The daily gazette., 1876-02-04
A Point for Centennial Orators.

A Point for Centennial Orators.
1t is a well-known fact to all persons
wEo have been in the habit of listen
ing to Fourth of July orators, that for
the last one hundred years, even while
most sedulously eschewing "entang-
ling alliances" and keeping ourselves
severely aioof from foreign affairs, we
have been regulating the social and
political conditions of civilization in
spite of ourselves. We caused the
French Revolution. We caused the
Spanish Americans to become Iepubli-
can. We caused Russia to emancipate
the serfs. We caus; the revolutions
of 1S4S. The Holy Alliance was our
child, and SO is the Internationale.-
/ We own to Theirs and Hugo, and
ProudhOn is our b .stard. Plodding
along sedately ourselves, every one of
our steps has pointed an era for the
peoples. Going our own gait of stage
coach speed, we have sent the world
hurting forward with &c ometric accel-
erations of electric velocity, accom-
plishing," in Mr. Webste4 perhaps
turgid phrase, "for human intelligence
and human freedom more than has
" been done in fives or tens of cen
"turies preceding" Society in this
century, has not made its progress,
=" like Chinese skill, by greater acute
ness Of ingenuity in trifes; it has
" not merely lashed itself to an In
creased speed round the old circles
of thought and action, but it has as
sumed q new character, it has raised
itself from beneath governments to
"a participation in governments; 1t
4" has mixed moral and political sb-
"jects with the daily pursuits of in
, dividual men, and with freedom
and strength before altogether un-
known, it has applied 10 these OBJ
"jects the whole power of the human
understanding" 1t is self-evident
proposition that "the spark was struck
out" in this country which kindled all
, these brave things into flame.
$50 shines good deed in q naughty world"
3 In this one hundredth year of uni
versal blessedness to mankind in gen
eral, it may assist the good intentions
of our orators preparing to do justice
to the great occasion if we point them
; to real and unquestionable contem-
5 porary instance where we have been
, influential in spite of ourselves, and
l have wrought revolutions while sssidu-
7 ously mindipg our own business. The
3 purchase of the Suez Canal stock by
e England, which bids fair to change all
: the aspects of the Eastern question,
s and may in the end, by so doing, re-
v volutionize the whole Eastern CONT
h nent, may be directly traced back TO
t the late civil war in this country. Up
o to the time of the outbreak of that
d war, French influences were almost
G supremc,in Egypt, and England's re-
d lations with the Khedive were only
- subordinate. But the cotton famine
: that ensued upon the completion of
d our blockade made the Nile Valley q
point Of the greatest interest to Lanca'
shire, and English influence and capi-
tai began to centre there at once. The
annual value of the Egyptian staple
,s cotton, the mako, rose from s., ,00O, ,OCO
II to $35, ,0OO,0 600. The Khedive, enor-
,s mously enriched by this accession to
his revenues, became inflated like our
d currency, plunged into agreat number
r. of costly enterprises, and borrowed
money extravagantly both in London
n and Paris. simultaneously France, ,tc
,r recover her lost ground in Egypt, gave
70 such practical countenance and aid to
IF M. de Lessep's scheme, which England
It persistently opposed and made light ol
7 that the Suez Canal was completed
n. by the French and the Khedive joint
s ly, the latter borrowing in England
rs most of the money he paid in to &C
ID count of his subscriptions to stock
n Then, with the termination OF the war
a. came the gradual explosion of thu
Egyptian mako bubble, followed, il
,r duo course, by the Khedive's insolven
p cy, at moment when France coult
lr not help him, and when England, botf
!" as nation and on account Of her enor
# nous individual credit interests, could
n not avoid coming promptly to his re-
is lief.
"a Here, then, is one of the greatest OF
d modern events directly brought about
l. by our influence-alternatel as bul
10 and bear = upon the markets of the
rs world. We bulled Egyptian stock un
til we compelled England to buy int
lr it; then we beared it so severely that
# England had to get controlling in
, fluence in the concern in order to save
q herself frsm disastrous loss. Indirect
ly we influenced the French to con
IN struct the SueZ Canal, the Khedive to
i sell his shares in it, and England tc
p buy those shares, If, by thus pressing
e upon the commercial land controlling
,e fibre of the time, we have constrained
e England to resume her former position
If amongst aggressive powers, and if al
d the same time, by the monetary de
n preston caused by our sharp competi
@ tion with the Odessa grain market, we
+ keep Russia from taking the field, VIC
d may perhaps claim that in this Cen
k tennial year we have given more to the
m old country than we took from it in
Il 1776. And it will be done without ex
re ertion our on part, too.-W World.
The Proposed Specific Duty on Cigars
Y, Our reporter, in his interviews with