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MR. COBDEN'S PAMPHLET
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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, KOtlCES t 6 COBRESPONDENTS . A- Bl T . —The letter has been handed to tbe biographer . Ho notice can be taken of anonymous communications . Whatever is intended for insertion mast be authenticated by . the came and address of the writer ; not necessarily for publication , but as a jruaranteeof Ms good faith . •¦ Opek GouNtit" Is again unavoidably omitted . It is impossible to acknowledge the mass of letters we receive . Their insertion ia often delayed , owing to a press of matter ; and when omitted , it is frequently from reasons quite independent of the merits of the communication . Communications should always be legibly written , and on . one side of the paper only . If long , it increases the diflj-- cutty of finding space for them . We cannot undertake to return rejected communications .
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36 TH * E - LEADER . [ No . 303 , Saturday
Mr. Cobden's Pamphlet
MORE EASTERN COUNTIES EXPOSURE . We have been too fast in our judgment of the Eastern Counties Railway case . On re-consideration , we find that there is really nothing in it to excite the slightest indignation . It perfectly conforms to the rule that has been declared to govern our commerce , —caveat emptor—let the buyer beware . It is his
busithe present , lie argues that , it being impossible effectually to coerce Russia , to persist in attempting such coercion is an ' unwise and desperate policy . Consequently ,- he would withdraw from the conflict , without plea or explanation . Certainly , he will agree with us , that this course would be surprising , if not unparalleled . Since statesmanship existed , has any nation ever so far committed itself to
It is not , however , a question of material facts that we argue with Mr . Cobden , tn * fc a question of policy . And we hope to interpret his opinions fairly , though it is not easy to distil a pamphlet into a paragraph . He argues , then , that , owing to the restrictive commercial system adopted by Russia , she is not , to any important extent , dependent on foreign trade , and therefore cannot , in this respect , be
vitally injured by the allied navies . Again , her productions circulate within her own frontier , one province exchanging with another . The continents of Europe and Asia are open to her . Her people are intensely patriotic , and are incited by national and religious feelings to defend the imperial flag . Her finances , indeed , are bad , but , without an adequate revenue , the Czar commands all the vast
resources of his empire . Eussia maintains the defensive with these advantages . The Allies pursue the offensive with positive and serious disadvantages . They have invaded a distant territory ; they must carry all their supplies with them . In England there is a paucity of soldiers , and though the Allies enjoy the " benefits of an elastic revenue and immense credit , three years of warfare ( inevitable if the present policy be continued ) must exhaust their exchequers , impair their industry , and render Great Britain secondary to America .
MR . COBDEN'S PAMPHLET . What Mr . Cobden proves , in his pamphlet , is , that the Allies have a difficult work before them . ; He assumes that Russia has rejected the Austrian proposal : lie allows xis to assume that the war is not , in principle , an unjust war . His retrospect does not , indeed , include the original grounds of the quarrel . Omitting that discussion , and looking at the future from
Something of this is true . Mr . Cobden is a vigorous and suggestive critic . But the moment he supposes himself , for the argument ' s sake , a responsible minister , he presents a scheme of political operations which is literally astounding . Withdraw the fleets and armies , accept no guarantees from the enemy , league with the German powers against the aggressions of Russia , sign the tripartite treaty now offered by Austria , " binding herself to resist , in future , any attack made by Russia upon Turkey , or any attempt to maintain an exaggerated naval force in the Black Sea !"
That is to say , engage to go to war with Russia , should she adopt again the course which Mr . Cobden thinks she should now be permitted to develope with impunity . Mr . Cobden urges the honour of Russia , which forbids her consent to an y naval limitation , yet would bind Austria to go to war with her , should she establish an exaggerated naval force in the Black Sea . What is this but treating the Czar as a ticket of leave man ?
He has been expelled from the Principalities ; Sebastopol has been reduced ; but it is useless to take his parole d'konneur ; his promises are worthless ; his diplomatic engagements would be nugatory . However , place the German Powers on guard , that he may be seized upon the first repetition of his offence . Surely , Mr . Cobden , who relies on arbitration , should have more faith in treaties . Moreover , what circumstance induces him to value an Austrian above a Russian pledge ?
Others have exaggerated tlie exhaustion of Russia . Mr . Cobden , wo believe , exaggerates its vitality . Had not the war been ill-con ^ ducted from the beginning , a vital wound would have been inflicted ,-no doubt , by the allied fleets and armies . A now campaign seems inevitable . English reason has been
willing to accept modorate conditions of peace . If they are refused , the issue must again be left to armaments . But we join with Mr . Cokden in a deep conviotion that unless England put forth her energies in earnest , fearlessly and wisely , she will bo disgraced by the events of the third campaign—for Russia will not feel her blows . The pamphlet deserves to be read , if only that it suggests tliat reflection is better than bluster
a trial of strength as England has committed herself now , and retired unconditionally ? For , in strict reason , this is the dilemma . Will Mr . Cobdex say , " not unconditionally ?" Then it is a question of terms , and we all accept that basis . Will he say , " Not the conditions proposed by Austria ? " But , unless Great Britain is to recall her armaments , without a single concession on the part of Russia , Mr . Cobden's pamphlet has been written , not only in vain , but idly : it is not only inconclusive , —it is unintelligible .
Mr . Cobden , however , never writes that which has not a clear meaning . We might say , he never writes that which is not , in many points , conclusive . His pamphlet should have some _ effect in rationalising popular opinions of Russia . It describes the power of that empire ; its . self-sustaining internal commerce ; its intercourse with Northern Asia and the
Continent ; and the " impassive fortitude" its people . The estimate is too high , we think , especially in as far as it repeats Tegobobski ' s calculations , supposititious as these often are ; but the public has been deluded by estimates which err , much more grossly , on the opposite side . Thus , the Times has ridiculously disparaged the growth of the Russian population . To argue that because Siberia contains not
more inhabitants than London , it cannot supply more soldiers , is to suggest a deduction radically unsound , because the parallel w false . Siberia Contains myriads more of men disposable for ^ military objects than London . The province of Bengal is one of the most populous in India , yet not one Bengalee ™ 5 Ef £ k OTmy ' Whilc tbe less-thToWjr peopled Punjab sende many thousands into
ness to see that he purchases what he wantsnot the seller ' s , nor the bystander ' s , nor the State ' s , but the buyer ' s only . When the railways were projected , the object was to bring " shares" into the market . So far as that first process goes , the whole object would be attained if anybody could be procured to purchase abstract scrip ; and a broker would perhaps be as willinnr to sell the Barataria and New
Atlantis Grand Junction , as the London and Norwich . But we have not yet arrived at that perfection in the division of employments , and shares are at present vulgarly supposed to represent sometlnng . It was therefore necessary to have a railway , in order to justify the proposals for shares of the Eastern Counties , East Anglian , Eastern Union , or Norfolk . The shares were sold in the City , and th « y were bought ; and it was the buyer ' s business to look out . If there had been no railway at all , he could not complain , unless he had examined
into the fact . There was a railway , such as it was ; and if it was property not likely to last , it was his own fault for buying a share in it . The railway passenger buys a ticket , which represents a journey , and it is his business to see , according to this rule , that he really purchases a journey from London to Norwich and not a journey from London into a broken viaduct , half way between the two cities . If there should be a railway " accident , " it is Ins fault for going on the line . Caveat emptor—buyers beware '
The rule decidedly applies to the Eastern Counties . As with stores—if the Eastern Counties Railway Company proposes to buy so much sacks and sheeting , evidently it is not the duty of the sacks and sheeting contractors to furnish articles good or in sufficient quantit }' , unless the railway company itself sees that the quality and quantity be right . It purchases the services of a superintendent of locomotives , who is also to be a cheapener of traffic working . Well , we see no reason to suppose that Mr . Gooch has not cheapened the traffic working ; in fact , ho claims a
considerable sum of money as per-centage on his having effected that bargain . The Eastern Counties perhaps did not contomplsite purchasing also a gentleman who would enter into rival speculations ; but , Caveat emptor —the shareholders ought to have examined their Gooch before they bought him ; and if he is not exactly the article they supposed , it is their own fault . So , again , when they purchased , at an enhanced price , the services of a David Waddington as a chairman , it was their business to sec what they wanted . Caveat emptor—buyers beware 1
The rule has beeri effectually carried out on the Eastern Counties . We have had several series of disclosures . The Committee of Investigation described the directors as engaging , in extraneous speculations , while the servants wore engaging in internal peculations , and the property of the original shareholders was only made the stalking-horse for 1 he profit of individuals connected with the lino . Tlu >
very trunk of that railway system , as it were , has been made to support projects that compete with the original design and ovorlaul it . In brief , it was as if the original capitalists of a project were bound to ( support the expenses of all the off-shoot projects , while the off-shoot projects consented to share with them the profits . Mr . W aldington Ihcn appeared
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s ^ SATURDAY , JANUARY 12 , 1856 .
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There is nothing so revolutionary , because there is nothing so -unnatural and convulsive , a 3 the strain to keep things ^ fbced when all the world is by the very ¦ law of its creation in eternal progress . —Da . Arnold .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 12, 1856, page 36, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2123/page/12/
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