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Leader (1850-1860), 4th December 1852, Edition Country of 2, Page 14, HOW AND WH1RE "ENGLAND" ASSEETS HEKSEM. ...

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      Taxation Rfahjckl) To Unity And Simplici...

      broadly agree with their author . We purpose to show that they can only originate in assumptions different from , if not contradictory to , that principle . M . de Girardin , as we have seen , wanting a means of ensuring faithfulness of assessment , looks for no other than that of encouraging other countervailing interests by the same process as taxation . He does not show why insurance or lending money is to be selected for this purpose ; nor does he show that access to a . knowledge of those transactions would not be as good for the purposes of assessment as actual participation in them . But having adopted this as a device , he theii defends it as a principle , with how much consistency let us see . In page 229 , be admirably says : —

      " Taxation ought to be only a premium of insurance , payable by all the members of a Boeiety called Wational , to insure the full enjoyment of tbeir rights , the effectual protection of their interests , and the free exercise of their faculties . For that purpose they set apart a determinate portion of their strength , which is thus constituted the strength of the whole body . To support this public force , which guarantees the national independence , defends individual weakness , and ensures the execution of contracts and judgments , the members of the society pay a quota proportional to the protection without which none of them would be certain to retain peaceably that which he had legitimately acquired . That quota ought to be proportionate to the value of the objects declared , & c . "

      But this just , simple , and sufficient principle is swamped in the next page , by saying , that " a state ought to be only a national insurance society against all the risks which are capable of being foreseen . " It would be a sufficient answer to this to say that no experience has yet shown that a government can be a true and effectual insurance " against all the risks that are capable of being foreseen ; " while , however , it is our daily reliance , such as it is , for security against wrong . The two functions are clearly separable , and are actually separated ; they cannot both be indispensible criteria of the rightful action of government . Moreover , a government possessing itself of interests , such as those of an assurer , is no longer a disinterested supreme judge amongst interests , but an irresistible armed party , deeply involved in their strife .

      We have briefly shown above how each part of our author ' s plan is liable to failure . We may add , as applicable to the whole , the certainty of inefficiency and abuse where such interests are entrusted to a government . " A nation of functionaries in the midst of a people of tax-payers , " is an expression which the history of French taxation has forced from M . E . de Girardin ; and we need scarcely point to the octroi and the registration of landed incumbrances , to show how easily in France , as in other countries , any institution , in . the hands of a government , is turned to purposes as far removed as possible from that of its origin . The following passage ( page 382 ) contains a striking association of differing principles : —

      "To manage forests and domains , to repair buildings , to manufacture tobacco and powder , to aoll Latin and pay for prayers , to employ itself ingoniously in raising obstructions to consumption , and consequently to labour , under all the forms of vexatious and burdensome imposts requiring an innumerable army of agouti * on horseback and on foot , —this is now the business of the state , business which it transacts exceedingly ill , and at great cost . " So far we are entirely at agreement . But our author proceeds : — " A different mission is ronorved for i (; in the future , a mission much more Hirnplo and useful . To bo the terrestrial providence of all , it will Hiiilico that it l > o the depository of the daily savings of each . "

      But how it can happen that " a nation of functionaries" Hhould manage ho abominably the business the state ban now on its hands , and yet should hereafter take such excellent care of the daily savings of each workman us to deserve , in any degree , the title of the " Terrestrial Providence of all ? " The mistake is in committing any such matters to any government at all .

      To ehungo tho matters , or oven to change the men , ih to leave the root of tho evil untouched . At the very best , corruption and favour even supposed apart , such affairs cannot b < : manured by tho vast , complicated , practically irresponsible , and stinly-ruled agency which alone a government can employ . The "daily . savings " would soon fare , in its hands , just as have ; done tho octroi , the aides , and tho registration , the forests nnd tho domains , the tobacco , tho Latin and the prayers .

      These discussions , arising rather from M . E . de Girardin ' s other plans , than from tho direct taxation of property , servo , however , to show that there m no real connexion between the two subjects . H ' views of taxation may be wholly true , his other plans may ho at the same time wholly mistaken . In an far as both are founded , as by our author , on reasons of mere expediency , they clearly have no necessary dependence on each other . In as i ' ar as tho direct and exclusive

      taxation of visible property is deduced , as by uh , from the true nature and relations of government , it rests on principles wholly incompatible with M . do Girardin ' s plans . Wo take loavo of tluH book with grout respect . Its fulness of facts , inoisivo vigour of expression , earnest udvooiioy of a ^ roat reform , and manifest singleness of purpoBC . entitle it to praise , from which its occasional

      contradiction of principles or obscurity of views ought to make but little deduction . Nor has its errors , as we deem them , an insufficient excuse in tliat overpowering pressure on the judgment which the highly abnormal condition of France and Frenchmen must exercise over the strongest intellect . If we have any regret in recommending this book to the earnest examination of the mysteries of "taxation , it is only that a different arrangement , or a copious index , does not give them a readier mastery of its multifarious and most important details . We have now cleared the ground for an impartial consideration of the financial revision submitted to the country by Mr . Disraeli .

      1162 The Leaflstt. Rsattisbay.

      1162 THE LEAflStt . rSATtiSBAY .

      On The Cultivation Of Flax. Supplemental...

      ON THE CULTIVATION OF FLAX . SUPPLEMENTAL NOTES AND FIGUEES . To our previous articles on this subject , we ought to have added the fact that , of some 150 , 000 ships and coasters employed ih the marine of Great Britain , it is supposed that not one is fitted with stores manufactured from flax of home growth ; that in order to supply necessaries for these vessels , and for domestic use , the produce , not of 400 , 000 acres , as stated roughly in our first letter , but of 700 , 000 , as assumed by Sir James Graham , would be annually required to displace foreign importations of Hax , hemp , and jute ; and that to effect this , we only require to multiply the present growth of Ireland by five . Of the 150 , 000 acres supposed to be now grown in Great Britain , Ireland in 1851 contributed as much as 138 , 000 , and with a further development of her resources , could herself increase the supply of flax beyond the requirements of the British empire . These are facts which admit of no dispute , and when we further remark that 10 Z . is a very moderate ; profit out of an acre of flax , and that it is in the power of our agriculturists to create a clear annual gain to themselves of at least 7 , 000 , 000 / . more than they now divide , by admitting flax as a regular rotation crop , we shall have stated our case without any exaggeration . Xt may be thought that the displacement of our foreign importations by an equal quantity of home growth will tend to lower the price , and so render the culture unprofitable . Our answer is that raw cotton is now , on the average , double the price of raw flax , while

      linens are retailed at a price more than double that of calico , weight for weight , and that so long as this state of things is permitted to exist , the value of flax will be maintained . Ireland , in 1848 , grew 53 , 863 acres , and 138 , 619 acres in 1851 , and yet the quotations of raw flax in the Irish markets have not diminished . Whenever the average price falls to one half ( and we only hope we may live to see the day ) the farmer may then consider whether the cultivation of flax is worth his further attention . It is as easily relinquished as it is undertaken , and it will be time enough to cry when we arc hurt !

      We could dilate upon this subject " usque ad nauseam , " and never tire . But we refrain . We have contributed more than our fair share of seed in this field of gold . We will let it germinate iii peace , confident that , sooner or later , in proportion as our landlord * neglect or study the questions which most affect our national and domestic prosperity , the flax cause will flourish . Decay it never can , in any country where it has once taken a firm root !

      " Waterloo !" Hush ! Was That Waterloo T...

      " WATERLOO ! " HUSH ! Was that Waterloo that Wostland Marston touched upon in the monody at tho Princess ' s Theatre on tho night of tho funeral ? " Oh no , we never mention it" —at least not in authoriHod assemblages of Englishmen . Muralon ' M own published version indeed contains tho passage that tho public mitmed ; and if ho had been fully recited four lines of tho following extract ought to have been followed by tho passage within brackets : —¦ " For not to him we give the mere acclaim That Ki-efltM tho Conqueror . His wiih higher famo . The Hwiml that led our mjuadrona to tho li ^ ht—Ne'er drawn in vain—was ever drawn for ru / kt . [ " Whether with patient , foot on Inriia ' tt nhom Jlo tracked the winding " Titfer of Mysore , " Or at AHHaye—tho foe j > il < td rank on ranklireiiHted a woa of lire , uu < l on it * bank , 'Planted our hanner ; or when Douro ' u ormnfc Lay Itlueh ' iioiUh hoytilo thunder , looked and eromod ; Or built our eyry oil tho entrenched hei g ht Of 'IWreH VodniH , thence to Hweep in might , IJ |) on usurping valour ; or I tut I , threw Hih Hworil into thoTato of Waterloo , 1 ' oiHod up t ho Healo whore realm on realm wiih hurled , And iwened tho wronifd bu-luncti of the , world . " ] Marston wrote thus ; but at tho performance ! , licensed by the Lord Chamberlain and elieckod by tho censor , tho pnuHiigo was not delivorod . Why ? Did ( . ho . official mind Hupposo that at | , hono reminineeiicos of English triumph , tho audience of tho PrinoosH's , fired like tho guests at Alexander ' s loan ! ,, would neize the stage weapons , and take tho otoamor for n rouowul of tho conflict . "W o might do

      - , Malmesbury fl Louis Napoleon , and consummate Waterloo by a stonnin of the Foreign Office—foreign in so many senses . We know not : we only know that certain Englishman are growing ashamed of English victories , or are afraid to mention them lest it " offend the foreigner . " If We no longer to mention our victories on the English stage— . even T . P . Cooke is no more to gag but to be gaggedthe censor should look out for other offensive manifest

      take Downingstreet for FranceLord ¦ o , seeing that even now , on the very soil of Belgium Imperial Prance is avenging the defeat of her arms bv th " encroachments of her intrigues , and is regain ^/ if Flemish field by an army of native priests . But « E land" do longer meets her on that field , although tf uncle of England ' s Queen is now the soverei gn there a 1 a constitutional monarchy is at stake . Or was it felt ' th an Engnsh audience , led by recent appearances , xmshl

      tions . If Marston be castigated , wh y not constrain MacaulayP Why not rechristen our streets . Lefc Waterloo-place be called Fontenoy-square ; let Trafalgar square be Thiers ' s-parade ; cancel the name of Wellington wherever ifc appears , and call the Thirty-third Regiment " Louis Napoleon ' s own . "

      How And Wh1re "England" Asseets Heksem. ...

      HOW AND WH 1 RE " ENGLAND" ASSEETS HEKSEM . FaithptjIi to a principle which , it has established for its own guidance , the present Ministry has at last interfered on behalf of a British subject . A Mr . Stead has been arrested in Prussia without reason , and he finds a champion in Lord Goderich , who demands explanation . Mr . Stead , it appears , has been released , but our Foreign Office has sent a " strong remonstrance . " A very proper act ; but if you remonstrate with . Prussia for outrage on an English subject , why not with Austria , why not with Naples—states which have committed so many and so much worse outrages ?

      We cannot tell the reason , but we can only note certain differences between those states and Prussia . Prussia is not so arbitrary as Austria or Naples ; has not committed such bad outrages on liberty or Englishmen ; has not so obstinately withheld reparation ; and is not , in short , so thoroughly anti-English . Thus , whatever their motives , Ministers stick to their rule of never doing the right thing if they can help it , but if they can't , they do the right thing in the wrong place , at the wrong time , and in tho wrong way .

      Two Weilington Autogkrapiis. Our Contemp...

      TWO WEILINGTON AUTOGKRAPIIS . Our contemporary , the United Service Gazette , has editorially cautioned the purchasers of Wellington autographs , that the greater number of letters supposed to be written by the Duke ' s own hand during the last ten years , were in fact written by his secretary . In any caso wo should have been little disposed to recommend autographs , however authentic . The sale of these mementos smacks too much of that trading in death which Mr . Charles Dickens has stigmatized in Household Words . But in tho present case , wo believo wo are serving a meritorious and charitable intention in drawing notico to two notes in tho handwriting of tho Duke , for the authenticity of which wo believe wo can vouch , and which uro now to bo sold for tho relief of a case of very severe and

      undeserved distress . The caso is briefly as follows . In 1840 , General Alava , an old comrade of the I > uke , and ono ot his aidos-do-camp at Waterloo , was ambassador from Spain to the Court of St . James ' s . Ono day a Spanish lady called at the ombassy , representing herself an the widow of a M . < le CambasBu , who had been Spanish ambassador in Portugal , but compromised with his Government by services rendered to Don Carlos in oxilo , had subsequentl y been driven as a refugee to London , where-, after yearn o distress ho dic-d , leaving a widow and young iuini j General A lavaon finding tho lady ' s story to be Btric y

      , truo , not , about to seek relief for her distress ; and amoJU , thoso friends to whoso charity he app lied wiUi inw success in her behalf , wan tho Duko of WelUntf " - two letters to which we aro calling ill tontion nro ju < lrc * Ht by tho Duko to his old friend , General Alava , <»» U "" » . J jeet . They are singularly characteristic : written ha Spanish , and half in Fronch . In the stylo « i in '" . " tll 0 friendship , tho Duke complains of tho illeijib ^ y <» ^ Gonornl ' a request : tho Duke ' s own llftlll | - . lllll < ' "V | H ' botinio being not so difficult to decipher as it uftorwiin tnno Doing- noi . so ( liincun . i , o « hh : i | mi < . •* , -jH ()| f ) uk

      came . General Alavu ' s intimacy with tho J » J" ^ a guaran ty , for the genuineness of the «» llo tf ri 11 ' V General having given them to the lady who ih how » ¦ ¦ todiH , oHoof thon » inbuhalfofthesamopoorwi « lowan . ii | _ ^ whom Hl . o had formerly assisted General Alava M ^^ Wo may add , that when tho General ottered mm . ^^ ^ graphs to tho lady win , now owi . h thorn , « ho ¦ « « _ ^ gill , but ho insisted , with thoso worcta , *** . lr | lWi ,, B om . es from a groat man . " We ropoat , that u notice to these two autographs , wo are "" "P ' J uu with tho request of charity ; and wo behove wo w » y , out doubt , vouch for thoir authenticit y .

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 4, 1852, page 14, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_04121852/page/14/