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11A . «!) * ILea&er* [Saturday,
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COMPETITION AND THE DEBT. What is to be ...
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HOW "DIVINE RIGHT" GOVERNS. Her Majesty'...
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PROGRESS OF ASSURANCE. Competition has b...
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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Transcript
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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.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
England In Europe. Nobleness Of Purpose ...
French and Yankee intrigues in those quarters , suggest unpleasant probabilities for any quietist old gentlemen in Downing-street . Nor at home are we perfectly confident in each other . Protectionist anger may not be formidable in Young or Disraeli , but angry farmers and angry labourers will be unpleasant allies in backing a Government against distressed stockingers at Nottingham , distressed weavers at Carlisle , and factory hands growing exasperated tinder declining wages . Adversity is no more than a foe , to be conquered by those who are strong in faith and noble purpose ; but it is a terror to those whose reliance is ignoble .
11a . «!) * Ilea&Er* [Saturday,
11 A . «!) * ILea & er * [ Saturday ,
Competition And The Debt. What Is To Be ...
COMPETITION AND THE DEBT . What is to be done with the National Debt ? The Times says it must be paid off as speedily as possible , or else we shall never be able to compete with foreigners . How can we hope to run a race against America or France with such a terrible weight on our shoulders ? People talk of the desperate competition which prevails at present among every class of workers and tradesmen in this country , but the Times warns us that all we have ever witnessed is nothing to what we are threatened with . " The great race of nations , " we
are told , " has scarcely yet begun , for no competition we have yet experienced is equal to that which is to come . " This is rather a gloomy look out for the three or four millions of our population who depend on a foreign market for the sale of their manufactures ; nor is the prospect much improved by the scheme which the Times proposes for relieving the pressure of taxation . Having ascertained that Sir Charles Wood was enabled to pay off £ 3 , 004 , 705 of the National Debt last year , " the leading journal " infers that the same process might be repeated every year , in which case it calculates
that the whole of the debt would be paid off in about a century . What a consoling reflection to the struggling tradesman , the half-starved labourer , or the unemployed artisan ! If the income of the country can be kept from falling below its present amount , and if no great war should take place during the next hundred years , and if the expenditure can be kept down sufficiently , and if we can continue to pay £ 3 , 000 , 000 a year to a sinking fund , then our great-great-grandchildren may hope to enjoy the unspeakable felicity of paying- only half the amount of taxes which we are obliged to
pay at present . Perhaps the reduction will be still greater , if we take into account the increase of population which ought to take place during the next hundred years . At present , some 28 , 000 , 000 of people are called upon to pay nearly . £ ' 00 , 000 , 000 a year , which is rather more than 40 s . a head from every man , woman , and child in the kingdom—a pretty lound sum for a man with a large family . ( Suppose the debt abolished , or paid oil ' , the expenditure would be reduced nearly one-half , and if this were accompanied by a doubling of ( lie population , the average amount of taxes per head would only be about l () s . per annum .
lMit how long will the people of this generation be content , to pay 40 s . per head of annual taxation in order that ; their great-great-grandchildren may be able to compete with foreigners in a . i > . l j . r » l ? The Times is far too . shrewd to believe that the hard-working classes will ever be so simple as to do anything of the kind . It sees ver } r clearly that they have already found out a door of escape from their grinding ( slavery , that this outlet is every year becoming wider and wider , and that unless prompt and energetic measures are taken to lessen the pressure of taxation , the best class of the population will very soon throw oil ' their portion of the intolerable burden by leaving a country which treats them no unjutitly . On this point the Times of Monday Hjteaks out boldly and earnestly .
" A crowd of circumstances arc cuiiH ]> iring at this moment to fallow the tremendous natuie ol" the ri ^ k that we run in bequeathing to our posterity an inheiitnnce of debt . It is true that the connix ice and wealth of the country continue to increase ; it . is true , also , that the population of our cities , our gnat j xuts , and our manufacturing districtM shows , in nio . it inManceH , an undiininished ratio of increase . ; but it in also true tli . it i ' or the last , ten years we have added
but ii tiifle to the aggregate population of these i . slcK "We have ; miiL to the endn of the earth , to a new world , and to our » rcatcnt . manufacturing rival , sixteen hundred ( houh . ind members of that clas / s which , alter all , in the staple of a nation , and the sinew and bone of it . n prosperity . Them in no appearance whatever of ilii ^ ^ 'K in that , great human tide which ilowH in ko denne a utiejuu aerosa the Atlantic , and difiuncH itself over ho large a surface on tho oiniowitc ftuhoret ) . Who can nay when and
where this secession of the people will cease , what numbers or what classes will stay behind , what portion will go with the crowd , what portion will cleave to the soil ? JThere certainly is a point beyond which it would be ruinous for the present deportation to continue . What is land , what is wealth , what are cities , and the vast material apparatus of this empire , without the human labourer ? With a greatly diminished population—a-result now brought within the bounds of moral possibility—there will be Ie 3 s production , and less expenditure , while the national because less divided
burdens will press with greater , weight . There are , of course , many whose personal stake in the country is so great , that nothing would induce them to sacrifice it . But that is not the case with the vast majority of the people . They are thrown on the world , and it matters little on which side of the Atlantic they have to follow their star . We say it , then , with confidence and earnestness , that the only way to set this house in order is to reduce taxation and diminish the public debt—doing both if possible , but by no means omitting the latier . "
Yes , diminish the public debt by all means . But how , and at what rate ? By paltry instalments of £ 3 , 000 , 000 a-year , as the Times proposes ? Can any man in his senses believe that such a homoeopathic dose of relief would have the slightest effect in arresting " that great human tide which flows in so dense a stream across the Atlantic ? " Driblets of relief are never felt by a nation . To produce any sensible impression among the suffering classes , there must be a series of great measures , all tending to raise the condition of the working men of Great Britain . One of the first of these measures ought to be a large reduction of taxation , which can only be effected by the liquidation of the National Debt . How that may be effected we shall endeavour to show in our next publication .
How "Divine Right" Governs. Her Majesty'...
HOW "DIVINE RIGHT" GOVERNS . Her Majesty ' Government entertains the most friendly relations with all Foreign Powers . Among the chief Powers comprised in this gratifying assurance , is the paternal Government under whose benign sway , subsidized and sustained by the huge Autocracy of all the Russias , Hungary lies waste and desolate , Italy groans in sacerdotal bondage .
We earnestly invite attention to the terms of the following agreeable document . It is a very fair specimen of the kind of watchfulness exercised by these righteous and paternal Powers , " consecrated by God , " says the authorized catechism of the Neapolitan youth , " for the welfare of society . " It is the literal translation of a circular of the military and civil lieutenant of the Venetian provinces of Austria to the military commanders under him : —
"To f ho military commanders in the office of public order . \ V lien you are requested to furnish information respecting any person with the qualification of special , you must exactly Hiipjily concerning that person all the f . liowiiii * indication : ; : — " 1 . His nation , place of birth , parentage , age , & c . " 2 . His personal description . " ;{ . His intellectual culture and talents . " 1 . Hi . s character and humour . " C > . His sentiments in politics , religion , and other matters . " < i . His social position and education . " 7 . The estimation in which he ia publicly held , and the extent of hi . s influence .
" 8 . His manner of living—as , what , he habitually docs or omits to do ; whether he is much or little at-home ; and , if" he goes out , where he usually goes , with special indication of the names of the public phircH , private houses , and families he visits ; and whether he goes to them in the day or in the night , frequently , seldom , or periodically ; also , with what company he ordinaril y spends his time . " {) . What are his usual topics of discourse in public phr'es . " 10 . WiLh whom he keeps up a corresponder . ee , and whether fr < queiii ly , seldom , or periodically . " 11 . Whether he is in the habit of travelling , where , and on what pretext ; and whether he docs ho frequentl y , or pei iodically , or seldom , alone or in company , ami by what . m ( ans of conveyance .
" 1 ' 2 . His means of subsistence ; whether there ia a due proportion hclwctn his income and his expenditure ; whether he is lavish , economical , or parsimonious ; and whether lie lives from day to day . " 1 «{ . I u what , tipcciul relations he stamlH to his parents , bis family , bis friend : ; , and his mistreHii . " II . What part , he took in thc'revolution , and whether by actions or onl y in tlioiif . l . t .. Was he an enthusiast or a cool-headed calculator : ' Did he in public or in secret . aid the revolution under the mask of neutrality when where , and in what spot specially ? " la . If he took no conciinin the revolution , did he refiain on principle and from devotion to hia lawful Hovcrcij . ' , n , or form fear , prudence , apath y , inertness or calculation ? ' " 1 ( 5 . In the changes of party-fortune did h « remain always the hiuuc , or did he tura as the wind vvaa blowing ?
and by what facts might his change of sentiment ba proved ? " 17 . In fine , a biographic sketch describing all the antecedents of his history . " Venice , June 7 , 1851 . " The Military and Civil Lieutenant of the Venetian Provinces . Gorczkohsky . " No wonder Tacitus is a forbidden book . Do we not recognize Tiberius under the Austrian mask ? Mark well this circular—trace out its working ! Your every thought , word , act , imagined , distorted , surprised ; every minutest circumstance of your daily life , walk , and conversation ; every most delicate , domestic , intimate incident of your mosfc tender and most trustful personal relations ; every of the heart
gentlest confidence , eyes , lips , gesture , look , tone , motion , spied upon , treasured up , perverted by unseen enemies , and striking you like daggers in the dark by the hand of perjured accusations . In your sleeping and waking hours , in rising and resting , in activity and repose , in your silence and in your most trivial expressions , in what you have done or abstained from doing , in your unacknowledged hopes , in your submissio n to injustice , in your faith in lawless thrones , or in your disgust'for political intrigues—there is matter enough and to spare for suspicion , for accusation , and for quasi-judicial murder . If a link be wanting in the fatal chain , cannot private hate , suborned , complete the work of ignominy ?
Mark , too , that many of the " indications " required can only be supplied by your most intimate friends ; nay , by your nearest and dearest relatives , and then say whether this system of Government upheld by anointed Sovereigns , who call themselves the " Delegates of God for the happiness of their subjects , " and encouraged by the " Party of Order , " be not in truth the most savage of anarchies , the disruption of all social ties—in short , the very negation of a God . And is not
insurrection in such a case , we do not say the cliief right , but rather the first of duties ? If there be a spark of manhood in the People who are suffering this oppression , the hour is coming when they will rise once more like one man to purge and for ever their country from a pestilence , the very distant breath of which infects and horror-strikes all civilized Europe ! If they did not—and this is the question we would urge upon Englishmen—if they did not , should we not despise them ?
Progress Of Assurance. Competition Has B...
PROGRESS OF ASSURANCE . Competition has been stretched to its extreme We are entering upon a sounder and more enlightened system . On all sides there are evidences of conversion to the principles of Association , Men have ceased to live to themselves alone . They have begun to consider that their duties extend to the well-being of their fellow-creatures , nay , even that their interests are involved in it . Tho practical recognition is at present only partial among commercial men and capitalists ; but it is something for them to allow that there are other interests besides their own to be recognized , and that a superstructure built upon the ruin of others is neither desirable nor free from danger . is
We have before shown how purely associative the principle of Life Assurance . Conducted , however , by persons who bad but feebly recognized the power of combination , there was , for a long period ? no extension of its benefits to any but those who regarded the simple monetary part of the question . Accordingly , we find the older offices clinging to a system enriching them to such a degree an to inako their funds positively burdensome . In later da )' Si ( still in a simply mercantile spirit , they pare down the premium us a lure to assurers . It is i » ^ 'j particular « xra , when the advantages arising ft " " ^ well-being of every individual are becoming rC ' cognized , that the latent principles of Ahhi" " ^ are developed , and their numerous beneh " tn i >» P larized and made available to the
community'Micro should be a thorough cooperation l > e tw « all those oflicen which have introduced the V ° \ * principle of concert ; for in this , us in «¦!! \ cases u-lierc the principle is fully recognize ' * interest of one is the interest of all . There in aiM j room . There are but 2 () 0 , () 0 ( > lives as . 'iiircd oM ^ our millions of population . An of lice that u indices biiMinesH on mibHtantial principle * has a connection , may nafely calculate on cchn . Nor will that huccchh interfere u ' . i . Ki H but tho . se ofliccH where the extension of 1 > uki » ^ neglected , ami where the attains are caieleH ^ y ' . ^ ministered . Each association has its Hopai <| ^ terest . Every oflicer , from the directors ^^ youngest clerk , has a circle of influence would not have been exerted for another eoc
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 16, 1851, page 10, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_16081851/page/10/
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