Current:

Leader (1850-1860), 29th October 1859, Edition 2 of 2, Page 14, 12O2 THE LEADEK [No. 501. Oct/29, 185fl,

Page 14
Page 14
14 of 24

On this page

  • Text (4)
  • Transcript

    • 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.

      Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

      State Of Europe

      honest enough to tell us the proportions of power they are willing to allow to the several grades o society . The middle class are more numerous than the aristocracy : is he prepared to show that they should be excluded from political powpr to an extent sufficient to make up for their numbers ? There may be something in exclusion based upon gross ignorance or other princip le but unfitness , but the silliest and shallowest argument everma . de use of in a constitutional country is an exclusion on the ground of numbers . It is to make the minority say to the majority "Howeverfit you may be to exercise political rig hts—whatever may be your knowledge , your virtue , your industry—we will shut you out because you are more numerous than ourselves . " This is to treat the progress of a nation , which is identical with the improvement and elevation of its masses , as if it were a calamity or a crime , against which repi'essive measures must be directed . ° Can the force of folly further go . ?

      12o2 The Leadek [No. 501. Oct/29, 185fl,

      12 O 2 THE LEADEK [ No . 501 . Oct / 29 , 185 fl ,

      Spaitf And Morocco. Two Of The Longest K...

      SPAItf AND MOROCCO . Two of the longest known countries of the world seem starting into fresh life , and , after a long sleep , to be roused into political action . Mauritania was known to the Carthaginians , and was occupied by the Romans . Spain formed successively a portion of the emp ire of both these great people . Both Spain and the country now called Morocco had an historical existence before Britain , and were- conspicuous parts of ancient civilisation . Spain , too , in its time has formed a very important part of modern civilisation ; but Mauritania , after being conquered by the Saracens , gradually sunk rmt of thfi modern world's resrard .

      Mahomedanism made its deep marks on civilisation , including within it hoth Mauritania . and Spain ; but they have gradually been effaced , ^ though not yet swept away , by a creed which did not rely on the sword for dominion . At present these two countries—one having participated in modern civilisation , and the other relapsed into barbarism —• are of very uneq ual power . In territory the empire of Morocco is said to comprise 219 , 000 square miles ; Spain only contains 182 , 000 . Botk countries are of very great fertility : one embraces the extreme south of Europe

      and the other the extreme north of Africa . They are divided by the Straits of Gibraltar ; but Spain has long possessed in Ceuta a kind of Gibraltar in the empire of Morocco . Spain has a population of 14 , 000 , 000 ; Morocco of 8 , 500 , 000 ; the former , therefore ,, are more compressed than the latter ; they are also much more enlightened—far better acquainted with the arts of Europe , and , therefore , much stronger . The inhabitants of Morocco , too , consist of Moors , Arabs , Jews , Negroes ,

      of salt , tobacco , cloth caps , girdles , Turkish daggers , & c , for gold-dust , ivory , ostrich-feathers , anct slaves . It is chiefly a commerce of barter , arid like most of the commerce between people unequally advanced , is said to yield to the people of Morocco , who are the farthest advanced , very large profits . Of that part of its . trade which is carried on by sea , and principally with Europe , we know something more . Morocco sent us almonds , bark , corn , ostrich feathers , gum , oil , wax , wool , & c , to the value of £ 344 , 301 , in 1857 . The average value

      of our imports from that country for the four years then ended was £ 370 , 000 . We sent Morocco coals , copper , Cottons , iron , linens , sugar , staves and casks , woollens , & c , to the value , including colonial and foreign exported articles , of £ 190 , 000 , in 1857 ; that being a greater sum than the average of the preceding three years . The trade , therefore , is not of great value to us , but as every kind of cereals may be required here , and they are there occasionally very cheap , it is very desirable that the ports of Morocco should not be closed against our traffic .

      With Gibraltar , too , it has long carried on a , considerable business . Much of the subsistence of the 17 , 000 inhabitants of Gibraltar is derived from " Barbary . " The tonnage of vessels entering and clearing the colony in 1857 , importing principally food from that country , was 102 , 000 ; We have no returns of the value of the trade between Gibraltar and Morocco , but in 1853 the inhabitants of the Rock complained much of the restrictions which the Emperor imposed on the trade , particularly on exports . On these he levied heavy duties , while he monopolised all the trade of the interior . At that period the people of Gibraltar put down the value of the whole trade of

      Morocco with England and the colony at £ 540 , 000 a-year . No other European country has , we believe , so large a trade with Morocco as England and Gibraltar combined , and from this our readers will be very sensible that the vast and fertilecountry has yet to bebroughtwithin the pale of civilisation . It certainly does not contribute as much as it might to the support of society . The Government is despotic in the highest deg-ree . The Emperor , too , is a complete monopolist as well as a despot , and the occupation of the seaboard of his States by the Spaniards , should that be the result of the war now about to begin , can scarcely render the country less useful than it now is to commerce and the whole family of man .

      Berbers , and wandering tribes , who have never been very closely united nor very friendly to one another , and are not likely to make a very spirited and well-organised resistance . The Spaniards may find it difficult to advance far into a country so sparsely inhabited ; but possessing Ceuta it may be sure to make conquests ; and probably the seaports of Tetuan , Mogadore , Tangier , and Mazagan , if these be aimed at , may be conquered and . held .

      Spain is so imperfectly cultivated that her people would do bettor to improve at home than make conquests abroad ; but the old prejudice of looking on territory as a source of wealth to labourers , da it may be of power to sovereigns , is yet so strong , and the spirit of imitation is so infectious , that Spain is very likely to attempt what has been done by France , and acquire , a new and largo dominion in Africa . _ , Morocco , though it occupies a favourable position for commerce at the mouth of the Mediterranean , holding there all the ports and harbours , except Oeuta , has not much trade . Indeed it is batter known as a piratical than a trading state ;

      and in the Riff pirates and Jullee rovers this generation has still a living example of the general piracy of seafaring men ^ m the middle ages . It is yet so backward that it can hardly oven bo called an agricultural country . It has some manufactures , though principally of a domestic nature . Leather is made in considerable quantities , and about 250 ^ 000 goatskins are annually , exported . Of oho Sort of its trade with the Levant , Alexandria , and lecoa , carried on by caravans and pedlars , and of another part , carried © n with the interior of Africa , ye fenpw nothing further than tic j ; there is such a trade . The trade with the , fox & iior is an exchange

      St. Faith The Virgin. The Church-Rate Qu...

      ST . FAITH THE VIRGIN . The Church-rate question has received its quietus . Sir Peter Laurie has made fun of it . The holiest of causes , the most patriotic of enterprises , would have to succumb at the shock of that elephantine merriment . . What , then , must be the fate of one so weak and so worthless , as the Church-rate system ? It has collapsed utterly—gone clean out of sight—" vamposed , " as the Yankees say . Sir Peter Laurie once announced his deliberate

      intention of putting down suicide . There is a limit , however , even to the powers of our aldermanic Hercules , and certain incorrigible reprobates still put an end { to their existence—flying thereby , so to speak , directly in the face of an offended Laurie , Disheartened by the ingratitude of " felos de se , " Sir Peter has turned his powerful mind to putting down " Popish practices . " Henceforth he will Tje known as Peter the Primitive

      long after its services are deserted and its parishioners have disappeared . St . Faith the Virgin reduced her expenses to a minimum , and only paid 52 . a-year to an ecclesiastical inan-of-all-work , who united in his single person the various offices of prganrblower , lamp-lighter , hassock-erushei ^ pe- \ vopener , beadle , and " dearly beloved brother- " and yet , for some mysterious cause , she felt bound to issue a rate . Amongst the parishioners rated was a Mr . Tallent . The amount of his rate was only 17 s . 6 d ., but this gentleman had a frugal soul , and felt that the principle was the saine ° in pennies as in pounds . He felt religious scruples about paying a rate for the promotion of Popish

      practices , and declined to pay . Now we have a cordial sympathy for anybody who dislikes paying anything — taxes especially - — yet Mr . Tallent must pardon us if we always feel suspicious of persons who object to pay on principle . Be that as it may ^ Churchwarden Hicks summoned the recalcitrant and nonconfbnning Tallent before the Civic justice bench , on which Sir Peter sat in solemn state . Alas for these degenerate days , the martyr to clerical persecution did not appear in person , but scut his clerk instead . Now-a-days , Luther would have come up to Exeter Hall with a day ticket , and Wicklitic would have written letters to the

      Record . Mr . Tallent , however , declined to pay the rate on account of Popish practices being put in use at the church of St . 3 Taith . A man of eoinrnon sense would suppose that the only question before the coui't was whether Mi " . Tallent was legally liable or not , whether church rates were advisable , and still less , whether the ritual in use at the church was Evangelical or otherwise . The great Laurie , however , soars above comiaonsense , " and makes his own law . The only , fact ascertained about the church was , that the service was intoned at the expense *' of the rector .

      This was enough for the worthy magistrate . According to his sapient utterances , " the sooner such things were put down the better—no ' St . George ' s-m-the-East' practises were wanted in the City . These Popish doings had been put down in St . George ' s "—and so oh , through a mass of pompous twaddle , which those who like can read elsewhere . The chief clerk sought to cover the absurdity of the alderman by suggesting , the possibility of the rate being informal ; and Mr . Hicks , glad enough to escape the bother and absurdity of the whole scene , wisely resolved to drop the summons , and leave his successor in the office of churchwarden to enforce the rate , ii' he liked the

      trouble . We shall not be suspected of either admiring the mummeries of the High Church " revival , " or of looking favourably on church-rates , still luss of appreciating Sir Peter Laurie's admixture oi theology and justice . Our general conclusion is , that the fewer of such scenes we have the bolter , When a question , like that of " church rates , " has sunk to such -a pitch of discredit as to yiyc rise to , such occurrences , it should be got rid of , at ull cost , for once and for all .

      Protestant—Peter , the Apostolic Alderman . Beneath the shadow or St . Paul's there lies hid the ohurch of St . Faith the Virgin . We presume it is a snug benefice , because it is held by the son of a dean , and we know that deans' and chapters , in accordance with Scripture , " provide for those oi their own household . " Beyond this surmise we know nothing j and nobody else seems to know much about the church in question . Its

      churchwarden rejoices in the name of Hioks , but is a ohurohwarden and nothing more—not oven a pev * r holder . None of the parishioners attend the churoh , or go near it , except in business hours ; and whether there is a congregation at all , appears an open question . In faot , it us one ( if those model City churches -which have only been saved from destruction by the prayers and protests of venerable archdeacons and righteous aldermen . The spider will catch flies in its web long after life has departed from its frame , and its members have oeased to vibrato . In the same way a parish church , it appeal's , will continue . to issue rates

      English Life Assurance In The United Sta...

      ENGLISH LIFE ASSURANCE IN THE UNITED STATES . It is very well known that the inhabitants of tie United States , are remarkable for their 'cuteness in business affairs , and show ifc by preferring English securities to their own . It nlso may easily be imagined that there are many speculators , both of a good and bad kind , amongst them , that by no means admire this preference for Lnglisn securities and English joint-stock companies . That the repudiation system should havo engendered this doubt of home , and confidence in foreign , institutions , is not remarkable ; but yre have had an instance brought under our notice which expresses this jealousy in so extraor dinary a manner that it becomes a public duly to taJce notice of it . Vast sums of money are invested in these Anglo-American companies , and tho snareholders on this side tho Atlantic are no loss interested in the large assuranco and other joint-st oclc companies in the United States . Amongst other life assurance oflioos doing a large business in various parts of the Un toa States is the International Life Assurance SoOioty of London . We presume it does business in an tho roore settled of the Northern and Eastern States ; but at present we are only concerned with its proceedings in the Stato of Massachusetts ; and wo should have nothing to do wifcu that , nor

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 29, 1859, page 14, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_29101859/page/14/