The translations from the German and Italian are good, "The Poet's Fate" in particular. They are extracts from a work little known, "The Poetical Remains of the late Robert Fraser;" and evince judgment in selection. The opening article is clever-" Gloriana, a Chronicle of Chivalry," as is also THE EFFECTS OF MONOPOLY UPON TRADE, "The state of the poorer classes, not only of this country, but throughout the civilised world, is such, that it becomes a question, not of a nation, but of mankind generally, as to what means should be adopted to alleviate the great and growing distress which, unfortunately, seems to be co-extensive with civilisation itself. Ab. stractedly considered, it is, indeed, a painful subject for reflection, that people should be perishing for want of the actual necessaries of life amidst so much luxury and profusion which is enjoyed by the favoured few; and it forces upon all reflective minds the question, whether it is produced by oppression and unjust laws, or is the natural consequence of a superabundant population? The last of these alleged causes is too absurd to be entertained for a moment; what can be more irreverent than to assert there are more human beings sent into the world than can be maintained? It is vain to suppose that the tide of increasing population is to be stayed. That tide has its ebbs and flows; but the last census left us with upwards of twenty-six millions of souls in these kingdoms. With the exception of a comparatively small number, born to wealth without labour, these twenty-six millions have continually present to their minds the necessity of toiling in one way or other for subsistence. For an Englishman there is no standing still; onwards he must move, or sink. Toil is the Englishman's lot; but in no country on the face of the earth is toil so cheerfully submitted to, or so little oppressive to the frame. With every motive for labouring hard, and the capability of endurance beyond what the people of any other country possess, all that is wanted for such a population is that they shall have their arms free-that they shall have leave to toil. In England the agricultural labourer will always intrinsically be a cheaper labourer than the continental labourer; and, as far as the raising of food is concerned, the cost here will be lower than on the continent. Monopoly may artificially enhance the cost of subsistence of the labourer; but we exclude monopoly. Let the agriculturist and the manufacturer be disencumbered of the monopolist, and then we say English labour will always be able to do for itself: competition is as healthful and invigorating to the farmer as the manufacturer. I am not prepared to give an opinion as to the manner in which it would be best to obtain a revenue; indeed, it would be presumptuous to grapple with a question that has baffled the greatest of statesmen, but it does seem but common sense that the prosperity of a nation must depend upon its labouring population, and therefore anything that supersedes their operation must be prejudicial to the interests of the country. It is erroneous to estimate the prosperity of an empire by the number and extent of its possessions. The nation, however small, that has the happiest and most contented people, will always possess the most power, Perhaps nothing has contributed more to the distress of the English nation than the acquisition of her numerous colonies, and perhaps nothing can account better for the privation and destitution of her working classes than the vast number of the aristocracy who are revelling in luxury and profusion. Our taxes are not all levied for revenue, but for the protection of this monopoly against honest industry, to pamper the few and to starve the many. The question of free-trade has been so frequently discussed that it becomes a difficult matter to bring forward any new argument in favour of the subject, and therefore, without presuming to suggest a reme. dy for the existing distress, I shall make it rather my province to trace that distress to the monopoly of our commerce. Perhaps nothing contributes more to this distress than that exclusive feeling called nationality, which robs us of that sympathy and good feeling which should exist between man and man, and conflicts interests which ought to be mutual. It is the vain attempt to render a nation independent, as it is termed, that creates war, and supports oppression in the shape of useless and arbitrary monarchies. It is this nationality that prevents the freely bartering the productions of one country for those of another. The very fact that even the common necessaries of life are not all produced in any one single country proves that the earth was never meant to be divided into so many parts, one against the other. Every nation has its superfluous productions as well as its deficiencies, and, however it may artificially lessen the latter, still it must in the end impoverish the people; and yet, although this is a fact that cannot be denied, the system is universally practised, and we seek to acquire by much labour and art what, if trade were less restricted, we should obtain as the natural and superfluous product of another country. This brings us to that most powerful argument against free-trade-self-interest. It will be found that those who have, as it is called, protection, have of all others the least claim to it. They are the owners, if I may so term them, of our deficiencies, and they seek to increase the intrinsic value of their goods to that of our superfluous productions; in a word, if we have free-trade, one half of the incomes of our landholders would be reduced-one half of the immense riches would be distributed among the working classes. In this country we number among our deficiencies corn and grain of various kinds; among our superfluities are our manufactures, whereas, in many countries, particularly on the continent, the reverse is the case. The remedy here seems plain enough, were we permit ted to use it; but, as in this free country the few govern the many, so are our deficiencies protected and our superfluities neglected. We frequently hear of a deficient harvest, but seldom find the landholders reduce their rents-it matters not to them that their land has been unproductive: they reject the rule which teaches us that if 1000 produce so much, 500 is worth but a moiety. The cry against the corn-laws is equalled only in extent by that against the low wages which are paid to our artizans and mechanics. Inferior articles are produced, which, to bring any profit to the retailer, must be worked at prices entailing endless slavery on the labourer. 'The labourer is worthy of his hire' is an adage often quoted, but not always acted upon. It is certainly difficult to compel tradesmen to give an adequate remuneration in these days of unboundel competition and zealous rivalry, but at all events the public should not give its support to men who, taking advantage of the existing distress, grind the labourer down until he can hardly obtain a bare subsistence, and who completely deprive the fair trader of any chance. The public is always ready to deprecate the system when a case of hardship and distress becomes generally known, and shows no backwardness in relieving it. It would, however, be much better for the unfortunate objects of sympathy if some little consideration were felt for them in the first instance, when it is possible that much misery might be prevented which is now either never heard of at all, or only relieved by generous impulse when a particular "case" is brought under the public notice. How many are there who would indignantly denounce the cruelty of reducing wages, and yet who always proceed on the principle of beating down the tradesman to the lowest farthing for every article they buy of him? It is this system of parsimony on the one hand which leads to oppression on the other; and it is pretty certain that the customer who haggles about the price of what he purchases is very frequently aiding in withholding a proper remuneration from those who are compelled to support them selves by their labours. 'Live and let live is a maxim that should always be kept in mind, but which is too often forgotten by those who have no occasion to indulge in the habit of cheapening, and who would despise themselves for it if they only believed it had the effect (which it certainly has) of diminishing the hard earnings of struggling industry. Perhaps no people are slower in reforming than are the English; and injustice must indeed be apparent before they ever talk of remedying the evil. At one time it was a difficult matter to convince an Englishman that his country was in any respects inferior in its government to others. He imagined England and liberty to be almost synonymous; and it was not until he beheld the people dying of starvation under the banner of freedom that his confidence in the happy state of merrie England' was diminished. He looked about him for the boasted liberty, but found it not. It was not present in our House of Commons, occupied by men who were pledged to oppress the people they professed to represent. In our palaces he saw persons living amid splendour and profusion obtained by a total subversion of all principles of liberty. He found it not in the half-starved inmates of our parochial bastiles; nor was it present in those laws which make no distinction between poverty and crime. No: his search after liberty was unsuccessful, and he came to the conclusion that he had been imposed upon by a shadow. It is this self-satisfied feeling which characterises the English nation that renders them slow to reform. Possessing in an eminent degree all the finer feelings of our nature, the English people can boast of more acts of charity and philanthrophy than any other nation; and their theory of liberty, if carried out, would be the most perfect existing. But it is in the practice we fail: it is in the misplacing our sympathies on foreign subjects; in extending our charity to aliens, neglecting the more immediate objects of our care. Let oppression be borne by foreigners, and who more ready to free them from their shackles than Englishmen? But, at the same time, who are more blind to the oppression carried on among themselves? It is this morbid feeling which causes them to be imposed upon by such men as the Exeter Hall saints, who are, for the most part, composed of infatuated fanatics, and swindlers under the garb of religion. Much as I deprecate that somewhat selfish adage, Charity begins at home,' it requires some patience to witness the profuse expenditure of money upon unworthy objects whilst many around us are dying daily of starvation. Now-a-days, we can hardly take up a newspaper without finding cases of dis tress and suicide occasioned by the low wages given by many of the large establishments in London. No language can convey the least idea of the vast amount of human suffering in this metropolis which may be traced to this source alone; and forcible as are the comments made in the newspapers, they fail to give a true account of the tragedies which are daily enacted in consequence of the slavery entailed upon the poorer classes. Whatever may be said in favour of the cornlaws, it is no exaggeration to assert that these deplorable scenes are in a great measure produced by our restrictive commerce, which, like a besieging army, cuts off all hope of relief to the famishing inhabitants. Whether the measures proposed by the free-traders are calculated to ameliorate and to diminish this distress time only can show; but of this I feel convinced, that ere long more enlightened measures will, nay, must be forced upon the legislature. The time is past when men were in danger for uttering their thoughts. The increasing enlightenment of the lower classes, and the advanced state of education, must place truth on too broad a basis to fear the frowns of royalty and of tyrants in power. However interested in their opposition a small number of the enemies of free trade may be, there is still in their ranks a vast majority who have the general welfare of mankind in view, and whose sympathies are with the lower classes. We have a right then to expect their assistance. That the distress is occasioned by the abuse of power even they cannot deny, however they may differ with the measures proposed to overcome that power; and on this ground, then, we have a right to their assistance and to their sympathy." The Merrythought for 1846. By the author of "Summer Offerings." Willoughby. This is a little but very amusing effort. Sprightly thoughts and correct versification, when combined, present attractions which few readers fail to appreciate. Of these, the poem we are about to quote offers a most pleasing specimen: STAVE OF A POLICEMAN. Meet me by moonlight alone, Oh Molly! the plumpest of cooks, To regale your affectionate Snooks. I desert my cold post in the street, For it veils both the planets and thee, What delight falls on Z 33; Then meet me, dear Maiden of Grease, seen. And the duty imposel upon me, Is with pantries to be hand and glove, And the faithful Inspector of thee! The "Ode to a Cigar" is the best eulogium on smoking we remember to have This practice, the object of bitter aversion with many, upon the whole gains ground. "The Counterblast" of the first James could not put it out; and though it somewhat declined in the time of George III, it has latterly won amazingly on the million. Every tobacconist in town and country, if he wish to dignify his calling, and increase his profits, should print the following stanzas on his envelopes, instead of the dull conundrums now in use: ODE TO A CIGAR. Cigar, that, like the autumn leaf, Right welcome to my lips art thou: And solace of my midnight toil; Of thoughts the re illuming oil; The daily struggle after bread, In Lethe's silent waters cast- Sits throned the glory of the Past; This sweet exemption from fatigue owes→→→ In fragrance exquisite enrolled, Than patrons made of " sterner stuff," An honest, though a purchased puff Smoking has to boast that some who in early life have reviled it, have subsequently been found among its votaries. Cowper disdainfully remarked: "The pipe, with solemn interposing puff, Makes half a sentence at a time enough." And apostrophised tobacco as the "Pernicious weed, which banishes for hours That sex whose presence civilises ours." But he was eventually brought to repentance, and read his recantation in due form, regarding tobacco as one of the blessings for which man had to be grateful, from its soothing effects, and its tendency to favour self-improving contemplation. The Gatherer. "Thirty per cent. under any other House." -Such are the magic words to entrap bar gain hunters; such are the terms used by the dishonest of this century, in place of the "stand and deliver" of the highwaymen of the past; and in such a sentence may be traced the squalour, wretchedness, and starvation of the working classes of this kingdom. Thirty per cent. under any other house! one-third of the hard earnings of honest industry paid as a tax to avarice and dishonesty! Oh! ye longheaded, shrewd people; hunting, under the name of cheap bargains, your fellowcreatures to starvation and death; what would ye say if, pointing to the union-bastile and to the gallows-tree, we exclaim, this you fill; that you occupy with the victims of your narrow-minded avarice? Thirty per cent. under any other house! The words still ring in our ears. The bells of St. Sepulchre's never pealed forth more awful warning. 66 66 Of Coats of Arms.-A man applied to the college for a coat of arms, and was asked if any of his ancestors had been renowned for any singular achievement. The man paused and considered, but could recollect nothing. "Your father?" said the herald, aiding his memory. "Your grandfather your great grandfather?" No," returned the applicant, "I never knew that I had a great grandfather or a grandfather." yourself," asked the creator of dignities. I know nothing remarkable of myself," returned the man, "only being locked up in Ludgate prison for debt, I found means to escape from an upper window, and that you know is no honour in a man's escutcheon." "And how did you get down?" said the herald. "Odd enough," retorted the man; "I procured a cord, fixed it round the neck of the statue of king Lud on the outside of the building, and thus let myself down." "I have it" said the herald: "No honour! Lineally descended from king Lud! and his arms will do for you." I wish many of our great men were as well descended.-Trusler's Memoirs. Milesian Impudence.-A Glasgow merchant, a native of Ireland, bestowed charity the other day on a countryman of his own; but Pat, not being content with money, asked our friend if he had got any "ould britches" about him, to which he replied in the negative. "Then," says Pat, "if yer honour will tell me where you live, I'll call in the mornin for them ould pair ye've got on." Death. As death, rightly considered, fulfils the real design of our life, I have for the last two years made myself so well acquainted with this true friend of mankind, that his image has no longer any terror for me, but much that is peaceful and consoling: and I thank God that he has given me this opportunity to know him as the key to our true happiness. I never lie down in bed without reflecting that, perhaps, young as I am, I may never see another day, yet no one who knows me will say that I am gloomy or morose in society.-Mozart. Question of Responsibility.-Dr. Forbes Winslow, in his "Plea of Insanity in Criminal Cases," relates the following case:-Bernard Schedmazig suddenly awoke at midnight: at the moment he saw a frightful phantom, or what his imagination had represented as a feartul spectre. He twice called out "Who is that?" and receiving no answer, and imagining that the phantom was advancing upon him, and having altogether lost his self-possession, he raised a hatchet which was beside him, and attacked the spectre. Immediately afterwards it was found that he had murdered his wife! Woman.-When sorrows have mellowed the proud heart of man; when experience has stripped from the rubbish and scaffolding of the human character the mantle that covers their rottenness and deformity; when he has seen the sanctity of friendship profaned by hearts he has cherished and trusted, and cruelty and treachery and falsehood triumphant over truth and integrity-his soul sickens, and he looks for some source of happiness that may avoid the mutations of a deceitful and inconsistent world. He longs for a heart that may beat in unison with his own; an eye that may flash upon him with responsive intelligence; a face that may talk to him in the mute but eloquent discourse of a consecrated love. And where does he seek? Of the friend who yesterday perilled life for him? Of the brother who springs from the loins with himself? Or of the father who gave him life? Oh! no. Truth and sentiment pay homage at the footstool of female beauty, without which the world were a wilderness and a dream, where man in his loneliness and solitude would amuse himself with schemes of happiness evanescent and unsubstantial as the visions of fancy. H. A. Burstall, Printer, 2, Tavistock-street, Strand. |
