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March 6, 1852,] THE LEADER. 225
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There is nothing so revolutionary, becau...
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We know that Lord Derby is in office by ...
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IMPRACTICABILITY OF THE OLD « PROTECTION...
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THE UNITED REFORM IMPULSE. The majority ...
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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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.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
March 6, 1852,] The Leader. 225
March 6 , 1852 , ] THE LEADER . 225
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• ' ?""—~" ~ . j \ SATUBDAYy MAECH 6 , 1852 .
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There Is Nothing So Revolutionary, Becau...
There is nothing so revolutionary , because there is TTnthinR" so unnatural arid convulsive , as the strain to vpeD things fixed when all the world is by the very law of its creation in eternal progress . —Db . Abnoxd .
We Know That Lord Derby Is In Office By ...
We know that Lord Derby is in office by the appointment of the Crown ; but it must be remembered , that by the theory of our " glorious , " & c , it is not the Crown , but the Minister who is responsible for the acceptance of office . The Crown acts without responsibility , but the Minister who accepts is bound to show that lie has a warrant for doing so . Now what is his warrant ? It is not that majority in the Representative House which is the most usual and direct
LORD DERBY'S TENURE OP OFFICE . By what right does Lord Derby , act as Prime Minister of the Crown ? The question is more important to the Conservative section of the political world than to any other ; for anything more calculated to shake and discredit that shattered article , " the Constitution , " we do not remember , than his unwarranted occupation of office . By what right is he there ? : We might recommend the question to the consideration of Mr . Disraeli , the philosophic statesman of the
warrant for the acceptance of such a post ; for Lord Derby himself admits that he has not a majority in the House of Commons , perhaps not in either House . The next kind of warrant is , that a statesman impersonates a principle which he believes to coincide with the opinion held by the electoral majority of the country ; and in the principle of Protection , Lord Derby might find such a warrant . Not that we believe it to be held by the electoral majority of the country , still less by the majority of the country itself ; but the limited franchise prevents that distinct and absolute _ de ^ claration of the national sentiment wfaiclTwould
alone place such a question beyond all farther discussion ; and there is no doubt that some present movements among the working classes may be mistaken for a recurrence to the principle of Protection . It is possible , therefore , that Lord Derb y may find his warrant in that principle , and that , although he has not a present majority in the House of Commons , he may expect to make one by a general election . But if that be so , he is bound to make good his pretension without delay . Any prolonged interval between the acceptance of office and the fulfilment of such a duty is a violation of our constitution aforesaid — it is a violation
theoretically erroneous and practically hazardous . Iho theory is , that the Sovereign is not respon-< Nblo , but that tho responsibility rests on the Minister ; and tho usage is , that a statesman enters oilico to enforco that policy alone for winch he can conscientiously be responsible . So long us that rule is observed , our system works with comparative srnoothnoss — tho Sovoroign being unable to find any man to act as Ministor , excep t such as possesses , constructively , at least , itto concurrence of tho Commons .
Ah soon as a statesman consents to enter oilico f tho . instrument of a policy other than his-own , jio distur bs that constitutional practice , and m-inga it into contempt . lie familiarizes tho pu miowith tho idea of Ministerial ^ responsibility ; wui an irresponsible Ministry could not exist Jong without suggesting tho " inevitable idea of ^ oyai re sponsibilit y ; and , passing ovpr a statesman who consontod to bo tho more clerk of a wopartmont , tho country might once moro think »" . ! * ho Sovoroign personally answerable , inis ia not a more theoretical point . While tho "ovoroign . is restrict ™! l > v i . hn rin ^ n « n ;» xr « f «« , !;««
man who will undertake a responsible agoncy , o Hub own terms , tho country lias a chock upon j o royal powor ; but if once you admitted flmt ij o tooveroi gn can employ am / agent , without ppowUo responsibilit y on tho part of that agent ,
you would destroy the check , and would leave the country no other course but to deal directly with the Sovereign . Lord Derby says that he felt it his duty no longer to flinch from the responsibility of accepting office ; but he can only assume that duty honestly and really by taking , it on the strength of putting his mam principle immediately to the test . The very words , however , which accompany his declaration of duty , are an evasion of responsibility : he confesses that he has no majority in the Commons , and perhaps not in the
Lords , and he throws himself on the indulgence of Parliament ; in other words , he begs Parliament to waive his responsibility . But somebody must be answerable ; and if not Lord Derby , who is it P He has mistaken his duty . If he felt that an opportunity had come for the advancement of his policy , and : that he could accept office on that ground , then by all the reasons of patriotism , he was bound to accept ; but he was not bound to accept without being qualified to undertake a
conscientious responsibility . Quite the contrary . We know well what he means , and give him every credit for good intent in lending himself to a device by which " her Majesty ' s government may be carried on ; " but statesmen can never safely depart from what may be called a defacto course . If the facts preclude him from acting on his convictions , he is precluded from accepting office . If the condition of his taking place is the postponement of his own opinion , he is ipso facto disqualified . In such case , he cannot call himself
unwilling , but incompetent . His acceptance does more harm , than good . If it were so to happen that all men were disqualified , and that the Crown could not find a Minister , thatanomalous condition of affairs would suggest its own remedy . We believe , however , that there are statesmen who do not labour under Lord Derby ' s disqualification . We have been guilty of no adulation of the Manchester school / and we should sincerely grieve to see this country handed over to a supremacy of trade ; but we are bound to express our belief that Mr . Cobden labours under no such disqualification as Lord Derby
does . We are still more confident that the statesman whose victory rendered office vacant for Lord Derby , could prove his practical and technical qualification for office . Lord Derby , then , stands in the way of others who have a better right than he has , and there was no necessity for his acceptance . Its intention was patriotic , its effect can only bo mischievous . He has enabled her Majesty ' s government to be carried on , but he has incurred a risk of raising the question as to the position of the Crown itself . Ho has supplied another illustration of the great fact , that in our doxy ministerial responsibility is becoming a farce .
Impracticability Of The Old « Protection...
IMPRACTICABILITY OF THE OLD « PROTECTION . " At tho present moment it is of the utmost importance that those who have tho welfare of the industrial classes at heart should note tho curious relation between tho doctrines of Protection , Free Trade , and Association . It is important to boar in mind , and to show to others whom wo desire for allies , that Association would fulfil , what both tho other coconomic doctrines profess , although they aro both in . their nature impracticable , and are collectivel y incompatible . Protection is tho doctrine which tho present Ministers will try to rointroduce . It professes to securo the wolfaro of tho labourer by excluding foreign rivals '; which it can scarcely do , since it cannot conquer the smuggler , except in the import of articles most noodful for life : those , being bulky , it can exclude , to tho extreme detriment of the poor . Tho trial of free trado has mado oven tho agricultural labourer know what ho lost by a prohibitory or restrictive duty ; and the tasto of cheap broad will prevent his over rejoining tho exclusionists . In fact , thoy protect tho
pocket against tho mouth . Protection proceeds by putting a negative on production ; that is its solo pretohsion to the regulation of industry . ' Proo trade has made pio most of that weak l > oint , and has accomplished freedom of production abroad and at homo , priding itsolf on a total absi inenco from tho regulation of industry . J 3 ut a yet shorter trial of free trado has destroyed that boundless confidence in it which numbers had : wo will not have Protection any more , because it prohibits production ; but mere liberty of exchange is not suificiont for tho guidance of
those occupations that ought to supply us with necessaries . The evils which men endure under the absence of regulation , though they maybe mistaken in ascribing it to free trade , are not to be denied or ignored . Landlords- are suffering in deteriorated property— that cannot be denied . Labourers are in a condition hopeless of improvement , except through expatriation : they , have more bread , but there their improvement stops ,
and it will go no further . Shipowners are suffering large losses . One man sends his ships out under a Government contract to deliver timber , and finds that his anticipated return freights have gone by some other route ; another discovers a deficit of 80 , 000 Z . in his trade . These facts may be glibly denied , or " explained away" by theoretical writers , but they cut deep into the minds of those who suffer .
Meanwhile , the working classes are far in advance of the educated classes with regard to these questions , though there are men among the middle class also practically alive to some want which is grinding them all to the same principle . The men of the iron trades find that it is destruction to go on without a better understanding between themselves and their employers ; that unless they have a voice in the regulation of their own industry , they shall enter into that process of gradual , but continual sinking , which is vearlv bringing" lareer numbers of working
men to the level of starvation . Other classes discover the want in other ways . The omnibus conductors and drivers find that they have souls , and that they do but " enjoy a half existence while life is divided between bed and box ; and they are asking for a species of " short time" suited to their business . The coalwhippers are again " on strike . " And the Amalgamated Engineers are proposing a general amalgamation of all trades in a protective union , with a view to the regulation of industry . Numbers of the working classes continually drifting down the stream are cast away—go to " the Union " - — " freedom of
industry" taking no account of them . Their destruction is the price of a freedom which is beneficial only to the employing " class . It comes within our knowledge , that a manufacturer has been heard to declare , how much better it was that such persons should die off , rather than be a burden on the rate-payers . Free trade does not cure the fault of Protection , which lets land go out of cultivation j both are equally culpable . Surplus labour co-exists with surplus land , and surplus capital , a practical regulation of those doctrinaires who insist that " supply and demand " would always regulate all these elements of wealth , and keep them near the level .
Meanwhile , certain practical administrators of the Poor Law perceive tho necessity for rendering the surplus labour self-supporting , and they are setting the able-bodied to reproductive employment . In short , without any theoretical impulse , they are applying that great principle of concert in the division of employments which is the fundamental idea of Socialist ceconomy . Protection takes care of the producer by excluding the consumer from any rival producer . Free trado frees the consumer , out takes no heed of the producer . Association teaches the consumer and producer to act in concert for their mutual interest , encouraging the largest amount of production without uncertainty of consumption .
The United Reform Impulse. The Majority ...
THE UNITED REFORM IMPULSE . The majority of the English people desires " Reform" with all its heart , or rather with all its reason—for tho English heart appears to us to bo in aboyanco ; but it cannot compass its will , because it cannot agree upon its own resolve . Thus tho English pcoplo stands , wishing , avowing its wish , yot not accomplishing its wish , a spoctaclo to men and Protectionists ! Anything moro humbling to a groat people never bofol . In consequence of that one weakness , which renders it
unablo to make its own Parliament according to its mind , all ita other resolves are in a like state of incompotency . It resolves to have reform of finances , and yot yearly its expenditure is in-, creasing . It resolves to have enough means to defend itpclf from aggression from without ; but , though tho immense sums which it ^ ives to ministers for that purpose aro expended , its defences aro below par . It resolves to have free trade , and really attains it ; and now , in the sixth year of free trado , the question is again to bo referred to Abingdon and Aylosbury , Buckinghamshire and Dorsetshire TJUo mon of Manchester , who have
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), March 6, 1852, page 13, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_06031852/page/13/
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