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change of opinion , but because it establishes a fact which we have for some time asserted—that the Americans themselves are far from being content with the existing law . in relation to slaves . ¥ e find the following passage in the Charleston Mercury : " The South has gained nothing bat a loss by this law . It was a stupid blunder on the part of Southern statesmen . The value of the slave lost is eaten up if capture follows , while hatred to the institution abroad , and opposition to it at home , are increased by its hard features and the barbarous enforcement of them . "
This we say is highly satisfactory , not because it indicates that there is any sudden action against slavery , but because it marks the steady extension of dissatisfaction . The Fugitive Slave Law by no means merits the moral reprobation which has been levelled at it . It is not a substantive piece of legislation ; it was an element in the compromise intended to prevent an extension of slavery . It said , virtually , let us take the states as they now are ; let Massachusets be free , let Georgia retain its institutions ; let the affairs of each state be governed by that state , and the Black population shall not be suffered to disturb that distribution of
jurisdiction . The law was one that could not properly be called in question by the North ; but if the South becomes dissatisfied with it—if the South is struck with the amount of shoe-leather wasted in pursuing the fugitive and dark phantom—if Charleston politicians discover that the bill is not worth the co $ trof retaining it , then , unquestionably , it is quite opei > to Congress to revise the compromise at themstigation of those states which are specially protected by the compromise . That there is a permanent and « i genuine desire amongst the Americans themselves to handle ' tbis subject of slavery , we have said , as Henry Clay had before us ; and the very fact that a Southern paper is able to put forth a remark like the one which we have quoted ,
proves how far dogmatic opinion upon the subject must have been shaken . In this result , indeed , we recognise the influence of Glay , not that of the more violent Abolitionist party . Above all , however , it is our present purpose to caution the reader against taking the last cloud or the last sunshine of the American news as constituting some new state of affairs . Repudiation is a permanent impulse , which the Americans will some day bring to perfect action . The repudiation of unjustly contracted debts is likely to consummate its object by a natural self-development ; while an undue panic . at that ultimate prospect may entail loss upon many who forget that , repudiation notwithstanding Philadelphia has once more acknowledged her liability
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EMIGRATION THE BEST OF STRIKES . Yes , the best of all strikes is emigration . It is good not only for the emigrant , but for the noncmigrant . The working classes have not yet appreciated that second effect of emigration : let us ^ r aw their attention to it . During the last aummer wages rose considerably , and almost universally . Why was that ? The reason was tAVO-fold . There was a greater consignation of goods at home and abroad , and the number of labourers was smaller . How was
that brought about ? Thus : within the last five yours , there had been an emigration of a million and a half of people , comprising a large proportion of effective workers . The population actually diminished under the process , and the births , which fmrtl y replaced it , did not of course replace the abourer who had departed for America , since the sucking' babe , or even child five } r ears old , cannot compete with the , house-painter , the weaver , or the farm labourer . The million and a half went
to America and Australia , where they helped to produce more corn and other commodities for us ; requiring some of our goods in exchange . Our own manufacturers , shopkeepers , and labourers had more to do , and wanted more to oat , drink , and wear—another impulse to production at homo . Houses , clothes , and food had to bo brought to market ; but now it began to be felt that there is no longer that surplus of labourers which used to be set against fche man in work , to keep down his
wages , if builders wanted bricklayers , carpenters , or painters , they had to pay more . The emigrants , therefore , who wont to Australia and America , nerved thostt thai , stopped at . homo ia two ways , —first , by diminishing the competition amongst the working people , and , secondly , by increasing the demand for the employment of the working man . That i . s the whole history of the causes which produced the enhancement of wages last spring and summer .
Now , what became of those emigrants that went to America and Australia ? In . America employment is rife , wages are high , and business generally moves rapidly . But there is something beyond . In America , every man who has lived a very few years in the country becomes a citizen , and has the franchise . He is certain of subsistence for himself and his children , of political independence ,
and he has a real chance of rising to the highest office in the State . Webster , Pierce , and w . e believe , General Gushing , now the Attorney-General , in youth followed the plough ; George Squier , one of the finest , spirits of America , a stirring man , who is leading her on in her path of conquering greiatness , had to find his livelihood and to study at the same time . In short , America is the empire of the working man .
As America is , so is Australia becoming . Every man who goes out there , prepared to work , may get an income such as gentry only possess in this country of ours . Much is said of high prices in Australia ; but while bread has been dear , it has never exceeded the proportion which it bears in this country to wages ; and otter things , such as tea and sugar , are positively cheaper than in this country . Land , too , is cheap : every man may expect to die a landowner . And political freedom is cheap : they are adjusting their constitution in such a way that every working man may expect to obtain the franchise about as soon as he would
in America , with a certainty that before many years are over the constitution of Australia _ will be practically in all respects as popular as it is in America . In the colonies , therefore , the working man gets independence , industrial and political : he can feed himself , his wife , and his children , and no man can make him afraid . That we say is the strike ! You do not , in Australia or in America , have wages kept down , nor is labour without the means of making itself represented , heard , and considered in the Legislature and the Government . The last accounts from Australia
relate how , in New South Wales , the body of the colonists have stopped an eminent member of the Council who was planning an aristocratic form for the new constitution . In intellectual and flourishing South Australia the leading colonists have voluntarily arranged a constitution like that of Canada , which combines the most liberal traits of America
and of England . A nd in Victoria , the gold-diggers , whose pushing spades are turning up subterranean streams of gold six or eight feet wide , have compelled the Governor of the province , Latrobe , to give up an unpopular tax upon their gold licenses , after , like a genuine Lord Derby , he had declared concession to a popular demand " impossible . That ia the strike—to goto the land where wealth freedom , and independence welcome labour .
It is not evory man that can go to Australia ; or can wish to go . But he can go by deputy ; and that does quite as well . There are many at Preston who do not wish to emigrate . Some , indeed , would soon do it , if they really informed themselves on the subject . But there are many also who already wish it , and in many of the agricultural counties there are numbers sighing to depart for America , where a man eats meat as well as bread , and votes without fear of farmer or landlord ; or for Australia , where a man fingers gold as well as coppers , and votes without fear of farmer or landlord . Something like three hundred
and fifty thousand have been going this year;—more , we suspect ; as many will go next year ; and as they go , you men of tho working classes will find the value of labour in the country rising generally . If cotton weaving does not pay , do you not think you could turn your hands to something else ? Why , common soldiers were cutting the hay last harvest for want of hands ; and if the red-eoats can learn a business in a day , surely you can . . Draft away a few more hundreds of thousands from England , Ireland , and Scotland this year , a few more hundreds of thousands next year , and that strike will attain the object which you strive for in a less effectual form of strike . Wo do not
counsel you to abandon tho right of strike after the old pattern ; but , we say that if the strike sometimes fails—if the employing classes nml the Legislature will not attend to your leunonable demands , there m still one strike that is absolutely and incontestubly effectual—it i . s to strike your tents .
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DEFARTU 1 UC OP TMJU DAKIHN CANAL WUJtVEY EXPEDITION . In the year 1695 William l ' utormm conceived the magnificent donign of uniting the commerce of thei two indies by means of n colony planted ia the
Isthmus of Darien . He wished to wrest from Spain this " key of the world , " and to open out a trade between Scotland and ^ the East , which might rival that of the East India Company . Anticipating a commercial policy , whose advantages are even yet only partially acknowledged , he proposed to " render the colony a free port , in which no distinction of party , nation , or religion should prevail . " The enterprising Scotchman obtained a charter from King William , but the jealousy of the rival company organised a strong opposition ,
and the king—too busy with his wars to pay heed to commercial developments—revoked his grant . The adventurers , however , were not deterred , and , in spite of the discouragement which they had received from the court , a band of twelve hundred Scotchmen determined , on their own responsibility , to carry but the splendid project of their leader . But the curse was upon them . Their ships were rotten , and nearly two hundred of the emigrants never saw the coasts of Darien . The natives were not unfriendly , and everything might still have prospered , but famine commenced a work of destruction , which the more fatal influence of religious
dissension , and the narrow jealousy of English monopolists , speedily brought to a _ terrible conclusion . In the words of a brilliant ^ writer , " ambition , ignorance , and selfishness , with their concomitants , mutiny and discontent , combined to destroy the infant colony . Among all these combustible ingredients was finally flung the torch of fanaticism ; and thus the destruction , which neither King nor Parliament could have effected , was rendered inevitable . " Presently arrived an order from King William , forbidding the English colonies in America and the East Indies to supply provisions to the perishing Scotchmen . We need not write the sequel , which is a history of disastrous ruin , of blighted hopes , of a jealous monarch , and an injured people .
A peace of forty years has opened out many fields for the development of commercial enterprise ; and , among many which have lately started into life , is one for uniting the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans by means of a shi p canal ( without locks ) across the Isthmus of Darien . Out of the seven schemes for crossing the isthmus , this seems to be the least liable to objection . Information of the route was first brought to England by Dr . Cullen . Sir Charles Fox , to whom this gentleman had applied ,
did not hesitate to send out a competent engineer , Mr . Lionel Gisborne , to make preliminary surveys . The result wu 3 most satisfactory . After encountering many hardships , including a capture by a party of hostile Indians , I \ Jr . Gisborne and Ins companion , Mr . C . H . Fordo , returned to this country , enabled to pronounce that the scheme was feasible . So convinced , indeed , was Mr . Gisborne of tho practicability of his plan , that he was ready , on his own responsibility , to return to Darien , with a corps of volunteer engineers , in order to toform
complete his survey . He recommended " a . navigation between the two oceans , which wiU > without locks , at all times , permit the passage at the largest vessels , having 150 feet breadth at mid-water , and thirty feet depth at low tide . Happily the plan did not depend for its success upon men wanting either in intelligence or energy-Before long a company was formed , with Loin Whnrncliffe at the head , for the purpose of carrying out Mr . Gisborne ' s recommendations . It is true that no less than 15 , 000 , 000 / . are required . in
for the completion of the work , but the sum is - significant when compared with the sp lenuoiu and utility of the grand result . This morning Mr . Gisborne and his band of engineers saiieu from Southampton . Before many days are elauseu they will hav » begun a work winch will confer a mighty benefit upon the whole civilise " world , will unite the commerce of the Last « u Mi « Wnct clw , wr > n « lin < list . nnce between -bug' *" "
and the colonies , and pave the way for a grow * Federal Union which shall include nil nations . ] 3 ut if the project has been conceived by an individual , mid if the work is commenced by -a private company , we are glad to state t" *} , *" ?) ' meat lend their active co-operation . l » e tMI , great Powers of the world—England , France , iiw * America , have expressed their willingness to |» - mote the success of this enterprise . J »« l '" flags will wave in the waters on either side oi isthmus , as a protection for the band of «" " V ^ . An English lieutenant of Engineers will llC ( ( " . pany Mr . Gisborne , and wo trust that » uccc ^ this great undertaking may cement tho u amoiig Powers on whom the fate of civilw « W ° » depends .
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1212 THE LEADER . QSaturday ,
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Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 17, 1853, page 1212, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2017/page/12/
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