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Jvtv 5, 1851.] g fte %t*%tt* 625
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M. THIEBS ON PROTECTION. A debate on the...
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Continental Notes. The Two Topics In Fre...
— -TT -nd one is astonished that a society which con-« rCft n man ? elements of power and prosperity can ex-18108 SeTf w frequently to seek its own ruin . ( Laud p 08 e itself w «» J « J be tru M the Emperor has "ifSXt theM world is ended and the new one » not 8 W Armii fixed ? Without knowing what it will be , let yet firmly »* e" f , . preparing for it solid founda-H d ° Tffe % 7 Zr . 7 VmTil pleased to employ this \ l 0 n \ Jftoy oaina province remarked at all time , for la nguage to you inap t £ ) wn wa il 7 fcS 8 VII , ? he centre ? f a heroic reststance-Xlft was for fourteen years the refuge of nationally In France when inve 8 ted . ( Applause . ) Let us tope that ft wffl be still one of the first to give the example ; of de-« a ! edneM to civilisation and its native land ( Loud apituT ) I now drink to « The prosperity of the town of Poitiers . ' ( Prolonged cheers . ) Again no mention of the Republic , but a significant mention of "the Emperor" !
In corroboration of what we said in our last week ' * number about the French army , in an article headed ?« The Putting an End to the European Revolution , a correspondent sent us the following anecdote , showing the prevailing spirit in the present . trench , army , amongst the higher ranks : — Some time ago a general was travelling by ^ railroad , accompanied by a colonel of the staff . A lady , unknown to the general , was the only traveller besides the two superior officers . The general , fondly caressing his mustache , gave vent to his inyestives against the Republicans in general , expressing his wish to meet them in the streets , that he might have the opportunity of " exterminating them all . " The
gallant general pertinaciously clung two entire hours to his chosen topic , which , of course , was submissively approved by the colonel . At last the train stopped , and the formidable exterminator of all the Republicans got out ; so also did the lady . Thereupon she reproached him for his abominable language , and asked him his name . " My name , " exclaimed the general , "do you intend to ruin me ? " " Why , general , you are afraid ? " Finally the reactionary hero , being thus suspected of his bravery , gave his name ; his , interlocutress did the same . This lady was no other than George Sand , The next day she received a letter from the general imploring her to keep the secret .
Ledru Rollin has been sentenced by the bar of Paris to fine and imprisonment for his pamphlets on the 13 th of June and the 24 th of February ; and as these pamphlets ceased to become amenable , because the seizure of them , at the editor ' s had been nonsuited , they brought an action against the author , not for having written the pamphlets edited in France but for having given occasion by their publication t , a Bt lgian " contrefaction , " of which copies have been seized upon hawkers , whom the police absurdly protended as being unknown to them . It is now pretty generally admitted that the petition-movement has been a failure . The sum total
ot aig natures unauthenticated , crosses included , will barely amount to a million , and of that million a considerable fraction neither are , nor have ever been , nor can ever be electors . Perhaps the failure is owing to the very means taken to stimulate the movement , the active canvass of the authorities . The pressure exerted by the administration , and importunity of sub-prefects , employes , and gendarmes , seem in fact to have made the mass of the people colder than they would otherwise have been , and to have eet their stomachs against the revision .
lhe Prussian Ministry , compelled to respect the excitability of the provinces , energetically protesting against the return of the provisional Diets , has abandoned the currying out of the plan by administrative measures ; they will remain in the constitutional track , viz ., allow the Chambers to decide the mischief . Meanwhile the search of private houses at Berlin continues . Austria , too , will not remain behind Prussia in her reactionury zeal , and Windisgratz is spoken of as about being intrusted with the supreme direction of public alfairs in Vienna , the present authority being accused of too much moderation .
Our readers will not have forgotten that , following the exumpleof the general reaction on the Continent , superintended by Nicholas ot Hustria , the partisans ol Jesuitism attempted an insurrection in Switzerl and . Misled by fanuticul priests , a certain number of peasants , headed by a demoniac called Curmrd , endeavoured to overthrow the legitimate Government of Fribourg , to replace it by a gang of brigands . Alroud v a li » t ot citizens to be put to death was prepared . 1 'he good cause triumphed , and many people .
especiall y those who accept tho calumnies upread by the- reaction ( depicting the Republicans as bloodthirst y monsters ) , for so many truths , wero pretty » ure that the victors would take th « ir revenge . 13 ut , instead of revenge , the victorious Swi « s Uubublicuiis spared the livt-s of their vanquished enemies , though *> i looking around them , n sanguinary npectuele of tho uHunds of victims perishing under the merciless Wows of the Euiopeau despots met their eyes . i he lute of the twenty-seven Poles belonging to the * <> li 8 h _ u ullg ( lriaa Leuion , wo mentioned in our last week a number , hua been decided by the Turkish Movw unauat , Xliey wUUo mt to A * Y © rjpgoL XUi »
determination is attributed to the influence of Sir S . Canning . The decision was read to them on the 27 th of May , by Arzuman , Commissary of the Porte , and contains the foliow » ng provisions : — " 1 . In twenty days a Turkish steamer will anchor at Ohemlek ( where the said Pole * now are ) , and carry them to the Dardanelles , from whence they will sail to England on board an English ship . " 2 . They will be furnished with individual passports . " 3 . The Turkish Government pays the expenses of the voyage , and moreover assigns for their minor expenses a certain sum . "
Freedom in Hesse Cassel has received its deathblow . Two documents are published in the official Gazette of Cassel of the 28 th of June . The first is a general decree cancelling the oath taken by the officers of the army to the Constitution , their interpretation of which , after the publication of the decrees of last September , led to their resistance to the Government , and finally the occupation of the country by the troops of the Bund . The other decrees contain the grant of an amnesty to bofli civil and military officers who refused compliance to those decrees , and the exceptions from it .
Jvtv 5, 1851.] G Fte %T*%Tt* 625
Jvtv 5 , 1851 . ] g fte % t * % tt * 625
M. Thiebs On Protection. A Debate On The...
M . THIEBS ON PROTECTION . A debate on the question , shall France adopt the free-trade system and abolish protection ( arising on a motion made by M . de Sainte Beuve ) , comes like an anodyne over the mind of the observer of French politics . A topic , which , in its treatment , raises no political passions , but is addressed to the intelligence , must be at a discount in Paris . Besides , that topic has drawn forth a " great speech" from M . Thiers , very useful at this stage of the Associative question . M . Thiers professes to be a Protectionist " pure and simple . " He bases his theory on what may be called the doctrine of remunerating prices ; and his speech reads like an echo of the manifestos which were wont to to be issued from New Bondstreet four years ago . At the outset he made an extraordinary statement . M . de Sainte Beuve rested his theory upon the principles of political oeconomy developed by Adam Smith , and he found practical illustration in the policy of Sir Robert Peel . Yes , exclaims M . Thiers , I have the deepest respect for Sir Robert Peel , but " there is not a man of commnn spnsfi who' Hors not admit that Peel was
precipitate , and has exposed his country to severe trials by the boldness of his reforms " ! And he contended that the English system was not applicable to France , because direct and indirect taxation were equal in France and unequal in England . France could not support an income tax ; and without an income , how could her revenue be raised . Everything is protected in France , corn , cattle , silk , manufactures , even wine . And this protection was necessary , in order that the producers might receive a remunerating price for their products .
" ' Take off the protective duty , ' says M . de Ste . Beuve , ' and agriculture will at once profit by it . * Butagriculture could only be benefited by selling its corn dear . The problem , therefore , to be solved was—to have corn dear and bread cheap at the same moment and in the same country . But that was impossible ; for bread could not becheap while corn was dear , and consequently M . deSte . Beuve ' a syBtem could not at the sume time benefit the agriculturist , whose interest it was to sell his corn dear , and the workman , whose interest it was to buy the bread of his family cheap . The possessors of land in England and in France were not of the same description—the former were a rich clas 3 , being , in fact , the aristocracy ,
and able to support , to a certain extent , the change which had been introduced into England ; but in France the people were the landowners , each with a small parcel of ground belonging to himself , and the whole mass constituting the aristocracy of the country . To show the poverty of the possessors of the soil , did they know how many in France paid a land tax under 6 f . ? Five millions and a half of people . It was all very well to -talk of buying in the cheapest market ; but what were these people to do—how were they to live—if you bought your corn for nine francs the hectolitre at Odessa ? These latter were not such a class aa could support the sacrifices consented to in England by her powerful aristocracy . "
He also illustrated this doctrine of remunerating prices by a reference to coal , iron , cotton and mlk ; and broadly stated tho isolation principle in the following words : — " Ah , I can very well conceive that when a people has a small territory , like that of the three British islands , it should feel the greatest anxiety to have foreign markets opened to it ; but when u country has a market like 1 ' ranee , it ought to endeavour to keep it to itself , and then give what is not wanted to others , if any uuoh remainder there should happen to be . ( Laughter . ) A great nation , " he added , " cannot consent to depend on foreign powers for its dully mipplien . We cannot look to others for our iron , coals , and tissues . "
Consistently with big theory of protection lio denounced what is culled luisHuz-fuire . Ho showed how Henry VIII . had entabliuhcd tho woollen manufacture in England by placing u heavy duty on Flemish cloihs ; how wo bad borrowed cotton innnufuctur * s from India ; and obtained our breed of horses by u prohibitory dmy . In fact , ho traced English superiority to protection , and a polioy the rcYurw of
laissez-faire . He altogether ridiculed the notion of " letting things find their level" : — 11 It was not in that way that the most important industries of France had been born and reared- Those giddy kings of France , as Machiavelli called them , were not blind on their travels in Italy ; and Francis I . and Henri IV . had brought home the mulberry-tree to plant in the palace gardens . While Louis XIV . was humbling Spain , Colbert was conquering cloths , and making
Abbeville famous for its webs . Lace was not taken from the English and Venetians by laissez faire , but a woman was set up with workmen , money , and privileges , to produce specimens within a given time . When the glasses of Venice had to be surpassed , workmen were fetched from the Adriatic capital , and furnished with means , honours , and privileges . Under the Revolution and the Empire English manufactures were burned . That was the way to originate something solid and grand , not by laissez- faire . "
There is something very imposing about the solemnity of the following passage . The gravity of the orator whose mystical predications were followed by a " sensation" must have been immense ! " We have the Exhibition of London to form a comparison as to the strength of nations ; the Exhibition of London , that noble and grand imitation of France . England there takes the lead , through her speciality in a great portion of her manufactures . She has nothing to fear for iron , coal , or cotton . Masters of markets for their productions , the English have been led to believe that in all other respects they could support free trade . But for silk goods , for gloves , and other articles , Eng
land has protected inferior articles . As far as that , however , free trade has not been unfavourable to England . It has not been the same with corn ; that was only brought about by a political pressure . The aristocracy , however , knew how to make sacrifices , for that body is essentially liberp . l ; it is the mother and the guardian of liberty in England , and I think that if the aristocracy of England were to perish liberty would fall with it . ( Sensation . ) I think I do you honour , gentlemen of the Left , in saying this ; for it proves you can bear the truth , and the truth is that the English aristocracy
is essentially liberal , and that if we do not commit very serious faults , we are sure of having England as a friend and a support under circumstances which I foresee , but which 1 hope never to see take place in Europe . ( Renewed sensation . ) I am not at all deceived as to the result of free trade in corn in England . God grant that the English people may remain calm before the eventualities of the future ! I hope that all will end well ; but I would not , however , wish to introduce into France what I consider to have been an imprudence in England , in spite of all that it may support with the speciality of its manufactures . "
" I should be very proud to be an Englishman , ' ' cried M . Thiers , "but I am not unhappy at being a Frenchman , " a sally followed by " approving laughter . " He thought that Washington , were he alive , would recommend the Americans to stick to agriculture as the surest means of liberty and greatness . " " Russia , " said he , ' desires to make cotton cloths , because she wants to trade in them with China , her design being to transport them there in caravans . The Russians are perfectly right , for every nation ought to do as much as is in its own power . At first the experiment will cost dear , hut with time and patience the article will become cheap . "
The last paragraph of this speech forcibly illustrates the perversity of the human mind , and the ease with which a man may slide into an illogical induction from a great fact : —• " Look on the map at the spot which we occupywhat ia it in comparison to the rest of the world ? 1 rovidence has given to China and India silk ; to America , cotton ; to Arabia , the horse . But Providence has given something superior to all these things to the temperate
zone—namely , man . ( Hear . ) Man , so created superior , exercises his intelligence , and after bringing to perfection the goods which he receives from those distant climes , sends them back to the populations which gave them . It is , I nay , the design of ( iod which you blaspheme in proposing to confide to chance thia great and noble civilization . I protest in the name of my country against such a doctrine , and I recommend it to persevere in the admirable sentiments of its policy and itu tradition ( Loud applause . )
And yet M . Thiers , recognizing the unquestionable fact that goods received are Bent back perfected , would close the ports of France to all the world until France manufactured everything » he needed for herself , and had a surplus of all things to send back perfected . If all the nations adopted this plan , war and conquest would be inevitable ; and , accordingly , wo find that M . Thicrs does contemplate war us a necessity . While be is so anxious not to blaspheme by committing " this noble civilization to the guidance of chance , " ho forgets that the very diffcicnco of clime and production augments exchange , that «; xolumgo suggests amity , and amity concert ; und that his protective plunconfides the destiny of civilization , in so fur uh it can , to something worse even than chaixco—to the capricious notions which man forma of his own interest .
M . Thiers is silent upon protection for wages , while he loudl y demands prot « ctiou und lemuneration ior capital . This is am important oversight on hi * purt . These discrepancies only allow that tho remuneration . r « quired in not alone tliat of o / ij > ital or wuges , but that which alone can arise irom concert in inouuoiion , and conceit ia di » ttibuUo « .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), July 5, 1851, page 5, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_05071851/page/5/
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