Current:

Leader (1850-1860), 11th December 1852, Edition Country of 2, Page 12, HOW" J.O1IIS NAl'OLKON IS KMl'KKO R. Trr...

Page 12
Page 12
12 of 24

On this page

  • Text (3)
  • 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.

      Britannia Growing Grim. So Wo Are To Hav...

      reckoned on them at home ; " that " the establishment of the Empire was the re-establishment of the old national frontiers of France—those of the [ Rhine ; " and that if these frontiers were not given them , " they would know how to take possession of them , with the Emperor at their head ; " and finally , we have a- hundred assurances , more or less authentic-looking , that the very ideal of the French Emperor and his Algerian generals as to the best means of wiping out Waterloo , would be to make a dash at London with fifty thousand

      men , visit Threadneedle-street , and then go back again . All this is vague and shadowy , half fact , perhaps , and half fiction ; the mind alternately is credulous , and alternately sceptical—still , the impression remaining is , that but for some magnificent change of attitude in the French people , England is very likely to be -involved in a war with France , either by a sudden outbreak , under French auspices , against England and her influence at all points , or by a more direct attack on

      our shores . Well , if it does come to that , what will be the result ? The result will be , that we shall be beaten at first here and there—perhaps even to the extent of an actual landing—and that in the end we shall beat the French , and beat them tremendously . A Trafalgar in the Channel , say - some ; a Waterloo in ETent , say others—that will be the result . This now , especially that we are beginning to prepare , is assumed by British courage as so certain , that the mind already

      overleaps that Tesult , and thinks of the problem to follow . The woTst of a war with France is , that it would renew and send on to an indefinite future , that feeling which has come down from Waterloo—the feeling of implacability between the two nations . Just as now the French army is burning to avenge Waterloo , so , were we to defeat them again , there would be but some years the

      of smouldering peace , and we should have old vicious circle over again , and Trafalgars and Waterloos ad infinitum . Now we cannot stand this ; civilization cannot stand this ; we . cannot go on making wars with France for ever . And hence , should it ever come to pass that France attacks England and is defeated , it would necessarily be a problem with the statesmen of that hour so to treat France , so to frame the articles

      of pacification , that France , while still left capable of discharging all her functions in the world of ideas , should no more be an eternal thorn and thing of irritation in the political confederacy of Europe . This , we say , is a tiling to be considered , and that by both parties . But may the necessity never come ! May France , whether under the Empire or under any other form of government , resume her great part in speculation and in progressive action , teaching England in some things , and learning from her in others , but never fighting with her . War is a vastly easy thing to write about ; but who can tell its woes and horrors F

      1184: The Leader. [Saturday,

      1184 : THE LEADER . [ Saturday ,

      "Tenant Kkillt." Trtk " Irish Debate" On...

      "TENANT KKillT . " TrTK " Irish debate" on Tuesday night , in tlicJIouse of Commons , upon Hie rather informal question whether Mr . Slmnna . ii Crawford ' s is a better bill than Mr . A ttorney- ( General Napier ' s , wan , at least in one respect , interesting to Kngli . shiiKMi , as'evidencing that the Houhc of Commons lias gained a , large accession oi" respectability and statesmanship in tho new class of Irish ni < nil > erswhich Jioh been discovered in the courwi of the agitation on

      Temmi Right . An " Irish debate" has lor a long time meant in Knghind . something ludicrously Htupul—11 Mound svncl fury which we hail to put up with , as , per contra , the Union , in consideration Unit it nignilied nothing . Clearly there- is a elmnge , when the " . Irish party , " par excellence , elect an their lender a man so thoroughly toniperate , thoroughly logical , and thoroughly master of his milflect hh Mr . Serjeant Shoe . It in , indeed , wonderful how the . vivid Irish in tolled ; improve ** and rvfnuiH under l-lio Hoeinl and political discipline , of lengthened residence among Saxons ! 1

      English readers will notcandy pereeivu the point of this " Tcnnrit Right" controversy , i ( they ge (» con Timed in the too technical discussion of Tuesday . English renders will not ho ahlo at all to read * » sympathy with the Irish tenant and farmer ' s demand , if' they confine themsolvea merely to tho question atf to whether or not Mr . Napier's bills , aro ho absurdly bnd as MosurB ; ( Shee , Lucas , and M Malion insist tlmfc thoy « ro The previous question Jh , what does " Ton ant . Right" moan P

      If Mr . Napier ' s bills are examined , they will , to the -uninitiated Englishman , have this appearance , that an English Government has only just found out a country called Ireland , which is in a state of anarchy , and to whi 6 h abinitio land legislation must at once be applied . These bills are to do the most obviously jiist and Bimple things ; and that such is the fact is a terrible comment upon our preceding legislation . Evidently the landlord , putting tip Ms Attorney-G-eneral to legislate in this way , confesses thereby that he flnri ln " a ancestors have for some time been guilty

      of considerable robbery . What has forced the landlord into this briskness to set matters right is , the public opinion which has been roused against him by the " Tenant-Bight" agitation . The million and a half who have within three years emigrated from Ireland to New York and Quebec have somewhat diminished that competition for land , of which hitherto the landlords have taken advantage to secure their own prices and terms : and the tenant ' time seems now

      coming round . But the protection which Mr . Napier shrinlongly offers ( we are now speaking only of his Compensation Bill ; his other three bills are good enough in their way as law reforms ) to Irish tenants is , after all , fallacious . The case of Ireland is , that vast tracts of land are out of occupation , and that the occupied land is only half cultivated , because there is no security that the farmer will be permitted to enjoy the benefit of those improvements which he may make . To cure this evil , Mr . Napier satirically proposes dr

      that the ignorant peasant shall aw plans ana specifications , serve notices , pay fees , employ counsel , enter on protracted litigation , finish his improvements within an absurdly inadequate tiine—and then what P That if by any chance his rent is any one y ear unpaid , he shall be ejected , and shall get nothing ! If he violate any covenant of any impossible kind m his agreement forced on him . by his landlord , he shall be ejected and shall get nothing ! If certain yeaTS set down in a schedule expire—though the houses he has built , the drains he has sunk , and

      the fences he has made with his own money and labour , be still in excellent preservation and of permanent value—he may be ejected and shall get nothing ! In short , the tenant would be entitled to claim repayment , or compensation , for his outlay on one condition only—that he shall have been wantonly ejected from his farm before the years set down in the Act as " compensating period" expire . On tlie other hand , the bill of the Tenant-Eight party proposes explicitly , proceeding upon a great principle , that the tenant ' s property , created by his capital and industry , shall be as saleable as the landlord's , as long as

      it lasts , —that if the tenant chooses to quit Ins farm , lie may sell his improvements to any solvent tenant ready to take his placo and enter on the Hamo conditions towards his landlord , —that if the landlord chooses to turn him out , he must repay him tlie money ho has sunk on his land- — / . e . ' , cannot take back the raw material after it has been trebled in vnhio by skilled labour , just as if it , were the identical article he had originally parted witlii To illustrate this principle , lot us put the ease this way : —A Manchester man who got a . bale of'American cotton and turned it into ; i beautiful or useful woven or coloured fabrio ,

      would not like the Yankee- factor to claim to have it returned in its manufactured state as still his own goods . Taking " Tenant Right , " however , not in'its technical ' sense , but in its larger sense ; as a ]> rotofit of a peftwmt and pastoral people against the iniquitous . self i slimes of the very limited classthe owners of the soil , who , in religion and in politics , havr » ever been a different nation , we conceive that the agitation which found pnrlinnientary expression on Tuesday , will obtain extensive sympathy from ' the people of this

      country . Irish public opinion is rising up ngainfit the lurid-lawn which havo crushed Ireland ; and English public , opinion may assist in the effort to constrain thoelass Mr . Nnpier represents , as counsel , into concessions above , and better than , thone which mere legal BtntutoH inny record . Irishmen are seeking to obtain by law what ) Ulster has by custom , and whnt the English farmors hftvo by tho aid of public opinion—corrective ) competition . And it-to Bouiowhat to be regretted that not only do English Liberal members not voto on thone Irish social questions , but they will not Hpoak , which , proHjHietivoly , might bo more cfl'ectual To uh it appears a now u > ra in tho BtateHiuuilsliip

      of Jrisk memberdom , that such a question as this of Tenant-Eight bills , is the only one they proffer for Imperial consideration . It is the " practical" business the Irish party have so long been taunted , in turn by all English parties with neglecting . The inferences from such a debate as that on Tuesday are gratifyinff to

      Ireland s connexions in several ways ; the broad inference being , that the landlords are losing their supremacy , and that the farmers are getting enlightened , both circumstances suggesting that a prosperous civilized era is beginning . And the appearances of the debate are justified b y a reference to the facts in Ireland . Three different concurrent influences have produced a social revolution .

      The emigration gave back a balance to the labour-market . The transference of lands from tied to free hands , through the Encumbered Estates Court , revived healthy relations in wide districts between owner and tenant . Lastly , the railways , which were somewhat premature in Ireland , have forced , at first artificially , Wt now are developing naturally , the vast agricultural resources of the country , opening markets everywhere . People are beginning to be busy in Ireland ; and what may not be the future of a land eased of most of its anomalous social burdens , abounding in all the means of wealth , and in a condition to make the most of the fact that it is nearer New York by a day than we are ?

      It is probable that Mr . Napier ' Compensation Bill will be withdrawn , and that Mr . S . Crawford's , now Mr . Serjeant Shee ' s Bill , will be divided , on , and rejected . If , however , we had any influence with Irish members , we would advise them , as a matter of tactics , to accept the Government bills , and do their best to improve them in committee . The question of "Tenant Bight" has not yet been long enough before

      England' to enable her to comprehend its technical details : and the Irish members may be sure that they can only carry their point , this or any other , after tliey have both interested and convinced the English liberals . But , we would further suggest that Tenant Bight is , after all , not the solitary panacea . The " transition sime" of Ireland might be taken advantage of by her liberal economical philosophers , to effect that redistribution of the soil into many hands ,

      upon which , if she is to remain an agricultural country , she must depend for that prosperity which is alone meant by the simple farmers who risk their holdings , and face the workhouse or America when they vote for a . " Tenant-Bight" member . The Encumbered Estates Court is doing vast good in exchangin g pauperized large proprietors for unencumbered large proprietors . But something more is wanted than large proprietors : Ireland , as well as England , wants small proprietors . We are not urging the economy of " small farms in tho sense in which small farms are abhorred by British economists . We mean , when wo speaJc nrmrnvinrrlv of a peasant proprietary , little

      properties of from ten to fifty acres—nearer the HHy than tho ten . Tho " [ Freehold Land Conference , the other day , lias shown how slight an extension ot machinery would enable tho farmers ot JLngiana to become in fifty years tho owners , to a large extent , of tho soil they till ; and the princip le ot tho English " Freehold Xand movement was urgctt some two or three years ago by Mr . Umrics Gavnn Duffy , tho member for Wow Hobb , as availably applicable to Ireland , « i & fo °± ™™" social t horn

      bered Estates Court , for purely , apar political , purposes . Mr . Puffy is now t 10 01-ganizer , as wo believe he was tho onginator ol the Tenant-Bight agitation ; but wo hone . ho Ias not forgotten his subsidiary plan , hir HobCrt 1 . » x always explained how Ireland whs bis cluot » eulty , in lamenting that there was no mid die darts ; and in an agricultural country , th < ony middle class is the yeoman clans . v \ anting ycu men , Ireland only knows tho middle-man .

      How" J.O1iis Nal'olkon Is Kml'kko R. Trr...

      HOW" J . O 1 IIS NAl'OLKON IS KMl'KKO R . Trrrc conduct of tho Allied Powers in T ^^ lrS Napoleon I ' ll ., notwithstanding their thr « mtlui protests to tho contrary , eonvmces us that J ^ ouw frapotoon has attained In * prow-nt ] x « iUo . . ° l only by favour of his mime , or personal qualito * or chance , or the lassitude and dwonolmr , taiont of one half , and the fanatical YT . fa Is > V other half of tho French people , hut a 1 «> y favour of another system which exists in hurono ,

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 11, 1852, page 12, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_11121852/page/12/