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Leader (1850-1860), 16th August 1851, Edition Town of 2, Page 774, Untitled Article

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      Untitled Article

      French and Yankee intrigues in those quarters , suggest unpleasant probabilities for any quietist old gentlemen in Downing-street . Nor at home are we perfectly confident in each other . Protectionist anger may not be formidable in Young or Disraeli , but angry farmers and angry labourers will be unpleasant allies in backing a Government against distressed stockingers at Nottingham , distressed weavers at Carlisle , and factory hands growing exasperated under declining wages . Adversity is no more than a foe , to be conquered by those who are strong in faith and noble purpose ; but it is a terror to those whose reliance is ignoble .

      Untitled Article

      COMPETITION AND THE DEBT . What is to be done with the National Debt ? The Times says it must be paid off as speedily as possible , or else we shall never be able to compete with foreigners . How can we hope to run a race against America or France with such a terrible weight on our shoulders ? People talk of the desperate competition which prevails at present among every class of workers and tradesmen in this country , but the Times warns us that all we have ever witnessed is nothing to what we are threatened with . " The great race of nations , " we

      are told , " has scarcely yet begun , for no competition we have yet experienced is equal to that which is to come . " This is rather a gloomy look out for the three or four millions of our population who depend on a foreign market for the sale of their manufactures ; nor is the prospect much improved by the scheme which the Times proposes for relieving the pressure of taxation . Having ascertained that . Sir Charles Wood was enabled to pay off £ 3 , 004 , 705 of the National Debt last year , "the leading journal " infers that the same process might be repeated every year , in which case it calculates

      that the whole of the debt would be paid off in about a century . What a consoling reflection to the struggling tradesman , the half-starved labourer , or the unemployed artisan ! If the income of the country can be kept from falling below its present amount , and if no great war should take place during the next hundred years , and if the expenditure can be kept down sufficiently , and if we can continue to pay £ 3 , 000 , 000 a year to a sinking fund , then our great-great-grandchildren may hope to enjoy the unspeakable felicity of paying only half the amount of taxes which we are obliged to

      pay at present . Perhaps the reduction will be still greater , if we take into account the increase of population which ought to take place during the next hundred years . At present , some 28 , 000 , 000 of people arc called upon to pay nearly £ ( 30 , 000 , 000 a year , which is rather more than 40 s . a head from every man , woman , and child in the kingdom—a pretty round sum for a man with a large family . Suppose the debt abolished , or paid off , the expenditure would be reduced nearly one-half , and if this were accompanied by a doubling of the population , the average amount of taxes per head would only be about 10 s . per annum .

      But how long will the people of this generation be content to pay 40 s . per head of annual taxation in order that their great-great-grandchildren may be able to compete with foreigners in a . d . 1051 ? The Times is far too shrewd to believe that the hard-working classes will ever be so simple as to do anything of the kind . It sees very clearly that they have already found out a door of escape from their grinding slavery , that , this outlet , is every year becoming wider and wider , and that unless prompt and energetic measures arc taken to lessen the pressure of taxation , the best cluss of the population will very soon throw oil' their portion of the intolerable , burden by leaving a country which treats them so unjustly . Outhi . s point , the Times of Monday speaks out boldly and earnestly .

      A crowd of eircuniHtanees are conspiring at thin moment to t-liovv the tr < niemlous uuluic of the ri . sk thiit wo run in bequeathing to our posterity nn inheritance of debt . Jt . is tine t . h : » t the- coiuiim rce and wealth of the country continue to inert use ; it , i . true , ali-o , that . th <; population of our cities , our great polls , and our lnaiiufacl . uring ( li . striet . H shows , in inoKt instances , an undiniinislicd ratio of increase ; but it is nl . so true that . f «> r the la ; t ten years we have added

      lint , a trifle to the iii-gregiite population of these ish h . AVe have fcnl , to the end ;* of the earth , to ; i new world , and to our greatest manufacturing rival , sixteen hundred thoiisinid members of that , eluss which , utter all , is the staple of u nation , and the sinew and bone of its prosperity . There in no appearance : whatever of linking in that great , human tide which flows in m > dense a stream across the Atlantic , and diffuses ittteli" over no huge a surface on the opposite shores . Who can Bay when und

      where this secession of the people will cease , what numbers or what classes will slay behind , what portion will go with the crowd , what portion will cleave to the soil ? There certainly is a point beyond which , it would be ruinous for the present deportation to continue . What is land , what is wealth , what are cities , and-the vast material apparatus of this empire , without the human labourer ? With a greatly diminished population—a result -now brought within the bounds of moral possibility—there will be less production , and less expenditure , while the national less divided

      burdens will press with greater , because weight . There are , of course , many whose personal stake in the country is so great , that nothing would induce them to sacrifice it . But that is not the case with the vast majority of the people . They are thrown on the world , and it matters little on which side of the Atlantic they have to follow their star . We say it , then , with confidence and earnestness , that the only way to set this house in order is to reduce taxation and diminish the public debt—doing both if possible , but by no means omitting the latier . "

      Yes , diminish the public debt by all means . But how , and at what rate ? By paltry instalments of £ 3 , 000 , 000 a-year , as the Times proposes ? Can any man in his senses believe that such a homoeopathic dose of relief would have the slightest effect in arresting " that great human tide which flows in so dense a stream across the Atlantic ? " Driblets of relief are never felt by a nation . To produce any sensible impression among the suffering classes , there must be a series of great measures , all tending to raise the condition of the working men of Great Britain . One of the first of these measures ought to be a large reduction of taxation , which can only be effected by the liquidation of the National Debt . How that may be effected we shall endeavour to show in our next publication .

      Untitled Article

      HOW " DIVINE RIGHT" GOVERNS . Her Majesty ' s Government entertains the most friendly relations with all Foreign Powers . Among the chief Powers comprised in this gratifying assurance , is the paternal Government under whose benign sway , subsidized and sustained by the huge Autocracy of all the Russias , Hungary lies waste and desolate , Italy groans in sacerdotal bondage . We earnestly invite attention to the terms of the following agreeable document . It is a very fair specimen of the kind of watchfulness exercised by these righteous and paternal Powers , " consecrated by God , " says the authorized catechism of the Neapolitan youth , " for the welfare of society . " It i . s the literal translation of a circular of the

      military and civil lieutenant of the Venetian provinces of Austria to the military commanders under him : — "To the military commanders in the office of public ordfr . When you are rr () ur . sted to furnish information respecting any person with the qualification of special , you must exactly supply concerning that person all the fi . 'llowii > j » indications : — " 1 . His nation , place of birth , pajentage , age , &c . " 2 . iiis personal description . * " ' , '> . His intellectual culture and talents . " 1 . His character and humour . " 5 . Ills sentiments in politics , religion , and other mattcrR . " (> . His social position and education .

      " 7 . The CBtimation in which he is publicly held , and the extent of his influence . " 8 . His manner of living—as , what he habitually does or oinitH to do ; whether he ih much or little at . home ; and , if he gocn out , where he usually goes , with special indication of the names of the public places , private houses , and families he visits ; and whether he goes to them in the day or in the night , frequently , seldom , or periodically ; also , with what company he ordinarily ( spends his time .

      " J ) . What are his usual topics of discour . se m public p laces . 44 10 . With whom lie keeps up n correspondence , and whether frequently , seldom , or periodically . 44 11 . Whether he i . s in the habit of travelling , where , and on what pretext ; and whether he does so frequently , or periodically , or seldom , alone or in company , and by what ni < ans ol conveyance . " 12 , Hit ; mi ans of nibsihtenee ; whether there i « a due proportion between liis income and his expenditure ; whether he is lavish , economical , or parsimonious ; and whether he lives from day to day . " l . 't . 1 n what , hpeciiil relations he stands to his parents , his family , his IihikIk , amlhi . s niistresn .

      " 14 . What pail , be took in the revolution , mid whether by actions or onl y in thought . Was he an enthusiast or a t : nol-licadcd cilcululoi ? Did he in public or in secret aid the revolution tinder the musk of neutrality—when , where , and in what spot specially ? " lf > . If he took no < : oiu : ei n in the revolution , did he refrain on princi ple and fioiu devotion ( o hia lawful Ht > veieign , or form fear , prudence , apathy , inertness , or calculation ? 44 Hi . In Hit ; changes of party-fortune , did he remain alwajH the uuine , or did he turn as the wind wu » blowing ?

      and by what facts might his change of s enti me nt bo proved ? " 17- In fine , a biographic sketch describing all the antecedents of his history . 14 Venice , June 7 , 1851 . " The Military and Civil Lieutenant of tbe Venetian Provinces . Gorczkoksky . " No wonder Tacitus is a . forbidden book . Do we not recognize Tiberius under the Austrian mask ? Mark well this circular—trace out its working ! Your every thought , word , act , imagined , distorted minutest circumstance

      surprised ; every of your daily life , walk , and conversation ; every most delicate , domestic , intimate incident of your most tender and most trustful personal relations ; every gentlest confidence of the heart , eyes , lips , gesture , look , tone , motion , spied upon , treasured up , perverted by unseen enemies , and striking you like daggers in the dark by the hand of perjured accusations . In your sleeping and waking hours , in rising and resting , in activity and repose , in your silence and in your most trivial expressions , in

      what you havfr done or abstained from doing , in your unacknowledged hopes , in your submission to injustice , in your faith in lawless thrones , or in your disgiist'for political intrigues—there is matter enough and to spare for suspicion , for accusation , and for quasi-judicial murder . If a link be wanting in the fatal chain , cannot private hate , suborned , complete the work of ignominy ? Mark , too , that many of the " indications" required can only be supplied by your most intimate friends ; hay , by your nearest and dearest relatives , and then say whether this system of Government upheld by anointed Sovereigns , who call themselves

      the " Delegates of God for the happiness of their subjects , " and encouraged by the " Party of Order , " be not in truth the most savage of anarchies , the disruption of all social ties—in short , the very negation of a God . ' And is not insurrection in such a case , we do not say the chief right , but rather the first of duties ? If there be a spark of manhood in the People who are suffering this oppression , the hour is coming when they will rise once more like one man to purge and for ever their country from a pestilence , the very distant breath of which infects and horror-strikes all civilized Europe ! If they did not—and this is the q uestion we would urge upon Englishmen—if they did not , should we not despise them ?

      Untitled Article

      PROGRESS OF ASSURANCE . Competition has been stretched to its extreme , We are entering upon a sounder and more en lightened system . On all sides there are evidences of conversion to the principles of Association . Men have ceased to live to themselves alone . They have begun to consider that their duties extend to the well-being of their fellow-creatures , nay , even that their interests are involved in it . The practical recognition is at present only partial among commercial men and capitalists ; hut it is something for them to allow that there are other interests ' besides their own to be recognized , and that a superstructure built upon the ruin of others is neither desirable nor free from clanger .

      We have before shown how purely associative ib the principle of Life Assurance . Conducted , however , by persons who had but feebly recognized the power of combination , there was , for a long ]> ei'i <> > no extension of its benefits to any but those wh 0 regarded the simple monetary part of the question . Accordingly , we find the older offices cling ing to » system enriching them to such a degree us to make their funds positively burdensome . In later « ft ) i > Ktill in a niinply mercantile spirit , they pare do * the premium as a lure to assurers . It i 8 m j particular wrn , when the advantages arising from ' well-being of every individual are becoming r cognized , that the latent principles of AHsiiran ^ arc developed , and their numerous benefit" 1 >» 1

      lurized and made available to the communit y . There should be a thorough cooperation M ™^ all those offices which have introduced the pop ^ principle of concert ; for in this , as in * ° jl 0 cases where the . principle is fully l eeogmW « , interest of one is the interest of all . There 1 H a ' y room . 'I here are but ZOO / MX ) lives assure * ^^ our millions of population . An office that ^ niences business on substantial principle ^ has a connection , may safely calculate on ^ cess . Nor will that success interfere wil ' JH but , those offices where the extension of n » » ¦ , ,. neglected , and where the affairs are «"'" t ! lt : h ^ ministered . Each association has its sepui- ' ^ tm-Ht . Every officer , from the directors i ^ . ^ youngest clerk , has a circle of influence . ^ . would not have been exerted for another eo

      Untitled Article

      774 iKt ) t H ^ alrer * [ Saturday ,

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 16, 1851, page 774, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1896/page/10/