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THE CABLESS STREETS . TflE highest indignation ^ has been expressed at the unwarrantable brutality of the cabs in withholding their aid from the Londoner , compelled t 0 walk on foot . It was said that the cabman took advantage of his position to put a restraint upon the passenger-class . He was called indiscreet , and Mr . Fitzroy has declared that the strike places an embarrassing difficulty in the wa adjusting the case on its merits . It is to be confessed that strikes are things in themselves actually bad : they create ill-feeling , waste the resources of those who engage in them , and inflict trouble upon the innocent . Yet , we
w ould ask , whether the absence of resistance has not generally resulted in placing working men more comp letely at the mercy of the employers ? And in this case particularly we would ask , whether the same concentrated and assiduous attention would have been bestowed upon the question of amending the new act , on Wednesday , if , during the day , the streets had not been bare of cabs . It was that great fact which convinced the public and the Member that " something must he done "¦; " for so long as it was merely an abst ract question of justice , or of hardship on the cabmen , the something to be done was easily postponed till a future date .
Even now the something is insufficient . Mr . Fitzroy , under the compulsion of the circumstances , offers to make a concession on two points : one is , to give the cabman an extra sum for hiring if he be compelled to go a greater distance than five miles ; and another is , not to oblige him to go more than four or five miles from Charing Cross . This is not to satisfy either party . The Post Office is scarcely to be called even one centre of the long and irregular ellipse called the Metropolis ; and the cabman is still kept down , in his price , be his cost what it may . In the preface to the promised concessions , Mr . Fitzroy ventured to assert "the only complaint , the only grievance , the only tangible objection to his t t Wall
own bill , was that poined ouby Mr . poe , that the cabmen could not charge return fare ;" but Sir Robert Inglis had also pointed out a breach of all principles of political oeconomy , in " arbitrarily fixing the rate of price to a given scale of goods . " In justification of this fixity , Mr . Fitzroy defended himself thus : — " On consideration of the different compensation a made to the proprietors of cabs in the shape of lower charges for licenses , and taking into consideration the lower cost of materials generally , and of provender for several years past , it certainly did appear to mo , after the closest calculation , and examining the estimate put before me by the representatives of the trade , that 6 d . a-mile would be amply remunerative within certain limits of the metropolis . "
Supposing this were true , it does not meet the case . Here is a law , newly stringent , applied to an old principle . Mr . Fitzroy confesses that the rate would " only be remunerative within certain limits , " which he afterwards described as " the crowded parts of the metropolis : " how , then , could the same rate servo for the outlying and wrccrowded parts of the metropolis P He is
refuted by his own defence . Nor does he explain how ho justifies an abatement of the price : he does not explain the anomaly , that , while hay was 50 s . a load , the fixed charge was 8 c ? . a mile , now hay is 100 s . a load the fixed charge is reduced to 6 c ? . ; and when Mr . Fitzroy asserts that the " only tangible grievance was the want of return fare , " we bog to doubt whether ho is not mistaken in his memory . There thre tt
are . e principal grievances o he cabmen : one is , their being compelled to go to the outlying parts of town , without security of pay for the whole distance traversed ; the second is the having to pay a rate arbitrarily fixed , when the price of provisions has risen , and may continually fluctuate ; and the third ia the boing liable to a call from the stand for a single 6 d ., out of which a penny has to bo paid to tho waterman . Tho public , also , has some complaint to
make . If fares aro fixed , distances aro loft doubtful , by tho want of the official book of distances . The hardship of tho law has made the cabmon reluctant arid uncivil , and tho cabmen ' s grievance , respecting the disproportion botwoon tho fixed prico por milo and tho price of hay , is likely to bo tho source of a disaffection , which will ontail further inconvenience upon tho public . A principle ia daily gaining recognition , that it is beyond the province of tho legislature , or of a public department , to fix tho prico of a
commodity . Fix the scale of measurement or standard , fix rules by which , in the case of a public conveyance , the passenger is secured , beforehand , a knowledge of the rate to be charged , fix means for bringing the cabmen , like the omnibus-driver , to account , but leave prices to find their own level , as is the case with omnibuses and the price of all commodities ,-excepting the cab ride .
It is probable that , in such case , the average price would come to be 6 c ? . ; but , then , it would be worked out by the cabmen themselves . At present they are in the position of men who are unjustly compelled by the legislature , in the teeth of high prices , and in the teeth of the principles of commerce to which the present Government adheres .
But it does not seem likely that they will get justice . Sir Richard Mayne is said to admit that they have been subjected to unjust magisterial judgment , and they are still refused right of appeal ! The classes of cab vary , and yet they are refused different classes of prices . The prices of the raw material vary , and yet they are bound down to one price for their produce . The House of Commons legislates arbitrarily for them ,
and if they "s hut up shop" for the day , the House treats them as rebels . Surely no class of British traders , except the Negroes of the West Indies , have been compelled to trade under such restrictions and such compulsion . The Negroes have been emancipated ; but , it seems , the Government cannot exist without having some class of slaves on hand .
If the cabmen hold out , there is great chance t hat some new class of vehicles may be introduced ; and then , although the cabs could return to their trade , and punish the interlopers for intruding , the ruin of the one would not compensate for the ruin of the other party . There is a feud between the . Gommons and Palace Yard , and the Commons are having their revenge . It is a bad job , and we do not know how the cabmen can startle the consciences of lecrislators into justice . It is evident that the
faithful Commons do not understand either the wants or the rights of the common people . England ; the separation between the two classes is too great , and the working classes , totally unrepresented in Parliament , cannot make their actual circumstances understood . It is not the cabmen alone who are in this predicament : all the working classes are so . But we can imagine a vision which mi ^ ht tell the slumbering
member , that there is more in these things than his philosophy dreams of . The police talk of resigning , 4000 strong . The omnibuses talk of resigning . There are several of the labouring classes of London in the same state of resignation . We can imagine the member startled from his slumbers by a grand procession ; all the resigned cabs passing by in ghastly train , each carrying inside a resigned policeman ; followed up by all the omnibuses , and the rear brought up by all the resigned labourers .
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RUSSIAN COUP D'ETAT IN DENMARK , AND ITS CONSEQUENCES . Whether the Allied Powers , who have undertaken to mediate between Russia and Turkey , are temporising or not ; whether they aro preparing to accept a somblance of peace , by making concessions to Russia , which will surrender to her without contest tho fruits of war ; it appears now to bo certain that no practical gain has been made on tho side of justice by consenting to a procrastination of the decision ; but to bo equally certain that Russia is gaining most materially by tho extension of time . That Turkey has not in any degree altered hor position , appears by tho protest of Redschid Pacha , which renews in other terms tho declaration that he last made—averring that Turkey has satisfied tho Emperor , and showing that further concession would bo inconsistent with tho independence or dignity of tho Ottoman Government . Tho most probable accounts from St . Petersburg represent tho Emporor as equally unchanged—rosolvcd to insist upon his demands to tho last , but politely entertaining propositions which have tho effect of delay . It is well known that every wook's delay wastes tho resources of Turkey , while every week ' s delay positively adds to tho resources of Russia , whoso immense size and vis inertia onablo hor to gain by simple pasnivo perseverance . Tho Four Powers aro said to be negotiating in Vienna ; but the reports from that quarter inclino us very seriously to doubt whothcr tho aim is not rather
to contrive some kind of compromise , which will conceal a material and damaging concession to Russia , under the form of " mutual concessions " by Turkey . We trust that this fear may prove to be mistaken , but the last accounts show symptoms of irresolution , not only in the Austrian or Prussian Governments , but also in those of France and England . ¦ ' - . . A new importance has been given to the position of Russia by what has takea ^ place- in Denmark . In 1848 , the joint duchies of Schleswig and Holstein claimed the fulfilment of the late
King ' s promise , which secured to them that they should not be divided ; and which , therefore , left to Schleswig the right of following the succession of Holstein , and of being considered as pertaining to Germany , rather than to Denmark . There were many feelings mixed up with this wish on the part of the Schleswig-Holsteiners ; and the Danes , under the instinct of national pride , supported their Government in overcoming the people . The Germans gave a very feeble support to the outlying provinces of "Germany , " and England , most unaccountably , supported the claims of Denmark .
It would appear now that a retribution is likely to fall upon our country for that misprision of treason . The effect of the arrangement agreed to by the Convention of London , is to recognise the Duke of Glucksberg as the next heir to the Danish throne , and on the failure of his descendants the question of the succession would come before the Allied Powers of Europe . The King
has lately proposed to his Diet to repeal a fundamental law of the kingdom to impede the claims that the family of Russia has upon the succession . The Diet of Denmark resisted that repeal ; and now the King , by an arbitrary act like that of Louis Napoleon , but without the soldiers , proposes to supersede his Diet , and to annul the constitutional character of his Government .
It is impossible not to regard this proceeding as one in which the King of Denmark is acting under the orders of Russia ; and it appears to expose , by an inopportune indiscretion , the aim of long-continued intrigues carried on by Russia in Denmark . We wait to see what course our own Government will take ; but this is evident , that the acts to which our own Government has been an accomplice , and in which our Government aided to betray the rights , of the Schleswig-Holsteiners , were only part of a long-pursued plan
to surrender Denmark into the possession of Russia . Let us remember that Denmark is the guardian of the Sound ; that she is , geographically , the Turkey of the North ,- and our readers will perceive that we were not too hasty when wo described the aim of Russia as contemplating both the maritime portals of Europe , North and South .
The course pursued by our own Government is not yet explained . For the share taken in the Schleswig-Holstein affair , now suddenly illustrated by this Danish crisis , the apprehension is revived , that our Government , whatever may bo its intention , is subserving the purposes of Russia , at least in the Baltic ; and if it is so subserving them in tho North , may wo not too reasonably suspect tho readiness with which , it assents to procrastination , in tho face of Russian purposes in tho South .
A new sense is awakened in Europe of tho position taken by America . Tho wildest stories are abroad , and wo find English journals which do not scruple to echo the preposterous remonstrances and calumnies of Gorman papers . Tho Americans aro represented as conniving at tho assassination of an Austrian officer in Smyrna , because , forsooth , an American commander , with
a spirit which honours him , defended a persecuted foreigner who boro tho passport , if ho did nob tho citizenship , of tho United States ; and boeauso an Austrian officer was killed in a riot provoked by Austrian outrage Tho Austrian pross now rakes up every species of anecdote , to prove bad feeling on tho part of tho United Slates towards tho Government at Vienna . It is said
that Mr . M ' arsh , tho American minister at Constantinople , serenaded by Hungarian and . Italian refugees , gave from his balcony a oUoor for tho freedom of the United States , Italy , and Hungary ; and tho Austrian papers report with an affectation of mirth , that on tho arrival of two frigates , tho Jicllona and JVovara , in tho roadstead of Smyrna , the United States corvette , St . Xott / . y , sailed away ! Those anecdotes do not prove malcvolonco in tho United States , but they do
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JotY 30 , 1853 . ] THE LEADER . 733
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), July 30, 1853, page 733, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1997/page/13/
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