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* January 20, 1853.] . / THE LBAPil. W 7
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CONCERT BETWEEN MASTER3 AND MEN. We are ...
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PROSPECTS OF UNIVERSITY REFORM. Many ben...
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Transcript
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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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Napolkon's Itjtldal Policy. Tick Address...
to the system of trade , which is that of cheating and adulteration ; to the railway system , which is that of unpunctuality and accidents ; to the official system , which is that of neglect of everything which ought to be done ; to the parliamen tary system , which is that of making laws that nobody can obey . There is an incessant tendency
on the part of society , of the individual , to rebel against this negative tyranny ; and if it is true that the empire of passion hag been once more reinstated by the crowned adventurer of Paris , the fact is the most formidable event that has yet occurred for those legitimate authorities which exist by favour of common-place , of abnegation , of despondent mediocrity .
Whatever may be the ulterior consequence , it is at present p lain that Louis Napoleoa is a daring knight errant , who perfectly understands his isolated position , accepts it , and is prepared , sword in hand , to wage war with all adversaries . Also , that instead of repudiating the old traditions whieh still survive in the world , and which are , indeed , older and more established than the imperial dynasties now repulsing him , he has allied himself to those which are most thoroughly interwoven with the history of
Europe . High birth is one : the lady whom he has espoused has a pedigree , and an escutcheon that might grace the noblest lady in the romances of Scuderi . And he has also espoused Beauty , whose reign is more enduring than that of dynasties . By these means he has drawn to his support sympathies not peculiar to any party , or even to any nation , but inherent in human nature ; and however political theorists may doubt the career that lies before him , because they cannot calculate it on the principles
of their own arithmetic , it would be possible to render it more brilliant than any which he has yet passed through . A large portion of Louis Napoleon ' s character has , at least , been hidden to the world . Various stories have been circulated respecting his relation to womankind ; but they have been as uncertain as the heroines of them . More appears to be known respecting this , the last lady associated with him , than of any previous one ; and all that is known is favourable . Of course it is
so ; the most brilliant and engaging colours will naturally be used for the picture , where the incidents are so picturesque , and the character of the lady at least inspires so many glowing romances . She is endowed with beauty — a supreme advantage . Her charms possess that peculiar fascination , which attaches rather than dazzles , and wins rather than commands . All accounts conspire to paint the witchery of her HTnilfts . She has exercised no small amount of
power over the Emperor already , and is prepared to exercise more . Rumour , indeed , spontaneously bestows upon the future Empress of the French the most generous impulses : amnesties , restoration of the Orleans property , and almost a redemption of the dark side of the adventurer who has ascended the Imperial throne of France .
* January 20, 1853.] . / The Lbapil. W 7
* January 20 , 1853 . ] . / THE LBAPil . W
Concert Between Master3 And Men. We Are ...
CONCERT BETWEEN MASTER 3 AND MEN . We are delighted to see , not only that the working classes in more than one department of trade , are exercising a knowledge of the true constitution of industry , in order to obtain thoir fair share of the existing prosperity : but that they also understand thoir own position , sufficiently , to tako the very best course towards attaining thoso rights . Throughout the Coal and Iron Trades they have realized an advance of wages . How far thio same advance has been attained in
other branches of industry , we arc not at this moment able to say ; but we do know , that the business in which they have the moat generally fmeooedod in procuring attention to thoir demands , is exactly tho one in which , on some grounds , oxcusos might havo been pleaded in bar of their claims . The Coal Trades of tho North havo for a IomlJ while been , in a peculiar position . They
havo been multiplied to so great au extent beyond the natural demand , that they havo been , in vory many oasos at least , carriod oil at a loss . Those who were paying for tho work , wero sustained by tho hopo that a hotter time might come , and that present Iohsch might be compensated by future profits . Homo coal owners , wo suspect , havo ovim gone bo far , uh to speculate upon tho probability that some of thoir follows might bo ruinod and thus driven from the field . Not a few
of the pits would then be closed , and the other owners would then reap that share of profit which has been so'long denied them . In this operation it became a trial of the length of purses , and with an outlay thus for some years protracted , it would be quite natural to meet a demand for higher wages by a representation of continued loss . It might have peen represented , that if the whole of the proprietors were to consult their interests , by closing several of their pits , the workmen would become redundant as respects the coal labour market , and would be unable to command that advance which now they are obtaining . We do not believe , indeed , that
this would be sound policy . So long as the coal pits are working , the objeet must be to get out of them the largest possible amount of revenue ; and if the present prosperity of the trade does no more than diminish the loss to the owner , it is so far a gain to them . But their workpeople have as much right to insist upon a share of the prosperity which the owners thus feel in mitigated losses , as they would have to demand a share in prosperity exhibited by more positive Erofits . The rise , therefore , has been justified y the facts ; but ,, a fortiori , if there is a rise in eoal wages , there ought to be , at least , a corresponding rise in the wages of industry throughout commerce at large .
We see that this has not been denied at Nottingham , a town so recently an example of pauperized industry . In some cases there is a demur to the demand of the men , but in most it is expected that the men will obtain that for which they ask . The trade reports , in some degree , describe that which is a novelty ; " The workmen have grounded their requests upon the sound and improved condition of the trade , and having preferred their solicitations in a temperate manner , they have been courteously listened to . " Both-sides have gained by this quiet
arrangement ; the business of the employer has not been interrupted , and the workman has attained his wish . The working classes are too apt to imagine that a respectful and temperate manner will be regarded as a mark of servility on their part , and they assert their independence by a threatful and offensive demeanour . If they would reflect a little , they would observe that amongst the employing class themselves , a certain respectful courtesy is expected and given ; and they would observe that between man and man , in whatsoever class , a hasty and menacing style always
provokes a disposition to retort and to refuse . Many of the demands of the working classes have been foiled by the manner in which they have been put forward . Again , the working classes have sometimes pushed their demands , simply because there was an emergency , without regard to the soundness , or the profitable character of th ' e trade then carried on . It is possible , in unfavourable seasons , to have an alternation of loss and of hasty profit , which may place the employer at the mercy of his hands , although in the long run his books will show a scanty profit . When tho working man takes advantage of that awkward state of things , it is he who appears as tho hard and exacting bargainer . It has
sometimes been so . In the present instance , however , it cannot be said that the working classes in any branch of trade have been impatient . They have abstained from pressing their own rights until the whole trade of tho country is in a state of great activity and soundness ; and they have a perfect right now to claim a reasonable share in tho bolid returns which tho employing class has been so largely reaping . In Nottingham they appear to havo put forward their claims in tlus style and spirit , and , as we havo observed , tho consequence is a ready acquiescence . Tho school of adversity is said to bo good , but a chango to tho school of prosperity may . also havo its moral healthfulness .
Prospects Of University Reform. Many Ben...
PROSPECTS OF UNIVERSITY REFORM . Many beneficial consequences ueem likely to flow from tho Oxford University election , beyond those wo havo pointed out . , Tho whole aoademi « al constituency has boon shaken , as with an earthquake , much more onoatually by its internal and discordant forces , than it could have been by any external action . Tho old crust , political and clerical , has boon broken into fragments ; and there has been a ooncord of discords alike in tho minority and majority . The pure churchmen of any section could not choose the man they pre-
Prospects Of University Reform. Many Ben...
ferred j neither could i & e pure politicians . The blunder of proposing a map like Mr , Perceval at all , m ud * more of proposing him through the medium of a Denison , lay in tb , e very ' nature of affairs ; and t % e choice of Gladstone , who is much more of a statesman than aa ecclesiastical or academical representative , " pure and simple , " was also a necessity for the Traetarian party . Of course the Low Church section votea with g ome pf the political High Church parsons , the former that they mig ] ht " flout Mr . Gladstone , and the latter that they might avenge Lord Derby ' s
defeat . And the University reformers performed a graceful act in voting for Gladstone , and thereby showing that they were not actuated exclusively by resentment at his speech against the Commission , when they stood neutral in July . To do them justice , it must be stated that they looked , and do look , upon that anti-commission speech as levelled not against the particular Commission issued by Lord John Russell , but against any inquiry ; inquiry being , as the more exclusive
of Mr . Gladstone ' s supporters well know , the indispensable preliminary of any broad reform . And that speech , which was a concession to the illiberal p art of the constituency , did its work . It rallied the anti-reformers to Mr . Gladstone ' s banner : and it compelled the reformers to neutrality . They could not overlook it , though they were bound to consider other things as well ; and as it was on general grounds they refused to vote in Julv , so it was on general grounds that they voted in January .
Mr . Gladstone , then , had this not wholly valueless contingent of votes—the votes of the Reformers . But there was another section of the constituency ( and this shows how profound are the divisions ) who supported him because they believed that he was opposed to Reform ! We believe the Beform contingent is an increasing force morally and numerically ; and that its opposite is a decreasing force . But how admirably this illustrates the mysterious position of the sitting member . It is understood that he talks as
if he had been moved by the Report ; but that he urges his High-Church supporter ^ to do what will tend to strengthen the hands of the University . This may mean that they should bring about , spontaneously , internal improvements to stave off the app lication of reform , from without , or it may mean the reverse ; for it is more than doubtful whether Mr . Gladstone would consent to remove the tests , or to the infusion of a large lay element—above all , of learned lay theologians . Indeed , it is notorious that the Provost of Oriel
supported Mr . Gladstone as the " protector" of the University ; that his London Committee were men of all religious parties , who supported him for his politics , and little else ; and that his Oxford Committee were High Churchmen , who , while they disliked and feared his political course , sustained him as one of themselves . This descrip tion of the Gladstone party forms a complement to the accounts we Lave before given of his opponents ; only , as it appears to us , tho combination of the latter was , by force of events , flagrant , factious , and unnatural .
That all is no # confusion and discord in the University , as in the Church—that the old parties are broken up , as in the State—wo did not need the evidence of the election to prove : probably the public did ; and so far it is useful service . But tho election has evolved a far more important consequence . Tho Reformers feel their strength , and are determined to use it . They havo drawn the sword , and thrown away the scabbard . Morally their position is doubly strengthened ; and they feel that they ought not to suffer tamely the obstructiveness of the antagonists to reform , and tho general discredit to the University which
has followed from this election . They aro strongly inclined to advocate a much more strenuous reformation than heretofore , and they see that it is time the egregious abuses of academical institutions should bo put an end to . They say that it id true there should ho as little demolition as posniblo ; but that there will havo to bo a good deal to make the institutions of tho Thirteenth century good for tho Nineteenth . Withput any vulgar love of destruction , they pimply advocate whatever chango ia necessary . They have no rovorenco for Institutions except as they effectually answer their ends—especially when they are institutions which , professedly , the nation is to look to " •» tho source of truth . In fact , tho most advanced now insist that exclusive clerical domination wad immoral tests
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 29, 1853, page 107, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_29011853/page/11/
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