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180 [THE LEADER. [No. 309, Saturday,
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WHAT IS A CONFERENCE ? We can remember n...
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TRIBUNALS OF IOTUJSTHY. Mr. Macklnnon's ...
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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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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There Is Notmng So Revolutionary, Becaus...
French ^ jpciety is a known and natural fact , ascribable to an affinity of tastes , habits and manners . In both , the same gaiety of life prevails , the same insouciance , the same light wit : to the Russian aristocracy Paris is a second home . In spite of the desolating traditions of the iirst Empire , this sympathy penetrates all classes . The soldiers of the two armies mutually respect each other ; the officers are all Frenchmen by language and cultivation . The
present war has not diminished this sentiment . The English , army , if it is feared for the prowess of the troops , is the jibe of both French and Russians , for its ignorance , its clumsiness , the incapacity of its generals , the uncompanionable affectation , the reserve and mauvaise hortte of its " officers and gentlemen . " We do not , of course , concur in these disparaging extravagances , we merely cite them , for the znoral they suggest;—the necessity of a reform in the constitution and education of our
s . Another and a graver moral is to be found in facts , "which all who are familiar -with French society will attest ; it is , that the only possible basis of alliance between two powerful nations is nititiial respect and no unworthy concessions —a national , not a dynastic basis . We have alienated j & oia us the oppressed and suffering intelligence of France , the confidence of those who once confided in our free spirit . We have anade the French Emperor necessary to us , when we might have m ade ourselves necessar y
to'him . . And we have done this , we have insulted the nation , idolised the usurper , and wof obtained the respect of the army , the sole support of that government , by which Peace or War is to be decided at the Tuileries . We h ^ e created many enemies , and no Mends ; we have taunted the French nation with its unfifcness for liberty ; we have acquiesced in a policy whiefc is a development of the Coup d'Etat ; humiliation has become our habit ; while the prsetorians i the sole arbiters of the Empire , ridicule- our character , and hate our institu-¦
tions . ' , . We entreat our readers to take these conscientious -words to heart , and to interpret them as they are written . We do not transcribe the just resentments of exiles , still less the mutterings of faction . Refugees , expatriated for defending the laws , cannot expect that their personal bitterness should tinge even the most liberal of English journalism . Sensitively
responsible for every printed line , within whatever sphere of publicity it falls , we have not written , malignantly , or at random . It is in a public spirit , and from ample information that we commend to the dispassionate consideration ' of - thinking men these statements and these fac ^ s . Every honest principle is in danger when the permanent policy of England is subordinated to that of a Phantom
autocrat in France , and when that autocrat , who obtained his position by violating every recognised law , is deified by the tawdry rhetoric of aristocratic hirelings as the guardian of JRight and Order in Europe .
180 [The Leader. [No. 309, Saturday,
180 [ THE LEADER . [ No . 309 , Saturday ,
What Is A Conference ? We Can Remember N...
WHAT IS A CONFERENCE ? We can remember no European Conference that ever laid the foundations of a durable peace . A . Congress signifies the deliberations Of combined and victorious powers , dividing the political and territorial spoils of a completed iwar . A Conference has usuall y been , a con'Btutation of belligerents in search of a compro-» nise . 7 It is a diplomatic committee , convened tifxd'hoc' not to define general principles , or to t $ ^ cognisance of ' general European interests , itontytojle ' cido a special case , within special limitations . ¦> After the armistice of Looben , a ^ ongresa -wla ' s ; : proposed , which resulted in the treaty of Camp © tformio , and gave a new form
to Europe . After the armistice of Pleiswitz , Conferences took place , ostensibly to determine the conditions of peace , but , in reality , to give the belli gerents breathing time , to cement their alliances , and perfect their warlike preparations . At Erfurt , after the convulsions of 1849 , a Conference was held , though by a part of the Germans it was affectedly styled a Congress , to arbitrate between Austria and Prussia , and to adjust their conflicting claims without appealing to the Confederate forces of Germany . But , the clearest illustration of the nature of a Conference was
supplied by that which took place in 1854 , at Vienna , where certain Points having been laid down as the bases of peace , the plenipotentiaries of Russia , Austria , France , Great Britain , and Turkey met to discuss those points alone , and not any broad scheme for the settlement of disputed questions of European policy , or for remodelling the political constitution of Europe . The Conferences now assembled at Paris
have a specific object , strictly defined in the Austrian plan of peace . But what if any one of the powers represented should propose to convert this diplomatic council into a congress , to remove the anomalies of the public law of Christendom , and to reconcile the Holy Alliance with the altered conditions of Europe ? It is obviously important to the French Emperor that the clause in the treaty of Vienna ,
which excludes the Bonapartes from , the throne of Europe , should he cancelled under the sanction of the old monarchies . Napoleon the Third is not yet crowned . He is not yet anointed . Perhaps the Holy Father might be persuaded to visit Paris , and crown , with the grace of God an Emperor , created by a revolution , but justified and made , legitimate by Monarchical Diplomacy .
Tribunals Of Iotujsthy. Mr. Macklnnon's ...
TRIBUNALS OF IOTUJSTHY . Mr . Macklnnon ' s motion in the House of Commons for a Committee to inquire into the propriety of establishing Tribunals of Industrial in England has been successful . This is a real advantage gained for the working classes , and may lead to the establishment of more equitable relations between them and their employers . . Mr . Mackinnon has obtained an intimate knowledge of the sentiments of the general industrial body on this
subject . In the course of last week he met the delegates of forty thousand working men , and he has received from all parts of the country encouragements to bring the question broadly into the public view . Sir G-eorge Grey did not object , as in former Sessions , that the necessary information has been obtained ; for the memorandum ho presented in 1854 only touched the externals of the question . What is now essential is to discover how far the system is practicable in England , and if it be impracticable where th < 3 iault lies . We are
told by employers , that the mechanic is too unreasonable to submit his claims to an impartial arbitration . The artisan tells us , on the contrary , that his master is too proud and peremptory to discuss with him a point of industrial justice . It would be useful to test these ideas , to interrogate masters and men , that wo may learn how far both are disposed to adopt a self-acting security against factory oppression , against strikes , against inordinate requirements on one side , and irrational claims on the other .
Is ^ the difference between tho English and the French and Belgian employers a difference of nature or of habit ? Of habit , clearly ; because the system is . not old in Belgium or in France . Before tho Hevolution , masters and workmen in those countries possessed no means of settling thuir disputos , except by an appctil
to powers which almost invariably decided in behalf of the employer . The Conseils des Prud ' hommes , suggested by the Republic , were adopted by the Empire—the first being established at Lyons , in 1809 . There was not one in Paris until 1844 . The entire number in France is about eighty . In no instance have they failed ; in no instance have they dissolved from the apathy of the working class .
In the constitution of these tribunals , an equal weight is given to employers and employed . The president and vice-president , however , who are selected by the government , belong often to neither class . In England a local chamber of commerce , or a mixed committee , might elect these functionaries , so as to avoid the centralising tendencies of the French system . It would be unnecessary , perhaps , to impose any restrictions on the constituencies of these Councils of Labour , such as the three
years residence , and five years' license ; but it would not be tinvjust to require that every member of the Tribunal should be respectably educated , and of a sober age . If we know anything of the great body of English workmen , they would not choose as their representatives in these judicial committees any other than calm , and moderate men . To bring the illiterate , fierce , declamatory demagogue face to . face with the master-manufacturer would be to prefer hostility to conciliation , and to render fair
decisions impossible . Of course it would be judicious to create special as well as general tribunals , the first to sit daily , and to arbitrate without a semblance of coercion ; the second to sit at intervals of a week or fortnight , and to effect compulsory settlements of all trilling disputes . Serious questions might be referred to a court of appeal . That the equitable adjustment of industrial interests between masters and men is possible is shown , by the statistics of the councils in France , Up to the year 1842 there had been 184 , 574 eases submitted to the Prud'hommes . Not less than
174 , 487 were amicably arranged by the Councils of Conciliation . Of ten thousand referred to the general tribunal , one-half were withdrawn , three thousand were peremptorily settled , and nineteen hundred decisions were pronounced subject to appeal . Except in a hundred and ninety instances , however , neither the employers nor the men refused the judgment of their representatives , or made use of the privilege of appeal .
Such are the workings of the system , imperfectly as it has been organised in France . In Belgium the results have been slight on account of the limited number of the tribunals . la parts of Great Britain analogous principles have been adopted with success . Thus , the carpet trade in Scotland and the north of England , which , previous to 1839 , was frequently agitated and impoverished by strikes , now convenes an annual meeting , composed of the masters and a delegate from the weavers
of each firm . These delegates , at a preliminary committee , discuss their claims , which the masters themselves admit are often urged at tho general meeting in clear language and with admirable temper . The result has boon that during the last fifteen years the delegates of the carpet trade in tho north of England have only once retired dissatisfied . In that instance , they begged their employers to reconsider their decision . This was done , and tho dispute was satisfactorily concluded .
Tho ship-riggers of London illustrate , m another light , the efficacy of arbitration . They are all in turn masters and men—ho being the muster who obtains tho contract . Having bargained with a shipowner to rig his vcssi'l , for £ 10 , or for £ 15 , or 4 C 20 , he engages assistance , and tho proceeds are divided .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 23, 1856, page 12, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_23021856/page/12/
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