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January 31, 1852. THE NORTHERN STAR, 3
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fj'o'etta; ; '*™
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LABOUR'S SOCIAL. CHIVALRY. (From " Voice...
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ftebfetos.
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May I not Do What I Witt toitk My Own ? ...
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Intellect Developed bt Labour.—Are labou...
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— r HISTORY OF THE NATIONALDEBT . * (Fro...
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Sebious Disaster to the Steam-ship Leeds...
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ymttm.
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Credit Lost is like a Broken Looking-gla...
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SuchiMh' e^ gla*y1ia?e> y \$?>- p us eui...
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Transcript
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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January 31, 1852. The Northern Star, 3
January 31 , 1852 . THE NORTHERN STAR , 3
Fj'o'Etta; ; '*™
fj ' o ' etta ; ; ' *™
Labour's Social. Chivalry. (From " Voice...
LABOUR'S SOCIAL . CHIVALRY . ( From " Voices of Freedom , and Lyrics of Love , " By Gebau > Masse * . ) Upronse ye now , brave brother-band ; "With honest heart , and working hand : "We are but few , toil-tried and true , let hearts beat high to dare and do . And who would not a champion be , In Labour ' s social Chivalry I •' "We fight , but hear no bloody brand , We fight to free our fatherland ! We fight , that smiles of love may glow , On lips where corses quiver now . Hurrah , hurrah . ! true knights are we , In Labour ' s social Chivalry ?
0 , there be hearts that ache to see , The day-dawn of oar victory-Eyes full of heart-break , with us plead , And watchers weep , and martyrs bleed ; O , who would not a champion be , In Labour ' s social Chivalry ? "Work , brothers mine , work , band and brain , Will win the golden age again ; And Love ' s millenialmorn , shall rise In bappy hearts and blissful eyes . Hurrah , hurrah 1 true knights are we , In Labour ' s social Chivalry .
Ftebfetos.
ftebfetos .
May I Not Do What I Witt Toitk My Own ? ...
May I not Do What I Witt toitk My Own ? By E . V . Keale , Esq . London : Bezer , 183 , Heatstreet . This pamphlet has been elicited by the monstrous despotism asserted by the masters in the * Kepresen tation of their Case' they have issued to the public . The spirit of that document , and the doctrines it inculcates , may he judged of by the subjoined extract , vhich forms the text of Mr . Neale ' s commentary : — " All that we want is to be let alone—with less than that we shall not be satisfied ; until we accomplish that we shall not re-open our Establishments . " With every respectfor noble and distinguished referees , whose arbitration has been tendered to us , and with no reason to doubt that their a ward will be honest , intelligent , and satisfactory , we must say that we alone are the competent iud » es of our own business , we are respectively the masters of our own establishments , and that it is our firm
determination to remain so- ....,., ., ., "Ours is the responsibility of the details , ours the risk of loss , ours the capital , its perils , and its engagements . We claim , and are resolved to assert the right of every British subject , to do what we will with our own , and to Tindicate tbe title of our workmen to the same constitutional privilege . " We alto » ether ignore the proposition that we should submit to arbitration the question whether our own property is ours ; and whether we are entitled to be the masters of our own actions . " Such ( says Mr . Neale ) is the claim of the owners of the present great engineering establishments , now unhappily encased in a contest with a large body of their most skilful ¦ workmen . They claim in their own emphatic language io DO WHAT THEV . WILL WITH THEIR OWN .
Important words ! Words suggestive , when coupled with the acts with which they have been coupled , of most important inquiries . Inquiries as to what the Capitalist can properly call his own , and as to what he ought to will to do with that which is his own . These inquiries the author briefly , but ably , makes in the pamp hlet before us . Beginning with a short statement of the questions really at issue between the Employers and the Operative Engineers , he
proceeds to ask : — Is it so clear that the capital of the present employers is so absolutely their own that they have in strict justice , the right of using it to enforce such claims as they now assert ! let us consider this question . Of the absolute nature of the claim made there can be no doubt . Whoever , say the employers , wishes to avail himself of the power which our establishments can give him of earning his daily bread , must subscribe without reserve to our conditions . "Who or what should stand between us and him ? " . . The decision of an impartial judge ? They altogether ignore it . — "The interference of a self-constituted arbiter with the internal economy of otr establishments , is not less preposterous than would be a command from our baker
as to the number of loaves we should consume or a mandate from our butcher as to when we should dine , and what should be the meat . " Who or what should interfere ? I answer Reason and Justice , and if the employers refuse to listen to Reason and Justice in the concrete form of an impartial judge , let me entreat of the public an audience for them in the abstract shape of argument . Oar establishments say the employers are our own . But how did these become their own ? The employers tell us how themselves : "Many of ourselves have traced their rise from tbe condition of the employed to that of employers , to the opportunities afforded by piecework which enabled tbem to become small contractors , and thereby to avail themselves of the reward of their directing skill . " What is tb e meaning of this statement ? Do I err if I
trace out the operation of the cause to which allusion is here made as follows : —The skilful , laborious , provident , self-denying workman , acquires as the result of the patient exercise of these virtues , a little of that stored up and accumulated labour , which the system of exchange , and the great a « ent in exchanges , money , enables him to make use of as capital . He lays it out , to take first the simplest case , iu the purchase of materials ; he seeks for some one else to aid him in working up the materials into some object which others want or desire . Let the bargain be concluded on insfc terms , and it would run somewhat as follows : A . would say to B ., I have so much labour , stored up in the shape of materials , I am ready to give so much present labour to work these up . lou give me so much more labour : and then whatever can be obtained from the
result of our united efforts , we will share in the proportions in which we have helped to produce them . I take the share which falls to my past labour , represented by the materials , as well as that due to my present labour . Tou take that due to your present labour ; and thus we shall divide the results fairly between us . I say this would be a just contract between the two parties , the skill being supposed in each case to be equal . If the skill were unequal , if other considerations entered into the agreement , such as the circumstance of the one party having laid out part of his accumulated labour in the purchase of a machine , which could assist in the more easy production of miny successive works , these considerations might complicate ' the terms of the agreement , but they could not alter its principle . A just agreement between the labourer and the
capitalist is one by which , in one form or another , the labourer shares in the results of the work arising from the union of labour and capital , in proportion to the degree in which he has contributed to produce them . And no doubt such would be the principle upon which these bargains would be concluded if tbe labourer were really a free agent ; for it is the principle acted upon every day , in bargains between persons who enter into partnership , on condition of one supplying the capital and the other the skill . But such was not the principle . upon which those bargains were made , by which many of the employers , as they say , have risen to the position of employers . The principle of these bargains was that the capitalist should contract with the labourer for the lowest terms on which he could get him to take the work , and should put all the from the work into his And
advantage derived own pocket . whv wastbis tbe principle ? Why was the labourer in iuced to give up what is most unquestionably his own , his time , and his skill , and the toil and sweat of his bones and his sinews , without stipulating for a share in the results of this labour proportioned to the degree in which he had contributed to produce them ? Why was he induced to give up all claim to the property in that which his own hands had made , a property well founded and indubitable , if ever property was well founded and indubitable , and to let the employer call it is ? Because he was not a free agent . Because all his contracts were made more or less with the apprehension of hunger or the workhouse in the background . Because in this free and wealthy country the labourer , to use the language of Mr . Carlyle , " is hedged in everywhere by property to starve . " Because his only means of living
if he refused the terms offered by one capitalist , was the finding some other capitalist who would give him leavoto work : and the only limit to the demands made upon him was the point to which competition had reduced wages in the labour market . Because this was the case , therefore have the present race of employers been able to go on accumulating profits not only on what was truly their own , on the accumulations of their own labour , or of the earnings of their own skill , but on that which was not their own , on the labour and the skill of other men . And thus it is that thev have added accumulation to accumulation , till they have reared up those gigantic establishments which now encourage them to assume the position of dictating to the labourer yet more imperiously and extensively than they have hitherto done , the conditions under which they will in future be willing to employ him .
Now , I say that in reason and justice , establishments thus created are not the employers' own . Their own they are unquestionably in the eye of the law ; and God forbid that any should ever attempt by violence of any sort , with or without colour of legal right , to take them away . But this is not the first , nor alas ! is it likely to be the last case , in which Justice as expressed by human laws , and Justice as she exists in the sanctuary of reason , utter different voices . Fifty years since the English law recognised a right in the capitalist to acquire 6 y purchase in the slave market , at the lowest price to which competition would reduce the dehis
mand , human beings as his chatties ; recognised right to treat them as brute beasts ; to take measures for their propagation as for that of his oxen , and his sheep ; to sell away the husband from his wife , the mother from her offspring , if more could be obtained thus than by selling them together . Tbe laws of other countries called civilised , and Christian , allow the practice still . Many a capitalist of those countries , many an English capitalist of old , has risen from the " condition of-the employed to that of the employer , " bv becoming a small holder of slaves , and thus " availing himself of the rewards" which the law there or tben allowed to be taken " for their directing skill . " If this lav was not tbe true expression of justice , asm
May I Not Do What I Witt Toitk My Own ? ...
Engiandj-at leasts-is generallyadmitted f it-is , at least , open , to inquiry , whether the law which now permits bargains to be made between capitalist and workmen , on the assumption of a freedom in both parties to take or refuse , which does not in truth exist on the part of the workman , truly expresses what justice demands ; and I maintain that the establishments created as I have described , though they are tbe absolute property of the em ployers in law , yet injustice , are not their own to'deal with as they think most for their own interest , without regard to the interest of the body of those who may be employed through their means .
That the employers , in justice , would have a part in them , I do not deny , but is is only a part . Tbey have been produced not by their labour , or skill , or savings , or inherited wealth , alone , but by that labour and skill conjoined with the labour and skill of hundreds of other men , who have never given up their claim to them , because they never were in a situation to enforce it ; and they ought in strictjusticetobe employed , not at the arbitrary will of the present nominal owners , but for the joint benefit of all those through whose efforts they came into existence , or of their representatives . On the second question : —* What ought the Capi talisfcto mil to do with that which he may call his own , ' Mr . Neale thus speaks : —
It is a most difficult question that of tbe introduction of machinery , so long as the entire control over the employment and remunera tion of labour is left wholly under the management of the capitalist , whose interest even under such arrangements as those just indicated it must , always be to obtain labour on the cheapest terms . Who would wish to arrest the progress of human invention , if he could ? Who , that possesses any knowledge of the wonderful increase of human power attained by the application of scientific research to the problems of industry , could desire to say , Hitherto shalt thou go and no further ? To me there lies in the introduction , the perfecting and multiplied application of machinery , the vision of a time , when all tbe necessaries and most of the refinements of life shall be brought by a few daily hours of moderate toil within the reach of every ibealthy member of the human
race . But I cannot close my eyes to tbe fact that , under our social arrangements as they exist , ' the improvements in machinery are to the labouring population generally , rather a curse than a blessing . They are so , because the labourer lives upon his labour , and the machine , instead of aiding , supersedes it . To all who have something else beside their labour on which to live , the machine is a pure blessing , because it facilitates production , and thus multiplies the exchangeable value of their possessions . But to him who possesses only his labour of what value is this cheapening of production , if his receipts diminish more rapidly than the cheapness increases ; if he is to be told either that his service is not wanted , that he must ask leave to work elsewhere , or , if work is offered him , that it can be only at the
reduced price consequent upon the smaller quantity of skill seeded to do the work with the aid of the machine , than without it ? How can he hail the advance of improvementt Strange result ! The power of labour is increased , and by that very fact tbe labourer suffers . Twice , three times , ten times , the work ean be done in the same time ; and because this can be done , the labourer is told that be can receive only a half , a third , a fourth , perhaps a still less proportion of what he received before . —Strange result ! and surely one in which none who have the welfare of their fellow creatures at heart can rest satisfied . But how is it to be remedied ? 1 fear my remedy may appear to some still more strange than the disease : for I pan see no other solution than this , of transferring the re * gulation of work from the contributor of the results of
past labour , to the contributor of living labour and skill . Things have become , from tbe defective nature of our social arrangements , so much more important to us than men , capital than those by whom capital is created , that the mention of such a change will provoke in many only a smile of incredulity . And yet why should it seem absurb ? Is not tbe man in very truth of more value than that which he possesses ? Why should it seem absurb to apply to tho capital resulting from human labour tbe same rule as is applicable to the original capital of the human race , to tbe earth on which we dwell ; to transform it from the ruler into the servant of labour—a servant remunerated justly according to the decree in which it aids in the work to be performed , but still a servant to labour , though guided as labour itself must always be , by skill , the common master of both .
The true solution of the contest between labour and capital is to be found , according to my view , in the formation of the Working Association . Of this remarkable product of the social theories which have so long and so earnestly been discussed in France , it is the characteristic idea to give to the actual worker the control over the instruments and results of his work . That relation which experience has long shown to be productive of so much good in the case of lauded property , the union of interests effected where the cultivator is also the owner , by means of this idea is capable of being extended to the whole sphere of human industry .
In the Working Association the workman chooses those who shall be his governors , regulates the general conditions under which the work shall be carried on , and determines on the application of the proceeds . The Capitalist , merely as such , has no direct control ; his right being limited to the payment of the interest or share of the proceeds stipulated as the remuneration for his capital , and of the capital itself if it be advanced only as a loan ; and to a participation , regulated by the constitution of the particular association , in the choice from among the associated workmen of those to whom the direct conduct of the business shall be committed .
It will easily be seen , without attempting to trace in detail the operations of an institution so novel , that the tendencies of the Working Association must be in exactly tbe opposite direction to those of which we have so often to deplore , in the present social system , the miserable effect . If the tendency of the present rulers of labour is to diminish the earnings of labour , the tendency of the Working Association must be to increase them . If at present the workman is less considered than the work , under the proposed system the work will be less considered than the workman . If now the progress of improvement seems always principally to favour the owners of property already realised , in the Working Association , it will be rather turned to the advantage of the owners of that labour and skill by which property is the course of realisation .
Of the practicability and the beneficial results of such a combination of Labour and Capital upon an equitable basis , Mr . Neale gives a number of conclusive illustrations , drawn from M . Cochut ' s interesting and valuable work respecting the Working Men's Associations in Paris . As the subject is one which at the present moment is exciting much attention among all classes , tbe lucid and well condensed statement of the practical results of these associations cannot be too strongly commended to public attention . The price at which the pamphlet is issued is such as must ensure it a circulation commensurate with its usefulness ; and not the least hopeful sign of advancement is the fact of a gentlemen like Mr . Neale taking an earnest part in such discussions , and bringing the social influence , inseparable from their position , to bear upon tbe vital and all-important question of the age , —namely , the organisation of Labour .
Happily it is one on which earnest men of all political opinions may find a neutral meeting ground . Mr . Neale avows that he is a conservative , and therefore diners entirely from us as to tho value and the necessity of political enfranchisement . With him it is purely a question of the principles by which the relation of Capital and Labour ought to be regulated ; and all who take a similar view of that question are bound to act in concert , no matter how much they may differ on other subjects . Mutual intercourse and friendly effort in one direction will tend to produce a better understanding , and united action in others .
Intellect Developed Bt Labour.—Are Labou...
Intellect Developed bt Labour . —Are labour and self-culture irreconcilable to each other ? In the first place , we have seen that a man , in the midst of labour , may and ought to give himself to the most important improvements , that he may cultivate his sense of justice , his benevolence , and tbe desire of perfection . Toil is the school for these high principles ; and wehave here a strong presumption that , in other respects , it does not necessarily blight the soul . Next , we have seen that the most fruitful sources of truth and wisdom are not books , precious as they are , but expsrience and observation ; and these belong to all conditions . It is another important consideration , that almost all labour demands intellectual activity , and is best carried on by those who invigorate their minds : so that the two interests , toil
and self culture , are friends to each other . It is mind , after all , which does the work of the world ; so that _ the more there is of mind , the more work will be accomplished . A man , in proportion as he is intelligent , makes a given force accomplish a greater task , makes skill take the place of muscles , and with less labour gives a better product . Make men intelligent , and tbey become inventive ; they find shorter processes . Their knowledge of nature helps them to turn its laws to account , to understand the substances on which they work , and to seize on useful hints , which experience continually furnishes . It is among workmen that some of the most useful machines have been contrived . Spread education , and , as the history of this country shows , there will be no bounds to useful invention . —Channing .
Specie from Australia . —The vessel Anna Mary , arrived from Sydney , Kew South Wales , has brought forty-two packages of specie , three boxes of dollars , and , also 419 packages of copper ore ; the Deucalian , from Sydney , 424 packages of copper ore ; and the vessel Ralph Thompson , from the same Australian port , fourteen boxes of gold dust , consigned to eminent firms and to order Thb Admission of Jews into Parliament . —The action Miller , v . Salamons , came off in the Court of Exchequer on Monday . Only one of the several counsel engaged had completed his argument , when the Court rose . —The arguments in this case were resumed and concluded on Wednesday . The Lord Chief Baron said , that on account of the importance of the case , and the necessity of looking into the statutes , it wo uld be necessary f or the court to take time to consider its judgment . Tea Deliveries , Jan . 26 . —The deliveries of tea last week
were again large , being 6 G 5 , 112 lbs . The imports into London last year were about 17 , 000 , 0001 bs . larger than those of 1850 .
— R History Of The Nationaldebt . * (Fro...
— r HISTORY OF THE NATIONALDEBT . * ( From "Sangster ' s Bights and Duties of Property . " ) In 1694 , the Bank of England lentits capital , £ 1 200 000 at eight percent , to government . The bank not ' havine reserved tojtself the power of demanding repayment , unless the charter which had been granted by the government was withdrawn , it may therefore be presumed that the bank at that time was intended as an engine of government , to facilitate the prosecution of wars which / Without its aid must have been relinquished . William seems to have lent his dignity to . whatever schemes might be best calculated to raise money to carry on his wars : in fact the diplomacy of his reign was to raise money irrespective
ot principle , for under him the nbominable principle of bribing a majority in'Parliament was successfully introduced , and considerable sums ; of money were , spent with desired effect . -The treaty of . Rygwick , in 1697 , put an end to the French war , and England onco more enjoyed a glimpse of peace , with a national debt accumulated to £ 21 , 500 , 000 . In 1698 , Hie East India Company paid government £ 2 , 000 , 000 for theircharter . The Company lent the money on very similar terms as the ba nk had done and at the same rate of interest .. ; The government ' , how ! ever , reserved to itself the power , after a certain time should have elapsed , of cancelling the cha rters , both of the Bank of England and of the East India Company , and of repaying the money . .
At the close of the reign of William III . in 1701 , through the money obtained from the East India Company had been made use of to payoff a part of the debt , and the surplus revenues had also been applied to the same purpose , still it amounted to £ 16 , 394 , 702 , The next war into which the nation was . being plunged at the accession of Qu-en Anne , was that of the Spanish succession . Charles II ., of Spain ; having no issue , left his kingdom by his will to Phili Duke de Berry , grandson of Louis XIV . of France . Louis supported the claims of his grandson , who had mounted the throne of Spain in 1700 under the title of Philip V . England engaged in iiis dispute of dynasty , and was drawn into a ' war , which led to the contraction of liabilities which , to this day , it has not been able to discharge , and which laid the foundation of
our funding system . Previously to this time moneyhad always heen borrowed by the government , with the apparent intention and prospect of repaying it j but in 1711 , government had borrowed £ 9 , 000 , 000 , without the means either of paying it , or the interest thereon . This state of finance paved the wayto the establishment of the South Sea Company , which took in the debts of the government to the amount of its capital ; and may therefore be said to have been the commencement of the "funding system , " as the parties who took shares in the Company entered into an agreement , unprecedented in its tenure , namely , that they could not demand repayment of the capital lent . By this artful scheme , government was exonerated from paying its liabilities , and was enabled to prosecute the war at greater expense than it had previously done , so that , at the inglorious treaty of Utrecht , in 1713 , the national debt had been raised to £ 54 , 115 , 363 . This treaty was anything but honourable to Great Britain , for by the war he had
gained very little , and had expended a great deal . During the war , Louis XIV . of France , and Philip V . of Spain , sued for peace ; but the conditions offered by Great Britain were too stringent for the proud Bourbons to accept : war was , therefore , prolonged , and terminated in favour of France , as we were obliged to acknowledge Philip as king of Spain ; and , as a pacific recompense , England had conveyed to the South Sea Company , by the French Assiento Company , the exclusive right during thirty years Of supplying one hundred and forty-four thousand negro slaves of both sexes between fifteen and twenty-five years of age for the Spanish West Indies . George I . purchased £ 10 , 000 stock in this slave-monopolycompany , and became its governor . Since then , we have abolished property in slaves by paying twenty millions to the Christian dealers in humanity . Thus the nation has been " made to pay dearly for the monopoly of slavery , and more so for its abolition , by the emancipation act which abolished property in human flesh .
A small diminution of the debt was made during the peace which followed the treaty of Utrecht , so that , in the year 1717 it had been reduced to £ 48 , 500 , 000 . Exchequer bills were first issued in 1696 for amounts in £ 5 to £ 10 . In 1717 the first funding of those bills was effected by private arrangement with the Bank of England , which held a large amount of them , and agreed to fund £ 2 , 000 , 000 of them at fivo per cent . Exchequer bills have always since , from time to time , been funded by private arrangement with the parties holding them . The South Sea Company had , a little after its formation , increased its capital to £ 10 , 900 , 000 . In 1720 , it was , however , empowered by act of Parliament to buy in tho debts of the nation , and to augment its capital to any required amount . The amount of new capital added to the Company ' s stock by this license was £ 26 , 000 , 000 ; this additional amount of capital enabled the Company to buy in large portions of the government debt . At first ail went on as if some new mine of wealth had been discovered ,
which had such an inebriating effect on the public mind that shares were recklessly bought at any price , and gigantic frauds were resorted to by the managers of the Company , by selling shares at fictitiously high prices to enrich themselves . But in a very short time , the unsoundness of its trading speculations were discovered ; and , similar to the railway mania of 1845 , shares fell enormously , and thousands were ruined . Several members of parliament were implicated in the deceptions which had been perpetrated upon tbe public . The Chancellor of the Exchequer was expelled the House of Commons for the part that ho had taken in the nefarious plunder of the public . Parliament saw fit to equalise as much as was possible the gains and losses among the innocent parties , and public confidence aftor a time resumed its usual course . Thus ended tho South Sea Bubble , which the secret committee , appointed by the House of Commons to scrutinise its proceedings , reported as being of the deepest of " villany and fraud that hell ever contrived to ruin a nation . '
The Continental wars during the reign of George I . were not so expensive as former campaigns had been , and the amount added to the debt was more than balanced by the expiration of terminable annuities , and by reducing the rate of interest . The yearly burden was also considerably lightened , so that , at the close of this reign in 1727 , the debt was £ 52 , 092 , 238 , and the annual interest was less by £ 1 , 133 , 807 . During the peace which followed , a small portion of the debt was paid off , so that when war was declared against Spain in 1739 , it was below £ 50 , 000 , 000 . The cause of this war was , that a few English merchants carried on a smuggling trade with the Spanish West India Colonies ; and the Spaniards , in order to suppress this illegitimate traffic , searched in accordance with tho rights of treaty , the English merchant ' s ships which they found on
those coasts . However , in doing this , they had made some aggressions which caused dissatisfaction in England , and war was therefore declared against Spain . This war began favourably for the English arms ; but very soon a series of blunders in its direction ensued , till at length great losses were suffered by our armaments ; and the expedition against Carthagena having signally failed , hostilities were suspended , and the blame of mismanagement laid on Sir Robert Walpole , who was ineffectually accused by tho House of Commons of "Undue influence in elections , granting fraudulent contracts , peculation , and profusion in the expenditure of secret service money . " The Emperor Charles VI , of Germany , died in 1740 , and the male issue of the House of Hapsburg having became extinct , the government of the hereditary Austrian
dominions descended his daughter Maria Theresa . France supported the pretensions of tho Elector of Bavaria to a part of the late Emperor ' s dominions , and sent an army to oppose Maria Theresa ' s claim . From the great success of the French and Bavarian army which took possession of Prague , and crowned the Elector king of Bohemia , George II . considered his possessions in Germany in danger , and in 1743 an English army of forty thousand men was dispatched to the Continent under the command of the Earl of Stair , not to fight the battles of Great Britain , but those of an Austrian dynasty and a few petty Hanoverian successions . The French , provoked at such unwarrantable interference on the part of England , projected an invasion in favour of the
Pretender , Charles Edwards Stuart , which being frustrated ) France declared war against England , which was rigorously prosecuted , with alternate successes , till tho humiliating treaty of Ai . vla-Chapelle , when both found , that , after losing many men , and expending large sums of money , neither had gained any perceptible advantage ; they , therefore , agreed to relinquish whatever possessions each had taken from the other , and to return to exactly thoir position previously to the war . The national debt was augmented by this war from £ 50 , 092 , 238 to £ 78 , 000 , 000 . By reducing the rate of interest during the peaco which succeeded , three millions had been paid off the debt ; so that , at the commencement of hostilities in 1756 , it had been reduced to seventy-five millions .
At this time war may scarcely be said to have ceased , for on the coast of Malabar the English and French had never left off fighting , and France , without having made a declaration of war , was continually annoying our colonies in the West Indies and in North America . We wero irresistibly compelled to arm for their defence ; and this may therefore be said to be the only justifiable war the expense of which forms any portion of our national debt . Active hostilities commenced in 1756 , and lasted until the peace of Paris in 1763 . By this war , sixty-four millions were added to tho debt , which then amounted to £ 138 , 865 , 440 , bearing interest £ 4 , 852 , 051 . By this war , which terminated successfully for Great Britain , its possessions wero very considerably enlarged , though very little benefit was afterwards derived from some of them on account of theirmismanagement by government ; which proved that British soldiers were better adapted for their employment than were its statesmen fit to govern .
From 1763 to the commencement of tho American War of independence in 1775 , there was paid off tho debt £ 19 , 281 , 795 , reducing , it to £ 128 , 583 , 635 , when hostilities began at Lexington , near Boston , between the American militia arid the King ' s troops . The object America had in view in this war was , to assert its independence . In 1764 , tho British government imposed upon the American colonies a stamp tax , to which they refused to submit ; in consequence of which it was repealed next year ; but tbe Americans supposed that this relinquishment only proceeded from fear . A tax of
threepence per lb . on Tea was afterwards essayed ; this also failed . It was not the amount of the tax the Americans looked on with such abhorrence ; what they contended gainst was , the right of a British Parliament , in which they were not represented , to . impose taxes on them who , received no benefit from the objects for the maintenance of which those taxes wore to be paid . The first cargo of Tea sent to Boston was seized by the Americans , and thrown into the aea ; tho excisemen were tarred , feathered , and indignantly used . . The infatuated ministry pushed things . frombad to worse ,
— R History Of The Nationaldebt . * (Fro...
by immediately passing the Boston Port Bill , which wan in « lose : itasa » hipping'porJ ; # and |; hu « ruin its trade wLn the official announcement , that this Bill had passed wai made known in America , all future hopes of peace oein * preserved , vanished ; the Americans- gathered on their armour , and hurled defiance at the principle of taxation attempted to be fastened on them . War now raged with terrific fury in all parts of America . The result of that war was , that , after seven years of eonstaut campaigns , during which Great Britain expended 139 millions , and left blenching inthe woods of America tho ibones of 43 , 600 Englishmen . The British army , under Lord Corn wallis , surrendered in 1781 to General Washington , and thus ingloriously ended a war in which we had engaged with tbe intention of forcing * those to pay a part of our taxation who had never derived any advantage from the impost ; and , as if eternal justice bad stood by to defend the cause of rectitude , we received from its unerring hand , as a retribution , the loss of men , money , and colonies , with a national debt raised , "to £ 249 , 861 . 623—interest on the funded and
unfunded debt , £ 9 , 451 , 772 . . During the ten years which elapsed between thefermination of the American excise war in 1783 , and the commencement ' of tho French revolutionary anti-despotic war in 1793 , onlv £ 10 , 501 , 380 of the debt waspaid off ; bo that its amount was £ 239 , 354 , 248 , and the annual charge £ 9 , 437 , 802 , when Great Britain unwarrantably precipitated itself into a foreign oivil war ,, which instead of being checked , or the evils mitigated by our inteferenoe , was thereby immensely increased ; the revolutionary spirit in France provocatively fanned into a blaze , and the Reign of Terror established .
- The revolutionary war was carried on with variable success until 1790 , when Napoleon , a man hitherto unheard of , appeared on the stage of European tragedy , to amaze like Gnrrick all the other actors . So unprecedenfedl y successful was he in his campaigns , that Great Britain , in order to crush his rising power , in the year 1797 , spent in war £ 55 , 432 , 826 , whereas , the nett revenue paid into the Exchequer was only £ 21 , 454 , 728 ; shewing an excess of expenditure over the income of £ 33 . 978 , 908 ; equal to the value , of 2261 tons weight of gold . This enormous expenditure'had such an effect on public confidence that consols fell to 47 | ; a run on the Bank of England took place , which reduced the amount of bullion in the Bank on the 20 th February to . £ 1 , 086 , 170 . The drain of bullion continued upto Saturday 25 th , when the directors found , that if the
Bank was opened again on Monday morning , they must suspend bullion payments for the bank s notes ; accordingly , application was made to government for ' relief , whereupon an order of Council was issued on Sunday morning , prohibiting the Bank in future to pay its notes in bullion ; and declaring Bank of England notes a legal tender . " , It was this act which gave government the facility of carrying on the war , and of borrowing in future prodigious sums of money ; and which has entailed upon the industrious population a debt , which belongs only to them by moral imputations and legal imposition . Tbe Currency Bill passed in I 8 I 9 , for which Sir Robert Peel was so much accused , has not produced a tithe of the evils which this Sunday Act of 1797 has yielded to the labouring portion of the country .
In consequence of Great Britain refusing to enter upon terms of peace , the war was prolonged till 1802 , when it was brought to a temporary termination by the peace of Amiens . Between 1793 and 1802 there was added to the capital of the debt £ 264 . 200 , 230 , and the annual charge was increased by £ 10 . 609 , 762 . The amount of the debt was thereby raised to £ 503 , 550 , 478 , and the yearly burden , for interest and management , to £ 19 , 855 , 588 , ' ~ " » » . From the breaking of tho pretended peace of Amiens , until the termination of the war after the battle . of Waterloo , there was added to the debt £ 381 , 635 , 486 , making the gross amount of the National Debt ( inclusive of 39 , 000 , 000 , the amount of the unfunded debt ) £ 885 , 186 , 324 , equal to the value of 6 , 940 tons weight of gold : and the annual burden of interest and management £ 32 , 938 , 751 .
The amount of permanent taxation paid into the Exchequer in 1793 , the year that the French dynastic war of interference broke out , was £ 19 , 258 , 814 . This war necessarily led to the imposition of new taxes , so that during the nine years' war which followed , the permanent taxation was doubled in amount , and in 1803 had reached the sum of £ 38 , 609 , 392 . When war was again declared after the peace of Amiens , it became imperative to impose additional taxation ; therefore , in 1803 new taxes were voted to the yearly amount of £ 12 , 500 , 000 , being nearly one-third of tho gross amount realised by previous taxation . This enormous amount of increase in taxation imposed in one year upon any nation is unparalleled in history ; but though it stands at the apex of rapidity in impost duties , it was nevertheless well supported by tbo imposts of the two previous and the three subsequent years , for wefind . durins
tho six years ending in 1806 , no less a sum than £ 26 , 780 , 000 of annua / new taxation was laid upon the people : on an average for each of tho « e six years , the burden of taxation was augmented £ 4 , 464 000 . The population of the United Kingdom at that time may be estimated at 16 , 000 , 000 ; it is now upwards of 28 , 000 , 000 , being an increase of seventy-live per cent . The amount of new yearly taxation imposed since 1801 up to 1849 was £ 44 , 807 , 027 : and the amount of taxes repealed or expired from 1814 to 1849 , was £ 54 , 889 , 911 , showing £ 10 , 082 , 884 yearly . reduction of taxation in favour of a population which has increased seventy-five per cent . Yet we find that the ministers of the crown , in 1851 , were obliged to resign their offices ; not because the revenue was deficient , but on account of its having been £ 2 , 500 , 000 more than the expenditure , and they could not satisfy the nation as to the mode of expending this surplus revenue .
There waspaid into tho Exchequer the produce alone of taxation , between 1803 and 1816 , the sum of £ 859 , 260 , 449 . Tho average annual taxation during those fourteen years being £ 61 , 375 , 746 , a sum equal to the value of 481 tons of gold . Part of this absurd expenditure was incurred through our profuse loans and subsidies to foreign nations ; for , during twelve years ending in 1814 , we spent in loans and subsidies £ 30 , 898 , 957 .. Average expenditure for each < rf those years , in subsidising foreign states , £ 2 , 574 , 913 . The largest amounts of revenue , the produce of taxation paid into the Exchequer , were for the three last years of the war , as follows : — Total nett revenue paid into the Exchequer in 1813 £ G 8 742 , 363 . 1814 , 71 , 134 , 803 . 1814 72 , 210 , 518 . Subsidies and loans paid to foreign nations during the
years—1813 £ 6 , 786 , 022 . 1814 8 , 442 . 578 . 1815 1 , 582 , 045 . This last sum of £ 1 , 582 , 045 was spent to purchase arms and clothing for foreign states . The current expenditure for tho year ending 5 th Jan ., 1814 £ 77 , 406 , 919 Interest on the debt funded and unfunded , 5 th Jan ., 1814 30 , 051 , 365
Total £ 107 , 458 , 284 Equal to the valuo of 842 tons of gold . In 1814 tho sum of £ 200 , 000 was advanced to Louis XV 11 L , to enable him to return to France , and takopos < session of that throne which the French people burned , sur laplace da la Bastile in 1848 , triumphantly burying in its ashes , all that , for the maintenance of which Great Britain had squandered millions of her treasures in money , rendered thousands of her children fatherless , made her wives widows , and sacrificed the rights of her posterity . Wo have now , as briefly as was consistent with an investigation of such magnitude , glanced at the causes which , in rapid succession , led to tho creation of tho National Debt . We have likewise shown that its formation was
begun on base principles , and that it has been used , by moneymongers and fundholders , during the whole progress of its accumulation and development , as an engine to facilitate their selfish aggrandisement , whilst it has not conferred on the people those advantages that the supporters of the funding system allege . The in Jusfcrious classes of England have never gained any advantage whatever by its existence ; and thev are , through Us instrumentality at the present day , subjugated and kept undor the grasp of the fundholders , who are thereby legally empowered to force the people to give up a certain portion of their produce every year to them as interest on money lent to protect property ; which government , in place of borrowing , should have made property pay for itself at the time that , that protection was demanded .
Sebious Disaster To The Steam-Ship Leeds...
Sebious Disaster to the Steam-ship Leeds . — The steam ship Leeds , Captain Stokes , belonging to the City of Dublin Steam-ship Company , which on Friday last sailed from Dublin to Liverpool , sprung a leak at four o ' clock on Saturday morning , when about twenty miles to tho S . W . of Point Lynas , owing to tho extremely boisterous state of the weather . About eighty persons were on board at the time , including crew and passengers , together with a largo number of cattle , and a general cargo . As soon as the leak was discovered , the pumps were brought into requisition , but in a few minutes they became choked , and a subsequent attempt which was made to bale out the water with buckets failed . Tho engine fires wero therefore in a short time put out , and the steamer was thus left wholly to tho mercy of
the waves . Signals of distress were hoisted , and guns were fired , which are said to have been observed by two vessels who , however , took no notice of tho facts . The passengers , who were compelled to remain on deck on account of tho cabins being full of water , suffered severely both from the weather and from mental apprehension and anxiety , till about mid-day , when tho American ship Empire State , Captain Russell , from New York for this port , hove in sight , and on observing the signal bore down to the unfortunate steamship . Captain Russell , with the most praiseworthy humanity , on learning the extent of damage sustained by the Leeds lay to for the purpose of rendering every assistance in his power , and the steamer as soon as possible sent off to him her boats , conveying her crew and passengers ,
who were all got safe on board the Empire State by seven o ' clock in the evening . Captain Stokes was the last person to leave the Leeds , and the time he did so the water was above her forecastle deck . It is but justice to add that all tho parties received on board the Empire State were treated with the utmost kindness by Captain Russell , and provided with everything which their immediate wants required . Some time afterwards the Loeds was boarded by a boat ' s crew from tho steam ship Rose , Captain Turnbull , from Glasgow , which arrived in the Mersey on Sunday afternoon . It was the opinion of the parties on board tho Rose that tho Leeds must sink before any assistance could reach her . She was a very . old vessel , but we have ho information whether omotaho was insured . , Shortly after the arrival of the Rose , the passengers and crew of the Leeds were landed from the Empire State .
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Credit Lost Is Like A Broken Looking-Gla...
Credit Lost is like a Broken Looking-glass , —Exactly . Rather hard to shave with any longer . ' Query . —Do navigators have to double their capes in all latitude ? , or only in cold regions ? Shipwrecks . —During the past year upwards of 700 wrecks occurred on the coast of the United Kingdom . A Clock-maker in Holland has constructed a clock to go during five years without requiring to be wound up . Con . —What heavenly thing and what earthly thing does * rainy day exercise tho same influence over ?—The sun and your boots ; for j t take 8 the ghine out of both . * i v" " cal Pun . —On reading in tbe newspapers the re-Aff »;™ thc resignation of the Secretary of State for Foreign Wil ' in- ? re ™ arked that the " Palmy" days of the wmg ministry were over .
fS ^^^^ ^ -wa ^ Soajsa t ? c , ing so fast thata ^ bX ^^ 'fl ^/ '' «« j Mrs . Partington , husband was ; when he « . S , i „ " P ° rk than ray , p 00 r ' u ea !; Rood hogs we ' re . forhXd bSonE *" ' ** " J ** his childhood . " rought U P amon e em from Religious Liberty . —It is a mn ^« H „< - • li t n belonging to every human fiinB g ' ° / " * V "W ^ whom he believes ; and it can b ^ o * W th < 5 G , oi gion to coerce the religion oMother ? fo ? p ° f " ' / ^ I received voluntary , IB notrec 4 , iX ^ a ^ l . -Ml £ , * A , ? h w ; . Blass man « f *<> t <> 'y has been established J ' Venice in which hofe peculiar processes , which once renderedthe * glass of that city so celebrated , are to be revived and m « bmed with the improvements suggested by modern science ! The number of workmen it emplovs at present U 200 The ignorakckof tou . ng ladies bronchi ui > i . ' tfcnmv .
pianos , scream Italian airs , jump the polka , and jabber French for the amusement of young gentlemen with moustaches , is astonishing . The other day one of this class threw the milk intended for tea out of the window , because it had a yellow scum on the top . Thk Press in America , Russia , and Great Britain . —Sixteen copies a year , of newspapers , is the average number that would be received by every man , woman , and child , in this country ( United States ) , if equally distributed . In Great Britain , only one would be received by every 1 , 000 in habitants ; at the same ratio in Russia , only one copy to each l . OOO . OOO .-Mw York Home Journal . KXPLBNABHAN AT TBBMS CZED E t ' p OGMOOR OLMENACK ABAOHT T- ' WEATHER . Frosty . —A teetoataller ' s noaze on a Jennewerry mofnin . Sleet , ~ A man tawkin so az ta mack hiz wurds convey two meanins .
Bkeet —A tax getherer ' s knuckles . Mild . —A yung womman wal sho gefs wed . Dry . —T ' soils ov a womman ' s shoe at izzant a gossaper . ouiwr . —A womman ' s caantenanoe when shooze puttin a new gaan on . Coun Wind . —A yung man tellin hiz sweetheart atheeze fallen e luv we anuther . STORMY .--Knookin t'kettle off at fire when yerwifehee just rubd t fare irans an cleand t'harthstan up . Grkazy . —A man ' s shoolders atsmore at publick hause then hiz awn boani . Claady . —Caps an f ' rils ats hung aght at middle ov a taan eNuvember . Misty . —Leavin a brush or owt a thatsoart aghtside at door after dark . Hoat . —A womman ' s temper at hez ta sit up regelar on hur huzband wal vmn an two o ' clock in a mornin . Soft . —A yung fella at fancies at ivvery bonny lass he meets an sees admires him .
Mistaking the Time . —An industrious tradesman having taken a new apprentice , awoke him the first morning at a very early hour , by calling out that the family were sitting down to table . . " Thank you , " said the boy , as ho turned over in bed to adjust himself for a new nap , "thank you ; but I never eat anything during the night . " A Smart Witness . — Mr . Smith , you said you once officiated in a pulpit—do you mean by that , that you preached ?" — " No sir : I held the light for a man what did . "— " Ah , the court understood you differently . They supposed that the discourse came from you . "— " . No , sir ; I only throwed
a light on it . "— " No levity , Mr . Smith . Crier , wipe your nose , and call on the next witness . "—Albany Dutchman . " Looking under the Bed . "—Mrs . Jemima Jipson never could go to bed without first looking underneath to see if somebody was not stowed away there . But her search had always been bootless . At last , however , one night she spied ( or thought she did , which is all tbe same , ) thelong looked for boots and legs . — "Oh ! Mr . Jipson ! Mr . Jipson ! " she screamed out , " there ' s a man under the bed !"— " Is there ? " coolly drawled her husband , " well , my dear , lam glad you have found him at last . "S ou have been looking for him these twenty years . "
A Lecturer . —During a learned lecture by a German adventurer , one Baron Vondullbrains , he illustrated the glory of mechanics , as a science , thus : — " De t'ing dat is made is more superior than the maker . I shall show you how in some t'ings . Suppose 1 make de round wheel of de coach ? Ver' well ; dat wheel roll round five hundred mile !—and I cannot roll one myself ! Suppose I am a cooper , what you call and I make de big tub to hold wine ? He holds tons and gallons ; and I cannot hold more dan five bottle ? So you see dat what is made is more superior dan de maker . "
EXTRACTS FROM PUNCH . Missing—and has not been heard of since the 2 nd of December last—the Spirit of the French Nation . A Question for thk Schoolmen . —What requires more philosophy than taking things as they come?—Parting with things as theygo . An International Joke . —England is sometimes said to have the constitution of a horse , but it would seem that France is just now threatened with tho constitution of an ass . Fusillade Polka . —The French are so prone both to revolutions and capers , that it is expected they will shortly introduce ball-cartridge into the mazes of the dance .
Sentenced for Ten Years . — "The President of the Republic has been elected for ten years . We think that by that time , not only will the term of the President ' s power , but tho prosperity of France will also be—Decade ( Decayed . ) Switzerland in Danger . —The "Times" enumerates the many dear obligations owed by the French President to Switzerland . In which case , "Punch'' would earnestly advise Switzerland to be prepared for a tremendous instance of the President ' s gratitude . A Queer Query Quashed . —We have long been puzzled to know to what Book we should ascribe the oft-quoted "Chapter of Accidents . " Experience , however , is now daily convincing us , that the Book in question can be no other than "Bradshaw ' s Railway Guide . They Won ' t Mend their Ways . —Parliament-street is in such a disgraceful state , and is so full of mud and filth that it really ought to have its name changed to that of St . Alban ' s Place ; for it presents the dirtiest possible approach to the House of Commons .
Changarnier ' s Invasion . —Not long ago , General Changamier declared himself ready , with only 10 , 000 troops , to enter the metropolis . And the old soldier has kept an instalment of his word . Chan"arnier is in London ; but the remaining ten thousand are yet to follow . The Suspension op Liberty . —In honour of the vote for Louis N » poleon . "the tower of Notre Dame was decorated with hangings . " Considering the origin of the present government , which is based on so many shootings , the decoration by means of hangings is not inappropriate . Carrying it Out . —The reader is aware that the French President Has ordered the erasure of the words , Liberie , Eyalite , Fraternite , all over Paris . And—consistent manwhile taking L . E . F . from the public buildings , he has been careful , also , to take the £ . s . u . from the Bank .
Revolvers for the Cape . —We aro told by the papers that directions have been given to permit _ Colonel Cojt to export 450 revolving fire-arms of various sizes " for officers at tho Cape . " Ana why not—Punch asks—for the common soldiers ? Are officers only to bo licensed to shoot Kaffirs ? Or , are Kaffirs to be still permitted , at a long shot , to bring down common soldiers ? Electric Telegraph , —Mr . G . E . Dering , a gentleman of good and ancient family , and a young man of " very considerable scientific acquirements , has devised a plan by which private communications may be transmitted from one to any other station on a lino , without a possibility of their being read at tho intermediate stations . This is an invention of great importance , and will tend to render tho electric telegraph of avail in many instances of a confidential nature , which tho old plan , from its publicity , did not allow .
The Lbft Eye op a Laggard . —It is common , though we aro unconscious of it , for tlie eyes to wear unevenly ; the left lags behind , and leaves his fellow tolperform the work . All who use a single glass , and always apply it to ihe same side , especially artisans who , like watchmakers , pass hours in this position , are in a particular manner exposed to the defect . The idle eye , enervated and not preserved by indolence , is sure to be the worst . Moderate action is essential to the health of every part of the body ; and the dislocation of a limb upon the rack would not be more destructive than protracted repose . Both methods are fried upon ( he eyes ; the right is racked with labour and the left is depraved with ease . — Quarterly Reviciv .
Placemen . —The "Presse" gives us from an official return the following list of the agents and functionaries of all ranks attached to public departments in France -. —Justice , 11 , 200 ; Foreign Affairs , 032 ; Public Instruction , 50 , 000 ; Interior , 344 , 000 ; Public Works , 10 , 000 ; War , 30 , 000 ; Marine , 13 , 000 ; Finance , 70 , 000 , Total , 534 , 832 . In the 11 , 200 agents connected with ths department of Justice are not included 18 , 000 agents ami members of the Legion of Honour paid by the budget of that institution . Out of the 344 , 000 of the department of the Interior , the agents paid by the communes amount to 300 , 000 , and the 10 , 000 employes of Public Works are independent of the lo . OOO men employed in tho repair of the roads .
A Name for Travellehs . -Ah Englishman had lured a smart travelling servant , and on arriving at an inn on evening , knowing well the stringency of police regulations in Austria , where he was , he called tor the usual register of travellers , that he might du ' y inscribe himself therein . His servant replied that be had amicpated his wishes , and had registered him in full form as an " English gentleman , of independent property . "— " But how have you put down my name ? I have not told it to you . "— " I can ' t exactly pronounce it , but I copied it faithfully from Milor ' s portmanteau . "— " But it is not there . Bring me the book . " What was his amazement at finding , instead of a very plain
English narao of two syllables , the following portentous entry of himself :- "Monsieur Warrantedsolidleather . " compliment of warranted solidity which we would paid to ua all over the world . ui
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Citation
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Northern Star (1837-1852), Jan. 31, 1852, page 3, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ns/issues/ns2_31011852/page/3/
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