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Leader (1850-1860), 15th February 1851, Edition Town of 1, Page 150, Untitled Article

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      Untitled Article

      disastrous to the country . Suppose the Queen were to " send for" Lord Stanley : well , he is pledged to try his hand at something for the agriculturists , labourers included , and it would not be Protection . Suppose it were the Duke of Newcastle , with such men as Gladstone , Graham , Adderley , and Cardwell : why then we should have a Government of men with some more statesmanlike aspirations . Suppose it were Cobden : we should have financial reform , extension of the suffrage , and public education . In any case , even if we did not attain at once the very beau ideal of Government , we should at least have movement , one step in the direction of nobler

      statesmanship , some life , and a certain gain in the increased importance , because renewed activity , of the more popular public men . All parties spoil their own interest and defraud the public by tolerating a worthless quietism . Practically , the present Ministry is the great obstacle to all the large measures most desired by the public—amended taxation , extended suffrage , public education , poor law reform , every reform : it is true that * he next Ministry could not give us all those things ; but it could not , like the present , debar us from all . The first step in advance is to remove the universal obstacle .

      Untitled Article

      THE EYE OF THE POLICE "UPON US ! If ever men were blanched with terror , the dark and bloodthirsty conspirators who daily devise their machinations at the Leader Office are the men ! Fierce as they are , —bold , big , muscular men , armed to the teeth —( their very toothpicks are poignards)—who sleep upon cannohballs , ana squander no end of money on turpentine and vitriol—terrible as they are they tremble behind their barricade , and the muskets drop from their hands as the rumour flies tremulous from mouth to mouth " The Police has its eye upon us ! " The eye of the Police—you know what that is ? Imagine yourself furtively scaling the balcony which will lead you to your mistress ( or descending the area steps if your affections have a culinary bias ) , using the cloak of night to cover your designs—and a Policeman suddenly flashing his bull ' s eye upon you , thus " betraying your intent" while he remains all the while shrouded in mysterious darkness ! The situation is not enviable , but what are your sensations compared with ours ! When first we heard that the Police had sent for

      a complete file of our journal , we were puzzled . Surely , we thought , they can't accuse us of not " moving on" ? The Austrian Embassy had also been so obliging as to send for our invaluable writing —probably with a view to the Emperor's making a grand Socialist experiment ! But this conjunction of the Austrian Embassy and Scotland-yard seemed to imply more than a calm philosophic desire to understand Socialism . We were not terrified , we were simply puzzled . At last the murder is out . In an article on the

      WorWs Show and the World ' s Democracy , the last John Bull discloses all our conspiracy , and draws a picture such as must alarm even the stoical police . Our Readers are familiar with our department called " European Democracy , " wherein among other atrocities appeared Mazzini'h proposal for the Italian Loan—a proposal which has been heartily responded to . The John Bull says : — " Their note of preparation is not loud , their plan of action simple to a fault . While n portion of them , un-{ jcnerounly and ungratefully abusing the ri ghts of hoapitillity , arc labouring to disseminate their principles under the name of ' the Knropean Democracy' in this country

      which lias too readily accorded them an asylum ; others have located themselves in defiance almost , of the feeble local authorities in the very centre of the Kuropcan Continent , und have established there a focus for their operations . Under the pretence of a national loan , they are levyiiitf black mail upon the inhabitants of the ' countries which they hope again to revolutionize , working upon the patriotic sympathies of some , and upon the Avholhonio fears of others , who by their contributions to the exchequer of the ' European Democracy , ' purchase security for themselves in the event , of another subversion of ihp established order of things . With the money

      so obtained , which is said to amount to a largo sum a regular recruiting- service is carried on under the personal superintendence of M . tz / ini ; and , strange to say , the recruits , most of them political desperadoes are shipped off to England , where , they are to be provided witii arms , mid to be constituted into an invadint ; force . While this is going on in / Switzerland , another of the revolutionary chiefs , (» aribuldi , is collecting a legion of patriotic , kieroes on the other side of the Atlantic , consisting partl y ;\( European vagabonds like himself , and partly of freebooters ' , who have learned the art . of predatory warfare in the Mexican and Cuban expeditions . "

      ' 1 he mustering su < . ] j nu anny \ H of itHo ] f a portent of evil ; Iml how does it affect England ? At a first glance , the unsuspicious mind seen nothing ; those who—like the John Bull— have the tfi ent

      Conservative interests to defend , see deeper , and say : — " But suppose , which is far from impossible or improbable , that , being aware of the defenceless state of Britain , ' having ascertained the chances of success from their confederates who have been residing amongst us for the last two or three years , and have actually been speculating upon * the decline of England / Mazzini and Garibaldi contemplate , as a primary object , the pillage of London , beginning with the World ' s Show in Hyde-park , where the work of riot and destruction may be commenced with the greatest ease in the confusion which awaits us—suppose that the revolutionary fraternity m Leicester-square and its purlieus have not been altogether idle among our own population , that they have the means , when the time shall have arrived , of calling to their standard the Chartist and Socialist rabble which houses in this metropolis , and the men—ay , and the women—capable of bearing arms , of the 150 , 000 or 200 , 000 Irish vagrants who , under the fostering care of the Catholic' Church , have nestled in London , being imported , it seems , in shiploads , at a shilling a-head , by ? charitable ' captains — suppose this to be the primary object of the European Democracy / what means , we desire to know , has our Governm ent taken to meet , or rather to prevent , so grave a danger ?" Ah ! Suppose ! .... The means taken by the Government to meet so great a danger are—First , a purchase , money down , of a complete set of the Leader ! By that bold stroke they mark their men . The bull ' s eye is flashed upon us , and we , who yesterday imagined our bloodthirsty schemes were maturing under the shadow of complete obscurity , suddenly find the Austrian Embassy watching us , and Colonel Mayne , from his castle in Scotland-yard , " has his eye upon us . " From this moment we eat our words ! Our language will become mild , urbane , official ; we shall tie up our arguments with red tape . We will take our view of the Condition of England through the Queen ' s Speech . The rabble-rousing words we have been accustomed to throw from behind our barricade—the vitriol of eloquence—will henceforth be exchanged for the genteelest words in the Dictionary , and the politest of statistics . Reader , you know what ruffians we have been ; henceforth see the effect of Colonel Mayne ' s bull ' s eve !

      Untitled Article

      THE PROTECTIONIST POLICY . Has Mr . Disraeli attained that time of life , when it becomes impossible to adapt oneself to the circumstances of the time , but one must continue to wear the costume , the thoughts , the conversation , and even the arrangements of a bygone day ? It would seem so . As the old beau believes that when the world grows wiser , it will arrive back at powder and knee breeches , so Mr . Disraeli hopes that political eeconomy of the old school is but the transition state to the older school of Protection ! And he aspires to be a leader of the nation ! Yet he is a

      reader of history , and for all his gay versatility a philosopher ; and he knows that although fanciful disquisitionists have imagined cycles in the progress of the world , which bring it round to the same point , the repetition is always original ; as some singers , on being encored , give a new song . Now we do not desire to see any real principle die out , and therefore we regret to see Conservatism committing suicide in the person of Benjamin its ruler . Looking forward to the renewal of Protection in " the next Parliament , " Mr . Disraeli hints at certain provisional measures , and asks the present

      Ministers to cook them up for him . He fancies that unbounded blessings would shower down upon the fanners if they were only permitted to cultivate tobacco . Under " protection" we should suppose . I '' or not to speak of the fiscal difficulties connected with a revenue of £ 4 , r >()() , ()() 0 a-year , it is obvioun that the cultivation of tobacco would be no source of proiit to the British grower . But why does the farmer not grow ilax ? That would yield a handsome profit , to the farmer , and afford liberal wages to the labourer without any disturbance to the revenue . Mr . Disraeli is indignant at the taxes on

      malt , and spirits , which , no doubt , cheek the eonmimption of bailey in some degree ; but then they produce £ 1 (> , <)<)<) , <)()() a-year . For our own part , we would ratlier see those sixteen millions raised by a well-regulated Property tax ; but would the landlords prefer Unit ? Then there is the £ j ' 2 , 000 , 000 of local taxation and its unequal distribution ; but the fanner pays no more than his fair share of it in many cases not so much , through the cruel way in which the poor are driven off the land ; flooding tb (! towns with pauperism produced by land monopoly .

      If Mr . Disraeli \ vishen to be a leader of Iuh < lny , he really must talus the trouble to investigate Jiving facts and convictions , and not continue to

      write upon the facts and convictions of ten , twenty or thirty years back . The time is gone by for talking about war prices and protection , or even tobacco duties and the sacred oeconomy of rent . Rent is not a necessary consequence of oeconomy , but it is the consequence only of a perfectly artificial thing , —private property in land ; and a very embarrassing consequence it has become . But , to take the bearings of his position , the advocate of the agriculturists may ask a few very simple questions of Mr . Disraeli . We have free trade : Are the agriculturists content ? Are the working classes in any branch of industry content ?

      If not , is it possible to go back to Protection ? Is there any prospect that a majority of the country will be won back to that conviction ? When ? Are the agriculturists , especially the farmers and labourers , to wait till Mr . Disraeli finds a Parliament ready to reenact Protection ? Are the working classes in field or shop to endure their grievances and hardships till that day , and only to " grin and bear it ? "

      Is Mr . Disraeli really trying to do what he professes ? Has he taken any steps to prepare for the election of a Parliament which shall fairly represent the practical agriculturists , or any branch of industry ? Whether Mr . Disraeli understands the matter or not , we know that all these questions must be answered in the negative , and that if he is not prepared to help in solving the next question others will do it without him . Steps must be taken to secure a fair representation of industry , in all its

      branches , not omitting the workers of the looms , nor the agriculturists , nor the labourers of the fields ; not omitting the innumerable traders of the middle class now hopelessly toiling against that bankruptcy which is certain for so many . A common want must unite all these classes . They will not for ever consent to " grin and bear it . " Agriculture cannot continue the struggle without some serious change for its benefit . Free trade has not sufficed , has not really affected the fundamental condition of industry . The wealth vaunted by Sir Charles Wood is true , of classes ; but it only the more

      tantalizes the bulk of the nation , with the farmers and their labourers . At present there is mistrust between farmers and labourers ; and men like Mr . Disraeli , who think of elevating those two classes without removing that distrust by speaking the truth to them , are not doing the work of true Protectionists . They are dividing the bulls that the lions may continue to feed . But , as our own Fabulist said a year ago , the lions are growing old and toothless ; and some will be found to tell the fact to the bulls . Rent-receivers are not " agriculturists , " or " field cultivators , "—often the reverse ; for they are often exilers of labour and fieldscarers . Meanwhile the real agriculturists , the working farmers and the labourers , shall be told that their worst troubles are produced by artificial causes , by causes that can be prevented ; that ruinous farming and starvation wages continue by favour of causes that can be removed ; just as the working classes of towns are rapidly awakening to the same truth—that low wages , and the contest of class with class which beats down the profits of fair trade , are the fatal consequences of causes which can be removed . Once admit that fact , and they will unite to demand the removal of those causes . Having free trade we see more clearly that we do want Homething more—a something which Protection purported to furnish : will the Protectionists join in the search and the struggle for that next public good ?

      Untitled Article

      COMMERCIAL MORALITY . KN ( iAOKi ) in the struggle for duties gained or duties saved , the diatoms and the Dock Companies are trying to blast each other ' s character . The trial will probably not close before we go to prews , ho numerous i « the array of witnesses called on the side of the defence ; in any event , however , the spectacle is disgusting and even alarming . Say that the charge advanced by the Board of Customs is true—then we have a great trading corporation , governed by most honourable men , convicted of frauds at once petty and gigantic . If we seek to excuse hucIi practices , we must find the most valid excuse , in the present disposition of English society , to rely on mere trading motives . The question of questions in trade in , " Will it pay ? " ( min in the tent of all merit . Trading principled have avowedly become the paramount practical rule in statesmanship and in daily life . But the love of gain is not a noble motive : it can-

      Untitled Article

      150 sr&e ILtatjtt . Satdroav ,

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 15, 1851, page 150, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1870/page/10/