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    300 TjBEE LE^DEm [T$o . 467, March 5, 18...

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    THE NAVIGATION LAWS. No measure of comme...

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    THE POLITICS OF NUMBERS. One .of .the /m...

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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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    Feeling. In The Political Condition Of T...

    test of qualmcatipn than 10 / . a-year ; and ^ if the principle he once admitted , as it is by the bill , that the payment of rent in continuous periodical sums constitutes priima facie evidence of fitness to exercise the suffrage , there seems no reason why the : aggregate ainpuint should be fixed at 201 . insteadof JQl . . We cannot suppose that the novelty of the voting-paper system will receive the sanction ofthe present Etouse of Gpmmons . When last debated in that assembly , as we not long since took occasion

    to observe , the preponderance of opinion was so stroagly against it , that Lord Robert Cecil , by whofn the project was brought forward , was advised not to go to a division . One of the best speeches made on that oceasion against the plans was that of Lord Stanley . We may Confidently count , therefore , on his abstention from supporting it , though it forms part ofthe Government scheme . Lord Stanley is not a man to vote for what he believes to be wrong , at tlie bidding of any set of men . He could never be induced , last sesssion . to sanction the Corrupt Practices

    Extension Act ; and , the other evening ; , Le refused to vote with his party on the question of " Catholic Oaths . " We are prepared , however , to see many modifications in committee of the bill , as lately promulgated . There are abundant preceden ts for such alteration . The Eefornl bill of 1832 was the third introduced on the subject by Lord John Russell within the space of less than twelve months .

    Each of his three bills difiered materially from the othertwo , andone of tlieniost important pro visions of the one that ultimately passed , namely , the Charidos clause , was interpolated by a vote of the House , after a long and animated struggle . The two points on which Lord Derby has pledged himself to take issue , and on which , if he is beaten , he declares that he will dissolve Parliament ; are the maintenance of the 10 Z . uniform fi-ancliise for

    town and county , and the transfer ofthe town ,, freeholds fi-om counties to towns . On each of these , there will be much to say hereafter ; but considering the lamentable laches of the Pahnerstonians for years jiast , we doubt if much popular sympathy will follow them , should they seem to make use of their numerical power in Parliament , merely to obstruct the passing of their opponent ' s measure , without propounding a better one of their own ! As we said at the beginning of these

    • observations , the impending struggle an Parliament , isvone rather for the ascendancy of party , than the satisfaction or contentment ofthe great body ofthe people ; and the acts and motives of ail who take part in it , will be weighed by the public accordingly .

    300 Tjbee Le^Dem [T$O . 467, March 5, 18...

    300 TjBEE LE ^ DEm [ T $ o . 467 , March 5 , 1859 ,

    The Navigation Laws. No Measure Of Comme...

    THE NAVIGATION LAWS . No measure of commercial reform "was more sincerely and pertinaciously opposed than the repeal ofthe navigation laws ; they were not enacted , like the corn laws , by a selfish class for its avowed and exclusive advantage They were enacted by patriotic statesmen-to benefit the public . They were sanctioned by the continued increase of our shipping in conjunction with them for nearly 200 years ., and were regarded as the palladium of our naval greatness . They were eulogised by the , father of political economy . He referred some of them to national animosity , but declared them

    all to be as " wise as if they had been dictated by the most deliberate wisdom . " They oould not , however , stand against the evidence of facts ; and alter several years' searching and patient investigation , they were whplly-r—even those which restricted -our own coasting trade to our own shipping—from necessity abolished . There never was a fairer semblance of advantage to ho obtained by restriction , and never , than by their ultimate failure , was the conviction made more certain that the principle is , in ntU cases , indefensible , and to act on it always injurious . On Tuesday evening the bone *

    the com laws , and of the prohibition to establish joint-stock banks , of the extreme fallibility of the Legislature . The present condition of the shipping interest , suffering , like a portion of the mercantile interest , from the great success and the too eager desire to get rich , prevailed in 1855 , 1856 , and ptfrt of 1857 , could not , even by its inost unscrupulous advocates , be referred to the repeal of the navigation laws . All which they could , say against them was , that other nations had not abolished restrictive laws , and , in consequence , had not conferred equal advantages on our sbipjnng to those which the

    abolition of our restrictive laws had conferred on Other shipping , as well as on our own . It could not be denied that our shipping had increased and improved wonderfully since the abolition ; it was merely asserted that the shipping of other countries had increased also , a"nd in a . greater per centage , though not in actual tonnage , thai * our shipping . A child of one year old , as Sir Stafford Northcote expressed , had become in a year 100 per cent , older , while his father , who was fifty years old , had only advanced 2 per cent . The great navy of Hanover , Norway , & c , has increased more per cent , than British shipping , having started from a

    much smaller figure . But the actual increase ofthe former is 200 , 000 tons , and ofthe latter 1 , 021 , 000 tons . It was explained , too , by Mr . Lindsey , that cotton from the United States , and timber from Norway * & c . * was necessarily brought hither in the shipping of those countries , arid our increased manufactures and our increased trade , the consequence in part of pur freedom , in part of the general impulse trade has received from the great gold discoveries , have thus increased the shipping of all the world . The shipping-of France and Spain , and other countries in which restrictions are still

    the Passengers' Act ; but it could not subject foreign shipping to the samelaw > The consequence is , that the passengers meant to be protected go bv the foreign ship—they lose all protection , and the English shipowner , who might be kept in order loses the passenger traffic . ' ¦ ' Passengers and shipowners are alike injured by a law intended only to secure the well-being-of the former . The claims now made by the shipowners for the remission pf light dues , & c , involve some char / yes on the public ; and Sir Stafford Northcotc , with that familiarity with antiquity which distinguishes the men who make the laws for our modern and crowing community , spoke Of these as tlie sacrifice of the Consolidated Fund in the Temple of Concord

    This is an " illustration , " which , as the hon . jrentleman said , is not an argument . The Consolidated Fund is merely another name for a portion of the taxes applied to particular purposes ; and a much larger sum than is required to provide lights , and compensate all who must be compensated for the loss of passing tolls , & c , may be saved iroin the proceeds of taxation now . applied to patronise and debase the mercantile navy . Very nearly l , 000 , 000 f . a year , goes to hire the services of a few steamers to carry letters , & c , and the expend iture on this head is every year increased . Tlie subventions to use a French word—which might have T > i > en plausible when steam "was in its ' infancy , have now not the shadow of a justification . The service of the

    Post-office must undoubtedly be-paid- ' for ; , but 1 , 000 , OOOZ . a year for the carriage of letters seems tp us chiefly destined to enrich the lavourt-d companies on whom it confers a monopoly . They are enabled thereby to shut out coinnetiti . m ; they treat passengers so much the worse ; and the actual traffic required-r--vvhich would pay all its cost and enrich all concerned in . carrying it on—is curtailed or perverted by a misapplication oi " . the public money . We can assure Sir Stailonl Ko ' rthcote that the shipping may bp relievecl Avitlnuif sacrificing that charming entity , the Consolidated Fund .

    maintained , has increased , " not , as the foolishmen who yet demand reciprocal restrictions wouid infer , by reason of those restrictions , but in spite pf them . So that now , we may say , all argument against free navigation is for ever at an end . The goodness of Providence , bringing , into existence a great increase ofthe traffic between distant countries , coeval with our abolition of restrictions ; on commerce , has engraved the advantages of freedom so plainly in the facts of the material world , that it has already become a settled and irreversible conviction in our country , and must become a part of the mind of all nations . ¦¦ "

    The debate served to elicit some complaints of the ' ' condition of the shipping interest , and some explanation of its causes . It suffers from exorbitant exactions for light dues , compulsion to take pilots , the tax on timber , while there is no tax on foreign built and foreign owned ships , and form aheap of very contemptible regulations , with which some gentlemen thought it necessary to encumber it , after setting it free from the old restrictions . The Merchant Shipping and Passenger Acts , and the Act for compensating injuries—one of them a law containing 548 clauses , or about as much matter as would fill a Quarterly

    Review , was passed through a committee at one sitting—are found , as might be expected , and was said when they were passed would be the case , to be extremely injurious . They were accordingly referred to the committee for inquiring . into passing bills , & c , appointed on the motion of Mr . Lindsey , and we hope that the well meaning , but presumptuous officials , who thought themselves greater statesmen than . Cromwell , will have to undo their own work , as this generation has had to undo his work , Wo hear many , oomplaints of the slowness of the multitude in comprehending and acting on the half truths , which are unjustly dignified by the name of sanitary science , but their dulness is

    volatility , compared to the slowness with which members of tlie House of Commons , who are obliged to act on the principle of free trade , and boast of being freetraders , comprehend the prinoi " pie and carry it out . The gentle Mr . Labouchere , the prixn purist , Mr . CardWl ; the heavy Tory , Mr . Henley , and others , while tliey recognise its advantagosi must have some groat interest to pamper and regulate ,- and so they took the mercantile marine under thoir espeoinl care soon after they had been obliged to give up the navigation laws , frrom their proceedings the mercantile marine is sufForing } and we have no doubt that the 'inquiries to be instituted into the effects of these new restrictions will end in abolishing them . Their injuriousness oan bo shown by one fact . To protect passengers the Legislature onouinbereu English shipping with

    fit accruing to the Stato from abolishing them was illustrated at considerable length by Mr . Lindsoy , 3 Vtr . Liddol , Mr . Crawford , and others ; and both sides of the House were unanimously of opinion that to restore those laws was impossible . If possible it would not be advantageous . Mr . Liddel , an occupant of the Treasury benches , and a great advocate of the shipping interest , is reported to havegOno ' so far as to allege , in reference to thelegislation concerning shipping subsequent to the repeal ^ that all suoh legislation was erroneous . Wo have in these present conviction ? another proof eiaular to that we have derived from tho repeal of

    The Politics Of Numbers. One .Of .The /M...

    THE POLITICS OF NUMBERS . One . of . the / most curious fallacies that we find continually asserted by the opponents of . Parliamentary reform , ( is that which assumes tlie working classes to be all alike , and imbued with opinions differing very considerably from those held by other portions of the community . The supporters of this fallacy argue , that if a number of working men , exceeding the middle class and aristocratic voters , were admitted to the . suffrage , we should have an uniformity of representation , and one interest made to predominate over every other .

    Mr . Disraeli supported this view , when he declared that reducing the borough franchise to 51 . would give a " monotonous constituency of the same ideas , opinions and sentiments . " It may be conceded that a household suffrage , which excludes lodgers , would produce less diversity than another scheme by which a large body of intelligent lodgers were admitted ; but the fundamental " assumption that the working classes arc under tlie name influences and hold the same views , ia radically unsound . If the question of diversity alone we » e concerned , a far more diversified House of Commons could be obtained by the voteu of tho working classes than by tliose ofthe smaller shopkeepers , who are much more under the inlluoneo of

    uniform ideas . The circumstances that operate upon the working classes are exceedingly vimous . In some trades occupation is intermittent ; in others continuous . Some kinds of work tiro performed at homer—others ia-factories or workshops ^ bouio labour alone- —others in company ; nomu indoors , and some out . What can bo more dillorcnt tnan the position of tho ( 300 , 000 mon dosoribod in tne last census as engaged in tho hi g her class oi mechanical and cuoinical arts , and that oi tue agricultural labourers , who are a much more numerous body P Why should the 1 S 3 , 000 , tailors , described in tho same document , ugrcw in tastes and opinions with 150 , 000 coal miners Y—or way should a quarter of a million flax and coMon * p » £ nors form a dead level of monotony with 300 , uw

    workers in h'on and stool P v Not only do tho physical conditions of tho worKing classes diilqr very widely , but thay wo necessarily brought unclor the Wluoncc oi diJJuront sections of the aristocracy and middle oW 'v whom their fqelings and opinioiw nro nwUiueu . Those who have laboured for sooml progiose

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), March 5, 1859, page 18, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_05031859/page/18/