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Leader (1850-1860), 13th March 1852, Edition Country of 2, Page 5

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      Letters From Paris. [From Our Own Corres...

      matic agents at Paris , Vienna , Berlin , Frankfort , and ¦ London England ^ on the contrary , objects to any intervention whatever . When Lord Cowley , the English ambass ador at Paris , heard that the question of intervention in Switzerland was seriously entertained , he imm ediately demanded of M . Turgot an explanation The answer which he received appears to have been very far from satisfactory . It is positively stated that when lie appealed to . the treaties of 1815 , the French Government explicitly declared that it was not their business to consult the contracting powers of 1815 before taking measures to prevent the dangers which in their opinion were likely to result from the present state of Switzerland .

      There Was a report in Paris that the ambassador of France at London , M . Walewski , had been recalled on this very question . The Elysean party still assert that the Federal Council of Switzerland has succumbed to the menaces of France , and that a note in the Monitewr will soon announce that the President of the Helvetic Confederation has given " reasonable satisfaction" to the claims of the French Government . The Mbniteur , however , has remained mute on the subject up to this day ; and in the meantime preparations are being made in France for war . Government have called for large supplies of copper and iron for immediate use in the cannon foundries , with the view of augmenting the force of artillery ; and Paris is placarded with advertisements for tenders , S .

      March 13, 1852.] ; The Leader. ^ 41

      March 13 , 1852 . ] ; THE LEADER . ^

      Louis Blanc On French Socialism. (To The...

      LOUIS BLANC ON FRENCH SOCIALISM . ( To the JSditor of the Leader . ) Lettib TV . THB FRENCH SOCIALISTS DO NOT IN ANY SENSE OR DEGREE DESIRE THE ABOLITION OP PROPERTY . The French Socialists , on the contrary , regard Property as a right inherent in human nature . Man , indeed , can Only support life by appropriating to himself exterior objects . But it is precisely because Property is- ' a . right that the French Socialists object to its being degraded into a privilege . It is precisely because the right of property is inherent in human nature that , according to the jFrench Socialists , all who pertain to human nature , ought to be invited to enjoy the advantages of the right . Yes ; the right of pro * perty is a natural right , but , for that express reason , its enjoyment should be rendered accessible to all . And how ? First of all , by inscribing at the head of the Code that the true principle of property is Labour ; next , by founding social institutions which may tend to promote more and more the use of the materials

      03 ? Laboub . To those who would encourage them to labour , in the hope of becoming possessors , how many poor creatures might , with good reason , reply : You call out to us to work ! But we have neither ground to till , nor wood to build , nor iron to forge , nor wool , nor silk , nor cotton , to make clothes withal . Nay , are we not forbidden to pluck that fruit , to drink of that fountain , to hunt those animals , to take shelter under < that tree ? "We stand in need of the materials of life itself , as of labour ; because at our birth we found all around us invaded ; because laws , made without us and before us , have given over to a blind and cruel chance the charge of our destiny ;

      because , m virtue of those laws , the means of Labour , which the earth seemed to have yielded for the use of nil her children , are become the exclusive property of a few . Theirs it is to dispose of us ; for wo have no means of disposing of oursolves . Work ! We are ready : but do you think that it depends upon our own will ? "Work ! and thou shalt bo assured of having tho fruit of thy labour . " Alas ! how can you assure us tho fruit of our labour , when in tho midst of the immense disorder , and of tho tragic incidents of universal competition , you cannot even warrant us tho e mployment of our hands ? " Work I tho produce of t » y labour shall bo for thee and for thy children "dec

      you eive yourselves , you deceive us , No ! tho pro-<| uco of our work will bo neither for us nor for our ehiluron . For our destitution places us at tho morcy of others ; and what is offered to us in exchange for our teeming activity is not tho produce wo create ; it is but n salary just onough to prevent our perishing in tho act of Proauoing ~ eaiftry whjch tho fltroga of conlpotition over tends to grind down to the . lowest Wol of tho Biriot pat necessities of life , and which rarely loavos a ftf !? m f ° V tlirii 1 b > ' ftml which , moagro aa it is , is ' bvor Z « ° . y W of th ° An * day of stoppage in tho work , w WHicknosa in tho , worker . It is not , then , tho prospect ot happiness that . stimulates us : our only stimulant ih ~ - « starvation !"

      Under oxisting social institutions , such Is the cow-1 'iaint , tho legitimate complaint , that thousands of non may breathe , albeit created aftor tho imago of uou > onU niombora of tUo groat human family ! And

      how deny it , when we see that at Paris , for instance , the numerous class of journeymen gain no more than two francs 50 cents , a day ; that at Rouen , the Weavers receive per week , for twelve hours' work a day , only three or four francs ; , that < at Limoges , the improved machinery for spinning has brought f lown the wages to one franc 25 cents . ; thatat Cholet , the calico weavers , who used in 1846 to be paid one franc six cents , for a" day ' s work of twelve nours , have , since 1848 , earned only 85 cents . ! I might continue to the

      end this gloomy catalogue ; Jbut those who would be convinced of the generality of the results which I denounce , have only to consult the statistical table I drew up , in my treatise on the Organization of Labour . There they will find the industrial situation of France regularly summed up in figures , and in figures which have not been denied , and which it was impossible to deny _ they were official . There they will learn that wretched young girls receive , for eighteen hours' incessant labour , from 30 to 60 cents ., a pittance they are driven to eke out by prostitution .

      Do such social institutions as these , I ask , respect the right of property—the right of property , I mean , based on labour ; when in their very core this awful misery grows , robbing so many wretched beings even of the free disposal of their own existence , and driving them to sell soul and body for a morsel of bread ? To denounce the vice of these institutions , and to demand its reparation , with the emancipation of labour as an end and aim , is not to attack property ; it is , on the

      contrary , to invoke its principle , and to defend it in its highest acceptation , in its most sacred signification . For , after all , is it , or is it not true , that all men as they are born into life , bring with them a right to live ? Is it , or is it not true that , if some few succeed in taking hereditary possession of all the materials of Labour , in monopolizing the means of labour , all the rest will be condemned from that very cause , either to be the slaves of the few , or to die ?

      Now , iB it just , that when all have brought with them into life an equal right to live , the power of realizing that right should be concentrated in the hands of a few , so that humanity finds itself divided into two classes of beings , of which the one sells the life the other is reduced to buy ? _ That is the question . I will subsequently examine the means which the French Socialists propose for its solution—without shock , without violence , and with a due regard for all interests ; I may be content to have proved here that by directing their efforts to this grand solution , the French Socialists deserve tb be considered the true logicians , the philosophic expounders , par excellence , of the right of property .

      I pass to another point in the address of M . Mazzini , and I say—The French Socialists hate no intention to VIOLATE THE PRINCIPLE OF LIBERTY BY OBTRUDINGABRUPTLY AND BY FORCE A COMPLETELY NEW SOCIAL ORGANIZATION . In the proclamation which I have recently cited , and which was placarded on every wall in Paris during tho Revolution of February , by one of those whom M . Mazzini calls '„ ' system makers and sectarians / ' the reader has certainly remarked a passage : " Let us abstain from demanding the immediate application of our doctrines . It is only to free dispussion , to conviction , to tho power of public opinion , to individual consent , that wo desire to bo indebted for their triumph . "

      In another quarter , observe tho languago which , at the same moment , the two members of the Provisional Government , who specially represented Socialism , wore addressing to the people . " Citizen Workmen , —TUo Commission appointed by tho Government to prepare tho solution of tho great problems in which you are interested , is studying with indofatigablo ardour to fulfil its task . " But , however legitimate may bo your impatience , tho commission conjures you not to allow your exigences to outspcod its researches . All tho questions relating to tho organization of labour are of thoir nature , complex . They embrace a numbor of interests opposed to ono anothor , if not in ronlity , at least in

      appearance . They require , then , to bo approached with calmness , and examined with maturity . Too great impatience on your sido , too groat precipitation on ours , would only ond in injury to' both . Tho National Assembly is about to bo immediately convoked . We shall present to its deliberations tho drafts of lawa wo aro now working out , " with the firm resolution to nmoliorato your condition , morally and materially ; and on these our schemes , your own dolcgntos aro to bo summoned to express their opinions . Now this National Assembly will bo no longor a chamber of monopolists , it will bo , thanks to universal suflVago , a living rhumS of our ontiro socioty . Bo of good courage , then , and bravoly hopo ; but , iu your own iutcrost , do not

      obstruct the action of men who are resolved to make the cause , of justice triumph , or to die in its service . " The President and Vice-President of the Government Commission for the Working-men . " - Tims we see that , to cast a glance , at once bold and prudent , at the questions which concern the future of humanity , to expose frankly the results discovered or partially detected , to accept discussion for a weapon and public opinion for judge—to call upon that public opinion to pronounce itself pacifically and sovereignly by universal suffrage— -such was the constant and invariable endeavour of the French Socialists ; neither more nor less .

      As to attributing to them the pretension to change society in a day by the application of a new system of social organization , sprung full-grown from the head of this or the other thinker , as Minerva sprang armed from the brain of Jupiter—this is a purely gratuitous assumption , which the writings of the French Socialists most signally belie . In what , indeed , do these systems , to which M . Mazzini makes allusion , consist ? They consist in a series of purely transitory measures , adapted to the present state of things , and of a nature to admit of

      immediate application . The Socialists know very well that , in this slow and painful journey of the people towards a reign of absolute justice , there are many stages to pass through , and that , if history always reasons justly in the end , it sometimes takes centuries to advance a step towards a just conclusion . The Socialists are the first to acknowledge that it is wise : that it is even indispensable to proceed by successive ameliorations . Only they believe , that these successive ameliorations must proceed from an unity of system , and follow a well-defined principle .

      Surely he is a madman who thinks to reach the end of his journey by destroying the road ; but not less mad is he who starts , not knowing whither he goes . When a mechanician is about to construct a machine , he surely does not think of striking it off in an instant , but he first designs his plan . When a poet com * poses a drama , he puts one act after anotherj certainly ; but not without first having traced the general framework of his plot . The earnest pioneers of social progress can have no other method of proceeding . The Socialists adopt it .

      For who but a madman would dream of transporting into the pure regions of the ideal , such as lofty intellects imagine , and righteous hearts conceive , a society ignorant and corrupt as ours ! No , no ; Socialism has not that chimerical pretension ; and many who bring the accusation know it to be false . If they treat us as Utopians , it is just because they begin to feel the possibility of our doctrines . They would not call us Utopians with so wiuch terror and noise , if they were

      not oppressed by the reality of what they combat . And why , indeed , this excess of hate?—why these bursts of rage?—why these signals of alarm?— -why this deluge of calumnies?—why this train of persecutions ? Men are not incensed by ideas which they regard as vain shadows ; and to stab again and again living bodies which are declared to be phantoms , is an inconsistency which would be pitiable , if it were not revolting . Louis Blanc . ( To be continued . )

      Church Matters. The Monthly Report Prese...

      CHURCH MATTERS . The monthly report presented on Tuesday to tho meeting of tho London ChurcU Union at St . Martin ' Hall , maintains that high character which has hitherto distinguished them from ordinary ecclesiastical documents . Tho Committee is not seduced by tho advent of the Tories , professed friends of tho Church as they aro professed friends of the farmers , to office , from that line of policy which restricts their agitation within tho limits of what is necessary for tho welfare of the Church from their point of view . They deprecate all dependence on political combinations ; they urge churchmen , as such , to abstain from political warfare Tho Church , they say , is entitled to demand fair play from tlvoso in au * thority of whatever political party , but they assert that it " cannot wear tho livery or receive tho wages of any . " At tho same timo they cannot refrain , of course , from commenting on that passage in Lord Derby ' s upcech which referred to tho Church .

      " It is not , without considerable hesitation that tho Com * mUtoo would vonturo to suggoflt that tho prominent idea which Lord Porby entertarnod , in" promising support to tho Church , was tho dosiro to maintain tho . EstaMfalnnonfc in its external rights and propovty , and your Comn \ ifcfceo cannot doubt in attributing to his lordship tho intention to adviso tho Crown to make a bettor uso of its patronage than of lato . " And as tlmt in " bolow" thoir wishes , they suggest in oxtonuation that the dution of a primo minister roluto ruthor to tho external framework of the Church , considorod as a socioty of this world , than to Uor internal

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), March 13, 1852, page 5, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_13031852/page/5/