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156 THE LEADER. jNo. 308, Saturday,
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. • im OTJ B RELATIONS "WITH AMPEICA. Br...
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MR. LOWE'S PARTNERSHIP REFORM. We believ...
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.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Able Firmness And Dexterity As The Forei...
general struggle , by which European politics have been confused and landmarks trampled down . That of Vienna was convened for u the settlement of every point in dispute , and the restoration of order throughout Europe . " The Holy Alliance , retaining almost all the unnatural conditions introduced by Louis XIV . and Catherine IL , was a Congress of geographical and political partition , assigning Hanover , Malta , and the Ionian Islands to England ; Warsaw and
the Lithuanian , Volhynian , Podolian , and Ukraine provinces to Kussia ; Norway to Sweden ; Holland to the old Austrian Netherlands ; the Lombard-Venetian Kingdom to Austria , with Venetian-Dalmatia , and extensive contiguous dominions ; Tuscany , Modena , Parma , and Placentia to branches of the Hapsburgs ; half of Saxony , Posen , the Swedish provinces of Pomerania , a portion of Westphalia and the Lower Rhine to Prussia ; establishing the German
confederation , and distributing the smaller states . This was a real Congress , not only to make peace between belligerents , but to determine the limits of empires and the political constitution of Europe . Even that of Verona , in 182 % was ; an European acb , controlling two latogdoms , j Naples and Spain . That of London , in . : 18 B 1 , created the liberal monarchy of IJeligium . f o jiff the Conferences at Paris remove the actual
grounds of contention between Russia and the AJHes , they will accomplish , as much as can be hoped . BuLt to establish a political settlement , tpg iv * repose to Europe , and to settle the portentous questions agitated between governments , dynasties , and nations , is not the presjent task of the Plenipotentiaries . Before t ^ at great judgment of diplomacy is pronounced , the opposing elements must have been brought into collision . As it is , the war has not . elicited one result that touches a principle , or that concerns the lasting interests of mankind .
156 The Leader. Jno. 308, Saturday,
156 THE LEADER . jNo . 308 , Saturday ,
. • Im Otj B Relations "With Ampeica. Br...
. im OTJ B RELATIONS "WITH AMPEICA . Br good fortune the public , both in the United States and in this country , has taken up the subject of peace or war between the two , and that fact constitutes' to us the guarantee for peace . It is also the guarantee for justice . The tyro ^ peoples of England and America cannot desire to injure each other . We will not say so much for the two Governments , although it is an mdeniable fact , that the G-overnment
of the Union is more tinder the command of public opinion than our own . We are not aware thart any material interests would be injured in Downing-street by a war between England aind America . The only result would be , that Lancashire being reduced to bankruptcy , at a blow , would be at rebellion in a ¦ week , aad Downing-street would explode . But it is difficult to make them believe , in that exalted region , that the American , interest has any real influenoo in this country . The joint interest of the two communities is not
expressed by the amount of imports and exports between the two , great as that is . It is not exhausted , when ^ ye remember that the Union not only contains a section , of our own family , b ^ t , comprises multitudes of our brothers and ^^ ? wk ° « ave recently left our homes . It is the gjr « at Protestant constitutional commonwealth , ftfto ' se ltivys are jJae same as ours ; opinions in Jihe ^ inaiiv the same ; objects in life scarcely Sjff ^ ? and abiding interests so identical , ¦® W ^ . WV 8 ? re & t convulsions of the globe , ^ eW ; , ; would sustain England against the SWtWflWt f the old world . England , < £ X ^ # fc ^ , ' lwund to the United nSnn ^ ^^ W ^ > *«* tfl , bjr family conaoaaow , class cohesions , an 4 ' / Q heartstrings
of the two great commonwealths , than England is connected with Downing-street itself . When , therefore , we know that the two publics have taken up the subject of peace or war , we know that they will prevent official meddlers creating some points of honour out of ridiculous treaties from embroiling them in a conflict which would burn the cotton warehouses of New York and bring down our factories . It has been said that the Americans intend to bully us ; this is untrue . The journals from the other side
would prove how glad the public is at any appearance of pacification on this side . Journals , however , always try to keep up excitements . Tt is from the private letters that one looks for the real feeling , and we speak of the feeling in states less immediately involved in the excitement than New York , Philadelphia , or Florida . Thoughtful Americans , who are yet thoroughly national , speak with satisfaction at the tone of the press on bcth sides , as softening towards each other . The best-informed Americans
believe that their Government is acting in good faith , and is doing its best to prevent fillibustering in Nicaragua . The confusion in Washington- ^—which the Government might end in a moment , if it pleased , by allowing Congress to elect its own man—has really not interrupted public business , and creates impatience rather than sympathy . The public certainly looks to business .
It is true that our Government has offered to refer the Central American question to arbitration ; true that an apology was made for the enlistment ; but if members of our Parliament desire to impose an effectual check upon our Executive , they will ask to see the terms in which the arbitration has been proposed ; and they will ask to have a report upon the
circumstances that have occurred respecting the apology . But , since an apology was made , why was it re-opened ? Knowing as we do the real desire of the Americans to close that ques - tion ; knowin g that the United States Government is affecting no trespass in Central America , we cannot but believe that a full explanation would make our public understand the matter better . The difference between the two
Governments in Central America , is this : Adventurers are trespassing xipon quondam Spanish States on both sides ; the United States Government repudiates the trespassers , and tries to check them ; our Government countenances the trespassers , and claims the right of protecting them . That really constitutes the whole of the difference involved in the technicalities of the ClA-TTON-Bulwer treaty . Why does not some member get up in the House of Commons and insist upon a complete exposition of the whole matter , even a 3 we had out the real state of affairs in the Crimea ?
Mr. Lowe's Partnership Reform. We Believ...
MR . LOWE ' S PARTNERSHIP REFORM . We believe that if the public at large understood the nature of the opposition with which Mr . Lowe is threatened in the prosecution of his Partnership Reform Bills , ho would have a vexy strenuous support , from enterprising m . en in trade , from the very numerous class who Iiave surplus means to invest , and wlio can only do- so now uader great risk , and above all , from the great body of the working class . The
Limited Liability Bills of last year proved to b & a failure ; one bill , that for permitting any man to invest his money in a private firm , was withdrawn ; the other was so hedged in with obstructive encumbrances , that it lms scarcely worked at all . The necessity of having a certain proportion of paid-up capital to register has aotually hindered many enterprises , has rendered it impossible for ttoe humbler classes to muster the deposit , and therefore to effect the registration . On the other hand , it
is calculated to act as a blind for sharp fellows who can get up a deposit , make a show of wealth , and come before believing shareholders , as it were , with an official endorsement of their respectability . It has been effectual only for obstruction ; it is totally ineffectual as a real security . The , amount and number of shares required prevented any enterprise which did not start with a capital of £ 200 ; and however paltry that sum may seem in the eyes of
business men , it is a large amount for members of the working class . Thus they saw themselves excluded from many most legitimate objects of associated trade , by the arbitrary will of Parliament , acting under dictation of what they considered the moneyed monopoly . Again , there may be , and we believe there are , projects that are legitimate , that merit a decided experiment , "but that do not command sufficient faith to call up a deposit as the necessary preliminai-y for the commencement of business .
Why should there be avi / restriction upon the freedom of the subject in making- his compacts and arranging his enterprise V It would be quite as reasonable to require a man , before opening his shop , to show that he liad . other handkerchiefs in boxes besides those hung up in the window ; that he had sufficient cash in the till to give the customer change , to pay his wholesale dealer , to liquidate the claims of his butcher and baker , to pay the wages of his servants , and to keep his wife and children ; to
say nothing of the necessity of bringing his marriage certificate and the baptismal register of his offspring . Those who deal with a man may like him to give guarantees and " hostages to fortune , " but we do not require tbeni as preliminaries to entering into business . It is true that trade already exists , and that it is not desirable to make sudden compulsory changes . The citizen is protected by the law , and while he claims its protection , those who administer the law and live under its rule may exact from
him guarantees that he will act in conformity with its simplest rules . Mr . Lowe ' s Joint-Stock Company ' s Bill secures this guarantee by very simple obligations . Men -who'form a joint-stock company must register themselves ; that is to say , as the public has been accustomed to tmlimited liability , it is able to know of particular men who depart from that practice that these men , thus associated , are henceforward to be looked upon as limited parties . Since the non-limitation restrains the freedom
of entering upon trading , we are accustomed to believe that those who make a ce-rtain figure have the means of overcoming difficulties , and the bill provides against our being deceived by very summary methods of calling the limited joint-stock associations -to account . This summary power is conferred on all sides —upon the shareholders as well as upon the creditors . One-fifth of the shareholders can procure from the Board of Trade an official , though not a public inspection ; that is , onefifth in number of the shareholders can
command such an inspection as -will positively secure them against being deceived by their directors and officers . Is this no guarantee ? Then one-fourth of the shareholders can wind up the company ; so that if a mero minority has been dragged into the enterprise , and sees its money about to be sacrificed to objects of which it does not approve , it can dissolves the tyrant majority which is using it , withdraw its
investment , and then leave the tyrant niiijority , if it pleases , to form a now enterprise without its reluctant coadjutors . If a debt by the company remains unpaid for three w < 3 eks , ihc unpaid creditor can wind up the compan y , k * not this sufficient ? It appears to vis that no company could carry on its business under these rules , unless that business were substantial and genuine , and unless its transactions
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 16, 1856, page 12, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_16021856/page/12/
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