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    350 The Redder and Saturday Analyst. [Ap...

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    j TNTEKCHANGE WITH THE FRENCH. • I ' 1ST...

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    . The 3>Altliamexx Of The Futuhb. I N A ...

    they are likel y to respect an education which is , or winch is even supposed to be , continually m advance of their w ; ^ for it . is astonishing how much the upper half-of England sains by the mere suppositions of the lower , and their belief in the existence ^ of a superior knowledge and a superior morality m those above themselves , often more imag-inai-y than real , to . which they are ever aspiring-. This refers to their view even of the middle , much more to their view of tlie highest class , with its opportunities of travel , of costly practical experiments , its knowledge of languages , and heiice its quick comprehension of the ¦ nomenclature of science , with its long practical dealing in affairs of state , its elegant courtesies and associations . —perhaps , above all , its easy handling of language , which , as Hookeb said of the Greek , can make every thing plausible , and which , as MiCHEMST observes in his France and the Frenc / i , the uneducated man envies , above all things , in the educated pne , though the latter almost despises his own facility of phrase-making , ^—a faculty , we may observe , which most unfortunately is one ol . the baits to the trap into which the English elector oftenest falls , especially when he elects some : blustering comloUiere . . popular barrister , who has a constant opportunity of advertising ^ iimselr in the law courts by dubious wit - and . -mercenary iluency . The English are born hero-worshipper . s , and , after a little swing of licence , are always likely to end in yielding the highest place to those who have a natural or acquired claim to their respect , so that ^ it be * wellestablished and a just one . The poorer classes in England may demand their rights , but they are ever ready to concede what upper EnHand desires most—the honours . Nothing but a downright and impudently selfish exehisiveness on the part of anstocrats can ever destrov the inborn deference , however-often little deserved , felt by the working Englishman for the man naturally , or even artificially , his superior . ' It " may not be easy with absolute certainty to predict the eflects of the Keform Bill , but we cannot say that we should be sorry to see twenty or thirty hard-headed , hard-handed , thoughtful mechanics in the House of Commons , representing their View of the interests of their class , ' of whom , ivccordin « rto ancient rather than modern views ,. we : should not be sorry to see them act as the delegates . Questions of intercourse with foreign states they might not very clearly understand ( Cafettigtte ) , nor always the conjunctures-which might make war necessary or honourable ( Boeke ) , but a fair consideration of their own immediate claims or grievances they might lay before the Ho \ ise , and we believe they would be listened to wilh courtesy and respect . In many questions interest is all : . this overgrown ' brewers' question , for Instance , what is it but a gross vulgar flanneljackefced row- in reality—with ils . publican- roarers and its teetotal rorarii , a term we use because it points to the dewy and showery element , to whose light impulse the skirmishers were compared 111 the Roman army ? Wh ; it is this question wjiieh embarrasses ana divides the House but as vulgar and selfish a push for a special interest as any operative eotton-spiiinm- could make ? And if there are to be such squabbles , why should not the poor man have his chance in them as well as the rich ? No strike was ever more disgraceful than this rich brewers ' , question . ' ¦ - ^ , . If tlie hew voters have the sense to elect the enoice men of thenown class , their new position in the House of Commons would probably make thcni respectful and -reasonable , and - . more respected than some of the individuiils who brought them thcro , and who have risen just high enough to fancy thnt they feel the heels ot the aristocracy ' eternaly -upon ' their foreheads , and , hating them for it , - endeavour . to alienate class from class by unroasoiuiblo comparison , rather than by reason to reconcile t ' . iem . Macintosh has said , in his Vindicico Oalluc , " tliero nevor was or will be iu civilized society but two great interests , that ot the rich and that of the poor . " Very likely not ; but the rich -are , on }¦ " « whole , not unreasonable , and the poor not impatient ; nor would either be likely to become more so by tho contemplated increase ot the lower element in our legislature ? and wo trust that , while tho middle men are fighting against the grosser , abuses of government , year by year , with heart , with knowledge , and with effect , wo shall iiot . be driven to mi- abrupt and sharp decision na to whether the patrician shall make , from mercy and from reason , concessions to the plebeian , or whether tho plebeian shall , by violence , force concussions from tho patrician . Our people are not , like the sans-cHlutte . i , mad for a universal lovelling , nor are our higher classes , liko tho Lrench nobility , secluded in tho eddies of uuprogreSMVe prejudice from the action and current ot tho main stream . Tho labourers , mechanical ami agricultural , of England , in spite of occasional urrors , nro on tho whole wonderfully contented and cheerful , quite auffioiently to deserve somo other rewards than new second broad cloth coats and shabby one-pound premiums . How patiently , without a strike , has the Manchester workman aeon hi * master accumulate around him all the appliances of princely luxury , anil still been , aliiill we say it , too content with his very moderate share of protits , and the very mixlovnlu time lor sulf-oduentlon , which soino of the ulurosaid master * would have shortened , und perhaps would still willingly curtail , if it cannot bo elsewhere , we should like to sue , oven in the House , ot Commons , * little more uice-to-fiwo mooting of the employers uj »« the representatives of the employees ; perhaps tliomi Home of tho Budicul employe ™ might like bo atop m abruptly in the huurul earner as the ain >» tl-i 8 t » of Franco did iu the' revolutionary one , with a vision before their eyes whioli wo shall borrow from the ?• Oxford ot Tiokell : — , , " Such wore tho llmnnu fit there when o ' oroomo : Thoy flaw tl > o Gauls luaulfe PV ouptlvo Homo ; Mnoh o » j > tlvo geamod the haughty victor a lord , MidyvoHlmtti olih < ft > thoir Imui / hfy alaees udorcti , AhsU omen 1

    j There is one point which seems to excite alarm in the stationary and reactionary press , i . Ve here quite agree with Buuke :-r" Xone on account of their dignity should be exempt from tax ^ ation ; none ( preserving due proportion ) oh account of the scantiness of their means . The moment a man is exempted from the maintenance of a community he is in a sort separated from it . He loses the place of a citizen . " ( " Letters on a liegicide Peace . " ) Those who make a bugbear of the poorer classes throwing all taxation on the shoulders of the rich , know lull well that it is a bugbear , and no more ; they know full well that all the higher powers and influences of all parties would be set to work to counteract any such movement , even if it were attempted ; they know how strong in England is the pressure from above as well as the pressure from without . As to being angry at the extension of the franchise , ^ the hiifher and privileged classes may just as well work themselves into a lit of indignation because two and two do not make five ; the j attempt at-exelusiveness . reminds one of the elderly female who ' flutters out her silk gown to make believe that there is not room for ' the partv who , with indifferent attire , but with an air of much j determination , persists in making the sixth on her side of the i omnibus . ; - ¦ ' : ' . ; _ I ¦ ¦ ^ ~ ~ . ~~ ¦ ¦ .

    350 The Redder And Saturday Analyst. [Ap...

    350 The Redder and Saturday Analyst . [ April 14 , 1860 .

    J Tntekchange With The French. • I ' 1st...

    j TNTEKCHANGE WITH THE FRENCH . I ' 1 ST the ¦ v » ar 1859 , tho value of our -imports from and our own exports to France was £ 21 , G 14 , OG 0 . The exchange being j mutual , France must have an equal trade with its , the only difference being-that the imports in each country would , by the cost of 1 transport & e ., be of greater value than the exports from the other , ; though the articles were-identical . The same tables which inform us of the value of our trade with France inform _ ns ot the value of our trade with other countries , and only with the United States and British possessions in India is Our trade _ of o-reater value than with France . We must ^ not , however , . imagine that these figures represent the total utility of this trade . Lnless we imported thrown and raw silk from France , we should want a material , of manufacture ; unless we imported flour , and various kinds of provisions , we should be deficient in food . We should have fewer people to work and pay taxes , and a smaller manufacture ; of : silk and other things , than at present . We . should , in consequence , ! have less trade with India and the United States . The ease is similar with the French . They -could not make so much cloth as ¦ they do without the wool they import from , xis , nor work so many . ¦¦ steam-engines as at present , wanting the coal they obtain from us . i In fact ,-till trade'is interwoven one : branch . with another , and we cannot injure a relatively small trade without impelling a relatively i greater trade . Independently , however , of these interwoven rela-¦ tions , whk'h make every species of interchange of . much more total i importance to us all than it seems , we invite attention exclusively ! to the consequences of interrupting or stopping a trade of the annual I value to each people of upwards of £ 21 , 000 , 000 . i The sum represents the fifteenth part of our total import and i export trade , and the sixth part of the total import and export trade ! of France . To strike oil' by a war with Franco , the fifteenth part ot our trade , and reduco to idleness and poverty every fifteenth worker , to add . probably 200 , 000- ^ -cevtiii-nly not less than 130 , 000—to the list of paupevs , " whieh it lma taken us some eight or ten years ot continuous prosperity to reduce in a similar degree , would be a great . i national calamity . We naturally rejoiced very much in the new and -rout trade with Australia , and to lose it would spread gloom , i bankruptcy , and woo over the land . Xow , the tmde with Australia ~ -excludin < " the precious metals ' , as wo exclude them from our ! account of the trade with France—was in 185 'J of less value than i our trade with France nml her colonies . Within the hist hye yeans , too , it has not increased so fast as our trade with I ranee , and to lose it . would not bq more disastrous than to lose the inoroexten-Hivo trade with our neighbour , It would be , so fur as the loss ot ' wealth is concerned , tantamount to cutting off the county ot Jvent ' i from tho rest of tho kingdom , or having all the low-lying part ot ! Ertsox overwhelmed by the sua , ! From the annihilation of our trade with tho French they would , 8 uHer more than we should , inasmuch ua the trade l . etwoen the two countries form * a much larger pi'pportion of tho wliolu trade of Ji ranco than of the whole trade of England . Her population would sutler more than ourrt from tho trade being interrupted , because tho i rosourcert of our pooulo are more variod than those of the l-roncli . I Who nniy not have an irmny actual puupera as England , becausohor I system Ibv tho relief of tho poor is not equally extensive ; but it is I u fact—or nb loast was in 1850 , when a . diligent inquiry was luatlothnb a great inu «« of the population of tho town . * -of Franco nro m uu extromoly bad condition ; and it \ s notorious that many o hur ! agricultural districts hav ' e of lute bocomo depopulated ^ like lroliuui , ' though not to the sumo extent , from poverty and tliatrOHfl . A war which atoppoi . 1 the trade botwoon tho two countries would bo more disastrous nnd dangerous for Franco than England . f ] Amoiigat tho import .- « from France ai'O corn and Hour , >» I . " - ' - " ' of tho value of ii'l , W 0 , 0 XK At tho cattle show of Pussy only l »» j i week , M , Uovmut , the Frunoli Minister for Agriculture , could mm

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), April 14, 1860, page 10, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_14041860/page/10/