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' tself . It transacts a vast amount of business which" might-very fairly be left in the hands of local auth orities , or given up to permanent boards . Give a town a corporation , and it is perfectly competent to manage its own affairs , w ith out any interference of Parliament . Apnoint a permanent railway committee , and you not only release members from a large amount of work , but you gain the positive advantages of better information , and greater power of decision jn those who are connected with such separate iurisdietion .
m •¦ ¦ ; . % \ l Ltp *•« T- % /\< iil / -I . J \ fl tin * i ar / VHn l-d ^ v / lAvnvtAll a rJ Again : Why should Ministers be compelled to undergo the drudgery of their several departments ? To some extent , no doubt , they are released from a large portion of unnecessary labour , but there is no reason why this principle should npt be carried further . Let the Minister be at the head of his department , but let him be surrounded by reliable men , well paid , and able , in a majority of cases , to know the mind of their chief , and the policy which should be pursued . It is simply absurd to say that such men could
not be found .. It is chance , and not merely superior ability , which makes men Ministers of State . Doubtless the difficulties attendant upon any resolution like that suggested by Mr . Drummond would be serious , and fair ladies no less than sporting members would feel themselves aggrieved by any change which should banish them from town much earner than July , or call them from the country until after Christmas . Still we cannot but believe that there is a sufficient staff
of working members who would be content to sit during the morning hours even in the midst of November fogs . But whatever may be the ultimate result of this very moral " short time " movement we would really urge upon members to remember the sage advice of a popular novelist , himself a member of the House of Commons : — " Look to it , O public man , whoever thou art , and whatsoever thy degree , see if thou canst not
compound matters * so as to keep a little nook apart for thy private life—that is , for thyself I Let not the great Popkin ' s question absorb wholly the individual soul of tliee , as Smith or Johnson I don't deny to thee the uses of ' public life ; ' I grant that it is much to have helped to carry that great Popkin question ; but private life , my friend , is the life of thy private BOU 1—oh ! immortal soul , for one quarter of an hour per diem—do Popkinise thine immortality . "
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THE RUSSIAN INCORPORATION OF MOLDAVIA AND WALLACHIA . Letteb VIII . ( To the ' Editor of the Leader . ) Sib , —In direct contempt of the stipulations of treaties , the Bussian occupation of Moldavia is now an accomplished fact . In the treaty of Kainardji , Russia obtained the recognition of her right of intercession : the treaty of Adrianople Raw the word " protector" assumed : the convention of Balka Liman asserted that only in cases of organic disturbance could the Russian troops enter either of the principalities , and then only ,
I believe , to the number of 10 , 000 men , and that , too , conjointly with Turkey . All these atipulations are now so much waste paper : the Czar expressly asserts that he enters the territory in order to constrain the Porte to an arrangement satisfactory to Russia ! and the present amount of the rapidly augmenting army of occupation is variously estimated at upwards of a hundred thousand men . These troops are crossing the Danube in shoals , and at several points . Thus the sacred rights of nations are now no longer anything but a name , for tho Emperor Nicholas , in his own words , oppresses tho innocent Moldavians in order to exact certain
guarantees from tho Porto ! Russia dares even to assort that this is not Turkish territory , properly understood , and she is supported in tho assertion . The iniquity of this invasion in such «• easo is all tho greater , for in this latter relation itui-mia invades a neutral territory in which Turkey has only a remote interest , to constrain Turkey to certain conditions , which tho Moldavians influence
in no way control and in no way And this , air , is public right and European law ! Let us rogard this territory in what li ght wo will , tho unparalleled nature of this Egression can find noithor apologists nor supporters . If the territory is independent , Russia has no right , human or divine , to occupy it in order to coorco a different powor . Russia , howo vor , givos tho lie to this presumption by tho
occupation itself ; for if Turkey has not that property and interest in Moldavia which is asserted for her , why does Russia invade that province expressedly to drive the Porte to some ruinous stipulation to obtain the evacuation of the country , and why does Russia stipulate with the Porte concerning Moldavia at . all ? In the other case , recognising - the sovereignty of the Porte , the invasion is , de facto , a declaration of
war , for it does not take place upon neutral territory ! It is , therefore , notwithstanding all sophistry , an armed occupation of a portion of Turkey , and consequently an armed invasion of the country . If this is not held sufficient to justify the Sultan ' s repelling the aggression by force of arms , Abdul Medjid need only at once surrender the throne of the Sultans to the northern autocrat ; for to that conclusion must such reasoning inevitably lead .
This result has been brought about by the hesitation and supineness of the Western Powers , and by the coup of Count Leiningen . Russia , informed of the temporising and vacillating nature of our Governments , has been encouraged to proceed . The pacific attitude of England and France has been visited with the contemptuous reply of the manifestoes , the circulars , and the invasion ! The fleets , notwithstanding Lord Clarendon ' s declaration , were ordered to Besika Bay to intimidate the Russian autocrat from moving his army forward . The effort ,
accompanied as it was by the ridiculous statement that the movement upon the principalities would not , it was thought , constitute a casus belli , of course failed in its intended purpose . Lord Clarendon denied the intentionj Drouyndel'Huys admitted it , in his anxiety to clear the Western Powers from having been the aggressors . He , indeed , clearly shows that it was only after the receipt of the letter to Redshid Pasha , presenting " a final ultimatum , with a brief delay , and which contained a very clearly expressed threat of an approaching occupation of the Danubian
principalities , that the fleets were ordered to tne Levant . The papers representing the two Governments thought proper , just at that moment , when apparent determination was our only safeguard , to enter into puerile discussions of what would , and what would not , constitute a casus belli . This double policy has met with a righteous reward . The slashing and plastering of reviewers should never be extended to questions momentous to the happiness of Europe . Such conduct is mean , unworthy , and defeats its own ends . Thus , then , sir , the invasion is
accomplished . It takes p lace either upon neutral or upon Turkish territory — both equally against the public law of Europe . And the Powers , through their undecided and undignified policy , have not only met with merited contumely , but have encouraged Russia to assume a position from which it is almost impossible for her to withdraw without a sacrifice of Imperial honour . The unfortunate result of this state of things may be exhibited in few words . The fanaticism
of the Christian and Mahometan races has been encouraged and increased—the peasantry have been called from their occupations , and the fields lie unreaped , untilled , and neglected—the agricultural materiel is pressed into the military service—the Porto has already been compelled to conclude a loan—tho populations of the mountainous districts of Asia , wild , savage , and fanatical to a fearful degree , are brought down almost into immediate contact with the Christians , in whose interests the invasion which has called
these mountaineers from their fastnesses ostensibly takes place . Tho troops have hitherto repressed the attempted outbreaks , both of Christians and Mahometans . Heaven grant they may continue to succeed in doing so . In addition to all these evils , tho commerce of tho Danube , of Turkey , and of Europe , has boon stayed ; this will still further restrict tho resources of Turkey ; tho money that might have been devoted to internal improvement is diverted to tho channels of war ,
and tho future , wasted in negotiations , promises increasing ovils and romotor misfortunes . This aggression , too ,, involves an all-important principle—whether Russia has only to support an outrageous claim on any European power , by force of arms , and thus , through more intimidation , obtain , if not tho whole , at least a portion of her demands . Let this principlo onco bo concoded , in tho present case , and Russian grievances and movements will bocomo limitless , oxhaustlesa , and novor-ending . Lot this principlo
be once and for ever rejected now , it will probably never more recur . Certain it is , that up to the present time , Russia alone has derived advantage from the pacific policy of the European powers . Russia threatened , upon the departure of Prince Menzschikoff , that she would resort to effective means of coercion . She afterwards proclaimed her intention of advancing into Moldavia . She has done all this , and more : she has not only advanced into Moldavia , but has invaded Wallachia , and temporarily or permanently
incorporated both provinces . Her troops are well armed and appointed , and they _ are also enthusiastic , for Russia has appealed to their religious passions , and made religion what religion always has been made , a scapegoat for her infamy . The British and French fleets which sailed to stay the progress of Russia , have effected nothing . The Baltic and the Black Seas are still free to the Muscovite navy ; whilst the combined fleets lie anchored ignobly enough in the Bay of Besika . If these fleets were advanced for any purpose , they have not effected that purpose ; and if they were advanced with advanced
no purpose , they should not have been at all . Every hour of delay ensures supplies and reinforcements to Nicholas , and affords him opportunities of intriguing with the nobles , corrupting the employes , and appealing to the fanaticism of the various races of European Turkey . Every hour devoted to idle looking on by England and France , degrades them in the eyes of the races of the East , which consider delay without apparent motive tantamount to ignominy , and on a par with cowardice . The same arguments considered weighty for the Irawaddy should hold good for the Bosphorus . Russia knew this , and directed her energies accordingly . The results may be read in her success . Alpha .
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CABBEE'S CASE . The cab-driver leaves his home in the morning commonly at eight or nine o'clock , and walks perhaps three miles to the yard at which he happens to be employed . He returns to the yard about midnight if he be somewhat early , with three miles to walk home afterwards . He slinks wearily , and often wet to bed , without a sight of his children and with hardly a word to his wife . This he does for months together , Sundays included , except when caprice or ill fortune deprive him of a day's work . With all beside , home is the very seed-bed of right affections , just and pure resolves , and proper outward conduct ; and without a home these rarely flourish . The cabman has virtually no home , and yet you wonder that he is a bully and cheat .
You take , or did take from the owner of a cab , hi . for a license to begin with , and 10 * . a-week ever after . That is , you exact , or did exact , eight or ten per cent , of his capital for one tax , and ( we speak , it is true , of extreme cases ) a fourth or a third of his earnings for another tax . Marked out for imposts like a Jew in the middle ages , or a villein in feudal Prance , you again wonder that the cabman is a bully and a cheat . Take away tho legal standard of a sovereign , a pound avoirdupoise , or a yard , and lot sellers and
buyers squabble about the weight and measure , in every transaction , and what morality of trado would there remain amongst drapers and grocers ? Would it not be exactly that of a cabman wrangliug with ji passenger about a distance which neither of them can substantiate ? What is tho morality wo expect to find in New Amsterdam when , according to Knickerbocker , a Dutchman ' s band in the scale was made to pass for a pound ? And yet with the neglect of so obvious a measure as an authorised table of distances you wonder again that the cabman is a bully and a client .
Liberty is for man—not a grant , a boon , something rt is as woll that ho should have , if it be not inconvenient , but a necessity of his naturo , without which ho becomes stunted , soured , and debased ; and so much tho moro if liberty flourish near him and he have it not . Now all other mon fix their own terms , and are bound only by engagements made with their own concurrence . 13 ut having freed all other inon from tho galling control of prices by authority , which was onco your favourite hut most injurious policy , you leavo tho cabman alone Ht ' ill bound uiulor it . Him alone you stigmatize as unfit to bo trusted with n voluntary bargain , and yet you wonder ho is u bully and u cheat .
You meet a cabman , nnd you iiHisumo at onco ho is a bad character ; you Bpeuk to him with that assumption visible in every gesture-, and Htinging in every word . Tho cabman i « to you what tho negro is to tho Virginian , or too often tho " black fellow" to tho Indian cadet boforo ho has earned his common sonso . It is
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3 vtv 30 , 1853 . ] THE LEADER . ™*
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), July 30, 1853, page 735, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1997/page/15/
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