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*» ¦ ¦ ' Januabx 27,1855.] THE LEADER. *...
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THE FKENCH LOAN. The partisans of Louis ...
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DARK DEEDS, Justice is said to be blind,...
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.
Our Prestige In France. Few Campaigns Ha...
danger ; General Canbobebt proclaims our imbecility in campaign ; our Ministers pitifully represent that they have done their best—this being their best ; and Russia hardens in her obstinacy . We almost hail as a rescue the adhesion of Sardinia—but Bussia feels no corresponding alarm . It will take more than one successful campaign to counteract these impressions on the
Continent ; and our successful campaigns , says General De Lacy Evans , are not to begin till 1856 . Mr . Gladstone ' s followers tell us that we are to pay for the unsuccessful campaigns in cash down . We must pay for armies though we have them not ; contribute to the funds of glory , though we attain it not ; endure the contempt of our allies and the confidence of our enemies ; and begin to retrieve this losing game in 1856 .
*» ¦ ¦ ' Januabx 27,1855.] The Leader. *...
*» ¦ ¦ ' Januabx 27 , 1855 . ] THE LEADER . * 85
The Fkench Loan. The Partisans Of Louis ...
THE FKENCH LOAN . The partisans of Louis Napoleon are ever in search of some proof of popularity to stimulate their faith and to sustain their adulation . They have quelled all opposition , but cannot help debating the great question in a perpetual soliloquy , through which the truth peeps out . Like priests who begin to doubt what they are cpmpelled to preach , they try to silence their own objections by the loudness of their dogmatism . At the very moment when the ill-concealed joy with which
the news of checks and reverses suffered by Prance in the East is received , reveals to all unprejudiced students of events that , in Paris at least ( and Paris is France ) , patriotism has become quite a subordinate feeling to hatred of the imposed dynasty—at such a moment our _ free r and ! independent papers sound a chorus of exultation , antistrophically proclaiming what no one dare contradict over the water , that never was the Emperor so popular—because , forsooth , the new Loan has been completely successful .
It is important to ascertain the real value and significance of a fact which cannot be denied . Although ndt disposed to take the Mbniteur for gospel , we think there is no reasonable ground for doubting that the Loan has been completely subscribed by—we will not say small capitalists , but —by persons who limit their demands to within five hundred francs of revenue , according to the suggestion of the Government Kow , the only legitimate inference to be derived from this fact , when stated in the way most agreeable to M . Fottld , is , that it is believedthat in the middle of the nineteenth
, century such a transaction cannot be a deliberate fraud , and that France is not about to disappear from among nations . What notable scheme can have been for a moment discussed we do not know ; hence , it is difficult to account for the extreme surprise and hilarity which the success of the transaction has created in official circles . Because certain jocular financiers may have . talked of acting consistently with the principles to which they owe their' existence , they should not forget that France has taken the measure of their courage as well as of their honesty .
What was the nature of the offer made to the public P Taking the funds at the price of the day—a price to which they had artificially been forced down by sinister rumours — the Government proposed to grant a rente of three per cent , at two-and-a-half per cent , below that price . Evidently , every man who had sufficient confidence in the stability of
things to invest money in public securities at all would accept with" alacrity so excellent a bargain—especially as the new Loan is not to be paid up at once , but only in small instalments , one-tenth at a time . All this was dexterously arranged . Tho French are essentially a gambling nation . Since the Buppression of the lotteries , every one dabbles
a little in the funds- —from the countess to the cook , from the chamberlain to the concierge . What an excellent opportunity ! Every one who had a few francs in his pocket rushed to put down his name and pay his deposit . At some of the bureaux the crowd continued all day and all night . The motley and dishevelled masqueraders , zigzagging home on Sunday morning from the ball at the Opera , beheld— -and trembled as they beheld—long lines of fierce-looking
Kobert Macaires , who had suspended then professional occupations in dark streets , besieging the doors of the succursales , eager to subscribe a few francs , obtain the acknowledgment , and be ready to dispose of it for a prime calculated in centimes . Had these gentlemen been asked whether they intended to testify their confidence in Government , they would have grimly referred to the new police . Many of the subscribers had sold a coupon for seventy francs , in order to pay a
deposit on half a dozen new coupons in embryo ; many , who never purchased anything in their lives , represented the great speculative inventors of this new kind of vote of confidence . One capitalist , it is ascertained , stirred up the population of a whole district to invest , and actually marched with them up to the Mairie . The officials stared in amazement at the sudden prosperity of the people , many of whom , recommended for their
piety by the clergy , had the day before received " orders for bread ! " All ,, without exception , asked for five hundred francs of revenue ! Incautious speculators , will it be said—the coupons must be in the names of those who ask for them . True ; but three lawyers had worked all right , and this worthy manufacturer of " -confidence- ! ' is in possession of documents which place his clients in the alternative of giving up the coupons , or going to prison .
All this seems very extravagant—it is true , nevertheless ; so that the public now knows exactly what to think of the rush of " small capitalists" who are supposed to have eagerly testified their confidence in the imperial Government . We do not for a moment deny that there are a good many bond jide subscribers , attracted by the opportunity of
investing their money at five per cent , at a Bme ^ hen ~ th " ey ^ Si ' tiiiFn'"rt ; "T 6 '" n ^ advantage '' whatever , subject to the alternative of placing it in the hands of Government , or of burying it unproductively in cellars , or in old stockings sewn into mattresses . No doubt , if it were generally believed that a revolution was about to take place to-morrow , the case would have been different . Af ter the revolution of
February , people hid their money and their silver spoons—just as they put away their consciences for a better season after the coup d ' etat . But in the former case the alarm was only momentary , because based on no reason whatever . At present it cannot be said that there is any general belief that the Bonapartist dynasty is established for a perpetuity : meantime , people cannot help carrying on the business of life , just as the South Americans persist in building cities that are shaken down every dozen years by an earthquake . There is nothing wonderful nor perplexing
in this ; or , if there be any great lesson concealed in so simple a fact , it is that France at length begins to understand that her own future rests in her own hands ; that the various Governments by which she has been pestered are mere accidents ; and that , after all , there is not likely ever to be a rigime less prepared to meet its engagements than the present . Public faith , is even now under the guardianship of public opinion . Investment is a necessity . What to-morrow is to bring forth cannot be known ; but this is certain—security can only increase .
Dark Deeds, Justice Is Said To Be Blind,...
DARK DEEDS , Justice is said to be blind , but might more properly be said to Bquint . She often inflicts her punishments upon the right person , for wrong reasons ; though it seldom happens vice versa . Babthelemy was tried for the murder of'CoLLABB , and was hanged for the murder of Moobe , which was not proved , and the motive of which was unknown . It
is assumed that the ruffian committed that crime deliberately , with a weapon taken for the purpose ; whereas , probably he found the weapon on the spot , and possibly he committed the act under an impulse . He had pistols : it is likely that he always had them . Having killed the man , his only chance was to escape ; Collabd barred his way ; he shot
his captor in " self-defence , " but he was already a murderer , and he was proved to have killed Collabd . It aggravated his crime that he was a French democrat , reputed to be an infidel . If you were to say that BabtheiiEmt was a reckless , daring man : that he set himself against the world : took his chance of life or death : lived for a time , and then died in the natural course of his
audacious career , with some rough justice in the vengeance inflicted upon him for violence done—the story would be correctly told . But how would English law be satisfied with that version ? Yet , if Babthelemt was not sacrificed for the satisfaction of English law , he was sacrificed for the satisfaction of our minds . . It would be desirable if justice could do her work accurately ; for while she bungles as she does , she renders it-difficult for the unlearned to distinguish correctly between right and wrong . Mr . Edwabp Gbaham Austin , an under-graduate , is travelling -in a
railway carriage ; a fellow-traveller , William Smith , an ex-groom , offers to bet upon a common trick with cards , after the manner of " thimble rig . " Mr . Austin understands that it was a trick , and " regards it as fair , " - —so he said in the police court— " if any gambling is fair . " Nevertheless , he prosecutes the man ; and the Magistrates confiscate the proceeds of the bet . " Volenti non fit injuria" is a rule reversed in favour of young men of the world who gamble with their eyes open , and who would certainly not prosecute their companionsiftheyhad'won . Another case stands before us , which is as
yet entirely unproved . According to the tale , Mrs . Payne , of Chipping Camden , a lady who was left a widow at twenty-five , in 1842 , had been for many years in a state of illhealth ; and for years she was attended by an established physician of the neighbourhood . He retires from business , and is succeeded by a Mr . Cooksey . Reports get abroad concerning the lady ' s illness fatal to her character . She applies to her medical man for a certificate , negatively testifying to the nature of her malady . He writes out the certificate , and offers to give it her , upon condition that she will be " his . " Supposing
the rumours against the lady are true , how can a medical man stand exculpated for so taking advantage of his position , unless indeed he can totally falsify tho whole tale ? It would be difficult to believe that in tins day educated men can be guilty of conduct so base , if we had not rather a remarkable instance of tho deeds which well-informed men can contemplate as possible . Mr . Oobden bolieyes that the present Govern-™*™* hn ™ rrmcluded a peace with Itusam ,
but have roused the popular feeling in favour of tho war , aro ashamed to declare what they havo done , and intend to let the storming of Sebaatonol go forward as a popular entertainment ! Mr . Cobden deplores by anticipation tho wanton effusion of blood , and threatens to denounce " a deed so dark .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 27, 1855, page 13, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_27011855/page/13/
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