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i^ofi THE Ii E AD E R. [No. 451, Novembe...
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THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON'S LETTER. The Emper...
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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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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Retrenchment And Reform. The Great End T...
" So it was with the nav ^ . Our ships were numerous , but of a description useless for the war . To batter Cronstadt gunboats were required , and ihe-e were none . A fleet of them , however , was built when the war was over . iLarge and fast ships -vrere needed to carry troops , and they were hired at an enormous cost from private shipowners , while the waters of Portsmouth , Devonport , Sheemess , and Chatham were black with floating and useless liulks- A great outcry has of late been deservedly made on account of Government buying and selling a . few hundred pairs of boots at a lo _ of a few hundred pounds , and ordering a few light carts to
< be made for the- Crimea that were sold for a thirtieth of their cost j but these losses are as a fleabite to a death-wound compared to the millions of pounds sterling which have been spent through a succession of years in building ships and pulling them to pieces , without getting from them as much ¦ service as the voyage of a single collier . Of such scandalous waste the public has a right to complain . There is uo reason to expect anything better from the Governmenr , as now constituted , in future . _ It lies out of the course of social improvement , which always besrins with the multitude striving to better
their condition as contradistinguished from the conservative and contented aristocracy ; and to -ensure progress , even in economy , Government must Us more largely imbued with the popular element . It is not Usual for honest men to plead for valets plundering- their master that he is wealthy and can -afford it ; but John Bull , it is said , is getting very rich , and therefore he is fair game for the bureaucracy . His vessels , filled with valuable cargoes , cover every sea ; his estate yields more and more « very year to his untiring industry ; his labourers are no lonaer half-starved paupers ; his outlying
^ wastes , crowded by industrious settlers , no longer ¦ require ' -his care , but contribute to his wealth ; and he must not complain that those who have iiitherto wasted his substance and impeded his exertions should insist on having a much larger share of his increased wealth . That they mis ^ applied 16 , 000 , 000 / . a year before the Russian war is pleaded as a justification for their now having 22 , 000 , 000 / . a year to misapply in , a similar manner . Holiest servants do not make greater demands on their master because he gets rich , though they may naturally expect , if they be deserving , additional
rewards ; but to hel p themselves and increase the amount of their takings because he is wealthy , is little less than dishonesty . We must remind those , too , who plead for higher wages and the employment of more valets , that in the progress of society all necessary work or service is done on lower terms . It is now well known , thanks to the repeal of the corn-laws , that dear bread was an artificial contrivance , and that in the progress of society , contrary to the teaching of Malthus , Ricardo , and others , the cost of producing subsistence and raw materials declines . The
merchant , the manufacturer , the citizen , the farmer , are continually devising improvements and supplying all the wants pf society cheaper and better . This ought also to be the case of Government . All the circumstances which facilitate the equable and constant , and yet increasing supply of subsistence , clothing , & c . & c . ; all the ¦ circumstances which bring men under the cognisance of one another and into communication , such as the perpetual daylight obtained by gas , our railways , bur press , promote the order ot society and notably lessen the police and municipal duties required of Government .
Instead , therefore , of malting greater , it ought to make lesser demands on , our resources , and , like all the classes of society , become more efficient and perform better services for a less remuneration . We are forced also to say , in opposition to those who will insist on taking away the property of the andustnous classes by unnecessary' taxation , that our vnleta—to give them their proper name—far from having contributed to spread commerce over every sea , or to protect it , have exposed it to
difflcouUies , have thwarted it by wars , and resisted as long as possible , and to the utmost , the abolition of the restrictions which hemmed in trade . For getting rid of the laws whioh pauperised the workmen and stopped trade , and spread want and discontent through the community , Mr . Bull is in no degree indebted to the classes who now claim an-increasing filiare of the wealth , to the production of which they contribute nothing . ' It da found tpo , when the subject is examined , that the bureaucracy has -much more impeded than , p » otaoied colonisation . Tho diffusion of population from crowded countries to countries thinly
i nhabited is clearly dictated by nature , and as navigation improved this was wonderfully facilitated . Our Government , however , assumed authority over almost all the waste laud of the world , while , apparently , it did not comprehend the law of nature which it rather thwarted than helped onward . It disposed of this waste in large districts , as in New South Wales , Swan River , and other plaqes , as suited its own purposes . At one time it thought to diminish crime and raise up an empire by transferring the services of convicts to some favoured classes , and at another it was
terrified from its course "by outraged settlers at the Cape of Good Hope and Van Piemen ' s Laud . At one time it was led astray by the theory of a Wakefield , and at another it disposed of the land according to some crotchet of its own . Colonisation has been naturally extended in spite of all the obstructions our very ignorant and selfish bureaucracy has laid in its way . The spreading of a crowded population over the untenanted places of the world is a great natural and necessary work , and we are told that we should place more means in the hands of those who have impededbut been unable to prevent it .
, It requires very little reflection to be convinced that extravagance and inordinate taxation arc the great follies and crimes of modern Governments . Personal liberty is now generally respected , religious liberty , if not universally acknowledged , is almost everywhere regulated by laws—though the laws be bad ; and freedom of opinion , at least as far as the Government is concerned , is in England sacred . But in England , and everywhere else throughout the civilised world , Government is greatly
wanting in respect for the property of its subjects . Everywhere the corruption and inefficiency of the governing classes arc complained of , and everywhere the taxes they impose and the restrictions on industry which these necessarily carry with them , are fruitful sources of poverty , misery , and crime . Sordid extortion , as contradistinguished from brutal despotism , is the clia-racteristic of modern . Governments . Against this the industrious wealth-producing classes everywhere require protection , and hence "" -we must have . Retrenchment as well as Reform . Time has-nearly worn out old despotism , and we . have to wage war against new corruption .
I^Ofi The Ii E Ad E R. [No. 451, Novembe...
i ^ ofi THE Ii E AD E R . [ No . 451 , November 13 , 1858 .
The Emperor Napoleon's Letter. The Emper...
THE EMPEROR NAPOLEON'S LETTER . The Emperor Napoleon has not maintained the position which was made for him by his own Ministers ; but instead of obstinately adhering to the scheme of " free African emigration , " which his Government seemed to defend against the protest of Portugal , he has declared that " his ideas on the subject are far from being settled , " and that if labourers recruited on the African coast are not allowed the exercise of their own free will , if the enrolment is only a slave-trade in disguise , "he
will have it on no terms . " It is impossible not to regret that the Emperor did not take this course at an earlier stage of the affair . That the Government of Portugal lias acted in good faith can scarcely be questioned ; that it has been perfectly regular in all its proceedings few could venture 1 o assert . Even the champions of Don Pedro ' s Government supply an explanation which , to a great extent , confirms the complaint of the French Government . It is now said that the royal Government at Lisbon had not only forbidden the practico of permitting the transhipment of Africans from Mozambique to Reunion ; but had removed the Governor who had carried out those equivocal proceedings . Such , indeed , would have been a very sound courso for the Portuguese Government to take ; but something was also due to those foreigners who had visited
the port of Mozambique , who had conformed to the regulations which thoy found in force there , and who could by no possibility hnvo commanded information to correct thafe which \ yns spontaneously given to them by the local authorities . Beforo Portugal could be considered to have fulfilled her entire duty in that enso , steps should have been taken to notifv all who were interested in tho matter that
the local regulations had boon changed in conformity with the enduring principles at tho scat of Government . It is from the absenoo of any such procautions , combined with some other oversights , that tho-case of Portugal is as weak as it has been 5 nevertheless it is impossible for us to shut our eyes to the foot that ., it tho Emperor Napoleon had applied his vigorous understanding to tho question as strenuously as he now docs , ana hud earlier 0011-sulted with the Government of this country as well
as that of Portugal , there would have remained no obscurity in the case of Mozambique , thn Charleset-Georges would not have been sought , its waters for the purpose of carrying on an ambiguous traffic and France would not have thought ' it necessary ' in the maintenance of her own dignity , to adopt measures so injurious to the dignity of . Portuga l so little calculated to maintain reverence for public law in Europe .
We gladly pass however from that bygone stage to the ¦ actual position which Franco has assumed . In order to understand it , our readers should remember what , has before passed on the second subject of the Emperor's letter . Some considerable time back it was reported in this country that negotiations had been opened- -with Iho French Government , which were calculated lo lvinovc the difficulties arising from the incautious adoplion of
the Rogis pluu in Paris . The idea was , that if the French colonies of tropical Aiue-ric-i , and of southern Africa , needed supplies of imported labour , they might be furnished either from British India in the shape of Coolies , , or from sonic oilier p ; irt of the Asiatic region where there exist races habituated to a spontaneous self-exportation for purposes of iudustry . The Australian colonies have even been moved
to-something like a rebellious demonstration , ' in order to check the influx of Chinese emigrants , who import with themselves the most nmboininu-blo customs to which mankind lias ever degenerated . iSince the voluntary abolition of slavery in the British West Tndies , the necessity for a recruitment of labour has been severely experienced-, and various mocks of supplying it have been attempted , but none has , upon the whole , been fouud to yield the amount of labour required in a form so-available as the migration of Coolies from India . The Coulu's are a hill
race , probably of very ancient origin ,. noL embarrassed by many of the customs which so greatly fetter the-industry'of . the Hindoos proper . They are . -tractable ' . ; aiid really- " the ' greatest difficulty which has . been felt in'their " management lias arisen from the imperfect -modes of selecting them , and from . their liability . to disci ^ c in rather widespread forms . Iudiv . idiu . ils who arc too old lor the service , palm themselves oiTupon the collectors of emigrants m India , in the hope of bettering .- their condition , and finding , too late , that they tire not sa well suited to the labour which they are expected
to perform , tluiy grow desponding , and sometimes sicken even to death . The want of cleanliness and of intelligence in the individuals themselves—qualities which no . sup ' urintcndencccan actually supplyalso subjects them to serious inroads when other accidents bring disease amongst them . A 1 ^ these evils arc aggravated ia those eases , far Irom few , in which tho ' CoolioH repent ul ' icr they have arrived at the promised land , and desire to return home betore they have fulfilled , not only the stipulated term of service , but those reasonable conditions without which they could not have been transported at nil . 111 the nature
These are difficulties almost inherent of tho tropical colonies ; countries winch demaiul a considerable- supply of industry , wIiom- climate forbids the employment of Hie Ccme . iiMau race , and which depend therefore upon races uuliuenous in countries exposed to a vertical sun , i > al . ™ tho present moment there are- few countries cumin ,, under that category which are not eil-lier vei led i ) j barbarous races , or races in u state ot ih'gem'racy , and thoroforo unsuil . ed to the purpose ol steady industry . It is the natural capacity ot l » o f \ 'f V , live and labour under a iropical sun vim- 'li »» s made him the object of avidity to the wiployers 0 labour in the Wiist Indies ; and it is th « |> ' > ' » C « J state of Africa-if tho word political . 01 m l >« "Pi ;'"* to a country go suvago—which , by ch & qiiuli » . M « o choice lias
the Negro for tho exercise of a free , made him at once tho material and the > ncoiUjjo 0 tho slave trade It is a grave moral ami l" ) llUC J question , how far tho attempts to supply l » ' »« j " the West Indies from other sources may not . lf »« ° even greater evils . Unquestionably < ho Co » li « s « ° less suited to the climato , loss able lo ' ^ V'J labour , more- exposed to sickness ; ana tlu-y o evidence of these untoward facts by 110 jnrf PJ ° - portion of despondency , sickness , and iUjhMj . ; c ° " stantly amongst their number * . U was ll 1 ' l " nity o f Las Qiwas which suggested thosubstilut . oj of Nogrocs for even the imligonour tribes 01 J West Indies under tho exaction of Kuro |>«»>» J « ii > ° »"» and the attempt to substitute Coolies for NuB » J haa-to a certain extent justified tho ln » im » oJ ° . aidoration of Las Casus , by showing tlwUlM Ufa is still tho animal better suited to tlio ic o w « .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 13, 1858, page 18, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_13111858/page/18/
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