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Dec. 27, 1851.] fcf> l> &,*&***? 1235
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COMMERCIAL INTELLIGENCE. Ix speaking of ...
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T1IK I'KOl'KR CUKKKNCY FOR AUSTRIA. Tun ...
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NOTES ON WAR. BY A SOLDIER. No. I.—Barri...
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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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"Grand Anj) Peculiar Eventsuch Is The He...
fraud , into purchasing at a " tremendous sacrifice , " f ° r one guinea , what is precisely worth something under one guinea , though it is nominallyset down at two and " reduced " to one by a sheer effort of inventive imagination ; but the " cheapn " is not the less delusive and ruinous . Here is a mass of goods worth £ 45 , 000 to be sold for £ 28 , 500 ; a loss of £ 18 , 500 . Now , somebody must sustain that loss . Not the customer , of course , who is to benefit by the transaction . Nor the salesman , who will , of course , make his profit on
it . Nor the fashionable mercer , who finds it worth while to get rid of lumber for goods more novel . Nor the " warehouseman / ' who has another sale hastened to his hand . We are here brought back to the manufacturer , and in his case the avoidance of loss is not quite so clear . We suspect , however , that it will not fall upon the manufacturer who supplies the fashionable mercer . Upon whom then ? Probably upon the less fashionable manufacturer who would have supplied the less fashionable mercer ; only said less fashionable manufacturer will try to save his loss out of his wages .
Amongst the details we find the following : — " Lyons , Cashmere , and finest Paisley wove long Shawls , four yards , very handsome , cost from two guineas , will be sold for £ 1 . Is . " Here we see that Paisley , at all events , will have to pay . There has evidently been a demand for Paisley shawls at two guineas , and Paisley has been set to work . Now those shawls , the surplus of a former season , are thrown upon the London market , to compete , not only with the two-guinea shawls of this year , but with the one-guinea shawl . Thus is industry turned against itself ! Paisley is used to being skinned ; but the same process is applied all round , only that in other cases it is not quite so obvious .
There are two kinds of " cheapness , " be it never forgotten—the legitimate , arising from abatement in the real cost of production ; the spurious , arising from defalcations from the return of the labourer . The latter is a wicked cheapness , and society has to pay for the " advantage" in misery and all its consequences .
Dec. 27, 1851.] Fcf> L> &,*&***? 1235
Dec . 27 , 1851 . ] fcf > l > & , *&***? 1235
Commercial Intelligence. Ix Speaking Of ...
COMMERCIAL INTELLIGENCE . Ix speaking of the present state of affairs in France , the Commercial Journal and Family Herald says that" Until some earnest Frenchman shoots the present representative of the Corsican family , there is no chance for a peaceful or prosperous popular government in France . " So says the Commercial , Tour ? tal and Family Heraldof Dublin . This chivalrous View of money matters , however , is by no means limited to the Irish capital . Much elevation of feeling has lately been imparted to
the operations of 'Change . We have , for example , seen the most constituted authority in the world meet a decline of stocks with a charge of bayonets . From our Dublin contemporary it would seein that the evolutions of the Money Market will have to be carried on at the point of the sword . Men will have to seek Pennsylvania bonds , railway shares , and oilier bubbles , at the cannon's mouth . City men will have to arm themselves to the teeth to (>() upon'Change , expecting some l . rutus to give unto Caviar the things which are Ciusar's ; and the quota tions will bo writ in blood .
T1ik I'Kol'kr Cukkkncy For Austria. Tun ...
T 1 IK I'KOl'KR CUKKKNCY FOR AUSTRIA . Tun promising scheme , devised by the Camarilla , for maintaining Imperial credit on the Stock Exchange , by the presence of policemen , has utterly failed through want of loyalty on the \\ v \ x \ . of the stockjobbers . . Some more effectual means are , therefore , about to be adopted by Uaion Krau . ss to put down those inveterate " Schwin _ dins " who have actually been making a profit out of the bad character of the Austrian Government . Nothing h : is yet transpired regarding the monetary system , except that , it is to be exceedingly severe on all parties who nock to damage the financial reputation of the House of ilapshurg . Perhaps the Austrian Chancellor of the Exchequer intends to try the Chinese method of dealing with parties who demur at , accepting Government pro
iniscs to pay at the same rate a » specie . M . dc Guignen , in his work on China , gives an account of a Chinene banknote , issued by an JKnipcror of the Celestial Empire , the inscription on which wan as follows : — "At the petition of the Treasury Hoard , it in ordained that the paper money thiiH marked with 1 . 1 k ; Heal of the Imperial elynanty of the Milieu , shall have ; currency and "be : use-el in al l rcspecti as if it , were ce > ppcr money . YVhe > e : vcr disobeys shall he beheaded . " This in the ; style in which the Austrian Government must deal with the refractory stockjobbers , lianishme-nt frenn Vienna in far too mild a punishment , indecel hardly any punishment at all . Theme ; \ vhe > iefune ; to take' the ; paper promises te > pay oil the * Imperial dynasty of the- 11 apsburii ; n , iu till respects aa if the-y were silver noriiui , " muat he beheaded . "
Notes On War. By A Soldier. No. I.—Barri...
NOTES ON WAR . BY A SOLDIER . No . I . —Barricades . Invective is useless . Louis Napoleon has done what it was his nature to do , and it is now the business of all Trench . Republicans—indeed of all Frenchmen who are not prepared to vote that black is white whenever they think there is a prospect of " order" for a few years . —to destroy this man ' s power , and reestablish a free Republic . It has been said ?• all is over for the present , Ave must wait for an
opportunitylike thatofFebruary 1848 . " Suchadvisers forget how much has been learned by the executive and military of France since the February revolution ; the generals and soldiers hare demonstrated , by the result of the days of June , and on a smaller scale in this late affair , that , if Louis Philippe had allowed Marshal Bugeaud to hare his own way , the insurrection would have been crushed . But Louis Philippe was an old man—he was placed on the throne by barricades—he was afraid of them . No good soldier in France , or elsewhere , fears them now .
Louis Napoleon , if left quiet for a few months , will plunge France into a war , as an employment and recompense for the soldiery , and in the hope of gaining glory and popularity for his government . A Avar having once begun , all possibility of resistance to his power , or to the power of some military chieftain who may supplant him , or succeed to his vacant place , must be indefinitely postponed . The army would be augmented , and the sabre would rule . War stimulates
employment , and might bring prosperity to all classes for a time ; Leipsic , Waterloo , and two occupations of Paris are not forgotten or forgiven , the war-mania can easily be rekindled in France ; and many of the most influential and determined opponents of retrogressive and coersive home-policy , and many sincere advocates of peace , would yet give the fullest support to any Government ! - when the ( so-called ) honour of France was involved in the vigorous
prosecution of a war . There is , therefore , no time to be lost . The army in Paris must be conquered and effectually subdued , if liberty is to be restored to France by the present generation , and this cannot be done on the traditional principles of insurrectionary warfare , by the old system of barricades and firing from houses , as long as the army remains obedient to the actual Government * . It would be utterly despicable for the Republicans to calculate on some future defection of the soldiers in Paris as a possible element in their success ; such an event , however advantageous apparently , would leave the Republic without prestige , without glory ,
safety , or confidence , and would merely confirm the belief amorifj the soldiers , among their generals , and among the People , that the army can at any time constitute itself the arbiter of Prance . Prospect of any defection of the army in Paris at present there would aeem to bo none , even were it desirable . The soldiers must be well aware of the widely spread exasperation against them , on account of the recklessness and cruelty of their conduct , and th « ferocious manner in which unresisting prisoners and innocent non-combatants were butchered in eolel blood . 'I'hey know that they
cannot be forgiven for having so well executed the savngo orders of their master . "I hey havee-vory thing to lear from the rcestablishment of freedom ; they have everything to hope from Louis Napoleon . iNo French l £ . epublican ought to expect or to wish for any assistance or sympathy from any part of the army until the soldiers in Paris have first been signally and eliectually conquered . In the hour of triumph it is to be . hoped that more enlightened rulers will know hew to palliate and excuse the misdeeds of these ignorunt men , disgracefully corrupted and deceived , and when , and whom , and to what extent to forgive and to punish when the power of retribution is within their grasp .
Hut how is the work to be done ? A modern army , fighting in earnest , cannot be beaten by an insurgent force with the same weapons and acting on the same principles of tactics , unless attacked by overwhelming numbers and under some peculiarly disadvantageous circumstances . Without mentioning their greater stores of material and more powerful artillery , the better-disciplined and more manageable combatants niunt inevitably carry the day . Were the most favourable opportunity to occur , wore the whole
lighting population of Puns to turn out under arms , no nmouiit of barricades and barricade warfare could prevent their total destruction by determined troops , llarricades must be taken ; and even if not taken , barricades cannot inarch , they , cannot conquer . Men who place themselves behind barricades or entrencbmentH , confess their weakness and inferiority to their enemies , and their inability or ¦ unwillingness to meet them in a fair fieilel . Defensive works arc ; very valuable when properly employed ; time may be gained by them , often u matter ? The writer of those notes does not pretend to any knowledge of the I'Vench ii'ition , and wishes frankly to how thai hin hopes ami sympathies iire directed much more towards other parts of Kurnpc ; he merely alludes to French affairs as illustrative ; and introductory to tho ¦ views of modem warfare , particularly wil . li reference to a People ' s war which he wiahcu to make known .
of the greatest importance ; barricades might sometimes usefully be thrown up to impede the movements of troops , and in particular to secure a force from being suddenly charged in the rear by cavalry , but a regular system of warfare founded on defensive works is radically vicious . Combatants who defend barricades or entrenchments , knowing well that they are only gaining time for the collection of strength , and that their exertions are only preparatory to a formidable close attack , are performing a valuable and intelligent service ; but the mere barricade defender , such as has figured hitherto in all Paris emeutes , is placed i « a thoroughly false position ; he falls with
his pile of dung carts and paving stones , he is a mere obstruction , and binds himself under heavy penalties not to advance even if he succeed in repelling an attack . For a force repulsed from a barricade is by no means beaten , but would , on the contrary , return to the attack with redoubled ardour and confidence , if the defenders could be enticed from behind their entrenchments . The morale of an attacking , will always be superior to that of a defensive , force , and the assailants possess that forward impetus which is really the whole secret of success . But the instinctive
feeling of the mere barricade defender is , that all is over when his entrenchments are carried ; he has undertaken to defend his barricade , but if he cannot succeed in repulsing the enemy even with the protection of his barricade , how can he be expected to resist any longer when he is exposed both to the fire and the bayonets of troops , who have gained spirit and confidence by having surmounted so many dangerous obstacles , and who are exasperated at having been so long under the fire of their concealed enemies ? Barricades never will
succeed , and never have succeeded , in gaining a victory over an avmy of competent strength , except in the case of the defection or bad conduct of the troops themselves * . Barricade fighting is demoralising in its influences over the minds of the defenders , while it positively inspirits , excites , and exasperates their assailants . It is a confession of weakness and an acknowledgment of superiority . It is a system which attempts to kill without exposure , and to gain victory without an advance and with the smallest and deserves to
amount of danger , and it must fail , fail . Barricade lighting may , in fact , be considered the climax of trigger-pulling , ilicreditctio ad absitrdum of the universal system throughout Europe of arming the masses of an a ' rmy with muskets . The invention of gunpowder may well have introduced a revolution into warfare ; but its formidable effects have imposed upon the world an exaggerated notion of its power , and its smoke ; noise and blind destruction have gradually more mid more superseded reliance on courage , intelligence , and the glorious inspiration
of a good cause . On future opportunities this subject will be more fully elucidated , and full explanations given of therules and methods of war , which the present writer considers to be alone legitimate mid reasonable , the due appreciation of which would at once silence tlio * e unmanly appeal to the dagger and the firebrand which have too often east a blot on Democracy , and would j ; ive hope and determination to the ? patriot , wearied and bewildered by repeated disappointment and failure . K . V . Honour your Fokki-atii Kits —( Jlory ! Happiness ! ¦ ¦ -great words —j ^ reat th ing * ! but nei'her to all men nor to all nations are these possible ; and if we honour bur , them , neglecting obscure energy , truth , and abnegation , we run great risk of drying up the source of ' glory and happiness . Jf , therefore , we are tiuly serious in our devotion to Humanity , we shall feel a deep touching respect even for its " darkest age "—we shall feel somewhat , a . s we do when our fathers take us on their loving knees , and tell vis of the days when they were younjjj , wilful , foolish , and erring ! —British Quarterly llv . v ' w . w , No . ! 2 H . (' . vrrii'i's ami ) (' kavkns . — Our use of the word '" caitiff , ' which is identical witli " captive , " only coining through the Norman French , has , in 1 ik . es manner , its rise out of" the sense that hi ; who lets himself hi ; made prisoner in war is a worthless , goodfor-nothing person—a feeling so strong in sonic stated of antiquity , that under no circumstances would they consent to ransom those of their citizens who had fallen alive into the hands of the enemy . The " captives" were accounted " eaiti / In , " whom they could better do without . The same feeling lias given im " craven , " another word for coward : the " craven " in he who lias craved or craven his life ul the enemies' hands , instead of resisting t ;> the death . — I ' rom Trench on the Study of Words . A . IiO 1 ! . sti-: r ' h . Sthata <; i :. u . ¦¦ - Lobster : ) , like most other Crustacea , feed principally on . shell-fish , which they extract with their claws , and in the instance ! iu question , the oyster closed its shell as often as tho lobster attempted to insert , itself ; iift . er many failurcH , the lobster took a small stone , which it , placed between tin ; shells us soon as they were . separated , and then devoured the tiH \ i .- — 'l' / i (» " /> s ( in ' s I'assiaiis of Animals . * In July , IWiO , the troops in I ' iiris did not . much » xcecd II' , ( 100 in number , and did not , iif » ht with vigour or goodwill .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 27, 1851, page 15, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_27121851/page/15/
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