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Leader (1850-1860), 13th March 1852, Edition Town of 2, Page 241, Untitled Article

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      matic agents at Paris , Vienna , Berlin , Frankfort , arid London . England , on the contrary , objects to any in tervention whatever . When Lord Cowley , the English ambassador at Paris , heard that the question of in tervention in Switzerland was seriously entertained , he immediately demanded of M . Turgot an explanation . The answer which"he received appears to have been very far from satisfactory . It is positively stated that when he appealed to the treaties * of 1815 , the French Government explicitly declared that it was not

      their business to consult the contracting powers of 1815 before taking measures to prevent the dangers which in their opinion were likely to result from the present state of Switzerland . There was a report in Paris that the ambassador of France at London , M . Walewski , had been recalled on this very question . The Elysean party still assert that the Federal Council of Switzerland has succumbed to the menaces of France , and that a note in the Moniteur will soon announce that the President of the Helvetic Confederation has given " reasonable satisfaction" to

      the claims of the French Government . The Momteur , however , has remained mute on the subject tip to this day ; and in the meantime preparations are being made in France for war . Government have called for large supplies of copper and iron for immediate use in the cannon foundries , with the view of augmenting' the force of artillery ; and Paris is placarded with advertisements for tenders ^ S .

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      LOUIS BLANC ON FRENCH SOCIALISM . ( To the Editor of the Leader . ) Letteb IV . The Feench Socialists do kot in any sense OE DEGKREE DESIBE THE ABOLITION OF PeOPEETY . The French Socialists , on the contrary , regard Property as a right inherent / in . human nature . Man , indeed , can only support life by appropriating to himself exterior objects * But it is precisely because Property is aright that the French Socialists object to its being degraded into a privilege . It is precisely

      because-the right of property is inherent in human nature that , according to the French Socialists , all who pertain to human nature , ought to be invited to enjoy the advantages of the right . Yes ; the right of property is a natural right , but , for that express reason , its enjoyment should be rendered accessible to all . And how ? First of all , by inscribing at the head of the Code that the true principle of property is Labotte ; next , by founding social institutions which may tend to promote more and more the use of the matebiaxs OF Laboub .

      To those who would encourage them to labour , in the hope of becoming possessors , how many poor creatures might , with good reason , reply : You call out to us to work ! . But we have neither ground to till , nor wood to build , nor iron to forge , nor wool , nor silk , nor cotton , to make clothes withal . Nay , are we riot forbidden to pluck that fruit , to drink of that fountain , to hunt those animals , to take shelter under that tree ? We stand in need of the materials of life itself , as of labour ; because at our birth wo found all around us invaded ; because laws , tnade without us and before us , have given over to a

      blind and cruel phance the charge of our destiny ; because , in virtue of those laws , the means of Labottb , which the earth seemed to have yielded for the use of nil her children , are becomo the exclusive property of a few . Theirs it is to dispose of us ; for we have no means of disposing of ourselves . Work ! We are ready : but do you think that it depends upon our own will ? "Work ! and thou shalt be assured of having the fruit of thy labour . " Alas ! how can you asauro us the fruit of our labour , when in the midst of the immense disorder , and of tho tragic incidents of universal competition , you cannot even warrant us tho employment of our hands P " Work ! tho produce of thy labour shall bo for thce and for thy children "—

      you docoivo yourselves , you deceive us . Wo ! tho produce of our work will bo neither for us nor for our children . For our destitution places us at the mercy of others ; and what is offered to us in exchange for our teeming activity is not the produce wo create ; it is but a salary just enough to prevent our perishing in tho act of producing ~ a salary which tho stress of competition over tends to grind down to the lowest level of tho strictest necessities 0 / life , and wliicn rarely loaves a margin for thrift ; and which , meagre as it is , is ever ftfc tho . mercy of the first day of stoppage in tho work , or of sickness in the worker . It is riot , then , tho prospect of happiness that stimulates us : our only stimulant is—" starvation !"

      Under existing social institutions , such is tho complamt , tho legitimate complaint , that thousands of jnon may broatho , alboit created after tho imago of Mod , and mombora of tho groat human family ! And

      how deny it , when we see that at Paris , for instance , the numerous class of journeymen gain no more than two francs 50 cents , a day ; that at Rouen , the weavers receive per week , for twelve hours * work a day , only three or four francs ; that at Limoges , the improved machinery for spinning has brought doiyn the wages to one franc 25 cents ,. ; that at Cholet , the calico weavers , who used in 1846 to be paid one franc six cents , for a day ' s work of twelve hours , have , since 1848 , earned only 85 cents . ! I might continue to the

      end this gloomy catalogue ; but those who would be convinced of the generality of the results which I denounce , have only to consult the statistical table I drew up , iu my treatise on the Organization ofLahotvr There they will find the industrial situation of France regularly summed up in figures , and in figures which have not been denied , and which it was irbpossible to deny—they were official . There they will learn that wretched young girls receive , for eighteen hours' incessant labour , from 30 to 60 cents ., a pittance they are driven to eke out by prostitution .

      Do such social institutions as these , I ask , respect the right of property—the right of property , I mean , based on labour ; when in their very core this awful misery grows > robbing so many wretched beings even of the free disposal of their own existence , and driving them to sell soul and . body for a morsel of bread ? To denounce the vice of these institutions , and to demand its reparation , with the emancipation of labour as an end and aim , is riot to attack property ; it is > on the

      contrary , to invoke its principle , and to defend it in its highest acceptation , in its most sacred signification . For , af ter all , is it , or is it not true , that all men as they are born into life , bring with them a right to live ? Is it , or is it not true that , if some few succeed in taking hereditary possession of all the mAteeiais of LaBotte , in monopolizing the means of labour , all the rest will be condemned from that very cause , either to be the slaves of the few , or to die ?

      Now , is it just , that when all have brought with them into life an equal right to live , the power of realizing that right should be concentrated in the hands of a feW , so that humanity finds itself divided into two classes of beings , of which the one sells the life the other is reduced to buy ? That is the question . I will subsequently examine the means which the French Socialists propose for its solution—without shock , without violence , and with a due regard for all interests ; I may be content to have proved here that by directing their efforts to this grand solution , the French Socialists deserve to be considered the true logicians , the philosophic expounders , par excellence , of ike right oj'property .

      I pass to another point in the address of M . Mazznu , and I say—The Fbenoh . Socialists hate no intention to vtoia . te the peinoipxe- of mbeety by obtbuding ABBTTPTIjY AND BY F 0 E 0 E A OOMPXETEIjY NEW SOCIAL OBGANIZATION . In the proclamation which I have recently cited , and which was placarded on every wall in Paris during tho Revolution of February , by one of those whom M . Mazzini calls " system makers and sectarians , " the reader has certainly remarked a passage : ' * Let us abstain from demanding tho immediate application of our doctrines . It is only to free discussion , to conviction , to the power of public opinion , to individual consent , that we desire to be indebted for their

      triumph / In another quarter , observe tho language which , at the same moment , the two members of tho Provisional Government , who specially represented Socialism , wcro addressing to the people . " Citizen Wobkmen , —Tho Commission appointed by the Government to prepare the solution of tho groat problems in which you are interested , is studying with indefatigable ardour to fulfil its task .

      " But , however legitimate may bo your impatience , tho commission conjures you not to allow your exigences to outspeed ita researches . All the questions relating to tho organization of labour are of their nature , complex . Thoy embrace a number of interests opposed to one another , if not in roality , at least in appearance Thoy require , then , to bo approached with calmness , and examined with maturity . Too groat impatience on your side , too gront procipitutioivon ours , would only end in injury to both . Tho National

      Assembly is aboiit to bo immediately convoked . Wo shall present to its deliberations tho drafts of laws wo are now working out , with tho firm resolution to ameliorate your condition , morally and materially ; and on these our schemes , your own dolegntcs aro to bo summoned to express their opinions . Now this National Assembly will be no longer a chamber of monopolists , it will bo , thanks to universal suffrage , a living rSsumt of our entire society . B © of good courago , then , and bravely hopoj but , in your own interest , do not

      obstruct the action of men who are resolved to make the cause of justice triumph , or to die in it » service . " The President and Vice-President of the Government Commission for the Working-men . " Thus we see that , to cast a glance , at once bold and prudent , at the questions which concern the future of humanity , to expose frankly the . results discovered or partially detected , to accept discussion for a weapon and public opinion for judge— -to call upon that public opinion to pronounce itself pacifically and sovereignly by universal suffrage—such was the constant and invariable endeavour of the French Socialists ; neither more nor less .

      As to attributing to them the pretension to change society in a day by the application of a new system of social organization , sprung full-grown from the head of this or the other thinker , as Minerva sprang armed from the brain of Jupiter—this is a purely gratuitous assumption , which the writings of the French Socialists most signally belie . In what > indeed , do these systems , to which M . Mazzini makes allusion , consist ? They consist in a series of purely transitory measures , adapted to the present state of things , and of a nature to admit of

      immediate application . The Socialists know very well that , in this slow and painful journey of the people towards a reign of absolute justice , there are many stages to pass through , and that , if history always reasons justly in the end , it sometimes takes centuries to advance a step towards a just conclusion . The Socialists are the first to acknowledge that it is wise : that it is even indispensable to proceed by successive ameliorations . Only they believe , that these successive ameliorations must proceed from an unity of system , arid follow a well-defined principle .

      Surely he is a madman who thinks to reach the end of his journey by destroying the road ; but not less mad is he who starts , not knowing whither he goes . When a mechanician is about to construct a machine , he surely does not think of striking it off in an instant , but he first designs his plan . When a poet composes a drama , he puts one act after another , certainly ; but not without first having traced the general framework of his plot . The earnest pioneers of social progress can have no other method of proceeding . The Socialists adopt it .

      For who but a madman would dream of transporting into the pure regions of the ideal , such as lof ty intellects imagine , and righteous hearts conceive , a society ignorant and corrupt as ours ! No , no ; Socialism has not that chimerical pretension ; and many who bring the accusation know it to be false . If they treat us as Utopians , it is just because they begin to feel the possibility of our doctrines . They would not call us Utopians with so much terror and noise , if they were

      not oppressed by the reality of what they combat . And why , indeed , this excess of hate?—why these bursts of rage ? — why these signals of alarm ? — why this deluge of calumnies ?—why this train of persecutions ? Men are not incensed by ideas which they regard as vain shadows ; and to stab again and again living bodies which are declared to be phantoms , is an inconsistency which would be pitiable , if it were not revolting . Louis Biano . ( To be continued . )

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      CHURCH MATTERS . The monthly report presented on Tuesday to tho meeting of tho London Church Union at St . Martin ' Hall , maintains that high character which has hitherto distinguished them from ordinary ecclesiastical documents . The Committee is not seduced by the advent of the Tories , professed friends of tho Church as thoy are professed friends of tho farmers , to office , from tliat lino of policy which restricts their agitation within the limits of what is necessary for tho welfare of tho Church from thoir point of view . They deprecate all dependence on political combinations ; they urge churchmen , as such , to abstain from political warfare . Tho Church , they say , is entitled to demand fair play from those in authority of whatever political party , but thoy assert tliafc it " cannot wear tho livery or receive tho wages of any . " At tho ' same time they cannot refrain , of course , from commenting on that passage in Lord Derby ' s speech which roforrcd to tho Church .

      " It is not . without considerable hesitation that tho Committco would vonluro to suggest that' tho prominent idea which Lord Derb y entertained , in promisin g support to tho Church , was t * ho doBiro to maintain tho Eatabfishnient in its , external rights and property , arid your Committeecannot doubt in attributing to hia lordship tho intention to odviso tho Orovm to make a bettor ubo of its patronngo thanoflato . " And as that is " below" thoir wishes , thoy suggest in extenuation that tho duties of a prime minister relate rather to the external framowork of the Church , considered a ® a society of this world , than to her internal

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      M ^ THE LEADER . 241

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), March 13, 1852, page 241, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1926/page/5/