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I 178 ' THE LJADER . [ No . 298 , Saturday
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£ lW THIS BBPARTKKSI , AS AM . OPINIOWH , HOWEVER 35 XTHEMCB , AUB ALLOWED AN EXPRESSION , THE EDITOB JTECESSAEIiY HOLDS HIMSELF RESPONSIBLE FOB 1 TONE . ] There is no learned man but -will confess he hath m . u . ch . profited by reading controversies , his senses awakened , and his judgment sharpened . If , then , it be profitable for him to read , why should it not , at least , be tolerable for his adversary to write 1—Milton .
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WHAT SHALL WE GAIN BY THE WAE ? ( To the Editor of the Leader . ) Sib , —I have devoted enough of the space you have kindly allotted to me in examining , and I trust ex posing , the popular fallacies on the subject of war in ' general . It is time to take in hand the particular war which now desolates so large a portion of the earth . The question is , what do we gain by it ? Now nothing but a fair hope of securing large and permanent , and unmistakeable benefits— -which cannot be obtained iix any other way , and which are essential to the public weal—nothing but this' can justify our plunging into the barbarous and bloody work of war . What benefits then shall we gain ? What benefits will
at public meetings , and preface what they have to say by uttering a preliminary groan over its atrocities . They almost weep over the miseries o f war like a schoolmaster pathetically mourning over the castigation he is vigorously inflicting on a juvenile delinquent . They soon , however , put an extinguisher on the more tender feelings of their nature , and go to work with a will . Beware when you hear a speaker commence hia address by moaning over the war . 'Tis like the plaintive mew of a cat , affecting to sympathise over a mouse it has partially devoured . I am , sir , yours faithfully , Arthur H . Elton .
Europe gain from the war ? To me it appears plain that Europe has already obtained all the advantages which can reasonably be expected from such , a war aa that the AllieB have undertaken . The object , the publicly avowed object , of the war , was to extricate Turkey from the clutch of Russia once and for all , and to do away with the preponderance of Russia ia € he Black Sea , To p \ it the argument in the strongest and olearoBt way I can , I will maintain that were the war now suddenly to ceaBO , and the combatants on either side to retire , leaving the territorial limits of Russia and of Turkey precisely as they were before the Russian army orosHod the Pruth , and suppose no treaty whatever to bo executed between the contending powers—it is not only most improbable that Ruealft would ever again trespass on Turkiah ground
m defiance of the Western powers , but it is reasonable to believe that she would for the future carefully refrain from running counter to the clearly expressed ¦ wiBheB of those powers on any subject of European interest . She now knows our strength . She now recognises her own comparative weakness . Now tho notion cherished by many is very different from this . There are two or throe seotiona nmongBt the « dvooatoB of war . I will take two of these sectionsthe one I will call the cold-blooded , tho other the hotblooded , section . The cold-blooded advocates of war are to my mind peouliarly obnoxious . I use tho word generically , not individually . The cold-blooded belligerfeniia are for fomenting tho war from motives of high statesmanship ., based on profound calculations . They have a horror of war . They think it quite awful . Thoy lament over itB neoosiaty . They get up
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INDIA . —THE SUBSIDIARY STATES . ( To the Editor of the Leader . ) Sib , —As I perfectly agree with the tenor of the article in the last Leader , bearing the above title , you will perhaps allow me to furnish you with an additional motive for urging upon the British Government the necessity of reducing under one system of administration the entire empire of Hindostan . In these gwetsi-independent states it is quite possible to conduct a most dangerous intrigue without exciting the slightest suspicion in the mind of the English Resident . Very few of our countrymen are thoroughly acquainted with local dialects , however conversant they may be with the radical tongues . The bankers
or money-changers , again , make use of certain characters peculiar to themselves , and which are totally unknown to Europeans , and even to the majority of the natives . By employing men of this caste as his agents , a bold adventurer might create a fermentation throughout the length and breadth of the land , of which the Feringhees would only be aware when it was too late to prevent an outbreak . The extraordinary system of network that belongs to every class , order , and institution in India , would greatly facilitate a movement of this kind . There is a sort of Masonic understanding which unites all men engaged in the same pursuit . It is only a few years since it was discovered that there existed an organised
fraternity of thieves , whose ramifications covered the entire surface of the land . By means of certain signs , emblems , and words , the members of this brotherhood could communicate and render themselves mutually intelligible , however different might be their respective dialects , however remote their respective homes . I need not remind you of the Thugs , or of the Dhntooreahs . Even the very Uautch girls are organised in a similar manner . One and all , they belong to a few wealthy speculators at Lucknow , who send forth their companies of harlots and dancers to the most distant corners of Hindostan , in full security that every pice will be accounted for . And in times of agitation a common signal flies from point to point ,
as rapidly as the Cross of Fire from one clansman to another in the olden times . Of this Sir John Malcolm relates a curious instance that occurred in 1818 , very shortly after the conclusion of the Pindarree war , and before tranquillity had been quite restored . At every village there suddenly arrived a messenger in hot haBte , the bearer of a cocoa-nut which he delivered to the Potail , or head man , with instructions to forward it instantly to the nearest hamlet , whence it was conveyed onward in the same rapid and mysterious manner . About twenty of these mits were brought to Sir John himself , then residing at Mhow , for no one understood the purport of the symbols . Some imagined that it was a notification of the establishment of British supremacy , while others looked forward to a general rising in favour of the vanquished Peishwah , Bajee Rao . It ia probable , however , that the
whole affair arose out of a misunderstanding . A Brahmin at Jyepoor had sent round to his distant acquaintances a number of cocoa-nuts in honour of tho birth of a son , and those , through some accident or another , had gone forth on an errand of mystery . An immense tract of country was thus thrown into a state of high excitement , from Jyepoor , in the north , to tho Deccan , in tho south , and from Guzerat to Bliopal And although no sorious consequences ensued on this occasion , tho incident allows how easily nn agitation may bo created owing to tho peculiarly impulsivo temperament of tho natives . Oh this account , thorefore , my opinion is decidedly in favour of tho annexation , or absorption—call it what you will—of all the independent stat ? s which now seriously diminish our power , whilo their oxiatenco leads to tho oppression of more than fifty millions of human being ** . I am , Sir , Q-
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ALEXANDER HERZEN'S "EXILE . " ( To the Editor of the Leader . ) Sm , —A few fussy people aro writing nonsense about M . Horzon , and tho title of his book . T ' ormrt me to toll . thorn that M . Horzon novor said t , hat ne was oxileti to Siberia , that he was not responsible for the work being announced as " My Exile in Siberia , and that tho title wns changed , weekn ago , " My Exile . " This , I believe , was at tho r ° yw ™ f ° l tho author , who is a vory distinguished man , and *» above the imputation of the petty gossips who nfoueo him . Your obedient servant , A CniTic
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do ; yet it turns out that he was speculating in various unprofitable enterprises , paying for them out of the profits of one ; which one , a Tube Company at Birmingham , he made over to his son , leaving his creditors the other less profitable branches of his business . u He was a man of education , intelligence , and great acuteness , " says Mr . Commissioner Goolburn ; yet , being in arrear to the amount of £ 20 , 000 or £ 30 , 000 five years ago , he finished with debts and liabilities of nearly £ 200 , 000 . And this gentleman was " in the first class of London solicitors , "—able and experienced , with all the outward signs of regularity , affluence , and intelligence ! , We do not wonder if our reader feels some kind of doubt as to the qualities and position of his own respected solicitor . You go to your own banking-house—one of the oldest in London ; it was founded by the " goldsmith" Snow , who lived in the days of Gray . The head partner is known in the fashionable world ; the second partner is descended from Snow ' s son-in-law , and is , well known for his zeal in religious business . But there , at that desk , is the true guarantee of the house- —its regularity and business knowledge , —that is Mr . Bates , the third partner , who entered the hoitse iii 1820 as a junior clerk , who has since worked Ms way up , and is now the third in the firm . He is a man who knows all its transactions ; has , as it were , slept , and ate , and grown in the bank ; and he is now bound to it by the interest of , partnership . " The aristocracy" banks in the house ; everybody trusts it , through the confidence of personal friendship , of respect for piety , and of trust in business regularity . Suddenly there is an explosion : the ancient banking house proves to be a nest of conspiracies , frauds , and misappropriations ; the pious partner is the head conspirator , designing and directing the misuse of customers' money and property ; and now is published a memorial on behalf of the third partner—Bates , setting forth that although he pretended to be a partner , he was really only the head clerk , and had no share hi the profits , in the direction , or the consultative business of the firm . In short , he was not a banker at all , but only a banker ' s clerk . That is his own statement . You go down Norfolk-street , Strand , and see the name of " Holford and Co ., Army Agents ; " but there is no Holford and Co . The house is the private residence of Mr . Bates , and the business is carried on by the bank of Stbaijan , Paul , and Bates , whose character we now understand . How many Co . s , whose names are over shop doors or office doors , have no sort of existence ! You are a passenger on the Eastern Counties Railway , and somebody points out to you , in a whisper of admiring awe , that " That is Mr . Waddington , the chairman 5 and that is Mr . Goooh , the locomotive superintendent ; " and from the respect winch they receivefrom the appearance of affluence in the whole establishment over which they rule—from the control in the mechanical arrangements , you imagine that you see before you models of commercial magnates—examples of high commercial honour and exaotitess . The sharehold-ers themselves , however , appoint a committee to investigate their own condition , and publish a report disolosing a chain of unfbxeseen- incidents as wonderful as any that find their place in romance . The railway , itihose movements look so regular , has been ottffered to fall into neglect and unrepair as to its permanent way ; while many species of enterprise , such as coal companies , steam-boat ooihpaaues , branch lines , cabs , dancing saloons , Aoij-have been supported by its funds and its resources ; and they profit by tho use of its
line . There have never bee % since that chairman was appointed , say the committee , any satisfactory accounts ; there has been no reliable statement of the stores . Shares in . the Tilbury line , which has been made to feed upon the company , have been distributed amongst those directors in the three united railways , each specially represented by the Eastern Counties line . In other words , the committee of shareholders charge their directors and officers with having systematically " made things pleasant" for extraneous enterprises , which were parasites upon the line ; while they have starved the service of the company itself , and allowed the permanent way to fall into a state of neglect like that which we ascribed exclusively to the Court of Chancery . The shareholders of the Eastern Counties do not believe in their own officersin their own directors—their own chairmantheir own line—their own account- —their own affairs . It is a sort of commercial atheism on that line . There are many contradictions of the report ; but there it stands —a hideoxis disclosure , or a hideous libel * Such is " commerce painted by itself . " Do we hear of punishment for robbers and pickpockets ? Would not these magnates of the money woi'ld look down upon any " common person , " any " needy man , " whom accident might have thrown into their company ? Why , they accuse each other of doing these things under no pressure of need ! It is getting to be " the custom of trade . "
(Iftttptt ((Frtitttttl W-Jjiu Mbuuul L**
dDpeit Coimrtl
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Dec. 8, 1855, page 1178, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2118/page/14/
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