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Leader (1850-1860), 20th June 1857, Edition 2 of 2, Page 15, Jmnr 80. 1857.] THE REAPER. «» tnat

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      The Law V. Rowdyism. Those Who Nro Hosti...

      than a street crowd . Several persons amongst the mob fell ,, and it is said that some of them were ' innocent . ' Perhaps so ; but it is the law of the United States , as well as of England t hat if innocent persons are present at public tumults—if , as the Erench significantly express it , they ' assist' in such conflicts the peril is their own . They are bound to get out of the way , not only because they should not aid and abet the mob , but beca they must leave the a uthorities free to exe rcise the proper measures for coercing the lawless . On such occasions the idle curiosity of the bystanders becomes a cxirae against the state , and if a man falls he cannot plead innocence . The deadly weapon has not been levelled at him , he has placed himself in front of it . The occurrence , however , shows that the local officers of New York were not prepared to surrender the authority of the Republic , even to a mob with the formidable name of the ' Plug-uglies . ' ,. ,-., Some other occurrences have indicated the same energetic determination , to maintain the Bepublic , to uphold the Federal laws against encroachment on either side , and thus by a wise conservatism to maintain for the whole commonwealth the power and opportunities of progress . It has been assumed that one party or other must get the upper hand in Kansas , and appropriate the loeal authority and resources of that embryo state in order to inflict some injury upon the other party in the Bepublic . Now , we believe in no such result . Every Governor hitherto has "been a Northern man , coming to his post with Northern preiudices , but quite unable to cope with the difficulties of enforcing those prejudices upon an alien soil , and thus each has acted almost in an ultra-Southern sense . The new Governor , Mr . James " Walker , may be said to belong neither to the North , nor the South . Iiike the President , ho is a native of Pennsylvania ; but instead of sympathizing with the extreme opinions of the North , he has rather shared the conservative opinions of the South on the subject of slavery . He perfectly understands the economical as well as the political questions of slavery and of settlement . He is a statesman and a business man ; above all , he is a man for enforcing ¦ ritnA iustice . and for seeing right done ,

      happen what may . He knows that the right m Kansas is to maintain the authority of the Bepublic , overruling faction-a or local rebellions against the Federal or State power ; and that , by sustaining the authority of the entn-e Bepublic , he will equally defend one party against the other . He will secure Kansas , not for the disunion of tho Bepublic , but for the Union . Here , again , we see the conservative effect of an energetic policy ; for it is already obvious that the appointment ot Mr . Walker lms gone fav to quell the

      extreme action on both . The same principles are even more conspicuously exemplified by tho lnst appointment—that of General Ha . bney to the chief command in Utah - Another person had been designated as a probable governor , General M'Oullooh ; but iu every respect it is satisfactory to know that the appointment did not ultimately fall upon that gentleman . He is a bold and an able man ; bub his training has

      better adapted him to be a leader ot xexan Bangers than governor of a territory , much more a territory so disastrously circumstanced as Utah . General Harnky ia the man . Ho is a cavalry officer , excelling Washington in height for he ia more than aix feet tall , --fearless , cool , and full of resources . General Harney distinguished himself in the Floridos before the Semiuoles wore carried oil to the weut of the Mississippi . Ho contributed mainly to the success of the buttle at Sierra Gorda , tho first fiold fight of the Americans

      in that war with Mexico . But independently of his capacity in the field , bis moral character renders him . especially adapted to the position in Utah . He is a man always to execute the orders entrusted to him ; and his orders , it is understood , will be of a kind that will make short work of the Mormons if they attempt for a moment to resist the Federal authority . Prom these transactions and these appointments , the vigorous character of the present administration in the United States may easily be inferred .

      Jmnr 80. 1857.] The Reaper. «» Tnat

      Jmnr 80 . 1857 . ] THE REAPER . «» tnat

      Equalization Of Poor Rates. The Reply Of...

      EQUALIZATION OF POOR RATES . The reply of Mr . Bouvubie to Mr . Axrton ' s motion was no answer . The fact that a large number of members of the House of Commons are engaged or pre-engaged on select committees , is no excuse for setting aside the interests of the poor , or for postponing the proper order of the metropolis . The plea that all the information exists already is nothing , if it is not before the representative legislators . The existing division of the metropolis into thirty-eight poor-law districts , some parishes , some unions , —the gross amount of the population , 2 , 500 , 000 , —the gross amount of the expenditure , 875 , 000 Z ., the rateable value of the property , nearly 11 , 000 , 000 ^ ., may be great facts , but they do not in any degree meet the question put by Mr . Atbton , —How shall we manage to remedy the injustice which at present makes the poor of the metropolis support the poor , and leaves the rich exempt ? Mr . Botjverie has another argument of a still more singular kind . The poor-rate in Chelsea is Is . 10 ^ d . ; in St . George ' s , Hanoverrsquare , 6 | d . ; but as a house in Chelsea does not bring in so much rent as in St . George ' s , Mr . Bouverie insists that the landlord pays the poor-rate , not the occupant . This is a wonderful plea . According to that , every man who has a lower income than another pays something that the rich man does not . The shopkeeper in Chelsea who takes less money fchau the shopkeeper in St . George ' s , Hanover-square , contributes more towards the general interests of Chelsea than the other does to the general interests of St . George ' s . Now there is no doubt that the gross amount of property and * income in Chelsea is less per capita than it is in St . George ' s ; so that , after all , we have the poor of Chelsea living chiefly upon the poor , while fliA Tirih in St . George ' s escape .

      Mr . Kkight argues that because the average rate has not increased in the metropolitan parishes since 1815 , there is no grievance ; or , if there has been an increase , he says it has been exceeded by the increase in the property . But again , this does not meet the case , or rather it helps to answer Mr . Bouverie . The ' property' has increased in Bethnal-green , in St . George ' s , Soutliwark , and other poor parishes , partly for the reason that the clearing of the rich quarters , and the change of house-building iu those parts , has forced tho poor to seek abodes in the poor parishes ; from the demand for rent which they create , the demand for an . humbler style of abode is raised ; and thus , by the present state of the metropolis , they have to confront at onco high rates and high rents . Mr . Botjverie , however , has another argument ad captanduin . If you equalize the rating over tho whole metropolis , you create ' a common purse to be dipped into by the local authorities , ' a purse derived from the 11 , 000 , 0002 . of property , and to be distributed ^ ainongst the poor of two millions and a half of people , This would force you to have * one great poor law administration for tho entire metropolis , ' and who , ho asks , would act as unpaid guardian in such a board ? There would be no control , nor

      would there be any step between ana a national rating , " of which , " says Mr . BotrvEBin , " we have bad two examples in recent times . The first was in Ireland , ten years ago , and the other , that of the Ateliers Nationaux , in Paris , 1848 . " Now this last argument is a condensation of special pleading such as we have seldom seen . What was the national rating in Ireland < about ten . years ago ? ' It was a very peculiar assessment upon the whole country for the purpose of meeting the national tamine which , followed the failure of the national crop—the potato . The disaster , then , had nothing to do with the manner of rating . If there were abuses in the mode of rating , it was because the whole administration ot that special poor relief was exceptional . -Lhe country was is a despairing condition ; the great body of the people were reduced below the level of rate-paying ; and , in short , famine had introduced something like chaos , trom which Ireland was only relieved by commanding the assistance of England . What has this to do with a question of distributing the charge between rich and poor in London t The allusion to the Ateliers Nationaux in Paris is still more dishonest . The national workshops were established during a period of revolution . In that revolution , some members of the Socialist party attained to power . It was expected that they might in-Fuse -their principles into the institutions ot the country ; and their enemies endeavoured to defeat them by forestalling . They found ready to tlieir hand M . Marie , who set up the cry for ' national workshops , ' where labour might be provided for the industrious poor . Leading Socialists protested against the crude and inopportune scheme ; M . Louis Blanc did so emphatically ; but the workshops were set up . Thus the measure of the Socialists was forestalled , and the enemies of Socialism seized the advantage of an experiment made in the name of Socialism , but designed to disparage the principle . What can . Mr . Bouterie mean by citing such a case as that ? W hat does it prove , . except that M . Marie had an opportunity for vamping up a false experiment , m order to produce a false impression upon the public mind . ' to leave luowuuii

      All this appears uw > ^™" case exactly as it was before . As Mr . Atkton says , the weavers of Spitalfields work there , and , are kept there , to gratify the ladies who reside in St . George ' s in the West ; the int ermediate persona between the wearer and the weaver reside in Bond-street . The wearers of the dresses live in May-fair or Belgrave-square , the sempstresses in Lambeth , Chelsea , or Somers-town . The poor clerks , the messengers , and porters ot the ruimui wl b «

      City warehouses , nve p . y xu . . ^ « » in the East , the merchants [ in St . George s in the West ; so that there is regular division between the rich and poor . It is not like the case of country towns to which Mr . Bottverib refers , where there may be many of one class in a town , like Wolverhamptou or Bolton . But all of those that are better off in the same trade still reside there ; but in many of the London parishes about Bethnal-green there are sfifliWv anv wersons of superior means ; an

      enormous preponderancy of the very poorest labourers just above the verge of pauperism , with a large number below it . In some respects London may be called a collection ot provincial towns ; but it differs in these particulars . We have no other town in the country where classes are so completely divided ; we have no place with a population almost exclusively gentry , another tradesmen , another with an immense crowd of merchants and stockbrokers , and a iourth

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), June 20, 1857, page 15, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_20061857/page/15/