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im0 THE LEADER. [Satckda*- - ¦ .. '¦ ¦ '...
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laNOIfcANCE. Tins groat organ of enlight...
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[iK THIS DEFAHTMENT, AS AM, OPISIOIfS, H...
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Tiiere is no learned man "but ¦will conf...
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FREE SPEECH IN COVENTRY. (To the Editor ...
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Transcript
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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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K It S S I A Jst S E It I'1) O M. I " Ic...
after long debates , acknowledged that this tariff wag not a legal Basis for their sales ; drew up a new law , corrected and re-corrected it , and finally sent it up to the . Minister of the Interior . This toob place at Hie time of the Congress of Verona . , ¦ Council of State , Minister , Emperor , riot a soul has ever breathed a word of it since . This precious history is related to us by Nicholas Turgenieff . The author was then Secretary of State , and took part in drawing up the project of law in
question . He terminates the recital by an anecdote profoundly sad in its significance . The President of the Council , Count Katahubey , a man of that profoundly cynical humour which experience often brings with the loss of illusions , approaching M . Turgenieff after the sitting , said to him with a smile , half of bitterness , half of raillery : — - " Only imagine , the Emperor in persuaded that for the last twenty years men have been no longer sold in retail . " This anecdote makes one ' s blood boil .
The Emperor Nicholas introduced some restrictions to this sale of men . But he , too , unhappily did more harm in trying to do some good . Such is the result of half-measures and of arbitrary acts . The law in forbidding the noble who has no land to buy serfs , implicitly recognises the right of buy ing serfs in the noble who does possess land . This law was a mistake ; it gave a legal basis to the sale of men , and _ opened the door to the most monstrous abuses , by omitting to regulate in the slightest degree this abominable traffic .
On the pretext of colonizing a piece of land , already covered with a surplus population , one may purchase entire families of servants , of cooks , of painters , of washerwomen , of musicians . The Government , it is true , is too modest to allow the sale of serfs to be publicly announced in the j ournals ; matters are transacted more decently . The public advertisements -will not tell you of " a coachman , " but of the services of a coachman . And besides , is not the Russian Government bound with England by a solemn treaty to combat the slave trade ? Has not the Czar , too , declared every negro free who t ouches the soil of his empire ? What business have the Russian serfs to be born white like their masters ? The existence of this class of serfs is extra-legal , abandoned without reg ulation to the arbitrary will of the nobles .
_ The caprice , the interest , of the lord alone dictates his every act ; his cruelty is tempered only by the knife or the axe of the peasant , and probably the difficulty of the situation will be thus cut through , for the nobles wait and do nothing , the Government takes measures which it fails to execute . The nobles break their contract with the peasant , or they alloiu him to purchase his redemption by paying the maximum auction price . There remain only two resources for the oppressed—if he wishes to giiin his freedom , the scythe and the axe . The blood then spilt will recoil on the ruling house of Romanoff , and what torrents must flow ! The terrible example left us hy Pugatcheff is warning enough .
What always afltonishes mo is the absolute , radical incapacity of the Czars . Alexander , contemplated , Nicholas was said to be preparing , a measure of omancipation . After forty years what is the result ? Tho absurd ukase of April 2 , 1842 . But , it will be asked , what are the means at the disposal of Government ? Its means' ? Suffice it to nay , it could if it would . When did tho Russian Government grow ho scrupulous in the choice of its means ? Did it want for means when , in the 18 th century , it introduced Serfdom into Little Russia , and , in tho I i > th , organized military colonies ? By what means did it cut up Poland into Russian provinces , and reduce tho united Greek to tho orthodox Russian church ? Was
the Government of St . Potersburgh ever einbarnuwd V What crimes and cruelties has it ever flinched from in the accomplishment of its terrorist designs' < Tho emancipation of the peasants will happily not necessitate the cruelty , nor the immorality , which was indispensable in the perpetration of those crimes by the Government . The wholo people will be in favour of such a moaHuro . All the civilized noblos , all those in Russia who can he called an " Opposition , " are bound , at tho risk of disavowing their principles , to support tho Govornmont in thin .
Thoro will remain , thon , none but tho most retrograde section- -the ino . st tenacious of tho privjIogoH of tho nobility . Well ! this party has preached no vehemently tho religion of passive obedience , that tho Govornmont , for onco , may demand a single practical illustration of ite favourite dootrino . Bosidos , what rights do mioh persons posHOHH ? Thoy have robbed tho people by tho grace of tho Tzar , and tho disgrace of tho Czar will .-irrost tlioir roblmrios . Thoro is no reason why Uin Govornmont should rofuHo an indemnity to tho actual uimfnictmiricH of a past iniquity . " Tho Govornmont may proposo a Heries of financial measures ; tho greater part of tho property of tho noblos is mortgaged in tho banks of tho Stato : overwhelmed with debts they cannot ovon pay tho interest .
Lot tho " State , instead of transforming foundling hospitals into Hhamoful peasant markets , * ontor into , an arrangement with tho peasants on landH for sale , and con tout itself with r < HHnving j i ^^ " « tiosJh ^ ofroin . ~ * ~ Tho iiH » -t , g 7 i ^ o ~ Nuiicir liavo Ihoir room lor m \\ m by auction of tho Hoiimourial lands in tho Orphan and I ' Wiui-Hntr HoBiritiUB , which are nupportod by them .
If it were in want of disposable capital for the purpose , it has but to raise a loan exclusively applicable to that purpose ¦ or rather , it has but to hold aloof to let the nobles create committees in the provinces ; to let who will make collections and form associations . Two guarantees only would be required of the Government ; first , that the money should not be diverted from its destination ; next , that there should be no prosecutions against persons of good will . Besides , what projepts have been invented , published , and submitted to the Government since 1842 ? It has neither the courage nor the capacity to resolve to take some step . Perhaps it feels that its own hands are not pure , its heart not free from stain . At all events . it does nothing .
But what is the people about ? Does not a people which submits to such a tyranny deserve it ? Yes , it deserves it , as Ireland deserved the famine , and as Italy deserves the yoke of Austria . I am so accustomed to hear that ferocious cry of vce victis , that it no longer excites my surprise . Up , and to arms against all that suffer , unpitied , unredressed I It is not enough that the landless labourer ( proletaire ) is poor , and starving : let us crown his bitter life with a derision more bitter still . The Russian peasant is a serf : let
us reproach him with it ; let us say that he has deserved his chain ; and then turn away our eyes from his hideous sufferings . Still , before abandoning him for ever , let us thank those forgotten slaves for the wisdom which we have gained at the cost of cruel hunger to some : —the fierce sweat of many—the brutal degradation of all ; let us who are the double blossom of this glorious civilization , be grateful , whose smiling gardens are watered with the blood and tears of the poor .
I am ill at ease when I speak of the " People . " It is the word most twisted from its meaning , and least understood in this 'democratic' age . The idea attached to the word is , for the most part , vague , rhetorical , superficial . It is one moment vaunted to the skies , the next , dragged in the mire . Unhappily , the noble indignation of the heart , no less than the most exalted declamation , fails to express an exact and true notion of what is meant by the " People "—that large foundation of granite , cemented by immemorial traditions—that vast ground floor ( rez-de-chaussee ) , upon which is scaffolded the paltry baroque of our political institutions . To the question , to what does the Russian people look ? I answer—the commencement of a social
revolution in Europe , and that , unconsciously , by the force of their position , and by instinct . Already , thanks to the socialistic movement , the question of emancipation has made immense progress . Government , nobles , people , no longer believe in the possible emancipation of the commune- —that is , of the peasant , without the land . And still , regarded from the point of view of an absolute and imprescriptible right of possession , there is no visible solution of the problem . An emancipation , based on that which Alexander sanctioned for the serfs of the Baltic provinces , would , we do not hesitate to say , be one of those errors which destroy a nation . The question , now so simple , would he hopelessly entangled . The result would be a proletariat
of twenty millions of men , in . 1 country already so ill governed , that the free peasant and tho petit bourgeoisie find no shelter against the vexations of an arbitrary police—where , in a word , such a thing as personal security does not exist . Tho lords would coalesce , tho Government support the coalition ! Tho communal element , the grand element of Sclavonic life , would bo utterly destroyed ( frappd an conir )—the commune would bo broken up . We should witness the ruin of tho only blessing which tho Russian peasant ban preserved—tho base , tho koystono , without which Russia would crumble into decay—without which that monstrous Pannutocracy , which extends from Tornco to tho Amur , would coaso to exist .
I know that there are persons so rationally disposed that they would abandon a positive and certain pledge for tho germ of a possible expectation . They would rejoice in tho formation of a proletariat , becauao thoy would see in it tho source of revolutionary expansion ; but is every proletaire necessarily a , revolutionist 1 AUCXANDRE HlOUZKN . ( r Fo bo continued . )
Im0 The Leader. [Satckda*- - ¦ .. '¦ ¦ '...
im 0 THE LEADER . [ Satckda * - - ¦ .. '¦ ¦ '¦ ' ' ' ' . ~ . 1 - ¦ - ¦' . ! ¦ ' ¦ ¦ - ¦ ¦ ¦¦ ¦ ' MbT ' i' " I I - ¦ - ¦ ¦ - ' , - -i , -- ¦¦¦¦ , , ¦¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ' ' ,
Lanoifcance. Tins Groat Organ Of Enlight...
laNOIfcANCE . Tins groat organ of enlightened selfishness tulkn about the ignorance of ( bo working men , and couples it , with hmtation to oxlerid tho franehi . HO . Hut it ignornnco in to be a reason for diNfraiiohin < jmorit , wo ( mould apply | , bo rule to other HuHHeM . Nurely , tho middle oIiihh , which played nueh utmngo prunltH during the railway maiiin , ought to havo its <| unlificnlionH for tho l ' nuiohin <> wrutinizi'd . If a man could n < u > no likelier or hone . ster road to fortune than by a railway leading nowliUhor , w « n ho fitted lo choose a , 'Member P Among what cIohmos wiih tablo-inoving prevalent , if not juohI , OHpeoiaUy in the sakms ' ! —a proof of their education ! If a man cannot d ' weM- \\ what moves a table , how nhull lie judge what moves parties and statcHp
out we may extend this ohargo of ignorance lo the teachei-H . What insight have thoy into tho thingH thoy wrifo of iiiohI , glibly p" Ono piouH phihmophor wril , < in about n . n ' vhvtv ' Mjlnid "' ~ U , \ h the cuhIdki to talk of " Australia " a « if it were one colony , ahriONl ; ono village -and daily havo we coimnuniealionn on foreign affaire which wo can only compare lo our old friend Zadkiel , whom * " voice of the niai 7 » ' for 1851 roads uncommonly liko lending articles for 18513 . Take the following ;—
" The transits and other tokens are likely to trouble the French Emperor just now ; either a grievous loss in his family , or some attempt against his people , which though he may gain the day , brings much bloodshedw The Emperor of Austria suffers near this time ; tumults arise in his dominions , and he is haunted by the fear of his people ' s hate . Turkey still very unsettled ; intrigue and poison at work in the Divan ; disease ravaging the provinc es of the empire . ; The middle of the month will be remar kable for some violent deeds in . Paris , where firea abound and emeutes take place , accompanied by much bloodshed . In England there are some changes taking place in the governing powerswho , however , seem to reap some honours
^ and advantages just now . The revenue flourishes ; but the people in Ireland are grumbling and discontented with their share of the Income-tax , & c . The wily Russian Czar is successfully planning his Schemes of ambition ; he ig peaceful in his professions just now , but he succeeds ere long in some great political cowp , and . will Outwit T ) oth France and England , and spread , his skirts towards the east , most prosperously . Meantime all goes quietly on in England as to foreign politics , and her Ministers , as aforetime , will he overreached by the artful Russian a nd his
myrmidons m Greece , where , though all be peaceful now a storm is brewing for King Otho . It will burst about the month of Jul y next , and then mil be seen the v alue of Russian protestations of peaceful intentions , & o . " If Zadkiel would only abstain from prophesying that in November , 1854 , the Queen of Spain will have a male heir he might rival any editor ; for is it more difficult to penetrate the veil of the future , than the veil of secret diplomacy ? Yet are our oracles so content with their ignorance , that they raise no demand for the removal of that wanton veil !
. - .(Ditttt Cntttirii.
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[Ik This Defahtment, As Am, Opisioifs, H...
[ iK THIS DEFAHTMENT , AS AM , OPISIOIfS , HOWETIB EXTKBMS , AEB AttOWED AN EXPRESSION , THE EDITOR NECESSABXHT HOLDS HIMSELF KESPONSIBI / E FOK NOITE . ]
Tiiere Is No Learned Man "But ¦Will Conf...
Tiiere is no learned man "but ¦ will confess he hath . much profited by reading controversies , Mo senses awakened , and his judgment eha-rpened . If , then . it be profitable for nim to read .-why should it not , at least , be tolerable for his adversary to write—Miltoh .
Free Speech In Coventry. (To The Editor ...
FREE SPEECH IN COVENTRY . ( To the Editor of the Leader . ) Sib , —The nautical Emperors on the Clyde and theTamar , victorious over pseudo-Sabbath sanctity , may deserve celebration—but inland successes , in the direction of intellectual fair play , are perhaps no less worthy of a brief chronicle . A short time ago the good city of Coventry , somewhat given to quietness and mediocrity , was needlessly startled by a lecture delivered in St . Mary ' s Hall on some theological topic , by Mr . Robert Cooper . The land of Peeping Tom , albeit well used to spiritual expositions , rebelled at the mooting of the counter side . The clergy of the Church of England did themselves the discredit of petitioning the Town Council to close the said Hall against all unorthodox lecturers . This disposition to refuse fair play to op ponents nowhere appears save in Theology . The Church of England clergy , would to a man shrink from tho infamy of drawing the bullets of an adversary in a duel , but in the combat of Theology they condescend to take this advantage of their opponents—speaking to satiety themselves , but refusing their antagonists equal opporttmity—and this baseness of spir it passeB mostly imroprobated . But the people of Coventry , to their honour be it saidhave set their faces against this
con-, duct . A public meeting was called in St . Mary'B Hall , when a memorial was adopted to tho worthy corporation , requiring of tho Mayor an equal exercise of his prerogative , in lotting the Hall for lectures on secularism as well as Christianity ; and a Requisition was fjigned by a very largo number of respectable inhabitants in Coventry , who ( meaning what they did ) gay 0 their names and addrcs . tes , petitioning that Mr . GK J . Holyoake should bo allowed to lecture in St . Mary fl Hall . Ono object of tho clergy in opposing it w as to prevent tho Hall ' s desecration . Wo agree with thin Bontiment , but wo hold , as tho citizens hold , that
impartiality of privilogo is not a desecration . Truo Unitarians aro somewhat apathetic . -r > among rationalist Christians , thoy yet suffer a low sectarianiHin to warp tho houIr of the peop le—yot i < rce Thought , Fret ; Speech , and Fair-play are under immense obligations to ( Jnitarianism everywhere . * tho namo of the Christian Religion it stands a barrier against bigotry in overy town and city . Too often dum > - mouthed , indeud —but though silent , it is nevertheless a Hihmtivjluencr .. However , it findoth tongue BomotimcH . What young man has forgotten tho eloquent denunciation tho Rov . George Harris poured on tho Eathcormao maHHacro ? . „
, . When * tho St . Mary ' s Hall mooting was proceeding in Coventry , an auditor stopped upon the platforuiiftn vohmteoreA what Carlylo would call " nianiujoH * advocacy of fair play for '«« opinions--it was tho « ov . John Cordon , Unitarian minister I No voice no powj- • ful and eloquent as his ( loon Coventry hold . onthiiHiaHin of ' thomeotinghonoured tho bravery andgenrosity of tho preacher—as an Englinh audience ftiwivv will whoro they discover tmch qualiticH . Tho r < ) Vcn j , orator did not ]> lou < I in tho luioknoy « d language or ^ univoiHal formula for " civil and rdigtou * liberty
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 5, 1853, page 14, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_05111853/page/14/
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