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    or defeating the boundary . There is an evasiveness in the mode of restoring the Islands of Ruatan , &c , to Honduras , as if it irere not a restitution of property misappropriated , but a free gift for certain purposes of policy . All these are objectionable points ivbieh might very "well make the senators hesitate before they give their assent . "We can scarcely understand how Mr . Dallas can have

    admitted them into the treaty . "We may guess , indeed , at one simple reason . Probably Lord Ci abend on" and he sat down with a strong desire to settle everything ; then , on every successive point , the party most interested made a proposal , which the other was anxious to accept ; and for once , at least , the

    Englishman has proved sharper than the Yankee . At all events , Guobge M . Dallas has developed strong powers of assent . We certainly do not state these points as objections ; we only notice them as points upon which the Senate may object . It will give us great satisfaction if the Senate should , nevertheless , give its ratification . The British Minister has

    endeavoured to take , little advantages" here and there ; but , after all , the largest interests reraain subject to the greatest influences . England has incurred the usual consequence of sharp practice in small matters , and her influence in . Central Ameriea . is decidedly ¦ waning . On the contrary , the influence of the United States must continually advance and consolidate itself . On the other side of

    the Atlantic it will d p so with more rapidity and with more certainty , in proportion as it brushes these paltry questions out of the way ; and the ratification of the treaty would secure for the United States new facilities , without creating any obstacles that they could not at the proper time trample down .

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    LEGAL [ RESISTANCE IN FRANCE . We have preferred not to prejudge the question between the party of action and the party of abstention in France . We have expressed a simple repugnance to the proposal of taking an oath of fealty to the Empire . It has presented itaelf to us as a difficulty , also , that the facilities for fraud enjoyed by the Government will enable it , at the approaching elections , to cast the slur -of incapacity upon the body of Trench Liberals . The points at issue are ; . —Can a Liberal nominee , without disgrace , accept an oath of personal allegiance to Ijouis Napoleon : P and , Can the Liberal voters make a fair show

    of strength , in spite of the forgeries and false representations that will be resorted to to conceal the extentof their activity ? If these objections can only be quibbled away , we confess that we would rather see the party idle , than see politicians degenerating into casuists , forsaking , their morality , their dignity , and their prestige . But , if it be possible for the French . Liberals to enter the Legislative Chamber withput compromising their honour , and if the elections can really be influenced to an . appreciable extent by their interference , then , We say , such a result would be for France a » ign of returning health and hope . The

    nerplexitiee of opinion on this subject nrnat , of course , be solved on the spot , by observations taken locally , so that it would be more assumption , on the part of an English journalist , to lecture the Liberals of Paris . We have , indeed , no right to advise that any set of men , in a foreign country , should imitate the periodical torpora of certain animals , or fejgn death when they fear an encounter . ftoux less can wo deny that the practice of AOatention has . often been carried to the extent of suUeiraeaa and puerility by those who * aw W > idea of power in any other form ? torn thaj of supremacy . Such a policy , as the

    x ; ue paltry minority will be published ; and " Bee how universal suffrage acts " will be tlirown in the face of tho Liberal party . Let abstention , bo adopted , however

    party of action argues , is not merely hostile to the Empire ; it is hostile to all government , and while encouraged in France , will for ever prevent the growth " of a sound and solid constitution . Abstention has been adopted extravagantly by the French Liberals —at the polling booths , and even in . the Assembly , under the monarchy and under the Republic , and it is the policy which would best satisfy the Emperor himself . Practically , also , it is urged that action should now be recommended , in order that the minority and the majority should agree . "We think it

    may be said that the preponderance of opinion is vastly in favour of voting at the forthcoming elections . The young members of the party have generally , throughout France , determined to procure bulletins , if possible , and offer their suffrages in favour of their own nominees . Many of the elder members have assented to this course , which has thu 3 become the plan of the large majority . Indolence would be mistaken for apathy ; political feeling would stagnate ; the Emperor ,, commanding a corps of legislative delegates , would have leisure to consolidate the basis of

    and the result will be the same . It ia not the trick of the Emperor to he unanimously supported ; if the Liberals do not supply a real opposition , the Government will supply one of a farcical kind , and will point to the humiliating minority . Consequently , whether the Liberals vote or not Lotjis Bonapabte will repeat the millionsof-votes deception , the only alternative being whether a few Liberal candidates shall be set up like puppets , to be knocked down like slaves ; or whether men of character and authority shall stand forward , and , challenging the Empire to make good its professions , claim

    the suffrages of the nation . We must content ourselves , at present , with stating these opposite views . We fully appreciate the advantages of political action , while we recognize the embarrassments at which many of the Liberals hesitate . On one point , however , there can exist no possible doubt . When the time for deliberation , is past , when the moment for decision arrives , it will be the duty "of the minority to aid the majority in a plan for working out the political restoration of France ; or , at least , not to impede its operations , or disavow its principles .

    his throne . Moreover , who knows when a catastrophe may arrive ? The election , even , may bring it ahout . Thus , were General Cavaig-nac notoriously chosen by Paris , and were the returns to be falsified , who could measure the results of the public indignation ? When the first elections took place after the coup cPeiat , it was the conviction of every intelligent mind that the returns from the . Faubourg St . Germain were falsified ; and the Government incurred considerable risk ,

    although France still lay stunned by the act of stupendous treachery and bloodshed that had been perpetrated . Now , however , the air is heavy with omens menacing to the Empire . The dagger of Verger ha 3 proved that the assassination of a great public functionary is possible in the aisles of St . Etieune-du-Mont . What then ? the Parisians inquire . The Orleanists and Bourbonisfcs must have selected their agents indiscreetly , or so much immunity would not have been enjoyed in another quarter .

    We have said that the chiefs of the Liberal party , almost without exception , have decided to vote . This is admitted by our friends of the opposite opinion , although they believe that few persons counsel the acceptance of the Imperial oath . They are told that it is essential to seize upon every opportunity for reviving public spirit , that a demonstration would , at this moment , produce a signal effect upon the country and the Government ; that Louis Napoleon may be driven

    to employ such artifices and acts of force as will undeceive and disgust all honest men ; that he may even hazard a new coup d ' etat . Nevertheless , it is maintained by the advocates of abstention that the return of a hundred or a hundred and fifty candidates would be necessary to create a chance of results so serious . Such an opposition , skilfully led , might render arbitrary government impossible , and , as Louis Bonaparte , if not

    iTiucet an arbitrary ruler , is nothing , might render back to France her dignity and her freedom . But not a tenth of this number , probably , will be elected . Paris , Lyons , and other large cities will be swamped by the small towns and rural districts , whose prefects and police will gag and hunt tho populace in herds to the balloting urns , and will complete the triumph of the Emperor by forging as many bulletins as are necessary to the elect of the nation . " Thus , the Empire will appear to be a second time acclaimed by

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    THE LIVING ROMANCE OF FKAUD . We insist on it as a proved fact , that no man can tell amongst his acquaintance who is guilty of offences against the law and against the ordinary sense of morality , even to the degree of the gravest crimes . In business , no man . can tell amongst his connexions who is honest and who is deceiving him , cheating him even to the extent of felony . It is true that in private friendship you may arrive at such a knowledge of a man ' s character , his feelings , motives , and habits of action , 'Ac , insomuch that you may be as sure of him as of the sun

    But the ordinary tests of acquaintance in this world of politics and of "business fail to furnish any guarantee of what we are pleased to call respectability . We trust to false teststo wealth , or to the appearance of wealth , aad we are punished for our servile worshipping of wealth and appearances by the deceptions to which we expose ourselves . Scarcely a week passes without adding to the number of great swindlers who avail themselves of this prevalent vice in society . This week we have for the first time an intelligible story of the swindler Huntington in the United States ; we have clear accounts of the frauds of Paul

    on the London Union , and several minor frauds or thefts by the emulators of Robso-it , with the connivance of the auditor class . This week again we have a clear explanation of the manner in which Sawabd carried on his depredations . His plan was this . He got possession of some cheque-book ; then he procured the autograph of some person dealing at the bank whence this cheque-book issued . His devices for the purpose were very ingenious . If the customer of the bank was a lawyer , some

    friend of Sawauw ' s went to that lawyer ' s upon , business , andmanagedto obtain a cheque —an honest cheque , winch was duly paid , and accounted for . But then the lawyer ' s signature , and his manner of writing words , vcre drawn forth and imitated in tho purloined cheques . Some yokel from the country , or young man just turned loose from business , was employed to present the cheque , one of S award ' s confederates watching the stranger to prevent his evasion . This mode of business brought in a very handsome income

    Neither of these swindlers , however , had half so successful , safe , or lucrative engagements as those whicli may be obtained by imitating a more regular form o » f commerce . One of the shortest modes to a manufactured

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    36 TRE LEADER . [ ffo . 355 , Saturpajy

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 10, 1857, page 36, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2175/page/12/