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746 THE LEADER. [Saturday,
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SttJSSIAJSr POSSESSIONS IN AMERICA. The ...
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PAELIAMEFE OF THE WEEK. " COTERBWIEW* FI...
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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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In Vents "Are Leading Well Up To Give Ec...
to do directly with the Government , and are consequently allowed to know what is going on , such rumours generally mean & great deal : and in another column the aspects of such a political "bargain are discussed . The Czar would gain two points in such a sale ; he ^ vould get money ,, and would injure , and 3 & 11 aaor < % would he -wex , England . The strictly domestic news of the week is oCa character in accordance with t & e " season "—wfren
public affairs are suspended . The Assize intelligence , English a && Irishv aiSfords the usual ^ lustrations of our deplorable Christianity and melancholy civilisation . That most serious of all questions—the '' LabourQuestion "—is again presenting itself , with its inveterate persistence in search of a settlement , under some sad aspects , in the exhausted Spitalfields velvet-trade : masters and men fighting it out anarchically , and with , none the less hideous "vehemence , that the debasing controversy is as to whether a workman shall make 13 s . 6 d . instead of 12 s . a week . The
last act of the Preston drama has been played out at the Liverpool A _ ssizes : the prosecutors ¦ withdrawing their indictments against Cowell and his brother delegates ; and the suppressed people being now unequal to gaining attention to the Inqmry- ^ were not law and justice violated by the masters in obtaining the arrest of the delegates ? Cholera , progresses , here and throughout the world . One hundred die daily in X < ondon : —the Government occupied in seeking a Minister of Health among political partisans—the public thinking of deputations to the Home-office . Fox instance , a deputation from Hacknev make long
speeches to Lord Palmerston descriptive of the state of the open Hackaey brook ; Lord Palmerston replies that it shall be covered by November or February ! This is very imbecile ; we appear to have lost a free people ' s capacity for action . Some weeks ago we suggested a coujp d'etat against cholera : & national suspension of business while our towns were being cleansed , our brooks and sewers covered , and hospital accommodation and medical corps organised . But nothing is being done ; what is going on in Westminster Hospital is going on everywherethere are not beds and not surgeons -enough for the patients . °
746 The Leader. [Saturday,
746 THE LEADER . [ Saturday ,
Sttjssiajsr Possessions In America. The ...
SttJSSIAJSr POSSESSIONS IN AMERICA . The New York Herald announces that negotiations are going on between the Czar and [ Federal Government , on the basis of the Czar offering to sell to the United States all his American territory . If this be true , important considerations will arise ; and meanwhile accurate information as to the territory an question is important . Mr . A . K . Isbisfcer , in a letter to the Times , says : — " I am in a position fully to corroborate the statements of the Nex York Herald as to the great value of the territory in question in a commercial view , and more especially in relation to the valuable and important whale fishery which has recently been established in the neighbouring seas and islands . AU the best whaling stations in the North Pacific are comprised within this territory , and its acquisition by the United States would , a 3 the Neva Yorh Herald justly observes 1 give their whalers an advantage which would at once enable them to defy competition ; ' not to speak of the imrnouse political advantngo arising from the possession by our American , rrvals of so great an extent of sea coast on the Pacific completely hemming in the narrow strip of sea coast which would then remain to us between Queen Charlotte ' s and Vancouver 8 Islands , and rendering thoso possessions absolutely untenable by us in tho event of a war . "I trust it is not too lato to draw tho attention of our Government to certain arrangements between tho Russian CJovernment and the Hudson ' s Bay Company , which , I anticipate , will be found to afford us tbo xnenns of interposing nn effectual bar to tho further prosecution of the negotiations now said to tw > in progress . In consequence of certain infractions on tho part ot tho Russian Far Company of the
treaty of 1825 , under which Kngland claimed tho priviloRO ot navigating tho rivers flowing from tho interior to Lho Pacific across the lino of boundary established by that treaty , negotiations were entered into by the two Governments flnci by the two fur companies , winch led to un agreement tlmt from the 1 st of Jnno , 1640 , tho ( Hudson ' s Buy Company slioald enjoy , for a specified period , tho exclusive use of the coast assigned to Kussiii , extending from f > 4 dog . 40 rain , north , to Capo Spencer , near S 8 deg . north , in consideration oi the annual payment of 2000 otter skins to tho Russian . American Company ; nn lurnngomont which , I bolioyo , Butwists to the present time , and under which wo are , therefore , at this momont in actual possession of « 11 tho lest harbours on tho PucMo belonging to Huaaia ; for tho lino of coast boyond these limits la comparatively of little value , being blockod up with ioo during tho greater part of the yenr , and therefore- liLtlo lifcoly to oxcito tho cupidity of tho United States .
' There can . obviously , therefore , bo no transfer of this torntory , without n broach of engagement with us , before JV I ) ul " . l'oiiod oxpiiou , and any attempt of this nature vonia tul y justify un J » converting our tomporary oocujanoy ol tho coveted coast lino into ultjoluto possession . "
Paeliamefe Of The Week. " Coterbwiew* Fi...
PAELIAMEFE OF THE WEEK . " COTERBWIEW * FINANCE . On WedSaesday Sir H . Willougiiby asked Mr . GladstonesBoow -we stood" as to finance ? Had the expenditure exceeded Mr . Gladstone ' s estimates ? If it did * w » r & - we to pay ceady money fojF "wax—tlua expenditure of this , ani £ next year out © £ uexfc year ' s taxesg Or W- tiot , what would be the nature- of the loan-2 Or it no loaa ^ what sort of taxes ? Sir Henry mixed up thes $ pertinent and populaarquestions'with some immaterial rubbish—which ifcianot necessary to notice here . Mr . Gladstone answeredboldly and fully—giving us this his fourth budget for the session , and repeating his old suggestion ih . at the public is never told the truth in the " public accounts : "
" With respect to the public revenue and expenditure , he did not think he could add anything to what ho had stated to the House on a former occasion . On a previous occasion he had gone at great length into this question , and he was very happy to say , that though a time of war was necessarily a time of very great uncertainty—uncertainty as to whether the national expenditure would not fall short of the estimatesyet , speaking at the present moment , the 9 th of August , he saw no reason to retract or to quality anj statement he had made or any expectations he had held out to the House on the 8 th of May when he made a financial statement in detail upon which the proposal of the Government was made and the subsequent votes of the House were given . He was bound to fay that up to the present moment he Was entirely satisfied with the state of the revenue .
Perhaps it would be convenient to the House if he took this opportunity of giving some explanation with reference to the last quarterly statement of the revenue , . winch had made an impression less favourable than the facts warranted . It would be recollected thai' the last quarterly statement of the revenue showed a decrease upon the quarterly income , as far as regarded the permanent and regular branches of the ordinary revenue , amouting , he thought , to about 57 O , O 00 £ Now , lie considered it right to show the House liow dangerous it v ? as to form a judgment from statements of this character , which were very jartial in theirform , which were , perhaps , not as happily arranged and adjusted as they might be , and which lie sincorcely trusted they should succeed in improving * With regard to the whole of this 570 , 000 ? ., that apparent decrease was entirely fallacious .
{ Hear , area a laugh ) , He would explain to the House why it was fallacious . In the first place , it vould be recollected that last year this House had been p leastd , npon his motion , to pass a bill relating to metropolitan advances for metropolitan improvements , the first effect of wlich was that in the second quarter of 1853 a sum of about 140 , 000 / . was paid to the credit of the land revenues of the Crown , being due to it in consequence of the transactions of former years . That 140 , 000 £ , of course , had nothing whatever to do with the revenue of the year . But although it ha-d nothing to do with the real revenue of the y « ar it formed a part of the apparent revenue of the second quarter of 1853 , with which , of course ; the second quarter of this year ' » as compared . Therefore , from tho apparent deficiency of 570 , ( IOU £ in the second quarter of this year we must deduct this 140 , 000 / . on
account of that purely fictitious increase in the land revenues of the Crown in the corresponding quarter of last year . There was another item to which it was also necessary lie should direct the attention of the House . On tbo 6 th of April in the present year there waB a full in the tea duty . Of course , it was the desire of the trade to release at the earliest moment a- considerable quantity of tea . The principle upon which the Customs' Department acted , when there was a desire to take out a large quantity of any commodity at a reduced duty and at a very early hour , was to receive the duty in respect of that commodity on the pro vious day . Tho consequence of this was , that no less a sum than , he believed , 233 , O 00 £ , which was entirely due to the revenue of the second quarter of the year for goods taken out on the 6 th of April , went into the revenue of tho first
quarter of the year , being received on the afternoon of tho 5 th of April . And doft't say that this money was really due to tho revenue of the first quarter of the year , because the tea duty luid been stagnant in the first quarter in expectation of . tho remission of duty . That was perfectly true , but thero was a much greater stagnation in 1853 , prolonged from Dccombor , 1852 , to May , 1863 . Hero , therefore , was a further snm of 233 , 00 ( H ., which was dno to tho second quarter of 186 < L This took ai / ay at once 87 O , O 0 ( Ji out of the 670 , OOOJ . of apparent decrease . Then , again , tho quarterly statement , made up for tho information ot tho public , referred to England and to Scotland , but did not refer to Ireland . If it had referred to Ireland , if it had given tho rovenno of tho united kingdom . — which waa of course what they hud to deal with—thoy would have seen in the revenue of Ireland for tho quarter an increase which would havo disposed of tho whole of that 200 , 000 / ., so that , in point of fact , upon tho revenue of tho quarter , although th « y were comparing tho revenue of a period of
war with tho revenue of a period of peace , although they were comparing a period of dour monoy with a porlod of cheap money , and a period of dear bread with a period of cheap bread—yet , in spite of all these unfavourable circumstances , tho rovonuo of the second quarter of this year , from ponnuncnt sources fairly estimated , was equal to tho ruvonuo of tho second quarter of last year notwithstanding tho grout reductions of taxation -which had been inudo . That , lio considered , waa a very satisfactory statomont to mako to tho House . With regard to tlio domandB upon them , ho did not think it was doBirublo to repeat tho figurcu which ho had hud in grviet detail before tho House at an early period of the soBaion . Ho must , liowcvor , correct tlio hou . baronet when ho declared that ho ( Lho Chancellor of tlio Exchequer ) had laid down the prinoijilo , that tho coot « f tho war lor tlio year was to bo paid out of tho tnxo » of tliat yenr . On tho contrary , the llonao would rccolleot , ho had always pointed out that , it would bo impossible to mine tho new tnxo » witliiu Uio year , nnd that therefore a , temporary aulvuncc of
moneywhich must be of course borrowed in some form or otlior Wflold' bfca & polutfely necessary for the service of the present year . Tito Ifinsax provided the Government with a taxing pow « r , wmsb , whea added to the available surplus revenue , W < aSBcqnaUtet 3 ie- « xpenses of tlic war as tliey were estimated for the- yeaB ^ and the money advance of the present year , when recawdj . flBs-Jiad no doubt would be fully equal to theso exgaiBea ; , so that , if tliey were happy enough to have peace procftamecPbefore the 5 tli of April iu'xt , ho should be enabled Goonpletely to liquidate these expenses without adding ona-shilling to the national debt . He said tliis of course , witfeFeference-naexely to the present , without venturing to propteesy g > r the future , with regard to which nothing coaiid'be sa * e ; Mi that hp . « pn . turcd to state was , that none of the appearance * referred' t $ ) on the 8 tli of May had been falsified or rendered less probable on the 8 th of August .
TUB WAB . Some languid efforts have been made in the expiring Parliament to ' * screw" some news out of Ministers . On Thursda ) --, in the "Upper House , Lord Clakuicarde made a long speech , in which he reproduced the newspaper points of the fortnight , and put the questiqn , and how do ve stand in regard to our alliances ? There was oJily one phrase in his speech worth printing ; this — " Piiblic opinion did not act often or easily in that country , but when it did act the Government were frightened at it . " Lord Clakendon answered in some elaborate pompousness , which may be reduced to one or two facts . Iu respect to the treaty : between Austria and the Porte , he declined to disapprove of it .
" The treaty was . comimrntcsited to its , but not until tho same day that it was- signed at Constantinople ; we inew nothing of it before , and no instructions were sent to Lord Stratford upon the subject . Lord Stratford merely recommended the Porte to adojfc that treaty , and some three weeks or a month after ^ her Majesty ' s Government approved of the advice which he had so given . Lord Stratford recommended the adoption of that treaty , because he saw that in its preanible , as well as 5 n its articles , it wsis closely connected with all the proceedings that had taken place at Vienna and with the principles which were recorded in tlie Vienna protocol , and because he found nothing in it to prevent the Sultan from taking such measures as he thought fit for re-establishing his authority in those Principalities ,
or from taking any part he pleased in occupying them upon the withdrawal of the Russians . Our language , even to Austria , when we heard of the announcement of her intention to enter into the Principalities was , that if Austria was going into Wallachiii ^ -evucuated by tie Russians—for the purpose of proceeding on to . Moldavia ; in order to drive them , out of that province , that convention would be fulfilled ; but that if she was merely going to occupy the province upon its being evacuated by Russia , thenwo did not think she would be warranted in so doing , unless invited by th « Porte . The Austrian answer was , that their object would be to repress anarchy , to restore order , and to re-establish the authority of the Porte , and that , once entered , they would resist by force of arms the return of the Kussiuns . "
He then proceeded to state the present position of affairs . The Austrian Government had been informed officially , that Russia had evacuated tooth Principalities . u And I have great pleasure in stating that within the last thirty-six hours , and consequcutly since the evacuation of tho Principalities was known at Vienna , notes have been exchanged between her Mnjesty's Government and the Austrian Oovernmcnt , whicli will show , when published , that Austria has as little intention as we have ourselves of returning to the status quo . " { Cheers . ) He went on : —
" My lords , I am not aoout to enter into any elaborate defence of Austria , or to attornpt to explsiin the motives of Impolicy , but I must say 1 see no reason to retract any opinion of mine with respect to the probability of Austria , acting in that manner whicli a duo regard for her honour , her diyniU , and her interest would entitlo us to expect that she should act . I entirely agree with my noble ihend that Austria h ) an independent Power and has a right to pursue her own policy ia her own way , and that wo have no right to complain of her doing so . Whatever may bo thought of any sacriiices that may have been made by tho allied . Powers , I entirely deny that our policy bus been in any wav
di'pendent on tho policy of Austria , Sho may not have Wvn so alert in her movements us wo could desire , her nrmy jrmy not have been ready so soon w we could have wished , but to bring that army up to tho stato of efficiency in which it now is , was certainly a work of tiuio and expense . Tlio policy of Austria , as niy noble friend Bays , must Le gnulcil by her own interest , just as that of Franco and England must , in she same way , bo guided b y their interests \ but . tlio interests of Austria are more complicMted and more nntii ^ onistio than those of France and England 1 believe Austria will ovoroourco all thoao tricks nnd innmeuvivs which lmvo been played off to paralyze her action . "
Ho proceeded to talk in n yory nahw manner : stating that when tho war began , tho English Ciovernment thought Itusain , meant to attempt to get to Constantinople , and that tho allied nrmy in the first Instance , woro mount merely for tho deftmoo of that capital . But , to his astonishment , tho Turks had conquered ] " Tho allied armies j \ ro therefore now ready , and have , porhapa , already cominunoed thouo inoro important , diniations to which my nobl « friend has ulludod . Then , mi lho Ualtlo wo lmvo certainly two of tho finest and tno » l powi-iTul llccta tlmt over left tho whores of wiy country . ( Jrrl . iinly great hucoobh in not to bo obtained n ^ ititmt n rower tlial <> li-Htinutcly rofuaea Imttlc , arid aliutu ui > hin Hoots within gnniil " walla j yit those-whipHiuo Ijlovkuduil und utK'K'bHi ami uuu ly
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 12, 1854, page 2, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_12081854/page/2/
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