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Untitled Article
patch Lord Grey is obliged to retract it ; practically confessing the meanness of the reproach . The colonists have sacrificed personal interests to the moral character of the community . In spite of some angry passages incidental to a period of contest , they have preserved a fair relation with the Governor . The Governor himself has spared no
trouble , has avoided no difficulty ; has consented to incur obloquy on the one side and unjust disapprobation on the other ; manifestly intent on the one object of doing the best he could for all parties . A generous purpose , and a thorough devotion to it , characterized the spirit which has actuated all parties in the Cape : the generous purpose has carried the day against the ungenerous .
Could we in England do the same as well as our Cape cousins ? Are we at this day in possession of the same public virtue ? Have we the same loving regard to moral objects , the sanie loving care for the character of the community—of the country ? Could we , the great English People , emulate that small community , " that brave nation warred on by cranes , " in setting up a high purpose and standing by it ? Could we agree upon a
national policy , organize ourselves for its a'tainment " brave the deterring consequences with equal hardihood , " and carry out our purpose with the same prompt , unflinching resolution ? Unquestionably the result of the Cape contest shows that that there is a source of safety stronger than the possession of costly dock-yards , immense wealth , well-stored arsenal , or standing armies ; it is the possession of a moral purpose ; a generous spirit and uncorrupted public virtue .
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THE MESSRS . SANDARS ON" THE COST OF WHEAT . A furious controversy has been going on for the last two or three weeks between Mr . Sandars , M . P . for Wakefield , and the Times , respecting the price of wheat in foreign markets . The discussion iirose out of a statement made by Mr . Sandars , in the House of Commons , that he could import the best Stettin wheat into this country at 33 s . a quarter . Upon this the Times pointed out the inconsistency between this statement and the fact that , in
Marklane , the best wheat commands a price ranging from 4 /) . s . to 50 s . a quarter . In reply , Mr . Sandars insists that he was correct in " his statement , and in support of it he quotes foreign grain-circulars . Unfortunately for his view of the case , whatever plausibility there may be in his arguments , the facts are all on one side . The best Dantzic wheat at Mark-lane on Monday last was 45 s ., the best Hiiltic red 3 () s . a quarter . If Mr . Sandars is able to buy the latter quality on such terms as will enable him to offer it in Mark-lane at 33 s . a quarter , one would imagine that he might easily monopolize the whole of the grain trade in this
country . In connection with the question of the comparative cost of wheat in England and other countries , we have been much struck with some statements in a pamphlet by Mr . S . Sandars , brother of the Member for Wakefield , entitled Observations on the Elements of Taxation , and the Productive Cost of Corn . The great object of Mr . SandarVs rea-. soning is to show that "the question of a free trade in corn is essentially a labour question—a
struggle between the labourers and employers of foreign labour at lod . a day , and the labourers and employers of British labour at Is . ( 3 d . a day , both parties having one common market for the sale of their products—London . " In trying to prove this point , he tells us that " a quarter of British wheat , costing aOs ., has at least 20 s . worth labour embodied in its cost ; " but we are utterly unable to discover by what process of reasoning he arrives at this conclusion .
If we resolve the cost of producing wheat into its various e ements , we shall find that in the United States the labourer receives a far larger share of tlie produce of his labour than the wretched English labourer obtains for his . Taking the price of wheat in England at 40 s . a quarter , and the money wages of the labourer at l () . s . a week , which is rather above the mark , it is evident that the farmer obtains a week's work of one man for two bushels
of wheat . On the other bund , assuming the average price of wheat in the United States to be 3-J . s . a quarter , ami the money wages of the labourer to be 20 s . a week , which is pretly near the truth , the American farmer , instead ot only Iwi ) bushels , has to give five bushels of wheat in exchange for a single week ' s labour of one man . This being the case , we should like Mr . Samlars to explain how he contrives to come to the strange
conclusion , that the English farmer is not able to compete with the American farmer on account of the high rate of wages in England .
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STEAM COMMUNICATION WITH AUSTRALIA . While the Government is haggling with Parliament over the modicum of constitutional principles to be infused into the legislation and executive of the Australian colonies , it seems to be deferring the settlement of a question that concerns intimately the wellbeing of those dependencies , namely , by which route steam communication with them caa be best established ?
Tenders have been invited and have been sent in by the principal packet companies , and all that appears to be waited for is the decision of the Admiralty on the different proposals . It has been asserted that the decision is delayed by the reluctance of the East India Company to surrender into the hands of the Peninsular and Oriental Steam Company the line between Suez and
Bombay , which is now held by the steamers of the former , but is urgently required by the latter for the effective development of the Indo-Australian mail service . A second conjecture is , that a wish felt to serve another large and influential steam proprietary has retarded the decision . In either case the public anxieties , both in the colonies and the mother country , demand , on the ground of the public interest , a speedy settlement of the
matter . Meanwhile we may briefly examine the different plans which have been laid before the public and the Government ; and in doing this we must confess our obligations to the author of a clever pamphlet on " Steam to Australia—The Rival Routes . " The author , besides confirming our previous impressions on the subject , has thrown upon it new and important light , by indicating both additional inducements for the adoption of one route , and additional reasons for the rejection of another .
The route by the Cape of Good Hope to Adelaide , and thence to Sydney , it is asserted , might be performed by steamers in sixty-three days from England ¦ , riunely , to the Cape thirty days" * $ thence to Adelaide twenty-eight ; and thence to Sydney ; making a total of 13 , 880 miles , to be performed at an average rate of something over 220 miles per day . If no other consideration were to militate against the adoption of this route , it should at once
be set aside by the fact that between the Cape and Adelaide ( a distance of G 100 miles ) there is no coaling station , which renders it impossible to keep up the rate of steaming necessary for the performance of the voyage within the stated time . The line by the Isthmus of Panama proposed by the West India Mail Steam Packet Company would be toChagres , on the Western coast of the Isthmus , 5850 miles , which is now performed in thirty-six days from Southampton ; fromChagres . to Sydney , a distance of 70 G 0 miles , the mails would be for the
present conveyed by an United States Company in about forty days , at the outside rate of 200 miles per day ; making a total of seventy-six days from England . It is asserted that a saving could be effected , of 1108 miles and ten or twelve days between England and Chagres by alteration in the route , and diminution of stoppages ; but it is clearly shown , on the other hand , that no more than six days could by possibility be saved by this reduction of miles run over , and that would be effected at the expense of some of the most valuable traffic , and is , therefore , unlikely to be carried out
by the Company . Taking this saving into account , the transit would be reduced to seventy days , with the disadvantage that the service would be performed ( at all events for a time ) on the other side of the Isthmus by the steamers of another and a rival nation ; and that , after ^ leaving Chagres , the nearest point at which a coaling depot could be established would be at a distance of 4500 miles ;
while it must not be forgotten that the run from Southampton , nnd the nearest point of the West Indies , namely , Barbados , is 3897 miles—with only one stopping-place , Madeira , at a distance of 1287 miles from England . The disadvantages of these vast intervals , involving diminished traffic and necessity for increase of stowed fuel , to the exclusion of both passengers and merchandise , are evident enoutrh .
The route by Suez and Singapore , for the completion of which tenders have been made by the Peninsular oncl Oriental Steam Navigation Company , may be stated thus —I'Yom Southampton to Singapore ( via Gibraltar , Malta , Egypt , Aden , and Cevlon ) , 8 : j < J 0 miles ; at present performed , under
ordinary circumstances , in forty-nine days . From Singapore to Sydney , through Torres Straits , 4400 miles in twenty-two days , at the same rate that we have allowed on the Western side of the Panatna route . Total , seventy-one days from England ; five days less than the estimate via Panama under present arrangements , and but one day over the lowest practicable estimate by that route . Moreover , tf . fi time of the route through Suez will be materially
lessened by the increased rate of . speed of the Peninsular and Oriental Company ' s . vessels , owing to the recent improvements in their boilers and machinery . The Pottinger , one of the vessels destined for the service beyond Singapore , recently made 260 miles per day ; and from the well-known capabilities and enterprising Spirit of the company we may calculate on a saving on this account of at least seven days ; bringing the time of route down to sixty-four days ; or ; under favourable circumstances , hot improbably to sixty days . It may be needless to aliude to the collateral advantages of this last-named route—in the
increased number of convenient coaling depots ; the additional traffic , of goods and passengers ; the intercommunication between this country , the Levant , Egypt , Ceylon , Borneo , Malacca * the rest of the Eastern Archipelago , and India ; and the facilities for intercourse , especially between the last-named place and Australia . An immistakeable source of benefit would be opened to both countries from the means of transit for the purpose of permanent or occasional residence which would be offered by the establishment of such a line of steamers as that contemplated to Sydney by
Singapore . We have dwelt upon the commercial and social advantages of the Suez route . Is there no other reason why it should be adopted * and without delay ? Were the advantages by the other routes ever so undeniable , the time that must elapse before they could be realized would militate against their adoption ; whilst here we have one which could be entered upon at once . And how much good and healing effect on the colonial mind , and
acerbated by the consciousness of long negljct apathy on the part of the Colonial-office , would be produced by the prompt adoption of a route which possesses the favour of the Australian public , might be made use of immediately , and would be carried out with punctuality and efficiency in British steamers throughout ! How much , indeed , we leave to be imagined by those who are aware of the genializing influence of a conviction entertained by a colonist that he is really cared for by the mother country .
Untitled Article
Remunerative Prices in 1825 . — -It is rather amusing to contrast the tone in which the Ministerial journals tried to raise the drooping spirits of the farmer , when suffering from low prices some twenty or thirty yewrs ago , with the language which the Times and Globe adopt when addressing the same class at the present day . The following quotation from the Courier ( the Globe of that day ) of the 27 th of August , 1825 , illustrates the contrast . After remarking that the weather was very unsettled , and that the harvest was likely to prove an indifferent one , the Ministerial organ thus congratulates the farmers on the prospect that prices are likely to rise to a remunerative point : —
•• We do not speak lightly on this point , for we are aware that his Majesty ' s Ministers have been fully alive to the inquiries from all qualified quarters , us to the effect likoly to be produced oji the markets from the addition of the present crops to the stock of wheat already on hand . The result of these inquiries i * . that in the highest quarters there exists the fullest expectations that , towards the end of November , the price of wheat will nearly approach to 70 s . a quarter ; a price which will nflbrd the i-xtent of remuneration to the British farmer
recognized by the Corn Laws . . _ What a sad change for farmers since that period ! Instead of 70 s . a quarter , the averages are now little more than 35 s ., a reduction of almost fifty per cent . And now the Ministerial journals are endeavouring to persuade that much-abused person , " the British farmer , " that , in average years , he will probably obtain 40 s . for his wheat , and that if he do so he ought not to complain . Tiik Credit System at ouk Universities . —In an article on the credit system at Oxford and Cambridge , the Standard ably exposes its tendency to degrade the character and blast , the prospects of those who come to
the ancient seats of learning for very different purposes . The writer describes the condition of a student whp , after having sunk the comfort of his nearest friends in . the same gulf which has swallowed up his own , " n tires to a curacy to contrast its solitude with the expenditure which neither his means nor his position entitle him to indulge . " The result is most demoralizing to a large portion of the clergy . " Hence , in too many instances , ' najs the Conservative journalist , with excellent candour ,
•• an incurable , meanness of character , a continual craving after the stolen indulgences of the university , resulting in a self-seeking and greediness of ^ aiti , painfully inconsistent with the profession to which the worldly self seeker belongs . " The only effectual remedy which mu contemporary can nee for such a Hintc » of thiiigs is , "\ i break down the credit of students by making all dcbti incurred at . the university irrecoverable at law . " V \ oul < it not . be worth while to inquire whether such a swecj iv <
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April 13 , 1850 . ] & !) * % t& * &tX + ^ ^__
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), April 13, 1850, page 59, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1840/page/11/
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