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Leader (1850-1860), 13th July 1850, Edition Town of 1, Page 373, Untitled Article

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      Untitled Article

      When this objection was pressed on the Assembly in the debate of Monday , and it was urged that the cost of newspapers would be so enhanced that working men would be obliged to forego them , the speaker was interrupted by the " compact majority " with exclamations of— " So much the better . " According to these enlightened legislators , the safest way of dealing with the fierce Democracy of Paris is , first , to deprive them of all peaceful means of giving effect to their political opinions by prohibiting them from meeting , and by stripping them

      of the suffrage , and , finally , to debar them from the interchange and the ventilation of those opinions by suppressing their newspapers ! Such politicians seem not to have the slightest conception that the more dangerous these opinions may be , the more essential is it to the public weal that they should have the freest vent and the utmost possible publicity . The recent history of France teems with the results of that policy which seeks to repress adverse opinion at the risk of converting it into secret conspiracy , and to smother discontent until it bursts forth in revolt .

      But it is for the first time , we believe , even in France , that a fiscal measure , mainly intended to depress the political opponents of the party in power , has been made so comprehensive and sweeping in its details as to strike with almost equal severity at the freedom of commerce as at political liberty . This view of the matter has been stated with great force in a petition to the National Assembly from the " united delegates of the printers ,

      booksellers , stationers , and typefounders of Paris . " In this petition it is shown that , by the terms of the bill now under discussion , every volume in " 32 mo , " containing less than 640 pages , every volume in " 24 mo , " having less than 360 pages , every volume in "l 6 mo , " containing less than 320 pages , every volume in duodecimo , containing less than 240 pages , and every volume in octavo , containing less than 160 pages , will be subjected to the tax of six centimes per sheet : —

      " Our commerce shut up within such narrow limits that it will be soon annihilated ; our literary and artistic property destroyed without compensation ; our industry ruined ; our factories inactive ; our workshops empty ; thousands of workmen , clerks , artists , and literary men thrown , out of employment ; such , " say the petitioners , " will be , without any exaggeration , the disastrous consequences of this bill , if , in its present form , it be passed into a law . " Amongst the names appended to this petition are those of some of the most eminent men in the book-trade of Paris .

      The London organs of the " party of order " will doubtless represent this measure—like its forerunners—as a needful * ' blow at Socialism " : from our own readers it will receive , as they received in their day , a truer appreciation .

      Untitled Article

      PURITANICAL INCREASE OF SUNDAY LABOUR . Really the public must make a push to rescue the weekly day of rest from the immense increase of labour entailed upon numbers by Lord Ashley ' s ill contrived and hopeless attempt , with the connivance of Ministers , at converting it into a Puritanical Sabbath . On every side we are met with complaints at the interruption occasioned by the call for unpractised hands to do the work of the Post-office in carrying letters and papers .

      In the metropolis , persons connected with Sunday schools have observed a remarkable falling-off in the attendance of the boys during the last two or three Sundays ; the boys having been enticed away by the wages they can earn in delivering newspapers . A company for conveying " parcels " throughout the kingdom receives a new impulse to its activity . In Manchester , one of the largest newsvendors advertises that he has engaged a staff of boys " equal in number to the men employed by the Post-office , " for the delivery of newspapers on Sunday morning .

      In Liverpool , Messrs . Willmer and Smith announce that they have organized a distribution of newspapers , by their own messengers , on Sunday morning : " Besides foot-runners thejr will have sixty mounted messengers , and , considering the extent of their business and the wide range of town and country they propose to supply , such a staff is by no means too large . " Another newsagent complains that the change has forced him to become " a Sunday trader , " which he never was before . He says he must either surrender a large part of his business or hire several messengers to deliver papers to his subscribers on the holy day .

      These are only samples of what is taking place in every large town . Nor is this the whole of the evil . Those artisans and mechanics who were in the habit of receiving their London papers by post , on the morning of the only day in the week when they Have leisure to read them , must now either pay for the delivery or go to the newsagents for them . As the latter course is generally preferred , the result is said to be an increase of drinking , since the travellers are very apt , when they meet together at the newsvendor's , to adjourn to some public-house and discuss the news of the week , —not drily .

      The newsagents also justly complain , and the newspaper proprietors have a still greater right to complain , that Government , having imposed a penny stamp upon each paper , in consideration of its being sent postage free , has no right to refuse the performance of its contract . If it persists in doing so , the penny stamp should be abolished on all newspapers sent on Sunday . Under the present system , instead of sending " the papers by post , as

      they were wont , to Bristol , Birmingham , Manchester , Liverpool , and other large towns , the newsagents send them by the mail train ; a very costly process . Now , were Ministers disposed to act fairly towards the weekly newspapers , they ought to allow all those which are thus sent by parcel to be printed on unstamped sheets . Unless they do this they are guilty of taking money under false pretences .

      It will be seen that the increased labour is not limited to the news trade or parcels carriers—servants and all who receive communications are called upon to take extra trouble at awkward times . And the evil will increase—unless the new plan be abandoned .

      Untitled Article

      THE O ' CONNOR IiAND SCHEME . A strange fatality seems to attend all the proceedings of Mr . O'Connor in his management of the National Land Scheme . On Monday evening he presented a petition to Parliament relative to the affairs of the company , and moved that it be read . As it turned out that the petition was from Mr . Feargus O'Connor and others , directors and shareholders in the National Land Company , Mr . Roebuck asked if any member was at liberty to present a petition from himself ? The Speaker said

      such a step would be contrary to order , but Mr . O'Connor might give it to some other Member to present . The petition was then presented by Mr . S harm an Crawford : its prayer was for leave to bring in a bill to dissolve the company , although the period fixed by the order of the House for presenting petitions to bring in private bills had elapsed . The putting off so long may all be explainable , but it betrays a lamentable want of business accuracy and promptitude among the managers of the company , as indeed the whole affair has done from first to last .

      Untitled Article

      NULLIFICATION OP THE ROYAL PARDON . Barber ' s case is a hard one . He was pronounced guilty of complicity in the fraudulent acts of Fletcher , was transported , and has undergone transportation , with its incidental humbling and privation . It has turned out that much uncertainty hung upon the evidence . But the Judges have just decided that he has not been so absolved from the imputations maintained at the trial , that he can be restored to the roll of attorneys .

      Now this discloses the bad working of our law m one respect . The custom of society , the " usage of trade , " the practice of the most cultivated classes , sanction a tampering with truth : the utmost proved against Barber is , that he winked at irregularities when he might have sought out the facts ; but is not winking at " irregularities " a common practice ? Again , whatever his faults were , —granting that his condemnation was right , —his subsequent conduct has displayed many admirable qualities : patience , perseverance , resolution to earn a good name , and

      considerable cleverness . If Barber erred , he is manifestly a man capable of atoning for error , and of effecting a radical euro of his moral disease . But our law labours under the gross deficiency of not recognising the principle of atonement , and so it condemns the man once guilty of error to a perpetually renewed verdict of guilty ; although he may , by the best conduct , havo cleansed himself thoroughly . Such rigorous and permanent condemnation , besides being cruel and unintelligent , is adverse to the true spirit of moral discipline : it divests the highest royal attribute , pardon , of its truth and efficacy .

      Untitled Article

      GENUINE TORYISM . Subjoined is a letter from one of our agents in a small agricultural town , who is well able to appreciate the value of the communication . It exhibits to open view the last resort of Toryism , Reaction , Powers-that-beism , or whatever you please to call the spirit opposed to that

      which animates our standing motto from Arnold : the spirit of Anti-Progress has at last fairly retreated into " the old woman "; may it rest in peace : — " You may judge of the state of feeling here , " says our agent , " when I tell you that I gave a young gent a Leader newspaper . His mother came up and said , « Mr . —— , you gave Mr . Robert a newspaper , did you ?' I said , « Yes . ' * Well , are you become an agent for that paper ? ' « Yes . ' « Well , ' she says , but I really thought I would come to tell you by no means to do so . ' I said , * What for , ma'am ? ' « Well , ' she said , « it argues both

      sides , and will lead people to think about the other side ; and is not good . Indeed , we thought of sending the paper off , but our master looked in it , and was shocked to see it allowing argument upon sacred things . And he said that I was to come and tell Mr . ; for surely he never had seen , it , or he would not have given it to Robert . For we had very near sent it off to our relatives in another part ; but when our master saw that it was Atheistical , by allowing both sides room , he would not have sent it for any money ; for they would not have

      known whatever we were for in sending that paper . ' I told her that I had been brought up by a religious parent , but I had been allowed to think for myself and read all sides , and judged which were truths for myself . I believe in the omnipotence of truth , and I think we need not be frightened of it ; for it will vanquish , and overcome error if not kept down by one-sided people . I said to her , ' I for one will read anything against my views as soon as one for my views . ' She said , ' You are different to a deal ; you have plenty of books , &c . ' ' Yes , ma'am , but not one-sided books . '"

      Untitled Article

      There is no learned man but will confess he hath much profited bv reading controversies , his senses awakened , and his j udgment snarpened . If , then , it be profitable for him to read , why should it not , at least , be tolerable for his adversary to write . —Milton .

      Untitled Article

      THE LOST KEYS . July 3 , 1850 . Sir , —Much interest having been excited by certain articles appearing in your paper on religious subjects , perhaps you will allow me to offer a few observations relative to this important enquiry . I have lately arrived in England , after upwards of twenty years absence , during the greater portion of which time I have been engaged in learning to read eastern picture writing , and my object in visiting England is chiefly to make known my discoveries to properly qualified persons , or to the public

      gene-No man has a right to ridicule the creed of another . Creeds are engrafted on the mind in infancy , and they become part of man's nature . It matters not whatever the doctrine inculcated may be , whether adoration of the great unknown spoken of by Paul ( Acts xvii . ) , or whether the worship be that of the Egyptian calf , still the same kind of instruction is drilled into the infant brain . We therefore have no right to hurt the feelings of others by ridiculing or censuring their creed , because those creeds happen to be what we may consider ridiculous or unmeaning . But we may , nevertheless , employ our reason in

      discussing the merits of the various doctrines . To do so properly we ought to commence with the beginning , to dive at once to the root of all religion ; but such an enquiry is not suited for a newspaper , and I will therefore proceed to the sacred book of England—the Bible , as we have it prepared for the English nation ! The Bible is a -work that no one can now read and understand . Some may fancy they can do so ; but if any one so believing will carefully peruse a single page , he must , if he acts

      candidly , admit there is more or less a hidden mystery in the words ; if so , then reason naturally induces us to ask , were these mysterious writings intended for our comprehension , or were they meant only to be understood by certain initiated individuals , who should be at liberty to give just what instruction relating thereto that might please them , and for conditions advantageous to £ hemBelves ? I will quote from solitary passages , and the biblical scholar will allow I havo not selected unfairly : — " Woe to the idol shepherd that leaveth the flock ! the sword shall be upon his arm , and upon his right eye ;

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      Juiy 13 , 1850 . ] ffili * gLttLittx * 373

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  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), July 13, 1850, page 373, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1846/page/13/