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LABOUR'S SOCIAL CHIVALRY . ( From " Voice 3 of Freedom , and Lyrics of Love , " By Geraid Masset . ) Uprou 3 O ye now , bravo brother-band ; "With honest heart , and working hand : "We are but few , toil-tried and true , Tet hearts beat high to daTe and do . And who wonld not a champion be , In Labour ' s social Chivalry ? We fight , but bear no bloody brand , We fight to free our fatherland ! We fight , that smiles of love may glow , On lip * where curses 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 our 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 , hand and brain , We'lll win the golden age again ; And Love ' s millenialmorn , shall rise In happy hearts and blissful eyes . Hurrah , hurrah ! true knights are we , In Labour ' 8 social Chivalry .
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May I not Do What I Will with My Own ? By E . V . Neaie , Esq . London : Bezer , 183 , Fleetstreet . This pamphlet has been elicited by the monstrous despotism asserted by the masters in the 'Representation of their Case' they hare issued to the public The spirit of that document , and the doctrines it inculcates , may he judged of hy the subjoined extract , which forms the text of Mr . Neale's commentary : — " All that we want is to be let alone—with less than that we shall not he satisfied ; until we accomplish that we shall sot 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 award will be honest , intelligent , and satisfactory , we must say that we alone are the competent judges of our own business , we are respectively the masters of our own est ablishments , 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 liritish subject , to do what we will with our own , and to vindicate the title of our workmen to the same constitutional privilege . " We altogether 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 . Xeale ) is the claim of the owners of the present great engineering establishments , now unhappily engaged in a contest with a large body of their most skilful workmen . They claim in their own emphatic language to DO WHAT IHKt WUX WITH THEIR OWN . Important words ! Word 3 suggestive , when coupled with the acts with which they have been coupled , of most important inquiries . Inquiries as to what the Capitalist can pro . perly 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 pamphlet before ue . Beginning with a shoit 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 U 3 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 ai . dhim ?" The decision of an impartial judge ? They altogether ignore it . — "The interference of a self-constituted arbiter with the internal economy of our establishments , is not Ies 3 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 iinswer 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 .
Our establishments say the employers are our own . But how did these become their own ? The employers tell us iiow themselves : " Many of ourselves have traced their rise from the condition of the employed to that of employers , to the opportunities afforded by piecework which enabled them to become small contractors , and thereby to avail themselves of the reward of their directing skill . " What is the 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 agent in exchanges , money , enables him to make nse of a 3 capital . lie lays it out , to take first the simplest case
in the purchase of materials ; he seeks for some one else to aid him in working up tbe materials into some object which others want or desire . Let the bargain be concluded on Just 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 , Iarn ready to give so much present labour to work these up . You 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 whish 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 . Ton take that due to your present labour ; and thus we shall divide the resnlts fairly between us . I say this wonld be a just contract between the two
parties , the skill being supposed in each case to be equal . If the skill were unequal , if oth-r considerations entered into tbe ng reement , 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 ai-Hsy successive ^ orks , these considerations might complicatethe terms of the agreement , but they could not alter Its principle . A just agreement between the labourer and tlie capitalist i 3 one by which , in one form or another , the la < bourer shares in the results of the work arising from the union of labour and capital , in proportion to the degree in which be has contributed to produce them . And no doubt 3 ueh would be the principle upon which these bargains would be concluded if the labourer were really a free agent ; for it is the principle acted upon every day , in
bargains between persons who enter into partnershi p , on condition of one supplying the capital and the other tit © skill . But such was nofc 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 tbese 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 advantage derived from the work into his own pocket . And why was this the principle ? Why was the labourer induced 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 tbe 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 hanus bad ^• nade , a property wcil 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 . Be * cause 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 . Cariyle , " 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 leave to 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 waa not their own , on the labour and the skill of other men . And thus it is that ihey 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 .
Sow , I say that i n 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 colonr 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 tha capitalist to acquire by purchase in the slave market , at the lowest price to which competition would reduce the demand , human beings as his chatties : recognised his right
to treat them a 3 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 . The laws of other countries called civilised , and Christian , allow tho 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 emp ' . oyer , " by becoming a small holder of slaves , and thus " availing himself of the rewards" which the law there or then allowed to be taken" for their directing skill . " If this law was not the true expression of justice , as in
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England , at least , is generally admitted , it is , at least , open o inquiry , whether the law which now permits bargains to be made between capitalist and workmen , ou 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 a s I have described , though they are the absolute property of the employers 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 . England , at least , is generally admitted , it is . afc least . ODen
That the employers , in justice , would have a part in them , I do not deny , but is is only a part . They have been produced not by their labour , or Ekill . 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 asituatioB to enforce it ; and they ought in strictjusticetohe employed , not at the arbitrary will of tbe present nominal owners , but for the joint benefit of all those through whose efforts they camo into existence , or of their representatives . On the second question :- ^« What ought the Capitalist to will to do with that which he may call his own , ' Mr . Neale thus speaks : —
It is a moat difficult question that of the introduction of machinery , so long as the entire control over the employment and remuneration of labour is left wholly under the management of the capitalist , whose interest even under such arrangements as those just indicated it must alwayB 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 soientifio 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 . ill the necessaries and most of the refinements of life shall be brought by a few daily hours of moderate toil within the reach of every ^ healthy member of the human race .
But I cannot close my eyes to the fact that , under our social arrangements as they exist / the improvements in machinery are to the labouring population generally , rather a curse than a blesBing . 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 it a pure blessing , beo-mse 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 needed to do the work with the aid of the machine , than without it ? How can he hail the advance of improvement ? Strange result ! The power of labour is increased , and by that very fact the labourer suffers . Twice , three times , ten times , the work can be done in the same time ; and because this can be done , the labourer is told that he can re . ceiveonly 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 can see no other solution than this , of transferring the regulation of work from the contributor of the results of past labour , to tho contributor of living labour and skill . Things have become , from the 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 i Is not the man in very truth of more value than that which he possesses ? Why should it seem absurb to appjy to the capital resulting from human labour the same rule as is applicable to the original capital of the human race , to tho 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 tho 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 oapital 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 beon 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 rn the case of landed property , the union of interests effected where the cultivator is also the owner , by means of this idea is capable of being extended to tha 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 Bhall be carried on , and determines on tho 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 Btipulated as the remuneration for his capital , and of the capital itself if it be advanced only as a loan ; and to a participation , regulated hy the constitution of tho particular association , in tho choice from among the associated workmen of those to whom the direct conduct of the bueinesB 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 the opposite direction to those of which we have bo 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 tendenoy of the Working Association must be to increase them . If at present tha workman is less considered than the work , under tho 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 bo 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 claeses , the 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 the vital and a \ l-impoTtant 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 meetin g ground . Mr . Neale avows that ho is a conservative , and therefore differs entirely from us as to the 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 thafc question are bound to act in concert , no matter how much they may differ on other subjects . Mutual intercourse and friendly effort in ono direction will tend to produce a better understanding , and united action in others .
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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 paidst of labour , may and ought to give himself to the most important improvements , that he may cultivate his sense of justice , his benevolence , and the desire of perfection . Toil is the school for these high principles ; and we have here a strong presumption that , in other respects , it does not necessarily blight the bouI . Next , we have seen that the most fruitful sources of truth and wisdom are not books , precious as they are , but experience 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 eives a better product . Make men intelligent , and they 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 Lave been contrived . Spread education , and , as the history of this country shows , there will he no bounds to useful invention . —Chahnino .
Specie mom Australia . —The vessel Anna Mary , arrived from Sydney , Aew South Wales , has brought forty-two packages of specie , three boxes of dollars , and , also 410 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 . The Admission of Jews into Parliament . —The action Miller , v . Salamons , camo 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 Wedne « - day . The Lord Chiaf Baron said . that on account of tbe importance of the case , and the necessity of lookinginto the statutes , it would be necessary for the court to take time to consider its judgment .
Tea Deliveries , Jas . 26 . —The deliveries of tea last week were again large , being CG 5 , 1121 bs . The imports into London last year were about 17 , 000 , 0001 bs . larger than those of 1850 .
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.... JHISSQRY . pF TflB ; NtojfAL DEBT ( From "Sangster ' s , Rights arid Duties of Property " ) - ^^ KISgSPATas ^ ftg ss ^ JBWiSsaxafisa was withdrawn , it may therefore be presumeduSS " the bank at that time was intended as an elXe aRSwST ment , to facilitate the prosecution of wafS g whioi S « t its aid must have ban relinquished . WillS leemi to have lent his dignity to whatever schemes ffghfbe beat calculated to raise money to carry on his wara : in fact the diplomacy of his reign was to raise money irrespective of principle , for under him the abominable principle of bribing a majority m Parliament was successfully introduced , and considerable sums of money were sne ' nt with desired effect . The treaty Of Ryswiok , in 169 ? put an end to the French war , and EHgland onco more enjoyed a g limpse of peace , with a national debt accumulated fn £ 21 , 500 , 000 . In 1698 , the East India ComnanvTnH 1 msTnnv np unin-wifiA . ; . JTi > -
vernment £ 2 , 000 , 000 for their charter . The Company lint the money on very similar terms as the bank had done and at the same rate of interest . The government how ever , reserved to itself the power , after a certain £ e should have elapsed , of cancelling the charter Imth nf of repaying tho money . vumjwiy , auu At the close of the reign of William III . in 1701 through the money obtainelfrom the East India Company had been made use of to payoff a part of the debt . anS the surplus revenues had also bfien applied to theBamamir pose , still it amounted to £ 16 , 394 , 702 . P The next war into which the nation was being plunged at the accession of Qu ' en Anne , was that of the Spanish S " £ ?* " y ° t P ™ ? ™ " 0 "sue , left his kingdom b y his will to Philip , Duke de Bern- » MnHOnn nf
Louis XIV . of France . Louis supported the claims of ¦ his grandson , who had mounted the throno of Spain in 1700 under the title of Philip V . England engaged in i is dii " pute 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 whioh laid the foundation of our funding system . Previously to this time money had always been borrowed by the government , with the apparent intention and prospect of repaying it ; but in 1711 , goverament had borrowed £ 9 , 000 , 000 , without the means either of paying it , or the intereat thereon . This state of
finance paved the way to the establishment of the South ( sea Company , which took in tho de bts of tho government to the amount of its capital ; and may therefore be said to nave been the commencement of the " funding system , " as the parties who took shares in the Company entered into an agreement , unprecedented in its tenure , nnmaly , 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 , ai the inglorious treaty of Utrecht , in 1713 , the national debt had been raised to £ 54 , 115 , 3 G 3 . 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 .
suea ior 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 Aniento 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-monopol y company , and became its governor . Bince then we have abolished property in slaves by paying twenty millions to the Christian dealers in humanity . Thug 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 thedebt was made during the peaoe TmS ¦/? jl the treaf y of Utre cht , so that , in the year 1717 it had been reduced to £ 48 , 500 , 000 . Exchequer bills were farst issued in 169 G for amountB in £ 5 to £ 10 . In 1717 the first funding of thoso bills was effected by private arrangement with the Bank of England , whioh held a largo amount of them , and agreed to fund £ 2 , 000 , 000 of them at five per cent , Exchequer bills have always since , from time to time , been funded by private arrangement with the parties holding them . The 8 outh Sea Company had , a little after its formation , inoreased its capital to £ 10 . 600 , 000 . In 1720 , it was , however , empowered by act of Parliament to buy in the debts of the nation , and to augment its capital to any required amouut . Tho amount of new oapital added to the Company ' s stook 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 all went on as if some new mine of wealth had been discovered
, whioh had such an inebriating effeot on the public mind that shares were recklessl y bought at any price , and gigantic frauds were resorted to by the managers of tho Company , by selling shares at fictitiously high prices to enrich themselves . But in a very short time , the unsoundnesa of itB 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 tho part that ho had taken in the nefarious plunder of the public . Parliament saw fit to equalise as much as waB possible the gains and losses among the innocentparties , and public confidence after a time resumed its usual course . Thus ended tho South Sea Bubble , whioh the secret committee , appointed by tho House of Commons to scrutinise its proceedings , reported as being of the denpest of " villany and fraud that hell ever contrived to ruin a nation . "
Ihe Continental wars during tho reign of George I . were not so expensive as former campaigns had been , and the amount added to tho debt was more than balanced by the expiration of terminable annuities , and by reducing the rate of interest . Tho 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 peaoe whioh followed , a small portion of the debt was paid off , so that when war was deolared 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 the 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 , und war was therefore declared against Spain . This war beeon favourabl y for the English arms ; but very soon a aeries of blunders in ita direction ensued , till at length great losses were suffered by our armaments ; and the expedition againit Carthagena having signally failed , hostilities were suspended , and the blame of mismanagement laid on Sir Robert Walpole , who was ineffectually accused by the House of Commonsof "Undueinfluenco in elections , granting fraudulent contracts , peculation , and profueion in tht expenditure of secret service money . "
The Emperor Charles VI . of Germany , died in 1740 , and the malo issue of the House of Hapaburg having became extinct , the government of the hereditary Austrian dominions descended his daughter Maria Theresa . France supported thepretendonaof the Elector of Bavaria to a part of tho late Emperor ' s dominions , and Bent an army to oppose Maria Theresa ' s claim . From the great BucceBB of the French and Bavarian army which took possession of Prague , and crowned the Elector king of Bohemia , George II . con . sidered 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 the humiliating treaty of Aix la-Chapelle , when both found , that , after losing many men , and expending large sums of money , neither had g ained nny perceptible advantage ; they , therefore , agreed to rolinquiRli whatever possessions each had taken from tlio other , and to return to exactly their position previously to tho 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 peace 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 tho coast of Malabar the English and French bad 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 Amerioa . We were irresistibly compel ' ed 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 laBted until the peace of Paris in 1763 . By this war , sixty-four millions were added to the debt , which then amounted to £ 138 . 865 , 440 . bearing interest £ 4 , 852 , 051 .
By this war , whioh terminated successfully fov Great Britain , its possessions were very considerably enlarged , though very little benefit was afterwardB 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 gorern . From 1763 to the commencement of the American War of Independence in 1775 , there w as paid off tho debt £ 16 , 281 , 795 , reducing it to £ 128 , 583 , 635 , when hostilities began at Lexington , near Boston , between the American militia and the King ' s troops . T he object America had in view in this war was , to assert its independence . In 1764 , the British government
imposed upon the American colonies a stamp tax , to which they refused to submit ; in consequence of whioh it was repealed next year ; but tbe Americans supposed that thia relinquishment only proceeded from fear . A tax of threepence per lb . on Tea was afterwards essayed ; this also failed . It was not tho amount of the tax tbe Americans looked on with such abhorrence j what they contended against 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 whioh those taxes were to be paid . The first cargo of Tea sent to Boston was seized by the Americans , and thrown into the sea ; the excisemen were tarred , feathered , and . indignantly used . The infatuated ministry pushed things from bad to worse ,
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by . immediately . paBBing the Bpaton Port Bill wmm , „ ,. »* eloie . it as a shipping port , and thus rS i VtSf mi theofficial ^ announcement , that this Sirha ™ L / " made known in Amerioa , all iuture honoAVt * preBerved , wished ; the Americans gathered T £ * eiDg mour . and hurled defianceat the principle of toSf" T tempted to be fastened on them . Ww now , 5 S ? & terrific fury in all parts of America . The result of th V was , that , after seven years of oonBtaut oamDiiona a war which Great Britain expended 139 millions , anuTeft bl « " i ? Ing in the woods of Amerioa the bones of 43 500 EnMi i men . The British army , under Lord Cornwallis surrnn dered in' 1781 "to General Washington , and thus inglorioualv ended a war in which we had engaged with the 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 ita unerring hand , as a retribution the loss of men , money , and colonies , with a national debt raised ; to £ 249 , 851 , 628—interest on the funded and un . funded debt , £ 9 , 451 , 772 . ' -
During the ten years whioh elapsed between the termination of the American excise war in 1783 , and tbe commencement ' of the French revolutionary anti-deBpotic war in 1793 Only SJffi o , Q 0 f th f u ebfc waB ? ald off ' «» l its amount was £ 239 , 350 , 248 , and the annual chnrgo £ 9 , 437 8 C 2 when Great Britain unwarrantably precipitated itself into ' a fo reign civil war , which instead of being cheeked , or the evils mitigated by our inteference , was thereb y immensely increased ; the revolutionary spirit in France provooalivelv fanned into a blaze , and . the Reign of Terror established • * * The revolutionary war was carried on with variable suo cess until 1796 , when Napoleon , a man hitherto unheard of appeared on the stage of European traged y , to amaze liko Oarriok all the other actors . So unprecedented ^ successful was he in his campaigna , that Great Britain in
order to orunh his rising power , in the year 1797 spent in war £ 55 , 432 , 826 , whereas , tho nett revenue paid ' into tho Exchequer was only £ 21 , 454 , 728 ; shewing an excess of expenditure over the income of £ 33 . 978 , 908 , equal to the value of 226 J tons weight of gold . This enormouB expenditure had such an effect on public confidence that consols fell to 47 J ; 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 up to Saturday 25 th , when the directors found , that if tho 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 , prohU biting 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 whioh has entailed upon the industrious population a debt , which belongs only to them by moral imputations and legal imposition . The Currency Bill passed in 1819 , for which Sir Robert Peel was so much accused , has not produced a tithe of the evils which thia Sundny Act of 1797 has yielded to the labouring portion of the oountry .
In consequence of Great Britain refusing to enter upon terms of peaco , the war-was prolonged till 1802 , when it was brought to a tflmporary termination by the peaco of Amjens . Between 1793 and 1802 there was added to the capital of the debt £ 264 200 , 230 , and the annual charge was increased by £ 10 , 509 , 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 the pretended peaoe of Amiens , until the termination of the war after the battle of Waterloo , there was added to thedebt £ 381 , 035 , 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 pennanonfc 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 tho imposition of new taxes , so that during the nine years' war whioh followed , the permanent taxation was doubled in amount , and in 1803 had reached the Bum of £ 38 609 , 392 . When war was again declared after the peace of Amiens , it bocame imperative to impose . additional taxation ; therefore , in 1803 new taxes were voted to the yearly amount of £ 12 , 500 , 000 , boing nearly one-third of the 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 the impoRts of tbe two previous and the three subsequent years , for we find , duiing the Bix years ending in 1806 , no less a sum than £ 26 , 780 , 000 of annual 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 sevent y-ti ve 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 , shewing £ 10 , 082 , 884 yearly reduction of taxation in favour of a population which has increased seventy-five per cent . Yet we find that the minUtors 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 oould not satisfy the nation as to the mode of expending this surplus revenue .
There was paid into the Exchequer the produce alone of taxation , between 1803 and 1816 , tho sum of £ 859 , 200 , 449 . The average annual taxation during thoso fouvteon 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 , wo spent in loans and subsidies £ 30 , 898 , 957 . Average expenditure foreaoh of those years , in subsidising foreign states , £ 2 , 574 , 913 . The largest amounts of revenue , the produce of taxation paid into the Exchequer , were for tho three last years of the war as follows : — Total nett revenue paid into the Exchequer in 1813 £ G 8 7 ^ . 3 G 3 .
18 U 71 , 131 , 503 . 1814 72 , 210 , 518 . Subsidies and loans paid to foreign nations during the years—1813 ; . JEG . 78 G . . 18 U 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 the year ending 5 th Jan , T 18 U £ 77 , 406 , 918 Interest on the debt funded and unfunded , Sth Jan ., 18 1 * 30 , 051 , 365 Total £ 107 , 458 , 284 Equal to the value of 842 tons of gold .
In 1814 the sum of £ 200 , 000 wns advanced to Louis XVIII ., to enable him to return to Franco , and tako possession of that throne which tho French people burned , sur laplacedela Baslile 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 willows , and sacrificed the rights of hey posterity . We have now , as briefly as was oonsietent with an investigation of such magnitude , glanced at the causes which , in rapid succession , led to the creation of the National Debt . We have likewise shown that its formation was begun on base principles , and that it has been used , by
monoymongers and fuudholdevs , during tho wholo progvc » B of its accumulation and development , aa nn enginoto facilitate their selfish aggrandisement , whilst it has not conferred on the people those-advantages that the supporters of the funding system allege . Tho industrious classes of England have never gained any advantage whatever by its existence ; and thoy are , through its instrumentality at the present day , subjugated and kept under 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 mado property pay for itself at the timo that , that protection was demanded .
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Credit Lost is like a Brokk . n LooK ^ G-suss—Esactly . Rather hard to shave with any longer . - »««< ny . Qubby . —Do navigators have to double their capes in all latitudes , or only in cold regions ? Shipwrecks . —During the past year upward s of 700 wrecks occurred on the coast of the United Kingdom . A Clock-makeh 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 a rainy day exercise the same influence over ?—The sun and y ° " boots ; for it takes the shine out oi both . A Political Pun . —On reading in the newspapers the report of the resignation of the Secretary of State for Foreign Attain , a wag remarked that the "Palmy" days of the w n'g ministry werp . nvflr .
Rirlto W WlN—A wag says , it is " folly to expect a young a nar J ™ ?• * wbom everybody speaks well of . Get up dozen eualT' and , her affections will cling flo fast that a Ajfrnc " hans 1 ? ant remove them . " . M bBtter ^ i ? T " Noni » n . " said Mrs . Partingtonf buTand waS til fh e tOiU ? ? ° P ° rk than ? f ^*™ Rood how wmfo ? hVuS ' i ? ' P ° orma " . he knew what his childhood . '' ad been hrov S ^ up among ' em from befoSHo everThnr ^ - 3 raatterof M * . Orally tt& ^^^ J ? " ^ tt . God In gion to coerce the religionof anotW ? " ^ of on « «?*» s « l 1 : received voluntary , tonotr ccrtwd at J l Tf J ? "' lfnOt A NKW-glass manufactory Kpn lT ^ u' ^ 'Sr . in which those peculiar processes wh ; ch Ubll 8 hed at Ve , ni ' glasB of that city so celebratedI a ' r ^ ftt m , 0 ?^ " ^ thf > bined with the improvements suggested bv ^ S 1 "" C 0 B 1 " The number of workmen it mp ^ j ^ SST ^ The ignoiuhce of youso ladxes brought »/ '„ , „„„
pianos scream jtaiion airs , jump the polka , and Jabber French for the amusement of young gen tlemen with mou £ tacku , » astonishing . The other day one of tl , das . threw tho milk intended for tea out of the window , because it had a yellow scum on the top . The Press in Amebica , Russia , and Great Britain —Sixteen copies a year , of newspaper * , is the average number that would be received by every man , woman , and child in this country ( United States ) , if equall y distributed . la Great Britain , only one would be received by every 1 , 000 in habitants ; at the same ratio in Russia , only one couv to eachl . OOO . OOO .-Ma ; J or *// oroe . 7 o «»!( rf . n KX 1 PLKNASHAN AT TERMS BZED E T ' POGMOOR OLMENACK ABAGBT T ' WEATHER . Frostt . —A teetoataller ' s noaze on a Jennewerry mornin . » leet . ~ A man tawkin so az ta mack hiz wurds convey two meaning . '
Brket . —A . tax petherer ' s knuckles . ^ lLD « -A yang womman wal sho gets wed . 1 JRY . —1 soils ov a womman ' s shoe at izzant a gossaper . sunny . —A womman ' s caautenanco when shooze puttin a new gaan on . Coud \ Vikd . ~ A . yutig man tellin hiz sweetheart at heeze fallen e luv we anuther . S . } , -K ? ° ckin f kettle off at fire when yerwifeherjust rubd t fire trans an cleand t'harthslan up . Ureazt . —A man ' s shoolders ats more at publick hause then hiz awn hoam . eNuv embe Cap 3 "" *"'* ^ " aRht at middle ov a ta 8 Q M « Tt . —Leavin a brush or owt a that soart aghtside at door Hoat . —A . vtomraan ' s temper at hez ta sit up regelar oa hur huzband wal wun 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 tho first morning at a very early hour , by calling out that the family were Bittinz 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 ofSciated in a pulpit-do you mean by that , that you preached 1 " — 'No sir : I held the li ght 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 nOBe , and call on the next witness . "—Albany Dutchman "Lookiso 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 , ) the Ion ? looked for
boots and legs . — "Oh ! Mr . Jipson ! Mr . Jiuson ! " she screamed out , " there ' s a man under the bed '"— " lg there ? " coolly drawled her husband , " well , my dear , I am glad you have found him at last . You have been looking for him these twenty years . " A Lecturer . —During a learned lecture by a German adventurer , one Baron Vondullbrains , he illustrated tbe glory of mechanics , as a science , thus : — " De t'ing dat is made is move superior than the mafor . I shall show you how in sonic t ings . Suppose I make tie round wheel of de coach ? Ver well ; dat wheel roll round five hundred mile ! -and I ciinnot roll one myself ! Suppose I am a cooper , what you call and I make de big tub to hold wine ? lie 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 S pirit of the French Ration . A Question for the Schoolmen . —What requires more philosophy than taking things as they come?—Parting with things as theygo . Ah International Joke . —England is sometimes said to have the constitution of a horse , but it would seem that France isjust now threatened with the constitution of an ass . I usillade Polka . —The French ure so prone both to revolutions and capers , that it is expected they will shortly intro « duce ball cartridge into the mazes of the dance .
Sentknced for Tex Ykaus . — "The President of the Republic has been elecied for ten years . We think that by that , time , not only will the term of the President ' s power , but tha prosperity of France wiil also be—Decade ( Decaved . ) 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 mstauce of the President ' s gratitude . A Queer Queiiy Quashed . —We have long been puzzled to know to what Book we should ascribe the oft-quoted "Chapter of Accidents . " Experience , however , is nowdaily convincing us , that the Book in question can be no other than "Bradshaw ' s Railway Guide . " They Won ' t Mf . sd their \ V . \ ys . —Parliament-street \ i in 6 iich a disgraceful state , and is so full of mud and filth that it really ought to have its name changed to that of St . Albau ' s Place ; for it presents the dirtiest possible approach to the House of Commons .
Chanoarnier ' s Invasion . —Not long ago , General Chan * garnier declared himself ready , with only 10 , 000 troops , to enter the metropolis . And the old soldier has kept an instalment of his word . Chani ; arnier is in London ; but the remaining ten thousand are yet to follow . The Suspension of Liberty . —In honour of ths vote for Louis Napoleon , " the tower of Notre Dame was decorated with hangings . " Considering the origin of the present government , which is based on so many shootings , the deco * ration by meana of hangings is not inappropriate . Carryixo it Out . —The reader is aware that the French President has ordered the erasure of the words , Libcrte , Eyaliie , Fralernitt , all over Paris , And—consistent manwhile taking L E , F . from the public buildings , he has been careful , also , to take the £ , s . d . from the Bank .
Revolvers for the Cape . —We are told hy the papers that directions have been given to permit Colonel Colt to expovt 430 revolving fire-arms of various sizes " for officers at the Cape . " And why not—Punch asks—for the common soldiers ? Are officers only to be licensed to shoot Kaffirs ? Or , aro Kaffirs to bp still permitted , at a long ahot , to bring ; down common soldiers ?
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Electric Telegraph . —Mr . G . E . Bering , a gentleman of good ami ancient family , and a young man of very considerable scientific acquirements , has devised a p lan by which private communications may be transmitted from one to any other station on a line , without a possibility of their boing road at the intermediate stations . This is an invention of great importance , and will tend to render the electric telegraph of avail in many instances of a confidential nature , which tho old plan , from its publicity , did not . allow . The Left Eye of a Laggard . —It is common , though we are unconscious of it , for the eyes to wear unevenly ; the left lags behind , and leaves his fellow tofperform the " work . All who use a single glass , and always apply it to the same Bide , especially artisanB 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 tried upon the eyes ; the right is racked with labour , and the left is depraved with ease . —Quarterly Review .
Placemen . —The "Pvessc" gwes us from an official relurn the following list of the agents and functionaries of all ranks attached to public departments in France : —Justice , 11 , 200 ; Foreign Affairs , 632 ; Public Instruction , 50 , 000 ; Interior , 344 , 000 ; Public Works , 10 . 000 ; War , 30 , 000 ; Marine , 13 , 000 ; Finance , 76 , 000 . Total , 534 , 832 . In the 11 , 200 agents connected with the department of Justice are not incluuea 18 , 000 agents and members of the Legion ox 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 , 000 men employed in tho repair of the roads .
A Name for Travellers —An Englishman had hired a amart travelling servant , and on arriving at an inn on evening , knowing well the stringency of police regulations in Austria , where bu was , he called lor the usual register of travellers , that be might duly inscribe himself therein . Ilia servant replied that he had anticipated his wishes , and lnd registered him in full form as an " Englishgentleman , 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 name of two syllables , the following portentous entry of himself :- '' Monsieur Wavrantedsolidleather . '' Such is tha compliment of warranted solidity which we would giadiy have puid to us all over the world .
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Serious Disaster to the Steam-siiip Leeds . —The Btonm 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 the extremely boisterous state of tho weather . About eighty persons were on board at the ti . me , ineluding crew and passengers , together with a large number of oattle , 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 Bhort time put out , and the steamer was thus left wholly to the mercy of tho waves . Signals of distress were hoistedand suns were
, fired , which are said to have been observed by two voxels who , however , took no notice of the faots . The passengers , who wero compelled to remain on deck on account of the cabins being foil of water , Buffered severely both from the weather , and from mental apprehension and anxiety , till about mid-day , when the Am erican ship Empire State , Captain Russoii , from New York for thia port , hove in sight , and on observing tho signal bove down to the unfortunate steam-ship . 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 Rent off to himher boats , conveying her crew and passengers , who were all got safe on board the Empire State by seven
o clock m the evening . Captain Stokes was the last person to leave tho Leeds , and the time he did so tho 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 b y Captain Russell , and provided with everything which their immediate wants required . Some time afterwards the Leeds was boarded by a boat ' s crew from the steam shi p Rose , Captain Turnbull , from Glasgow , whioh arrived in the Mersey on Sunday aftornoon . It was the opinion of the parties on board the Rose that the Leeds must ankbeforo any assistance could reach heri She was a very old vessel , but wo have no information whether or not she was insured . ' Shortly aftcv the arrival of the Kose , the passengers and crew of the . Leeds were landed from the Empire Stato .
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January 31 , 1852 , THE NORTHERN STAR . ^^ ggggg n ¦ * "
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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/vm2-ncseproduct1663/page/3/
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