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this country all tliat we expend on 25 ships of war to make good her default in tlie treaties with us . Sir Jamea Graham «! id not sanction the idea of transferring Cuba to the United States , but he spoke with marked eoldness on the subject . In fact , the English Government cannot help the transfer , and oughfe to have no interest in the matter .
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PROPOSED ENGLISH NATIONALITY LEAGUE . A \ eminent , publicist has put forward , in the last Monthly JZecord of the Friends of Italy , a proposal "which we have already mentioned , and which we are , above all other journals , bound to support . It is the formation of a Jjeague in this country to secure " that this war Bhall not be mismanaged like the last , "
but " end in a permanent repression of Russia and of , dynaaticism . " Now before any one can be expected to support such a proposition , let us ask whether the people of this country are capable of sustaining such a Xeague-rwhether even those . whohaverecently adopted the idea , are p repared to fulfil the conditions necessary to its success ? "W © ask both questions in hopes of having an answer jn the affirmative . ' '
chinks in which the slower vermin of politics take refuge . But what are the conditions of this successful American League ? It was not established on a basis to make it the representative of " universal suffrage : " rather a high subscription , some considerable reserve in the choice of its members and promulgation of its rules , and other incidents of its formation , made it to a certain extent limited . Yet its numbers were considerable , its influence sufficient to draw into it men of standing in politics and society , its action upon Government sufficient for the results which we have named . "Why all this ? . In the first place , " because . the American pepple , high as well aa low , share the ainbitkm * without which no nation is great or truly alive ; in the second place , because thoBe who joined were resolved to accomplish their object , cost what it might ; in the third , because both this object and those to follow were national .
not only form , but be a League ta sustain English institutions actively and aggressively . ? But such a League must be national in its ' objects ; its members must be men resolute ' and alive ; its leaders * must be less of the Hamlet or Henry the Sixth class , than Cronwells , Hampdens , "Wasningtona , and Cusjjdngs ' , Have we any such ; or has the breed ] emi grated ? Perhaps the proposers of the League know where a few men of " grit " are to be found ?
For tlxe , acquisition of Cuba , wai | 3 only the first object , one niuch more sweeping to follow—the extension of the Union and its influence . The Order of the Lone Star was established to promote the principles' institutions . of the Union aggressively ; ' not by " being an example ' —the ' poor passive proposal of iukewarrri patriots , Imt by conquest , ;—reason and t ~ he sword working together . , Are Englishmen capable of a league , on these conditions ? Are there nob among us cultivated men who would shrink' from
throwing sttfi&cient power into the hands of a few t ' d accomplish a concentrated pttrpose ?—a scruple which deters many hafi-courageoua men ,, who do not f eel ' in themselves the strength fc > wrest back a delegated power if it be abused ., Are the ; re not amocgat us cultivated men who would shrink from , reserve of speech necessary in all combinations , to go beyond the G-overritnent of - " the ? country-i-r white-lidiided Closet xnenV ^ ho ; ate ; riot J confident of jV ^ tify ing . themselves stoutly , should a day of reckoning ; come , ? Ar . e t } ie , re j aofc men who wouli shrink from rnanv risks needed
in . any . enterprise where patriotism , bold , apd unselfish , devotes itself to the : service of its country—risks of . money that may be lost ; of time that may seem hopelessly consumed in the uphill nart of the path- ; of failure and r idicule ,, possibly , even of blood ? Cuba may yet cost blood both to Spain and America ; lut Cuba isrill be American .
And if Englishmen are not too much enervated by peace , by closet , teachings ,. by trading selfishness , they may have their Order of the Lone Star , and England may once irtore know herself , not alone in the voice of Dpwning-street . BLappy iTor her and for the world if it be so . But the objects of such a League must be national . The first sympathizers with Lopez , acting on Cuban—that is , Spanish , or at least foreign ground , failed . The . lesson is worth remembering .
The Order of the Lone Star was based on American ground—to propagate . American principles and institutions actively . "We , too , have our institutions—our forgotten , neglected Bill of Eights—mutilated now , curtailed , and abridged ; and our people , therefore , are less free than they were when they drove out the recreant James . Can we not propagate that great statute , at home and abroad ? It is now the English statute ; but since it was
conquered by the English people , we have learned to beg and bully for a " Charter , " without obtaining it ; forgetting that all the charters which Englishmen boast were not begged , Imt taken . So , too , abroad , where we used to conquer and dictate , we now adviae and request . But rougher times , which will try the mettle of Englishmen , will , wo believo , revive the life within us , and we may
There is before us a striking example of a successful national movement , and one which ought to be very instructive for us . Cuba is about to become a state of the American TJnion . Tbe eagle has already marked the island for his own . But by what means is the affair brought to that point ? Not by / the choice of Ctiba f . pure and simple , though Cuba has a voice in the matter , and will exult in joining the great republic . Not by the Cuban
insurgents , whose leader , Lopez , died in the good work , Not Florida or Charleston expeditionaries , whom the republic discovered . Nob Spain ,- who has lost the opportunity which America extended to her of selling the land , peaceably , at a Profit . Not tBe English Government , whose First Lord of -fcne Admiralby still demurs to the proposal of transfer
riDg Cuba to Spain , and whose Minister unattached , wlen Foreign . Secretary , argued for Spanish ' ' rights . " Not the Government at Washington , which haa throughout adhered to more technically regular courses . Not the American people at large , who had been thinking about the project , and htffe heartily approved of it . But at was the American people in another form .
It was tbe " Order of the Lone Star "that half-confidential , half-public association which was organized among the American people for the specific purpose of bringing the Lone Star , which lies off the mouth oi the Mississippi , into the galaxy whose ensign ia the star-spangled baaner . We know well enough that this will not be avowed even by Americana ; we know that at the Embassy it would be formally , and properly , denied that tlie result will be due to anything but the will of the Republic , acting through its
appointed Q-overnment . Most true . Still we pat beginning and end together , and we have no hesitation in paying that the Order of the Lone Star has accomplished its first enterprise : it proposed the acquisition of the island ; ita friend , Mr . Soul ^ , was appointed Ambassador from the Hepublic to Spam ; and its virtual representative is now actually demanding from the recreant kingdom that c < redress' * which wilL be more difficult for Spanish pride and penury to yield than to yield Cub * itself .
Here , tit en , is a splendid example of a successful Leugue , springing from the people , and concentrating the people ' s will—a more true representation than that of time-serving elected " members , " ivho hang upon the dictates of tlie hustings , and find excuses for inertness ia the " divoraities of opinion "—those
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THE LANCASHIRE STRIKES ASH ZOGK-OITT . . . . . ^ VL ' i * : > ¦> < ¦; 1 : 0 , ; > COMBINATIONS , STRIKES , AND- LOCK-OUTS . " : One of the most remarkable phenroteena of this age is the extraordinary dev' ^ opmerit of the i > riii- ciple of combination , or assOfnatibni Hie wg&k , having discovered ' that by a&tihg Jin ssSb ^ ial 6 & numbers they inay "become strong * , are ftfrwifiuig ? to participate in any movement except as i * ariicleis of a coalition , and having once ascertain ed ^ thtf enormous power of unionseem to think that
, union" is competent to- everything . We ? ctmtidt feel surprised that this , like every- other pciriatieaj is only p * ttiaUy ^ uc £ « fcful ; "that whilst it effects * vast amount of good in ! one case , it Worlds ^ dufeti ^ i remediable evils m another ; that instead' of befog competent to eyery-tMng , it » ' comp eteiit onljrtft some things ; and that ;/ Ss itf p 6 we » t ^ nlai always the same , It is a mighty engine either for good or evil , jtist aft the object towards wMch it is directed is beneficial 0 * tWre ' versfe * ' < * ' ^ < ¦¦ * ' * - ;'
¦ As laws have always been made by tllie employers © f labour , we shah not be i surprised * td find that * in -times paat v theX&egislature has frequently ; interfered to ¦ take awaj- -from tlie Tabottfer * ne only means within his power for enforcing the full market value of his labour ; viz ., the power of combination . Th < famous , pr > r&ther ^ in / iini&us Statute of Labourers * parsed in tfee reign * tof Edward III ., fixed vl maximum t ^ te of wasted , in order
to counteract the effect'uydntnV ^ of at terrible anddepopulatespestilence ; by keeping wages from rising in spite ofJtt deficiend ; v *> f fcbourJ To carry out the spirit of tfiis unjust law many subseqirentacts w ^ re framed , tome of which made it felony for operatives to e ^ mfeine for the purpose of raising their wages above the 8 tendaM ? fixed | l ) y the statute .. But it . was ? reserved for the
enlightened age of Greorge 311 ; ta $ ptatT ^ Csroi ^ n { fig point to the long tale of leKislatiyeoppfressiba ^ Dy passing tlie : statute against Oombinatiojt ^ wliichv after declaring all combinations i » obtain- ail advance of wages to ber unlftwf « l | idecl 4 red that f any workman who entered * intb ' -& combination to 6 btaih an advance of wages , lessen tW ; time of working , or by money or otherwise endeavour to prevail on any other workman not toacdept etnploymeat , or who should , ? for the purpose of 6 b- taining an advance ' of wages , ? endeavour to intimi '
date or prevail on any person' to leave his employment , ox to prevent any person "employing-: nim ^; or who , being hired , should , without any just or reasonable cause , refuse to work vniSk ¦ any Other workman ; such workman should , on the CMBtJib , >!* oaths of one or more credible witne 4 se 8 , f < DeioVe any two justices of the peacevWithin'tb ^ ee cal en dai * month . 3 after the ; offence had been committed , 'be committed to the common gaol , for Any time not exceeding three calendar months ; or , at the dis ^ cretion of such justices , should be committed to
some House of Correction , there to remain , ^ a » a be kept at hard labour , for any time not exceeding t-wo calendar months . It is to be observed that tlie statute delivered over the offending workman to the tender mercies of the justices of the peace ( in the manufacturing districts generally employers ) , without the intervention of a jury , ani although the wo-rkrnan had a power © f appeal to the Quarter Sessions , Mr . M'Cullochf very justly points out that this was only an appeal from one set of j usticcs to another . In all tnis time , froim Edward III . to Geore III , we do not find any
law in tlie Statute Book to prevent the employers oj labour from associating to keep down thi prite a ) labour on the contrary , the fixing of a maximum rate had undoubtedly a tendency to encourage thsil description of association ^ . > It is only fair to adinjt , that if the Legislator ! did make blunders in thlf way of interfering watl the maximum rate of wages , it occasionally carriei
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Apri&' 8 , 1854 . ] THE LBAPEft . a 2 S
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* 30 and 40 GSco . III ., o . 105 . 1 " Wages and Labour . " By J . M'CullocU , Eaq .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), April 8, 1854, page 325, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2033/page/13/
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