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Leader (1850-1860), 13th November 1852, Edition Town of 2, Page 1088

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      one kind or other . What the colonists are thinking of is wool , gold , sugar , and the bringing of labour to produce those commodities . What Yorkshire is thinking of at present is more wool ; what the English housewife is thinking of is more cloth , or cheaper candles , for the price of . tallow is already affected by the sacrifice of mutton to the gold diggers . "We want a statesman at the Colonial Office who can understand wool , tallow , cloth , and candles , as well as paper—who can know what it is English housewives want ; what commercial men want ; what colonists want ; and who can set about the work of supplying those wants in some better manner than by making all the emigrant labour pass through an area-gate in Park-street .

      In Foreign affairs , we want a man , also , who can understand how to keep the path of trade open , who can understand which is our best ally of all those around us , who can understand cotton , and Manchester stuffs , and can keep clear the course of interchange between Liverpool and New York . But that is not all . Let us not imagine that pounds , shillings , and pence , are the final question here . Powerful as " the almighty dollar" is

      in America , we have more than once seen that that energetic community can adopt resolutions of non-intercourse , starving the pocket to indulge a national resolve . And much as we may boast prospectively about Brazilian or Indian cotton , let it not be supposed that America is blind to the power which she possesses , by an abrupt withholding of cotton , to stop the factories of Manchester . Let any statesman ask how he would like to be in the post of responsibility with the engines of Manchester arrested ?

      Not is even that all . This commerce traverses the ocean , and we want in office a man who can boldly encourage the managers of our Admiralty in being prepared for the defence of our commerce whithersoever it may go . Nay , England herself is a convoy the very richest that can invite speculators in disorder ; and we want in public affairs men who can understand how great nations have their freaks , how rich nations have their dangers , and how commerce , powerful in

      peace , in war becomes by its wealth an incumbrance and a bait . And even short of any invasion from without , avc have a right to demand at the head of affairs a Government who can understand the vast industrial movements of the country , can supply them with every facility , remove every obstruction , and can , at all events , continue to breathe into the nostrils of the people that which is the life of commercei onjidence .

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      FRENCH AND AUSTliTAN OCCUPATION OF ITALY . A fourth Parliamentary recess has expired , and Italy ia still locked in the joint embraces of Austria and Franco . Apparently with the concurrence of oflicial England : certainly without any overt protest from J ) o \ vning-ntivet . Nor is Lord M . ilmesbury , with all his heavy liabilities , alone , or even chiefly responsible for tliis acquiescence in a situation ho threatening to the tranquillity and independence of Kurope . That , AVhig ( Jovernmeiif , which the noble

      democrat of the Perth dinner-table would lain revive , with a lustre ; borrowed from expectancy , was the direct and . scarcely passive accomplice in the fratricidal aggression on the Koman Republic by I , he reactionary legions of France , and in the occupation of the Legations by the Austrian Protectorate . It , was not , we . regret to Hay , until after his forced release from power , that Lord Palmers ton rose in the Commons to denounce Miis arbitrary disturbance of the balance of power as a danger which it concerned the vigilance of 1 England l , o arrest ,.

      From . July , 181 , 1 ) , up to the present , lime , and with no prospect , of : i change , the l » Yench in Koine , and the Ausfriann in Tuscany and the Slates of the Ohurdi , have been , to use the mildest , expression , making themselves quite at home . We have no flesire to re-open old quarrels with Lord PalmerHton . On the contrary , wo would rather risk any imputation of inconsistency in his favour , and naucri , our present desire to he allowed to believe that he was hampered jih M inister , by the clique of 1 iieapableH w ho calml ed him out , of ' oflieo at , the cost , of their own feeble vitality ; and that , bin own more national impulses were daily ami hourly balkod by tho lmlf-Jiearled

      hesitations and dynastic complicities , to which he finally succumbed . Nothing could be more forcible than the picture Lord Palmerston drew of Italy under her rival enslavers in the peroration of his speech on the Mather case . The occasion was a debate , provoked by Lord John Russell , on the general policy of Ministers . Here are his words : — " It is lamentable to see the present state of Tuscany ,- the Roman States , and of Naples . It is difficult to say where the greatest misgovernrnent prevails .

      ( Loud cries of ' Hear . ' ) It has been said of Austria , that they wished the people of Italy should draw a comparison favourable to them between the condition of the States which they govern , and those which other Governments administer ; but , like the gentleman from the sister island , who complained of his bootmaker that , whereas he had ordered him to make one larger than the other , the bootmaker had made it less than the other —( laughter)—so the Government of Austria , instead of malting a comparison in such guise that the Italian should think the Lombards and the Venetians

      are better governed than the rest , only compels them to think that the other territories are worse governed than the other States . ( Cheers . ) This is , I say , lamentable ; and I do not believe there is another example in modern times of such a system of cruelty , tyranny , and violence of every sort as exist in the Neapolitan and Roman States . ( Cheers . ) It is a disgrace to modern Europe . The position of affairs in Tuscany is not so bad ; but the public there are exposed continually to acts of violence from a foreign garrison , for which they have no redress , and which , if committed in England would arouse the indignation of every man

      from one end of the kingdom to the other . ( Cheers . ) This occupation of the Italian States , especially of Tuscany , by foreign troops , did not escape the attention of the late Government . It is evident that that occupation cannot cease except by common consent between the Government of France and the Government of Austria . Prance would not withdraw until Austria has evacuated Tuscany and the Legations , which it cannot be expected to do unti l the French have retired from Rome . We have been told that nothing could be done until the month of May had passed , and there was much force in the arguments and statements then

      made . But May has now gone by . I do intreat Her Majesty ' s Government to turn their minds to this question . It is one which really concerns—not merely the happiness and welfare of a most interesting part ot Europe—but which also involves great international questions , and which deeply affects the balance of power in Europe . ( Cheers . ) I should hope that Her Majesty ' s Government , being on good and friendly terms with the two Governments mainly interested in a decision upon that matter , will exert that iniluence that justly belongs to tho Government of this great country , and will endeavour to persuade the Governments of France

      and Austria to put Jin end to the anomalous and irregular state of things which now prevails in so groat a purl ; of the Italian peninsula . ( Cheers . ) I shall be told , that the condition of the Roman States i . s such that , if the French garrison were to retire , u great revolution and disturbance would take place . Hut let me remind the IIou . sc of what passed in 1 . 831 and 1832 , when the- live powers of Austria , Prussia , Russia , Knuice , and Kngland , gave to the then Pope advice with regard to tho improvement of the internal organization of his Government ; , which , if it had been acted upon and carried out , would have secured the tranquillity of the States which he , governs . Some such airrangemeut iniirlil , now with advantage be adopted . I shall

      be told , perlwps , Unit , some steps are already taken with that , object , but , 1 ( eel that , they are practically illusive , and ' ( hat . no practical step lias been taken with the view to those improvements which were then recommended , and which are now more wanted than ever . 1 ought , perhaps , to apologize to the House ; for the time during which 1 have occupied its attention . ( Loud dicers . ) 1 am , sure , however , that the subject I have mentioned is one that , must engage the sympathy of every man in this country ; and I am persuaded that if her Majesty ' s Government will tako it up in the spirit , in which 1 think they are disposed to act ,, great good will result , to Kurope from their endeavours . ( Much cheering . )"

      Such wan Lord 1 ' alincrHton ' H emphatic IchIiinony , hint June , to a Ktate of thin ^ n which has not only not- improved , ¦¦ but visibly , and ritill more invisibly , chunked for the worse . To descend to the level of our current fd . nteHlnaiiHliip , wo diHinisH lor the moment , all higher and more ennobling appeals , and we ash our merchants , our shopkeepers , our City 111 ( 111 : — does \ lpaji to forget Kn ^ land' . M place and duty in KiiropcP One JMt . iah bultiect lun ^ uishea in a

      condemned cell untried , unconvicfed . Another is cut down in the streets of Florence a third , and he a British officer , wearing her Ma jesty ' s uniform , is dragged in chains through the streets of Leghorn , in sight of the national ensien under which he serves . h Protestantism and free thought , of which England was once the champion , are persecuted in the person of an English missionary at Naples , turned houseless into the street , in spite of treaties - while the Madiai are sentenced to a life ' s incarceration for reading the Bible , recommended by Exeter Hall ; but not rescued by the unavailing mission from Exeter Hall .

      But let all these cases pass , and let Lord Shaftesbury and his Evangelical associates intercede with the poor Grand Duke . Let us waive all considerations like British honour , as obsolete and dangerous dreams . As for the spiritual and political independence of Italy , let it be a mere phrase of a few ideologists ; but what if the Mediterranean becomes a French lake—what if Tuscany and the States of the Church become

      part and parcel of the Austrian Customs' LeagueP Austria , we know , is pouring fresh troops into Tuscany daily ; France is fortifying the seaapproaches at Civita Yecchia , and appropriating the Pope himself by an excess of arrogant courtesies , which must remind Pius IX . uncomfortably of the venerable hostage of Fontainebleau ; while he does ample justice to his teaching , by the wholesale executions at Sinigaglia and

      Ancona , where people have been shot by the score for the acts of 1848 ! We ask these things because it is evident that our Government is now in the act of taking sides , not probably as the people of England would desire , but in " a manner which may lead to serious consequences . The expulsion of Signor Lemmi from Malta—although protected by an American passport and an American Consul—because he is the friend of Mazzini and of Kossuth , implies that the British Government is acting as a branch of the Austrian police . The treatment of the refugees in Jersey implies a subserviency also to the Government of France . The officials in Downing-street are talcing the part of absolutism against the people .

      What attitude , then , will the new Parliament assume in these grave international questions ? Will it he apathetic and impassive as the last , and will Lord Palmerston be dumb ? We trust not . The day i . s hastening with rapid strides when England must , under penalty of death , shake off her policy of insincere , mistrusted , and impotent isolation , and stand forth the sole champion of light and liberty on this side of the Atlantic .

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      TUN SOCIALIST AT THE DIGGINGS . JtfucsoKTs may be had for the digging ; fort unes of all kinds may be m . ule for the trading ; hut cattle may be had for tho taking ; as witness tho subjoined extract from an article in the Itmesot Monday last , announcing the formation ot a " Gold ' Exploration Company , " by certain sul ) - Htantial citizens of Melbourne nnd Uci ' -long , aiKi treating 011 Australian ailiiiiv ; in general : Ali

      » 1 ' ublic Hiiibty m very luiicrli left to chance . o absence of-reat crimes may be ascribed to want ( temptation , to the absorption of all interest by tw > K old fever , to the armed neutrality of every porMm u 11 ms colony , rather than to the preventive action ot W > police . It cannot , exactly be . said that ^ rse-deaUng ^ <> f /><¦« u ( , occurre . nci , ( ml // rw . vr-fakintf is . '' !" do not . set out , with a felonious intent , hid , {/ ' l '« U l ' j V ., t l . o want a hor . se or a bullock , the . , / tako luni 11 M ' rner thej / Jind him , The districts of Campanpe , uo donand Avoiah v make an excep tion . .

      , , oweer , have not even the semblance of any protection 01 jr kind , and are overrun with the worst fliariMitca-M . ^ Melbourne them is a corps of policemen , but , «« accounts in the papers , it , would appear they are ^ independent , set , rude to tho public , and v . olcnl , ^ execution of their duty whoever they <""¦[ '' w Hen ., too , the action of the public will nx > s ^ * mi uire , l to set things to ri bts Lynch ; " » ttle ...

      mentioned , but , the plan fmds I . sympu . y , ^ then ) is KOino tiilk of a pr ivnU ) idle corps 10 ^ prehension of thieves . The . thieves when W , to be Lauded over to tho mi . Htitut . Kl mil . lior ti * . ^ in how Kn liHhim . n realize the idea ot hy »^ " " { Here , limn , in a nLhLo «> '" " "' j ^ " , !!!'„ dofinerve uh an ilh . Htration for . Mr . M . rV / ffi K n » i jiition of socialism an " roblx'ry- . icUl . historian , iu common with many ol Ji « < - "

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      1088 THE LEADER . [ Saturday ,

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 13, 1852, page 1088, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1960/page/12/