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Leader (1850-1860), 21st February 1852, Edition Country of 2, Page 13, THE GOLD PANIC IN AUSTRALIA. England " p...

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      Napotjjon Dctohtod Men Of Letters, Think...

      drama of " Kapoleon" which has fallen into bur-\ ° ) from the simple reason , that the part of Na readers are aware how many of the glories of v JrnCe in letters and arts have teen driven into exile 1 merciless decrees . We have now to relate an li ^ , I nee of cruelly depriyiqg a man ; of the most tranquil ml blameless life , absorbed in philosophical , studies ^ A never descending into the political disputes of the 5 | y of his very subsistence , in order to replace him by e miserable hanger-on of the ante-chambers of suc-TZfnl usurpation . Attgitste Comte , a name espereadershas been deprived of bis

      • llv familiar to our , C statthe Poly technic School . His friends and discides are making vigorous exertions to enable him , by subscrip tion or otherwise , to * conturae the series of philosophical and scientific wofks to which he has devoted a life and which , without such aid , he has no means of his own to enable him to continue . M . Littre , of the Institute , has taken up his friend and master ' s cause most warmly . To him contributions from England may be sent , addressed M . E . Littre , 48 , Rue de VOuest , Paris . There cannot fail to be many in this country who will gladly respond to the invitation , to which we shall be glad to give all the publicity of the Leader .

      Feb 21yl852] P 177

      Feb 21 yl 852 ] p 177

      An Important Meeting Of Engineers Was He...

      An important meeting of engineers was held in the Free Trade Hall , Manchester , on Thursday . Mr . W . Conine-ham , of Brighton , presided . The attendance was very great— -somewhere between 6000 and 7000 people present , and the interest manifested was great and hearty . Mr . Coningham , Mr . Norbury , Mr . Killer , Mr . W . Newton , Mr . W . Hemm , Mr . S . Fielden , and Mr . Curtis , of the firm of Parr , Madefy and Curtis , addressed the meeting . The characteristic of the evening was the appearance of Mr . Curtis , who responded to an appeal to the employers by mounting the platform arid speaking . He was at first met with expressions of discontent , but a manly appeal for fair play from the chairman , produced a hearty response from the meeting . It" is thought that this incident will be the first ~ step to an arrangement between the employers and employed . The following resolutions were carried unanimously r—. That the employers of operative engineers haying announced that they will not allow their wcirlcmen . to return to work , except upon sigiiiiig a declaration binding the artisans not to belong to any society calculated to better their condition . This meeting declares that such a request isoppbsed'to thclfttv- MtikH \** sely all 6 ws all patties to combine , infringes upon personal liberty by taking away from the men freedom of action , and is unjust , because it denies the right of the men to do that which the employers are doing : therefore this meeting pledges itself to

      oppose a resumption of work upon those terms , and calls upon all classes of the people to aid the men in obtaining their rights ; and , That inasmuch as the employers continue their workshops closed against workmen who refuse to resume employment on . terms both unjust and disgraceful , this meeting is decidedly of opinion that the only incaiis of successfully opposing such tyranny , is the establishment of co-operative workshops , in which the workmen may at once employ their own capital and their own labour , for their own benefit and vVclfare , as well as for the accommodation of the public .

      Mr . John Isaac Heard obtained , on Thursday , quiet possession of the seat ( Kinsale ) vacated by the retirement of Mr . Benjamin Hawes . The proprietor of the Dundalk Democrat has been arrested on a charge of exciting disaffection and hatred between landlords and tenants in Ulster . He is to be tried at Louth assizes .

      Mm. Alfred De Mussct And Berryerwcrc Ele...

      MM . Alfred de Mussct and Berryerwcrc elected members of the French Academy on Thursday . The dead body of a gamekeeper has been found among the goi-Bo on a farm near Denbigh . Th ' o skull was fearfully fractured . Much excitement has been occasioned at the Post Offico , during the last week , owing to the mysterious disappearance of one of its odiccrs , who has been missing since Sumluy , the 18 th of hiat month . <> u the evening of that day , ho left the house of a friend , « t St . Joint ' s Wood , with the intention of going to his sister ' s , who lives in Kilburn ; but . he did not reach her residence , nor return to the Tnvietock Hotel , where ho was staying .

      Information of thq circumstance has been given to the police , hut , up to this ' time , no trace of him can be found , nun , us no cause can ho assigned for a voluntury . absence on Jiis , part , his friends nro beginning to entertain the most amouB inisgivingH us to his 'fato , 'JL'h < iro is no reason to oehuvo that his affairs were in any way embarrassed , or tuntho had luul any disagreement with his family . Inquiries hnvo'boon made at nil the hospitals , and of the several coroners , in case ho should have been seized with a lit of apoplexy , hut no one Answering the description can bo hc » rd of . He wua about thirty-fivo years of ago , and had been Hourly tweuty years in tho Poet Oflloo department .

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      Saturday, February 21, 1852.

      SATURDAY , FEBRUARY 21 , 1852 .

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      There Is Nothing So Revolutionary, Becau...

      There is nothing so revolutionary , because there is nothing so unnatural and convulsive , as the strain to keep things fixed when all the world is by the . very law of its creation in eternal progress . —Db . Abitom > .

      Extension Of The Whig Franchise. Loed Jo...

      EXTENSION OF THE WHIG FRANCHISE . Loed John Russeli . has done more to advance the cause of Reform in Parliament than any agitator for these last ten years ; but slighting the canon of those political moralists who deprecate destruction before construction , he has made his progress far more by the unsettling tendency of his measure than by its new settlements .

      There is the utmost doubt whether his ministry will survive to carry out the scheme ; but whether it do so or not , he has given an immense impetus to reform . If he carry the Bill , we shall gain a large accession of representative territory ; if he fail , still he has pledged the Whigs to strive for that accession . He has made a , high bid , which other cabinets must outbid j and , in short , he has fixed the minimum for the next measure .

      The proposed creation of an amalgamated borough system in England is the part which has provoked the most criticism ; and we wish our readers to understand not only that just criticism , but also some of the consequences of the measure , which to us appear to be too generally overlooked . The proposed creation of new boroughs , for the enjoyment of a joint franchise , is yery unequally distributed . Lord John Russell spoke of preserving " the balance of interests , " as if they ought not to settle themselves without

      the supreme disposing power of Parliament Like all advocates of a limited suffrage , Lord John speaks as if Parliament were to create " the country" that it is to represent , not the country to create the Parliament . ^ ay Ministers propose to create " the country" to which they would like to " appeal ; " and accordingly , if class interests are kept in . the old balance , the political balance is somewhat modilied . Nothing can exceed the capricious disposal of the new boroughs . In the first place , they counties

      are very numerous in the Soutnern , ana sparse in the Northern ; in other words , agricultural boroughs are multiplied more than trading or manufacturing boroughs . To such an extent is this carried in Wiltshire , Devon , and other Southern comities , that the' county constituency is reduced to a rag by the fragments cut out for the new boroughs ; in other words , the broad representation of the county , which , from its very extent , must possess a certain degree of independence , is cut uu , and placed more within the controul of individual landlord influence .

      The Times helps us to some strange illustrations of this caprice . Melksham , unknown place , is added to Calne , and to Lord Lansdowno's Howard influence ; that is to , say , the Dean and Chapter of Salisbury aro to help in thfc perennial election of Lord Shelbournc , TTavistook , rotten borough , is to be purified by tho addition of four rotten boroughs , disfranchised by tho Reform Bill of 1832 , but -now restored—Callington , Okohampton , Saitash , and Morcton Hnmpstond ; Lore ! John , apparently , holding that five Laisos

      mako one Luerotia . To Morpoth is annexed , not Alnwick , a place of some size , but tho more distant Blyth , a T > laco not largo , but belonging to Sir Matthew White Ridley ; so that the Duke of Northumberland ' s Alnwick is excluded . In Wiltshire , thcro is a moat wonderful shuffling of boroughs , which results in swamping ndverso influences , liko that of Mr . Nceld at

      Ouipponham ; and economizing ministerial influences , such as roturn Mr . Wilson for Wcsfcbury , or " diffusing" tho samo influcnc . oa oven more profitably . , . , . ., Now , on this showing , wo admit that tJio . influence of tho Bill , so far as Reform-mongers can procalculate , will bo one-sidod ; but BtiJl tho franchise wiHTbo oxtondod—if not in tho counties to a great dogroo , but rather ehufllod there—still

      it will , on the whole , be extended . To Reformers , then , we say , accept that extensionnail Ministers to it . It is a good in itself , and should it be effected , a very remarkable consequence would ensue . The party to feel the unequal distribution of the franchise most indignantly will be—the Tory j > arty ! Yes , the extension is here effected at their expense . Will they afterwards attempt to disfranchise P Scarcely ; but they may attempt to redress the balance by a new extension r So much the better . Some , indeed , hold that universal suffrage itself would strengthen the landlords in

      the counties ; to which we could have no objection , for it might at least make the landlords consult more constantly and widely the interest of the labourers . At any rate we desire universal suffrage , not as the tool to enforce particular opinions , but as the sole means of getting at the sanction of the whole people on great occasions ; for , we repeat , it ought not to be the Parliament that makes its own " country , " but the reverse .

      Meanwhile , it is amusing to see the adjusters of a limited suffrage trying to put off the advance of a " progress , " by trifling with it—yielding , and yet trying to keep up " the balance of interests , " and dodging opponent parties about county and borough . We do not view these littlenesses with so fierce an indignation as we see in some of our more " moderate" friends ; because we believe that they do not suffice to divert the onward march of events . Quite the reverse—in the race to get before each other , factions are hastening the movements of the main body .

      The Gold Panic In Australia. England " P...

      THE GOLD PANIC IN AUSTRALIA . England " possesses" colonial " dependencies " of the most magnificent kind , but their value to her and to her people is wasted by two vast forms of misdeed—by bad government , at once arbitrary and neglectful ; and by industrial anarchy , which must exist so long as the old barbaric organizations of castes or guilds are succeeded by no wiser substitute , with the principle of concert for its basis . A gigantic instance is before us , which we cite , not in the spirit of complaint , but solely in the desire to give practical

      illustration . Our readers know the immense current of emigration from this country , mostly to the United States , where an imperfect idea of international alliances , a confusion of Downing-street with " England , " has heretofore converted our brethren into jealous rivals , almost into foes . The stream of emigration , great as it is , does not exhaust the " emigrable" population : it has thinned Ireland , until employers feel the drain upon the supply of labour ; but in England the desire among our wretched agricultural population—still wretchedly housed and provided , even

      in periods of " prosperity , —the desire to emigrate exceeds the means . Among our skilled labourers a new kind of emigration has shown itself ; for , as they expected , tho unemployed workmen of the iron-trades have received from Belgium invitations to follow their work . Ono of the commonest objects of saving among the artisan class , as we can testify from personal knowledge , is to emigrate , and mostly to America . Both English and Irish , field labourer and factory engineer , want to leave their country . Why P Because they aro dissatisfied with thoso arrangements which we class under tho name of jajovornmont , and with tho neglect shown especially to tho interests of the labourer . Capital is

      throatcned with a general spirit of defection and desertion in tho vast body of its auxiliary , Labour , because a short-sighted and selfish policy has made Labour scnsiblo of injustice . If wo follow the stream of emigration , we find that its tondoncy still is to leave British dominions . Although tho rango of our colonies affords evory choice of natural resources and climate , from tho clear , bracing air and wooded lands of Canada to tho clour , gonial air of Australia , with its boundless pastures , and its Eg } r ptian fertility , tho desire is to got away from thorn . And when wo look within tho colonies , wo see tho name impatience oven there . Tho Canadians talk of " annexation" to tho United States . Tho

      Colonists of tho Capo of Good Hope aro m open enmity with thoir rulers . Tho Australians have undergone irritations tho most exasperating , and talk of " independence . " How valuable has Australia boon to this country ; how much more valuable might it bo 1 Almost as largo in extent as Europe , its popula-

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 21, 1852, page 13, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_21021852/page/13/