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THE SUEZ CANAL. The reply of the French ...
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LIMITED HABH/i5nr. We know not -what res...
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.
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Transcript
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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.
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More Dark Hints. To Increase The Politic...
to save and regenerate the peninsula . That is p recisely wbatstie hfls pretended to do for forty years . And . Count Habti g , an Imperial Councillor , has admitted that she has litteriy and unavoidabl y failed . A singular harmony is observable between 4 foe semi-official programme of the English jRrriter and the plans of the semi-official journalists in France . Check , as far as
possible , the maladministration of Naples , calm the passions of the Government and people in Tuscany , define the extent of the Pope's spiritual and temporal power ; but frown on revolution , preserve the most cordial relations Tvith Austria , act always in conjunction with " our great ally , " never take a step unless ^ with the sanction and co-operation of the interested powers . That is to say , suppress ¦ t he Liberal party .
The Liberal party , however , includes the great body of the Italian nation . Say what you will : sneer at the ruined merchants , the beggarly advocates , the convicted attorneys , Who disturb ^ tli e peace of Italy : if the merchants of Italy are ruined , they have been ruined by Austrian monopolies ; if the Liberal advocates are beggars , it is because no honest man finds a vocation in any court out of Sardinia ; if convicted attorneys are among the agitators , they have been convicted by false witnesses and venal judges , to gratify the rapacious vengeance of the Austrian Government . Political and commercial
restrictionsprohibitions , executions , prisons , scourges , taxes , sequestrations , police , spies , and clergy have made Italy what it is , and against these her best citizens appeal to the justice of Europe ; but with or without the sympathy of Europe , they will endeavour to recover their liberties .
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The Suez Canal. The Reply Of The French ...
THE SUEZ CANAL . The reply of the French promoters of this scheme to the objections raised against it in England , has broken down on some material points . The mere cutting of the canal may be assumed as practicable , the isthmus being of a sandy , and not of a rocky formation . It may be conceded , also , though it is far from being proved , that the ports of Suez and Pelusiuni may be rendered convenient
and safe . But several serious hypotheses of difficulty , involving the failure of the entire project , have only been partially , and by ¦ assumption , explained away . What is to Becure the channel from being choked , the jetties from sinking , the entrances at either end from being barred by deposits of mud , the alluvium of the Nile ? These are suggestions from which the argument of M . Bahtii ^ Ii Temy St . Hilaike glances off to
less perplexing topics . A Btill more important objection is that connected with the navigation of the Red | 3 ea . " During six months of the year , to state the matter roundly , a sailing vessel cannot < get into the Red Sen , and during the other six months , cannot get out of it . This sort 'Of seasonal navigation was adapted to the pearlier ages of commerce ; nor does it inter' . 'Here essentially with the local coasting trade . 'liut it is a serious obstacle , when considered ^ relation to the vast commercial intercourse
" now carried on between Europe and India . > or , the practical result is , that , wero the -oanal opened , a morohant vessel could not ' go from England to Indin , and return , Oftener than onco a year , and that thus , though the voyage would bo shortened , the number of voyages would not bo multiplied . We do not Bay that to shorten the hoii voyage ¦ ¦ ¦ Would bo no advantage . It would be an todvantngo , also , to open a lino of maritime Communication to compote with tho Btill perilous route by tho Oupo -, but of all
enfthusiAsts , projectors , 'and expectant proprietors are the most sanguine , and the most likely to over-calculate ; so that we tmist warn the reader against the logarithmic eloquence of M . Saint HiIiAIBE . The general adoption of the auxiliary screw might facilitate the navigation of the confined field Sea channel . Considering , however , the precautions that hare been rendered necessary by frequent accidents on the Atlantic ^
the tracing of parallel paths for the outward and homeward voyages of the ocean steamers there is some reason for doubting whether nearly five thousand vessels , propelled by the screw , would choose to pass up and down the narrow Eed Sea annually . These , we admit , are details for future discussion ; at present the question turns upon a point which M . de Lessees , and M . St . Helaibe desire to keep out of view .
They cannot but perceive that , though their ideas have undoubtedly made some way in the English public mind , neither the Government of Great Britain , nor the Ministers of the Porte , have as yet assented to the practical development of their plan . ] STow , without the recognition of the British Government , and the ratification of Said Pacha ' s concessions to the Sultan , the projectment continues in abeyance . There appears to be some good reasons for their
reserve . The works are to be carried out by a French Company , with an international proprietary ; the Company is to be named , registered , seated , and governed in Prance . The Grand Maritime Canal is to remain at all times open " as a neutral passage to every merchant ship crossing from ~ one sea to another , without any distinction , exclusion , or difference of persons or nationalities . " In the first place , the guarantee , in its actual
form , is very incomplete ; in the second , its terms are very vague . It is simply an undertaking on the part of the Viceroy of Eturn , who answers also for his successors ; but suppose England and France at war , would the neutrality of the channel close it to the hostile armaments of both nations , or open it to both , or allow one to guard it against the other ? Or , supposing England at war with France and , at the same time , with Burniah , would France enjoy the advantage , by virtue of the
neutrality act , of shutting up the Indian waters , and forcing England to despatch men and stores round the Cape ? If the canal is only to be a commercial channel , an immense proportion of the benefits promised to England fall to the ground , since it would be of the utmost importance to her to be enabled to send troops and military provisions by the direct route to India . If , on the other hand , the canal be open to ships of war as well as traders , the first chance of a European conflict would send a squadron to Pelusium to
blockade tho Eastern passage . We do not see any permanent or insuperable objections to the cutting through of the isthmus , if it bo practicable ; but we are convinced that tho project must bo opposed unless tho new Eastern highway iB to l ) o placed under tho united guarantee of tho European powers , with just and reasonable provisions ior tho event of a war . An act of simple neutrality , construed as closing it to all but merchant vessels , would not meet
tho case . Wo have an ompiro on tho Indian coasts , and facilities of military communication with that empire are as important as the commercial intercuts involved . But for no other Powers do similar necessities exist . Great Britain , it must bo remembered , would , to a grout extent , sacrifico her South African colonies by diverting tho Indian trade from tho Cape to the Hod Sea route . She would ul « o , in all probability , be compelled to
jiicreafie har forti £ oatione and naval establish ments at Ad « n ioippeserve her predominance on . the ( Eastern Ocean *
Limited Habh/I5nr. We Know Not -What Res...
LIMITED HABH / i 5 nr . We know not -what result , aa affectingilegia * lation , two peers expect to produce , When they Protest against a successful measure . If the formality is an affair of conscience , it is intelligible ; but if Lord Ovebstoete and Lord Monteagle , who rose to their peerages under the Unlimited Law : , anticipate from the last outcry of their commercial Toryism any appreciable effect on the parliamentary or public mind , we cannot guess haw they suppose the protestation will act . "When the Q ^ een , Lords , attd Commons set about reforming the law , they habitually do their work slowly , badly , and incompletely . But once done , it is seldom undone . We obtain little ; but what we obtain we keep : unless , indeed , when Mr . Patten surprises us with a Beer Bill , or Mr . WaIiPOIiE with a Bigotry Bill , in which cases , Legislation is , for a moment , jerked off the rails . Even then , however , the working system remains , for tlie most part , unaltered . ! No . ^ one believes , we suppose , that when the Limited Liability has been fairly brought into operation , it will be repealed , or " resolved" against by the Lords or Commons .
The new act does not bring commercial speculation sufficiently near to the working elasses . It seems to have been framed upon Mr . Be : l : le : ni > eit Kobe ' s notion , that the working classes could find no worse investments than commercial undertakings . Now , what is the fact ? The law permits and encourages a variety of speculations among the working classes which , are almost equivalent to gambling , or else constitute a machinery by which the dexterous rogue may possess himself of the results of an industrious man ' s economy .
There are the thousands of badly constituted , unsafe , unprofitable Friendly Societies , which exist by forestalling the funds of the future . The Management consumes one half of the income , and bribes the subscribers by paying large bounties on small rates . Then , there are Loan Societies , on a petty scale , by which the working man is accustomed to the worst forms of usury . Scores of existing Building and Land Societies , under wasteful management and ignorantly constructed rules , can look for no success beyond that of a miseutions
rable Winding-Up . Associative instit are started upon plans just small enough to be lingering failures . But how can the economical working man apply his savings ? There is little to tempt his confidence in tho Savings Bank ; still less in the Three Per Cents ., which might return him five shillings for the eavingB of a year . He wishes to speculate , and he has a right to tho pleasure , only tho law renders it impossible . He needs an inducement to economy . If ho were a French , peasant he could lay by five-franc pieces to purchase a plot of land ; but he has learned to fear tho Land Society ,
and to despise tho Savings Bank . Xet no alternative remains . Yes , there is one alternative . Ho can bet ; ho can gamble ; and ho does gamble and bet ; and society is supposed to protect him , by keeping joint-stock speculation out of his reach . It fears lest ho should catch at a glittering bubble . Bealiv , society is in tltis case very considerate , for if it makes a difference between the noor and rich , tho difference is in favour ot the poor . -Lno poor , however , do not appreciate it , and would prefer being placed on tho same level with other classes , enjoying tho same wsks , exposed to tho same chances of profit : Another objection to Mr . Lowe s Act ib , that ita protection of commercial eutorprizo
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), June 21, 1856, page 15, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_21061856/page/15/
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