Current:

Leader (1850-1860), 13th July 1850, Edition Town of 1, Page 372, Untitled Article

Page 372
Page 12
12 of 24

On this page

  • Text (4)
  • Transcript

    • 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.

      Untitled Article

      of preparing the way to a decisive struggle , by reviving the mutual hatred of I urkish and Slavonian nationalities , than of hastening the ultimate downfall of the Ottoman empire . The real turning point of the European question we think is to be sought elsewhere than in the East : we shall find it in Central Europe . Something more vital , more palpable , of greater and more practical urgency , is now at stake than the conquest or assimilation of any paltry province . This something is the propping up of Absolutism—the

      reestablishment of such a state of things as existed after the congress at Vienna , after that of Leybach , or of Verona ; 1848 having furnished a convincing proof that such a half-way station as the " constitutional settlement" which followed the revolution of 1830 could not afford security to thrones , and merely contributed to prepare the events of 1848 . The war-cry to call up these events was raised by France ; whose destiny it seems to be , that as the influence of its Government upon foreign

      politics wanes , and the estimation in which it is held abroad grows meaner / the greater becomes the influence of the nation upon all other Continental peoples . This influence is not that of certain individuals belonging to the nation , but of national masses ; not of a system invented by one or more statesmen , but of the popular and national idea . To undermine and eradicate such an influence , and to secure the stability of resisting Monarchs , one needs to reach its source—France , restoring

      her to her former state—to that of 1815 , or even to an older one . Such a process is evidenced in the speeches and laws of the present rulers of France ; and it would seem that is to be effected speedily , uncompromisingly , and therefore by main physical force , as was done in 1815 . In 1815 France was exhausted by continual and protracted wars , and tired of a leader who , dragging her after him from one distant capital to another for the satisfaction of his own vain glory , did not allow her a single moment of rest . But in

      1815 the Coalition included England : now it has interests opposed to her ; now the people of England is not interested in the question , and the Coalition , therefore , commands diminished material forces . On the other hand , those of France are augmented , and the peoples of the Continent are more inclined to assist France than to fight against her . To conquer France , the Coalition reckons upon disturbances among her populations , upon a new revolution , upon civil war within her frontiers . Towards the close ,

      indeed , of last year , or rather after the beginning of the present , a new revolution in France seemed unavoidable and imminent . Austria as well as Prussia were seen to arm ; Russia to draw her armies together ; and when , in last June , a meeting of Sovereigns was called together at Warsaw , it was to form a last council of war for appointing to each Power the post it was to occupy and to defend . If these warlike preparations had been directed against Turkey , they would have had a stop put to them by the settlement of the Turco-Russian misunderstandings . The more so on account of the

      deplorable financial situation of all continental powers ; their sources of income being all but exhausted , and a general bankruptcy imminent for each of them , especially for Austria . And yet , not only did the preparations not slacken , but they were pushed forward with a new degree of energy ; Russia fills up the measure of her armies , Austria completes her regiments , Prussia prepaves for the mobilization of the Landwehr , and arms her fortresses ; employing for that object a loan raised , according to the Minister ' s declaration , on condition of being used only when Prussia is threatened with war .

      New events , therefore , are ripening as the sequel to a revolution in France . They may be delayed for one or several months , but England ought to l ) c the more prepared to meet them , since even upon her internal policy they will exert a far from unimportant influence .

      Untitled Article

      GENE 11 AL MOURNING . Saint Paul ' s tolled the death of the Duke of Cambridge . It does not toll for the death of the thousand that die daily . It did not toll even for the grout statesman who had departed so few days before ; nor has it ever done so for the many whoso lives are spent in toiling to build up the greatness of England . Yet if we were to deplore the loss to the nation , then ought it to have tolled far more for Peel than for Cambridge . If we were to deplore the hapless many , looking back upon the lives ended with a full allowance of labour and a

      scanty allowance of happiness , —perhaps no more happiness than the faint glimpse of a sickly childhood and an aged youth , —we might ask that solemn bell to give voice for gloomy recollections of the numbers that daily drop around us . The Gazette calls upon us , in the name of the Sovereign , to put ourselves all into " decent mourning . " Why ? We have not mourned those thousands , —we have not mourned that one . Why then put on the garb of sorrow for this man in particular ?

      He was not more precious to us ; neither his end nor his life has been half so deplorable . Why then adopt the livery of gloom for him exclusively ? But why refuse ? There are , indeed , three positive reasons against it and all general mournings . In the first place it is no trifle to dress a whole people for a season in an exter ior so largel y distinguished by ugliness . The livery of mourning is a disguise , a burlesque of regret . It makes sorrow revolting by dressing it up in a ridiculous and

      disagreeable exterior . The nuisance of " mourning" is a bad association with regrets for the departed ; and the nuisance should be abated . Next , there is a twofold inconvenience to the large mass of the public in this demand to put on " decent mourning . " It is only a small portion of the whole people that really has the means of changing its dress at a sudden notice with facility ; by far the greatest number cannot afford that sudden purchase of clothes . The consequence is that a considerable

      number meet the demand by stretching their expenses ; to the serious injury of their interests ; while a still larger number , totally unable to comply with the demand at all , or to do so only in an imperfect degree , negativel y stamps itself with the want of capacity or the desire to be what the Gazette proclaims on royal authority as decent , and so walks for the time being in a neglected costume , which the same public authority negatively implies to be indecent . The demand , which can only meet with partial compliance , suggests a slur upon the large mass of the people . Furthermore , the limitation of costume to the plain tints and

      unbecoming predominancy of black is bad for trade ; bad , that is , for the revenues of the middle class and the wages of the working class in several branches of industry . So that the demandfor a general mourning diminishes the incomes of many to whom it is addressed , increases their expenditure , and implies a slur upon the rest . We are convinced that the well-meaning persons who manage these things cannot be sufficiently impressed with the inevitable conclusions , or they would take means to amend the costume .

      Now , it can be amended without difficulty ; and the good-natured public would not readily refuse any demand upon its sympathies conveyed in a practicable shape . Indeed there is no reason why we should refuse to regret the Ouke of Cambridge , or to typify our regret , although he was not so valuable to us as Peel , nor the subject of so gloomy reflections as the nameless multitude that perishes in want and trouble . He was a thoroughly worthy and kind man , and people with hearts in their bosoms will always most willingly—nay , they will spontaneously declare their regret for any

      fellowcreature who has come within their knowledge , lived so well , and finally submits to the common lot . For although we know that we shall all die , and that repining is vain , yet , without repining , the very love of life implies regret . Again , if the station of the Duke , though it were no merit of his , lifts up a representative of the human race into more prominent notice , then it is impossible to refuse our sympathy with the vicissitudes of humanity represented in his person . We were pleased to see him live so well ; glad to see him look so successful and happy ; we are sorry to hear that he is no more , and are not unwilling to symbolize our

      regret . But how to do it without the bad consequences of a general mourning ? As easily as possible , if we are only permitted to adopt the plan used among a class of persons specially accounted the servants of the Sovereign , to whose family the Duke belonged . The whole army is not expected to invest itself in black ; and a most revolting object it would

      he if it were . A multitude ranged in geometrical figures , slowly moving , and uniformly black in colour , would be a sight not to behold twice . But in the army they are allowed to symbolize their regret by a simple badge added to the usual dress . Tliere is no reason why the public should not adopt an equally simple method of utterance ; and it might be the more expressive in the case of a public mourning , since the badge , like that worn by the soldiers on the arm , might be peculiar , and

      therefore distinguished from the ordinary garb of private mourning . There can be no reason why a change of costume so commendable in itself , so practicable , and so considerate for the conven ience of the public should not be adopted ; and it is to be hoped that the subject will be considered in any future general mourning , if it is too late to make the alteration now .

      Untitled Article

      GOVERNMENT TREACHERY IN FRANCE . In discussing the proposed organic law upon the press , the soi-disant ( t party of order" seem to have felt that any concealment of their common hatred to the Republic , and to every principle it was intended to secure , became hopeless ; yet this law is in perfect harmony with the measures which have preceded it . Let us examine its working ; for it fearfully illustrates the spirit of evil that is sapping the French Republic . We have witnessed the enactment of one law

      which prohibits all political meetings save under conditions that effectually destroy their value as the organs of free opinion ; and of another law which erases from the electoral registers five millions of voters * at a swoop . But the former was a law for the prevention of riots , and the latter was a law for the " regulation" of universal suffrage ! It is now proposed to regulate the press , in two ways first , by exacting the deposit of 24 , 000 francs ( £ 1000 sterling ) , by way of cautionnement or bail , from the proprietors of every daily newspaper or other periodical publication issued oftener than thrice a week—if published in either of the

      departments of the Seine , Seine and Oise , Seine and Marne , or of the Rhone—or of 18 , 000 francs ( £ 750 ) from the proprietors of any such newspaper or publication appearing at longer intervals ; and secondly , by imposing a stamp duty of 6 centimes the sheet—for the departments of the Seine and Seine and Oise , and of 2 centimes for the other departments of France , on all newspapers and other periodical publications of whatever kind , and also on all pamphlets and other works on any subject , with certain privileged exceptions to be specified in the act , which shall be comprised within fewer than ten printed sheets .

      The Projet de loi sur la Presse further provides that , if a newspaper against which a Government prosecution for libel may be pending in the Court of Assize shall , before a verdict has been obtained on such prosecution , be again indicted for a second libel , its proprietors must then , within three days from the commencement of the second prosecution , pay into the Treasury a sum equal to one « half of the maximum fine imposed by law as the penalty of the alleged offence , on pain of the instant suppression of the journal .

      This system of cautionnement to a heavy amount , backed by this clever contrivance to punish first , and try afterwards , has had its obvious effect upon the Democratic press . Within the last few weeks , four Paris papers have been prosecuted by the Government , and acquitted by the juries : two of them , at least , were without the means of paying into court the penalties which the officials hoped to see inflicted upon them , and consequently they must have been suppressed , although declared innocent by the legal tribunals of the country .

      Nor can there be much difficulty in estimating the effect upon the Liberal newspapers , of a stampduty which , in many instances , will double their cost to the public . In the case of the Presse , for example , the present price , in Paris , is 24 francs ayear : the proposed tax upon a metropolitan daily paper is 22 francs , being nearly 100 per cent . But , as the stamp is to carry the paper into the departments free of postage , its injurious effects will fall most heavily upon those more recently established journals whose circulation is chiefly , if not exclusively , confined to Paris .

      Untitled Article

      372 Iltfe 3 LeaiieX + [ Saturday ,

      Untitled Article

      • As there has been some controversy about the operation of the new electoral law , it may be worth while to note that the number of registered electors in May , ISM , was 9 , O . ' 36 , O 0 O ; and the number ot persons assessed to the cote personnelle or capitation tax—tht ; main qualification for the franchise under the new law—is 6 , ! W <» , 0 ( J 0 , of whom at least a million and a quarter are not within the other conditions of the franchise . The number of male persons yearly attaining their majority exceeds 300 , 000 , and these must have been inscribed for three years before they can vote . It is clear , therefore , that at least five millions of voters are disfranchised . Krom what transpires of the actual

      progress of the new registration it is probable that this estimate is much below the mark . Whilst writing this letter , I perceive in the Paris papers of yesterday ( July 9 ) a return of the new registration for nine out of the twelve arrondissemente of Paris . The present number of voters in these nine districts is 58 , 356 . The number on the old registers was 188 , 777 . Thero are , therefore , upwards of 130 , 000 eleciors disfranchised within threefourth ? of the city of Paris alone , or considerably more than two-thirds of the whole number formerly registered . Do all these belong to the " vile multitude" who , according to MM . Thiers , Montalembert , and their friends , should have nothing to do with the laws but to obey them ?

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), July 13, 1850, page 372, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1846/page/12/