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Oct. 4, 1851.1 ®t> * *«*.***? 943
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"THAT IS WHAT AVE WANT HERE." A(;Kic.UL....
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A13D-EL-KADEII, LOUIS NAPOLEON, AND LOND...
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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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The Last Manchester Meeting. The Parliam...
Thompson ended like one . The enviable melody of his tones , and the radical justness of some of his sentiments , fell like a spell upon his hearers . The prospects reopened by this meeting are , alto-ether , hopeful . If those intended to be benefited bv it , viz ., the people , interest themselves and render personal aid , we shall have a wide-spread , noble , political revival . The overtures now made are generous and trustful—they should be accepted as frankly . It is another illustration of the many sides to character—the unnoticed , unexpected sides—that
these speakers of the Manchester school should talk of and advise conciliation and mutual trust between rival classes . It shows how unconsciously allnatures are generous in some respect or other . What is more speculative in these days than conciliation ? what more Utopian than mutual trust ? The age is against it , and yet the very school most representative of our own , "bargain making , cent , per cent , age , talk this Utopian doctrine of " confidence . " Utopia will be a kingdom yet , and looked up to reverentially by respectable people—it will figure one day in the Share List of the Stock Exchange ! Ion-.
That the new vigour of the movement is telling upon all parties we discern , not only from the favourable effect produced upon our friend , but from the attacks of certain party journals upon Mr . Fox ' s spirited speech . He avows , explicitly , that his party are seeking a real representation of the People ; and straightway , Liberal journals are scandalized at the idea of objecting to young lords , contractors , and officers , as vicegerents for the veritable People . The attack on Mr . Fox means a fear that the movement , to which he gives voice , is likely to become too popular—likely to take the wind out of poor Lord John ' s sails . They wish to frighten off the dreadful interloper , as savages try to frighten away an eclipse , by making
a . That which the Parliamentary Reformers now stand for is " universal suffrage "—the representation of the whole people . '' The extension o ! the suffrage to every occupier of a tenement or portion of a tenement , " is the extension of the suffrage to all men who can give an address — to every man who can identify himself— to everybody . Moreover , by his speech , Mr . Fox has brought out the wanner spirit ihat was wanting .
When , however , parties that aim to be popular adopt the one thing- still absent , the movement will be truly national : it will be so when parties , abandoning . self aggrandizement as the object , repudiating appeals to the mere self-interest of adherents , feel once more an honest , beany , common pride in being Englishmen , and resolve to stand up for I he rights of Englishmen ; not because it is politic , but because it is good and noble to do so .
Oct. 4, 1851.1 ®T> * *«*.***? 943
Oct . 4 , 1851 . 1 ® t > * *«* . ***? 943
"That Is What Ave Want Here." A(;Kic.Ul....
"THAT IS WHAT AVE WANT HERE . " A (; Kic . UL . TUitAi , [ STS cannot much longer postpone the coining to a more distinct understanding amongst themselves . Day after day a very broad hint is thrown out that Protection is given up , at least for the present ; but a pretence is made of reserving a hope for some distant and indeterminate future . The practical agriculturists arc not content with that vague state of their own policy . At Wallington , Mr . Ilarcourt alluded to the rule of agricultural dinner meetings which precludes members from touching on politics—a rule generally observed ; but "at Aylesbury , " he eaid , "Mr . Disraeli . seems to have done otherwise . " On this
koim . ! one exclaimed— " 1 hat is what we want here . " And the President agreed that it was not necessary to Htiek to the rule . lint , when they entered upon the discussion there was poor comfort . Mr . Harcourt thought tlic diminution of rates would do little for them ; and he is quite right . The " local burdens" which weigh . so heavily on Mr . Disraeli ' s mind , arc but a . small weight to the fanner in comparison with the burden— -the desperate disproportion between what ho can get in a competitive market and what be , must pny , not only to the rate collector , hut to the nnil ; collector and 1 . 1 k ; labourer . That in the
hopeless burden . Will In ; get better prices ? Mr . I liircoiirt thinks the farmer can judge ; as well us tlic Member ; so thinks Mr . Henley . Mr . Henley seem no prospect of better prices . ( Inn they , then , get back Protection ? No ; Mr . Henley netss no signs of inducing Parliament to grant a new trial iiiul reverse its judgment . " You cannot , " hi ; nays , " get flint judgment net aside , unless you can carry f iffn to found ; i new trial upon . 1 nay , at present we 1 'avc not . these facts . "
No better prices ; no going back to Protection What , comfort , did the farmers and occupiers , nay , < be landlords and tho labourers of . Berkshire ,
derive from these avowals ? We ask the farmers if they are satisfied ? " We have no facts /* says Mr . Henley . No facts ! Why , is not the farmer desperate ? Is he not obliged to eke out his means by accepting a beggarly , charity-like " reduction of rents , " and by beating down the wages of his poor labourers ? You know he is , Mr . Henley . Are not those " facts" ? In a week or two , in Warwickshire , wages will be down to 7 s . again : is that an income to " live upon ? Do you give up your motto of " Live and let live " ?
Oh no ; " the game is" not played out , " says Mr . Henley . Now , what does he mean ? What has he in reserve ? What are he and his party preparing to do ? Let the farmers ask that . " The game is not yet played out" : such is the boast , it appears , which is substituted for " No surrender . " They have surrendered ; but they won ' t surrender next time . Seriously , it would be well for the farmers to ask what those covert promises mean . We suspect that they mean—simply nothing . Protection is given up , and the politicians and the agricultural classes have nothing to propose in the place of it—not yet . Such is the fact . Let the practical agriculturists confront it . Politically , Protection has failed .
We beg the farmers also to bear some other things in mind . In alluding to past scarcity and recent Free-trade , Mr . Henley let fall this untuward expression : — " The man who could scarcely get one loaf at that time , revels and rejoices in getting two now . " Amost natural exultation . If Mr . Henley had ever been reduced to one loaf—or none—he would know how to rejoice over two . Even the " agricultural mind , " as Mr . Disraeli calls it , perceived that substantial truth ; and when Mr . Henley said those words about now rejoicing over two loaves , some one called out— " A very good job , too . " " I don ' t know that , " cried Mr . Henley . He doesn ' t know that ! he doesn ' t know that two
loaves are better than one ! Perhaps he doesn t know that half a loaf is better tlian no bread ? It is clear that Henley has never been hungry : he does not know the dull gnawing at the pit of the stomach . He went on to say something about wages being reduced as a set-off against the second loaf ; but let us tell Mr . Henley , in ail frank and friendly feeling , that wages are a secondary consideration to bread : it all turns upon bread . If a man has two loaves instead of one , he might do without wages .
No ; it was the fundamental mistake of Protection which Mr . Henley let slip into view when be uttered those words : the mistake of Protection was , that it tried to benefit the grower at the expense of the consumer . You could not continue that plan ; you never will be able to renew it . It is surely time that our agricultural readers should ponder that inevitable conclusion . The second fact which we would urge them to ponder , in this grave crisis of their fate , is the condition of the agricultural labourer . The farmer now is not only trying to eke out his deficit—the difference between bis income from the market and
his expenditure—by reduction of rents ; be is not only trying to get somethimj out of the market by underselling ln . s neighbour , who undersells him in turn— -we ask our friends in ( -luribiidgeshire , in Yorkshire , in Cheshire , whether thai ; is not true . ?—but he is trying to eke out by beating down wages . Our readers already know what i . s habitual in Dorsetshire and Essex , in Suffolk and Norfolk , in Wiltshire : now draw acircle including acornerof Worcestershire , Warwickshire , and Gloucestershire—three of tin ; best counties in England—and there , too , the rule holds good . Seven shillings a week ! It is cruel work . We do not blame the farmer : but ;
titill it is cruel work . And it , cuiiiinf . go on . The fanner , still sinking , will press more heavily on the labourer . The labourer is bent on escaping . Somi ! of his kith and kin have : done so : they have gone to America , or Australia , and they send back llourishing accounts . They have had to rough it at first—sometimes they had no " wages" at , all ; but , they have two loaves , Mr . Henley ; they can cat , and be filled . There is
gold , too , in Australia . Anil in America , one man , a veritable labourer of that circle which we have designated , is now , not only a landed proprietor —• anybody may be that !—but . a town is named after him . Imagine John o' Nokes , then ; in Worcestershire , remembering poor Tom Stiles , who was no belter paid or fed t | iau himself imagine John reading of Touibfilesville ! Yet what we speak of is a simple fuel . Now , will those men slop to be
starved , or to be workhoused as they are at Barham ? Will they be less sagacious than the wild Irish , who have cut and run ? Of course not : already , and we speak from personal knowledge , their minds are bent upon running . And then what will happen to wages ? Fewer labourers , higher wages ; and yet less hands to do the work that must be done . That is the problem before the farmer . Study it , man : you will have fewer hands , higher wages , and no higher prices . Under those conditions , how will you make both ends meet ? And how , O Landlord , in those circumstances , will Farmer pay his rent ?
Perhaps you think that you can solve the problem , as the agriculturists have tried in some districts , by preventing their labourers from emigrating—by keeping them at home to be workhoused down to the lowest rate of wages ? Never believe it . They may stop : but workhoused labourers riot ; they also burn hayricks , and cornricks , and farmbuildings . A hungry man is an angry man ; a caged man is a wild beast . Yet , says Mr . Henley , there are " no facts " Facts , God wot ! there are in plenty ; stunning facts too . They will not hit you any the softer for for shutting your eyes to them . " Live and let live " is a law suspended .
Now , we repeat , What do the leaders of the agriculturists mean to do ? That is the question of questions for them . They ought to devise a plan of action , and they can do so . There is no wrong without redress . If their old reliance is taken from them , they must , as a landowner says , insist on " Some other kind of Protection . " They must not stand idle , hopeless , and helpless . Let them get from Mr . Whittaker's
Mr . George Pelsant Dawson ' s very brief pamphlet , How to Live , and next week we will talk to them about it . The main object of Protection was a just one ; the mode was imperfect ; the object is not out of reach , —on the contrary it is more attainable than ever ; and , by the blessing of God , if the agriculturists will only look at the ground before them ,, they shall walk up to that " other kind of Protection" and take it . Assuredly , " That is what we want here . "
A13d-El-Kadeii, Louis Napoleon, And Lond...
A 13 D-EL-KADEII , LOUIS NAPOLEON , AND LONDONDERRY . The correspondence of the Marquis of Londonderry and M . Louis Napoleon Bonaparte , on the prolonged captivity of A bd-el-Kader , is honourable to the implied wishes of the sometime captive of Ham ; but in a far higher degree to the noble persistance , the chivalrous compassion , the dignified fidelity to the cause of the captive , which breathes in every word that comes from the heart of the
British soldier and gentleman . In these degenerate and stock-jobbing days , when all generous traditions are held to be worn-out prejudices , when the " point of honour" is a bygone fancy , the faith of capitulations a convenient snare , and respect to the vanquished an idle extravagance of fiction , it is refreshing and ennobling to find an old soldier of European battlefields , a man of tried valour , taking up the righteous cause of humanity in behalf of a warrior whose name alone was once
the terror and despair of invading armies , and the soul of African chivalry . The English nobleman has peculiar and especial claims upon the French President : the claims of enduring friendship and hospitality to the proscribed exile : the claim of an appeal in his favour in the day of his- not underserved imprisonment ; : the claim of ; i soldier who had fought in nobler than African campaigns , not to speak of the larger claims of honour . It must never be forgotten that Abd el-lvader was never taken prisoner . l ' icedom and the illimitable Desert were , before him , and the distant
chances of a struggle that , should never Hag but with the , expiring faith in the Prophet and in the champion of the Holy War . He surrendered , on a free capitulation--on the pledge , of a French officer , ratified by a Prince , that he . should be permitted to retire to Mecca or to Turkey imdtir honourable surveillance . It was thus that Una Arab eagle was caught aixj «¦««««! . H was reserved for the bastard Monarchy of l » : U > to complete a rei-ni of dynastic l . em-he . ics by this s . gnal violation of < t solemn treaty . It belonged to the young Republic ! lo pvvvcid a royal , from becoming a national , di . s , ac . But no ; every succeed m Republican Executive , IVo ... ' ¦ »> | J ^" """ ^ rtx " moiit to tho installation of the Elect of tho 10 tU ol December , baa adopted , glorified in , tho lust teata-
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Oct. 4, 1851, page 11, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_04101851/page/11/
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