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    THE RELATIONS OF LABOUR.

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    the Emperor , of the French to join us in the Avar against Jlussia , and he alone , of all the combatants , derived any benefit from the bloody struggle . He forced himself into the position of European arbiter , and strengthened immeasurably his hold upon Prance . But . he has quite as greedy an appetite for the inheritance of the sick man as either Austria or Russia . Egypt , which by the Suez Canal he is already attempting to appropriate , has long been an object of French ambition , a desire not the less powerful that its gratification would he a sore blow and a grievous mortification to England . The Emperor , however , does not care to precipitate the crisis . It is enough for him that the sick man does not get strong ; so long as he remains in a state of debility , so long is there ground for interference ; so long can French influence make itself felt in the East , and the Emperor share with his brother of Russia the allegiance of the Sultan ' s subjects .

    would not be willing to maintain it single-handed against France and Russia united . Prince Gortschakoff and M . Thouveis'ei will , therefore , in all probability , have their way . The Porte will go on squandering all the money it can lay hold of upon the seraglio and the ' favourites' outside it ; its financial position will get worse and worse ; whilst , upon one pretence or other , the French and Turkish ambassadors will arrogate to themselves more and more domination , the English ambassador being obliged to take much the same course in order to counteract , as far as possible , the mischief they would do to the interests of his own country . " All the king's horses and all the king ' s men won't set Humpty Dumpty up again . " The duty and the interest of England is to strive that his place may be occupied by a new and reaLsovereign , and not divided between France and Russia , or any puppets they may attempt to set up .

    There is nothing , therefore , to surprise us in the efforts now made by Russia to practically annul the Treaty of Paris , or in the connivance which France lends to them . When Prince Gortschakoff summoned the Ambassadors of the Great Powers to deliberate upon the condition of the Christians , in Turkey , and to intimate the necessity under which he felt of taking immediate steps in their behalf , he was but acting a farce , the details of which had been arranged between himself and M . Thouvenel . The despatch ascribed to the latter only assures us of what the known Understanding between the two Powers rendered most probable . JL Thouven el regrets , indeed , that Russia has prematurely moved in the matter , but he nevertheless fully associates himself with the step Prince Gorts c h akoff

    has taken , and lends the weight of his own personal experiences at Constantinople to support the allegations of ill-treatment of the Christians made by that minister . How that there is some truth in these allegations is more than probable . The Hatthumayoun granted by the Sultan in 1856 , effected a complete change in the legal position of the Christians . It put them upon a footing of equality with theTSIiissulmans , and raided them from slaves to citizens ; but its execution was necessarily intrusted to functionaries who were not animated by the benevolent spirit of their master , and who cared nothing for the political consider atibnsL _ which guided his ministers . The whole system of government in Turkey is corrupt . It is but a varnish of civilization over a-mass of barbarism—an administration shared

    between lying , cheating Greeks , and Turks who have not forgotten how to bastinade and bowstring , whilst they have learned to give and take bribes . No wonder , therefore , that the promise of the rescript of 1856 has not yet been fulfilled . What could be expected from a Government the head of which changes every two or three months , and owes his elevation mainly to a seraglio intrigue ; whilst the pachas have a tenure equally uncertain , and must make enoug l 7 ~ during it io recoup themselves for the price paid for their office ? M . Thouvenel has , therefore , ground lor saying that the Hatt-humayouri will remain a dead letter unless the Porte changes its system of government ; but such a change is not the work of a year or two , but of a

    generation . But it is a gross exaggeration to represent the condition of these Christians as unbearable , and a little knowledge of them precludes the possibility of feeling much sympathy for their pretended tribulations . They are themselves the causes of most of the disorders and tumults of which we hear , and their religion is , for the most part , a mere political cloak . Greeks , Armenians , and Latins , they fight first in the bosom of their own sects about their bishoprics and patriarchates ; fight with each other for pre-eminence and power , and then join to hunt the unfortunate minority of Protestants , whom England may nominally protect , but for whom , having no political designs to which she might make- them subservient , she takes none of the pains which

    Russia and Franco do for their respective emissaries . Russia , urging the wrongs of the Christians , seeks to recover the ground she has lost by the destruction of the protectorate assumed by virtue of the treaties of Kainardji and Adrianople , and occupying that position to have again the right to interfere whenever it appears profitable in Turkish affairs ; France , with objects of her own , comes forward in right of her Latin clients j and together they will , if possible , bully the Sultan out of concessions to the Christians , which will be so many transfers of his sovereign

    rights to his attentive allies . The difficulty in their way is that the interference they propose will be a direct infraction of the Treaty of Paris . That treaty recognised the full right of the Sultan to regulate the condition of his subjects according to his frvrn views , and denied to other Powers , the right to interfere between him and them . This stipulation , if it could have been enforced , would have been the best guarantee possible of Turkish independence ; but England is the only Power disposed to adhere to it , and she

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    OF all the subjects misunderstood tor many generations , . Labour was , until lately , the one that suffered most ; properly interpreted , it is a beneficent provision of the Creator , though mankind were for a long time disposed to regard it as a curse , A misreading of the Mosaic annals lay with many at the root of the misapplication . Imposed , as was thought , as a penalty on Adam , the necessity of labour was quoted as the result of a malediction . The ground was cursed , because man had fallen .

    It was not generally understood that the Hebrew words for cursing and blessing were the same , and simply derived their specific meaning from their relations with other words in the sentence . It might as well have been rendered , " blessed be the ground , " as " cursed : " the word simply meant the Divine appointment . It was ordained that man should bywork redeem his station in the universe ; "but whether that ordination should turn out to be a blessing or a curse to the and

    individual ^ depended entirely on disposition circumstances . And so the fact inhuman experience has been , notwithstanding the theory-ef those who have misunderstood the text of the sacred record . The prevalence of this misapprehension lies at the root of many a social evil , Regarding Labour as a curse , whole glasses ofmen "have endeavoured to relieve themselves from its infliction , avoiding it as a disgrace , and throwing the burthen of it on other classes that suffered by their oppression . Thus the

    labouring man has been looked upon as a pariah , and the idle man has claimed to be considered as an aristocrat in his own right . Both have been thrown into false positions , and the world into much confusion . Wrong and evil have grown and propagated , with an interchange and concurrence of action that has established itself as the very order of society itself . Even the wisest of old writers , while ~ nc ^ rIfes ^ n ^^ ha 1 r ^ he-estate ^ Mhe-world depended on the exertions and skill of the artisan , nevertheless denied him a place at the council , or any share in the government of the State .

    The result of all this misapprehension was just what might have been expected . " Give a dog a bad name and hang him . " But worse came of it than even this . The labourer was not only a victim , but gradually began to share in the general belief that lie was less worthy than his masters . His spirit was cowed , and he acquiesced in liis ill-treatment . He was subdued to the very quality that opinion assigned , and became degraded not only in his own esteem , but in his life and conduct . His labour itself was undervaluedill-poid for , and its resources among the most

    , precarious that a man could depend on as the means ot subsistence And these when obtained were impatiently dissipated , and expended in the support of vicious habits ; not husbanded , except in some few and rare cases , for the future benefit of the recipient . Under these circumstances , and subjoct to the jealousy of the classes above and under , and even of individuals of his own class , the labourer was a fated man , who felt it in vnm to struggle with " the sen of troubles , " which might be incrensed but could not be diminished by his resistance .

    Sueh has been the relation of the lords and labourers of society , until a very recent period . It has becu regarded simply as a relation between the Rich and the Poor . We may recollect that Burke in an eloquent passage repudiated this distinction . Indignantly he declared that the Labourer , and the Pauper wore distinct , and challenged the contrary assertion as unconstitutional and immoral . There can be no doubt tlint Burke ' s indignation Avas rightly grounded , and did him great honour as a man and a politician . But it is to be feared that ordimuy minds still continued to regard the possessors of wealth ns composing a distinct class , and the industrious aspirants that might become wealthy by perseverance as members of another cln'ss , less favoured by Providence , and less influential in the State—in fact , as included in one and the same category of poverty , until they had worked

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    June 2 , 1 S 60 . ] The Leader and Saturday Analyst . 515

    The Relations Of Labour.

    THE RELATIONS OF LABOUR .

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), June 2, 1860, page 515, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2350/page/7/