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December 9,1854.] THE LEADER. -ii«*
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UNITED STATES ELECTIONS. American electi...
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" THE CAMBRIDGE ROW" , AT INKERMAN. One ...
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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 Rifle Contracts. If Anything Could P...
appoints * ' reviewers" so few or so over-scrupulous , that out of a number between ten and twenty thousand stand which were waiting for examination in the middle of November , by the end of thai month ten thousand were still waiting-. We remember reading somewhere of a duel which was to have been fought ; only the seconds , being in collusion , delayed it so long by the over-scrupulous measuring of swords , that the duel was unfought , and the wronged man , awaiting- satisfaction , was taken up by the guard .
Surely the Government is misled by a name , and misconceives the contract system to be a means of contracting business instead of expanding it ? A large supply of arms is needed —the Duke of "Wellington , calculated that 350 , 000 would be necessary in the peace of year , of 1851 , besides a store of 600 , 000—and Government grants contracts to four men at Birmingham . True the rule has been relaxed and a few other makers have been engaged ; but the actual supply from Birmingham is only 1100 a week , and the supply which the town
could produce would be 3000 . There are gunmakers also at Coventry , in London , arid in , other places , so that it is not too much to say that the supply at home could be quadrupled . Why create a monopoly ? The only excuse for doing so is when a demand is limited , and the object is to make it " worth the while" of some firms to do the work well ; but in this case the demand is practically unlimited . In such circumstances , the only object of a contract is to fix conditions , not to give an exclusive trade ; and there is no reason why Government should not at this moment have contracts
¦ w ith all makers in the United Kingdom . The makers themselves would multiply under such encouragement . Nay , hateful as the very sound of Government factories is to a Free-trade community , we believe that Government would have been allowed its gun factory at Woolwich , on one condition . If it had said , we want guns faster thaii they can possibly be made ; we will add , therefore , to the making power by establishing a factory , not to compete , but to aid—then we believe that the manufacturers themselves would
have voted for the aid , upon the sole condition that Government had frankly said—We want the arms as fast as possible , for we want them to destroy Russia , the great despot , the arch enemy of constitutional freedom .
December 9,1854.] The Leader. -Ii«*
December 9 , 1854 . ] THE LEADER . -ii «*
United States Elections. American Electi...
UNITED STATES ELECTIONS . American elections are frequently incomprehensible contradictions to Englishmen , and the last id more than usually tangled . Two years ago , when Mr . Pierce was carried into the Presidential chair on the flood of overwhelming popular opinion , the canvass presented no confusion , and consequently needed no explanation . The contest just over , however , requires comment in order to be comprehended by JBritons . A i ' ew weeks since wo had returns from the groat states of Ohio and Pennsylvania showing results decidedly ad verso to Mr . Pierce's administration , and the last nnail brought intelligible reports from New York , Massachusetts , Illinois , Indiana , New Jersey , Michigan , and Wisconsin . As tins is the first Congressional election since Mr . Pierce ' s elevation to the chief magistracy of tho Republic , and as all the states named have returned Opposition members to tho House of Representatives , or popular branch of tho national legislature , some speculations aa to cause and tendency may bo
appropriate . The campaign was ovidontly contested without special reference to the principles laid down in tho platforms of the old political parties . Now issues were raised , an < l new ofomonta
entered largely into the canvass . ELnow-Nothingism—a novel phase of American politics—seems to have met with considerable sucsess at the North and West , gathering force as it went from , almost all the other small 'isms of the land . This combination was unknown a year ago except as an impotent faction of what in 1844 was called the Native American Party . Now it absorbs all except the Democratic Party , which , it seems to us , often falls into
bad hands , "but as often rises above the temporary defeats it suffers from the follies of its friends . Its present discomfiture is justly attributable to the uncalled-for repeal of the Missouri Compromise , by which slavery is introduced into free territory , and the too common practice many of its leaders have of playing the demagogue to ignorant foreigners , to the manifest neglect and insult of intelligent native-bora Americans .
Reaction to some extent always follows the first Congressional term of a new President , disappointed aspirants for place , the non-fulfilment of the extravagant expectations of others , and revival of hope in the Opposition being its chief elements . In such cases the recoil , however , is only partial ; a consummation not indicated by this campaign . The change which has just taken place is best illustrated hy figures . At present there are twenty-two Democratic congressmen from New York State , and eleven Opposition ; four from New Jersey ,
and one Opposition ; sixteen from Pennsylvania , and nine Opposition ; and the same proportion from Ohio , Indiana , Illinois , and Michigan . In the next Congress , to assemble in December , 1855 , this will be almost , if not entirely reversed . The "Whigs and Know-Nothings of New York have elected twentyseven out of thirty-three members ; the same parties in Pennsylvania , twenty out of twentyfive menibers ; while the States of Ohio , Illinois , Maine , and Massachusetts do not send a
single member favourable to Mr . Pierce ' s Administration . The Know-Nothings have every congressman from the last-named State , together with the Governor and three hundred and forty-one out of three hundred and forty-eight members of the Lower House of the State Legislature . Influences of a local nature had weight in both New Yorlk and Massachusetts , in New York the canvass being what Captain Marryatt would call a very pretty triangular fight .
There were four candidates for Governor , and , strangely enough , the one friendly to Mr . Pierce was elected , although the Congressional delegation—which if favourable would be the real support of the Federal Government—was chosen from the Opposition . In Albany , the capital of tho State , the native Whigs voted for the Presidential favourite , whereas the Irish and German democrats of the same city gave
their support to Mr . Ullnoann , the Know-Nothing nominee ! The sequel to this lies in the facts that Mr . Seymour , the successful Governor , is pledged against that tyrannical gag , a Maine Liquor Law , which gained him Whig sympathisers ; and that tho Whigs , being hostile to Mr . Ullmann , represented him as a foreigner , to insure his defeat at the hands of naturalised citizens ; but to their astonishment this had the contrary effect .
The repudiation of the Know-Nothings by tho Now York Whigs contrasts strongly with the Whig endorsement of the new party in Massachusetts , Pennsylvania , Ohio , and sonic of tho "Western States ; and yet it is not surprising . In 1 844 , when the Native American party sprang to groat , but brief powor , the Pennsylvania Whig ; s courted it , to ensuro Henry Clay ' s election , their brethron of Now York disclaiming tho alliance . Mr . Clay was defeated . Tho Whigs of New York attributed this to tho Native Americana of Pennsylvania
having voted for him , while the Philadelphia Whigs as confidently imputed his failure to the native vote of New York having been cast for Mr . Polk . This created a breach which has never been solidly repaired ; and as the Know-Nothing party is clearly a revival of the old Native American organisation , spiced with a few new elements , the principal being secrecy , we do not see that ihe Whigs will gain by becoming its advocates . Mutual distrust already exists , and the Whigs , by courting the new party , merely catch at a straw to save their'party from immedia / te dissolution . Their gain in New York , Ohio , Michigan , and other
States , is not healthful . It is the result of the disaffection we have referred to , and not an endorsement of their principles . The Know-Nothings expect to rule , and will . They are not likely to submit to Whig rule , but the Whigs must yield to them . Such , indeed , appears to he the belief in Massachusetts , for that Whig State has become wholly Know-Nothing . In this view the Opposition in the next Congress will be formidable on none but the slavery extension question , and as that is settled for the present , the election of a Whig and Know-Nothing majority , is only a change in the ring of the old saw about the horse and stable-door . If we are correct—and we believe
we are—there are two hundred and two members of the House of Representatives or popular wing of Congress . The returns so far indicate a Whig and Know-Nothing preponderance of some twenty votes . Tbis > combined , is sufficient to defeat any democratic measure ; but as the Know-Nothings number twenty-eight or thirty members they hold the ** balance of power , " and will assuredly exercise it in . the way most to their profit . Whichever party offers fairest will most likely obtain their aid ,
and once they break with the Whigs that organisation will be powerless , the old animosity will revive , and reconciliation be impossible . Here is tne vulnerable point of the opposition ; nor is it to be supposed , the democrats will fail to assail it . They are somewhat disorganised now , but have not deserted their principles , and may be considered the only united , consistent party in the Republic . There
can be no doubt that they will have settled their differences before the end of 1855 , and therefore the new Congress , having a balancewheel in the recruited Whig vote , may legislate better than the present one has done so far . We do not believe there will be any change in the policy of Mr . Pierce ' s administration , except on the question of slavery , and that change will most likely be in favour of peace and against unnecessary agitation .
From this analysis the late elections present nothing very surprising . Know-Nothingism is contrary to the genius of republicanism , and cannot become permanent or controlling . The party carries tho seeds of its own dissolution with it , and must injure the combination which favours it . It is made up of the fragments of all factions , and , likq unto David in the cavo of Adullam , has gathered unto itself " everyone in distress , everyone in debt , " and all the discontented .
" The Cambridge Row" , At Inkerman. One ...
" THE CAMBRIDGE ROW" , AT INKERMAN . One of tho most startling subjects of tho week has passed under what looks like a systematic silence . Wo alluded to tho reports respecting tho Duko of Cambridge . A more pointed expression lias been given to tho sanao reports by tho Standard , winch says : — " Wo linvo some rouson for believing that tho Duko of Cambridge , than whom a bruver Holdier never stood on the Hold of buttle , hns hud has mmcl most alurnringly overthrown by tho sight of tho cold-blooded butcheries and deliberate ftasaaoinotiona
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 9, 1854, page 13, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_09121854/page/13/
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