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* i . ¦ May 4, 1850.] ffifje QLtKittX. 1...
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THE EDUCATIONAL OBSTRUCTIVES. A protest ...
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MORAL OF THE PARIS ELECTION. Again Paris...
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AN EXAMP1B TO INSOLVENT? LANDLORDS. Port...
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ROYALTY AND LOYALTY. Two intensely democ...
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TUB BLACK DEMON OP AMERICA. Conscience i...
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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.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Universal Suffrage. The Election Of Euge...
so little crime in comparison with the mass of ignorance and the mass of want—is not this a fact to make him blush who dares to talk of the people as capable of injustice ? Who ducks the pickpocket ? The mob . Who , protects the police ? The mob . Who leaves untouched the countless shops blazoning with jewellery and richest stuffs ? The mob . Who , when roused even to fury by the sight of blood and smell of powder , when masters
of the palace of its enemies , preserved as sacred the property of the vanquished , and shot the few scoundrels that disgraced the victory by theft ? The mob ; that very Socialist mob which is , according to the Times , ready to destroy all property , all liberty , all order , all religion , if it once get the power . Get the power ? Why it has had it ! It had it in 1830 and in 1848 . Paris was in its hands ; ask even its enemies if it disgraced the victory !
Opinions may be chimerical ; on matters o £ such complex and far reaching import as social questions the best intellect may grossly err ; but to argue as if the People were not for ever moved by impulses of justice—to suppose that a people under any circumstances could abdicate the august throne of its conscience , and perpetrate that which it knew to be unjust , even to secure a temporary advantage to itself—that , we say , is not to argue like a statesman , but like a child : it is * a blasphemy against human nature . Therefore we demand universal suffrage as a right , and we demand it in the fullest confidence of its becoming a good .
* I . ¦ May 4, 1850.] Ffifje Qltkittx. 1...
* i . ¦ May 4 , 1850 . ] ffifje QLtKittX . 131
The Educational Obstructives. A Protest ...
THE EDUCATIONAL OBSTRUCTIVES . A protest appears in the advertising columns of the Times , signed by twenty-nine members of the Congregational Board of Education , against the Secular Education Bill , on the ground that it may be made an instrument of political and ecclesiastical tyranny , and , among other reasons , because " it encroaches on the just civil rights and religious duties of conscientious teachers among the poor ; whose convictions constrain them to mingle with all teaching the spirit and precepts of divine truth ;
an encroachment which would not be tolerated in other seminaries of instruction . " Now , how are we to define " the just civil rights" of the " conscientious teacher ? " We have very little respect for the conscience of a man who calls himself " a teacher of the poor , " and who yet , knowing that millions of that class are literally " perishing for lack of knowledge " would strain every nerve to prevent the establishment of a thoroughly useful system of education , contrived mainly for the poor , because it is to be imparted to them without any mixture of
sectarianism , llns is , forsooth , an intolerable encroachment on the "just rights" of the concientious Congregationalism These men might as well protest against the poor-law as " an encroachment on their just civic rights , " because relief is administered to the destitute without the slightest attempt to enforce *• the spirit and precepts of Divine truth / 5 What more fitting time to teach religion than when bestowing charity Surely the two are much more congenial than Arithmetic and the Thirty-Nine Articles , or than
running-hand and the doctrine of predestination . Why , then , should the wealthy , benevolent Independent or Wesleyan , who may prefer to bestow his charity on those that show a readiness to embrace his creed , be disturbed in his operations by a merely secular system of almsgiving ? If religious teaching among the poor would be greatly promoted by coupling it with a liberal distribution of
bacon , bread and cheese , with the addition of blankets , coals , and flannel in winter , the Congregational Board ought to go for the abolition of the Poor-Law . That enactment plainly interferes with the rights of those who believe that they could heVev " promote the chapel interest" by distributing a few pounds annually among the poor than by allowing the poor-law guardians to expend the same amount for ihem under the name of rates .
Moral Of The Paris Election. Again Paris...
MORAL OF THE PARIS ELECTION . Again Paris has elected a Socialist , because he is a Socialist . That the election means very much is not concealed , but rather emphatically proclaimed 'jy the antagonists of the popular party ; since they have resorted to every means available to prevent such a result . They forcibly removed Socialists from Paris on the hackneyed pretext of their being vagrants ; that is to say , workmen resident in the town without the permits which it is so difficult for men in many large centres of industry to obtain . They have made the
roost sweeping suppressions of the journals . In short , they have endeavoured to obstruct the election , on one side , by every possible manoeuvre . They did endeavour to supersede and anticipate it by getting up riots ; but they have failed in that as in every other particular . The Socialists have remained perfectly quiet ; have managed to do without the help of which they were deprived ; have pursued their course with unbroken calmness and pertinacity ; and , in spite of every obstacle or abatement , have carried their candidate by an overwhelming majority .
The candidate not the best to have chosen . We understand that a contemporary has assailed the Leader for speaking in a disparaging manner of Eugene Sue . We have done so , not because we resent the freedom of his opinions—quite the reverse ; not because we object to his outspoken language—quite the reverse ; nor because we are blind to his undoubted ability . Eugene Sue is a novelist with a stronger melodramatic power for startling effects than any writer now living . He abuses that power by using it for effects of the most revolting kind ; revolting to every principle of true art . He assumes doctrines by turns , as if
merely to make materials for his literary trade ; and , judging by his past career , which has professed at least the candour of a contempt for the popular insight , M . Sue now adopts a public position for some purpose of his own . It may be otherwise ; but the data for judgment do not as yet suggest any other conclusion . We are surprised to see a contemporary so well informed on Parisian affairs as the Examiner rate Eugene Sue among the highest for a " penetrating and refined intellect . " The lowest playhouse manager , who fills his house with a paying but indiscriminate audience , might claim the same qualities on equal grounds .
But Eugene Sue does adopt the doctrine of Socialism ; he is known to be eloquent ; his election is a taunt and threat to the opponents of Socialism and Republicanism ; and as the impersonation of popular will he becomes a different thing from the pander to public vices . What then is the position of Socialism in France ? Manifestly it commands the capital , the army concurring .
One other incident would suggest the supposition that it commands extensive tracts of the country . The precautions taken by the Government in the provinces are precisely the same with those that have been taken in the capital ; and in the capital they are taken without avail . What is this Socialism , then ? It must be something very different from the Ateliers Nationaux which M . Marie foisted upon the credit of Louis Blanc ; it must be different from that abstract doctrine which the Assembly associates with the spectacles of M . Proudhon ; different from the
Fourierism of the Democratic Pacifique . Whatever it is , this Socialism is extending its influence in this country not only to immense numbers of the working classes , but also into different sections of the more educated classes , appearing more or less openly in the periodicals of the highest class . You may trace the pen of the Communist in more than one leading journal of London , in more than one of the best monthly or quarterly periodicals . Many clergymen openly give it their sanction . We of the Leader have been warned off this discussion
as dangerous , both to the public peace and to our own interest . * ' Do not , " considerate friends have said , " discuss this too directly or openly ; the manufacturers are afraid of it , and dislike to have it mooted . They think that it will put dangerous notions into the heads of their workmen . " Infatuated friends ! the " dangerous notions" are there already ; and we do not avert danger by shutting our eyes to it . Our safety in this thing is to lay it bare , to see all that there is in it , good or bad , and make the most for it or against it . Most of all is it the function of the Leader to
engage in the discussion of these momentous and doubtful questions . It is our very purpose . If we forego this we had better cease to be , or not have existed at all . And even you who warn us will not long hence learn to see that the safer course is a perfectly direct exchange of counsel upon such subjects . What , then , * is the definite form which this Socialism has now taken in its command of
France ? In what is it distinct from those sectarian forms that we have mentioned ? How is that the Socialism of the Christian Maurice is , as he says , the same with the Socialism of Robert Owen , the " Infidel " : of Louis Blanc , the Revolutionist ; find
of the Leader ? The simple truth is , that the Socialism now dominant in France is not a system , but a doctrine . It is the doctrine that man can best serve himself and his fellow man by taking counsel in a common understanding , and working for a common interest . That doctrine is the animus of the Revolution now brewing in France ; it is a spirit which already possesses large numbers in this country , gains ground in our daily practice , and is mounting to high places amongst us . We must not ignore it , nor let it pass in silence . We will watch it and discuss it ; and the coming events in France shall teach us much .
An Examp1b To Insolvent? Landlords. Port...
AN EXAMP 1 B TO INSOLVENT ? LANDLORDS . Portugal's Queen , has just commenced a sweeping reform of her domestic establishment—so says public report . She is said to have dismissed twenty-seven of her servants , sold a number of horses , and all the furniture of the Belem Palace . Instead of using her grand state coach , drawn by four horses , Donna Maria da Gloria now drives about in a carriage drawn by a single pair ; and those of her attendants who were hitherto allowed the use of a carriage , must either go on foot or hire a carriage , and pay for it themselves .
Now , here is an example for those of out own land * lords whose incomes threaten to fail considerably below their expenditure , through the insolvency of farmers . All they want is sufficient moral courage to meet their difficulties where they find they are living in a style which their incomes do not warrant ; let them take the decided course which donna Maria has done—dismiss
all those servants whom they can do without , sell off their supernumerary horses and hounds , and even dispose of superfluous furniture , perchance of superfluous mansions . How much better to do this in time , regardless of what Mrs . Grundy may say than to put off from week to week , in the vain hope that Parliament will do something to enable farmers to pay their present exorbitant rents , and so enable landlords to go on at their present extravagant rate of living !
Royalty And Loyalty. Two Intensely Democ...
ROYALTY AND LOYALTY . Two intensely democratic friends , are aggrieved by our toleration of royalty ; and , if we took them up as strictly as Sir Robert Peel did Mr . Cobden , we might say that they were suggesting the fate of Julius Caesar or Charles the First for Queen Victoria . God forefend any such , folly , or any intermediate folly , in such direction . One friend objects to our noting the personal movements of the royal classes : yet that is intelligence which interests nine-tenths of our readers , to say nothing of the other tenth ; and naturally , since royalty is not only a " great fact , " but also , in its circumstances and incidents , a very splendid , picturesque , potent , and pregnant fact .
Both writers deny " rights" to royalty ; choosing to ignore the rights conferred by usage and the continued assent of society . Royalty no longer affects , except in the coin legends so conservatively defended by saints in Parliament , to exist by right divine ; but it exists by the will of society : it is a practical republican decree that warrants the continuance of royalty in Engi land ; and our impatient friends preach treachery to the republic when they talk so glibly of abolishing the institution . "Only let them , " and see how the English republic would take it . Why , we should have some millions of special constables stalking forth to protect their ' gracious Sovereign " in every high street of the United Kingdom , and singing " God save the Queen " in every possible key after the subsequent dinner of celebration .
We have not done with the institution of royalty yet . In many respects Kingship works better in London than Presidentship in Paris or Washington . Our censorious friends do not look beneath the surface , or they would discern many functions for royalty which political science has not yet arranged for presidentship . One is the faculty of commandinK respect for authority , even during intermissions of political action in the popular part of the political machine , which keeps the motion steady and uninterrupted . England is a republic , with a Doge or Dogaressa at the head ; and , looking to divers events not long distant , we prefer our President to those sometimes inflicted on America or France . We do not fear the royal classes—they are not worse than any other class ; though needing as much as any emancipation from unwholesome restraints .
Tub Black Demon Op America. Conscience I...
TUB BLACK DEMON OP AMERICA . Conscience is the parent of cowardice . The United States , Model Republic , professes to be the freest country in the world ; the Americans hold England far less free and magnanimous . England permits men of any race to land on her shores , unmoved by fear . The " freest , " & c , cannot suffer that freedom . If a respectable Black steward land from an English ship in Carolina or Louisiana the man must go to prison : the United States are afraid of him ! The great Republic must tako precautions against " John Canoe . " We were laughed at for the Duke of Wellington ' s notion that a French fleet might land on our shore : the Model Republic is afraid of a Black man .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), May 4, 1850, page 11, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_04051850/page/11/
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