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July 12, 1851.] «&*. UCa&Cr* 657
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"reproductive labour in poor law * UNION...
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ABD-EL-KADER, KOSSUTH, AND BAKOONIN. Nev...
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THE SOtJL OF GOOD IN THINGS EVIL. Mn. Ri...
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TIIH HUNCH AND THE UAH AT HOHOOI... TilB...
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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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July 12, 1851.] «&*. Uca&Cr* 657
July 12 , 1851 . ] «&* . UCa & Cr * 657
"Reproductive Labour In Poor Law * Union...
" reproductive labour in poor law * UNIONS . The official replies to Mr . Scully , and to his proposition for employing the able-bodied paupers in Ireland , in reproductive work , deserve notice only because they are official . They are mere parrotlike repetitions of old dogmatic assertions , out of the old ceconomy books ; and are there to be read in the form of statements as to what" would be , " if the dogmas were" violated . And , pray , what is ? The Irish famine , the displacement of agricultural labour , the manufacturing distress , the destitution of masses of paupers in England , the debased condition of larger masses of labourers m delusive employments—these are facts which your true old ceconomist brushes aside , as not affecting
the argument . Bethinks he settles the whole question when he simpers the assertion , that reproductive employment of paupers , " would" lower the rate of wages . That was one of the assertions repeated , from the old books , on Tuesday , by Sir William Somerville , Mr . Wilson , and Sir Charles Wood , and hinted by Mr . Labouchere .
It is nonsense ; and a tyro in oeconomy , who was not blind to facts , could expose it . The pauper who is maintained in idleness , or in a non-productive activity , miscalled employment , must be maintained at the expense of society . In other words , the industrious classes must labour for the support of those panpers , as well as for the support of the actual workers , and of the idle classes of society . The labour withheld is a dead loss .
This will become clearer in another view . The ceconomical welfare of a country depends on the ratio of production as compared to people—the more produce , the better off the People . But mere quantity of produce—especially as represented in mere money value—does not suffice . The People is best off which has in proportion to its numbers the largest quantity of produce of the kind needed for the vital necessities of
lifeabundance of good food , good clothes , and good lodging ; and that abundance can only be brought about by the industry of the mass of the People . The more produce of that kind the better . It id not by the nominal amount of " wages" that thecoin « fort of a people is measured , but by the amotfttb of needful produce that they share among them . It is not by the amount of goocfy storetfiff "tfaftM houses , or the luxury of particulafr ; tffe $ fetf tSM ' tfte ^ ¦
welfare of a nation is governed ;' l ^ 'l ^ fm * ftmotmt of good food , clothes , and lodging , ' diffused among the whole . Our system has failed to secure the needful diffusion , or the distribution of industry needful to cause it : and the besr remedy for the defect is the most direct reahefty . —a power which will set more labour engiNjfefl Ifti producing the needful commodities . Exwty wha * Mir-Scully proposed to do .
And in the case of the able-b « eB « I jtoupers you have a remarkably simple eonjunMiwMrf the want and the instrument . Here are a greut number of persons suffering through tint defective distribution of industry , wanting the commodities most vitally needful : and when you set them to produce such commodities , you meet the want in the most simple and truthful way . You supply the want precisely where it is felt . Mr . Wilson says that such plan has failed : the assertion is untrue—inadvertently , no doubt . It is a common impression that this question was
examined by the Poor-law Commissioners of Inquiry , in 1833 , and settled negatively : but it was not ; it was neglected , other questions pressing more urgently . What evidence was incidentally taken , is to be found scattered through the earlier reports , showing successful use of reproductive pauper labour . In the Sheffield Experiment , fettered as that is , Mr . Wilson m «^ J ^ rt that reproductive employment does ***^^ "PW * paupers , but nerves as an adult school in ^ Pfc ^ BK of obtaining " independent" labour ; and abuiiwitt evidence lies scattered , inviting examination , in the unions whose names are familiar to our
readers . Sir William Somerville wants all such business to be left to the Commissioners , for they will do " H that is necessary ; and the Mouse has agreed so to leave it . But the Commissioners have not done « 'ill that is necessary . What information have they given us about the great and interesting experiment at Cork ? What have they done to facilitate it ? Have they not systematically avoided the experi ment at Sheffield , although specially invited P They have—they are systematically shirking Jhia great question . But Mr . Scully cannot have be « n silenced by tha vote of TuewiM »!»*«•
Abd-El-Kader, Kossuth, And Bakoonin. Nev...
ABD-EL-KADER , KOSSUTH , AND BAKOONIN . Never-will the Government of France be safe or happy while Abd-el-Kader remains a' prisoner . Honour to Lord Londonderry and Lord Maidstorie who have tried . to procure his release ! The spirit which moves them is one which is most wanted in our day—the spirit of chivalry , or devotion to a good mission because it is good .
The excuse for non-interference advanced by the Times , in reply to a letter from Lord Maidstone , — that England who detained Napoleon , would not come into court with clean hands—does not apply . Napoleon was detained by George the Regent and his Tory Government j whereas France is a Republic , and' acts for herself . No stipulation was broken . Nor has Abd-el-Kader broken his parole , as Napoleon had done . The excuse of the Constitutionnel , that dangerous consequences might follow , is still weaker . France is under a pledge to release Abd-el-Kader ; and in
accepting from the Monarchy an inheritance of broken faith , the Republic commits the crime over again . Nor is the argument of any force as a matter of mere policy : nothing is so dangerous for France , or for any honest government which it might have , as a disgrace to the national faith Qndured by the nation . Standing forth as the chivalrous champion of all that is noble , France might win the love and trust of the nations , and be the leader of Europe : as it is , she is the suspected tool of Russia , her Government low in the eyes of her own people .
In default of France , England might do the good work , —not only on behalf of Abd-el-Kader , but of many others . Were England to proclaim her sympathy and succour for all wronged and helpless captives , suffering for freedom and humanity , she might seize the renown and power which France misses . Let her say that Turkey shall not , against her will , be forced to detain Kossuth and his fellow-captives , and then would Turkey and Hungary be allies of England by closer ties than
treaty stipulations . Let her demand the release of the men languishing in tha prisons of Austria and Naples , and- Italy would soon settle every question of % h & Romish Church that vexes England . Let H * r demand freedom for the exiles of Sibewm newly recruited by the oppressed Bakoonin , tmij ^ many a Russian province , many a Russian farnrly , would in its heart swear allegiance to England . What power , what easy victory , what glory would atteqd such a policy !
Would the true Republicans of France fail to imitate it ? And what hinders ? Oh ! prudent men of the middle class will cry , it might get us into a war , and that would be so expensive . The constituencies , cry Members , will be angry with us . There may be consequences , cry the Whig Ministers . It is ag-ainst diplomatic rule [ aside , and diplomatic interests ] , objects Lord Palmerston . So England remains bound to the car of diplomacy , which Absolutism is driving—to the Devil , or to 1852 , which is nearly as bad . And the People of England !—what docs that say ? Nothing—at present .
The Sotjl Of Good In Things Evil. Mn. Ri...
THE SOtJL OF GOOD IN THINGS EVIL . Mn . Rickman , in his preface to the Population Abstracts of 1831 , reniark g that "An increasing population may be deemed a solid-good or a dreadful evil , according to the circumstances of the nation in which it occurs . If a commensurate increase of food and raiment can be produced by agriculture and machinery , an accession of consumers in the home mnrket cannot but be beneficial to all parties , and the inctenae of population in such cases may be deemed equally desirable in itself , and conducive to national strength and protfttertty . " Applying this rule to Ireland inversely ,
all " parties will agree that the decrease of population in that island will be attended With great benefit to those who are left behind h and also to the population of Groat Britain , ffot the last forty or fiity years this country has be * n the grind outlet for the pauper population of Ireland , and the melancholy results are visible in all out * large towns . " The Milesian , " ways Carlyle , i « his Chartism , " is ( he sorest evil this country has to strive with . In his rags and laughing savagery , he is there to undertake all work that can be done by mere strength of hand and back , for wages that will purchase him potatoes , lie needs only salt for condiment ; lie lodges to 1 » h mind in any pighatch , or dog-hutch '; roosts in outhouses ; and weare a suit oir tatters , the getting off and on of
which is said to be a difficult operation , transacted only in festivals , and the high tides of the calendar . " Suddenly the Milesian pauper-flood has taken another direction . The desperate competition for labour in England and Scotland having left fewer openings for them , the evicted Irish peasantry have begun to emigate to America , in such numbers as to upset all the population theories and calculations of tlie last half century . Three years ago , our political oeconomists could not conceive it
possible that the number of emigrants from Ireland would ever go beyond 100 , 000 annually . Last year it was nearly a quarter of a million , and there is good reason to believe that it will go on increasing . But , even without any increase , there is quite enough in what is going on to cause serious alarm among the wealthy classes . Their first thought will be , that even if the population of Ireland should be reduced to three or four millions , the country would be all the better for it , and we agree with them on that head , although not precisely in the same sense as they do . They look to the reduction which would take place in the amount of poor ' s rates , but have they ever considered what an advance must inevitably take
place in wages ? The Times of last Saturday mates some interesting remarks on the social and political consequences which are likely to flow from the probable extension of the emigration mania throughout the United Kingdom . Most people fancy that , if the condition of the working-classes were improved , the feeling in favour of emigration would speedily decline ; but the Times is not quite so clear as to that result— " We can conceive a great demand for labour , skilled or unskilled , increasing emigration , instead of repressing it . " Then follows a remarkable passage , in which the necessity of a large extension of the suffrage is clearly indicated : —
"If all depended on what is called the market of labour , as soon as the population had fallen to a certain level , labour would command such a price as would overpower all inducements to emigration . But besides the market of labour , there are some things not quite so self-adjusting , though quite as important to the interests of labour . The institutions of the country are adapted to the actual condition of the | abourer , to the actual rate , of his wages , the actual Inhere of his expectations , the actual calibre of hit intelligence , to his actual education , sympathies , and manners . liut these institutions , the work of ages ,
are not easily adjusted to a rapid change . Should the labourers of this country find that they were masters , and that the rate of wages depended no longer on the decision of the market table , and should the same discovery be made even quicker in our manufacturing towns , who does not see that a new element would be introduced , not only in our industrial , but also in our political calculations ? The Parliamentary , the judicial , and the ecclesiastical system * of the country might feel the unwonted presence of rude and newly conscious energies below the present smooth surface of things . Already we behold a vast assimilation and mixing of peoples . The last ten years have done more to bring man and man together , and to" & e & ttt > y the political as well as the
geographical barriers between Englishman , Irishman , American , Frenchman , and German , than any previous century in the hitttfty Of the world . Such changes as these oannqt fail to disengage the rising generation more , frpni the ttes of custom and place , and enable them to ught thfclr way better in the battle of the world . When pttf mawea are no longer either insulated by Wttrtt O ? fecHnmunication , or encumbered by their own Mumber ^ hOW Will they preserve that humility whidk 111 ttfti < RHiVetiietit to their employers as it is comfortable to jthttmatJireB ? 'JUhi * is the time to consider these qll 6 MtiT > nfl » ft * if the ¦ working population of those islands tim to acquit * greater actual power * it is high lime thtij ihottld be prepared , and the homo put in order , for so great and perilous a change . "
Tiih Hunch And The Uah At Hohooi... Tilb...
TIIH HUNCH AND THE UAH AT HOHOOI ... TilB Bench i « making decided advance in the knowledge of life . We lemember when Lord Abinger was cuiuf ht tripping in the quotation of an exprcHaiou familiar enough . A » lio Was gravely Bumming up , the following colloquy arose : — " Lord Abinger ( to the jury ) : And then the defendant * l * l ( t h « Wbufd play noil and Jemmy with him . " Mr . Serjeant lAuthioaite : Jlell und Tommy , my Lord . " I ^> rd Abinger : Thank you , brother JLinthwwto . ( P / ocaedin . ) And the defendant uuid Unit he would play hell and Tommy with him . " J 3 ut in Ottr day it in the JJench that correct * the Uar . In the ca « H > of Smith versus lirown , wo huvo the following interlocution : — 41 Mr . Montaffu Chambw flWd H »» t thMO WttH no » o-
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), July 12, 1851, page 13, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_12071851/page/13/
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