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Leader (1850-1860), 30th April 1859, Edition 1 of 2, Page 562, Untitled Article

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      funded , amounts to about 807 , 000 , 000 ? ., and this vast sum is entirely owing on account of war expenditure . Financial juggles may have augmented while pretending to lessen it , but only one single act , we . believe , of humanity or benevolence has added to its amount . In 1836 , 20 , 000 , 000 / . were borrowed to pay . the slaveholders a compensation fox the loss of the services of their emancipated slaves . With this exception , the debt is entirely due to war . At the commencement of the

      American war , m 177 o , it amounted to 128 , 583 , 635 / ., and at the close of the war in 1784 , to 249 , 851 , 628 ; . In the ensuing peace 10 , 501 , 3802 . was paid off , so that at the commencement of the French war , in 1793 , the debt amounted to 239 , 350 , 148 / . The debt contracted during that war was $ 01 , 500 , 343 / ., making at its close , in 1817 , when the accounts were wound up , the total debt , funded and unfunded , 840 , 850 , 491 / . Subsequent to that period it was generally reduced , but at times additions were made to it ; the result was , that it reached the lowest point in 1853 , when it amounted to 771 , 335 , 801 / . In the thirty-six years which

      elapsed between 1817 and 1853 it was lessened by 69 , 514 ^ 690 / ., or at the rate of 1 , 930 , 000 ? . per annum . The Russian war seems to have augmented it , therefore , from 771 to 807 millions , or about 36 , 000 , 000 / . But this , as our readers well knowj who have , since 1854 , had to pay increased duties on tea and stigar and coffee , and ah increased propertyrtax , is only a small part of the cost of that war . Our financiers undertook to provide for the major part of the increased expense by increased taxation . So , also , all through the French war , taxation was continually increased , and the debt incurred was only a part of the whole cost to

      the people of England of that long and arduous . struggle . . - .. ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ '¦" : \ . ¦ : ¦ . We may calculate the war expenditure alone , from 1793 inclusive , to 1 S 00 , at 196 , 500 , 000 / . ; from 1800 to 1814 , it is estimated at 633 , 634 , 614 ? . ; making a total of 830 , 134 , 614 / ., of which , as we have seen , 601 , 500 , 343 / . was borrowed . This is probably an under estimate . We have seen the cost of the war calculated on good grounds at 1 , 000 , 000 , 000 / ., and we believe it could not have been less than 900 , 000 , 000 ? . Assuming that the value of the labour of one labourer in the year is 25 / ., wliich is as much as . the average of workmen then got , this sum would give 36 , 000 , 000 as the

      number of labourers , the produce of whose toil for one year had been blown away in powder , or other means of destroying the life which the toil was intended to sustain . If we divide the 36 , 000 , 000 by 22 , assuming this as the number of years the war lasted , we shall find , speaking roughly and broadly , that the value of the labour of 1 , 600 , 000 labourers was annually wasted by the Government of ^ England alone in inflicting ^ misery on mankind- True , she fought at the end fov the defence of freedom , but her aggressions on the Republic and people of France were the chief origin of the tyranny she was afterwards compelled to resist . '

      What sums the other Governments of Europe expended in the same period we have no moans of ascertaining . Several of them were not engaged in the contest for th , e whole time . Several of them too , as if to show how worthless are the objects for which such vast quantities of labour was wasted , fought first on one side and then on the other . Only France can be considered , besides England , as at war through the whole period , and what sum of money she spent is not known , but the labour she wasted may b ' o approximativoly guessed at . She did not cany on the - war at such a large nominal expense as England , but the real cost to her was much greater . Despite the waste of our

      Government , England at the end of the war had increased about 30 nor cent , in population , and jBtill more in wealth , though the bulk of her labouring classes had been pauperised and degraded in relation to tho rest of the community beyond any known examplo in history . She prospered by means of the now and wonderful machinery then coming in to use , which inoreased amazingly her power and hoi' wealth . France , however , afe the end of tho war . found her Government degraded , the nation enfeebled , and at the mercy of oon ^ qpoerojps . She was stripped of most of her colonies , and driven back within the boundaries she had reaohed before the Revolution . She had made but uttle ueo of machinery , and all her expenses wore PJ »« by the' almost unaided toil of hor people . m . qv ber , top , the peaee wvs followed by little

      prosperity . The new Government imposed on her racked : her by taxes to . repay restored emigrants , &c , and she was the continual prey of uneasiness and revolutions . The population and wealth of France have increased very slowly since 1815 , under her restored Government , in . comparison . ' ' to the population of England . The war which began in 1793 found her sudd enly freed from a vast system of domestic misrule . She was pluming her wing for an eagle flight . Her industrious people , deeply attached to

      the soil , and living chiefly by cultivating it , found in its reappropriation a new scope for their exertions , and began zealously to improve it . . . Then eanie war and the . conscription ; and the new population just ¦ ¦ ¦ starting into manhood , and the new ¦ wealth ; of which the seeds were just sown , were both sacrificed . Her budding prosperity was at onee blighted- —her eagle flight sank to a vulture swoop amongst carnage , and ended in bloated destruction . Her prosperity was sacrificed on the altar of military glory , and she was in the end impoverished and disgraced . .

      In her wars 2 , 000 , 000 men , at least , perished ; while the misdirection of labour which ' they caused annihilated the subsistence and 1 he life , of probably three times the number . Her finances were brought into working order only by the bankruptcy that wiped off her debt ; and though she quartered her armies on the enemy , she came out of the war ¦ burdened with anew debt and onerous taxation . Figures cannot express the enormous cost of the « war to France , which deprived her of all the benefits wliich inifrht have followed from the

      abolition of domestic misrule , and wliich substituted for the . freedom she had hoped to win , ' . a new and more baneful system Of tyranny . Her civil life was subjected to military law , and the . spirit of the nation was perverted from the stedfast love of honest industry to a fiendish" delight in destruction . Her progress was in reality stopped ; and as society is only in a state of well-being when making , consistently with its nature , a rapid progress , France was . damaged more than words can tell by the war .

      The case was similar . with every other State of Europe . The beneficial inventions of art , adding to the power of man , and enabling au everiuereasing population to multiply all the enjoy r meats of life—and which , wherever brought first into existence , are sure , in a time of peace , speedily to become , like railroads , the common property and common enjoyment : —were neglected . Onl y the arts of destruction were studied , and the bulk of the Continental nations , like France , became almost stationary . Not one but committed , by the issue ofpaper promises to pay , which it never redeemed , or other similar devices , acts of bankruptcy . They all lost character as well as wealth . By war the finances of every State of Europe

      were deranged . If we consider that France only was at war through the whole of the long pei'iod , and that the other countries did not make equal exertions to those of France and England , we may be justified in concluding that at least four times the produce of 36 , 000 , 000 , or the produce of 144 , 000 , 000 , labourers , or the produce—again speaking roughly—of 6 , 400 , 000 labourers annually , for twenty-two years , was destroyed in Europe by tho wars which be # nn in 1793 nnd ended in 1815 , This rough but shnplo estimate would make the cost of these wars 3 , 600 , 000 , 000 ? . Tho quantity of human toil destined to supply enjoyment and sustain life this sum represents , was perverted to purposes of destruction ; and the hearts , of men were filled" —which is not the least noxious

      consequence of war—with discontent from suffering , and with doubt of the goodness nnd wisdom of tho Creator . Now the heirs and successors of the classes who began or provoked thoHO wars are again commencing tho sad and droary work . There is scarcely one of them not encumbered with debt , and of which tho finances are not already deranged by military establishments : these they have of late boon increasing ; these they must inorense to carry their unholy

      projects through a disastrous course to n conclusion that cannot bo otherwise thnn disastrous . And again , they must , in some way or other , defraud their creditors . If ' modern improvements make it probable that the Avar will bo short , they make it certain that war , while it hiate , will bo increasingly expensive and destructive . Again , human labour to an incalculable amount is to be wasted . Again , life , to an extant beyond conjecture , is to bo destroyed ; and again , the growing ingenuity and

      skill of the intelligent people of Europe will he perverted , in a degree perfectly unassi gnable to the diabolical purposes of destruction . The lDeople who suffer are clearly responsible in their sufferings to nature or to God for this mighty eviL imi they should stop it at its source .

      Untitled Article

      CLERICAL . SCANDAL . We have before now expressed our disapprobation of the whole system of the confessional . We shall scarcely be suspected of a leaning towards Puseyite practises , if we express ovlt heartfelt disgust ( for we can use no milder term ) at the language used by the opponents of Mr . Liddell , at the late election . for the much-contested post of churchwarden for the parish of St . Paul ' s . We believe that Mr . Westerton has really done good service in his time " to the interest of the Protestant cause , and therefore we the more regret to see so good a cause tarnished and disgraced by the intemperance ' of its ' advocates . If * any stranger , unacquainted with the whole history of these parochial squabbles , had been present at this meeting , the last thought which would have entered his head , would have been , that he was taking part in an assemblage of" religioxis Christians engaged in regulating the affairs of their common .-church . The rector of the parish was liooted out of the chair , in the first instance , because he assei'ted that he was a parish -priest-Ha fact as undeniable , as that Mr , Westerton is a bookseller and stationer . After the obnoxious vicar had been ejected , the hero of-the day , the Protestant churchwarden , was called to the chair , aud the fun grew loud and glorious . A certain Colonel Vereker amused the meeting with a series of biographical sketches of Mr . LiddeU ' s curates and assistants . One had turned Papist ; a second had organised a college for-. sending oiit missionaries among- the outcast . ' poor of this , great city ; but , fearful to relate ,.-the . spiritual food imparted-to these simple heathen was not the true evangelical manna , but was tainted with : i Tractarian taste ; a third clerical offender had had some connection : —though of what kind is not stated— -with an infiirit martyr to the cause of Protestantism , who carried WestertOnian placards , and was pelted ¦ with rotten eggs in Consequence ; of a fourth much might be said , but the time was not yet ' ripe for the disclosure . Unpleasant tilings had been told about a fifth , which were not worth repetition . A sixth curate had made allusion .- * , in ) . reaching , to the fact that adultery was -a sin of modern as well as scriptural times ; while the seventh and last had committed the unpardonable sin of not having given rise to any peculiar observation . Besides this — horrible' to relate — there were rumours afloat wliich required investigation . -An old woman hud been directed to atone for the sins of her youth by olVcring up prayors for the death of Mr . Wotcrton ; nnd one of the seven cxiratcs had been guilty «> i some indiscretion with some married lady—names ana localities alike unknown ; nnd , worst of nil , n ourote was reported to have received u visit from » young lady in a sitting-room , which was only si' | roratcM from his bed-room by -folded doors . Murk that Inot even a single English door , but general lolding doors . After this final outburst , wo are not surprised to earn that Colonel Vcrckcr's foeling * bwnma too much for him , and that he gave phico to Air . Westerton , who , first of all , gave a siiocmeiiiHUrativy of his efforts in defence of the truth ; . <>«" how ho had thwarted a lmso attempt on no part of the clergy to mis-npproprmlo lll 0 . ' ! 'l seriptions to the oflurtory . After iIhh m-iti oi his personal services , tho orator funn-d " I ' . ; ,, appropriate personal nnrrntivo <>» lli « lll ; ullK i 1 i ; " wliich ho had tracked a > OioWily-. liv « o . l you woman to tho vestry of St . Paul ' s , nnd hud tlieie ascertained that she , being n servant gii ; I , was uonjv fur Hniritual conversation to a euratuul Hiociu u-A narrative of what ho snidto tho eiiruU ; , uml Mini tho curate said to him , and wliat the girl - "" 'I t 0 both , concluded his hiirtingucv . Now wo do not hesitate to any t l '" J fjj , *'"* scandalous gossip-tlns reckless 1 » tt o-tut « k > an J tion of character , and idle imputation ol P ^ motives , is discreditable to . thu interest * but ox *« « ion and morality . U churchmen anil I 1 u » unnj wish thyir faith to bo rebooted , th « y ylu > | ,. '" " tUat adago , and " wash thoir dirty lmon ut iwnw .

      Untitled Article

      562 THE LEADEB ,: [ No . 475 , Ap ril 30 , 18 SQI

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), April 30, 1859, page 562, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2292/page/18/