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    Untitled Article

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    Untitled Article

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    INTERCHANGE WITH THE FRENCH.

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    Untitled Article

    I 1 ST the year 1859 , tlio value ot our imports irom aim our own exports to France was £ 21 , G 14 , 000 . The exchange being mutual , France must have an equal trade with lis , the only diffei-ence being- that the imports in each country would , by the cost of transport , &c , be of greater value than : the exports from the other , though the articles . were ' identical , The same tables which inform us of the value of our trade with France inform _ ns of the value of our trade with other countries , and only with the

    United Slates and . British possessions in India is Our trade ot greater value than with France . We must not , however , imagine that these figures represent the total utility of this trade . Unless we imported throw" and raw silk from France , we should want a material of manufacture ; unless we imported ilonr , ajid various kinds of provisions , we should be deficient in food . We should have fewer people to work and pay taxes , and a smaller manufacture of silk , and other ' things , than at present . We should , in consequence , have less trade with India and the United States . The ease is

    similar with the French . They -could not make so much cloth as they do without the wool they import from us , nor work so many steam-engines as at present , wanting the coal they obtain from us . In fact , all trade'is interwoven one : branch with another , and we cannot injure a relatively small trade without impeding a . relatively greater trade . " Independently , however , of these interwoven relations , which make every species of interchange of . much more total importance to us all than it seems , we invite attention exclusively to the consequences of interrupting or stopping a trade of the annual value to each people of upwards of £ 21 , 0 ( 30 , 000 .

    The sum represents the fifteenth part of our total import and export trade , and the sixth part of the total import and export trade of France . To strike off by a war with Franco , the fifteenth part ot our trade , and rtsduco to idleness and poverty every fifteenth worker , to add probably 200 , 000- ^ -eovtiunly . uot less than 130 , 000 ~ to the list of paupers , " which it has taken us some eight or ten years ot continuous prosperity to reduce in a similar degree , would be a great national calamity . We naturally rejoiced very much in . the new and irrcat trade with Australia , and to lose it would spread gloom ,

    bankruptcy , atid woo over the land . "Now , tho trade with Australia —excluding the precious metals , an wo exclude them from our account of the trade with France—was in 1850 of less value than our trade with Francu and her colonies * . Within the hist fiyo years , too , it has not inercused so fast as our trade with Franco , and to lose it would not bo more disastrous than to lose tho moro extensive trade with our neighbour , It would be , so far as the loss ot wealth is concerned , tantamount to cutting oil" the county of Kent ' from tho rost of tho kingdom , or having all the low-lying part of

    Erfsox overwhelmed by the sua , From the annihilation of our trade with tho French they would Biillur more than we should , inasmuch as tlio trade liotwoon tlio two countries (' onus a-much larger proportion of the wliolu trade of Franco than of tlio whole trudo of JWufland . Her population would suffer more than ours from tho trudo being interrupted , because tho rcsjoureort of our pt . o |> lo are more varied than those of tho French . She may not have aa irmny actual paupers as England , beeausohyr avstcMU Ibv tho relief of tho poor is not equally extensive ; but it is

    u fact—or at loast wus in 1850 , when a . diligent inquiry was mailothnfc a great nuwa of tlio population of tho town * -of Franco are in an extremely bad condition ; and it \ s notorious that many of liei agricultural districts huv ' o of late bucoino depopulated * lilvQ Ireland , though not to tho sumo extent , frofu poverty and dis-trcss . A war which stopped tho trudo botwoon tho two uuuntrius would bo more disastrous nnd dangoroiw ibv Franco than Unglund . Amongat tho impi . rU from France ai'O oorn and Hour , > a 1 * 0 * of tlio vtiluo of tiS'l . WO . OXi . At tho cattl p show of Pussy only l" » t week , M , Uovmut , tho Frouoli Ministur for Agriculture , could Hum

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    they are likel y to respect an education which is , or which is even supposed to " be , continually in advance of their own ; for it is astonishing- how much the upper half of England gains by the mere suppositions of the lower , and their belief in the existence of a superior knowledge and a superior morality in those above themsel ves , often more imaginary than real , to which they are ever aspiring . This refers to their view even of the middle , much more to their view of the highest class , with its opportunities of travel , of costly practical experiments , its knowledge o . languages . .,, and" hence- its . quick comprehension of the -nomenclature of science , with its long practical dealing in affairs of state , its elegant courtesies and associations .,- —perhaps , above all , its easy handling of language , which , as Hookee said of the Greek , can make every thing * ' plausible , and which , as MiCHEXrET observes in his France and the FrencJi , the uneducated man envies , above all things , in the educated one , though the latter almost despises his own facility of phrase-making , —a faculty , we may observe , which most unfortunately is one of the baits to the trap into which the English elector offcenest ialls , especially when he elects some : blustering condottiere popular barrister , who has a constant opportunity of advertising himselr m the law courts by dubious wit and . -mercenary fluency . The English are born hero-worshipper .- ? , and , after a little swing of licence , are always likely to end in yielding the highest place to those who have a natural or acquired claim to their respect , so that it be a wellestablished and a just one . The poorer classes in England may demiind their rights , but they are ever ready to concede what upper Eng-land desires ino ^ t—the honoui-s . Nothing but a downright and impudently selfish exelusiveness on the part of aristocrats can ever destroy the inborn deference , however often little deserved , felt by the working-: Englishman for the man naturally , or even artificially , his superior . It may not be easy with absolute certainty to predict the effects of the Keform Bill , but we cannot say that we should be sorry to see twenty or thirty liard-headed , hard-handed , thoughtful mechanics in tlie House of Commons , representing their view of the interests of their class , ' of whom , according to ancient rather than modern views ,, we : should not be sorry to seeiliem act as the delegates . Questions of intercourse with foreign states they might not very clearly understand ( Cafettgtce ) , nor always the conjunctures which might make war necessary or honourable ( Boeke ) , but a fair consideration of their own immediate claims or grievances they mig ht lay before the House , and we believe they would be listened to with courtesy and respect . In many questions interest is all : this overgrown brewers- question , for Instance , what is it but a gross vulgar ilauneljacketed row- in reality—with its . publican roarers and its teetotal rorarii , a term we use because it points to the dewy and showery element , to whose light impulse thu skirmishers were . compared in the Roman army ? What is this question wjiieh embarrasses and divides the House but as" vulgar and selfish a push fora special interest as any operative eotton-s . pinnm- could make ? And if there are to be such squabbles , why should not the poor man have his chance in them as well as the rich ? No strike was ever more disgraceful than this rich brewers'question . _ If the hew . voters have the sense to elect the choice men of thenown class , their new position in the House of Commons would probably maketheni respectful anil reasonable , and more respected than some of the individuals who brought them tlieip , and who have risen just high enough to fancy thnt they feel the heels of the aristocracy ' etenai'ly upon their foreheads , and , hating them for it , endeavour to alienate class from class by unronsoiuible comparison , rather than by reason to reconcile t ' .: em . Macintosh lias said , in his T'indiclco Gallua , " therp novor was or will be iu civilized society but two great interests , that of the rich and that of the poor . " Very likely not ; but tho rich are , on the whole , not unreasonable , and tho poor not impatient ; nor would either be likely to become more so by tho contemplated increase of the lower element in our legislature ? and wo trust that , while the middle men are fighting against the grosser , abuses of government , year by year , with heart , with knowledge , and with effect , wo shall not . bo driven to an- abrupt and sharp decision aa to whether the patrician shall make , from mercy and from reason , concessions to the plebeian " , or whether the plebeian shall , by violence , force concussions from tho patrician . Our people are not , Uky the Jtuus-calotte . ^ mad for a universal levelling , nor aro our higher classes , lileo tho French nobility , secluded in the eddies of uuprogreSMVo prejudice from the action and current ot tho main stream . Tho labourers , mechanical mid agricultural , of England , in spite of occasional <> rror » , aro on tho whole wonderfully contented ami cheerful , quite sufficiently to doserve sonio otlior rewards than new second broad cloth coats and shabby one-pound premiums ? . How patiently , without a striko , has tho Manchester workman soon hirf numtyr aooumulato around him all tho appliances of princely luxury , and still been , ahull wo say it , too content with his very moderate share of profit * , and the very moderate time for self-education , which aomo of tho aforesaid inustcr . s would have shortened , and perhaps would still willingly curtail . Jf it cannot bo tilt-owhero , we uhould like to sue , even in the Houoe of Conimomvi Mttlo more iiico-to-face nlooting of tho employers and tho representatives of the employees ; perhaps then some ' of tho B | A < lical employers might liko bo ntnp na abruptly in tho lihural caruer aa tho C 3 jn > ndi 8 tt » of Frauoo did in the' rovolut . ionijry one , with , a vision before thoir eyes whioh wo shall borrow from tho ?• Oxford" of Tiekcll : — " SuoU wore tho llmnnu futhors wlion o ' oroomo : 'l'lwy ^ a \ v tlio Gauls luault 9 V ouptivo Ktnuo ; Miioh oiiptlvo BecinoJ the haughty viotor ' a lord , And ' pvoalmtti oliifa thotr tiuut / htj / staves ttiloral . ' Absit omon I

    Those who make a bugbear of the poorer classes throwing all taxation on the shoulders of the rich , know full well that it is a bugbear , and no more ; they know full well that all the higher powers arid influences of all parties would be set to work to counteract any such movement , even if it were attempted ; they know how strong in England is the pressure from above as well as the pressure from without . As to being angry at the extension of the franchise , ^ the biifher and privileged classes may just as well work themselves into a fit of indignation because two and two do not make five ; the attempt at exclusiveness -. ' reminds' one of the elderly female who flutters out her silk gown to make believe that there is not room for the party who ,- with indifferent attire , but with , an air of much determination , persists in making the sixth on her side of the omnibus . ; . : .

    There is one point which seems to excite alarm in the stationary and reactionary press , i . e ., that the labouring classes will , as soon as possible , exempt themselves from taxpaying and contributing their modicum to the resources of the state . The very apathy of which the Vunes comp lains proves one of two things , either that the poorer classes do not contemplate any such result , from the New-Reform Bill , else they would be more anxious to push it ; or they see the unreasonableness of any sueh desire , and would not urge it , even had they the opportunity- We defy any one to escape one of these two conclusions . Unquestionably the poor should , hi some slight measure , contribute . > Ve here quite agree with Buuke :-r" Xoneon account of their dignity should be exempt from tax ^ - ation ; none ( preserving due proportion ) oh account of the scantiness of their means . The moment a man is exempted from the maintenance of a community he is in a sort separated from it . He loses the place of a citizen . " ( " Letters on a liegicide Peace . " )

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    550 The Leader and Saburdmj Analyst * [ April 14 , 1860 .

    Interchange With The French.

    TNTEiiCHAXGE WITH THE FREXCH .

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), April 14, 1860, page 350, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2342/page/10/