On this page

• Text (3)

  Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

  • 

    S^ptembeb 6,1856.3 THE REAPER. &&

  • 

    Bi chuc] the ^ o is bi Gove is.to essei ...

  • 

    THE CONSOLATIONS OF CAYENNE. For a long ...

• Transcript

  • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

    Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

    The Dead-Lock In America. Public Busines...

    the foundation document as should favour Bi their own particular views ; and should thus , chuc ] although not positively decreeing the de- the ^ o cision yet impede the one decision and is bi facilitate the other . The slavery party as Gove stronger in the Senate than it is in the is . to HousiT of Representatives , for the obvious essei reason that the states are represented in the and- ; Senate , and that the great bulk of the people Gov < is more proportionately represented in the terri House of Representatives . The two bo- carr ^ dies , therefore , are naturally at issue—the wise House for the free soil , the Senate for a men ' free choice' in Kansas , meaning a slave _ B choice . The House passes bills for the ap- will propriationof the jjublic moneys—that is , tuer bills granting moneys as we should call them com here—on conditions which tend to secure suffi freedom in Kansas . The Senate cuts off pop those conditions ; the House reannexes them ; the and in that state of inexorable dispute the nag session of Congress is terminated by the date is 1 of the day according to law . Congress has lies separated without granting the public moneys peo necessary for the maintenance of the public toas service . This is the dead-lock at which lie English politicians are laughing . Their ex- tha ultation , however , shows at once their igno- and xance , their short memory , and a foresight of 1 as short . ho I "We have had exactly the same kind of law contest in this country . We need not go pea further back than the Reform Bill time , Soi when the House of CommonB , Under the trie pressure of a distinct and palpable necessity , sec persevered in passing a measure which tie mo House of Lords , under the pressure of an its overruling superstition , and an arrogant the presumption of its own power to arrest the me progress of events , as obstinately rejected , to The question of a constitutional reform was thi not less important than that of slavery . It be ¦ was in some respects more calculated to no change the political condition of the English on people ; but it certainly did not search so te : deeply into the social state of a large part of th the United Kingdom . It infringed the es- Tl tablished feelings , the supposed rights and is privileges of an important class , the class of us the oldest birth in the community ; as the gi slavery question touches the privileges and it ; position of the class most resembling an IT . aristocracy in the Union . The Crown , ad- p < vised by its public servants , referred -the ai question to the constituencies . In America , qi all questions aro constantly and periodically tl before the constituencies , and there is not d the same power of reference . The President ii has resorted to another expedient . Exer- t cising a power vested in him . for extraordi- d nary emergencies , he has summoned an ex- w traordiniiry session of the Congress , to begin t sitting immediately after the termination of f the session , by the force of a standing law . c In other words , he has told the Congress 3 that they must go on with their debates , f until they can manage to agree upon the 1 business necessary to bo transacted . Con- i gress , therefore , reassembles , notwithstanding the reluctance of individual members to con- tinue in the capital of the Union during vacation time . Again the Englishman i chuckles . To us there is nothing so agreeable in the spectacle of a community unable to conduct its own . affairs peaceably , that it can dispose us to merriment . Tif wo were to imagine a failure of the American constitution at the present day , - \ ve should foresee a disaster that must involve half of our own commerce in confusion , and deprivo Great Britain of much moral weight in Europe , by romoving from the civilized world that great ' . Republican state between whose extreme Liberalism and the centralization of Europo England finds an equipoise . But chuckle the is is to i and-) s carry > wise i ment ; ¦ will , tuencies i comp a suffrage f ; the e nag e is ¦ & . lies s peop ie toast six lie s > that > and it of hope of law jo ' e Some \ e y , ie more in its at the lie men id . to as that It be to not [ sh so of the es- The tnd is ; of bhe gi md its an ad- the are ica , ally not lent cer- rdi- ex- »« in if of law . ress ites , the ] on- ding con- iring man l the iduct spose ino a t the lastcr nerce lin of oving epub- ralism igland

    S^Ptembeb 6,1856.3 The Reaper. &&

    S ^ ptembeb 6 , 1856 . 3 THE REAPER . &&

    Bi Chuc] The ^ O Is Bi Gove Is.To Essei ...

    , \ . : | For Cayenne struction chains writers criminals wards Eng French dragge doned but science nated power Socialist tors , ; pQMi l abound i \ i - f I * their e "We e ! - that j . rican .- h upon d n tering > f reg it with d d and d -e fine xs ment le ce that y . men > n a m a , ' a 3 d e . over of assi m he — ins he on to of ; lio for of illy son my , vill law be , say' tho any blic lay , in- so- ^ on- who can avrv loss ; , ring , the > ex- than the in it day . I there will be no failure . Those who T . look only to the present day , or to For objects before their eyes , forgetting what Caye : behind . We must remember that the blood Government at Washington , necessary as it strue regulate certain proceedings , is not chain essentially necessary to any one of the score- write a-half of states , all of whom have their crimi Governments quite efficient within their own -ward ! territories , and capable in some degree of Erigl : ing on the business that would other- Fren be conducted by the Federal Govern- dragj . . done But , as in our own country , all questions but ultimately be determined by the consti- seierj . Indeed , this reference is more nate < lete than with us , not only because the powc is coextensive with the . resident male Socis population , but because the great body of tors , citizens are more in the habit of ma- thro hig tlieir own affairs for themselves . It \ voa > : here tliat the true stability of the Union arbt . In America the sovereignty ; of the E le is not only a theoretical principle , or a peai at public dinners , but it is a fact . Pub- poli questions , therefore , are determined by rest which proves after all to be the abiding pro dominant conviction of the great body the : the people . Here is the safety , here is the TVe , —the power of firmly establishing the reir of the present day consistently with re- tha pealing it to re-establish the law of the future . ric £ years ago , much perplexed by the in- abr tricate aud difficult subject of Slavery , which upc sectarian and alien agitators had rendered sws perplexed and dangerous than it is in ter : own nature , the sovereign people " of reg United States , advised by its best yit , determined that the question should ins a certain extent be referred to time , and anc in the meanwhile the status guo should nu distinctly affirmed . The Slave states were in content to accept the guarantee thus me offeree ! to them ; they encroached upon the ho : territory of the opposite party ; they broke thi compromize ; they violated the treaty , me consequence is that the whole question a flung- open ; the political . conflict has been a , < used by political adventurers . There is a va : gantic scandale . Congress has not received let instructions from the sovereign peop le , ov The President is bewildered in the conflict of as ; popular tides ; the authorities of the "Union so : perfectly incompetent to deal with the co question as it is now agitated before them- — I in they only want to get through ; while the lb different parties in the Presidential election cv increase the hubbub by each endeavouring to of turn the crisis to his own advantage , and the d < disadvantage of opponents . But whatever tl may be the chatter , the jargon , the uproar of ir the day , there is a deep conviction gradually u forming in the minds of the American a citizens ; and sooner or later , before many a years are passed over , fhat conviction wilL n find its way into the shape of a distinct law > upon tho subject . What that law is to be , c we do not venture to affirm ; wo only say s that no temporary agitation can depose tho ( American sovereign , consisting of so many millions of courageous , independent , public t spirited men . And after the small delay , U which tho dofects inherent in all human in- i stitutions interpose , tho decree of tUoso-h vercign will bo icgistercdby an obedient Con- ^ gress . In the nioanwhile , discreet men , who love their country , will do the best they can to maintain the peace of the Union ; to carry on its business without hindrance or loss ; and to preserve its influenco abroad during tho hubbub . During the interregnum , tho electors will , if they are wiso , look less to extrome opinions or foregone conclusion , than to tho experience , the discretion , and the fidelity of thoso public servants whom it | wants for tho immediato purposes ot the clay .

    The Consolations Of Cayenne. For A Long ...

    THE CONSOLATIONS OF CAYENNE . a long time the political prisoners a * were represented as a horde of bloodthirsty desperadoes , bent on the deof society . In addition to their they wore that stigma . Imperialist in Trance aifected towards these state a more pitiless austerity than , toordinary felons and malefactors , and lish journalism took the tint of the . Not only were the prisoners d to a horrible exile ; they were abanby human sympathy , or at least by all the sympathy of those men , the conof a state , who refused to be fasciby immoral triumphs , or by illegal . The incendiaries , enemies of order , malcontents , incorrigible ! conspira--were left to their fate , and London , thronged around the chariot-wheels of Na .-oir precisely as Moscow -will throng the CziA . b ,. But now , the necessity of adulation appearing to "be past , justice is done , and-thB political antagonists of Louis Njjpoi / eon- are restored to the good opinion of Europe . So profoundly had they been forgotten , that very existence has seemed a discovery . are "told by the Times , that among the remaining colonies of France is a tract ot uncultivated region of the South Amecoast known as Guiana , situated almost under the Equator : a fiery sunburns sluggish rivers , muddy shores , thick swampy forests , jungles , and ' masses of-fe * . vegetation— - " one of the most tatal ions of the earth . " The land swarms poisoixous and disgusting reptiles , insects and Terinin , and in the most poisonous disgusting district of the whole , " avast number" of French citizens have been cond for several years . The British Govern-, in its worst period , never treated homicides or burglars with the severity has been applied to these unfortunate . When Botany Bay was' selected as penal settlement , it was recommended as healthy' station . Yet to the members ot various political parties—Bourbomsts , Orleanists , Republicans—this territory , brooded by death and ' hideous misery , ' was gned as a place of exile . All attempts to soften the picture have broken down ; the correspondent at Paris , who now takes his pirations from police-officeB , himselt , m 1852 , expressed his abhorrence of the merciless spirit displayed by _ the courts-martial December . The subject admits of no doubt . Nor is it less unquestionable that these Frenchmen ate forced to labour amidst marsh y forests , or blistered rocks , flogged upon the slightest pretence , insufficiently ied aid clothed , and loaded with cannon-balls attached to their ankles . Among them aro men of letters , artists , barristers P ^ ^ ; Whatever may bo urged to . discredit the charge , the astonished writer ¦ in the Times suggests a proper answer : " When we Bay Cayenne , we say everything . " , We need not apologize for recurring to this subject . If wo pity Pb / jstkiik perishing amidst thePolar desolations , shall wo not inucii more pity these unhappy men punished tor no crimes whatever ? Wo have been furnished with an unexpectedJustification , of all we have written since the coup detat . lnero arc no Catiunes at Cnyenne-the Oa . mi . ot is at -the Tuilerics . The exiles are men " conquered in apolitical strife , " and' guilty only because they were unsuccessful . It follows that Louib Najomotib innocent only because ho succeeded—that being tho moral measure of tho age . But when it is suggested that the defeated politicians stood on a moral equality with their ^ agomsts , a direct contradiction is xmavoidabLo . -A . man : : ¦

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 6, 1856, page 11, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_06091856/page/11/