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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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Saturday , January 17 . just one week ago Lord Cranworth wrote a letter to Lord Ashbufton , on . the . pending dispute between the engineers and their employers . - Lord Ashburton had been asked whether he wpuld act as an arbitrator ; and , having heard that the operatives desired to place Lord Cranworth at the head of a council of arbitration for the decision of the questions at issue ,
Lord Ashburton at once proceeded to consult with Lord Cranworth . The result of the interview was a letter dated the same day , addressed to Lord Ashburton , and which he has forwarded to the Times . He writes : — - " Before these sacrifices are actually made by a gallant band of men , in a spirit of heroism , to what I cannot but conceive to be a mistaken sense of right , I desire to put before them the impartial and disinterested testimony of one to whose enlightened arbitration it had been the wish of their leaders at one moment to appeal . "
The "impartial and disinterested testimony" of Lord Cranworth is to this effeet-r-the men are entirely in the wrong—I am very sorry for them- ^ -but they must give way . He states the question at issue under three heads : the dismissal of unskiHed labourers ( not one of the points at issue ) ,-the cessation of piecework , and overtime . On all these points he thinks that ** the men are entirely in the wrong . " " The masters ought , surely , to be at liberty to employ whomsoever they may please for each , and every portion of the work . If it is work only to be done well by skilled workmen , they must employ skilled
workmen , and unless they do so the work will be badly done , and the masters will be the sufferers . If it is not work requiring skilled workmen , on what possible principle can the masters be called on to employ them ? The master ought to be at liberty to employ whom , he may choose . Of course , the workman must equally be left at liberty to accept the terms offered by the master and work , or to reject those terms and abstain from working . Both , parties ought to be left at perfect liberty to do what they think most for their own interest . So as to piecework and
work overtime , — all the relations between employer and employed are , or ought to be , those of contract between two perfectly free agents . The master may propose whatever terms he chooses ; the workmen may accept or reject those terms . In such a state of things , when there are no combinations on either side , the result must eventually be fair and just tOL . both sides . If the master proposes what is harsh and unreasonable , he will get no workmen to work for him . If , on the other hand , a workman insists on terms which fetter the master , the master will not give employment , and the workmen will be unemployed . "
He considers combination on both sides as a " misfortune , " and would like all disputed questions to be settled between the isolated workman and the employer ! Men always fail , he says , in combinations . They intend well ; they wish to avoid violence ; but they are sure to have recourse to it . But the masters , he says , have an immense advantage over the men . " The worst that can happen to them is , that capital is for a season unproductive . The reason for their insisting on perfect freedom on the disputed points is , that they think that without such freedom they could not make their capital adequately productive ; and so " they are content to let it be altogether fruitless- for a time , in the hope of a brighter future . There is no chance of any violation of the law on their part , and they are , therefore , content to bide their time . "
The men , however , in his opinion , must descend to injustice and outrage . Recurring again to the kernel of the topio he continues : — " I cannot wonder that the masters refuse to agree to any arbitration that is to impose on them any restriction whatever as to the terms on which they are to Contract with their men . No one ought to pre * 8 ume to define such terms , any more than to bind the men as to the terms which they ought to submit to in favour of their masters . The obvious
duty and interest of the men is to treat the matter as a mere question of bargain . If once they do that—if once they allow that the master is at liberty to propose his own terms , and the workman to accept or reject them , I should think the masters would—1 am sure they ought—to bo quite ready to listen to any suggestions of the men , as to any modifications of the system which should be more agreeable to them , without infringing on the free agency of their employers . " On tho question of a tribunal to decide disputed points between masters and men , he thinks that auch u tribunal is not only an impossibility— -but not . by
any means de 8 irablo--becauBQ the men are free agents . " When , indeed , the employed is not a free agent , not therpforo an equal with the employer , as , for instance , a child ' ox a woman , there wo know the Legislature has reasonably enough interfered . But I should be sorry indeed to think that the o , dult workmen of this country should claim protection , on any suoh ground as that Which has led to the legislative protection of women and children in their dealings with their employers . " That is the substance of Lord Cranworth ' s opinion on tho strike of tho masters , wbioh , it will bo Been , wads as if it were written ftota no other baais than
that furnished by the misrepresentations of the leaders in the Times . Two meetings were held on Thursday—the one in Manchester , the other in Oldham . At the former two resolutipns Were passed , one condemning pieoeworfc and overtime as " gross evils , " the other calling on the public to assist in supporting the unskilled thrown out of employment by the strike of the masters . The Oldham meeting was chiefly local , and turned pretty much on the ever-enduring Hibbert and Platt squabble . But really that is the pivot upon which all the history turns . The following resolution was passed among others : —
" That having read in the different papers that the members of the Amalgamated Society are the dupes of a number of paid demagogues , Communists , Socialists , idlers , Sec , we at once , without hesitation , repudiate such statements as being totally unfounded , inasmuch as we have only two paid officers , who devote thewhole of their time to the business of the above society . " The tone of both meetings was moderate , but cheerful and resolute .
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A story ias been ventilated in the columns . of the Scotsman , demi-semi Jklinisterial organ , to the effect that Sir James Graham and the Peelites have only declined , at present , to enter the Ministry . Lord John , it is asserted , will , before Paimerston can open his bag of grievances , lay 6 n the table of the House his measure of reform and at once \ dissolve ; and that between the dissolution and the meeting of the new Parliament a new Ministry including Sir James and the Peel party will be formed . The reason assigned for the refusal of Sir James is that neither he nor any of the sect would get reelected . Not a ve * y likely looking rumour .
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"We have been requested to insert the following letter relative to a contest which has been going on for some time-amongst the clergy of the parish of Bethnal-rgreen , The late Incumbent of St . Philip ' s thinks our contemparary the Guardian has not done him justice , in refusing him the opportunity of defending himself in his own ' way , after he had permitted others to attack him in theirs . And as this letter from thelate clerk of St . Philip ' s is a brief statement of facts and nothing more , we have can no objection to its appearance in our columns . We can have no interest in the matter but fair play for all concerned : but what a touching illustration of the Church in Distress is this fight for fees ! return to the whole Bubject of contention . January 14 , 1853 .
Reverend Sib , —In answer to the communication with which you favoured me of the Reverend T . Gibson ' s letter , as puulished in the Guardian of December 24 , I beg leave respectfully to say that the statements con tained therein , respecting the fees of marriage received at St . Philip ' s Church , are totally incorrect . The fees as established by yourself at the commencement of marriages in July , 1843 , were 98 ., viz ., banns , 2 s . ; marriage , Us . GA . ; certificate , Is . Od . This rate of fees continued until December , 1850 , when the Reverend A . Edwards , of St . Matthews ' , having placarded his own and some other districts with a reduced scale of marriage fees , you lowered those of St . Philip ' s to 8 s . ; viz ., bannsIs . 6 d . ; marriage , 5 s . ; certificate , Is . 6 d .
, The fees remained ' at this amount until some weeks afte * the Rector of St . Matthew ' s had placarded the whole of the parish of Bethnal-green , and also in several of the surrounding parishes , with large bills headed " Reduction of Marriage Fees , " when you thought proper to reduce yours to the same amount , viz ., banns , Is . ; marriage , 4 s . ; certificate , Is . ; total 6 s .: and it was not until some weeks afterwards , when you were informed that they were taking less than the 6 s . at St . Matthew ' s , that you lowered the fees at St . Philip ' s to 2 s . 6 d .
^ These statements I know to be correct , for , having by your direction always received the fees , the whole of these amounts have passed through my hands . I remain , Reverend Sir , youra obediently , WlIililAM SAWUNT .
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The gratifying news reached town yesterday tha thirteen more of the passengers and crew of the Amazon were picked up from the port lifeboat in the Bay of Biscay by a JJutch . galliot . Eliot Warburton and Captain Symons are still missing . Angus , the second engineer , is among the saved . The Lords of the Admiralty yesterday directed two steamers , the Conflance and tho Sprightly , to sail immediately in searoh of possible survivors from the wreck oi
Mr . Montague Gore suggests through the Times , that the Militia should be trained and organized as lilile oorps . " If , " ho says , " they were practised a few weeks every year in firing at a mark , and were instructed in a few simple manoeuvres , such , as skirmishing , lining hedecs , and retiring upon call , they would constitute , a force which might ronder essential service in harassing and Impeding the progress x > f an invading army , . fcaoft county might be divided into diatriota under the superintendence of deputy-lieutenants } and foe . n ™ jP * be taught all that ia We suggested , in their respective districts , without the neoossity of going far from their homes "
. Inspired by Mr . Roebuck's Sheffield ' speech , a " Citizen " in the Morninp Chronicle , makes u similar though more extended proposition : — " Lot those who are willing to become soldiers for the preservation of peace in each parish or dlfltrict , foxm themselves into volunteer companies . '
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A PROCLAMATION BY THE QUEEtf . Parliament is sommoned , and will meet in little more than a fortnight ; yet somehow we do not feel that sort of reassurance that we ought . When the family ia sick , how the heart expands to hear that "the Doctor is coming' *! but we hear that Parliament is on the way without any certain conviction that it will at once " save society . " Three quarters per cent , the funds fell on Tuesday , and the day was " gloomy * ' in the commercial world . The City was uneasy , and various causes were assigned for its nervousness—especially the rumours of war , and the dispute between the engineers and their
employers ! The City , then , has , at last , found it out j—that something is the matter in our foreign relations , and something also in our internal relations . The City begins to think it possible thajt peace should not continue , and to wonder how far we are prepared to resist aggression . Begins also to think th e industrial dispute a very ugly one , and to wish that it would leave off . And the proclamation convening Parliament was no reassurance , but rather the reverse ; since there is no party trusted , all are mistrusted , and the session is to open with prospects of squabbling . War abroad , industrial discord at home , and the usual Parliamentary squabbling somewhat aggravated—such is the
prospect . The reasons for the war apprehension are obvious enough . Our soldiers have sustained constant rebuffs at the hands of the rude native tribes of Africa ; our newspapers teem with letters from military men , declaring that our military condition is antiquated and absurd , and that the Continental armies are in the highest state of efficiency ; our
boasted steamers break down before our eyes ; the Duke is said to be preparing fortifications on the coasts , though wo defence for London ; war is reported to be imminent between France and Belgium , or if not there , somewhere else ; and , in the midst of it all , the public does not know in the slightest degree what is the position of our Government towards the States that are conspiring against the liberty of the world . Are we to side with Franco , or with Austria and Russia , or with Italy and
Hungary ? Nobody knows . We know , indeed , that insolent demands have been addressed by the despotic Powers to our Government , and that such demands are likely to be followed up ; we know that , if our Government were to resist , America—not only the People , but the Senate and the House of Representativeswould ioin in support of England as one man ; we
know that if England and America appeared m Europe as the joint champions of national independence and freedom , every one of the principal nations would declare on the same side , the Governments would be powerless against us , and we should be masters of the most glorious peace the world ever witnessed . But do we know any set of men in Downing-street capable of accepting the
opportunity thua ottered f Alas ! our present cannot conquer the Kafirs , cannot keep our Navy supplied with sound meat , cannot furnish out our , soldiers for active service , cannot supply London with water , cannot even reconstruct their own Ministry . The reasons for apprehension from tho engineer dispute are of a practical kind . The masters wo
obstinate } it was expected that a strike on their aide would instantly frighten the men into submission , which it has not done ; the attempts in the leading journal to persuade the men that they ought to yield , betray the strong wishes of the employers ; and in the continuance of the struggle , the commercial men foresee that capitals may db sacri * need , to say nothing of the vague upprcheneioua
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" . V ¦ . . . ¦ •'• ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦' . ¦¦ . . . ¦¦¦¦ . ¦ r-V ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦¦' ¦ . " . ¦ ¦ . ' ¦ ' ¦ :. ¦ . ¦ ¦¦' . - . . ¦ . ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ . - ' ¦ I Jan . 17 , 1852 J ffifje £$ *}** & 55 f , - . ; ; ; . - ; -- . . .-. ¦ . — .. ¦ . , ¦ . ———— — ¦ —" ¦ ¦ ' ¦ . '
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There is nothing so revolutionary , because there is nothing so unnatural and convtilsive , as the strain to keep things fixed , when all the world ia by the very law ot its creation in eternal progress . —Db . Arnold .
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SATURDAY , JANUARY 17 , 1852 .
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Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 17, 1852, page 55, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1918/page/11/
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