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plantations in Cuba , and whose condition is not much , if at all , superior to that of the slaves . It is true that r . n agreement was entered into with these Chinamen ; but as in the late outrageous case of v iolat ion of all treaty obligations , only 300 negroes were released ( through the utmost exertions of our consul ) out of 1100 landed , I should like to know what chance have the unfortunate Chinamen of regaining their liberty ?
In truth very little or nothing is known about Spanish proceedings ' in Cuba , and I rather think it will be news to the British people to learn that a great many of their fellow-subjects ( engineers on sugar estates ) were thrown into dungeons a ftw years ago on a charge of stimulating the slaves to a revolution ; that several are alleged to have died from their confinement , and that one is now a miserable maniac , drugging out a wretched existence on the island , not even to be envied
by the slaves . If the members of our aristocratic Cabinet , and of our Royal Family , have so much respect for the interests of " their order" in Spain , it is time that the people of this country should calmly consider what is to be done when the Americans make their next attempt on Cuba . But there is another subject of still greater importance in relation to the continuance of our friendly rekil . ious with the United States . " There was scarcely
a part of the Irish coast , " said Mr . Moore , in the late debate , " where , if a fight were to take place off it , between an Eng lish and an American vessel , a very large majority oi" the lookers-on would not wish the Americans to win . " On which you remark : " He may truly call this state of feeling existing amongst the Irish population an imperial danger : it is so , and it does not become the less dangerous for emigrating to America . . . . * In America , by the spirit of perfect freedom , it is remarked those very Irish become Protestants . "
" Come out of there , ye desarters of Jesus Christ , cried an inebriated Irish labourer , recently imported , to some boon companions who had been longer in America , " I ' ll give it yces , one by one ! " They did not come out , however ; they had become "American Protestants "—at all events , better Christians . I will leave it to the two Churches to decide whether they become Protestants or not ; but I would impress one fact upon you—they become soldiers ! The poor ignorant Irishman coming to New York from a country where his reli < rion is denounced , and its professors
refused equal rights , in kneeling on the pavement , as I have seen them , outside the chapels , meets the eye of Brother Jonathan , calmly wondering at what he conceives his idolatry , while he chews his tobacco . Brother Jonathan smiles at him in pity ; but says , of course , Put can do as lie likes , " this is a free country ! " And Pat tolls him of the land he has left ; and Jonathan gets " riled" at England , and gets Pat some work , and Put becomes rich , and wears a handsome uniform as a citizen soldier . And now let us see bow the poor despised Roman-catholic peasant disports himself in bis regimentals .
It is a great gala day in New York ; the volunteers have been out , and three of the citizen soldiers enter a hotel , and are refreshing themselves at the bar . Presently a wretched-looking being enters , creeps towards the stove ; he is tin object , of compassion—starvation in hi * countenance . JMark ! the hand of one of this Irish soldiers , who has just , noticed him , has dived into his pni'kct , and he is about to relievo the mendicant . What makes him refract , with an oath , declaring that he will not relieve one of bis race ? The wimple words , " I'm a Johnny Hull . "
rins is no fancy sketch . 1 was present when it occurred , and can assure you that the sanie feeling , though in u modified form perhaps , prevails among the Irish in America . In returning , a . fellow-passenger —am Irish merchant , about to pay a visit , to this country on business assured me that , there were ; more thnn 100 , 000 Irish . soldiers in America , who would volunteer on any war undertaken by the United . States against England , and that lie was one of them . Truly it , would lie much better ( as you observe ) "to keep these ; Irish nt home , ; j ; ive them here ; the freedom that they find there , and make them our friends iin well as the Americans !"
A consuninnifion devoutly to be wished . But it , is not only " freedom" th ; if the Irishman wants . He . wants also to he relieved from the uiiinterniitt ing course of depiction to which the producers of this country lire subjected by that mighty army of mere consumers who batten on their industry Inking toll of their toil . *' an this be done ? Can wo { guarantee , not only to the hishmrn , but , to every producer , the full fruits of bis industry , with perfect freedom in the enjoyment thereof V If not , u friendly nation will become deeply imbued with u hostile feeling , and no unu can predict
the result . But I am inclined to answer both questions in the affirmative—being a firm believer in the " goocl time coming-, "—always concluding with Galileo , when forced to take rather a disheartening view of the affairs of this world , " But it does move , though !" I hail your appearance and success as a guarantee of further progress ; which , with your permission , I will endeavour to stimulate by showi ng wherein lieth the strength of the young giant , bursting into manhood on the other side of the Atlantic—who is destined to play a mighty part in the world ' s politics—some of whose improvements upon the " British Constitution " we may judiciously adopt , while there is a good deal in his own which we may unhesitatingly reject . Confer on me a seat in " Open Council , " I will endeavour to < nve you a daguerreotype of " Brother Jonathan as He Is ! " R- M . W .
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LETTERS FROM PARIS . [ From our own Correspondent . ] Letter LXXVI . Paris , Thursday Evening , June 9 , 1853 . Yesterday all the news was inclined to peace ; to-day it is all for war . Despatches have been received from St . Petersburg , giving reports of the Czar ' s behaviour when be learned the rejection of his ultimatum . It seems his passion was uncontrolled . He immediately despatched an aide-de-camp to Constantinople , bearer of another ultimatum scarcely different from the preceding one , with orders to insist on its acceptance by
Turkey within one week . As soon as this news reached Paris the official world was thrown into the greatest commotion . A council of ministers was instantly held , at which Persigny , the authentic representative of the Bonapartist section of opinion , declared himself for war , and proposed a levy of 80 , 000 men ; while Fould , the banker , and representative of the financial world , argued warmly in favour of peace . The latter showed the immense enterprises in which , confiding in the duration of peace , an enormous amount of capital had been sunk . He represented that at the present moment more than 500 , 000 , 000 of francs ( 20 , 000 , 000 ^) had been subscribed on the Bourse to various other
undertakings ; he painted a glowing picture of the hopes of commerce and industry , and concluded by declaring that to go to war just now would be to turn topsy turvy the whole artificial fabric tof prosperity so laboriously erected during the past two years , and to bring down on the common and united interests of trade , industry , and capital , a terrible catastrophe . " But , I say again , " rejoined Persigny , almost with a shout of anger , "if Russia crosses the Pruth , if the
Russian army marches on Constantinople , are we to fold our arms and let Turkey be devoured with impunity , and so under the very eyes of our fleet consummate the eternal disgrace of the national flag ? M . Fould says , Yes ; I say , No . M . Fonld . speaking as a merchant and a shopkeeper , says yes , in the name of the counter and the till ; I , as a soldier , say no , in the name of the army . " Such is in effect the manner in which the question has been put in the very heart ( dans les entruiUe . s ) of the Bonapartist councils .
Bonapartisni—tlmt is to say , military government , is the reign of the army . Tlie second of December was the victory of the army over the shops—the triumph of the sabre over the yard measure . If we go to war trade is done for : if we don't , the army loses its prestige— the flag is for ever dishonoured ! Thus , you see , Bonaparte finds himself caught in the teeth of a vice ; :- he cannot tear himself free from this terrible grip without , leaving bis skin behind him . The report of this meeting of Ministers was very soon spread over
Paris by the two opposing sections at once . 1 ersigny lost no time in conferring with the aides-de-camp and the generals : Fould sent on" post , haste to the Bourse , where 1 here was a new fall : the funds , as I write , are at 7 (> . 2 O- a fall of eight francs in n fortnight . You may imagine into what n state of discomfiture this continuousfall has precipitated the financial world . More than a dozen jobbers have blown their brains out within the last , ten days ; and we hear of from three to four hundred persons having disappeared from their places of residence , and probably decamped , inconsequence of heavy losses on the Bourse .
1 here is an incident worth mentioning , which h . is not , operated favourably to the Government . When the rumour of M . de Nesselrode ' s arrival at Constantinople readied Paris , Honuparfc , desirous of seeing the , funds go up again , conceived the idea of having the telegraphic despatch from Trieste read nloud nt the Bourse by the Coinniissairo of the Hours *; himself . The form of this despatch lent itself to equivocation . A tier having given some details about matters at , Constantinople , fhe author of iho bulletin wrote from Trieste : " M . do NcHsehnde ban just arrived here . " For my own part , 1 wiw not , led astray ; mid though it \ vm my day for
despatching my correspondence , attaching as I did no sort o f importance to the arrival of any Nesselrode whatever at Trieste , I had not mentioned it . It was otherwise , it would appear , at the Tuileries ; but there , remember , they speak only half French , and don't always understand it : they took Constantinople for Trieste , and Nesselrode the ' father , for Nesselrode the son ; and the bulletin interpreted thus , was read aloud by superior orders at the Bourse : thereupon a sudden rise of two
francs : but next morning the whole affair was explained , and a terrible reaction ensued : in a few minutes there was a fall of three francs , followed rapidly by a panic in all securities , and the consequent smash of * a host of speculators—a lot of stockbrokers in the van , of course . The latter , representing the interests of the fundholders in general , have brought an action against the poor Commissary : but the Commissary exhibited the order he had received from the Government : and the tribunal hesitates to decide in
the midst of the public displeasure . In truth , Bonaparte is considerably embarrassed just now . Pestered by two opposing parties , he knows not to which to give the preference . He has adopted , it is said , a middle term , which would he this : instead of taking the lead , to give the precedence to England ( de s'effacer derriere VAngleterre ) . According to what we find in the English journals , it seems as if your Government were being drawn into a more and more warlike attitude by the " City" itself . If such be the case , Bonaparte ' s course is plain enough : he lias only to follow the British Government . It is said here , that your Government has just sent orders to Admiral Dundas to proceed with his squadron to Constantinople , and that Bonaparte has concurrently sent orders to the French fleet to rendezvous with the
British at the Dardanelles . Turkey , too , has taken all the measures required by circumstances : levies of troops en masse have been commanded in European Turkey , and something like a force of 200 , 000 men of irregular cavalry lias been raised in Asiatic Turkey . The greatest activity reigns in all the arsenals ; an immense store of powder has been sent to Schumla , the head-quarters of the Turkish army . The Russians , on their side , are making formidable preparations . 1 . The Grand Duke Constantino reached Odessa on the 21 st idt ., and from thence p roceeded to Sebastapol , there to press forward the despatch of a flotilla of gunboats destined for the Danube .
2 . The Emperor Nicholas , in person , is hourly expected at Odessa , and his residence is prepared at Ismael , on the Lower Danube . 3 . Notice has been given to the chiefs of the Danubian provinces ( Moldavia and Wallachia ) that the Russian forces would not occupy them , but would enter directly into Turkey by the lower Danube . 4 . A pontoon bridge is all in readiness , and perfectly equipped at Ismael for the passage of the troops . G . The British consul at Galatz has sent word to Constantinople that the Russians have ordered in Moldavia not less than 20 , 000 ox-wagons for the rapid transport of the troops from the Pruth to the Lower Danube . Now it does not requiro any very profound military intelligence to perceive that all these movements are of a very serious complexion ; that they don ' t at all look like a factitious movement to intimidate Turkey , but rather like a iine and skilful strategetieul manoeuvre which in two days will transport 200 , 000 men from the banks of the Pruth , where they are at thin moment , and where they are expected , across the Danube to when ; they are not expected . This combination is too vigorously planned to fail to 1 ms carried into execution . Uesides , if the intimidation of Turkey , and nothing more , in the game to be played , wherefore the presence of the
Czar himself on the Danube . P why the presence of the Grand Duke Constantino -with the fleet ? why have given orders to ihc Fourth Russian corps d ' armce quartered in Poland to march on the Lower Danube ? Why , in fine , have sent through all the military colonies of Southern Russia the order to mobilize all their contingents , and to march in the same direction ? In Humming- up the number of all the Russian forces actually set in movement towards the frontiers of Turkey , we find an ellecfive of 420 , 000 men out , of 800 , 000 , of which tin ; entire army is composed . We cannot shut
our eyes to the fact ; , that , all Russia is on the march this time against poor Turkey , and that , the Russian plan of campaign is vigorously mid . skilfully combined —a formidable land tinny , a marine force of ; K ) , 000 nun . If the French and I tritish fleets combined should not be at band to oppose the Russian tleet , the latter will land these ilO . OOO men within twenty-live miles of Constantinople . If fhe two combined fleets arrest that niiuuruvre , then it ; will be for the land army to march upon Constantinople , and it will be out , of the power of tlie two fleefs to arrest , that ;; and , saving the intervention of Providence , what in to prevent the capital of
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" THE LEADER . [ Saturda y , 1 . } fj CF . = ¦ ' •^_^_^_ 2 L ^ ZLLL ^^^^ ^^^ m ^^^^^ mi ^^^^ m ^^^ m ^ m ^*^*~**' m ' ' ^*^*^^^^ mmm ^^^ ^''''
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Leader (1850-1860), June 11, 1853, page 558, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1990/page/6/
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