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BUBBING THIS GILT OFF.* 1
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an inklino- of the real state ot things , ana soon ouu c « c universal participation of the members of the Government in that traffic the suppression of which was , no doubt , one of the main reasons for sending a British Consul to such a phtce . He lieganatoi . ee ( o demand a real execution of the Portarias o £ the King- of Portugal suppressing the slave trade , and prohibiting all participation in tlia Fi ^ eneh Free Labour Traffic . The decrees relative to the latter had not even been published . In fact , that traffic had beon ^ a perfect godsend to . the -Colonial authorities . They had sold their own slaves already on hand when it commenced , and set the chiefs in the interior slave hunting again . At first , when the Moorish agents went up the country to procure the slaves , the chiefs said that the Kin" of Portugal bad suppressed the trade , and they could not actuallsent Portuguese soldiers
eno-a ^ e in it ; so the Governor y some in Uniform to satisfy them that it was all right . Once satisfied on that point , the chiefs soon recommenced the bloody business which they had given up , and Free Labour immigrants for the lslanct of Reunion or slaves for Cuba were soon on hand . As _ a i »» tter of course , this at once put a stop to legitimate commerce , Mr . MeL-eod , speakin" of the resources of Eastern Africa , says that the natives ot the far interior have been in the habit of bringing down every year to Massurie , on the mainland opposite the island upon which the city of Mozambique is situated , gold , silver , ivory , wax , skins , &c ; but he adds " In 1 S 56 many of these natives who came down to trade were seized by the Portuguese , to supply the ( so called ) French Free-Labour Emigration , since which occurrence they have
not made their appearance at Messurie . " We should think not indeed ! Indeed , the great guilt of this French emigration system , so much and so justly " denounced in this country , and which is now , so far as regards the east of Africa , abandoned , seems to fall upon the Portuguese . Mr . McLeod describes the treatment of the poor creatures when once on board French vessels as mild and humane , whilst the conditions of their so-called engagements are faithfully performed in lieunion , and every care is taken by the authorities to prevent their being treated as slaves . Slaves , however , they were when put on board the French vessels , and the system , practicalIy , was a revival of the slave trade with all its horrors . __ notoriousslave
Mr . McLeod could obtain nothing from the , - dealer who was Governor-general of the province when he arrived ; but his successor , Colonel Almeida , was a man of a different stamp , and at once attended to the Consul's . complaints . He superseded the Governor of Ibo , who had almost openly engaged in th e n slave trade did his best to stay tlie Free Labour traffic , and : finally condemned the " Charles et Georges . " That , however , was all he could doi and after that step the anger of the official slavetraders against th « Consul broke out in the inostdisgraceful insults . He could not procure a servant , and had , with his wife and her msiid , to do the whole work of his house . He could not obtain provisions , and the whole family were several times in imminent danger of starvation . He was kept a prisoner in his > house th h fVar of violence from persons lured by the
roug slave-dealers , and his house itself was more than once attacked . The Governor apparently was powerless to protect him , tor all the underlings were leagued together to drive the Consul away ; and when , at last , he sent a guard of soldiers they made themselves such a nuisance that the protection was dearly purchased , I he position of Mr . McXeod seems to have beon greatly aggravated by the strange conduct of the commander of a British cruiser visiting the port , who , when appealed to for protection by the Consul , who then 1 bought himself , assured of safety , immediately set sail . Hts position growing worse and worse , the Governor avowing his inability to protect him—his wife , and her maid , brought to the very doors ' of death by fever , in which condition he could obtain lor them neither nurse nor servant , and smy longer residence at Mozambique hf . in , r nm-fantlv usaloflH . Mr . McLeod left the place in May , X 85 b , on
board Her Majesty ' s ship Syrn , for Natal , and thence , yidthe Mauritius—of which he gives an interesting description—andbuez , came homei to England . , ., ' ' Ibis impossible to read Mr . McLeod a book without being convinced of the substantial accuracy of his statements . He is evidently a gentleman of a somewhat quick and lively temper , but at the same time not disposed to wilfully exaggerate or set down aught in malice , We should hope , therefor . © , that our own Government , which must long since have known the tenor of his story , has already drawn the attention of . our ancient ally , Portugal , to the iniquities perpetrated by its representatives in Africa ; but if not , the nublic opinion of Europe , enlightened by the revolutions of Mr .
McLeod , will demand a thorough reform from the Court ot Lisbon . We must add , that Mr . McLood gives some interesting particulars of our own Colonial possessions in Africa , and has collected a mass of information as to the resources and capabilities of the whole oi Eastern Africa , which renders his book in I ho highest degree interesting to all persona seeking a field , for commercial enterprise , or anxious for the suppression of the slave trade , and tlie civilization and conversion of tlie poor African .
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p 1 1 S 60 . 1 The Leader and \ Satuvdaur Analyst . 117
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* JtubMny the GHlt qf . A West End Book for all llcndors . By John IIojuLiNoeiiEAO . London : J . 0 . Jlottou .
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AMONG the how literary names that are risinginto note , we know of none more promising 1 than that of the , author of this volume . Mr . Holling-shead ' s contributions to Household Words were marked by a distinctive character and peculiar merit , which soon spread abroad the secret of their authorship . Many of
them , like the " City of Unlimited Paper , " were reproduce ! in half the newspapers in the kingdom , and enjoyed a popularity rarely won by anonymous articles in a weekly ; magazine . Souie of these , tivat-. iug of city life , and taking ^ a view confessedly one-sided of . con-niier- ' ci ' al morals , were " recently republislied with the title of " Under Bow Bells j" the present volume also consists of essays collected from various journals , bitt all sufficiently related in subject and purpose to form a coherent book . Like the previous collection , " Rubbing the Gilt off" presents Mr . Hollingshead as a satirist of wrongs and abuses . but of wrongs and abuses of a different kind . The objects of attack are here political . They extend from the absurdities and anomalies . of our supposed free trade tariff , to the bad logic of our colonial theories , the vices of our system of patronage , and mysterious diplomacy . With a playfulness , a whimsicality , a power of expression , and a genuine fancy entirely his own , the -writer ' torches these dry themes , and turns them into things of living interest . Nor is an earnest purpose ever lost-sight of . Mr . Hollingshoad is a disciple of that school of : political philosophy , which , from Bentham to Mr . ' Stuart Mill , has already exercised s > great an influence over the minds of our legislative reformers , and which is destined to effect infinitely more than it has yet done in destroying the old empirical system of government . But ho has just , ¦ that which most disciples" of that school are wanting in . and which is indeed a rare gift—* -th e power of promulgating" principles hi a form at once popular and scientifically exact ... It is no i-x .: i } r ^ el'iition to ssiy that such a writer will do more for the immediate dissemination of truth than a . whole section of abstract philosophers . After all , it is not the date at which a truth was discovered , -but the time at which it became popularly known ,. ' which marks real pn tyres ? , either in morals or political -philosophy .- How many com mini ihVs have been ruined by false theories of money , since Locke ano ^ Newton expounded the true principles -of-monetary science ; how many corn--dealers have been stoned since Sir James Stewart demonstrated the absurdity of the prejudice against forestallers ; how . many kings jtnd communities have 'solemnly bound themselves in the trammels of ¦ protection since Adain Smith gave to the doctrine of free trade its perfect development ? What we want are writers who can take these things out of the character of esoteric doctrine , and convert them into items of popular knowledge : -This is not to be donii by the clumsy device oT tales with a moral— "Illustrations of . Political . Economy ; " Kbmarices "T > f the BTml f CHarter , or other weakly disguised didactic essays ; for is not the sugared pill the foundation of eur childish . horror of the doctor ? Mr . Hollingshead's stories and sketches are really stories and sketches . Though implying truths of the highest - . importance-, in politics , they are always humourous and amusing . All tlie tracts . which the Ballot Society ever did or ever can issue , will not be so well calculated to insinuate their views into the minds-of the liismy sis Mr . Hollingshead's * tory of William Manacles , the liberated convict—William Manacles , the friend of tlie people , who was brought in for the JWough of Fogmoor by the money of Mr . SnsuTington , a practical but serious joker upon * our elective system : nor would a dozen papers read before the Society for the Amendment of the Law do as much towards spreading sound opinion on n given topic , as puch a story as " the Pet of the Law , " or such a sketch as " How to make a Madman , " published in a popular journal of large circulation . The paper entitled " Mndfog on Colonies " comprisos the whole theory of foreign markets as laid down in our soundest and driest philosophers ; but few men can read Kicardo , or understand him if they do ; while Mr . Hollingshend makes the tlienie a pleasant piece of satire . Ah a specimen of Sir . Hollingshead ' s style , we-cannot do better than quote the conclusion of his sketch of a Royal Novice exhausted by the attempt to master the eoinplicatcd -details of a It iyal Household : — , " can imagine our bewildered monarch cxhiiustqil with the labour of tUe survey retiring to a vaotint apartment ( if such a place , could bo found ) » nd looking over the list of hia host ol ' attcridants , attendants' attendants , jvnd HervautB of attendants' attendiuitfl . J .-J © linds there the names of members of the first / families in the laud , who carry out the old feudal custom of waiting on the sovereign ; uud who . us tlicre arc no castles to lie sacked , and as there is no plunder to be had , are content to l-ocoive a oommon-vlace reinuucratjon in the form of salary , varying from forty pounds to four thousand pounds pey annum , and paid every quarter nut of the Civil List portion of the taxes . lie looks over that same Civil Wat , nnd finds that , although ho is its head and centre , he r «« ci : ivea fur ln ' fi own disposal Jess than onc-si ^ th eve ry y « ar , the rest bciiig absorbed bef ' i > n ? ifc Tciicncs hhn by the surrounding circles . Indignantly ho rings a bull , and is answered , like Lord Uatcnian , by a proud young porter , jimge , equerry , groom , waiter , and K . O . B . The bewildered monarch , considerably iiwed , jiaks for a glass of water , tfour-nnd-twonty bells ring in sucochsioiij ouch one summoning another , until at last ( li « Juan is reached wJio . scduty jfcIs to < lraw the water , after the Asiatic' system of c * aeit « aiu full working-ortlor , jiided by nil tho advantages of a superior civilization . Tlio wuteir , With fiomo considerable delay , ia paesod on from hand to hand , until it reaches the oxpectod and bewildurod ununaroli . Ho st'os the ivliolu organisation at a Klango—the perfoct unbroken chain ' of relative UuriJa-yism ; vvcrylxidy oornbing everybody ulso ' s hair ; everybody brushing everyl . * od y else ' s coat j everybody pouring out everybody elso ' a coffne j everybody handing ovcryl ) ody else a Hhochorn ; everybody attending everybody else abroad ; everybody waiting upon everybody elso at dinner ; everybody laughing at everybody else ' s joists ; and sojnotUmiS ( for quarrels will arise in the very beat rt'gulutod pulaces ^ everybody kicking everybody else down stairs . Finally , wo can imagine our bewildered monarch so' much alarmed ut the amount of detail that exists For him to ' maBtor , and at the n ' uinhorimd variety of individuallsma of dUFerent degrees of imnc » rtuuoo that ho hna to avoid --oIIoikN ing and miadireoting , that , in the ilutik of evoniiiK , he seizes 114 stflws < ])« a-jaokot and slips privately put at a buok gate , to take a long and quiet oruiso in the JJultio vr the Mcditorrunoan . " As a conoction of papers which through all thoir . whiiiimfliil foneios develop ft rolitical ' system with » m e « rnestuortH nnd a eon *
Bubbing This Gilt Off.* 1
1 BUBBING THIS GILT OFF . *
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 4, 1860, page 117, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2332/page/17/
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