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Leader (1850-1860), 31st January 1852, Edition Country of 2, Page 12

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      Her Majesty's Three Oppositions. As Thei...

      Be must attest his sincerity hy ^ enforcing the ^ Ecclesiastical Titles Bill : He dares not do it ; he cannot . - \ . But the anti-Papal humbug is not the only case of detected hollowness : the whole Administrative system is found to be rotten with jobbery and incapacity . The Colonial administration , a perfect nest of . squabbles , stands forth to public contempt in all the opprobrium' of the Kafir war ; poor Sir Henry Smith , a brave man bewildered , first dancing before the Blacks to cajole them with his antics and his walking-stick as a " stick of peace , " and his nursery slang ; presently threatening to exterminate them ; and exposing British soldiers to be hunted by savages , who lay waste the very homes of peaceful colonists . Even if General Cathcart prove a better Scipio Africanus than the illustrious Stick of Peace , he cannot retrieve the Caffrarian credit of Downing-street in time for Tuesday next . The disclosure of the rotten meats was but a gross and palpable type of the ineffective supervision in other departments . But worst of all , the ineffective state of our Army , with its ridiculous munitions of war , and of our navy , with its impracticable war steamers , has disclosed the rotten -hollowne 8 s ^ f ^ he ^ imimstration-precisel 3 r-inr-the

      case in which the public feels most urgent interest . The public wilj . demand some good active administration in . this rttatter ; more of real administrative vigour and ecoripmy , and less of mere official paraphernalia and delusions . But how can the Whigs supply it ? As well expect food out of flints . Will they try to meet the popular demand for military efficiency with an increase of the forces ? Let them try . And will they But will they have time to do anything ? That depends on the Three Oppositions , whose tactics are wholly unknown . Now , we have no belief in the

      probability that those Three Oppositions will unite in support of her Majesty ' s Government . The very notion exceeds in wildness the wildest of German romance , and is equalled only by the paradisaic fancies of the ballet-master—Bright and Walmsley , Newcastle and Graham , Derby and Disraeli , entwined in a smiling group , to exalt the august Russell on the shield , illumined by all the fizgigs of virtue and glory ; such is the tableau bespoken for Tuesday ! We may not know , what will be the " new piece" for the first night of the season , but certainly none of us expect to see that triumph of concord .

      What the people are beginning to expect is , not to be trifled with much longer . It has been done long enough . The innovation of a more genuine and national Government may be unpleasant to falsely " Conservative" minds , but the trifling of coteries has been pushed beyond the ridiculous , and is becoming grave j it may become dangerous . If we had a more contemptible Government than that which we already consider " the last , " who could answer for the consequences r

      104 Wb* M&*Tx* [Satorpa^

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      Migrations Of Labour. Although It Maybe ...

      MIGRATIONS OF LABOUR . Although it maybe true that some of the houses in the iron manufacture are glad enough to take the dispute with the men as a pretext for stopping when they really had little to do , there are many with whom that is not the case ; and there can be no doubt that the general manufacturing commerce of the country to a certain extent sustains loss by the arrest of activity in so important a branch . It is moat desirable , therefore , to put a stop to the dispute . And the advocates of the masters have spared no pains to frighten the men into yielding .

      They hint that masters will reopen their works , but only to " non-society" men and labourers ; that the work , which is already sent to Belgium , will permanently leave the country ; and so forth . But the men will not be so easily frightened . They know that if the shops are reopened at all , the employment will not be restricted to " non-society " men , precisely because the society men are the best hands , and the masters cannot check each other in detail , but will not scruple to use the best

      instruments when it becomes a matter of individual interest . And ; as Mr . William Newton said on Monday , if the work goes abroad , the men can follow it * A skilled labourer is valuable wherever he may be , an'd is npt to be produced to order , on the instant , like a pancake . Nor are the masters' indirect appeals to other trades likely to be very successful : other trades know that if the skilled mechanics are vanquished , the advanced poet of tho industrial interest will have been beaten in , and tho whole scale of wages will be further reduced . It is most desirable that the strike should cease , but who keeps it up ? The masters : it is they who

      are " out on strike " this time . The men have all TJie ^ advantagcrof this ^ uperioirinoral position—they do not claim "to do what they like with their own " _ « to run their ' own' sword into another man ' s bosom , " as Newton said , " nor even to burn their ' own * house ; " they are resorting to no coercion , but the masters are $ they are not confounding innocent anci guilty in a common revenge , as the masters are . As the strike is that of the masters alone , they can finish it in a moment . The demand

      that the men should give up their claims is preposterous ; the men make no compulsory claim , but only recommend certain measures ; and they cannot withdraw a recommendation founded on matured opinion . The implied " dictation" of the masters , that the men should belong to no society , is absurd ; the union is a benefit society , which has kept hundreds out of the workhouse , and has so far relieved the poor-rates—out of the earnings of the men themselves , who at the same time contribute to the rates which they spare .

      If the threat of the masters be fulfilled , and any considerable portion of the trade should leave the country , who will suffer ? The men are used to hardship ; but it is not they who will endure the -worsinoftheloss . —Thermasters wiU"b 1 ear ~ th ~ e"bf unt of it , and the general trade of the country will suffer next . It is not a vain threat . We have before seen such things as industrial exile . The expulsion of the Moors , though dictated by political motives , banished the skilled industry of Spain , and to this day the country has never recovered from it . The Nantes decrees of 1685 created the rival markets

      of Spitalfields arid Norwich . Even in our own day , we have seen Ireland impoverished by a process of depopulation , which is creating no small alarm among practical ceconomists . It really «* possible that a branch of industry should be banished . Remarkably enough this threat is heard simultaneously in Paris and London . The associated workmen of Paris are preparing to follow the product of their own industry to foreign markets , because freedom of association is menaced . Freedom of association is menaced also in London

      and Manchester . The masters are , perhaps , not aware what a spirit of mutual adhesion and selfreliance association engenders , or they would scarcely point out to the skilled workmen the expediency of a migration after work . Strikes , it is said , are always suicidal—because , we repeat , they are unproductive . The masters have taken up the old , idle , unproductive strike ; the men have resorted to self-employment ; and they

      are not likely to abandon it * 1 hey know their strength , and they have a powerful-leader in William Newton . The time undoubtedly has come for concession ; but it must be made by those who are the onl y active party in hostile measures—the masters . If they do yield , we venture to say that their better counsel will be met by no mortifying exultation from the men . If they do not , they had better do their best to screw Government situations out of the Liberal Ministers before the general election .

      Popular Defence Organization. That The N...

      POPULAR DEFENCE ORGANIZATION . That the national defence shall be reinforced seems to be the general resolve , uttered' without distinction of party or class ; but how reinforced ? On this point there is no clear conclusion . Most of us have hastened to the rifle view of the subject : the letter of an energetic friend , not unused to military affairs , calls in question this blind and headlong prejudgment . His letter corroborates our own contributor , £ . V . ; and it is also worth quoting as an indication of the truly national feeling , since it emanates from one who would have been called a "Tory " : — " A great deal of nonsense is now being talked about rifles and ] muskets , both in action (« . e . in the open field , or on . such a battle-field ns we are alone likely to choose to give battlo to an invading army , ) being almost equally useless—one in eighty-five being about the amount of execution done in . action by balls ; and as for a rifle being of more use than any other firelock , when a man cannot see six yards to hia front , ia an absurdity . The bayonet won all our actions in the Peninsula ; and the bayonet alone

      is to be trusted to if . tho red-breccjiqd little ruffians ever attempt such a brigand project as invading our tight little island / It they , do , we must hano every one of them . We must read the world a lesson that , in spite of our straw-splitting dissensions in time of peace , when once threatened , every Englishman—Tory , Whig , Radical , Socialist—knows no cause but Iris country ' s . I really do not know what the maniac will attempt next ; and it is time that everything was done to ensure safety to our wives and mothers , and to our

      old English homes , ^ ejiltim ^ tejatebf an inyadiiiff " aTmyrivbeyond " a ^ aoubt , utter disgraceful annihilation ; but at the cost of how much , blood , how much , misery and pollution—rand , what is of less consequence , how much treasure , is a great question . Two millions spent in defence is better certainly , even £ obden ^ w 41 Lallow , than fourhundred millions in a long and doubtful war ; I think and hope the country is alert , and will look to its defence now , before the bombardment of a town , or some such serious matter , drives us to look about us when too late . "

      Let us note one or two points to be kept in view as we advance . First , there is in all this national feeling no hostility against the People of any other nation—least of all against the French people . There is not a class in England that has not a direct sympathy with some injured class in that unfortu , nate country : our aristocracy feels for an aristocracy thrice scourged by harsh innovations ; English science , literature , and art , deplore the outfage which they have sustained in the persons of eminent Frenchmen ; our propertied classes resent the

      invasion of property ; our working-men understand the wrongs which make the working-men of Paris look to exile as a refuge . The enemy we resolve to ^ ic . ome _ with _ a ^ roughl-receptidn-i 8-the enemy of France—her worst enemy . And - if he should be induced to tempt our shores , one blow to defend England will be followed by one to avenge France . Nor , should he venture to make signs of coming , would France be behind to her true alliance with England—with the People of England .

      Secondly , and to the same end , if there is to be any reinforcement , it must be truly national . No " augmentation of the Army ; " taxpayers will forbid it . It is not needed . Use the money you have already ; make effective the force you nave got . The nation has supplied its public servants ; and if the result is short of the want , it is because the trust has been abused . Thirdly , and to the same end , no class must be excluded . We hear of manoeuvres to render a

      national force genteel , by ordering expensive uniforms , and so forth , on purpose to keep out the working classes . Beware how you distrust them ; it might be dangerous ; it would assuredly be disastrous . They do not deserve it , and none but a shameless coward would dare to inflict the indignity on the vast mass of the People . Have a national reinforcement — that is the universal demand .

      Fourthly , let authority originate something like order in the arrangement of uniforms , accoutrements , weapons , and so forth . There ought to be variety , but order . The People will not wait , if the authorities are dilatory ; and then there will be disorder , which will be inconvenient and discouraging . Fifthly , let it be decided what arms are the best . The decision ought to rest on data open to the public and satisfactory to the public . We incline to no exclusive use of any one weapon , but to varieties of equipment , according to means , locality * and opportunity of practice . Let us have variety ; but competent authority should direct due proportions and distributions .

      Sixthly , and chiefly , let the whole Administration be active and sincere . Shams won ' t do . They would not succeed against an enemy ; the English people would scout them .

      Honour To Whom Honour Is Due. By The Mos...

      HONOUR TO WHOM HONOUR IS DUE . By the most gigantic combination of brigandage and thimbling , Count Fathom has got possession of Paris and its provinces , and he gives a ball in the Tuileries , the palace of its Kings . It is deserted , you suppose , save by the bold fellows and hardy women who follow the fortunes of the Adventurerin-Chief ? Not at all—it is thronged by " the elite of Par is , with a gathering of the " distinguished " and brilliant from every country of the civilized world 1 The host is not exactly respectable ; but a palace is a palace , and a ball is a ball ; and however prudish modern morals may be , ther cannot resist baits so seductive as those . The high , folks did not go only in fear of offending by absence : they were volunteers , eager to be there .

      " It is certain , " says the Times f " that , notwithstanding the condemnation of the act of the 2 nd of December , and the dismay whioh smote the general heart of tho public on the perusal of the decrees of Friday last , tho officers entrusted with the iosue of cards of invitation to that festivity were for several days previous besiegod with requests for invitations ; and so wearisome did these requests become , thot notice had to be published in the pupers , deolaring that no more could be issued . One did not care about the thing itself , but was only anxious to aeo how the President looked after his late conduct ;

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 31, 1852, page 12, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_31011852/page/12/