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either compromise or petulance ; without ; offering the right hand to rampant iDe ^ potism , and the left to Democratic conspirators . " . Now , if Ministers intended an honest national policy , open proclamation of it Would be their most advantageous and obvious course . From their silence w-e musV infer that they dp : not mean an honest and national policy ^—that they contemplate a new Iroly Alliance , an 1852 to imitate 1815—with all its tyrannies , its meannesses , and its debts . The appeal of our correspondent should be anticipated by the heart of every true Englishman .
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OFFICIAL CHANCES OF WAR WITH AMERICA AND POPULAR ALLIANCE . Do the English people intend to be at war with their brethren of America ? We believe not . We believe that the people of this country shares , in a degree daily increasing , that sentiment which has so largely extended itself among the Peoples of the Continent , for a brotherly accord 5 and most especially we believe that all classes , except perhaps a few circles that supply too many of our official gentlemen , are possessed by the desire to be in concert with our brethren of the great Republic . England and America have no desire for reciprocal war , no intention , no interest . It is with disgust , therefore , that we learn how nearly we have been brought to open war—in spite of our teeth . ; ,, „ The demand for explanations on the Prometheus affair ha « come over from America , in accordance with the resolution wbich General Cass carried in the Senate ; and our Government will have to reply . Now , how will it
reply ? Will it shuffle , and tarnish the national honour by a mean concession to stern language ? or will it retort by bullying , and hazard a war ? We put the question with those alternatives only , because we do not see how the Government has retained-to itself the power to deal with the matter bravely and frankly ,. as any men truly representing this country could . v
The facts will enable our readers to judge now far Government is likely or able to act braveljrand frankly . It is already known that "her Majesty ' s * war-brig Express fired upon the American commercial steamer Prometheus ^ and obliged it to pay port dues at San Juan del Norte . Now , who collects those port dues ? . . This is the point that puzzles the Americans " . The port dues are collected in the name of his Majesty the King of the Mpsquito Territoryor Mp ^ quitia as pur _ cofficials
,, call it . And frotn whom does the British collector receive his authority ? From the British Vice-Consul . There is a Council established in Greytown , capital of Mosquitia , and documents have been circulated , bearing the signature of those potent , grave , and reverend seignors , the Councillors : the Americans once caught a Councillor , alive and kicking , whose name was appended to one of those , important state documents ; but they found that the man could not write . Who wrote
it , then ? Nobody knew : but . conjecture answered—Probably the Vice-Consul . It is to back an authority of this mongrel kind that her Majesty ' s brig Express has fired upon an American ship whose master had demurred to pay port dues to an English collector in a place not lawfully under the British flag . But what is this Mosquitia ? It is well that our readers should remember . The Mosquito Territory is an unwh o lesome tract of land near the mouth of
the Nicaragua river , and the site of the proposed interoceanic canal ; it was the spot contemplated in an emigration scheme that came rather disastrously before the public some time back , and has , in fact , been the object of steady " cockering" among official people . On the coast pf Spanish America was a timber station of English adventurers , who , by the mixed process of sufferance and encroachment , gradually made the Balize settlement a sort of colony . Over . the colony , to govern it , was a Colonel Macdonald , and -the colonel had a secretary
named Walker . It was this Mr . Walker who conceived the idea of making a " kingdom . " of the Mosquito Territory , just as other small Earla of Warwick have made kingdoms for King Jacky-jacky ' or King Mumbo-jumbo , on the , coast of Africa * Accordingly , Mr , Walker found a dark-skinned chiefi made him " king , " Bupplied him with technical names , knowledge of his sovereign rights , especially aa to revenue , gave him English officials , and took him on a visit to the Governor-General of Jamaica , under whose august " prow tection , " we believe , the King of Mosquitia , wa , s formally placed by Mr . Walker , The capital
tacked , they desired to board the Express , and take it I It would not be etiquette to suppose . that CaJifornian adventurers could take , with bowie knives and revolvers , a vessel bearing her MajestyV commission and her Majesty ' s cannon ; but suppose even that the Americans had been repulsed ? In either event there would have been bloodshed j the spirit of the two countries would-have been fired , and there would be war between US !
of Mosquitia was baptized " Greytown /* , and , as it now turns out , her Britannic Majesty ' s . naval officers act in support of his Mpsquitian Majesty ' s customs and port . oflicers—perhaps under some ' " offensive and defensive treaty " with the King ! This is all very idle and very silly ; but see to what risques it brings iis . On board the Prome theus were six hundred Californians , with bowie knives and revolvers . When their ship was
at-$ fow , it is very pitiful and very criminal to hazard such terrible results for a subject so paltry and jo unreal ! England has not the slightest interest in Mdsquitia ; and that is the point which we desire our brethren in America to understand . Whatever Downing-street may do or may refuse to Ho , England will be wholly guiltless of any" intention to obstruct American , navigation , to offend a just American pride , or to go to war . There is the same feeling in the Union ; and our countrymen on this side of the Atlantic ought to know as much . We hear that many towns are
preparing to address this country on the subject of an alliance . The American People desire to be friends with the English People ; the English People anticipated that desire in its own desire for alliance . \ Ve have other things to do than to quarrel » other wars to prepare for than a war with each other * Now , is ^ this desire to be frustrated by any paltry official hobby ? We believe not . Neith er Englishmen nor Americans will be suefc fools as to fight for the convenience of Downing-street and Austria . The Americans know their own mind ; but oh the part of Englishmen we beg to assure them of this fact—that if ample satisfaction l ? eTnot
rendered from ^ Downing-street , if any offence be continued , the act will be that , not of England , but of Downing-street . England is already allied to America , in feeling and conviction , far more closely than diplomatic parchments could bind the two countries ; and , if Downing-street be hostile , the Americans mijist-deal with Downingrstreet , The Americans will not , we are sure they will not , suffer a misunderstanding to be made between them and the English People ; Jbut rather _ regard the official quarreFas an incentive to " make the understanding with the People more distinct , the alliance with the People closer .
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HOW TO MAKE PAUPERISM PAY . Time , which proves all things , is making manifest to attentive observers , that practical Poor Law reform must be sought in reproductive employment for the ableboaied paupers . That is the most effective protection both for ratepayer and labourer . Every week , almost every day , testifies to the soundness of the v iews on this subject , which the Leader has always set forth . Cork , Sheffield , and the Isle of Thanet , are practical examples . In the Thanet Union , as we said the week before last , pauper labour has actually been made to pay .
... „ . .. , A still more important adhesion to the principle of reproductive , as opposed to non-productive , employment is to be found in the fact , that the Oxford Board of Guardians has established an industrial and agricultural school for the pauper children . This is especially noteworthy , because Oxford , being not only a University , but a Cathedral town , is naturally backward in reducing to practice great social theories and realizing great theoretical improvements . Still even the Guardians of the Oxford Union could not resist when they were made to see how clearly it was for the benefit both of ratepayers and paupers , that poor rates should be
regarded as capital and employed reproduqtively . But would not the ratepayers find their account in an extended application of the principle , to adult pauper labour . It is of the greatest moment , we admit , that pauper children be educated in habits of productive industry ; but it is scarcely of less moment that the annual waste of "poor reket in a detested and useless alms be diminished , 11 not made profitable investment , as in the Isle of Thahet . .... .
. In all ordinary cases of pauperism in the agn * cultural districts it will be found that poor rates are the aorry complement of wages * The reaearcnea of Mr . Caird * publtehed in a aeriea of letters to the
Tithes , show that high wages and low poor rates , and low wages and high poor rates , are almost invariably the logical consequences the one of the other . From , this it results that poor rates are the wages of compulsory idleness . No wonder the agricultural interest is suffering . Mr . Caird , whose appointment as " Commissioner " to the Times was accepted with the concurrence of Sir Robert Peel * is among the zealous advocates of Poor Law Reform .
And there is hope yet . Agriculture , even in the Gehenna of Ireland , seeks refuge in the wise principle of reproductive employment . The Poor Law Guardians are largely acting upon that principle . All fareeeiqg and practical reformers have long perceived social reform must begin with the Poor Law ; and experience has proved that by the employment of paupers reproductively , not only are the poor rates lessened in every instance , but the workhouse is made self-supporting in many ; relief is deprived efLjts degrading character , and labour is restored to theJtand and to industry .
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OUR VAST " NON-EFFECTIVE . " Costly as our army is , effective as it may be in keeping down merely riotous movements of our own population , there are reasons to doubt the effective condition of our men if they were opposed to the highly trained armies of certain Continental neighbours . The experiences of the Cape are not flattering : there the Black Kafirs treat our redthat old bird
coats with the saucy indifference s show to scarecrows , and they laugh at the idle scolding of a musqueteer who only hits at a venture . "An Old Officer of Light Division , " who writes to the Times , explains this superiority of the savages : our men are allowed just thirty rounds of cartridge for a year ' s target practice ! Thirty rounds ! How many years would it take the junior member of-a pigeon-shooting club to distinguish himself on that
allowance ? Yes , thirty rounds for practice—and forty rounds on going to the field ! It has hitherto been-sixty rounds ; but astounded at the merits , of the Minie rifle , it-is said by the Old Officer , the Ordnance has bespoken a numberuf that arm , with its heavy balls ; and the weight is to be compensated by a reduction in the number of rounds . Now , at Waterloo the Rifles went into action with eighty rounds , and were thrice supplied with more . But the long peace has made our officials forget these things . ¦ „ matter of
It has made them forget the important weight for the-soldier . - The jockey is " weighed at starting ; " the sportsman is jealous of every ounce added to I 113 natural ponderosity . The relief of their knapsacks , left in tent , enabled our light troops to overtake the French at the pass of Vera in the Pyrenees ; the relief from blanket and ammunition ( eleven pounds ) enabled the same men , landing on the conclusion of the war at Plymouth , and marching into Kent , to make four miles an hour , insteadof three with a halt often minutes every hour . But existing regulations burden the soldier with
ammunition , clothing , accoutrements , rations , &c , to the rate of more than half a hundred weight ( sixty pounds ) . Among the elements of this excessive weight are his clumsy , ill-made musquet , and his ball cartridge fitted to the wide bore . To save 3 d . or 4 d ., one side of his bayonet is left solid , instead of being hollowed out , as is the case in all sides of a French bayonet ; so that to save 4 d ., he is saddled for ever with two ounces more of useless steel . This heavv musquet is fitted with the old
swivel ; in lieu of the " double-pipe swivel , " which works easily , and does not disturb the aim ; and the old fashion is kept up on the official superstition that the double-pipe swivel gets out of order . Every gamekeeper can refute the delusion . But why should these things be wondered at ? Our public offices exist for the benefit of the occupants . If civilians jail military posts , so much the better ; for our politicians hate military matters , and think the lesB we have of them the better * As to English soldiers proving unequal in the field to well-armed Prussians , or Louis Nappleon ' s elaborately trained men ,, who can run by the aide of cavalry—why , such a calamity has never happened yet , and never will—till the first time * . It would not be becoming to say that the Cape campaign looks very like a first time ; or that Cossacks , if not French Algerines , which cost less than our soldiers , may wear better , especially at starting . No , we rest on Waterloo ; and it will take a counter-Waterloo to convince us of our mistake . How awkward if the counter-Waterloo were near Waterloo-bridge .
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¦ . , ' . . » ¦ . ' ¦ . ¦ . -. ' 1 ¦ . . ¦ . ¦ - ' , ¦ ¦ " N - .. ¦ . ' " . ¦"¦ ¦¦¦ ... ¦ .. ¦ ¦ . ¦ ' . " , ¦ ¦ - Jan . 3 , 1852 . 1 «! ft * V # **;*** . : u
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Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 3, 1852, page 11, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1916/page/11/
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