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Vo. 473," Artn-L 16, 1859.] THE LEADEB, ...
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interests of all parties would be enhanc...
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the head of the Government, it is said, ...
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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The Electors Must Make This Belief A Pri...
franchise m " principle shall be made universal , they will prepare for themselves and the country many days of great tribulation .
Vo. 473," Artn-L 16, 1859.] The Leadeb, ...
Vo . 473 , " Artn-L 16 , 1859 . ] THE LEADEB , 499
Interests Of All Parties Would Be Enhanc...
interests of all parties would be enhanced by a systematic inquiry into every case that occurs , by some central and neutral committee of investigation . This impression was strengthened b y my interview with the Northampton Committee , whose members I found to be intelligent , and to all appearance honest , well-meaning men , quite willing to listen politely and argue fairly upon the subjects in dispute . From verbal report and documents they gave me I learnt that the _ strike ¦ was closely connected with the social conditions of their trade , and a laudable anxiety to avoid the evils of the " factory system , from which , they have ,
THE SHOEMAKERS' STRIKE . TO THE EDITOJt OF THE " iBADBR . " gjH Havih * recently had an opportunity of conversing Avith the Committee of the Shoemakers Strilafin Northampton , I was able to learn some particulars of the contest , which I do not thmk have appeared in the London papers , and the publication of which will , I hope , lead to further inquiry , and the good offices of neutral powers to put an end to a prolonged and calamitous struggle , and promote such measures as may tend to prevent similar quarrels between labour and capital . Having for many years paid attention to the question ofstrikesE have become convinced that the
the town was the strike , onl y one lectureon " Labour , Wages , and Machinery 'V— - had any reference to the topics upon which in struction was most needed . This lecture came among the gratuitous batch ; those paid for being on Robert Burns and Wedded Love ; " " Optics , " " The Submarine Telegraph , " The Atmosphere , " " Thomas Hood , " " Douglas Jerrold , " and " Beau Brummell , " with one or two more . The report made an excuse for the Institute not having done more , and congratulated its subscribers on a rule to prohibit letting the rooms for the discussion of
any political Or religious questions . The report lamented that nothing had been done to " provide cheap and healthy amusement for the working classes ; " and one of the principal speakers—a clergyman—hoped no politics would be allqwed in the debating society . Thus , it appeared , nothing was done in Nort . hanij ) toii to diffuse the kind of information which the strike showed was _ most wanted ; while the non-provision of the kind of amusement referred to proved that an important means of softening down class distinctions had not been tried .
ISTo good ' will come from studying strikes purely as questions of political economy ; the whole groiip of social circumstances under which they ai-ise will have to be considered before appropriate remedies can be devised , and an inquiry of this nature could be conducted by such a central committee as I have recommended . No reasonable man can expect confidence between employers and employed to be a plant of quick growth , but we ought , on every hand , ' to witness organised efforts for its cultivation , and it is the wealthy and best educated who should take the lead . Strjkes cannot be put down by force , but they would yield to the genial influences of knowledge ami social kindness , and capitalists would find that larger investments in these articles would yield a good pecuniary return . I
was told that about 700 of the best workmen had left Northampton since the sti-ike began , most of whom had got employment elsewhere , and this migratory process , so ruinous to the town , was still going on—the wives , and . families of the . wanderers being kept by the association until work was obtained . The quarrel has gone oh for months . For seven weeks twenty-four shops , employing > i > 700 men , have been put on strike . A large portion of these men have obtained employment . A strike conducted upon these principles may continue tor a long time before it is compelled to stop for the want of funds , and the moral mischief it does is fully as great as its financial evils . There is much more that ought to be said on the subject , but I have already made my letter longer than I intended , and must now bring it to a close . Henry J . Slacke .. 34 , Camden-square , N . W ., 12 th April , 1859 .
been hitherto exempt . , One of the printed papers put into my hands says : " It is not the introduction of closing- machines into our trade . which' is our chief dread : it is the accursed lactory system that will accompany it that is most to be feared . . . . . It has hitherto been the pride of the shoemaker to complete his woi-k at home , and work at the hours ^ he chose best for his purpose . Tliis is to beset aside , and we are to be . summoned to our daily toil by the dismal toll of the factory bell . "
One of the . men said , that if the factory system were adopted , a much greater subdivision of labour than now exists would take place ; and the workman , being able to perform fewer processes , would occupy an inferior position , Avhile his domestic comfort would be destroyed by his wile having to neglect her children , find go to the factory at six o ' clock in the morning . I do not know to what extent their fears are likely to be realised j but there must be a strong sympathy with men who struggle—albeit in a mistaken manner—to preserve the independence they have hitherto enjoyed . I
expressed to them my conviction that machinery would ultimately be introduced generally into their trade , whether or not they were right in imagining that under present ¦ circumstances it does not pay , ¦ and suggested that they might find far better methods of protecting their interests than spending money upona strike . One ground that rnade them alarmed for the future was the high price of leather , and the great value of the materials of a pair of boots as compared with the . 'labour employed in producing them . I endeavoured to explain that the use of
raachinery might lead to an indefinite increase m the demand for their commodity ; while Indian railways and African discoveries opened a prospect of an unlimited supply of hides , capable of being tanned into suitable leather . I also pointed . out that tjie evils of the factory system were capable of diminution and compensation , and . that the remedies must be found in the extension of knowledge among capitalists and workmen concerning . social and industrial questions .
No hursh remarks wei'e made to me about the masters , but the men felt isolated from the human sympathy that they wore entitled to , and indignant at those who dig a great social gulf between the wealthier and the poorer classes of tlio community . I talked to them about sanitary reform , education , and other indirect but certain means of raising the condition of the working man 5 and pointed out then * interest in scientific discoveries and the extension of foreign trade 5 and from , the observations made I concluded that the wealthier classes iu the town ' took no pains to show how the working man ' s futurq might bo made more bright . I inquired what their Mechanics' Institute was doing , and found they cored little about it , which I did not wondor at , when X saw a report of its proceedings , at on annual mooting , in tho North ' urnpton Herald . Although tho great fact of
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The Head Of The Government, It Is Said, ...
the head of the Government , it is said , is compelled to resort to something like the system employed by the illustrious Haroun , in order to learn what his subj ects think of his policy . Although the Government organs have replied to Austria ' s proposition for a general disarmament that France has not moved beyond the military conditions of peace — that she has not formed , a camp ¦ with a view to war ; that she has not moved her armies towards the frontiers-France is arming with extraordinary rapidity . The statement that she has not formed a camp with a view to war . is an ecjuivocation ; for General Vimoy ' s division , which hitherto formed
part of the army of Paris , is under orders to leave here in a day or two to form a camp in the southeast of France . Detachments of cavalry come into Paris daily on ' their road to the south . The camp of Chalons is to contain double the ordinary number of men ; that of Satho . nay is filled to overflowing . The levy of recruits is fixed at 100 , 000 men , in addition to which the six months' furlough men have all rejoined . The National Guard of Paris , which , is considered useful for the defence of the capital , is to be increased from 30 , 000 to 150 , 000 men ; and nothing
but the necessities of the situation would induce the Government to place arms in the hands of those who have been disbanded ever since the June insurrection of 1848 . I fear this is the most ill-omened sign of any that have occurred ; unless it be the order given to the Maritime prefects to call in all the sailors on leave who have served in the Imperial Navy for less than four years . This will give the result of four conscriptions , and must be equivalent to an impressment of at least 60 , 000 disciplined sailors and marines . lam hot aware that Austria
lias so formidable a navy as to require such - sive preparations . The passed midshipmen and mates of the Brest division , after supplying the necessary number of officers to the three frigates fitting out in that port , are to be forwarded , to complete the staff of the twelve gun frigates fitting out . at Cherbourg , and" all officers of that rank absent on extension of leave have been called in . Austria cannot necessitate such naval preparations . If they are not intended for her , against whom are they to be two three
directed ? The steam transports , built or years back , are actively employed in bringing over troops from Algiers to France . Last week th | Mogador brought over 1 , 000 men of the 45 th , and the Scvrea company of the " 2 nd squadron of the military train , with their . horses and mules , oonvplete for the camp-of Sathonay . A temporary camp has been established outside the town of Marseilles for the reception of the Africans . The Zouaves and the Foreign Legion—composed chiefly of deserters from other European armies—are expected daily . FRENCH VIEWS ON INDIA . Allow me to call the attention of your readers to a work just published here on the history of India —Histoire de flnde Ancienne et Moderne—which * independently of its literary and historical interest , has . a certain political importance . The author is M . de Jancigny , who first arrived in Hindustan in 1811 . After a short sojourn in the Peninsula , he revisited Europe , and returned to the East subsequent to the events of 1814 . About 1830 he was in Oude , as colonel and aide-de-camp to the reigning prince , by Avliom lie was entrusted with a special mission to England in 1835 . When this was concluded , M . de Jancignv entered into the diplomatic service of his native country , and was charged with a special mission to the Philippines , China , and the Dutch Eas $ Indian possessions . . '
_ ___ _ .,.. _ , _ The main conclusions which are the most likely to interest your readers , and which the author declares to have drawn us much from personal observation as from the records of the past , are , that the people of Hindustan , ' destitute for ages of sufficient power to self-government " , arc incapable ? to take % \\ e management of their own nfFuirs , and require for their happiness and orderly direction a foreign rule ; nnd , secondly , that in spito of this inaptitude to self-government , tho Hindoos aro far ¦ frqm being disposed to submit to any land of Government , ana that a foreign rule to be established and enabled to hold its own in tho country , ought to conform to r . ni-t . iin nntinnnl nvicrenaius . tllO illC'l'tlUi WhOreOl IS
FRANCE . Paris , Thursday , G &' p . m . 1 > EAOB OR WAB . The momentous question appears as remote from solution as ever . Indeed every day seems to add to it fresh complications and uncertainty . People who hitherto have clung to tho belief that pence would not be disturbed , aro now disposed to-look upon war as inevitable . Cabinet councils are of almost daily occurrence . Yesterday one was held at the TuLlerr ^ s , at which the Emperor and his cousin , Princo Napoleon , assisted . It was anticipated that to-day ' a Moniteur would have givon some indication of what was to be expected . Nothing , however , lias transpired to allay the apprulicnsions of the public . TI 10 Cabinet councils are not the only meetings to which tho Emperor has recourse . Tho day before
yostorday his Majesty received to dinner eleven general officers 5 nono of tho ministers , nor any civilian was present . It has slncj boon cullod tho " council of twelve . " Of course , it would bo absurd to attempt to conjecture ovon what wero tho subjects of conversation , for strict injunctions wore given by his Mnjesty to observe silence . After dinner , tho twolvq adjourned to tho drawing-room , whore a curtain number of ladies of high rank and station in society wore admitted . Tho ladies , I am assured , are carefully soloetod to enjoy tho intimacy of Ids Majesty on account of their very Jurgo circle of acquaintances , and tho extraordinarily retentive momorios with whluh they aro ondowoil . As tho public press has ceased to roprosont public opinion , or , at least , caunot bo relied upon for that purposu ,
only apparent , but of which tho constant force is invincible . Tho roador will not full to remark how completely these conclusions confirm tlioso contained In tho last lottor of the Timvs correspondent . A Government writer oftl . o day takes advantage of M . Do Junclsn / s publication to _ submit the following auostions to tlio French nation . which , independently of their impertinence , aro curiously indicative of a policy , cautiously and artfully preparod for years past , but not yet arrivod . Ho aslca wimtimr it bb true that the populations bo diverse
of India , in spito of tlio groat and powerful energies with which they aro endowed , aro aflllctod with an incurable incapacity for self-government ? Whether
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), April 16, 1859, page 19, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_16041859/page/19/
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