Horace's Birthday Message (verse)
Blacam, Hugh de
6 The Commonweal November I, I935 Frenchmen who called the tune were interested in dividends and subordinated the demands of the carrying trade to those of the investors who had dug the great...
...They knew, in their heart of hearts, that on the morrow of the fall of the second Empire they could not afford to twist the lion's tail when they had the truth driven home to them that Bismarck was seeking for a pretext to annihilate them...
...It has permitted the makers of English budgets to tap a source of wealth which is a lifesaver to them--and to use the French as a cloak...
...The scene was thus set for a gentleman's agreement between De Lesseps and Disraeli by which the latter waived his rights to attempt to vote his entire i75,ooo shares in return for a promise on the former's part to see that ten Englishmen were elected to the board and that the directors adopted a middle-of-the-road policy in regard to tolls...
...The directors thought in terms of heavy tolls a,d made them as high as the traffic could bear...
...for which, though I am poor, The rich man still frequents my door: No higher fortune then I ask of God or men...
...For me no weary slaves within Laconian purple garments spin: But these to me remain-Honor, and kindly vein Of wit...
...HUGH DE BLAOAM...
...The French "butcher and baker and candlestickmaker" who had gone down into his woolen sock to find the cash to finance the digging of the canal approved of this "soak the English" strategT...
...It has brought a harvest of gold to the English Exchequer...
...The gentleman's agreement has fitted in admirably with the requirements of the British Treasury and with Disraeli's love of glory...
...They were accordingly more than ready to safeguard their dividends by coming to a fair and square give-and-take arrangement with the English...
...This program fitted in admirably with Disraeli's designs...
...The English man-in-the-street deeply resented this line of action...
...This pact doe~ not appear to have been renewed since its expiration but its spirit still dominates the present situation...
...Why seek you more...
...It has enabled the British taxpayer to enjoy a revenue which would otherwise be closed to him...
...Of course, all these reasons do not explain why England--or France if you prefer--would have neither a legal or a moral right to close the Suez Canal to Italian merchantmen or vessels of war, but they do show, I think, that England does not control the aspirations of that waterway...
...For Fate Will rich and poor equate...
...It became encumbent upon him to evolve a solution which would satisfy his constituents and at the same time appeal to the French...
...It has accentuated the value of the investment made by the Conservative leader...
...His praise of rural life and rebuke to the greedy rich here follo~cs: Non ebur neque altreum...
...It is equally easy to demonstrate why nobodv may validly close the canal...
...It thus behooved the resourceful statesman who had made this investment to camouflage the fact that he knew nothing of the twenty-five share clause when he paid out all this gold...
...Enough for me the simple charm Of life upon my little farm...
...Not in my house shall you behold Panels of ivory and gold, Nor rare Hymettian wood On carven columns stood...
...Paris also found itself in a quandary...
...Aye, and to glut a senseless greed, Wring fortune from a neighbor's need, And cast upon the wild Husband and wife and child: As if for you were not forecast Death and the narrow tomb at last...
...It was to remain in force until I894, that is to say, for a period of some nineteen years from the date of the purchase of the Khedive's shares...
...He would have gone to the polls and have voted Disraeli out of office had this pro-French and anti-British attitude been adhered to by the Canal Company after 4,ooo,ooo pounds of the money of the English taxpayer had been expended to purchase these I75,ooo shares...
...Nor can your wealth make Death delay-He takes the mighty from their sway, And with unsought behest, Summons the slave to rest...
...It has held in leash those militant shipping men who would fain have canal dues reduced to little or nothing...
...Frenchmen think in terms of dividends...
...They love to strike an attitude of idealism and are often looked upon as being doctrinnaires when in reality they are first and foremost hard-boiled realists...
...French bottoms traversing the canal were few in comparison to English ships...
...Horace's Birthday Message (Italy is celebrating the 2000th anniversary of lhe birth of the poet Horace [65-9 B.C...
...Thus day by day drives on, Moon after moon has shone, XVhile, for some unseen future you Your costly marbles buy and hew, And, careless of the grave, Win acres from the wave...
...6 The Commonweal November I, I935 Frenchmen who called the tune were interested in dividends and subordinated the demands of the carrying trade to those of the investors who had dug the great ditch...
Vol. 23 • November 1935 • No. 1
