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broadly agree with their author . We purpose to show that they can only originate in assumptions different from , if iiofc contradictory to , that principle . M . de Girardin , as we have seen , wanting a means of ensuring faithfulness of assessment , looks for no other than that of encouraging other countervailing interests by the same process as taxation . He does not show why insurance or lending money is to be selected for this purpose ; nor does he show that access to a knowledge of those transactions would not be as good for the purposes of assessment as actual participation in them . But having adopted this us a device , he then defends it as a principle , with how much consistency let us see . In page 229 , he admirably says : —
" Taxation ought to be only a premium of insurance , payable by . all the members of a societj' called National , to insure the full enjoyment of their righta , the effectual protection of their interests , and the free exercise of their faculties . For that purpose they set apart , a determinate portion of their strength , -which is thus constituted the strength of the whole body . To support this public force , which guarantees the national independence , defends individual weakness , and ensures the execution of contracts and judgments , the members of the society pay a quota proportional to the protection without which none of them , would be certain to retain peaceably that which he had legitimately acquired . That quota ought to bo proportionate to the value of the objects declared , &c . "
But this just , simple , and sufficient principle is swamped in the next page , by saying , that " a state ought to be only a national insurance society against all the risks which are capable of being foreseen . " It would be a sufficient answer to this to say that no experience lias yet shown that a government can be a true and effectual insurance " against all the risks that are capable of being foreseen ; " while , however , it is our daily reliance , such as it is , for security against wrong . The two functions are clearly separable , and are actually separated ; they cannot both be indispensible criteria of the rightful action of government . Moreover , a government possessing itself of interests , such as those of an assurer , is no longer a disinterested supreme judge amongst interests , but an irresistible armed party , deeply involved in their strife .
We have briefly shown above how each part of our author's jAan * liable to failure . We may add , as applicable to the whole , the certainty of inefficiency and abuse where such interests are entrusted to a government . " A nation of functionaries in the midst of a people of tax-payers , " is an expression which the history of French taxation has forced from M . E . de Girardin ; and we need scarcely point to the octroi and the registration of landed incumbnuices , to shew how easily in France , as in other countries , any institution , in the hands of a government , is turned to purposes as fur removed as possible from that of its origin . The following passage ( page 382 ) contains a striking association of differing principles : —
"To manage , forests and domains , to repair buildings , to manufacture tobacco and powder , to sell Latin and pay for prayers , to employ itself ingeniously in raising obstructions to consumption , and consequently to labour , under all the forma of vexatious and burdensome imposts requiring an innumerable army of agents on horseback and on foot , —this in now the business of the state , business which it , transacts exceedingly ill , and at great cost . " So far we are entirely at agreement . But our author proceeds : — " A difle . ivnt mifl . sion is reserved for it in the future , a mission much more simple * and useful . To bo the terrestrial providence of all , it will suflieo that it . be tliodepo . sif . orv of the daily savings of each . "
But how it can happen that " a nation of functionaries" . should manage . so abominably the business tin ; state has now on its hands , and yet should hereafter take such excellent care ; of the ; daily . savings of each workman a . s to disserve , in any degree , the title of the " Terrestrial Providence of all ? " Tim mistake is in committing any such matters to any government at all . To change the matters , or even to change tint men , is to leave the root of tin ; evil untouched . At , the very best , corruption and favour even supposed apart , such affairs cannot he niiiiiaged by the vast ,, complicated , practically irresponsible , anil stillly-nilcd agency which alone a government can employ . The " daily savings " would noon fare , in its hands , just , as have dune the octroi , the aides , and t . he registration , the forests and the domains , f , he tohiieco , f , ho Latin and the prayers .
These discussions , iirising rat , her from M . K . de Girardin's other plans , than from the direct taxation of property , nerve , however , to show that there is no real connexion between the two subjects . His views of taxation mny be wholly true , bis other plans may be at the same time wholly mistaken . In as far as both are founded , an by our author , on reasons of mere expediency , they dearly have no jieeessary dependence on each other . In as Jar as the direct and exclusive taxation of visible property is deduced , as by us , from the true nut lire and relations of government , ><¦ rests on principles wholly incompatible with M . doGinudin ' s plans .
We take leave of t his book with great respect . Hh fulness of facts , incisive vigour of expression , earnest , advocacy of a great reform , and manifest singleness of purpose , entitle it to praise , from which its occasional
contradiction of principles or obscurity of views ought to make but little deduction - Nor has its errors , as we deem them , an insufficient , excuse in that overpowering pressure on the judgment which the highly abnormal condition of France and Frenchmen must exercise over the strongest intellect . If we have any regret in recommending this book to the earnest examiners of the mysteries of taxation , it is only that a different arrangement , or a copious index , does not give them a readier mastery of its multifarious and most important details . We have now cleared the ground for an impartial consideration of the financial revision submitted to the country by Mr . Disraeli .
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ON THE CULTIVATION OF FLAX . SUPPLEMENTAL NOTES AND FIGURES . To our previous articles on this subject , we ought to have added the fact that , of some 150 ^ 000 ships and coasters employed in the marine of Great Britain , it is supposed that not one is fitted tvith stores manufactured from , flax of home growth ; that in order to supply necessaries for these vessels , and for domestic use , the produce , not of 400 , 000 acres , as stated roughly in
our first letter , but of 700 , 000 , as assumed by Sir James Graham , would be annually required to displace foreign importations of flax , hemp , and jute ; and that to effect this , we only require to multiply the present growth of Ireland by five . Of the 150 , 000 acres supposed to be now grown in Great Britain , Ireland in 1851 contributed as much , as 138 , 000 , and with a further development of her resources , could herself increase the supply of flax beyond the requirements of the British empire .
These are facts which admit of no dispute , and when we further remark that \ 0 l . is a very moderate profit out of an acre of flax , and that it is in the power of our agriculturists to create a clear annual gain to themselves of at least 7 , 00 O , O 0 O £ . more than they now divide , by admitting flax as a regular rotation crop , we shall have stated our case without any exaggeration . It may be thought that the displacement of our foreign importations by an equal quantity of home
growth will tend to lower the price , and so render the culture unprofitable . Our answer is that raw cotton is now , on the average , double the price of raiv flax ; while linens are retailed at a price more than double that of calico , weight for weight , and that so long as this state of things is permitted to exist , the value of flax will be maintained . Ireland , in 1848 , grew 53 , 863 acres , and 138 , 619 acres in 1851 , and yet the quotations of raw flax in the Irish markets have not diminished .
Whenever the average price falls to one half ( and we only hope we may live to see the day ) the farmer may then consider whether the cultivation of flax is worth his further attention . It is as easily relinquished as it is undertaken , and it will be time enough to cry when we are hurt ! We could dilate upon this subject " usque ad nauseam , " and never tire . But we refrain . We have contributed more than our fair share of seed in this
field of gold . We will let it germinate m pence , confident that , sooner or later , in proportion as our landlords neglect or study the questions which most affect our national and domestic prosj > erity , the tlax causo will flourish . Decny it never can , in any country where it has once taken a firm root !
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" wathiiloo ! iiu . sn ! Wah ( bat Waterloo that Westland Maraton touched upon in tho monody at , the J ' rinccHs ' H Theatre on ( lie night of the funeral ? "Oh no , we never mention it" —at , leant not , in authorised assemblages of . KrigliHhinen . JVIaratori's own published version indeed contains the passage that the public missed ; and if lie had been fully recited four lines of the following extract ought to have been followed by the passage within brackets : — " For mil . to him wo fj ivn I ho mero ncelaini Thai , fj ; reetn the ( , ' oiiqimror . Jlin wan higher fame . The Hwnrd thai le < l our HquiidroiiH to tin' ll /^ hl . . Ne'er drawn in vitin untti forr drawn for r ' ujht . I" Whether with patient , foot , on India ' s hIioi-o Jlo trm-hed the winding" Titfer of Mysore , " Or nl . Atwiiye I he foe jiiled rank <» " rank HreiiHled n ' mni of lire , mid on itrt Intuit , I'hmled our liiimier ; or when Domi ' o ' h eoiint I , ny black ' nealh IiohUIo thunder , looked and eroHHdd ; Or huilt . our eyry on I . I in ent renehed hei g ht , Of Tori-en VedraH , Ihenen l . o nwoe |> in mi ^ hl . I ) |) on uniir |> ing valour ; or IiimI , threw Him tuvord into IheTafe of Waterloo , I'oiNeil up Die Heale where realm on malm was hurled , And turiiftl llm icroiii /' t / lull ilium of the world . " | Man * tori wrof . it thus ; but at Iho performance , licouHoil by tbn Lord Chamberlain and checked by tho censor , l . ho passage was not delivered . Whyi' Did tho olliciul mind suppoNo that at these reminiscences ol" Knglinh triumph , the audience of the I ' rincess'H , fired like Iho jjjuobIh u | , Alexander ' s 1 ' ea . Ht , would Heize tho stage weapons , and tako tho uteamor for u renewal of tho Conflict . Wo might do
bo , seeing that even now , on the very soil of Belgium r « Imperial France is avenging tho defeat of her arms by tbo encroachments of her intrigues , and is regaining tie Flemish field by an army of native priests . But « England" no longer meets her on that field , although the uncle of England ' s Queen is now the soverei gn there , and a constitutional monarchy is at stake . Or was it felt that an English audience , led by recent appearances , mi ght take Downih g-street for France , Lord Malmesbury for
Louis Napoleon , and consummate Waterloo by a storming of the Foreign Office—foreign in so many senses . ~ W know not : we only know that certain Englishmen are growing ashamed of English victories , or are afraid to mention them lest it " offend the foreigner . " If We aro no longer to mention our victories on the English stageeven T . P . Cooke is no more to gag but to be gaggedthe censor should look out for other offensive manifestations . If Marston be castigated , why not constrain
Macaulay r Why not rechristen our streets . Let Waterloo-place be called Fontenoy-square ; let Trafal garsquare be Thiers ' s-parade ; cancel the name of Wellington wherever it appears , and call the Thirty-third Regiment " Louis Napoleon ' s own . "
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HOW AND VKEEE "ENGLAND ASSESTS HERSELF . Faithful to a principle which it lias established for its own guidance , the present Ministry has at last interfered on behalf of a British subject . A Mr . Stead has been arrested in Prussia without reason , and he finds a champion in Lord Goderich , who demands explanation . Mr . Stead , it appears , has been released , but our Foreign Office has sent a " strong remonstrance . " A very proper act ; but if you remonstrate with Prussia for outrage on an English subject , why not with Austria , why not with Naples—states which have committed so many and so much worse outrages ?
We cannot tell the reason , but we can only note certain differences between those states and Prussia . Prussia is not so arbitrary as Austria or Naples ; has not committed such bad outrages on liberty or Englishmen ; has not so obstinately withheld reparation ; and is not , in short , so thoroughly anti-English . Thus , whatever their motives , Ministers stick to their rule of never doing the right thing if they can help it , but if they can't , they do the right thing in . the wrong place , at the wrong time , and in tho wrong way .
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TWO WELLINGTON AUTOGEAPIIS . Oue contemporary , tho United Service Gazette , has editorially cautioned the purchasers of Wellington autographs , that the greater number of letters supposed to bo written by tho Puke ' s own hand during tho last ten years , were in fact written by his ' secretary . In any case we should have been little disposed to recommend autographs , however authentic . The sale oi" these mementos smacks too much of that trading in death which Mr . Charles Dickons has stigmatized in . Household Words . But in the present case , we belicvo wo arc serving a meritorious and charitable intention in drawing notice to two notes in tho handwriting of tho Duke , for the authenticity of which wo belicvo wo can vouch , and which arc now to
bo sold for tho relief of a caso of very sovoro and undeserved distress . Tbo caso is briefly as follows . In 1840 , General Alava , an old comrado of tbo Duke , and one ot his aides-de-camp at Waterloo , was ambuHeudor from Spain to the Court of St . James's . Ono day a Spanish lady called at tbo embassy , representing herself aw tbo widow of a M . de Curabassa , who bud been Spanish amba ssador in Portugal , but compromised with his Government by services rendered to Don Carlos in exile , had subsequently boon driven us a refugee to London , where , after yearn o distressho diedleaving a widow and y oung family .
, , General Alava , on finding tbo lady ' s story to bo strictly true , Hot about to Hcok relief for hor diHtrcHH ; and among thoHO friends to whoso charity ho applied with n' <>« success in her behalf , was tho J ) uko of Welling ton . " |< j two letters to which wo aro calling attention arc addressee by tho Duke to Inn old friend , ( iouerul Alava , on Huh hu > - joot . They are singularly charuetoriHtic : written '" dl " Spanish , and half in I'Yonoh . In tho ntylo of ul ( " . "" . t ?] 1111 linn , iiuti mm uj . . * a \ ' **\> n * » -- */ , , i i ?> /
friendship , the Duke , complains of tho H , ! e , jH' ( j <> _ Go » oml ' H request : the Duke ' s own hand- writing at ^ time being not so dilFieult to decipher as it altorwar < m ^^ came . Gonoral Aluva ' s intimacy with tho l > " ! " > iH * ' ^ a guimmtoo for thn gcnuinencHH of the autotfi'"l lllH : . ^ General having givc ^ n thorn to tbo lady who iH now anxi ( to < lisp <) H ( M ) f t hen , inbohalfofthoHHinopoorwidowan < il ^ ^' whom she had formerly ansis « ed ( Jenoral Altiva '" . "' | o-Wo may add , that when tbo General offered l ] u ^ ( , )() graphs to tho lady who now owiih them , nbo < «' " in ^ ^^ gift , but bo insisted , with th «« o worth , " N « vw 'W '' ' iug comes from u gn . it man . " Wo repeat , that m notice to thcHo two autography wmiro tump 'j '" ' ' ^ with the request of charity ; and we behove wo W }> out doubt , vouch for thoir authenticity .
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1102 THE LEADER . [ Saturday
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Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 4, 1852, page 1162, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1963/page/14/
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