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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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tinct from the landlords , and Mr . Cobdcn writes to Somerville— " It would be a great move if we could purchase a share and put you . on it ; " presuming Mr . Somerville ' s co-operation in what would * have been an act of deception . In another letter , dated October , 1842 , Mr . Cobden instigates Mr . Somerville to " put some fresh disguise , " " to get letters or arguments" into certain journals . In another place , he suggests that he should not use palpable noms de guerre , but sign " A Westmorland" or u Leicestershire farmer ; " and in another , he suggests that Mr . Somerville should seem a native of the South . At one time Mr .
Cobden suggests " satirical story-telling sketches , ' " not too broad caricatures , " sketches which Mr . Somerville provided at his own expense , but which , he says , were not accepted by the League , because he did not make caricatures of the landlords , land-agents , and farmers . During part of Mr . Somerville ' s career as writer and agitator , he wrote the letters which were signed " One who has Whistled at the Plough , " for
which he was paid three guineas a week ; subsequently , for articles in the Morning Chronicle and in the League newspapers , he was paid four guineas ; but while he was paid in this manner for the League , he was employed to a great extent by Mr . Cobden in collecting facts , and in arranging them for Mr . Cobden ' s use as a speaker , sometimes being suddenl y summoned for the purpose . These facts appear under Mr . Cobden ' s own hand , in letters quoted by the writer . For example : —
" March 13 , 1843 . —Saturday Night . " Dear Silt , —I am going down to Southampton tomorrow , to attend a meeting there on Monday , and shall be back on Tuesday . I shall be glad if you can meet me at three o ' clock on that day . And I shall be glad to have your facts in a condensed form ready , as it is expected that will exhibit himself [ in the House of Commons ] , and I should like to be prepared for him . . . . The whole of the papers collected at the Conference at Manchester , respecting th « condition of tbe agr icultural districts , have been brought to town hy Mr . Greg , and are left by him for lny address at Mark rhOlips ' s . I shall want them in a digested form in the rural counties [ 7 or speeches ^ . Can you assist me in arranging them ? 11 Yours truly , " Richard Cobdkn . "
" Of course , says Mr . Somerville , " I could " arrange these speeches . " Of course I could ; and of course it was done to the advantage of his popularity , and reputation for excessive industry ; while I , being paid only for articles to newspapers , got neither reputation nor a shilling , or a shilling ' s worth of reputation for it . " Another service wlr ich Mr . Sonaerville did for Mr . Cobden obtained a curious requital : —
' At Manchester , Mr . Frederick Cobden was sent to take me i ; i a cab to Richard ' s house . When closeted with the latter lie told me how much lie had suffered in business by devotion to the League ; how greatly mistaken people were who called him a rich man ; how his father died leaving a family unprovided for , and that the charge of them all devolved on riim , and whatever the country might do for him ( a testimonial was then whispered ) it would fall short of what he had lost by serving the country ; and so forth .
" I did not mistake the purpose of Ins repeating all this now , he having on several occasions introduced the subject before . 1 asked if I mi g , in communicating that he intended to retire from Parliament — [ he showed me the manuscript of his retiring address]—add something about his losses in trade by devotion to public business ; and so disabuse the public as to his personal wealth . He said ho coull trust to my discretion in putting those facts to a proper use .
" I put them to the use intended ; sent them to London , from whence they went into nearly every provincial newspaper in the kingdom—Protectionist as -well as Free-tradist , and stimulated , as designed , the public , to get up a liberal fund as a testimonial . " About 30 , 000 / . were collected . The expenses were heavy ; but so far as I was concerned , my pen and nowspaper influence then and after were given freely to the object , I not expecting , not asking , not receiving payment to the amount or a penny . " The arlicle is quoted , and certainly it is sufficiently delicate in its language , although done with all Mr . Somerville ' s force . " Within a few days of tho time when my article just quoted appeared in the newspapers , Mr . Charles Cobden , a younger brother , met me and spoke to tliis effect : — " ' That is a disgraceful articlo " you huvo written about Richard P " ' What disgraceful article have I written ?' " ' Nay , you need not deny it ; though there bo no nnme to it , 1 know it must be youra ; you noetl not deny it . ' I ' ' I deny nothing , Sir ; 1 have nothing to deny . ' ' ' I know it is yours , and you cannot deny it , because it refers to matters which itichnrd told you in confidence , novcr dreaming that you wcro to make trade of them in the newspapers . It is disgraceful ; but it is just like you hired writers , you Write anything for pay It is most offensive to our family . Our siatera uro married to some of the first men in Manchester ; what nro tlioso gentlemen to think of us when thivy Hud our family history and private convereafl-Uions sold by hired writers to the newspapers . ' "
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THE PRINCE-CORSORT QUESTION . The publication of the surpressed pamphlet alluded to in Mr . Coninghani ' s letter last week , proves that no additional evidence lay concealed in that production against the Prince Consort . The whole of the subject remains without any additional light this -week . Nothing further is adduced to make out the charge of objectionable communications to foreign courts ; nothing to refute the more tangible assertion , that Prince Albert had unduly interfered with the ministerial business executed by her Majesty ' s responsible
advisers . We have received a second letter from Mr . Coningham , showing that writers who had commented < m jjie .. former letter had mixed up his plain description of the pamphlet , -which he gave on the authority of the -writer , with additions and interpretations by others . This is true ; but the publication of the pamphlet itself renders Mr . Coningham ' s disclaimer unnecessary . We have no desire to meddle further with the unauthentic discussion of the subject , which must soon be placed on a more certain footing . Our object in alluding to it at all has been to brinsr the discussion to a definite
point ; that has been done , and we have now nothing to add to what we said last week on " The Common . Sense of the Prince Albert Question , " as a question in truth of Ministerial responsibility . That point will no doubt be raised in Parliament , and we shall then learn how far , if there has been the necessity , Ministers have vindicated the freedom of action to which the responsible servants of the Crown have a right , under the usage of our constitution , and which has been entrusted to the present Ministers for transmission , unabated and uuinj . ured , to their Successors .
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THE LANCASHIRE STRIKES AND LOCK-OUT . I . PIECE-WORK . It may be taken for a fact that all the disputes which have arisen between the employers and tho employed throughout the manufacturing districts , since the repeal of the Combination Laws , have been grounded upon disputes witli regard to the price of pioco-work . lOver since masters and men nave enjoyed tlio privilege of bein # able to combine ajminst each other Wally , they have done so
with the professed object on the one side of forcing down , and on the other side of forcing up this rjate of computing the value of labour . It is , therefore , highly important that some clear principles should ^> e ascertained and popularized with regard to the nature of piece-work , and as to how far it should be suffered to fluctuate with the continual variations of trade .
Piece-work is a method of computing the true value of a day's labour , b y fixing the rate to be paid upon a certain quantity of work completed . It is resorted to in order tbat the master may pay for no more than the exact quantum , of labour expended upon the manufactured article , and furthermore that he may estimate the value of labour as a marketable commodity , when he fixes the price at which he can afford to compete with the foreign manufacturer . The operative has also the benefit of this mode of computation , because it enables the dexterous and the industrious to
earn more than the clumsy and the slothful . It will be readily understood that where there are ten p icks to the quarter-inch in one fabric , and forty in another ( in other words , where the shuttle has to fly through the warp , leaving its thread of weft behind it , ten times in one case and forty in another ) , the rate of piece-work for the latter should be considerably more than for the former ; firstly , because it takes a greater length of time to make thesame quantity of cloth , and secondly , because the finer fabric requires greater care and attention . Make some abatement in consideration
of the better yarn being less liable to accident , and we have all the elements upon which a manufacturer calculates the prices of piece-work for his various sorts . The rate of piece-work paid by different ( even . neighbouring ) manufacturers varies Tery considerably . Sjiperioritv of machinery , additional processes for facilitating the work , and better materials used ( all of which circumstances greatly assist
the operative in getting out a larger duantity of work ) , justly cause very important differences in the prices of piece-work . So . sensible have the operatives generally been of the advantages of working in a well-appointed mill , that instances may be quoted where they have been content to receive smaller wages in consideration of the mere physical comforts by which they 'have been surrounded . In the case of Messrs . Horrockses and
Miller , the largest employersof labour in Preston , ( whose name and stuffs are known and quoted in every draper ' s shop throughout the kingdom ) the rate of wages , and the average of earnings , have hitherto been inferior to those paid by other masters in Preston who manufacture the same sorts ; . and this is chiefly to be accounted for by the fact that their mill is considered a model mill , the workrooms and weaving-shed being very light , spacious ,
and airy , and all the wants and comforts of the work-people very well attended to . The machinery is not understood to be superior to many others that could be named , so far as real working excellence is concerned , but then it is kept very bright and clean , and the ornamental fittings are lustrous and tasteful ; all which has a certain influence over the fancy and predilections of the operatives .
It is but fair to record that this firm bore , up to the time of the " Lock-out , " the highest character among the working-classes generally for the certainty of the work ; whilst their own operatives looked up to them with a sort of feudal attachment , and prided themselves upon the extent of the business , as reflecting credit and honour upon themselves . Never had this firm run short tune , never had it resorted to those indirect means of
lessening production which manufacturers , not so fortunately situated in their trade relations , are sometimes driven to adopt : this had its influence over the minds of the operatives , and the whole case affords a very strong proof of how far external circumstances will weigh with the workingclasses , albeit not connected with direct gain , but the contrary . As I have before stated , there are three circumstances which justly depress the prices of piecework ; superiority of machinery , additional processes , and better materials .
Superiority of Machinery . —It may be taken as a rule that all permanent improvements in machinery ( I speak of cotton-manufacturing machinery ) have had tbe effect of economising labour : —the / have enabled tbe workman to turn out more work with a less expenditure of labour . It is a well known fact that many of the most important suggestions in this way have emanated from the operatives themselves , which would not have been
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At a subsequent date , Mr . Somerville fell into differences with the League ; they not paying 65 ? . which he claimed from them for work done . The League had come to its euthanasia hy the official consummation of its policy ; the dispute was referred to arbitration ; the arbitrator had great difficulty in getting replies from u parties in London , 'J and ultimately Mr . Somerville was awarded 501 . Subsequently to this dispute , Mr . Cobden re-opened communications from Mr . Somerville , suggesting that he should write against Louis Blanc , and reminding him of *' the blood of
noblemen , citizens , " &c , as telling incidents in the drama . But here again we come upon Mr . Cobtlen ' s political opinions , which are by this time perhaps sufficiently understood . Enough has been said . We have seen one attempt to counteract the effect of the pamphlet . Mr . James Acland , himself a lecturer under the League , addresses a letter to a weekly contemporary , to state that Mr . Somerville , while employed by the League , was not always sober . This is rather a painful retort , but it is one that does not meet the statements in the pamphlet . Whaiever may be Mr . Somerville's weaknesses—and they are exposed quite as much
in this pamphlet as in Mr . Acland s letter—it is evident that he was an able , active , and zealous workman ^ , that he was largely employed to get up and arrange the materials of those speeches which went so far to win Mr . Cobden ' s reputation ; that he was not paid for these services * , save by that indirect payment of the League , and that very insufficently ; that he was frequently incited to indirect or deluding stratagems ; that he assisted in raising the 80 , 000 / . gift which the country bestowed upon Mr . Cobden , and that his requitallay in those disparaging phrases levelled at him as a " hired wr iter" by the brother of the man whom he had served . It is a
painful exposure , an humiliating ' * behind the scenes" of a great political theatre ; and we only hope that it will have the sole moral effect that could excuse it , by purifying the next political movement from anything so mean as the incidents which appear to have difigured the Anti-Cornlaw League , its course of agitation , and its leading stump-orator and hero .
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January 28 , 1854 . ] THE LEADER . 8 S
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Leader (1850-1860), Jan. 28, 1854, page 85, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2023/page/13/
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