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    to save and regenerate , the peninsula . That is precisely vrMh § B& has pretended to do for forty years . And . Count Habtig , an Imperial Councillor , has admitted that she has vftteviy and unavoidably failed ^ A singular harmony is observable between tb $ semi-official programme of the English ^ friijjEP and : the plans of the semi-official journalists in Ecance . Cheek , aa far as possible , the maladministration of Naples , calm

    the . passions of the Government and people in Tuscany , define the extent of the Pope's sp iritual and temporal power ; but frown on revolutdon / preserve the most cordial relations with Austria , act always in conjunction with " our great ally , " never take a step unless ^ L thj the sanction and co-operation of the interested- powers . That is to say , suppress # te Liberal party .

    The Liberal party , however , includes the gpemi body of the Italian nation . Say what jso ' u will : sneer at the ruined merchants , the beggarly advocates , the convicted attorneys , who disturb ^ the peace of Italy : if the mercfaanfej of Italy are ruined , they have been joined by Austrian monopolies ; if the Liberal Advocates are beggars , it is because no honest man finds a vocation in any court out of Sardinia ; if convicted attorneys are among the agitators , they have been convicted by false witnesses and venal judges , to gratify the rapacious vengeance of the Austrian Grovernment . Political and commercial restrictions ,,

    prohibitions , executions , prisons , scourges , "bases , sequestrations , police , spies , and clergy have made Italy what it is , and against these her best citizens appeal to the justice of Europe ; but with or without the ^ sympathy of Europe , they will endeavour to recover their liberties .

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    THE SUEZ CANAL . The reply of the Frenoh promoters of this scheme to the objections raised against it in England , has broken down on some material points . The mere cutting of the canal may be assumed as practicable , the isthmus being of a sandy , and not of a rocky formation . It may be conceded , also , though it is far from , being * proved , that the ports of Suez and Pelusium may be rendered convenient a , nd safe . But several serious hypotheses of difficulty , involving the failure of the entire

    ' project , have only been partially , and by assumption , explained away . What is to . secure the channel from being choked , the 'jejfcties from sinking , the entrances at either 4 && . from being barred by deposits of mud , $ fce alluvium of the Nile ? These aro suggestions : from which the argument of M . BABTn ^ iiHMY St . HiiiAinB glances off to ^ ss perplexing topics . A still , more important objection is that ^/ fionnected with tlm navigation of the Bed

    Beak During six months of the year , to state t it © matter roundly , a sailing vessel cannot get . into the Bed Soa , and during the other ( fa . months , cannot get out of it . This sort > o £ seasonal navigation was adapted to the ¦ ejWriHer ages of cominerco ; nor does it inter-! gtee . . essentially witli the local coasting trado . liut it is a . serious obstacle , when considered inrelation to the vast commercial intercourse now carried on between Europe and India . 3 ? 6 r . / the practical result is , that , were tho

    canaA , opened , a merchant vessel could not go from England to India , and return , offcener than onco a yoar , and that thus , ttiou gh tho voyage would bo shortened , the member , of voyagos would not bo multiplied . "Wedo , not say that t < 5 shorten tho sea voyage would be no advantage . It would bo an advantage , also , to open a lino of maritime Communication to compete- with tho still perilous route by tho Cane ; but of all

    ' enthusiasts , projectors , and : expectant proprietors are- the most sanguine , and > the most likely to over-calculate ; so that we must warn the reader against the logarithmic eloquence of M . Saint HiIiAIBe . The general adoption of the auxiliary screw might facilitate the navigation of the confined . Bed 1 Sea- channel . Considering , however , the precautions that hava been rendered necessary by frequent accidents on the Atlantic , the tracing of parallel paths for the outward * and homeward voyages of the ocean steamers there is some reason for doubting whether nearly five thousand vessels , propelled by the screw , would choose to pass up and down the narrow Bed . Sea annually . These , we

    admit , are details for future discussion ; at present the question turns upon a point which M . de Lesseps , and M . St . Hilaibe desire to keep out of view . They cannot but perceive that , though their ideas have undoubtedly made some way in the English public mind , neither the Government of Great Britain , nor the Ministers of the Porte , have as yet assented to the practical development of their plan . Now , without the recognition of the British Government , and the ratification of Said Pacha ' s concessions to the Sultan , the projectnient continues in abeyance . There appears to be some good reasons for their

    reserve . The works are to be carried out by a French Company , with an international proprietary ; the Company is to be named * registered , seated , and governed in France . The Grand Maritime Canal is to remain at all times open " as a neutral passage to every merchant ship crossing from one sea to another , without any distinction , exclusion , or difference of persons or nationalities . " In the first place , the guarantee , in its actual form , is very incomplete ; in the second , its

    terms are very vague . It is simply an undertaking on the part of the Yiceroy of Egypt , who answers also for his successors ; but suppose England and France at war , would the neutrality of the channel close it to the hostile armaments of both nations , or open it to both , or allow one to guard it against the other ? Or , supposing England at war with France and , at tho same time , with Burmah , would France enjoy the advantage , by virtue of the neutrality act , of shutting up the Indian

    waters , and forcing England to despatch men and stores round the Cape ? If the canal is only to bo a commercial channel , an immense proportion of the benefits promised to England fall to the ground , since it would be of the utmost importance to her to be enabled to send troops and military provisions by the direct route to India . If , on the other hand , the canal be open to ships of war as well as traders , tho first chance oF a European conflict would send a squadron to Pelusium to blockrado tho Eastern passage .

    Wo do not see any permanent or insuperable objections to the cutting through of tho isthmus , if it be practicable ; but we ' « are convinced that tho project must bo opposed unless tho new Eastern highway is to be placed under tho united , guarantee of the European powers , with just and reasonable provisions for the event of a war . An act of simple neutrality , construed as closing it to all but merchant vossols , would not meet

    tho case . Wo have an empire on the Indian coasts , and facilities of military communication with that empire are as important aa tho commercial interests involved . But for no other Powers do similar necessities exist . Great Britain , it musb be remembered , would , to a great extent , sacrifico her South African colonies by diverting tho Indian trado from tho Capo to tho Rod Sea route . She would alao , in aUl probability , bo compelled to m

    crease he * , fortifications and naval efltabliskinenjts , at 44 # n ^ fcprasejjv © her , predominance on , the Eastern , Qqem ^

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    TfiWXBD , L WILI 3 JY . We know not ; what result , a& affectinglegislation , two peers expect to produce , wiien they Protest against a successful measure . If the formality is an . affair of conscience , it is intelligible ; but if Lord , Ovebst . oite and Lord Monteagle , who rose to their peerages under the Unlimited Law , anticipate from the laBt outcry of their commercial Toryism any appreciable effect on the parliamentary or public mind , we cannot guess how they suppose the protestation will act . When * the QuEEir , Lords , and Commons set about

    reforming the law , they habitually do . then work slowly , badly , and incompletely . But once done , it ia seldom undone . We obtain little ; - ; but what we obtain we keep : unless * indeed , when Mr . Patten surprises us with a Beer Bill , or Mr . " Wai-pole with a Bigotry Bill , in which cases , Legislation is , for a moment , jerked off the rails . Even then , however , the working system remains , for the most part , ; unaltered . No one believes , we suppose , that when the Limited Liability has been fairly brought into operation , it will be repealed , or " resolved" against by the Lords or Commons .

    The new act does not bring commercial speculation sufficiently near to the working classes . It seems to have been * framed upon Mir . BEiiiENJ > EN Ebb ' s notion , that the working classes could ) find no worse investments than commercial undertakings . Now , what is the fact ? The law permits and encourages a , variety of speculations among the working classes which are almost equivalent to gambling , or else constitute a machinery by which the dexterous rogue may possess himself of the results of an industrious man ' s economy . There are the thousands of badly constituted ,

    unsafe , unprofitable Friendly Societies , which exist by forestalling the funds of the future . The Management consumes one half of the income , and bribes tlie subscribers by paying large bounties on small ! rates . Then , there are Loan Societies , on a petty scale , by which the working man is accustomed to the worst formB of usury . Scores of existing . Building and Land Societies , under wasteful management and ignorantly constructed rules , can look for no success beyond that of a miserable Winding-Up . Associative institutions are started . upon plana just small enough to be lingering failures .

    But how can the economical working man apply his savings ? There is little to tempt his confidence in tho Savings Bank ; still less in the Three Per Cents ., which might return him five shillings for the savings of a year . He wishes to speculate , and ho ha » a right to tho pleasure , only the law renders it impossible . Ho needs an inducement to economy . If he were a Frencli peasant he could lay by five-franc pieces to purchase a plot of land j but ho has learned to fear tho Land Society , and to despise tho Savings Bank . Yet no there is alter

    alternative remains . Tos , . one - native . He can bet ; he can , gamble ; and he does gamble and bet ; and society is supposed to protect him , by keeping joint-stock speculation out of his reach . It fears lest he should catch at a glittering bnbblo . Boally , society is in this case very considerate , for if it makes a difference between tho poor and rich , tnedifference is in favour of the poor . Xno poor , however , do not appreciate it , antt would prefer being placed on tho same level with other classes , enjoying the same risks , exposed to the same chances of profit . 1 Another objection to Mr . Lowm ' s Act is , that its protection of , commercial anterpriz ©

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    3 Siiah ^ lBgft . j . - •• ¦ ? 'g ; l , feRA 3 » l ^ % » %

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), June 21, 1856, page 591, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2146/page/15/