The Political Economy of Climate Finance Lessons From International Development Corrine Cash Full Chapter PDF
The Political Economy of Climate Finance Lessons From International Development Corrine Cash Full Chapter PDF
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The Political Economy
of Climate Finance:
Lessons from International
Development
Edited by Corrine Cash · Larry A. Swatuk
International Political Economy Series
Series Editor
Timothy M. Shaw , University of Massachusetts Boston, Boston, USA;
Emeritus Professor, University of London, London, UK
The global political economy is in flux as a series of cumulative crises
impacts its organization and governance. The IPE series has tracked its
development in both analysis and structure over the last three decades.
It has always had a concentration on the global South. Now the South
increasingly challenges the North as the centre of development, also
reflected in a growing number of submissions and publications on
indebted Eurozone economies in Southern Europe. An indispensable
resource for scholars and researchers, the series examines a variety of capi-
talisms and connections by focusing on emerging economies, companies
and sectors, debates and policies. It informs diverse policy communities
as the established trans-Atlantic North declines and ‘the rest’, especially
the BRICS, rise.
NOW INDEXED ON SCOPUS!
Corrine Cash · Larry A. Swatuk
Editors
The Political
Economy of Climate
Finance: Lessons
from International
Development
Editors
Corrine Cash Larry A. Swatuk
Mount Allison University School of Environment, Enterprise
Sackville, NB, Canada and Development
University of Waterloo
Waterloo, ON, Canada
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer
Nature Switzerland AG 2022
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the
Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights
of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on
microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and
retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology
now known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc.
in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such
names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for
general use.
The publisher, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and informa-
tion in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither
the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with
respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been
made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps
and institutional affiliations.
This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature
Switzerland AG
The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
Acknowledgements
v
vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
vii
viii CONTENTS
Index 245
Notes on Contributors
ix
x NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS
xiii
xiv ACRONYMS
xvii
List of Tables
xix
CHAPTER 1
Introduction
C. Cash (B)
Department of Geography and Environment, Mount Allison University,
Sackville, NB, Canada
e-mail: [email protected]
L. A. Swatuk
School of Environment, Enterprise and Development,
University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada
e-mail: [email protected]
either choose to recognize that business as usual isn’t worth the devas-
tating price we’re paying and make the necessary transition to a more
sustainable future—or we accept that we’re investing in our own extinc-
tion. It is about much more than environment, it is about peace, stability
and the institutions we have built to promote the wellbeing of all.
Patricia Espinosa (2021)
mitigate and adapt to changes in climate. This total was meant to be the
minimum amount committed per year until 2025, after which the total
would be revised upward. As shown in several chapters in this book, espe-
cially 2, 3 and 4, the funding was meant to come from a variety of public
and private sources and to be disbursed in a number of ways.
In a June 2022 ODI working paper, Sarah Colenbrander and
colleagues demonstrate that much of the rich world, especially the U.S.A.,
is failing to pay what they call their ‘fair share’. ‘The US is overwhelmingly
responsible for the climate finance gap having provided just 5% of its fair
share in 2020. Although its economy is 40% larger than the European
Union’s, it provided only one-twelfth as much climate finance’ (Colen-
brander et al., 2022: 10). The fair share is determined by three criteria:
Gross National Income (GNI); cumulative CO2 emissions (1990–2019);
and population. While emissions totals reflect the polluter pays principle,
GNI and population reflect both financial and human capabilities to act
(so aligning with the UNFCCC principle of ‘common but differentiated
responsibility and respective capabilities’).
As shown in Table 1.1, only five of the G10 countries are found to be
paying their fair share.
The ODI report goes on to highlight how state performance in
meeting climate finance commitments tends to vary directly with how well
Social Organization
The problems with aid highlight the highly problematic character of social
organization. The human world is beset by a complex array of challenges
involving the built and natural environments. Organizations such as the
United Nations characterize these as a collective management problem
and seek to reduce this complexity into actionable pieces articulated as
the SDGs, through specialized agencies, collaborative multi-stakeholder
arrangements and so on. Generally known as ‘global governance’, this
approach puts great faith in humanity’s ability to rationally respond to
empirically verifiable threats and vulnerabilities.
At the same time, and as shown above, effective collective action
is hampered by numerous material, institutional and ideational factors.
From a simple shortage of finance, to bureaucratic complexity, to differing
world views, the number of factors getting in the way of positive collective
social change is significant. At present, there is a resurgence of populist
nationalism worldwide in reaction to the seeming failures of neolib-
eral globalization. With less than a decade remaining until the end of
the SDGs in 2030, it seems highly unlikely that ‘the world’ will come
anywhere close to achieving the ‘global goals’.
Somewhat paradoxically, while the Russian invasion of Ukraine draws
attention away from what many call the ‘climate emergency’, climate
10 C. CASH AND L. A. SWATUK
The Book
As with this introductory chapter, the essays that follow constitute indi-
vidual entry points into the complex and contentious topic of climate
finance. Together, they constitute a critical voice whose primary message
is to not repeat the errors of the past. Climate finance intersects with
international development in two specific ways. First, where support for
mitigation heavily focuses on infrastructure, it aligns with the historically
primary development agents’—states, banks, engineering firms—long
obsession with energy, transportation and services: multi-purpose dams
(hydropower, irrigation, water supply), ports, railways, central-business
districts (CBDs) and car-dependent suburbs. The aim being, of course,
to mirror Western development by mimicking ‘best practice’. Today, in
the context of climate action, this means a focus on green design, green
infrastructure, and the development of circular economies, otherwise
known as ecological modernization. Second, with the recent turn towards
climate finance for adaptation, this draws climate action directly in line
with discourses of sustainable development and the ‘triple bottom line’:
12 C. CASH AND L. A. SWATUK
Conclusion
One of the great lies of international development is that the challenges
of poverty and underdevelopment are largely related to having access to
adequate capital and technology, human capacity, and appropriate forms
of organization and management. Such a story serves to depoliticize the
challenges before us. At best it provides some space for useful things to
happen. At worst it supports business as usual. Is it not a telling fact
that as we move towards the 70th anniversary of the Bandung Confer-
ence on development so few countries in Asia and Africa—indeed, in the
world—can claim to have improved the lives of a majority of their peoples?
How many trillions of dollars in ‘aid’ have flowed from the rich world to
the poor? How many dams, railways and highways have been built in
the name of ‘modernization’? Today’s world is more unequal than ever
before. It is a world where a handful of men hold more wealth than the
bottom half of humanity. And it is this world that stands at the precipice
of climate chaos.
If there is one important lesson for climate finance to learn from inter-
national development, it is that progressive movement in support of those
most in need of assistance is first and foremost a political struggle. As
many activist academics can attest, shifting international development
away from its basic framework of capital accumulation is a long-term
project. Getting states, corporations and international financial institu-
tions to recognize and meaningfully consider the gender, race, class,
environmental and social justice aspects of their actions is an ongoing,
and often frustrating, process. Transformation towards a socially equi-
table, environmentally sustainable, low-carbon future therefore requires a
clear strategy and a type of social organization that seeks to build creative
coalitions within and across the fragmented landscape within which we
currently reside. We believe that the essays collected here provide insights
and ideas in support of this worthy cause.
1 CLIMATE FINANCE: LESSONS FROM DEVELOPMENT FINANCE 19
References
Colenbrander, S., Cao, Y., Pettinotti, L., & Quevedo, A. (2022). A fair share of
climate finance? Apportioning responsibility for the $100 billion climate finance
goal (ODI Working Paper). ODI.
Dodd, A. (2020). The cost of achieving SDG 3 and SDG 4. How complete are
financing estimates for the health and education goals? Development Initiatives.
Education commission. (2016). The Learning Generation. Investing in education
for a changing world. The International Commission on Financing Global
Education Opportunity.
Espinosa, P. (2021). Remarks by UNFCCC Executive Secretary Patricia Espinosa
to open COP26. https://unfccc.int/news/remarks-by-unfccc-executive-secret
ary-patricia-espinosa-to-open-cop26. Accessed 29 June 2022.
Green, M. (2019). We are 43 years behind schedule on achieving the SDGs and
the US is going backwards. Reuters Events: Sustainable Business. https://
www.reutersevents.com/sustainability/we-are-43-years-behind-schedule-ach
ieving-sdgs-and-us-going-backwards#:~:text=or%20e%2Dmail%20*-,’We%
20are%2043%20years%20behind%20schedule%20on%20achieving%20the%
20SDGs,the%20US%20is%20going%20backwards’&text=Business%20as%20u
sual%20is%20not,Sustainable%20Development%20Goals%20(SDGs). Accessed
4 July 2022.
Heitzig, C., Ordu, A. U., & Senbet, L. (2021). Sub-Saharan Africa’s debt
problem: Mapping the pandemic’s effect and the way forward. The Brookings
Institution.
OECD. (2020). Climate Finance Provided and Mobilized by Developed Countries
in 2013–18. OECD.
Oxfam International. (2020). Climate Finance Shadow Report 2020. Oxfam
Great Britain.
Schmidt-Traub, G. (2015). Investment needs to achieve the sustainable devel-
opment goals: Understanding the billions and trillions. SDSN Working Paper
(12 November). SDSN.
UNDP. 2021. Climate finance for sustaining peace. Making climate finance work
for conflict-affected and fragile contexts. UNDP.
UNFCCC. (n.d.). Introduction to climate finance. Available at: https://unfccc.
int/topics/introduction-to-climate-finance. Accessed September 25, 2022.
United Nations (UN). (2020). The sustainable development goals report 2020.
United Nations.
Wils, A. (2015). Reaching education targets in low and lower-middle income
countries: Costs and finance gaps to 2030. UNESCO. Available at: https://
unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000232560. Accessed September 25,
2022.
World Bank. (2021). International Debt Statistics 2022. The World Bank.
CHAPTER 2
Leia Achampong
Introduction
Covid-19 has exposed the precarity of the current economic and financial
system. Aid budgets have been slashed (The Guardian, 2021), social secu-
rity gaps have been exposed (KPMG, 2020) and the fragility of healthcare
systems has been laid bare. The pandemic has further exacerbated the
inequality and divide within and between societies—including gender
inequalities, and has highlighted the impacts of historic disinvestment
(Capital Impact Partners, 2020) in marginalized communities.
Tackling these crises will require a huge amount of resources. It is in
the interest of all countries and international institutions to ensure that
the world recovers from the pandemic together to engage in a pathway
towards a peaceful, safe and dignified future. Without this, gains made
L. Achampong (B)
Eurodad (European Network On Debt and Development), Climate Finance,
Brussels, Belgium
e-mail: [email protected]
efforts agreed—are driven by equity and the needs of those most affected.
All affected stakeholders, including members of civil society must be a part
of policy development and implementation processes.
These data sources all highlight that the current quantity of climate
finance is insufficient to meet current and future needs. Yet the existing
global climate finance goal of US$ 100 billion per year is not predicted
to be met until 2023 and is not predicted to be surpassed until 2024
(COP26 Presidency, 2021).
Worryingly, there are three ongoing trends that are undermining the
quality of climate finance:
i. non-concessional finance
ii. over-reporting on climate finance, and
iii. dichotomy between needs and granted finance.
1 Grant equivalent: The final amount of money a developing country receives after
repayments, interest rates, fees and other factors.
26 L. ACHAMPONG
to debt, which in turn reduces the ability of these countries to adapt and
to address loss and damage, or to invest in high-quality and universal
public services and social protection.
Another worrying trend is that climate finance is being over-
reported. Oxfam estimates that over-reporting of climate relevance means
that bilateral climate finance could be around a third lower than reported
(OI, 2020). This is further echoed by research from CARE Denmark and
CARE Netherlands, which shows that the World Bank is over-reporting
on climate finance provided for adaptation (CARE Climate Change,
2021). Usefully, both developed and developing countries agree there
is a need for enhanced transparency on whether climate finance goals
are being met or not. However, the extent to which progress should
be tracked is a continuous matter for debate, including on the type of
financial flows that should be tracked.
One of the reasons for over-reporting on climate-relevant finance
is because the current methodologies used under the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) are not being
applied consistently to the data reported by climate finance providers
(Independent Expert Group on Climate Finance). All of this adds further
complexity to determining whether climate finance providers are truly on
track towards achieving existing, global climate finance goals. Vulnerable
communities cannot afford to be ‘short-changed’ if they are to address
the ongoing impacts of climate change, as well as develop sustainably.
In 2021, as part of a package agreeing the rules that guide the
implementation of the Paris Agreement (UNFCCC, 2018a), countries
agreed on a set of common tabular format reporting tables on finan-
cial support provided and received (UNFCCC, 2022). Significantly, these
tables require developed countries to report on financial support pledged
and disbursed via various channels, including bilateral and multilateral
channels. Additionally, developed countries must also now report on the
inflows and outflows of finance they provide to multilateral institutions
separately, which makes it clearer to determine what disbursed multilat-
eral climate finance is attributable to which reporting country. Previously,
it was harder to determine how much finance provided to multilateral
institutions by a country was actually disbursed as climate finance to a
developing country.
However, these tables do not require developed countries to report on
the grant equivalent of finance provided but developed countries can do
so in a voluntary capacity. Knowing what the grant equivalent of finance
2 HOW LESSONS FROM DEVELOPMENT FINANCE … 27
Debt Implications
Low disbursement ratios coupled with a lack of access to climate finance
are impacting developing countries’ ability to carry out effective climate
action. Particularly, as due to other financial commitments, developing
countries often do not have the domestic financial flows to finance their
own climate action measures. Lower-income countries are spending five
times more on debt repayments than they are on tackling climate change
(Jubilee Debt Campaign, 2021). In 2020, lower-income countries spent
$372 billion on public external debt repayments (Munevar, 2021b).
What is more, the IPCC reports that “[t]he total external debt servicing
payments combined for 44 African countries in 2019 were USD 75 billion
(World Bank, 2018), far exceeding discussed levels of near-term climate
finance” (Trisos et al., 2022: 31).
Limited to no-capacity to tackle climate change in a fiscally responsible
and sustainable manner creates a continuous cycle of (i) climate-impacts
induced debt, which leads to (ii) debt-induced climate vulnerabilities, and
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you are located before using this eBook.
Language: English
BY
E. VIOLLET-LE-DUC.
LONDON:
SAMPSON LOW, MARSTON, LOW, AND SEARLE,
CROWN BUILDINGS, 188, FLEET STREET.
1874.
CHAPTER I.
PAGE
PAUL GETS AN IDEA 1
CHAPTER II.
WITH A LITTLE HELP, PAUL’S IDEA IS DEVELOPED 13
CHAPTER III.
THE TREE OF KNOWLEDGE 26
CHAPTER IV.
PAUL’S IDEAS RESPECTING ART, AND HOW THEY WERE MODIFIED 31
CHAPTER V.
PAUL PURSUES A COURSE OF STUDY IN PRACTICAL
40
ARCHITECTURE
CHAPTER VI.
HOW PAUL IS LED TO RECOGNIZE CERTAIN DISTINCTIONS
60
BETWEEN ETHICS AND ARCHITECTURE
CHAPTER VII.
SETTING OUT THE FOUNDATIONS OF THE HOUSE, AND
71
OPERATIONS ON THE GROUND
CHAPTER VIII.
PAUL REFLECTS 81
CHAPTER IX.
PAUL, CLERK OF THE WORKS 88
CHAPTER X.
PAUL BEGINS TO UNDERSTAND 96
CHAPTER XI.
THE BUILDING IN ELEVATION 106
CHAPTER XII.
OBSERVATIONS ADDRESSED TO EUGÈNE BY PAUL, AND THE
115
REPLIES MADE TO THEM
CHAPTER XIII.
THE VISIT TO THE BUILDING 121
CHAPTER XIV.
PAUL FEELS THE NECESSITY OF IMPROVING HIMSELF IN THE ART
126
OF DRAWING
CHAPTER XV.
CONSIDERATION OF THE STAIRCASES 133
CHAPTER XVI.
THE CRITIC 137
CHAPTER XVII.
PAUL INQUIRES WHAT ARCHITECTURE IS 146
CHAPTER XVIII.
THEORETICAL STUDIES 156
CHAPTER XIX.
THEORETICAL STUDIES (continued) 172
CHAPTER XX.
STUDIES INTERRUPTED 183
CHAPTER XXI.
BUILDING RECOMMENCED—THE TIMBER WORK 189
CHAPTER XXII.
THE CHIMNEYS 204
CHAPTER XXIII.
THE CANTINE 211
CHAPTER XXIV.
THE JOINER’S WORK 214
CHAPTER XXV.
WHAT PAUL LEARNT AT CHATEAUROUX 222
CHAPTER XXVI.
THE SLATING AND PLUMBING 230
CHAPTER XXVII.
ORDER IN FINISHING THE WORK 241
CHAPTER XXVIII.
THE HOUSE-WARMING 247
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.
FIG PAGE
THE OLD CHÂTEAU Frontispiece.
THE OLD CELLAR Vignette.
1. PLAN OF THE GROUND FLOOR 22
2. PLAN OF THE FIRST FLOOR 24
3. ROOF PLAN 33
4. PLAN OF THE SECOND FLOOR 36
5. THE ENTRANCE FRONT 37
6. EXAMPLE OF A BUILDING SITE 46
7. DITTO 47
8. DITTO 49
9. SECTION OF CELLAR VAULT 53
10. THE OLD CELLAR 54
11. THE OLD CELLAR STAIRS 56
12. THE BULGED WALLS 58
13. CONSTRUCTION OF A ROOF PRINCIPAL 62
14. CAMBERED TIMBER 67
15. THE OLD ROOF 68
16. COUPLED TIMBERS 69
17. DITTO 69
18. TIMBER CLIPS 70
19. SETTING OUT THE BUILDING 73
20. USE OF THE THEODOLITE 79
21. THE CELLAR PLAN 89
22. DEPOSIT OF EXCAVATED SOIL 92
23. FOUNDATION STONES 94
24. SECTION OF SEWER 95
25. CENTERING OF CELLAR VAULT 97
26. SECTION OF CELLAR AIR-HOLES 99
27. RESPECTIVE VIEW OF DITTO 100
28. SPRING OF THE CELLAR VAULTING 101
29. THE GARDEN FRONT 103
30. THE QUOIN STONES 107
31. THE WINDOW CASING 108
32. THE CEILINGS 110
33. METHOD OF TRIMMING THE FLOORS 112
34. PERSPECTIVE OF DITTO 112
35. VIEW OF THE BUILDING OPERATIONS 120
36. HOLLOW BEDDED STONES 123
37. DRAWING MODELS 128
38. DITTO 129
39. PLANS AND SECTION OF THE PRINCIPAL STAIRS 132
40. THE STAIRCASE STRING 135
41. STEP OF WINDING STAIRS 136
42. SECTION OF THE SIDE WALLS, WITH DETAILS 163
43. AN ORIEL WINDOW 166
44. BAY WINDOW OF BILLIARD-ROOM 170
45. DETAIL OF CORNICE, STRING COURSE, ETC. 176
46. TRANSVERSE SECTION OF THE HOUSE 191
47. PLAN OF THE ROOF SUPPORTS 192
48. SECTION OF THE ROOF 194
49. THE STAIRCASE ROOF 196
50. FLAWS IN TIMBER 198
51. COUPLED BEAMS 199
52. SECTION OF THE FLOOR JOISTS 201
53. DITTO 201
54. SECTION OF THE FLOOR BEAMS 201
55. THE DORMER WINDOWS 203
56. THE DOORS 216
57. DETAILS OF DITTO 217
58. THE CASEMENTS 218
59. DETAILS OF DITTO 219
60. THE METHOD OF SLATING 233
61. DETAILS OF THE PLUMBER’S WORK 235
62. THE NEW HOUSE 258
HOW TO BUILD A HOUSE.
CHAPTER I.
PAUL GETS AN IDEA.
Who is happier than the young student from the Lyceum when he
comes home for the summer vacation, bringing with him proofs of a
well-spent year? Everything smiles upon him. The sky is serene, the
country wears its loveliest dress, and the fruit is ripe.
Everyone congratulates him on his success, and predicts for him,
after his six weeks’ repose, an energetic recommencement of
congenial labour, crowned by a brilliant career in the future.
Yes, our student is a happy fellow; the air seems preternaturally
light, the sun shines more brightly, and the meadows wear a richer
green. Even the unwelcome rain is laden with perfume.
As soon as the morning breaks he hastens to revisit his favourite
haunts in the park—the stream, the lake, and the farm—to see the
horses, the boat, and the plantations.
He chats with the farmer’s wife, who smilingly presents him with a
nice galette, hot from the oven. He walks with the gamekeeper, who
tells him all the news of the neighbourhood while going his rounds.
The sound of the sheep bells is musical—nay, even the monotonous
song of the shepherd-boy, now grown a tall fellow, and aspiring to
the full dignity of shepherd.
It is indeed a happy time. But in a few days the shade of the noble
trees, the lovely scenery, the long walks, the gamekeeper’s stories,
and even the boating, become wearisome, unless some congenial
occupation presents itself to occupy the mind. It is the privilege of old
age alone to delight in memories, and always to find fresh pleasure
in the contemplation of woods and fields.
The stores of memory are soon exhausted by youth; and quiet
meditation is not to its taste.
Monsieur Paul—a lively youth of sixteen—did not, perhaps,
indulge in these reflections in the abstract; but as a matter of fact,
after a week passed at the residence of his father, who cultivated his
considerable estate in the province of Berry, he had almost
exhausted the stock of impressions which the return to the paternal
domain had excited. During the long scholastic year how many
projects had he not formed for the next vacation! Six weeks seemed
too short a time for their accomplishment. How many things had he
to see again; how much to say and do. Yet in eight days all had been
seen, said, and done.
Besides, his eldest sister, who had been lately married, had set
out on a long journey with her husband; and as to Lucy, the
youngest, she seemed too much occupied with her doll and its
wardrobe to take an interest in the thinkings and doings of her
respected brother.
It had rained all day; and the farm, visited by M. Paul for the fifth
time, had presented a sombre and mournful aspect. The fowls
crouching under the walls had a pensive look; and even the ducks
were dabbling in the mud in melancholy silence. The gamekeeper
had indeed taken M. Paul with him on a hare-hunting expedition, but
they had returned without success, and pretty well soaked. To his
disappointment, M. Paul had found the keeper’s stories rather long
and diffuse—not the less so as they were being repeated for the
third time with few variations. Moreover, the veterinary surgeon had
announced that morning, to M. Paul’s vexation, that his pony had
caught a cold and must not quit the stable for a week. The paper had
been read after dinner, but M. Paul was little attracted by its politics,
and the miscellaneous intelligence was deplorably uninteresting.
Monsieur de Gandelau (Paul’s father) was too much taken up with
agricultural matters, and perhaps also with the treatment of his gout,
to seek to relieve the ennui of which his son was the victim; and
Madame de Gandelau, still suffering from the depression caused by
her eldest daughter’s departure, was working with a kind of
desperation at a piece of tapestry, whose destination was a mystery
to all about her, and perhaps even to the person who was so
laboriously adding stitch to stitch.
“You have had a letter from Marie?” said M. de Gandelau, putting
down the newspaper.
“Yes, my dear, this evening. They are enjoying themselves
excessively; the weather has been charming, and they have had the
most delightful excursions in the Oberland. They are on the point of
passing the Simplon for Italy. Marie will write to me from Baveno,
Hôtel de——”
“Capital! and how are they?”
“Quite well.”
“And they still mean to go to Constantinople on that important
business?”
“Yes, N—— has had a letter urging him to go; they will take Italy
only en route. They hope to embark at Naples in a month, at latest.
But Marie tells me they cannot return within a year. She does not
appear to think much of so long an absence, but it gives me a pang
which no arguments for its necessity can alleviate.”
“Ah! well, but do you expect our children to marry for our
advantage? And was it not settled that it should be so? They say
affection seldom stands the test of living constantly together on a
journey. N—— is a good, noble fellow, hard-working, and a little
ambitious, which is no bad thing. Marie loves him; she has
intelligence and good health. They will pass the trial successfully, I
have not a doubt, and will return to us well-tried companions for life,
thoroughly acquainted with each other, and having learned how to
further and to suffice for one another’s happiness; and with that
spice of independence which is so necessary for preserving a good
understanding with one’s neighbours.”
“I daresay you are right, my dear; but this long absence is not the
less painful to me, and this year will seem a long one. I shall
certainly be glad when I begin to prepare their rooms for them here,
and have only a few days to reckon till I may hope to see them
again.”
“Certainly, certainly; and I too shall be delighted to see them at
home. Paul, too! But as it is certain they will be a year away, it would
be a fine opportunity for resuming my plan.”
“What, my dear? Do you mean building the house you were
thinking of, on that bit of land which is part of Marie’s dowry? I beg of
you to do nothing of the kind. We have quite enough room for them
here, and for their children, if they have any. And, after this long
absence, it will be a new trial to me to have Marie settled at a
distance from us—not to have her near me. Besides, her husband
cannot stay three-quarters of a year in the country. His engagements
do not allow of it. Marie would then be alone. What can she do in a
house all to herself, with her husband absent?”
“She will do, my love, as you did yourself, when my business
called me—as it did too often—away from home; yet we were young
then. She will have her house to see after; she will get into the way
of managing her property; she will have occupation and
responsibilities; and so she will be satisfied with herself and with the
result of her thought and work. Believe me, I have seen the warmest
family affections weakened and destroyed by the habit of married
children living with their parents. The wife likes to be mistress in her
own house; and this is a sound and just feeling; we should not run
counter to it. A woman who has been wisely educated, having a
house to look after and the responsibility and independence which
responsibility in every form brings with it, is more capable of
maintaining her own dignity of character than one who has been kept
all her life in a state of tutelage. Marie would be very comfortable
here, very happy to be with us, and her husband would be not less
satisfied in knowing that she was with us; but she would not have a
home of her own. An unmarried daughter is only in her place when
with her mother; but a wife is only in her place in her own house. A
married woman in her mother’s house takes her place only as a
guest. And even if we suppose no mutual irritation to arise from this
life in common—and this can hardly fail to arise—it is certain that
indifference to practical interests, nonchalance, and even ennui, and
all the dangers thence ensuing, are sure to be caused by it.
“You have brought up your daughter too well for her not to be
ardently desirous of fulfilling all her duties; you have always shown
her an example of activity too conspicuous for her not to wish to