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    a which is generally understood to be con-& * to " order . " By his professions , Louis Napoleon lias stood to the French in the light of an instrument to secure national independence . The incapacity of the Republican leaders had broken down every party , the prestige of France , which is so precious to every individual citizen , had been abased ; and at that point Louis Napoleon offered himself , in a manner the most deferential towards the whole bulk of the nation , as the man to concentrate the power of that people , and to uphold it before all Europe with the strength of an hereditary name .

    p ^ g lexed by different political projectors , anxious much more for national glory than for individual liberty — a preference always shown by the French people—the nation accepted Louis Napoleon and gave him successively those powers which he asked as a means of exalting the state . Thus he became President , Dictator , and Emperor ; and more than ever at the present time , maintaining the bold language which he does , is he to the French people the representative of national independence . We are not now saying that he is the best of such instruments , or that he is sincere in all those professions ; but we are simply noting the result of facts .

    From first to last , Louis Napoleon has always professed to foreign powers with whom he has been in friendly relations , that he was the great instrument for preserving " order" in France , the said France being the great focus of revolutionary disorder in Europe . Thus it is that while at home he is viewed as the representative of national independence , viewed from without he is the representative of order . This duplex view of him has become familiar to us all ; but it is only within the last few days that we have seen the great use that he Jias made of it .

    The Allied Powers forbade him to use the title of Napoleon III . ; but he insisted . They then consented to his using it , on conditions . "A rose , " they argue , " would smell as sweet by any other name , and no sweeter . Louis Napoleon is as powerful as he would be by any other name ; but not more powerful . The name matters little ; and it can always be avoided . We call the Emperor of China the brother of the sun and moon ; a contemporary has instanced the audacity of that potentate who calls himself King of the twenty-four umbrellas , without any international indignation . Why not , then , let him be Napoleon the Third , if he will disclaim any succession ? " Again , Louis Napoleon plays the

    double part . He tells the French people that the inheritance succeeds to him through Napoleon II ., whose title was regular by proclamation , though his reign was " ephemeral ; " and he tells the foreign potentates that he dates his reign from 1852 , without claiming any succession , and recognising all intermediate governments . On tjiat showing , they admitted him . He is Emperor of tJic French , by the grace of trod , and by permission of the Allied Powers — Bceiag that they could not help it . Thus , at the very outset of his reign , lie begins by obtaining , on his own decree , a title , with consequences , which the Allied Powers hud proudly rei ' used to

    Illln * Jl . iul f . lw »\ r ItiwriM ilw ^ n . /»/\ ii unvmi i ~\\ r i ft i llw * linn ; and they begin their connexion with the n < nv Emperor by a Ilincliiiig on their own parts . His footing is now secure , lie has made hiin-Hi'H Emperor with absolute power ; may choose liis own alliances , without regard to the interests ° l . France or Europe , and with regard only to l'i « own , ho tbat ho i ' evA liis country with glory . I 5 ut what is the particular thing which has enabled him to attain this position in spite of the loi- (> i < r U powers , and in spite of the serious objeollo to ] um entertained at home . The out ;

    " g is the Ivoyal system of Europe . It is one which maintains itself by a complicity amongst 'he Koyal families , their particular heads and ' ' J'lainers , against the wishes of tho several na-1 |(> iim subjected to it . Ueing thus precariously ^ la mtained , its supporters are open to serious "' PpMionsionH of any who may bring against ' ' a real national will . Austria , for example , ?? . "" M < JI : |><> wer , sits in constant dread of i ' ilz ;/ ' iiH , aii ( l maintains large forces to counteract ' ¦ he machinery which ho wields in . Italy . Louis N apoleon came before them with the name op-)()

    li ' tunit , irH that Ma /;/ , ini might . command , - a ^ 'volutioimry election , and a power to raise whole | > ples ; but Hum he had a willingness to join 'V <; r <> wned conspiracy as an accomplice He ollore d to bo [{ , » coadjutor and instrument ; and ^ tlior than sot him at defiance , tho Powers have

    adopted him . In doing so , they lent him the use of that machinery which they employed against the peoples ; and thus he is enabled to set one power against the other . He can frighten crowned heads with peoples ; he can coerce the peoples by the power of the crowned heads . Had Europe been , as it once was , a mere aggregation of separate states , each maintaining its own prince according to the dominant notions in the state , or old family traditions , he would not have had that facility ; but the Royal system , as it now exists , has furnished his crowning opportunity ; and in the use that he has made of it , we may recognise one of the worst incidents to which that system is subjected .

    But he has not yet done ; indeed , he is only beginning his use of the Hoyal system—he is only just admitted . He is preparing , however , to strengthen himself . He is about to marry a Wasa , and there are some incidents of that connexion not without interest to the public that is watching his career . He was already connected with the Russian family by marriage , through his cousin , Beauharnais , the late Duke of Leuchtenberg , who married the daughter of Nicholas . By his putative uncle he is connected with the Austrian family . By his own marriage , he will be connected with

    the legitimate line of Sweden , at least m a putative sense . For there is a scandal in Vienna which points to the father of the future Empress , and that father is not a Wasa , but an Austrian officer . However , royalty is seldom estopped by the bar sinister . Married to a Wasa not disclaimed , on the first outbreak of war in Europe , Louis Napoleon will be able to show that his wife has a better title to the crown than Oscar Bernadotte . Russia would not dislike any change which should wipe out a constitutional state so offensively near her own threshold . The royal career of Louis Napoleon is only just commencing .

    Untitled Article

    ROBERT LOWE ON LIMITED PARTNERSHIP . The advance of Mr . Robert Lowe in favour of limited partnership is a political event which our working-class readers have scarcely the means of appreciating as it deserves . Mr . Lowe is a man in every way remarkable . The simplest events of his life prove the energy and the grasp of his intellect . He distinguished himself highly in his studies at Oxford , notwithstanding difficulties that would have excluded most men from any study at all . A concurrence of favourable cirstances placed him in Sydney in such a position as to obtain a seat in the Legislative

    Council , where he became the powerful advocate of the Colonial as opposed to the Official interests . Returning to this country , Mr . Lowe attained a high position in the law ; and , almost as soon , a position not less distinguished in politics . His mastery of law is known to bo great , and he is one of the best representatives of technical Law Reform in the House of Commons . Although we have had occasion to differ from him on account of the strictly New-South-Wales view which he takes of Australian affairs , bis

    knowledge of colonial politics is unquestionable . Jiut it is * well , known that lie is also a master of political questions at large , and contributes , through tho most public of channels , to keep the people of this country informed . That he is inclined to adopt a national or popular view of public allairs , rather than a , class or antiquated view , is a fortunate ( went . ; for his power is so great , that , it must contribute greatly to the success of any clans of

    views which he may have adopted . Having studied the industrial processes where ; they sippear in their more intelligible bemuse less complicated form , in the Colonies ; having mastered tho general subject of Law ; having deeply contmlered the practical objects of lite , and their reference to legislation , he is one of the fittest men to comprehend the true bearing of such laws m , s that , of . Partnership .

    The subject which raised the question was one of minor interest to tho public ut largo , though it is not insignificant in itself . A new company is in formation , called " The London , Liverpool , and North American Screw Steam Ship Company , " to establish a direct intercourse bet-ween this Country nnd Canada . Amongst other privileges not peculiar to tho Company , it is asking in tho charter which it , weeks from ( jovornmont , a clause limiting tho liability of the shareholders to their subscribed shares . It so happens that certain merchants of Liverpool almost monopolize the trade with North America , through tho

    Cunard and New York lines ; and they naturally resent the entrance of a rival into the fiek £ There are many reasons , political as well as commercial , why it is desirable to establish concurrent routes to North America ; though we should be the last to deny the impolicy of dividing a given amount of business oetween too many competitors . That , however , was not the

    ground taken by the opponents of the charter on Tuesday night , when Mr . William . Brown put hostile questions to the President of the Board of Trade . The ground which they took was , that to limit the liability of shareholders in this Com ** pany would be to invade the principle of " unrestricted competition . " The memorial from the shipowners of Liverpool says , " such charters have been considered in modern times as

    contrary to sound policy ; they are calculated to give a dangerous impulse to the spirit of gambling , and they greatly tend to discourage all private enterprise . " Tliat is to say , a provision which admits a new competitor into the shipping traffic with North America , is counter to the spirit of " unrestricted competition ! " It was on that point that Mr . Lowe spoke , energetically and eloquently protesting against the fallacy . On the contrary , he showed that the principle of unlimited liability , free as it looks in the literal expression , is a restriction on

    competition . However capable a small capitalist may be to disengage a portion of his profit , and venture in the field of legitimate speculation , he can only do so , as Mr . Lowe showed , under the penalty of prcemunire—that is to say , the forfeiture of all his goods and substance if he should fail ; and everybody knows that the practical application of this law keeps out of the field an immense number of small capitalists , — the industrial savers , —and so limits the field of

    competition to the large capitalists . Indeed , it acts in so hostile a manner to commerce at large , that the law is necessarily suspended in many instances . " What is it , " says Mr . Lowe , " which has covered our land with railways and our seas with steam-ships and with mercantile fleets , except the power of suspending and annihilating the law of an unlimited liability ? " That is most true ; but a law that is subject to these immense exceptions refutes its own basis .

    It is said that abolition of the law would be detrimental to credit ; but no fallacy could be greater . The principle of Free-trade , duly carried out , would teach us that the public ought to have the right of giving credit in whatever form it pleases , and it could elect for itself , whether it should trust firms established on the principle of limited liability , or those established on the

    principle of unlimited liability . Indeed , those laws which restrict the application of credit arc open , to all tho arguments against any species o £ protection . They are laws for the protection of credit , which is thus made to rely on . statute provisions , instead of its natural elements ; tho natural elements being the known substance , the known integrity , and the common sense of the dealer .

    A priori , wo might argue that limited liability confers a speeios of credit much more trustworthy and intelligible than unlimited liability . A , possessing 10 , 000 / ., is free to invest 1000 / . in ten several speculations , under the law of unlimited liability ; and in each of these ten speculations the creditors will suppose that the speculation is guaranteed , not , only by tho thousand pounds which A has subscribed , but the other 1 ) 000 / . which he is supposed to have in retcntis . JNow , any or all of these speculations may fail , and any or all of the creditors may bo disappointed in the trust of that guarantee- to the extent of 00 , 000 / . more than A ever possessed . On the other hand , \\ divides bis 10 , 0 < ) 0 / . between

    ten dill ' erent speculations , under tho law of limited partnership ; and in each ease the civulil . ors know that B has subscribed for 10 < X )/ . and no more , wherefore they calculate on no morn . Is not this latter the more trustworthy and intelligihlo species of credit F Hut , indeed , if you refuse this kind , neither A nor 1 $ will be fools enough to risk their 1000 / . where the indiscretion of other persons might sweep away tho-other 9000 / . with it . Thus , both A and \ i are Itept out of tho market b y the penalty of pr

    Untitled Article

    December 11 , 1852 . ] THE LEADER , 1185 \ _ ^^¦^ i ^^ M ^^^ " ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ ' *^*" M nnMiw ^ Mw ^ M ^^^^ i^—immm mb - - - - — ——__^^^^^^^^^

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 11, 1852, page 1185, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1964/page/13/