largely contributed to relieve the cupboard outlay of tho labouring man , has rendered him proportionately effective as a , con-HUiner , and has consequently imparted a , great stimulus to the home consumption of the country . Statistics have not us yet supplied im with the exact account of our own

      condition at the present moment ; some months hence we ; shall Know how much per cent , tho enhancement has been in this or that trade ; but in the meanwhile we can enjoy tin ; improvement , although wo cannot statistically survey it ; and it is Hullicient to know that all the great staples of liho country—the cotton , the woollen , the iron , and the linen trades—report a , most healthy condition—low wtockn , ateady demand , and increasing

      investments . As many as eighty-one manufactories have been added to the cotton-trade within the last official year ; and more than one fortune of half-a-million has been thrown into some of these new factories . If tho damaged harvest in the South has deranged the accounts of the farmer , and given a shake to the quarter-day expectations of the landlord , Free-trade has secured the bread to the labouring man , and emigration

      lias unmistakeably established his market value . In all quarters of the country , from the extreme South to Scotland , the same tale continues . Here and there farmers are taking counsel as to the effect of emigration on wages . The continued outpouring from Ireland is expected to show a greater decrease of the population than even that of last year . Two facts will powerfully illustrate the searching effect of this draft upon the labour

      market . The Glasgow reports announce that the beneficial reaction has at last visited even those longsuffering people , the handloom weavers of Scotland . Mr . Lilwal , the secretary of tho Early Closing Association , announces not only a greatly improved condition of accounts , but a much more independent position of the members . Their claim for early closing receives an unwonted attention from employers . In short , the shopmen—who may be considered the upper extremity of the town working classes , as the handloom weavers are the lowest—are feeling the moral as well as the material effects of an enhanced market value . The present tranquillity , however , differs imthe kind

      mensely from any preceding aspect of , in more things than one . In the even balance of political parties , resting as those parties have done hitherto upon tho upper and middle classes , the influence of the working class , neglected as it has unaccountably been by the party of the author of Sybil , has become a thing of value ; and Lord John Russell ' s Perth speech suggests that he has at la $ | discerned the true value of that instrument which he used in 1831 , but did not appreciate ; which he forgot , and left behind him . In this way , especially if they could improve the opportunity offered to them , the working classes have the prospect of realizing some Parliamentary influence , even before the direct attainment of the franchise . Since the last

      period of true political peace , opinion lias been , largely developed on many most important subjects : the question of reproductive employment , for example , spontaneously suggesting itself to the practical administrators of the Poor Law throughout the country , has been excellently worked by the industry of the Anti-Poor-Law Association and its indefatigable secretary , Mr . Archibald Stark . The adhesion to it of a journal like the Globe , faithful as that journal is to tho traditions of the Whig party and of the orthodox political coeonomy , marks the advance of the doctrine ; and the subject of the Poor-Law will

      come before the new Parliament with tin ; popular interest backed , not only by the increased political influence of the working- classes , but by the development given to the general knowledge on the subject . At the same time , the diminished pressure of pauperism—from all quarters of the country they are reporting that the number of able-bodied paupers has never been so small as it is now—renders a practical solution of this question , if less urgent than it has been , also far less alarming and difficult . The disposition to a , closer intercourse between the several classes , which is indicated concurrently by the speeches of Lord John l { , ussell at Perth , and Mr . LIhval in .

      London , will contribute to facilitate ; the discussion of industrial questions . The workingclasses , therefore , are likely to encounter less hostility , precisely at a period when they acquire more ; power , by the enhancement of their market value juid of their political value . The opportunity is great ; it can only be marred or abused by tho ignorance or dishonesty of the men whom the working clauses may accredit as their representatives .

      Danikl Wkhstkk. Dan Nor, Wioustkr In The...

      DANIKL WKHSTKK . Dan nor , Wioustkr in the darling <>/ " tho United States—only they wont elect him for President . Me exemplifies several of the most admirable traits of the national diameter , and not a , few , also , of its faults . Tho " almighty dollar" is tin idol which he has not repudiated , nor altogether subdued , as the younger mind of America is subduing it , to a position at least secondary , under tho far higher object of national greatnesH . Ot

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 2, 1852, page 13, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_02101852/page/13/