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Leader (1850-1860), 8th February 1851, Edition Town of 1, Page 120, Untitled Article

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      Untitled Article

      position , made it absolutely necessary for the Government to demand a renewal of the grant to a certaint extent . The sum which he would propose to the Assembly to grant was l , 800 , 000 f ., to meet the extra expenses during the year 1851 . The difference between the sum demanded for 1850 and that now demanded for 1851 was owing to the fact that in 1860 the expenses of the installation of the President in the palace of tlie Elysee were included ; and , as that expense had not to be repeated , it enabled the Government to make a diminution .

      The reception given to the bill was not very encouraging . The Legitimists maintained a frigid silence , while the Republicans indulged in all manner of jokes and sarcasms at the President ' s expense . When the amount proposed was mentioned , one deputy bawled out amidst general laughter that they ought to consider Louis Napoleon very cheap at so moderate

      a sum . Public opinion is very much divided as to the fate of the Dotation Bill . According to one view the bill is likely to pass , because the majority are aware that its rejection would call forth so strong an expression of public sympathy , in the shape of a subscription , probabty , as would make him more powerful than ever . On the other hand , it is said that a large party of the Legitimists will join with the Republicans in refusing the grant , whatever may be the result . They say that to give Louis Napoleon more money will only facilitate his projects for the establishment of the empire , and on that ground they say they will stubbornly oppose it .

      The statements in some of the journals , of Louis Napoleon having sold half his horses and discharged half his servants , is not true . It is true , however , that reforms are to be made in his expenditure . There will be fewer balls ; but no servants will be dismissed until they can obtain other situations , and no reduction will be made in the charitable donations , which amount to a very large sum weekly , unless the Assembly should reject the dotation , and no other honourable means be found to make up the deficit .

      Untitled Article

      THE R IGHT OF L ABOUR IN FR A NCE . An interesting discussion took place in the Assembly last week on the great question of the rights of labour . It will be remembered that Louis Blanc was able to procure nothing more from the Constituent Assembly than the institution of a commission of inquiry into the condition of agricultural and other industries . A list of twenty-nine questions was addressed to each of the justices of the peace of the 2847 cantons of France ; and in each canton a committee , composed of an equal number of workmen and masters , was formed to draw up answers to the questions proposed by the committee of inquiry . More than 2000 cantons sent in their reports . A legislative committee having been appointed to present an analysis of these numerous documents to the Assembl y , they reported , by the pen of M . Lefebre Darufie , that the fruits of this inquiry , pursued throughout the whole territory of the Republic , for the space of three years , are worth nothing ; and that the committee has nothing better to propose than to bury the 2000 reports of the cantons in the archives of the Ministry of Agriculture and Commerce . This ningularly impotent conclusion called out , on Thursday , from the ranks of the Mountain , a genuine champion of the working classes , himself a son of toil , a mason , named Nadaud , representative lor the department of Creuze . lie said there were eighteen or twenty millions of workmen in France whose wages were not sufficient ( or the support of their families ;

      and , in the lace of this greut fact , they were told that nothing could be done to alleviate their hard lot . To hIiow the minery which weighed on the working class he would ask thorn to ponder on the . statement of M . Blanqui , that out of 21 , 500 poor children born in Lille not less than ' 20 , 700 die before they reach the age of live yearn . The report of M . Lefebre Daruile was precisely similar to that of M . Thiers on public assistance , and that of M . Montulembert on Sunday observance . It i > roved the impotence of the legiHlative majority to devise the least remedy for the greatest social evils . Such a state of tilings could not last . If tliey were to set one half of France to coerce tlio other half they could not maintain the existing state ofthijigN .

      " M . Nadaud then reviewed the laws passed by tjie Legislative Assembly on unwholesome lodgings , relations between mastcrx and workmen , eaiti . ses de retraite and proved that none of them more than scratched tlusurface of the question , lie claimed the principles of freedom of iiHHociatinn , which he thought could alone enable workmen to compete with machinery , lie quoted ji tmccexHiuii of economical writers from the ruuk . s of conservatism , who dwelt upon tin ; social cancer of

      pimjui iHin and Us political danger . lie said that the revolution of February liud been a social and not . a political revolution , lie told the occupants of the opposite benches that , they were all j « nued from the tiers et . at parvenus of the revolution of 17 H 9 , who , after hading the . people through three fiuceessive revolutions , and marching it . for personal ambition over all the battle fields of Kurope , treated tlu : poor much worse than the nobles they had displaced . He then drew a picture of the evils of competition , whioh screwed down tlie

      workman s wages . The cure for pauperism was the increased production and fairer distribution of wealth . " In the debate which followed , M . Vaisse , the new Minister of the Interior , flatly contradicted the star tistics of M . ^ anqui relating tp the state of the working population at Lille . As for the statement that , ' out of 21 , 5 . 00 children born annually , 20 , 700 die before they reach the age of five years , that related $ o Manchester and not to Lille . It turns out , however , that the Minister of the Interior is quite as far wrong as M . Nadaud . M . Leon Faucher in a letter to the Debats , says : —

      " ' It must not be said on the other side of the Channel that we know so little of Great Britain as to speak of it as we should scarcely speak of the Chinese Empire ;' and he quotes the following passage from his Etudes sur l'Angleterre , ' in a visit he made to Manchester m 1843 , when misery was very great : ¦ — V There commonly die in the manufacturing districts of England , before the agre of 20 , as many persons as die before the age of 40 in other districts , -without excepting London . Qut of 1000 children born at Manchester in the working-class , 570 are carried off before their sixth year ; for those who attain the virile a ? e . old age arrives prematurely—a spinner js unable to work at 50 . No other town contains proportionally more widows and orphans ; and in the 435 cases of widowhood , out of 1000 , the husband dies of a malady in the organs of respiration . ' "

      Untitled Article

      THE SAILORS' STRIKE . The South Shields shipwrights struck work on Saturday morning . The Tyne shipwrights are about 1100 in number , and are pretty well known as close unionists . In the fall of last year they met , and without consulting their employers , adopted a code of rules , many of which are said by the mastershipbuilder and shipowner to be most obnoxious in their character , and injurious to the trade of the river . The masters met at Newcastle in November last , and readopted a set of regulations passed by ^ the dockowners in 1842 . These regulations came into effect on Saturday , and the strike at South Shields is the result . It is also supposed that if some

      arrangement is not come to between the masters and the men , the whole of the shipwrights on the Tyne will turn out . The Hecate and Trident , war-steamerg , sent down by the Admiralty , at the request of the Mayor of Tynemputh , in case of a riot amongst the sailors during their strike , are at present lying in Shields harbour ; but there is no necessity for their presence as fhe river is clearing of ships , and the men are receiving the advanced wages as soon as the vessels are laden . A great number of colliers left the Tyne last week . Notwithstanding the antipathy of the seamen to the shipping o&ice , there seems no danger of a repetition of disturbances , which were confined to a small section of the men .

      Untitled Article

      MILITARY EXTRAVAGANCE . Sir Charles Napier , before leaving India , has issued a farewell General Order to the officers of the army , in which he administers some very salutary , but most unpalatable , advice . The main object of his letter is to warn them against running into debt . According to his account a great number of subalterns in India are deeply involved in debt , and Sir Charles points out the chief causes which have led to this wretched state of things . First of all young men get commissions without having learned that " honesty is inseparable from the character of a thorougbred gentleman . " They think that , having escaped from school it is manly to be

      dishonourable . " So they cheat the Government by not attending to their duties , and they cheat their tradesmen by not paying their debts . They meet champagne drinking swindlers , who sponge on them and lead them into expehce . Thup cornea debtthen bankers are at hund tp advance money . Thus they become involved past redemption , and soon the habit of being constantly in debt makes them grow callous to th e proper feelings of a gentleman . " Another cause of debt is the extravagance of messes . Instead of tlie mess being regulated by the income of the poorest , as it ought to be , it is too often regulated by that of the rich members . The common doctrine is that , thc comrnanding officer ought not to interfere with tlie mesB , which should bo considered

      as the private table of tlie oiuccrs . oir Charles accuses those who talk thus of gross flellishness . "They are overbearing tyrants , who want to set aside the private affairs of officers , and to make those olHcerw who cannot afford nuch extravagance pay for those persons' selfish enjoyments , which they ' want to enjoy lit dthpr people ' s expence . " Another cause of expenco and ruin to the young officers is the accommodation furnished by the banks , which " afford n ready means for the young ' anil foolish to obtain money , but at' an enormous intercut . " Having pointed out the evil and its jnain Hources , he leaves the (/ Oinmander-in- ( 'hief to provide the remedy .

      1 he papers from India , by thelastmail , are lilled with accounts of the preparatioim for an interview between theGovernor-Geiienil and Gholab Singh , which was to take place at Wwzecxabad on the 24 th of December . There w « h to be w grand review of the whole of the British troops on the 27 ' th , 1 <> be followed , next day , bv a review of the troops in attendance ) on tho Maharajah . ThepniHcntaprepared by Gholab Singh

      for the interview were said to be extremely splendid It was expected that the Governor-Genferaf would be invited : by Gholab Singh to return his visit at Ifashmere , and ' that the invitation would be accepted if it had the appearance of being frankly and sincerely proffered . If the invitation be accepted , the visit to Kashmere will be undertaken about the end of March , on the return of the camp fro m Peshawur . ' -

      Untitled Article

      THE AUSTRIAN ^ IN HOLSTEIN . Letters from Kiel of the 1 st instant state that the Holstein Stadtholderate have transferred their ministerial powers to the new provisional government appointed by the German Confederation . The Hamburg papers mention that the Austrian arid Prussian commissioners had left for Kiel to arrange die installation of the new gpyernoaent . The Kolner Zeitung says that Austria and Prussia will place no obstacle in the way of an arrangement of the affairs of Schleswjg Holstein on tlie principles which were hinted at jri the King of Denmark ' s proclamation of the 15 th pf July , provided that this arrangement does not prejudice the ~ x £ gh , t $ of Germany and Holstein . The plan wticlj is traced out in the above-mentioned proclamation proposes an Assembly of the instates ( Nptablen ) of the Duchies . It has npw been decided at Vienna and Berlin that the result of the deliberations of such an Assembly shall be submitted to the approval or condemnation ( as the case may be ) , qf the Germanic Confederation , or of those Powers jyhich act fprthat body .

      Four Austrian battalipns , with a battery of six pounders , entered Hamburgh last wejek , and were quartered on persons who Jiad agreed tp takethem for the indemnification offered . The men marched in with the bands playing , and with green twigs stuck in their caps , as a token of friendship . The fortress of Rendsburg is to be garrisoned by four battalions of ' Austrian" and four battalipns of Prussian troops .

      Untitled Article

      THE SWISS INSURRECTION . The insurrection in the canton of Berne has been successfully repressed , but the general belief is that it was but a prelude to a more decicfed and concentrated opposition on the part of the Bernese Radicals . According to the Paris Correspondent of tlie Times , the refugees , French , Poles , Germans , Italians , &c , who had been sent into the canton of " Vaud , have all returned to Geneva and its neighbourhood , where Mazzini for some time past is said to have been ac ^ tively engaged in the recruiting service of the revolution . The same veracious authority

      says" He has money in abundance ; but it is certain that these resources do not proceed , as had been absurdly stated in some of the Paris and Svviss Socialist journals , from the English clergy , ' of hatred to the Pope , 'but rather from rich families in Lombardy and other parts of Italy . Numbers of men—the far greater part refugees—are recruited , receive pay in advance , and are regularly draughted off to England , whence a part of this new expedition will set out . A considerable sum is set apart for the purchase of arms also in England . And these calculation * seem to be made as if the certainty existed of completing the preparations for again lighting the flame of civil war over the whole

      of the Italian peninsula . The expedition , when sufficient in numbers and equipments , will not proceed in , the first instance to any part of the Roman territory . , Mazzini has evidently no desire for his army to risk an encounter with the French army of occupation . Some part of the Neapolitan territory wjH probably be the point selected at first . It is calculated that in the first encounter any portion of the Neapolitan troops that may oppose the ' army of " " ration' will be worsted ; and that is to be P ° " sidcired as a Biaxial for the simultaneous ri 8 ln 8 Garibaldi

      of the patriots of Italy . On the other hand , is expected from New York with two vessels full ol volunteers , most of whom have served in Mexico . We has given oiit that he is proceeding jo London , but it 18 believed that his real destination for the present is TangiefB , and from that point , when the opportune moment arrives , he will try to effect a landing in ij « aples - All these proceedings are perfectly well known to thp Austrian Government , as well as the names of those oi its Italian subjects who have , either voluntarily or otherwise , contributed to the Mazzini loan ; and , if the vnlorrnation received may be trusted , the Austrions arc determined to enter and occupy the Swiss territory in tlie spring , in order to put an end once for all to thin state <» things . "

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      THE BRAZILIAN SLAVE TRADE . It was stated in the royal speech thujt the Government of Brazil has taken a now s / Lep for tho » upprt ! H " Hion of the Hlaye trade , and the Karl of J 3 ifing liaul « m referring to that part of tho speech , said , " , » U "" j late accounts from tlie coast of Africa and lirwrAl tona to Hhow that a groat check has been g iven to tna , trnllte , both on tho coant of Africa and in JJmz » l . _ In reference to tho Harm ; subject , tho iteto York 'Jrtbune , of January ' 22 , Bays : — " Tho information transmitted to the United States Government by the American . MinUter ftt Ri ° » W f to the ' truffle m mUivcs in Brazil , under tho America " ilug , has been made public . It appear * that about iO . vw

      Untitled Article

      120 ' $ J * f & * && **? { Satdrday ,

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 8, 1851, page 120, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1869/page/4/