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' 1356- * THE LEAPEK. [No. 455, December...
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rrTTATmtrnio ,,«Tc *e^^-n.mrn^ XHOUGJITS, 1TAC1S, AND SUGGESTIONS
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BIOGRAPHIES OP GERMAN" PRIJTCES. Xo. Y. ...
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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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Taxation And Death. The Registrar-Genera...
dealers before It reaches him . A similar fact is true of -. the shilling duty on corn . All these duties , too , put money into the pockets of landowners by raisin ** the price of these articles , as well as into the Treasurv . From every pound of the poor man ' s su <* ar , tea , " and tobacco , the law is the means of takni" - a large pinch or a handful before he gets it . ( 5 ufc of a revenue of 68 , 000 , 000 / . in 1857-S , 4-i , 000 , 000 / ., or nearly two-thirds , were obtained by customs and excise duties . On the poor the bulk of these duties were levied , and were enhanced to them by the dealers advancing the duties to the Government and recovering them with a profit from their customers . By this process taxation very generally adds to the wealth of the rich , and falls exclusively
on the poor . . In truth—as the history of the people since the beginning of the war in 1793 has proved—to impoverish the multitude is the necessary consequence of all such taxation . It deprives them of enjoyment and it increases the enjoyment of the upper and opulent classes , who in the main are the recipients of taxation . It can excite no surprise , therefore , that gentlemen like Mr . Drummond , who have a thorough and uneasy consciousness of the real working of the system , should be alarmed for their property and position by the proposal to give all classes edual political power . It their property
and position be not founded on taxes and duties , which bv taking away the property of the poor shorten " their lives , the things are so mingled together that the multitude cannot distinguish between them . It is said , indeed , by the worst enemies of property and the promoters of social revolution , that the law which starves the people is the source of all property . If the multitude be hostile to property it is because they are taught by some very great men that it is founded on duties and taxes . These subjects now take a deep hold of the public mind , and they are treated of even in the Household Words , though the writers there direct contempt and indignation against «• ' trading- in fetters" in France , not against the laws which in England increase disease and shorten life .
' 1356- * The Leapek. [No. 455, December...
' 1356- * THE LEAPEK . [ No . 455 , December H , 1858 .
Rrttatmtrnio ,,«Tc *E^^-N.Mrn^ Xhougjits, 1tac1s, And Suggestions
THOUGHTS , FACTS , AND SUGGESTIONS OS PARLIAMENTARY REFORM . ] So . V . Next in importance to the extension of the suffrage would be aii improvement in the mode of voting . The intolerable hardships connected with the present system are incontestable ; arid the only wonder is that they have been so long and so patiently borne . The explanation must be sought for in the fact , that their operation is to a great extent casual and partial , and , what is still more to the purpose , that those chiefly are affected who are in general afraid to complain . It is the tradesman whose credit is tottering , or the tenant whose rent is in arrear , or the employe whoso retention .-. of his nost is uncertain , that writhes beneath the dictational bequest , or the significant Lint of the man who exercises an unrighteous power over him . But just because he is intimidated by such influence , he is incapacitated from denouncing it . If he could tell what he lms endured , public opinion would acfc , to a certain extent at least , and the evil would be mitigated if not brought to an end . But in exact proportion as tho oppressor feels
that he may venture to be ruthless , the oppressed feels that ne dare not reclaim . It is tho stor / of the usurer andThis commercial victim over againthe weaker the one the more cruelly exacting the other , and the more iniquitous the transaction the less chance of anything being said about it . Our thorough-bred hypocrites of all parties among politicians know this well ; yet with smooth brow and languid Up they profess their belief that intimidation is an evil much exaggerated , because they have
very rarely specific instances mentioned . There Are many diseases of the most lamentable kind , of which few of us can say that wo have had p ersonal knowledge ; but is that a reason for denying their existence or trifling with the means of precaution and prevention P Various quaok remedies have from time to time been proposed for the mischief in question . There are many people who have a sort of half belief in its reality , and who would be willing to resort to half a cure . Tims there are advocates for \ vlmt is called " optional ballot . " that is , for allowing any
constituency that are afraid of not being allowed to vote as they like , to . come forward beforehand , publicly , and say so , and call upon tho returning officer to hold the next election by way of ballot . It can hardly be necessary to tell any one who has ever had much to do with contested elections , that this is a barefaced attempt at imposture . It is precisely in those places where a check on bullying and espionage , tyranny and terrorism , is most required , that this deceptive remedy could never be had recourse to . Birmingham and Glasgow , Southwark and Marylebone , whose people vote
just as they like , might pass resolutions in favour of optional ballot , and would in all probability find that they were neither the better nor the worse for it . But which of the small boroughs which time out of mind have been hotly contested , would be able to get two-thirds or three-fourths of their voters to come forward and say in the teeth of the combined powers of local intimidation , that they had hitherto feared and now wished to defy them ? The whole power of the screw would be set in motion forthwith to thwart
such a beginning of mutiny ; and once it had failed , the attempt would never be made again . There are another class of cases in which , perhaps , a different course might be pursued with equally sinister views ; we mean those small and corrupt boroughs to which we have always felt the ballot to be inapplicabiei In these it might possibly be adopted for the very purpose of lending the screen of secrecy to malpractices . Sooner or later the fact would come out , and then we should of course be told that the much vaunted remedy of silent voting had signally failed , and that we had better
retrace our steps . If the new bill leaves any constituency under eight hundred or a thousand voters standing , we should look with great misgiving-as to the working of the ballot therein , unless it were accompanied by some better machinery than any we have yet seen tried for the taking of votes in the aggregate instead of separate divisions , or of preventing the numerical result of the poll in each ward or division being subsequently known . Take an example . The borough of Hotten-ham , containing now three hundred and fifty voters , is put into Schedule A * Instead of total disfranchisement Ministers will perhaps propose that the neighbouring market towns of
Gorn-wich and Wool-stowy with about a «» many electors each , and the contiguous watering-place of Flunkey-ville , with about as many more , be grouped together . A constituency will thus be formed of some fourteen or fifteen hundred voters : and if they , or two-thirds of them , choose to vote by ballot , why not let them have their way . But if the four separate towns we have named continue to vote , and to have the net result of their voting told and recorded separately , it needs no uncommon shrewdness to guess what would probably happen . The votes of one half of the electors in each would be known as certainly as they were before ; a fourth would not vote at all , either from choice or the fear
of incurring suspicion ; and the remaining contingent would be easily dealt with in a variety of ways . Many of them would , as now , bo bought . They could not , indeed , then , as now , be made amenable to tho law , but they could and would , just as easily as now , be detected if they had played false to their honourable or right honourable purchasers : and iu tho main we believe that they would not pluy false . In a word , the agents of corruption would know almost to a nicety the
how many votes were wanting in each of four little joint-stock boroughs ; and under tho cover of ft system sucli as wo have described , they would with impunity pursue' tboir nefarious trade . If we aro to have grouping of boroughs , or what amounts to nearly the same thing , large towns with a number of separate polling districts , it will bo indispensable , whenever the ballot is tried , to have tins whole ot tho votes brought to one spot , and there thoroughly mingled before thoy are counted or any announcement made of tho result . __ . . . . . that
Another and still more insidious scheme is which is usually termed tho Plan of VoLing Papers . It is one which is known to have many defenders among tho present Administration , mid not a lew advocates among Whigs of the Grey and fcbrington school . Its aim is confessedly to put an end to all pressure from without , while it leaves untouched tho pressure from within ; and to destroy tho influence of popular sympathy and opinion upon tho electoral body , wlulo it leaves uncontrolled tho silent terrorism exorcised by those who ohoso to abuse the powers of position and property . la a
Parliament constituted like the present there U < T more danger ot such a scheme being scriousW tempted , than that of the ballot , cv-ii in hf tioual shape . It is most desirable , therefore , that its hollowness should be thoroughly understood anJ exposed ; and a separate examination of its natnr * and tendency will therefore be given in our ner * chapter . Meanwhile , let it be candidly consider ! whether the ballot ought , not to be treated i £ l corollary to household or rate pay ing suffrage rather than as an alternative or substantive good to be placed before men ' s eyes It is vain to deny that
without a great extension of the franchise the ballot would be viewed with hostility rather than favour by a great portion of the community . We do not allude here ¦ to . those sections of the wealthy and educated sections of society who instinctively prefer oral voting , because they have * never felt its inconveniences . We allude to the feeling which we know to be widely and deeply spread among the working classes , and against which it were hopeless to contend . What they say is this—Let us inside before you shut the door
W e have no objection to silent and orderly votiu 01 provided we . get leave to vote ; but so long as you 10 / . householders call yourselves trustees for us and say that you vote in our name as well as your own , we have a right to know what you do . It is not easy to answer thi * , and we had a great deal rather not hear the controversy opened . We are quite convinced that without a cordial and genial co-operation between the various great sections ' the industrious . community , . nothing worth much will be extorted from the privileged orders in the shape of Reform . Until ; i -great extension of franchise is gained , it would be very . difficult to secure for the -ba ' . lof . : i fair trial . ' Oneo the franchise is broadly extended , the concession of the ballot will become inevitable , and its practical success will then be sun .
Biographies Op German" Prijtces. Xo. Y. ...
BIOGRAPHIES OP GERMAN" PRIJTCES . Xo . Y . ' GEORGE V . KING OV ll . VXOVEK . Although the dynasty of Hanover was , in days gone by , selected to ill 1 th ; it throne which is considered the Constitutional throne par excellence , its members at home , in Germany , give but rery little evidence of any absorbing love for Constitutionalist principles . Both the ' old King , who died a few years since , and his son , the present sovereign , are but sorry specimens of liberal rulers . They are more distinguished by the off-hand manner in which they have violated the laws of their country than for auy
extraordinary amount of lidelity towards them . Both father and son have had their coups dMat . Efticst Augustus , the former king , overthrew , in 1833 , the fundamental law of Hanover with a nonchalance exhibiting little of those constitutional scruples which arc fondly supposed to characterise English princes , lie was , it must bo remembered , an . English prince . By education , as well as by language , he had more atlinity to the Inglishraan tlm ? i to the German ; and , in fact , was never able of be
to speak German properly . When Duke Cum land , he acquired no very enviable notoriety in is country by his ultra-Tory principles , and his acme enmity to all liberal ideas . _ . . Once on his own lands iu his German , Tucpality , nml this enmity speedily assumed the character of arbitrary violence . The restraints upon to despotic tendencies wero there ot course , muc weaker than they had been in Inland , m I cons qucntly , as they relaxed , his roul Uniiing * dow-loncu themselves with astonishing rnpitliiv . "V " : . solved the Hanoverian Chambers ; trod the C *»»' titliou under foot ; drove out of the * 7 » ^ JS who protested against the violation ot » % ' '" . . altogether played the approval F »' t « l iU \\" 'Ll gnlou tyrant . In vain wire remonst rances »< c ^ to him from the most ciniiu-iil . »»«» " . !) r . In vain did the towns of bin kin-clui . i , tlu > > « V ' trnloi . tliQ p rorwworaof tl . o Uiiivoiwiy 0 U . 0 JugJ in short , a 1 commonly known us the iw | oc classes , " join tho people in tljoit ; uuh * i « mt JP 1 J » King Ernest Augustus earnoilhis will l « i l "" -, j constitutional means of armed 1 mm , Jlo f oven scruple to . oxilu those aistin «» uslioa w science , cJorvinuB , JJuhlmami , tho hrothe > ¦ < J ^ Albroolife , and others , who avo hiniejl n J \ , | , J of Unparliamentary struts ol f ' 3 ' 1 »« * Seven of Qpttingen . " IV years lie coal uc arbitrary rule , though tho d » ttTit « ^ » ° ltttion roso to suoli an extent that loi » iohjj
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 11, 1858, page 20, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_11121858/page/20/
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