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Leader (1850-1860), 14th April 1860, Edition 1 of 2, Page 351

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    • !BTCITAXXTA'S GLORY.
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      no topic more encouraging . f or the farmers he was addressing than to expatiate on the large quantities of provisions . exported to England , and on the certain and increasing markets liere which the commercial treaty would give the French farmers . To destroy such prospects , and cut off " from them a payment of £ 4 . 000 , 000 in a year , would be adangerous step for the Government of France . to take . We imported ' . articles : of embroidery , gloves , silks , < &c , &c . from France to the value of perhaps £ i , 000 , 000 more . They are the produce of Tivons , St . Etienne , and P .-u-is . Is it to be expected that the Emperor will brave the anger of the populations of these ¦

      towns ? Will he risk the sight Gf tlie -Faubourg-St .-.- . Antoine hungering"for work and bread ? Is the present remarkable contentment anil Easter festivities of the population of this Faubourg , noticed in the correspondence from Paris on Thursday , the consequence of the extensive trade now enjoyed with England , and the prospect , of that being increased ? We believe not ; sine ! we believe that the imports from France last year , of the value of £ 1 ( 5 , S 6 O , 9 GO , is a pledge for the continuance of peace , because war with us would stop a . sixth part of the trade of France . It would deprive her of a market for produce to the extent . of nearly £ 17 , 00 ^ , 000 , and would reduce to poverty and distress a larger , proportion of her people than of ours . . ¦ .

      The . mutual interchange , of which the loss would be so disastrous , lias nothing in comrnon with the peddling and the fraud by which ti-ade is very often contaminated . These being much talked about * trade has come to be considered , in many minds , as only peddling and fraud * In fact , exchange is a necessary part of social production , as essential to the life of society as farming , or weaving , or writin g hooks . It is another name for ( lie ¦ . ¦ mutual service all industrious men render to one another . It enables them to help etich other , and rewards all concerned for their labour . It spreads comfort , ease , and luxury through all classes . It assuages national animosities , and substitutes for them , confidence and attachment . It is the herald of universal peace . It overrides the policy of ambition , and constrains viilcvrs to consider the material .-welfare of

      the nuiltitude . Part of thei .-unjust opprobrium thrown on it comes from classes whose rude power it supersedes . Old wealth and old authorities are overshadowed , as it extends ; its merits * as it grows , cannot be at once appreciated ,, and all the prejudices'of the past are invoked against it as art upstart novelty . It is continually extended , and the new-growing' power is ever regarded with jealousy by old and decaying- power .

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      npiIE argument of the Admiralty , and of all \ ylio support the X Admiralty , for continuing Britannia ' s shame , as stated three weeks ago . is that , without it , discipline . cannot be maintained . Cases are quoted of incorrigible individuals , thieves , scoundrels , monsters of dirt and negligence , and it is triumphantly asked , What can be done with such men but scourge them ? Alas I the scourging _ does not cure the disease . The dirt and drunkenness-and theft continue . The error which formerly pervaded civil society still lingers in the navy . What , it used to be asked , can you do with incorrigible thieves—with unruly , seditious politicians , with obstinate hei-etics , but hang them ? And hanging , or some other method of putting

      thoa , e out of the way who gave offence to their brethren 1 n authority was readily had recourse to . . ' Like flogging , jb did , not answer the expected purpose . The diseases it was to cure increased in virulence . Gradually , experience taught that the surest way to put an end to wrong was for authorities not to do it ; and the conviction has led to the diminution of coercion in . all our civil relations , and seems gradually extinguishing even what is yefc supposed to bo legitimate punish men t . Obedience , order , subordination are maintained in every part of our ' civil life without the use of corporal punishment , and what more can possibly be required on board ship ? What more is or can he effected by naval discipline ?

      Within the memory of persons living 5 fc was thought that occasional kicks' nvid cuff * , the use of straps and sticks were required to keep domestic servants and younprpeople orderly and diligent . Butties in ininc'H mid Overlookers ' in mills were quite convinced , like our valiant ailmirnLs and tho Admiralty clorks who echo thoir views in Parliament , that they could not get necessary work done unless they had an unlimited ' power to knock down young people with " Billy rollers , " or flay them with straps . They did not make these instruments with ou ' nning ingenuity to torture thoir subordinates ; they did not solemnly nnrl with culm logic demonstrate to their own conviction thnt the world would come to nn end , if they did not break heads nnil flay bodies 5 they had recourse to violence in a passion , nnd cxeuMuil their brutality by alleging a perverseness m youth thnt

      wnuhl provoke- 11 saint . Their excuses did not convince nn intelligent public that tho maintenance of discipline , in cotton mills nnd in . mines was superior ( o the laws oflmmiuiity ; , and » io sooner was it goniTiilly known lhafc discipline was kept up in ninny mills and lyiinoH— -nol in » ll , ju « Mikothonnvy—by puch quostionnblomqans , that tho Lx' | jf ! nhiluro ciinio to tho conclusion that it was its duly to put an end ' toHiioli disgraceful brulnlity . It was Ijorrifiod at tho outrages , eommiltod by passionate men to socuro exertion in mills nnd p ines , yot it solemnly ordains and sanctions far greater outrages in the ships 11 ml regiments of the Slate . Tho nation )\ i \ n wisel y and gloriously - put an end to corporeal punishment of nil kinds in civil life ; tho Government , for ever in the vonr of the nation it protend ^ to Jond , maintain ? it hi jwito of reason as tho life of its military service , Thoir soul in honour , its visible emblem is tho Ri-ourgo . Perhaps it is thought by tho kindly nuhliit Hint tho Krnwu penmen do not need promotion , like infants in mtll . s urn ! im ' ik'u ; but nn

      individual is utterly helpless against the power of the community . The children were assailed by passionate men ; seamen and soldiers are scourged by the uhiinpassioned State . From its unfeeling logic when it violates its duty to protect , tliem they can only escape by desertion . " -Better a child should weep than bearded men . " said the Scotch nobles to their iufiint sovereign . The tears-of childhood , " like the dewdrop on the rose , " speedily disappear ; grief and disgrace sink deep into the hearts-of men , and give a character to a nation now and hereafter . It is more incumbent on the State therefore to stop corporeal punishment in its own services , than in mills and mines ^—to prohibit it for men than for boys . Banished from every other part of the community , it is absurdly cherished by the State as the means of making our defenders valiant , energetic , and orderly . Is the nation then in error ? Is . terror the means of obtaining energetic service ? Can it be fed , lodged , clothed , and warmed , but not defended without using the scourge ? Compared to the incessant services rendered to it by those who feed and clothe it , the occasional services of the Horse Guards and the Admiralty are absolutely trivial . Yet all those .-great services are performed without raising the hand to strike , or even raising the voice in anger . This is the glory of our civil life . Millions of Held labourers , millions of labourers in factories * men , women , and children , patiently and ns « duouslj r do their duty to their employers arid to one another ; they are obedient ; , orderly , and energetic in their ( Milling ; they effectually do their part in creating the wealth and greatness of which ' we are all so justly proud . Nobody bribes them to serve ; nobody forcibly retains . them in service . They seek it voluntarily , voluntarily they leave it . If masters and servants do not ; agree , they separate . The maid gives warning , the labourer seeks ' another employer , the journeyman goes away . Their mutual services are mutually , in dispensable . Keciprocal wants in farmers and labourers , in . capitalists and non-capitalists , in masters and servants , settle and determine the duties of each and all , bind some together , and separate some , so as , to complete all production in the very best known manner . Corporeal punishment , or coercion of any kind ,. is so little required , and so little consonant to this mighty .-and _ daily- . , work , that even the animals which help . in it are rarely punished . The " . waggoner " and the ploughman carry whips , but they scarcely require the beneficent and wise teaching of Mr . Itarey to convince them - ^ thoug h it is yet needed by the Admiralty and the Horse Guards- ^ that kindness and skill are more efficacious to get work well done than , thongs and goads . That the nation is right and the military authorities wrong is plain from the single consideration , that it is impossible to apply their system to get done the necessary worlc of civil life . •' ..- -. ' ¦ -. ;_'; , Now and then a refractory apprentice or a- / contract-breaking labourer may . bo summoned before a magistrate : now and then an . employer nijry have to answer in a county court a claim for wages ; differences and disputes are unavoidable ; but . considering the multitude of employers and employed , disputes between them are amazingly few . As the rule , the whole business of civil life is carried on without corporeal punishment , and almost without the semblance of coercion , except where the contiguity and ^ bad example of the naval or military service induces it ) . The whip is still used to force slaves to labour and keep them obedient . Soldiers and sailors , then , are still treated like slaves . That they must be governed on a principle totally at variance with the principle IVv which civil society is governed , and abhorrent to its very nature , though always asserted by men who gloat in strony animal self-will , and rebel against knowledge , kindness , and care , has yet to be demonstrated . There arc many occupations , if must be remembered—thnt of the miner for one—more dangerous than that of the mariner , even when he goes to battle There are many- ^ -thiit of the grinder , and that of the tailor—more unhealthy titan that of the sailor . Accident may cut short his existence , but since the menus of obtaining wholesome food for long voyages have been found , lie is not necessarily Kubjccfc to diseases " which ' debilitate , paraly / . e , and shorten life . Almost every article of elegance or vir'tfi ' is obtained , according to the JSdi ' nburc / fi Review , at the expense of workmen permanently or transiently disabled . Throughout our industrial system there is « continual waste of health and life . Daily , however , are tho tasks of each and all repeated ; daily are the sumo dangers braved and the same evils sufl ' ored , and the community is ever sustained in vigour and greatness by unforced but by incessant toil . . With nil this continuous and unassuming labour wo are so familiar , that it excites no observation . When wo reflect , however , thnt by it the nation is not merely sustained , but curried forward and kept in the foremost , runic of civilization , nnd contrast it with tho few nnd occasional Rervieos really performed by tho army and nnvy , "II accompanied by revolting 1 cruelty , wo conclude- - that civil labour is tho glory , nnd naval and military labour , ns now carried on , tlio fthaino of our country . Mr . Bux'fo . v fuilocl to convince the House of Commons of tliin ; nnd the reprosentalivofl of the nation , led by men in bluo and red coals , burnished by gold tinsel , rofused even to muke known tho names of individual officers wlio most ; dcHorvc , by superfluous Hogging , the public execration . Thoy hide- u » id protect thoso who morib reprobation , nnd koep alive wrong . Wore it not thai ; attynipltrnro made to hIiow , by porwoiifl claiming 1 to bo fiutliorilies .-l'lmt' tho dittlMilty of getting men for tho navy , which luiH again oRcupiort Iho attention of Parliament , in duo to natural camion , hu « 1 i n . s tho great iloniUnd foi labour in tlio numufiioturintf ( liHtriclH , it-- would l > o umu'fo .- 'Hin ' . v for uh to rwnind our rentiers nf tho trulli l ! : nt , wlifrcvor Hiil ^ i . it « iicii in to ho obtained , bo

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      April 14 , 1 SCO- ] TJie Leader and Saturday Analyst . 351

      !Btcitaxxta's Glory.

      "BTCITAXXTA'S GLORY .

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), April 14, 1860, page 351, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2342/page/11/