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many wrecks of their old ; as we have seen in the case of gigantic railway speculators . Indeed , the necessities of commerce have dictated a repeated suspension of the law of unlimited liability . But that suspension has been exercised wholly in favour of the moneyed classes—the projectors of railways and shipping companies . The working classes and the humbler portion of the middle classes are still asking for the same privilege , as an act of justice , in order
to carry out more humble and homely speculations , beneficial to themselves , and not useless to the public . We agree with . Sir William Clay , that if this limited liability be granted in particular charters , it ought also to be extended , under proper securities , to the industrial public . But it is a great step to have this principle really discussed in Parliament ; still greater to have it discussed with so able a lawyer and so enlightened a politician as Mr . Lowe to assist .
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HOW TO MAN THE NAVY . We English are a conservative people ; mutability is not a characteristic of the nation . The fellows who stood against the men-at-arms and the chivalry of France at Agincourt , were the prototypes of those who stood firm amid the carnage of Waterloo . Forms are sacred with us" . Old modes , old systems , old manners , are scrupulously retained even against the attacks of an enraged wwcommon sense . Routine is one of the gods of our political theology . [ Radicals may
rave against him , reformers may hustle round him ; he keeps his state , and gets his daily worship silently . With us , the last strong fact that got itself established stands the shock of ages . An institution , crumbling with the rust of time , and craving burial , is religiously preserved . In short , the English people are conservative in religion as well as in war ; in politics as well as in science . How we clung to the Stuarts , even after they had abused , and betrayed , and plundered us ! How we stick to the form of
convocation , which for one hundred and thirty years has been in substance a nullity ! How we abide by the method of parliamentary representation by special boroughs and by counties ! Are there not caps of maintenance , and swords of state , and orbs and sceptres P What efforts were required to abolish Charlies ; though , to be sure , steam made short work with mail-coaches . When gas was discovered , what a noble stand was made for links and oil . As a people , we abhor novelty , and carry nothing at the point of impulse . Ours is the " stable mind . "
Look at the JNavy . Practically it was , until lately , in the same condition as it was when , in spite of blundering Lords of the Admiralty , JNelson carried his fleet to victory at Aboukir and Trafalgar ; probably much the same as Pepys left it and Pitt found it . As long as we have had a naval system , we have habitually paid off our trained sailors , for instance , after a ship had been three years in commission . Strangely as it may sound , we , a maritime people , depending for security against the invader , on our
gallant seamen , have yet kept up no sea army . Soldiers go abroad and come home , but we do not disband our regiments . Doubtless there were reasons for paying off crews in past times ; and the Admiralty # ave not a thought as to how they could bo replaced when wanted , because the Admiralty relied on the presH ^ ang . That time has passed ; presngangs would not be tolerated ; yet we still continue to pay off our seamen , and scatter them to the winds .
Ministers have taken votes for increasing tho number of Seamen and Marinea ; a wise precaution , considering the existing aspects of tho politicul world . But the quotation has naturally arisen , How shall we got the men P—how nhall we man our navy , not only in time of war , but in these piping times of peacoP The question in imminent for solution ; and the Holution must bo found inn change in our naval syntom . The lirnt step should be to stop the absurd practice of
dismissing crews . Wlion a Bhip cornea home after a long stay on a fort'ign station , let the men havo a run ashore , but retain them iji the service . Lot them be barracked in divisions like soldiers , and numbered like soldiers , kept in training and under discipline . At present the merchant service- competes with tho national service ; the American navy competes with tho national navy . And the reason is obvious : in the former , Hcuinon get better pay ; and in tUo latter they got , what they value more , better
commander , but he rebels spirit against capricious and despotic . And when it is asked how in the face of gold diggings , and life made easy in strange lands , and general prosperity , we can Man the Fleet , the answer is , enlist the men for a set term , pay them well , and treat them as men like yourselves , probably also give them a chance of becoming something more than warrant officers , and even in these days of prosperity there will be little difficulty in manning the flftet .
in the treatment . And this suggests another reformation of old routine . Give the man-of-war ' sman all comfort compatible with his station , and treat him like a man . Depend upon it he will then prefer the discipline of the national navy to the laxity of the merchant navy , and he will prefer to serve his own country rather than a foreign country . A sailor knows the value of discipline , but he does not know the value of the cat . He knows the worth of a just and hearty
But not a moment must be lost . It may be said that , what with bungling and competition , —what with unpopular captains , and a positive neglect of the vast resources of our coast population , not a ship in the service has her full complement of hands . Should a war break out—not an impossible eventuality—we shall be almost without naval defence , unless the navy be made attractive . At length , however , the House of Commons have called for an increase , but will it come when invoked , while the present arrangements are maintained P Surely not . But with manlier treatment , regular service , and reasonable pay in prospect , there are still left among us enough who love a seaman's life to man the noblest fleet that ever defended our national independence or liberated an enslaved world .
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SINGULAR OUTRAGE IN THE HOUSE OF LORDS . The House of Lords was startled the other night by a most peculiar species of message , direct from the usurper of the French throne . The purport of the message was to announce the establishment of the Empire . The Peers were kindly informed of the reasons why the French nation had not previously established that empire , —because the people had never before been consulted . Charles the Tenth , Louis Philippe , the . Republic of 1848 , were all determined by the people of Paris ; but having conquered those people on the 2 nd of December , 1848 , Louis Napoleon has appealed to " the whole body , the mass of the French people ; " and thrice , by 6 , 000 , 000 votes , by 7 , 000 , 000 , and by 8 , 000 , 000 , have the people of France decided to have Louis Napoleon . We all have had an idea , indeed , that tho suffrages were collected in a manner which precluded a free vote on the part of the French ; who were permitted to vote " Yes , " but prevented from voting " No . " The message , however , vouches for the accuracy of tho vote . It also assures us that the title of JVapoleon tho Third is " according to French law . " In England
we havo always supposed that it was according rather to French leave ; but here wo have the assurance of tho legality . Tho message from Louis Napoleon to the English Peers vouchsafes two other reasons , for his extraordinary success . Ono is " a name "— " a name so # reat in France , that it is invested with a magic which has an effect that experience only has been able to make Europe understand . " Tho other reason is even more mystical . In 1815 , tho disbanded armies
of Napoleon " returned to their hearths , "—4 , or 500 , 000 , " with the fixed idea in their minds , with one fixed worship in their hearts ''—one man , " the great idol of their imagination . " " The weeds of these men , sown throughout the provinces of France , are now to be neon in tho fruit which has ripened on this occasion into an empire . " What a contribution to the now tuvieneo of embryology ! How felicitous that phrase" on this occasion . "
Tho language- bears internal evidence of its authorwhip ; but how wirno this jargon to the Peon * P Who ventured to intrude with it into that assemblage P Some hum ! that the hearer was our own Foreign Minister ; but it-is clear ill at no Peer could be found to utter a French farrago , which might be well enough suited to tho }> ug « B of the Cons til ution-ncl , or the Journal de VMmpire , if it were not for its clumsy Htyle of eompoHition . , Some conjectured that Lord Malmosbury ' H celebrated cook borrowed his manter '« aspect , to find hia way into tho Houho
of Lords . There is less difficulty in this supposition ; and the internal evidence is strongly in favour of the servant ' s hall . There is an obvious igaorance of history ; an unquestioning acceptance of the history contributed by his master ' s friend , LouisNapoleon , who is evidently the cook ' s oracle ; an affectation of being hand in glove with great people , howsoever their titles may have been acquired ; all of which we can only ascribe to the " high life below stairs . " It i 8 assuredly the cook , with a rejected article of the Journal de VJEmjpire , which was thought good enough as a message to the Peers of tasteless England . And they did not much wince under the infliction .
Another proof . Lord Canning asked how the communication had been made from the French Government to ours ; and the jpseudo Foreign Minister would not answer . It became necessary for Lord Canning to explain that communications on such subjects are always made in the form of despatches or of diplomatic notes , and Lord Canning wanted to know which form had been used in the present instance . The unlucky impostor was not prepared for this question . At first he thought he had said something wrong . Then he said that he could not produce any note ; there had been a conversation : " the EmBftrnr "
had repeated the assurances of that conversation in his speech to the French Chambers , and it was all " satisfactory . Yes , yes ; all right . Evidently the poor man thinks that matters of this sort are disposed of in a talkee-talkee ! But how should he know any better ? If Lord Canning had asked him for the receipt of a pate" de foie gras , it would have been forthcoming . Yet a horrible suspicion occurs to us : surely the foreign affairs of our country are not really left to this person P
There must be something wrong in the official arrangements , otherwise by what monstrous irregularity did he enter the House of Lords while it was sitting , and actually deliver this trashy French message as a speech ? If such things are permitted publicl y m the House of Lords , what may not happen in the irresponsible privacy of Downing-street P Great was the complaint about Lord Palmerston ' s independence of his colleagues and chief , and about his "judicious bottle-holding . " We now have a reform ; instead of the judicious bottle-holding to support patriotic efforts , wo now have ^ judicious bottle-holding .
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THE BUDGET . I . Ouu examination of Mr . Disraeli ' s Budget is not a party criticism : its objects are to inquire how far that Budget conforms to or violates scient ific principles , and to learn such practical lessons as wo can from the speech of its proposer , and from the p rogress of the questions discussed . The Chancellor of the Exchequer professes in his speech to hear and redress the classes whose complaints ho lias uttered nioro loudly , and endorsed more conspicuously , than almost any other man . " If , " iVys ll (> > " wo can arrive at some conclusions on these points , those clasRes which now assert that they have been injured by recent legislation , if their claims are heard , and if established fairly met , will merge in the mass ot the community , and we shall hereafter haw to consider no other claims but those which represent th ^ unaminous voice and fooling of the entire country . I " ' tho alterations in tho taxes with which he propose * us fairly meeting these claims , are no other than Uwm which havo lonpf been required by other considerations , and havo been long urged for other reasons- n >« J miwli sooner or later huvo been made , independently all idea of compensation or of extinguishing the H l ' ' "'
claims of any section of tho community . 1 ndiHpei . s . m . and long-sought reforms have thus been adroitly «» stituted for a promised class relief ; and if these Iim . h changes arc ; a Huflieient settlement of tho «» "I"'" " claims , then those special claims had no real vn ^ whatever . Tho whole proceeding is a covert surrciH i . of Protection in the small and shadowy form it lnuu ' . Y assumed . \ V « have no quarrel with it , «<« " « ' ° * ; wonder that the Chancellor of tho Exchequer , wi < , h « > actual mmonsihilitieB of offlco on him , found « r <)(<' <; a mind pin utterly impossible to standby . <>'" J remark is , that so will all policies which v . olato g <^ natural principles desert in tho « mtl those ; who Im stood by them . NevortholesH tho budget is ««> I " ' ) cable timate of the valuo of the eh . ims ot the ¦*
es protected diuwos , oven as assessed by their own a < iv "" Disraeli , in the outaot of his speech , tnn ^ 'ri " ^ to inquire whether « it m ponaiblc to inalco auelx chw » Bt-
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1186 THE LEADER . [ Saturday
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 11, 1852, page 1186, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1964/page/14/
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