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of compulsion . The wish to sell is equal to the wish to buy , an d * each party to the bargain having for his obioet to induce the other to come m to Jus terras , tempts him by the offer of all possible advantages . Hence trade is not only mutually beneficiallt is founded and promoted by the desire of one , in benefiting himself , to benefit another . Accordingly , it is found that as trade is extensive the enjoyments of all are promoted . Production is rendered facile by division of labour ; there can
be no division of labour without exchange , ana it is « reat -as exchange is extensive . Where trade is extensive , the enjoyments of every individual are indefinitely greater " than could be obtained by the individual without trade , even if society could exist without it ; and that which promotes the enjoyments of all cannot be meaner or more despicable than any other part of society . England is now the greatest -leading- nation of the world , and by her trade , far from depriving other people of a single enjoyment ., supplies them with useful clothinf and instruments , stimulates their industry . to
purchase her productions , and spreads a knowledge of her arts , her inventions , and her improvements over the globe . Her merchants trade only to benefit themselves , but the trade they have carried on with other individuals and countries—a mutual exchange of benelifs—has enriched all . The morality of trade is based on mutual service , and no men have , nor can have , a more ennobling motive for their , general , conduct . It would be well if other businesses and other professions acted on a motive equally beneficial ,
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THE LINDSAY LETTER . . TnE " Memorials of the Lindsays , " iu its next edition , will require a fresh chapter : therein it will be told how in these latter days the last Lord Lindsay , like a sort of aristocratic David , went forth ,, unarmed and uncommissioned , to do battle with the Goliath of democracy ; how with puny hand he . slung forth his feeble pebble ; " and how the Manchester giant ought to have fallen , only lie did next . We fear , indeed , that the Scotch Quixote : will meet with but scant gratitude from his self-constituted clients . Talleyrand , it is said , went to church to pray God to preserve him from his' friends . The English aristocracy should offer up supplications to be delivered from Lord Lindsav .
In plain truth ,, the British peerage requires no defender—they are strong in their position , strong in their prestige , strong , too , in their peculiar privileges . While they have got possession why should they trouble themselves about their title ? If they arc weak in theory , they arc strong in fact . Let them be content with that . Whatever may be the private opinion of Mr . Bright ,.-the British public have no wish to deprive them of their authority . "When , however , we . arc told ' that not only do the aristocracy rule us , but that it is right and meet they should so rule ; that , in fact , they are invested with a kind of divine right of n > AltAimtitn » f - ( it I . ** 4 Krm i \ tn l \ lf-w ~ wl i \ lAl \ ninii t linn rrl \ in
{ 3 ^ " V * i lull l- ^ w ii v uilvii iiiu * ji \ j \ j \* wivuumu uuu « p it be , of the Browns , Joneses , and Kobinsons revolts against the supposition , and , in the name of common sense , they protest against the cant of birth . The theory of an aristocracy is a grand and a noble one . From the days of Plato , downwards , the ideal dream of philosophers has been that of a state ruled by a collection of its best mid wisest inhabitants , it is probable that this dream novor has boon realised in any ago or country—it is possible that it never may bo realised save in the realms of Utopia or 'Prosier John—it is certain that it is not realised by thq aristocracy of England . Will any man in his senses be lbumt to assert that , as a body , the English peerngo are distinguished by valour , or virtue , or wisdom superior to that of common men F
Wo have no wish to join in a tirado against a " bloated aristooraoy , " our scepticism , alas ! is as negative as our faith . The peerage excites in , our minds noithor indignation nor enthusiasm . Even a Lindsay exercises no peculiar influonco upon our dogenorato feelings . Unronmntio as tho confession may appear , the powor of tho English aristocracy consists in tho simple fact thai , as a boily , they represent , wealth . A poor Poor is an abomination in oitr eyes . The whole of our social system—tho praotioo of entailstho rulo of primogeniture—the custom of wealthy inarriagos , of a Lindsay with a Loyd—aro all oal-Qulatod to pvosorvo tho horoditary fortunes of tho poovago in ono constant succession . Tho great ond
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is attained , the peerage is rich and ought to be rich ; the moment it ceases to be rich it becomes a sham and an imposture . We find , in consequence , that , as a class , the ] 5 eers possess the virtues and the failings of the rich . If they are not fond of exertion , they are not much given to interfere . If their learning is somewhat shallow , it is also pretty general ; auc ' lif their lives arc dissipated , they are , at any rate , decently decorous . They are . ornamental , if ' not-useful . ' About their career there is a marvellous uniformity . They toil not , neither do they spin . Whether their resemblance to the lilies of the valley extends further is an open question . in the Guards
They sow their wild oats at college or , and take their seats in the House of Lords , marry heiresses and beget children , and are buried in the family vault , having fulfilled the whole duty of a Peer ? It is told of an old Dean of Trinity College , Cambridge , tliat lie was in the habit of translating the motto of that ancient institution , " Virtus vera nobilitas , " in a twofold manner , according to the rank of his auditor ; to the fellow-commoner he rendered it , Virtue is the only nobility ; to the sizar he paraphrased it by the Avords , Nobility is the only virtue . Lord Lindsay has arrived at the conviction that these two versions arc substantially
identical . His process of reasoning is concise , if not conclusive . Virtue is the only nobility— -virtue resides in the nobility alone—therefore , nobility is the onl y virtue . To the question of Job , ' ' Where shall , wisdom be found , and where is the place of understanding ? " Lord Lindsay has his answer pat and ready— -In the House of Lords , and umougst the jtristocracy of England . Kow , what are the real facts of the ease ? Amongst the whole five hundred members of the House of Lords , are there a dozen men of more than average intellect or merit ?
The names of Brougham , Lyudhurst , Macauiay , Clyde / or .-St . . Leonin-tis , . cannot be cited as cases in- " point ; The architects of . their own fortunes , they owe their rank to no hereditary nobility of blood . Lord Elienborough and Lord Canning , whatever may be their merits , have no claim to ancestral dignity . Of the representatives of our old families , who Is there but Lord Derby whose talents render him superior to his rank ? Amongst the members of the aristocracy who grace the House of
Commons with their presence , Lord Pahnerstqn and Lord John llussell are about the only men of eminent ability . The . plain English of the matter is , that the aristocracy contains about the same proportion of talent as any other equal number of educated Englishmen- — . neither more nor less . There , as elsewhere , stupidity is the rule , and ability the rare exception . Whatever may be the inward working of aristocratic blood , its outward manifestation is not discernible to the vulgar eye .
We arc disciples of the Shandca . n doctrine , that every man should be allowed to ride his own hobby - horse in peace . If the Lindsay hobby were as innocuous as it is absurd , we should be the last to dismount the rider . Unfortunately , the external capabilities of the dogma for evil arc iu an inverse ratio to its internal merits . As long as this mysterious " blood and birth " worship is confined to antiquated dowagers , to sentimental novelists , and romantic youths , \\ e can afford to let it pass unheeded . The votaries of a creed whose Bible is the Kcd-book , whose prophets aro Bulwer Lytlou and Mrs . Gore , and whose hierarchy of saints is the
goodly host of carls , and dukes , and marquises , arc nut likely to revolutionise the world . The wholo fabric , however , of our aristocratic system of government rests upon tho tacit assumption that the aristocracy have- soino peculiar and cspceial power of statesmanship . Once upset this fallacy , , ouco look the truth in tho face , ouco admit the plain , unsentimental fact that the peerage arc neither bottcr nor worse , wiser nor vnoro foolish , than ordinary men , that given the wcalt h and position , a clovor Jones would be marvellously like a clevor Stanley , and at
once the folly of tho system , by which tho government of Ihc country is passed liko a shuttlecock from one lord to another , is exposed and ooudemncd . it is on this ground alone that thu Lindsay apology for tho arjbtocraoy of England requires especial notice . Whatever Mr . BrigTit's faults may bo , no is strong enough to boar unmoved tho weight of Lord Lindsay ' s indignation . A " man of letters " is not necessarily a man of parts . " Oh , that mine enemy would write a book 1 Such was tho pray or of Solomon . Tho member for Birmingham may paraphruso tho supplication by tho expression of his earnest wish that Lord Lindsay may write daily to tho Tiiiicn , and that his letters may bo inserted .
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No . 459 , JAUT 7 ABTJ , jt 859 . -l THE LEADER . 51
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strange objects of misery ; aged , women , boys prematurely old , briektnakers , labourers out of work , sempstresses not out of work but too poor to have a home , trainpers , tumblers , human beings fading away with old age , carrying on a life of half idiocy , or losing life almost before it burns in the fever and consumption of born disease . But the appalling assembly which munches its allotted loaf in hasty silence , joins in prayer with a touching decorum , and crouches down for its night ' s rest under its allotted rug , has its foil . There is the same kind of crowd which comes too late , finds no room , and must spend the night in the streets whatever may be the weather ; and the
meiidrabbish STATE HOMES FOB . THE HOMELESS . The attention of the metropolis has been officially directed to the fact that it has within its bounds , e specially about this season of the year , multitudes of homeless poor . There , is a place called the FiekUlane Night Refuge for the Homeless Poor , an institution which opens its doors to the absolutely destitute , gives them at night a roof under which to hide their heads , and supplies them with a supper of bread—in some cases , with coffee added to it . It is a painful spectacle the interior of that building , which , as the night closes in , is filled with
Londoner who knows his own district at all hours of the night is familiar with the forms which assemble round doors of ; the Refuge in vain ;—those faint , limp , listless forms which are so dingy t . hat thev can scarcely be . distinguishedfrom . the wall or t he * pave incut . ' The numbers of tliis multitu de have perhaps not been .. accurately ascertained , but that they are very . considerable we may learn from the collateral fact , that in the vagrant wards of fifteen workhouses during the year ending on the 21 st of May , IS 5 . 7 , 6 G , 000 admissions were g iven for a nurtk ' s lodging . In the same year , 5 : i , 6 Q 0 were given at the charitable refuge in Playhouse-yard . Some thousands , therefore , are wandering about
London at night without a home . Amongst the peculiarities of the class ^ is the caprice with which it distributes itself . There is reason to suppose that multitudes who arc too much corrupted , or who are by nature too feeble in , mind and body to understand their true position in life , come wandering up to London in order to find some kind of fortune in things in general . They go
to no particular district , but simply seek London . Yet they distr ibute themselves with such hi r equality , that , whereas some 13 , 000 will go to St . Leonard's , Shoreditch , or St .. George the Martyr * 10 , 000 or 11 , 000 to St . Margaret ' s , Westminster , and St . Pancras , only 17 S go to poor Chelsea , only 3-iS to wealthy Marylebone , more * than 4000 to well-to-do Kensington , a little mote than 1000 to Betbiial-green . . -, ' ., in this invasion which
There are two incidents constitute very embarrassing difficulties . The burdens we have seen full with great inequality upon the various districts . It would be ditncu . lt to say that St . Leonard ' s , Shoreditch , does anything which should subject it to a larger burden than Bethnal-green ; yet the burden it has , and by the existing arrangement there is nothing that cau equalise tho pressure upon the two districts . The other difficulty is still more perplexing . Jfc maybe said that the poor should go to the workhouse , where there are vagrant wards ; it * the poor feel an
invincible repugnance to seek shelter in a workhouse , it may be answered that they must overcome a sentiment not justified by their position . Besides , there is reason to supposo that if some who havo been unfortunate aud sunk down to the lowest misery may bo warranted by certain old associations in shrinking from tho degrading influences ot iv workhouse , many scout that refuge simply because they hato the restraint , and love the opportunity ot pilfering or drinking , though they must indulge their taste in tho midst of mud and misery , lucre is , however , reason to apprehend that a part of the repuffuauoo which is felt by tho better portion or
tho homeless olassos , is occasioned by a want of appropriate management in the house Irritated by oxasperaling behaviour amongst the inmates , especially the casual poor , hardened by intercourse with many who scaroely deserve compassion , not over highly' paid , but dooiuodly overworked , tho oflicors of a parisli workhouse grow somewhat dull in their souse of compassion for the wretohod , and have scarcely tho time or fooling loft to disoriuvnmlo between tho simply wretched and tho prollimito . Moreover , the crowding of squalid and reckless beings in tho same ward with the fooblo and tho inoffensive , has tho oiloot of converting
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 8, 1859, page 51, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2276/page/19/
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