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Jan. 24, 1852.] ffft* JLggfrlMV _ 83
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-LO^JIS NA POLEON'S IRON CONSTITUTION. I...
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VOLUNTEER REGIMENTS AND RIFLE CORPS. Che...
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Practical Progress Op Hfldtfstrlat, ¦Fel...
rlass ara nff the class of employers ; and if they ner severe , they will be able to give to themselves Si such just demands as are now vam petitions to Seir masters . But the grand distinction between the old trades' unions and the present action of the Amalgamated Engineers is , that the latter have rendered their union productive . This keep * the life in their industry ; and , ; if continued , will render their union for mutual protection self-supporting .
The plan of the Pobr-Law Reform Association , whose address we print in another page , is the same substitution of living industry for dead industry— - the reproductive employment of the able-bodied paupers . While there is a single rood of ground uncultivated , a single job of work to be done , " able-bodied pauperism " is an absurdity in terms an absurdity injurious to the ratepayer , cruel to the indigent labourer . " Relief" is an insult to the man who is willing and able to work ; maintenance without return is an injustice to him who bears the charge . The absurdity has made itself
practically apparent to those who administer tne law , as our readers know ; the Poor-Law " Reform Association revives its activity , and will concentrate their efforts to effect an amendment . If the society does justice to its own mission , it will find abundant support ready made to its hand m many parts of the cquntry . Meanwhile , it is in itself a great sign . A sound poor law would supply these three great wants in our industrial system—employment , for whom the boasted but imperfect law of " supply and demand' * leaves without work , and therefore
without subsistence ; a ground whereon the labourer may rest his foot in effecting that change of employment which attends all improvements in machinery ; a means of extinguishing those delusive mockeries of employment which constitute the tail of every branch of industry , and , by the competition of the starving with the hungry , and of the hungry with the better fed , is perpetually dragging down wages . A sound poor law is the ground on which . Concert can be effected between the differentr
branches of industry and the different classes , without disturbance of our existing arrangements . Reproductive employment is the solid basis , Concert the living principle ; and here we have an important Association to concentrate the reform which is spontaneously making itself known , even too vigorously for official blindness , in many parts
of the country . The conference to be summoned by the Irish Board of Manufactures , to investigate the principle of cooperation as a method of reviving Irish Industry , is another important step . The Board has access to the help of one on the spot , who is master of the theory of cooperation , a man of business , and practically acquainted with Ireland .
An event less distinctly denned , but not less significant , is the close attention given to the subject by a new class of enquirers . Among the trustees of the Amalgamated Engineers are Lord Goderich and Mr . Augustus Vansittart . Lord Goderich is an avowed promoter of Socialism ; and , although young , is a master of the subject . Lord Ingestre is not a convert , but he is evidently willing to enquire . Other titled and Parliamentary names we might mention , of men who are favourably considering the question ; but we prefer to leave the investigators undisturbed . More than thirty years ago we saw titled and even royal persons
countenancing Mr . Owen ' s benevolent plans—we then saw a Vansittart enquiry , a Duke of Kent and Duke of Su ssex jointly presiding at a public meeting ; but the doctrine was not understood as it is now , was not a living demand in a large portion of the population . The fact is that the Protectionists are ocfftnninff to see that Concert can realise what Protection failed to attain , while Free Traders are discerning in it the complement of free-trade . It is the principle to attain Protection without starving production , free-trade without displacing labour ; n is the true principle of " order , " wealth , and peaoe ; and we have daily proof that whole classes ana leading men are rapidly learning to appreciate its value . ° . * *
Jan. 24, 1852.] Ffft* Jlggfrlmv _ 83
Jan . , 1852 . ] ffft * JLggfrlMV _
-Lo^Jis Na Poleon's Iron Constitution. I...
-LO ^ JIS NA POLEON'S IRON CONSTITUTION . Ihk new " Constitution " granted by Louis a , S ? ' ! ?* onMwcogni ^ ed as an edict of selfappomtment to absolute power ; but the thorough-SEStW ^^^ vvith which he has retained outt ? i f ° T V tloe 8 not c ° ™ dead / out until we look closely into all the provisions of f , ? S ? g ' middle « and the end ; everv other d SenTor - ^ " ST ^ "" ^ * £ ucpenaent or m chainB . He is a monarch to all
intents and purposes ; he commands the land and sea forces 5 makes treaties of alliance and commerce ; appoints all officers ; makes regulations for the execution of the laws ; renders " justice , " and pardons . But all that is a small part only of his power : his largest range is . that which he exercises by the assistance of a . Senate , a Legislative Body , a Council of State—all his passive or supple
instruments . The Ministers are responsible only to him ; only for theirindividual acts—with noJoint responsibility In other words , there is no Ministry , as we understand the word in this country ; but there are only heads of departments , his servants , and acting disjointly and separately in execution of his will . The Senate will be nominated by him . It may consist of one hundred and fifty members , but at first it will only number eighty ; leaving a margin for him to swamp any majority , should that by any possibility be adverse—a provision which attests the excess of his care , since an adverse majority is the last thing that he could be expected to
encounter in that body . It is to consist of "Cardinals , Marshals , and Admirals "—the chiefs of the clergy whom he has made his obliged allies , and of his land and sea forces , and of any other persons whom he may choose . Its services are to be " gratuitous "— they are to expect nothing ; but he may give a " dotation" of £ 1200 a year to any whom he pleases . As in the case of waiters , the fee is to be " optional / ' and dependent on behaviour . He appoints President and Vice-President ; he is to prorogue , convoke , and limit in its term of sittings , which are private t " He is to appoint , regulate , and fee ; and yet he has taken the precaution to swamp , if needful !
The Legislative Body ( it has not even a name , but only a descriptive designation ) is elected by universal suffrage—as he was . Its President and Vice-President the Prince himself will name . The sittings are to be public— -unless five members call for a secret sitting . Its debates are to be reported —only by the official " Hansard , " whom the journals may copy . The Council of State , forty or fifty in number , is the Privy Council of the scheme ; the Prince President himself is to preside ; he nominates it ; his Ministers form part of it ; its members are to be the spokesmen of Government in supporting measures before-the Senate and the Legislative Body .
Now , let us see the functions of these bodies in matters of legislation . The " Prince President "—he alone has the initiative of all laws . Bills ar £ to be drawn up by the Council of State , his Privy Council and Ministers . The Legislative Body is to discuss it—in secret . sitting , if five Members please ; if about to be amended , the amendment is to be made in Committee ; but " if the amendment is not adopted bv the Council of State , it cannot be
submicted to the discussion of the Legislative Body The bill , we presume , to which the Legislative Body may just say Yea or Nay , then passes to the Senate —the House of Lords salaried by the Crownwhere there is a power of vetoing various measures . And finally , the bill , thus guarded through the discussion of the mock Parlia-rhent , must await sanction , promulgation—aye , and execution—at the hands of the President , under such regulations as
he may fix . The Senate—his nominees enjoying or awaiting a salary—is charged with the important duties of giving a Constitution to Algeria and the . Colonies 1 —of interpreting all doubtful passages in the text of this Constitution !—and of fixing the President ' s own salary ! They are to pay each other , but not with each other ' s cash—oh ! no ; they are to pay each other out of the funds to be drawn from a grateful country .
Is there not something more hideous even than ita arbitrary power in the cold impudence of this solemn farce ? If Louis Napoleon had abolished all law except his will , had pleaded a divine mission , and , had professed to appeal to Heaven alone , it would have been less insulting to France , than , the clause preceding these bad provisions , which declares that " The President of the Republic is responsible to the French People , to whom he has always the right to make an appeal " 1 The People have had an earnest of the modo in which he will make the appeal—in his midnight burglary of power , and his highway robbery of a national vote .
They have in the following clause a sathple of the legislation which they are to expect from the new machinery : — " Art . 57 . A law will determine the municipal organization . The mayors will be
appointed by the executive power , and may be taken from without the municipal council . " . They have , in the total suppression of the jour nals , in the abolition of juries—and , above all , in the wholesale proscriptions—specimens of the mode in which the laws , are to be executed by the new Prince-President-Autocrat , " Dei gratia , " Emperor that is to be . But what are Law , and Right , and Justice , and Humanity , to the perjured man who only ceased to be a conspirator when he became an outlaw ?—whose authority is an insult , whose domination is a
fraud , whose Government is a living lie ? To the man , whose every hour of usurpation is a defiance and a threat to freedom and to progress , whose religion is persecution , whose theory of property is confiscation , whose defence of society is tt rend families asunder by delation and espionage , to tear helpless women from their beds , to rob chidhood of home and parents , to make widows and orphans by decree ! If there be a spark of honesty or of honour , if there be a gleam of dignity anc independence , if there be an aspiration afttr free spiritual culture , if there be a thought of virtue , a cry of conscience , a sentiment of noble
impulsesaway with it ! It is an offence against the " sincerity of imperial institutions . " Arms and the Man are the substitute for such pitiful juggleries—the inventions of pestilent thinkers and " paper scratehers . " M . de Moray ' s Circular to the Prefects on the conduct of the Elections is the best commentary on the execution of the laws under the present regime . It is the official ostracism of eloquence and capacity . It is cynicism surpassing itself in describing the work of the Government as " pacification and reedification ; " for the banished and the murdered need no " pacifying , " and the " reedification" is a scramble of bandits !
Into pfison vans and convict ships are herded , like penned and goaded cattle , all who will not bow down before the brazen image . The soldiers , the orators , the poets , the legislators , the publicists , the philosophers , the historians of France—Victor Hugo , Emile de Uirardin , Edgar Qwinet , Pascal Duprat , De F-lotte , De ReitnussG , Esquiros , Schcelcher , Bedeau , Lamoriciere , andCharras—must seek France elsewhere .
Their country is a corpse : " the vultures swoop down upon her as on a prey . ' ] By these expulsions Louis Napoleon proclaims that he and France cannot coexistj for if " France" is more than a geographical expression , it means the genius of that nation , its statesmanship , its men of mark and public esteem , its learning , its honour , its science , its worth , its poetry , its chivalry—all , all expelled , to make room for him ! He has here cut short the history of France , and henceforth narrows that history to the autobiogrphy of a Count Fathom .
Volunteer Regiments And Rifle Corps. Che...
VOLUNTEER REGIMENTS AND RIFLE CORPS . Cheering is it to see the spirit which displays itself as the idea of invasion spreads—a hearty resolve to be ready—almost a pleasure at the prospect of an opportunity to be active in the service of our country . For many a long year this is the first occasion for the display of a national feeling ; but no sooner does the occasion offer , than out it comes , as glad and manly as ever . Already are all classes resolving to make ready for the service ; Rifle Clubs are the leading idea ; other forms of Volunteer organization are beginning to suggest themselves ; and if the Government does justice to the spirit of the People in " calling out the militia , " it will make provision for permitting an alternative of service in Volunteer corps duly recognised . It is most desirable to give this spirit its full practical development . Without wishing in the slightest degree to check the gay temper of the general zeal , we most earnestly pray that it may not degenerate into sport . Let us have no " playing at soldiers : " the movement to which the People is instinctively resorting , from the sense of necessity , ought to have consequences more important and permanent than a more demonstration to keep off an invftder ; , and we wish to see it set about m a business-like fashion .
Let us have magnificent companies of the high- ? born and wealthy , if the young men of our leading : familicB choose to render conspicuous , by a clothing of gold and brilliant colours , the example which they mean to set of activity and discipline . Any amount of guineas may be spent on a uniform } and a splendid new order of chivalry , justifying its magnificence by ita deeds—by its soldierl y discipline at drill , and by its courage should active service
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 24, 1852, page 15, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_24011852/page/15/
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