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    8^ THE LEADER . [Saturday,

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    It is, nevertheless, most desirable that...

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    COTMAN. Dr. Cotmatst is much obliged to....

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    8^ The Leader . [Saturday,

    8 ^ THE LEADER [ Saturday ,

    It Is, Nevertheless, Most Desirable That...

    It is , nevertheless , most desirable that classes placed in the position of the Bradford wool-combers should thoroughly understand their relation to the labour market , and should be able to make a truly independent choice on the subject of emigration . Documents exist upon the subject , and few towns are so far from some emigration depot as to t ) e unable to obtain the requisite information . Mistakes may be made both ways . Many may be tempted to emigrate who are unfit ,

    while those -who may be really fit may not fcnow the fact . It does not follow that indoor occupations totally unsuit men for colonisation ; on the contrary , ¦ weavers have " been found to make very good shepherds ; we have heard of working tailors who have laid the foundation of a fortune by an intelligent enterprise in the " 'building-of iron cottages ; and the plains of Michigan , could parade before us a very miscellaneous regiment of

    agricultural settlers—men . who furnish a part of the supplies for the corn-market of this cbtmtry—\ vho began life in all sorts of employment . If a man has tolerable ltealth , and good understanding , is not too old 3 and Is adaptablej he caii usually , find some employment in a colony ; and besides earning etjLOugh to support himself , can earn enough to commence laying the foundation of a much better fortune .

    . tn Australia , the inost promising prospects lie with the regular labourers - Kob the gold finders ; but those who attach themselves to the constantly-advancing commercej say of South Australia ; in which there is an incessant social movement upwards . JLaboxiring men are , year by year , adyancing towards the position of landowners and gentlemen ; and numbers who entered the colony as working ahen , or with a position y et more precarious , already see that they are laying the foundation of an hereditary house . Now , the reason for the difference between

    the colony and the mother country is pe ^ fectiy well known to economists ; and the reason is not a vicious suggestion , although it has been sometimes advanced . forunjust purposes . The reason is this , In a colony where land is abundant , but where labour is in a small proportion to land , and yet not too scattered to be productive , the price of labour is higher than the price of other things in proportion ; in other words , a man having the command of plenty of land , and of many natural products , can make more by his labour than he consumes to sustain

    himself or his immediate dependants ; and whether he does so as a separate settler or sells his labour to another man the result is the same : more comes in than he consumes . In this country , where land is limited in proportion to the numbers of the population , the things produced by land are limited in proportion to the population . Although improvements in commerce have augmented the

    surplus , that surplus is gained by trading more than by labour ; it being , in " fact , the product of the labouring industry of other countries . Here , therefore , there is a tendency , especially in the commonest employments , for the labourer to consume more than ho produces . The way for redressing -that false balance ia to diminish the number of labourers in proportion to the work to be clone . Some trades cannot he

    revived , and amongst thorn are those of woolcombers and hand-loom weavers . Nothing can induce people to buy hand-loom stuff at handloom prices , when they can Imy power-loom etuff at power-loom prices ; and nothing can make a manufacturer employ a wool-combor at ¦ wool' -comber ' s prices , whero ho can do tho same work at a less jprice . Among-Bt tho wool-combers and hand-loom weavers , as well aa in other trades , there is probably a larger proportion who could produce more than

    they consume , —that is , have all they want and begin to he rich , —if they were in some colony instead of being in London , Bradford , or Bolton . Now , besides the fitness of the man for emigration , and the fitness of the colony , there is also the fitness of the mode . Emigration is not difficult . The sum of money requisite can easily be ascertained by each person , according to the circumstances and the choice of a colony . It is probable that any man with well - understood character

    could borrow that money . upon finding security for its return within a given period . This plan has been attempted collectively , and has always failed in that form . Emigrants have been sent over by our own Government , on condition of returning the money , sometimes in the form of instalments for the purchase of their own land . The returns have always been a mere fraction of the amount required . The colony of New South Wales has lately made advances for the same purposes—taking out emigrants under indentures , which bind them to serve for a certain period > until they shall have worked out the amount of the cost

    of their transit . " There is every prospect that this also win Ve only one added to the list of failures . But it is quite certain that iii nineteen cases but of twenty the : . individual emigrant would be amply able to return the money advanced for his tra-nsport ; and it appears to Us very probable that a well considered system of insurance for loans of this kind might give the working classes the means of overcoming the only difficulty before them . However , associations to assist emigration Tjy some form of subscription can really do next to nothing ; ory ' ¦¦ ¦ rather j can seldom be more than hindrance . The cases which came before

    the police court the othei * day , of an emigrant society which undertook to send out emigrants , and stumbled afc its work , and of an eniigration-agericy firm which became bankrupt before it could fulfil its compactthus coming within the scope of a penal law for the protection of emigrants — can both be excused on grounds quite consistent with honest intention . It is : Supposed that the association of persons in the interest of the working-class might assist the

    intending emigrant , by lbokmg after his interests , or by securing him a passage on cheaper terms with greater comforts . Now , the fact is ,, that all these points have been well considered , and have already been secured either by the competition of traders speculating in tho business of emigration , or by the care of G-overnment . Emigrants ' themselves have done almost nothing for their own interests . Some years since the emigrant ships to North America were positive pest-houses , in which

    the emigrants starved and died of disease , in ships that were liable to sink at every puff of wind—and they did sink not unfrequently . They were , in fact , regarded merely as rotten lumber ; for they were ships which brought back timber , and which did not require to be very sea-worthy in order to float such a cargo . Tho nuisance was suppressed , not by emigrants , but by tho direct interference of Government ; and at this day aio emigrants possess sufficient knowledge of shipping , of provisioning , or of other requisites for

    voyaging ; but it is supplied to thorn by tho appointed officers of the Government . Thus , while shipowners , who make a trade of conveying emigrants , do much- to render their voaaels attractive , tho Government inspector looks to see that tho vessel is soa-wortby , that tho arrangements are conducive to health , that tho provision ia sufficient sine wholesome ; and tho assistance of tho G overnmont inspector can always be invokodl by emigrants to secure all these requisites under penalty . Already , by competition , and by tlio endeavour of Government to facilitate

    emigration , the cost has been reduced to the lowest point . There is nothing , therefore , in the shape of cheapness , comfort , safety , or health , which an emigrant can secure by the means of any association or intermediate trading agency ; tho most he can do would be to save a little trouble , which lie had better take for himself . If the intermediate agency costs him nothing , it adds so much to the outlay , and is dearer than the ordinary mode .

    Cotman. Dr. Cotmatst Is Much Obliged To....

    COTMAN . Dr . Cotmatst is much obliged to . the Times , for the leading journal has elevated that person into a " distingxiislied" individual ; whereas he was before only a strange individual . The most surprising part of his history , perhaps , is that lie is really a physician . It is not surprising that he has been a Russian officer , since the Emperor Nicholas has a most indiscriminate swallow for American , citizens just at present ; and there are missions that can be bestowed ; , like the Island of Barataria , without any responsibility to the

    giver . It is a great coup in Europe , orifc seems so , for the Emperor to have American citizens in his puDlic employment . He has had them before privately . iVTore than one Ainerican has disgraced'himselt— -no man can disgrace his country , unless his country adopt ' -hid actions— -by acting as a sp > y for llussia , and serving to propagate Russian opinions ¦ ¦ through American journals . * "Western sagacity , however , lias detected these poor knaves ; thev

    have been denounced , and whenever they have been known , they have been repulsed with indignation arid contempt . For in truth there can only he one thing more repugnant to American feeling than the mean despotism of Russia , and that one thing is subserviency to the despotism . By the fault of Englishmen , by one of the most surprising mistakes of philanthropy , before the Republic became independent , ; slavery was forced upon the American colonies through English agency .

    We have never sympathised with the- subsequent attempt of an almost equally mistaken philanthropy , which has endeavoured to force abolition upon tho Union , notwithstanding all the horrors by which a sudden measure must inevitably be attended ; but we have sympathised most heartily with the indignation of Americans afc the cant of an Irish exile , who thought to curry favour with the republicans by praising tho institution of slavery , If the Americans spurn subserviency to

    themselves , how must they abominate subserviency to tho Russian despot ! They have spurned these detectou spies , and they laugh at Dr . Ootman , who is only superior to those spies because , with a gooso-like ostentation of dignity , lie cornea as tho public agent of tho Czar . The history of tho man is curious . "We have already montioned tho surprising fact ,

    that ho is a physician ; but we suspect that there aro moments which pneourngo tlio competent authorities to givo di p lomas upon an unconsidored impulse . Thus there aro doctors wandering about tho world miraculously indocti . Dr . Cotman wont over to St . Petersburg , apparently on some speculation of making himself conspicuous , which is an easy thing to do if a man will consent to tho conditions . The obncurost Member of

    Parliament might bo tho talk of tho world for nine days , if ho would grin through a horse-collar at tho SpcnUor . If ft ropublicnn will lick tho foot ; ot tho tyrant , tho tyrant will put him on tho back , and ticket him for tho worship of tho foolish . Dr . Cotmnu went to St . Petersburg on the licking expedition ; some how or other forced himself , with Yankee onorgy , into tho imperial prosonco ; became a kind of ridiculous nuisance ia fc > C .

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 26, 1854, page 12, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_26081854/page/12/