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fl&fe THE LEADER. [No. 340, Saturday,
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THE MERITS OF FllEEDOM DISCOVERED. B-CLa...
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THE CHURCH INSOLVENT. We have "been too ...
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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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V ¦ ¦ The Complications Oe Italy. The Be...
claim to he their leader , and they will elect him to that dignity . What they disbelieve is that anr man , occupy ing an Italian throne , and forming a part of the European system of royalty , statesmanship , and diplomacy , can he the representative of national nineteenthcentury principles . The unsuccessful revolts — misfortunes of Italy , attributed to UMazzini as crimes—are the evidences of an
. impatience beyond his control . How is he , ^ an . exile , in obscurity , compelled to mask his . ^ proceedings , and to communicate with his ilriends , by processes which are mysterious to ^ tlie police- —how is he to curb the violent and untaught enthusiasm of Massa-Carrara ? Or may not the tocsin be sounded , at any hour , at some distant point of the peninsula , without his sanction or knowledge ? It is true that he possesses vast influence ; "but political leaders are seldom sopoAvei'ful to restrain as to impel . " When the event comes , when
Piedmont and Austria are engaged , when the general body of the Italian nation , make new sacrifices for their independence , it will be known to whom the imputations of selfishness and treachery should apply . The Italians have learned many lessons : they have learned to hate the French ¦ 'Government , and to distrust the English ; to regard Austria as their mortal enemy , and to ask from Piedmont for proofs of real national devotion ; but , on the part of their own leaders , of Garibaldi and of Mazzini , they have never witnessed any
act of lukewarm' patriotism , or of equivocal honour . If they cannot trust the statesmanship of these men , they can trust their virtues . Even by the test of statesmanship they stand well in comparison witli the pretenders who have aspired id take from them their-moral sovereignty over a great mass of the Italian nation . They have no Novara in their annals ; they have Venice , Milan , Home ; when Italy was last subdued by the Stranger , it was "by Austria overcoming Piedmont , and by Trance violating Uorae .
"We may well watch , with solicitude , the preparations for conflict along the Sardinian frontier . But of this we may be well assured : ^—that the organized forces of Piedmont are unequal to a contest with the organized forces of Austria ; it is only by rousing the entire nation that Piedmont can make a stand worthy of the Italian cause .
And it is only "by proving herself free from the miserable lust of self-aggrandisement that she can ever hope to rouse the people . There is room in Italy for Piedmont ; there is no room for the Stranger . Every true friend of that long-buffering country w 111 , therefore , encourage her liberal leaders in organizing an army to fight her battle of independence , within and witliout . the Piedrnontese frontier .
W"hat is it to the Italians that Alessandria is well fortified ) if they "have no muskets for their share of the struggle ? The struggle is coming , and England , not leas than Italy , has positive duties to perform .
Fl&Fe The Leader. [No. 340, Saturday,
fl & fe THE LEADER . [ No . 340 , Saturday ,
The Merits Of Flleedom Discovered. B-Cla...
THE MERITS OF FllEEDOM DISCOVERED . B-CLaiirM is awakened to a sense of the grand truth that commerce can be most successfully prosecuted when it is conducted in a state of perfect freedom . The Belgian Customs Reform Association has been created solely to pteaent this idea to the Belgian people , who are ready to receive it , and who reply through their
provincial towns that the idea ia excellent , and ought to be carried out . The Belgian government patronizes the Association , and desires its success . Yet Belgium still labours under the remaiBB of pi'otective duties , local ft'ffl if —V ? ^ ctiona of many icinds . So difficult 1 S it to shake off the . lumber of old potions and cuetoms , even when an entire nation , its Government and people are fully
convinced of the expediency . Belgium invites people from all countries of Europe to assist in considering its neyv opinions , which it has partially carried out with considerable success , and the conclave is attended by notables from England , Switzerland ,. Piedmont , Tuscany , Holland , the Hanse Towns , Prance , Spain , Kussia , and even Austria . All these countries are more or less moving in the same direction— -some of them very much less—but gradually the public opinion of them all is converging upon the belief that commerce can be best cultivated when it is perfectly free .
The argument runs thus . If you attempt to pass a law rendering any existing , arrangement permanent , you prevent improvement . If you forbid machinery to protect an existing handicraft , you debar the labourer himself from a participation in human progress , and . from the chance of bettering his own condition . The power-loom weaver is better off than the hand-loom weaver . The sempstress can earn twice as much with the
sewing-machine as with her unassisted hands , although the labour is less . If you attempt to protect tli e trade of a country , you restrain all classes for the benefit of one ; and that one class becomes wedded to old arrange - merits that ought to be outgrown . It loses by the restraint put upon other classes , and its own gain is a fiction , for "which the interest of the entire community is sacrificed . England has established that problem by the establishment of free trade in corn . Sir James Gtba-Ham made a slip at the Carlisle dinner the other day when , as an agriculturist , he expressed a fear that Ilussia would adopt
free trade , since she must then be so prosperous . "Why not ? I all the world were absolutely free , it would necessarily set itself to the largest amount of production . But the climates of the world are so variedl , the genius of mankind is so altered by climate , that the products of the globe must vary as much as the aspect of the countries . If all races produced their maximum they would all be in the richest state , they would all have the greatest , possible variety of commodities to exchange , and trade would necessarily be at its maximum—especially if the intercourse between all countries were absolutely free .
This idea is gradually establishing itself , and in most civilized communities absolute freedom is found to "be the best for commerce . The natural capacities , desires , and tendencies of mankind suffice to secure us ample supplies , and so bring about the best order , if they are simply let alone . Sir James * G-raham stated at the same Carlisle dinner , that agriculture can only flourish iu a soiJL and atmosphere of perfect freedom . Long leases and agrarian stipulations embarrass the farmer ; even social and political freedom are necessary to bring out all his energies . A people becomes free in proportion as it is educated . Let fclie labourer know a little
more , and he will not be ' pub upon' by the farmer . The Irish people have received a groat access of freedom and education for the generation now rising to maturity . That generation enjoys much better wages , and agriculture is much more productive . Ireland is richer , is tranquil . The King of Piedmont lately endowed his whole kingdom with a share of freedom about
equal to that whicli we enjoy in England . Piedmont becomes a contrast to the whole of Italy . Its people are contented , its towns are improving , while those of other States are declining . Its highways are safe , while Rome is torn by brigandage . Its King can scarcely aliow himself without a popular welcome , wliile King FEBi ) iEfA . isr » must be hedged in lest he bo shot . Its revenue is rising with
every addition of freedom . Its G-overnment is as prosperous as tte whole-community . Thus we see that freedom permits a healthy and vigorous growth in the social and political soil , as "well as on the ground of agriculture or trade . Yet so slow are we to extend our ideas , " that not only Groverninents in
despotic countries ^ "but Governments in free countries , are afraid of freedom . The country which boasts of its freedom of trade still clings to protection in politics . We have a Parliament elected Linder a protective tariff for the franchise , and the consequence is an inferior Parliament and a discontented multitude of the disfranchised .
The same principle , indeed , holds good throughout all branches of polity ; it holds good in . moral legislation as well as in political or commercial . But this view of freedom is yet scarcely beginning to dawn upon the minds of those that- boast themselves anost free from antiquated fallacies . Our social laws , framed by honourable members under the wisdom of the dominant party and the
Hatter for the time being , are a mass of protection as complicated , of fallacies as absurd and as miserable in tlie result as any law for the protection of the corn trade . The principles which justified free trade as a theory , and by virtue of whicli it has fulfilled its promises in fact , apply exactly to the whole round of government—not excepting even religion . Let the reader think out the problem for himself .
The Church Insolvent. We Have "Been Too ...
THE CHURCH INSOLVENT . We have "been too slow to notice a great explosion in the Church . The Establishment declares itself bankrupt ; it cannot pay even the wages of its servants ; its curates and its incumbents are in a position to enter a distringas upon its goods , only its goods have been made away with , and carried off into " lay impropriation . " " We are not exaggerating , we are not misrepresenting ; -we take the case upon the showing of the clergy themselves , their loud-spoken attorney the Times , and their prudent adviser the Spectator .
The scandal began early iu the month , with a letter from " A Curate" alluding to a particular case—the case of " the Essex Curate . " This gentleman had been compelled to resign his curacy under the joint effect of pecuniary difficulties , ill health , and a screwing agreement with his vicar . The vicar had stipulated that the curate should accept a less salary than the Act of Parliament accords . The curate held that he was to hare a fixed stipend of 80 ? . a year , with Easter offerings : the Easter offerings never amounted to more than
51 ., the stipend not more than GOL The curate resigned . On an appeal to the Bishop , the Prelate expressed himself helpless , but added : " I shall be glad of any pecuniary assistance he may xeceive ; " and the readers of the Times " mercifully sent for the benefit of this poor curate 400 Z . " If wo may take this case , then , the clergy of the Church are dependent , partly u }> on salary , partly upon the little gaius which tliey can screw out of each other , and partly upon charity .
Here tlie Times "bursts in with its indignation . In vindication of the poor curate it Bets itself to paint a picture of ' educated misery : 'Ono correspondent lately instanced a list of thirty advertisements from clergymen in search of curates . Out of this number ono only offered 100 / . a year , one 90 / ., ono or two 80 / ., and the rest rapidly fell from 70 ? . down to 26 / ., with a small furnished house , tho recto * being non-rosidont . Ono incumbent offered 50 / . n year , with the use of tlio rectory-house , tho curate to buy the furnituro at a "valuation of 860 / . Another offoreu 70 / . in a
parish noarly G 000 , where thera was daily . Somo appealed to wealthy clergyman for gratuitous assistance . Seven offered 50 / . a year , or tho pay of a schoolmaster .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 27, 1856, page 12, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_27091856/page/12/
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