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Leader (1850-1860), 13th August 1859, Edition 2 of 2, Page 13, - f t t* ' ' cai-rtf * UUlHJ 'c^Jjl JltTf) *. ¦ . .

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      Tvt Ann Ann Iq 18591 The Leader. 937 No....

      tvt Ann Ann iq 18591 THE LEADER . 937 No . -490 . Aug . U- ¦ i cOYf- ); _ . , ¦¦¦¦ ¦ - w ^ .. ^ . ^^ .. ^^ ..

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      SUBSCRIPTION TO "THE LEADER /' ONE GUINEA PER YEAR , UNSTAMPED , TREPATP . ( Delivered Gratis . ) . NOTICES TO COKKESFONDEXTS . No notice can be taken of anonymous wresponflencc Whatever is intended for insertion must bo * u *^ IC * t t I « by tlii- name aud address of the writen ; not nw ... 8 i , arilj for publication , but as a . guarantee of Ins good l . utJi . It is impossible to acknowledge the mass , of letters we re-V . 'ivc Their insertion is often delayed , owing- to < i pre ^ s of raattor- and when omitted , it is frequontly from rea-^ n » quite ' IndcpwidSnt of ' the ' merit- of the communication .. . . .. ¦ We cannot undertake to return rejected communication * . OFFICE , NO . , CATHERINE-STREET , STRAND , W . C .

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      Saturday, August 13, 1859.

      SATURDAY , AUGUST 13 , 1859 .

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      There Is Nothing So Revolutionary, Becau...

      There is nothing so revolutionary , because there is nothingso unnatural ami convulsive , as the strain to keep thinys fixed when all tho world is by the very law of its creation in eternal progress . —Dii . Ahsold . . . >?——

      The Neutrality Cant. The Debate Cm Lord ...

      THE NEUTRALITY CANT . The debate cm Lord Eleho ' s motion on Monday night will long be memorable for the bold and distinct utterance of" sound principles that characterised the speeches of Mr . Gladstone and Lord John RussqII . liarely has any minister of the British crown so thoroughly emancipated himself from red tape shackles , and assumed so clear and lofty a tone , as that which dignified the Chancellor of the Exchequer on this remarkable occasion . It was not only the trammels of oiMce that Mr . Gladstone cast aside ; for once , at least ,

      he swept himself clear of his own cobwebs , and the subtle crotchets of the acute dialectician gave place to the strong sympathies of the soundhearted man . Lord John , liusscll followed with less brilliancy , but with equal vigour ; the cold skin of aristocracy seemed to grow warm , and the hide-bound condition of the Whig wns apparently exchanged for the expansiveness proper to a great statesman at an important crisis m the history of nations . The question was , nominally , whether the House of Commons should interdict her Majesty ' s Government from assisting at a conference to settle the details of the Italian peace , but

      really whether , under the guise of neutrality , the moral power of this countxy should bo employed in the interests of the House of Hapsburg , and against the national development of the Italian people . Lord Elcho had looked into " Johnson ' s Dictionary , " and found " neutrality " to mean " a state of indifference , of neither friendship nor hostility ; " to this fishy condition he wished to reduce tho Govoi'nment of England at a time wheii the sword of Franco had carved out for a large portion of Italy a possibility of freedom , and the matter to bo decided was , whether righteous hopes and heroic sacrifices should meet with gratification and recompense , ox * bo shattered and thrown away .

      partiality for Austria , and . assumed an attitude scarcely less than threatening to France . We do not accuse them of hypocrisy when they say they desire the increase of freedom , in . Italy , because we believe they are growing with the growth of ¦ the" times , but there is little wisdom in professing to wish for a result , and , at the S : ime time , to object to every possible method by winch it can be accomplished . If the democracy of Italy stirred , they joined the Whigs in calumnious denunciations of Mazzini , and when a chivalrous sovereign offered a monarchical solution of Italian diflieulties , he became as odious in their sight as a red republican or a sans culotte . Our true policy , according to Lord Elcho , is " non intervention , not that this country should roll itself up like a hedgehog and take no trouble about what was going on , but only that we should not interfere unless where the -interests of this country were concerned . " That is to say , we should only unroll ourselves when there was an opportunity ol ' getting something to eat , A nice position this for a great people—to ignore all comprehensive human interests , to be false to all the duties of-world-citizenship , and declare , that in all international relation ? it would simply act and live as the

      stances permitting . If it means more , and that those sovereigns are to be replaced by forcc—which I am sure the Emperor of France does not mean—that is another reason why you should not bind the hands of her Majesty ' s Government , or prevent them from protesting , with all the energy that becomes the government of a free state , against the doctrine that would treat those people as if they were the property of so many ducal houses , and dispose of them , their fortunes , their families , and their prosperity , irrespective of the will , conviction , and judgment which , as human beings and Christians , they are entitled to exercise . "

      than that in every part of the peninsula who strives to better his political condition to be counteracted by agents from Austria , as the real power which denies him all hope of improvement , and condemns him perpetually to the political servitude in which he lives . " With reference to the great practical question of the restoration of the runaway potentates , Mr . Gladstone said : —" It was declared at Villa Franca that certain sovereigns should return to their territories . What does tliis mean ? I can see what it can mean is , that the parties subscribing that declaration are perfectly willing that those sovereigns shall return—other

      circum-, guardian of its own selfishness . Such a principle not only opposes to warlike intervention , which we- all desire to avoid , but strikes at the root of anti-slavery associations , missionary societies , and that moral aid which the English people have ever g iven to any cause which they believed to be right . Mr . Gladstone put the House right upon this question of the recipi'ocal duties of states , and reminded it that when Mr . Canning felt it would be wrong for England to take up arms to resist the French invasion of Spain , he denounced the infamy of the act j . and . " interposed a serious impediment to the repetition _ .. of such

      Well might Mr . Charles Gilpin exclaim , " it was the noblest speech he had heard in that House , and the principles it enunciated would awaken an echo throughout England . " It has rarely happened that , previous to diplomatic intervention , its principles have been so distinctly avowed , because those principles have too often had a character that would not bear the li < vht . It would be well if Mr . Gladstone himself

      dangerous experiments . " " This , " exclaimed Mr . Gladstone , " is the kind of neutrality by which her Majesty ' s Government will be actuated . " It may . be added that this is the neutrality which will win the approbation of the nation in spite of all the sophistry employed by tho friends of despotism , or of those curious individuals who imagine that all interference leads to war , thchorrors of which they deplore chiefly on account of thefr horror of paying for it . Mr . Gladstone is right in . deprecating the Elcho-Johnsonian neutrality which , he said , would have the effect of " leaving France to struggle in difficiilties and in the end sinl ° under them , however much she may desire

      was chosen to represent his country when the opportunity occurs . The air of Vienna did not aoree with Lord John Russell , and even in free Zurich he might not sustain , uninjured , the presence of Austrian dip lomatists , Mr . Gladstone is untried ; and while he could match Talleyrand in subtlety , his long manifested sympathy with Italy , his anxiety to do justice to France , and his manly exposition of English feeling , indicate him as the best man for an occasion scarcely second in iniportance to the meetings of 1815 .

      to further the fair and temperate wishes of the Italians for constitutional freedom . " Such selfish conduct , so far from being peaceable in its tendencies , would deservedly exasperate the French nation against , us and ¦ increase chances of collision , which , ought to be removed by the offer of frank and generous friendship upon honest terms . Englishmen may be slow to believe that the French Emperor ' s intervention can benefit Italy , but it is a wise policy to ' multiply his inducements to act fairly , and to assure him of , at least , a firm moral support , if he pursues a course which we arc able to approve .

      It is a misfortune that the past conduct of public men has undermined national confidence , and instead of taking it for granted that the proceedings of the Cabinet will be based upon the principles they have laid down , the friends of liberty fear lest they should again find great interests betrayed , and -receive another lesson on tho well-known proverb , that " fine words butter no parsnips . " Tho Premier ' s career is full of this stoiy , and Lord John Russell has too often made big words a cover for little deeds . It is ? however , useless to not upon a principle of distrust , for condemning men in anticipation often leads to their going astray . Take the ministry at its word ; hold it fast to its promises , and above all things let it bo assured of

      popular support \\ \ any wise efforts to advanoe tho libcrtil cause . Mr , Gladstone has declared his a « lhcakm to tho historical truth , that "for fivo-andforty long years , wherever liberty moved its head in Italy , wherovfir there was tho slightest or tho most moderate attempt towards procuring oven the hundreth part of those franchises -Which we , as Englishmen , hold so dear , then the iron hand of Austria interposed for tho ro-ostabliahuiont , in all thoir l'igoiir , of tho abuses of the actually existing Governments . " Tho influence ; of Sardinia , tho opportunity for French interposition , ho ljkowiao traced to its truo souroe , that " Austrian influence which has pervaded tho peninsula from ono end to tho othor , and which causes every wan

      When tho peaco-at-any-prico folk invented thoir perversion ^ of non-intervention . and their cant of neutrality , none saw tho hollowness of tho moralitv , and the- dishonour that would attach to its adoption more than tho Tory politicians , but . they now find it a convenient doctrine , because it is the nearest approach thoy can hope the oountry -will make towards a partisanship of Austria , a belief in the divine right of sovereigns , and a superstitious reverence for the troatios of 1815 . Lord Malmepbury ' s correspondence , and the speeches of his party prove tliat whon in power thoy did not look to pr , Johnsou's definitions fbr the regulation of thoir conduct . So far from tho neutrality thoy now recommend , thoy manifested an undisguised

      Trade Societies. The Builders' Strike Wi...

      TRADE SOCIETIES . The Builders' strike will render no small service to the community if it leads to inquiring into some important relations of labour and capital , and causes the nature of the workman ' s societies to be . better understood . Whenever the masters find themselves inconvenienced by the union of the men , it is common to hear them talk as if such combination were an unmitig ate d evil , and they call for public sympathy to aid them in w asting capital and energy in the vain attempt to crush the principle of association , and reduce the working classes to isolated units . Associations for provision against

      calamities the capitalists do not object to ; but immediately after the legislature has removed all doubts as to the legality of combining to employ moral means to raise wages or enforce regulations , tho master builders meet a strike by a demand that the men shall unconditionally surrender a constitutional right guaranteed , to them by Act of Parliament . This is a course which public opinion will not tolerate , and the sooner the employers abandon it tho better for their reputation , and also for their prospects of inducing the men to modify claims or regulations that ought not to be sustained . , , . , The printed document put forth by the master builders was evidently prepared lor them by some professional agitator , nnU tney require to he counselled against »» f ^ . ° " advisers quite as much as the men . 1 w interview which thoy had on Monday with the' "omo Secretary shows that they labour under no small confusion of thought . Ono member of the deputation , whoso name is not given , but who « stated to employ about 1 , 000 hand * , complamod o the regulations made by the men ' s , society , which he said wrts perverted from legitimate objects . Ho eallod suction an incubus which the masters must get rid of , but while holding out to tho men the tLeat of starvation or surrender , ho declared that no coercion " wns intended . Another member spoke of tho men as " cmboldoned by thoir various successes , " and a third explained that by a previous strike tho men had succeeded in obtaining an advance of lOpor cent . Tho operation ot the Arade societies is spoken of as a tyranny , not only to

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 13, 1859, page 13, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_13081859/page/13/