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824 THE LEADER. [Saturday,
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EMIGRATE, EMIGRATE. Iir the great Americ...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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I A Fragment Of Koyal Talk. Time, Septem...
have married the daughter of an English long and the daughter of a [ French king . Your Majesty must see the august spectacle of this alliance with cordial satisfaction . But let me complete that toast with another . — And , united , may they destroy Russia ! The Prince . I cannot refuse to drink a toast proposed by your Majesty—I drain , my glass . But what do we mean by the destruction of Russia ? The King . That , indeed , is the question we have met to discuss *
The Emperor . I trust we mean the same tiling . The Prince . I am sure we can always act together and do the same thing . But , perhaps , we may have , each of us , to compromise a portion of our policy . The King 1 . May I be permitted to say that I don't think the world deceives itself as to
the alliance between the two countries . Your Imperial Majesty is popular in France , in carrying on this war ; and , Prince , your Lord Aberdeen is not popular in England in carrying on the war ; yet your fleets and armies are in . combination ; and the war is a popular war * . X apprehend , therefore , that public opinion in Europe hesitates to believe in the identity ofyour meaning ,
The Emperor . Why should I hesitate to say that I tave only found our agreement clear up to a certain point ; beyond the Crimea theie is chaos . The Prince . ¦ Necessarily so , I fear . The King . Public opinion in Europe dissects your alliance and distrusts it- for France and England , public opinion reeogniseSj can never mean the same thing .
The Emperor . You are emphatic ; and you , Prince , are : silent . Is not this mere traditional " politique ? " it waa Xouis Philippe ' s " ppHtique . " But lie had a large family . The age of traditional politics is past . The King . Geography endures . Your Majesty meets my tradition with a phrase ; is one safer than the other ? Does not your Majesty feel that after all , and even up to the Crimea point , this is not an alliance between France and England ? Prance and England are making war onRussia ; but is it not JYance which is leading England into the war ? May I not say dragging ?
U . he Prince . Not so . It was not our interest to go to war ; it « an never be our interest again to go to war ; while your Majesty , as Prance , had a distinct interest in the glory and occupation of a war with Russia—more especially when securing the solidity of an English , alliance . But our own public opinion , combined vvibh the sad imbecility of the Emperor Nicholas , forced us , so far , into the part we have taken . The Emperor . Undoubtedly we have been in accord . Undoubtedly- if , is mv infcAwsf . +. n
destroy Iiussia ; my uncle held that view when the destinies of Prance were in his hand . Bat , surely , also , England , a chief of civilisation , and suzerain of India , can have no interest in . preserving Russia ? The King . England has an interest in checking the encroachments of Russia , and in reducing her to 3 ier conservative and stationary potency ; bufc there England ' s interest in this war ends .
The Prince . I ain speaking , of course , "without personal views ; but the fixed idea of English statesmen ia the balance of power . The English people are without clear principles of European politics , and are without the direct political power which would enable me , siding with their sympathies against Russia , to resist this religion of English statesmen—that the balance of power must be maintained . The Emperor . I only propose to weaken Russia—which is too strong .
7 he King . The view of Lord Aberdeen is , and I confess it is mine , that Russia balances Prance . The Emperor . It was so in 1815 , but it is not so now . The other day I was isolated and Russia meant Hussia and Germany . Your majesty tells me that I must be again isolated : where then is the balance to which my "Lord Aberdeen trusts ? The Prince . Your future isolation would
be different from your isolation the other day . You wish Russia to be destroyed : and your isolation would then be omnipotence . The JEmpercr . Is England declining then ? The Prince . England must grow stronger and stronger every year : they are a great and just people . I am speaking merely in reference to continental Europe . The King . Your Majesty properly observes that Russia means Grei'many also . Because that is the case , you could not destroy Russia without destroying Austria . What then ?
The Prince . Prance would be the only great military power in Europe ; it is that result which Xord Aberdeen is disinclined to promote . - _ . ¦'¦ ' ¦ : . ¦ ¦;¦ . ¦ "¦ . ; ' ¦ ' .-. ; ¦ The Emperor . Are you taking for granted that I seek this result for Prance ? The Prince . Vardon me . I have faith in your genius : and you are too -wise to wish aug ^ t but the happiness of mankind . But Prance must always be a great military power ; the French are a superl ) race , who raust always be first in Europe : and Prance may one day be in the hands of the Republican Propaganda .
The King . England cannot rely on a Napoleonic dynasty ; she is compelled therefore , in tlie long run , to rely on Russia . The / Emperor . I am not a Conservative ; I confess ; though . I detest and will strangle the republics dreamed of by noets and socialists . In other words , my politics are English : how is it , then , that in . entering on a course which may lead to the destruction of exhausted dynasties and exploded systems , I encounter the opposition of England , ?
The Prince . The mass of the English people are very sensible : they assume that nations have precisely the Governments which they deserve , and which are suited to them . Por my own part , I do not believe in the exhaustion of dynasties . The Emperor of Russia is worshipped by his people ; he is consequently a great power . His system of government is as good as any other system , of government . The course you seek to enter on would lead to the
Repubhcanismg of Europe , or to the Napoleonising of Europe , with neither future could you bring the classes who have political power in England to sympathise . The English are a practical people : and pitying while despising mankind , I agree with the English , that the chief blessing in human affairs is—stability . They call it progress ; it is , at least , permanence . The Emperor . I clearly understand you . You , I hope , as clearly comprehend me ? The King . Why-
—Hhe Emperor . You wish to press Nicholas no further : to accept negotiation at the instance of Austria . "Well , we may leave the conduct of the affair to our diplomatists . By the bye , what an excellent , person Lord Cowley is . Do you smoke , Prince ?
824 The Leader. [Saturday,
824 THE LEADER . [ Saturday ,
Emigrate, Emigrate. Iir The Great Americ...
EMIGRATE , EMIGRATE . Iir the great American scheme of emigration answers to the- description givon of it in the Times , and copied into our own columns , it is one to which the vrorking classes of this country may trust . It offers a means of
securing to them all that they have desiredpresent subsistence , ample return for industrious exertion , provision for children , and universal suffrage itself . We speak with the greater confidence of the scheme since , if we do not mistake the hand by which it is described , it receives the voucher of a gentleman well acquainted with affairs in the union practically , conversa-nt with public business , and not long since familiar as a resident with the people of this country .
It will be for the working man to consider whether he himself is a proper subject for emigration , and that is a question which cannot be determined rashly . There are many men who suppose themselves , from their energy and conscious ambition , fit for the enterprise ; and yet we have known the most promising men return bitterly disappointed , blaming those who induced them to go out . Qn the other hand , some who were supposed to be too weak for exertion , untrained to
out-door employment , have proved admirably suited to colonial occupations . The caprices of these things are remarkable . We could point to civil engineers dawdling out of ' work ¦—tailors active in every species of energetic and inventive enterprise- — -printers who seem unable to discover the means of applying themselves usefully- —^ weavers excelling hereditary shepherds m the care of Australian flocks—harse-dealets settling down as farmers in MicHgaii—r-and ' in short , to every form ot
imexpected variety . The man ' s health , his capacity for physical endurance , still more his power to preserve a good heart under adverse tendencies , must all be considered . Likewise , the kind of place and voyage to it ; and , above all , let him study the agency by which he is to be . transported . Information , we repeat , after what we said last week , can always be obtained ; the man who desires to emigrate only has to find out some authority attested "by a sufficient voucher . Already people are proceeding from , the United Kingdom at the rate of a million in
three years . They go mainly from Ireland ; but we know that in some parts of England there are those who would emigrate if they could see their way , The American plan , if it should succeed , would furnish the means , with one exception . It would secure compe - tent agency , and a clear path to the desired destination . It could evidently carry over any number that pleased to emigrate , provided only that ships enough existed for the purpose . About half a million enter America , the British colonies , and the Republic annually ; that number could be doubled , and the increase drawn from this country .
What would be the effect ? It would secure for those who went a certainty against fear for themselves or their dependants , a social elevation and political enfranchisement . The poor devil who can scarcely make both ends meet on Saturday , who fears the workhouse for his children , and haunts democratic clubs , now so silent , to agitate for . a suffrage , would there be a landowner , and an enfranchised voter . But his going would do exactly the samo for those left behind . Abtract a sufficient
number from the working class of this country , and those who remain must have at least to divide amongst their diminished numbers the amount of wages paid to the larger number . They would have more ; for all working men know how by the manoeuvres of the masters a certain number are constantly kopfc out of work , so that their competition prevents wages from rising . That resource of the masters would bo destroyed ; and wagea would rebound . With better wagoa come better living , better lodging , bettor insurance for the future , bettor social position ; and with improved social position must como tho
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 2, 1854, page 8, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_02091854/page/8/
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