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    Untitled Article

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    PHILOSOPHY ON FISTICUFFS.

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    Untitled Article

    These curtailments , so inopportune for our expanding-- trade , are the necessary consequences of legislation [ still animated by the spirit of Corn-lawishi . First , the law prohibits the establishment of any -new bank" of issue ; it might as well prohibit a manufacturer from establishin an additional , factory or a farmer from cultivating an additional field .. " Next , the Jaw having- both diminished the quantity and deteriorated the quality of 'private bankers' notes , makes the similar notes of the Bank of England legal tenders , and confers on them exclusively , so far as it can , the quality of money . Then , the'law having unjustly and stupidly tali en away the rights of individuals , places-a limitation on the action . of the favoured Bank , and prohibits it from issuing more credit notes than it has gold in its vaults over and above an arbitrary sum of £ 14 . 570 , 000 , which it is permitted to issue on a

    part of the Government debt . Having thus created a currencywhich it never did as to metallic currency—the precious metals being-, as Lord Oveiistoxe ( Joxes Loti >) admits , natural cu ' rreiu-v , though , on the pretence of having done the hitter , " it bases a ri ^ ht ' to do The former ; and having restricted that currency within verv narrow and inflexible bounds in relation to our vast and expanding business , the law compels the public to pay mto the Bank of England quarterly the money it extorts by taxation . ¦ lhe consequence is that towards the close of every quarter tins legal paper currency flows from the public in'large masses mto the Bank . ' out is of the Bankand this

    Theoiilv wayit can be got by borrowing , the public is willing enough to do , but displeased at having to pay an increased rate for the use of money so unnecessarily forced into the Bank , while it is arbitrarily restricted and contracted in amount by the law . The public justly complain , therefore , of the Bunk that it uses a triple monopoly to extort a higher rate of discount , and gather to itself more wealth than naturally falls into its lap . The most strenuous advocates of this stupid and _ unjust law ^ such as the ¦ city--writer ' of the Times—now condemn the conduct of the Bank , and begin to open their eyes to the evil consequences of an anti-free trade enactment hitherto devoutly worshipped .

    It is very difficult , however— -we are sill such idolaters of wealthto suppose that this rich corporation , endowed with great privileges , can be ia any way detrimental to the nation . On the contrary , the public knows it to be an instrument and part of our commercial system , and admires it for the . share it has in the immense general benefits which accrue therefrom . But the Bank cannot be more beneficial than , that of which it is a part : It is only beneficial as being-subservient to commerce . It is ¦ admired as contributing to commercial greatness ,.. Now the law which regulates it , and the selfishness which guides its conduct under those regulations , make it detrimental to -commerce . It is very rich , very powerful , very iiseiiil > but neither so rich , so powerful , nor so useful as the trade wheh it ought only to serve , and which , as now regulated , it enfeebles and cripples . ' .

    At present , the corn markets are rising , aiid foreign trade , is expanding . On this , depends the entire success of Mi \ Gladstone s bud ^ -eC and to this end he professes to direct legislation . Dear corn might be only a trifling impediment . to the increase of trade , were , trade hot otherwise : checked . In , the main , however , it is carried on by credit , '' , ' aijd the law which lessens or cripples credit checks trade . The rise in the price of corn -will induce ' larger purchases of corn abroad , which , in the first instance , will cause an exportation of gold , This will lead to ajstiU the JBunk of

    . further curtailment of the credit notes issued by Eng- < land , and thus at the very moment when Sve shall" most want credit money to fill up the place of the abstracted metallic currency it will be curtailed . Expanding commerce will be checked by further and unnecessary rises in the rate ofdiaeount . The Bank of JEnghmd > we cun foresee ,, will be more' severely tried by the steady growth of trade than by its convulsions . The prosperity which makes its obstructive power manifest will be more fatal to > it than the dissensions which retard progress , and conceal all wrongs'but those they en gender . . s .

    Untitled Article

    FTVHAT ready source of modern classical erudition , the Lfttin gram-- *• war , lays down the axiom that to have faithfully learned the liberal sciences , softens the manners and . prevents them Jrom bocoining brutal * . " With tliis maxim h ' nnly impressed on our mind , we can only account for the universal , interest e ^ citod by the forthcoining pugilistio encounter between Mr , Thomas Sa-vehb and Mr . John Heenan , the Benieia Boy , by the supposition that among the liberal sciences , which the moralist contemplated , must be included the noble art of self-defence . Assuredly tho ago in which we live has applied itself most asHiduotisly to the study and

    cultivation of the "liberal sciences . " The moral progress ol tho nation has fully kept pace with its material advancement . Tho electric ! telegraph is not an inch in advunco of the ragged school and . the roidnighkmeetings at St . James ' s Hall . Stevuenson and Brunei . have nob waged more determined war against the obstructions of physical' nature , than hus been carried on aguiiust the rudeness of xnoraj nature by such philanthropists as Bikkujkck , Buovgham , and SnujTTESuuttY . Noy have the latter obtained ' a leas glorious victory , "Wo live in times when philanthropy covers tho face of the land ljlco a mantle . Within tho last dcoiule wo have seen a Police Society earnestly eiignged in tho laudable effort to reconcile tho lion to tho lamb , and oven to include tho Russian Bear in tho sumo happy family . Wq have soon a lady pf rank and fortune following our armies-to the battlCffiehU and spending' days and nights ivt the bed- , sides of dying and wounded aoiuiera . We have seen proud earls / the

    descendants of a long line of ancestry , throwing aside the insignu of their rank and , clothed only in the habiliments of -humanity going forth into the lanes and alleys of overcrowded towns ' to succour and reclaim the lost sheep of society . Hospitals , homes refuges , asylums , and missions have multiplied , until there i '; scarcely an " excuse left for adding another to . the list . Nor are sue ! efforts confined to home . Eng-land ^ s stock of philanthropy is , like her stock of coal—inexhaustible . She has plenty to spare for hei neighbours . By and by we may expect to hear the British Philanthropist , like ALexaxdek , heaving a deep sigh , because he . has nc more worlds to subdue with the sword ' of civilization . The active exercise of these Christian virtues has changed the whole face ol society . Since this war of civilization began gentlemen have left off getting- drunk after dinner . The rosy-nosed , six-bottle , man has become extinct , like the Dodo or the Ichthyosaurus ; and his successor leaves the table with the ladies , and follows them like a lamb to read Teksysox , or listen to Mendelssohn , in the drawingroom .- The fast man , who wrenched off knockers , bonneted watchmen , and took delight in . " spicy" songs at late supper-rooms , now shoulders a rifle in the cause of Ids country , improves himself at odd hours with Macavlay and Caklyle , and finds amusement in a classical concert , a lecture by Mr . Thackeray , or a reading by Mr . Dickeks . '¦ . ¦ '¦ The only attribute regaining- of his original folly is a penchant for outrageous trousers and extravagant coat sleeves . The improvement in .. the tastes and habits of Young Kngland is best shown in the fact , there is not now a single supper-room in London where indecent songs are sung . This sort of thing- was rampant ten years ago , but it has now been entirely suppressed , not by . an Act of Parliament nor by the police , but by the progress of a purer taste- This emolition . of manners ^—to adopt the phrase oi the Latin moralist— -may be discerned in every grade of soeiety , The savage breast of the hodman on strike no longer harbours lethal intent against the master who has locked him out . His brickbat is turned into manifestoes and argumentative letters to the papers . He isaiiioral-forcemannow . A glimmer of the new millennial light has even penetfateji into Parliament and the state councilchambei-, and Governinenfe pursue the march oF'hnprove . inent without the pressure from without , " We see in these days ministers so imbued with tenderness for humanity , that they are willing to let their country sink in the scale of nations , rather than do anything calculated in the most remote degree to provoke a breach of the peace . In one word , we have attained to a high pitch of civiliza-• tioh and refinement . . - Having- reached this high eminence , let us look around and sec who is the hero of the day ; who the man upon whom-all eyes . are most intently fixed , and'in " whose . 'fortunes we take the deepest interest . Is it Lord JoHn Hussein . with liis Reform Bill under his arm ? Mr . Gladstone with his tariff and treaty ? Locis Napoleon ? VjcTQii iviiMANrEL or the Poi'E ? Certainly not . The her of the day is Mr . Thomas Sayers , jointly wifli Mr . John Heenan . Are not their respective merits and chances a prominent topic of conversation at the clubs nnd in society ? Arc not the shop windows blazing with their . portraits ? There is Mr . Save us ,, with his bullet head and broken nose , and his hair combed expressly for the occasion ; and there is Mr , Hkenan with his short , black curls and fur collar , looking' like what Loi'd JBy ' uon might have looked , had he taken to bushranging instead of poetry * Mr . S . vykks us the champion of England adopts the royal arms of his country ,- while over the image of Mr . Heena > - proudly floats' the . stor-spang-led banner of the' States . Tlfe newest " thing" in silk handkerchief * is adorned with a pair of medallions , bearing' portraits of the illustrious t \ v si in . Hor do we hear of the doing-softhe . se worthies alone through the- medium of Bell ' s Life . The Tumcs gives us a full account of Mr . Ween ' a ^' s mode of life hi his country retreat , in m . ut'h , the same form that it makes us acquainted with the interesting fact , that the Queen" walked oil the slopes , or rode in tho ridingschool . Tom arid the IBenicia Boy have even invaded Parliament , and come to the ears of royalty . An honourable and humane member- beseeches the Home Secretary to interfere to prevent the fight , but that functionary will only answer for the exertions of Sir KicirAitD Mayne . IIek Majesty goes to the . Olyinpio Theatre , wid sees Mr . Hobson in the character of the " 13 , B . " givo a display of science with delight . And here is Vivcil , of the Seven piuls * singing " Arms and the men , " while the town is ringing 1 with the refrain , expressing a national predilection for betting money upon old Toai : Sa . yk . us , with a dudah , duduh ,, dey . What is this ? Is it a phenomenon , or tho first symptom of tho decline and full of tho British empiro predicted by M . Lepbu Rollin ? Or is it tho prevailing at length . of the magnet veritas , that the P . 1 { . is ft ItQulthy institution , worthy of all encouragement ? There wephiloaophera who tell us that it is owing to tho practice of boxing , that the . 'knife nnd tiro pistol are rarely used in JJJnghu . jd j nnd that tho hubit of manly exercise which it has promoted is one of tho chief causes of the superior physique of Englishmen . If this be so , boxing hns really boon an important element in the formation of our national churactor . The only gruvo objeotion to prize-fighting , } Si that the combatants are liable to be killed . But so two thojuo who engage in cricket , boat rach )^* » v » A hunting , nnd no ono thiulis oi denouncing thesd sports on that account . Afc ony ruto , it is lug " time thttt wo camo to some delinito underutftnding on this head . " prize-JightinK bo unlawful and pernicious , lot the Legislature 'take active and . on ' tiotunl measures to put a stop to it . If it bo n thing to l ? o oncoumgotl , lot ua « ot oontmuo tocociuot with tlnf embjeot py making a public pretonco of denouncing the practiuf , while wo privately fuvouv an 4 encourage it .

    Untitled Article

    320 The Leader midSaturday ' Analyst . [ April 7 , 1 . 860 ,

    Philosophy On Fisticuffs.

    PHILOSOPHY ON FISTICUFFS .

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), April 7, 1860, page 326, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2341/page/10/