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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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stertion is being made to get the fleet into a serviceable itate . , « . ; The . l ^ orwegian Storthing was opened in Christiania on lie 8 th inst ., by the Stadholder of . the kingdom , who read a Soy 4 *^ ter from King Oscar to his tl Good Sirs and Men > f ^ 0 "Sfcay . The passage which referred to the coming JidpSSi . ?—r— ¦ : . . ~ c < F (( ir the united Kingdoms ( Norway and Sweden ) I hare , n ^ njanction with the King of Denmark , and with , reference to possible contingencies , resolved to assume a neutral Lttttnxfe * which we , seeing that we were originally and
renuua totally uninterested in the differences that have arisen between other Powers , most endeavour by strength and unity to maintain . I feel convinced that the Norwegian people will shun no sacrifice that may be requisite to enable me 1 ^> preserve and protect an independent attitude , with V | rbi 0 h \ but nearest ana dearest interests are identified . " ' ^^ Wuite ^ < M tn « f part of Russia in Finland , 100 . gab-boats are toi be got ready , and 60 , 000 Russian troops arc to occupy the coasts of the Gulf o £ Bothnia , the Finnish regiments being prudently sent 4 o other quarters . *
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Letters irom Athena state that the Queen of Greece intendalto ' mj ^ anothersisit to her fatherland this summer , and ; t 6 ^ y ; sUme time in Vienna . An American corvette anctiored ^ in the Piraeus on the 6 th inst . The report soon became Current that an American fleet of five ships of war wpnld . follow , and proceed to take tip a position in the neMiboarhooa of Constantinople .
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MB . STURGE AT ST . PETERSBURG . liBTTBBShavebeeureceived from the gentlemen deputed by the Society of Friends to wait on the Czar in his capital and invoke from him the blessings of peaces xhey travelled there very comfortably , and saw Count Nesaelrode , who obtained for them an intxpdaction to the Emperor . Mr . Pease , one of the deputation , says that their audience of the Emperor lasted nearly half-an-hour . The Emperor received them most graciously , and expressed himself much pleased with the object of their visit , and the motives which induced them to make so long a journey . The Emperor afforded them every opportunity to express their views , and stated to them at great length what he thought of the present state of affairs . He said that they should not leave without being introduced
to the Empress , and on the Empress entering the room , the Emperor explained the object of their journey . On taking their leave the Emperor shook them heartily by the hand ; and on quitting the palace they were much struck by the cordial reception given to " three plain , humble , simple men of peace . " Mr , Joseph Sturge states that the Czar received bitnself and colleagues in the most courteous manner , and listened with the greatest attention to the address which they were deputed to present to him from the pacific bodies which they represented . They were induced to hope , from the tone and manner of the Emperor , that he was not insensible to the appeal , although the deputation were not equally confident that it would have the effect of staying the warlike preparations which were going on all around them .
Although it was the wish of " the Friends" to be as quiet as possible during their stay in St . Petersburg , it appears that their presence in the capital of IluBsia creates no inconsiderable degree of interest among the inhabitants , and that when they are observed in the streets they are not unfrequently followed by crowds of persons who take a favourable interest in the object of their mission . Mr . Sturge had intended to be in Birmingham on Monday next ; but at the request of the Emperor , the deputation have determined to remain in St . Petersburg a day or two longer than it was originally proposed to continue .
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BRITISH MORALS . Early in the week the police found a young girl hi the street , urrnyed only irr her night clothes . Questioning her , they found that she was a young orphan Belgian ; that she had been persuaded to come from Delirium to England , where she had been confined in
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Itti THE LEADER . Saturday ,
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^ : j < 3 ^ R ^ if : |^» cl | it ^ & , O * 0 aanellare struck off the list of T | w p ^» sp 6 rt system is abolished within the Spanish ternt ^ , indrepUeed by annual travelling permits , furnished to fMnuLcs by the police .
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„ . " » .- j . 'Ji ^ ' :-i \ r , ' ¦ ¦!• . ' •'¦ . ' . ¦ - ' - ¦ ' , * ¦¦ ' Ilaron JJrenier , the mysterious envoy of the French Ministrjjo £ J ? or ^^ from Florence . A | tlownw ^ e is said id have assured the Grand Duke that F ^ i ^ jomM -hot . apjnrpve his system of government , while di ^^ rag i ^ reyplutwnists . -He has ; had more difficulty in ja ^^^^ i ^^^^^^ . vW ^ ' ^^ i ^ a , - Russia tells the Tia ^^^ yej ^ i ^ ei ^ thJit their action must be guided b y inflections i ' fk $ B ( i Aj »| ria , -and that all they have to do is to ^' Jib ^^^ . domestic tranquillity . " " In future the Russian ¦^ g ^ igii ^ l ^^^^ ^ ' ^ - ^> offer more decided sugges ti ^^^ toj ^ oM / t , ^^ have so . happily tniwpited over European 'democracy . " ¦ ^ J |!^^; 3 ha . Y | i ^ 6 tt ^ 2 ^ jriotsin the Roman States . Lord 2 ^^^ i ^ dra ^ in Tuscany is a bugbear to the Govern-Biisntisl £ zueii » l | he ? j < Enalty of paying him a visit .
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i- The fitlse report of Russia having taken Khiva , has been agatatrevived for the third time witfcia six months . We inuitsnofc however , allow this cry of wolf to deaden our sense t > f l&e ' deugns-of Russia upon Khiva , which are a traditional idea ^ f-Russian policy . The possession of Khiva would give RjaM ^ the doecfion of the caravan 3 « f China , Thibet , and Indiai ^ and % . would -establish her line of communications between the Black Sea and the far East
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THE PRESTON LABOUR-BATTLE . { From our Correspondent . * ) Preston , Thursday Evening . At the adjourned meeting of the Associated Masters of Preston , held at the Bull Hotel , this day , in pursuance of the resolution of the 26 th of January , it was unanimously resolved : — " That the several mills of the Associated Masters having been re-opened in accordance with the resolution adopted at
their last meeting , and several of them having had a sufficient number of hands to enable them to commence work , and to get into partial operation ; and this meeting , believing that great numbers of the operatives are still prevented resuming work through intimidation and fear of personal violence , pledges itself to continue to afford all the protection in its power to every person engaged at the several mills , and at the same time to resist to the utmost that spirit of dictation and interference on the part of strangers to which the present unhappy differences are mainly attributable .
their existence , therefore , is simply absurd , and for one combination to refuse negotiation with another , simply because it is a combination , suggests the old fable of the pot and the kettle . The masters might , indeed , and with a very good grace set an example to their operatives , by putting their bond into the fire and publicly dissolving their combination ; but so long as they liave a combination the exact counterpart of the union—committee and defence-fund to match—they certainly have no sound reason to complain of the tactics of the operatives . It should be observed that in all thosa cases where
arrangements have been satisfactorily entered into and which were quoted in my letter of last week * the delegates fully concurred , and it is satisfactory to be able to add , not only that those arrangements have been scrupulously adhered to , but that no disposition has been evinced to treat concessions made with anything that could be construed into an air of triumph . The hands who have resumed work with Mr . Hollins , of the Royal Sovereign Mill , continue to" exhibit the best feeling possible , and the applicants for his new looms have been so numerous , that he has been compelled to refuse all but very
firstrate weavers . In repudiating the terms now offered by the association , the operatives point , and . with some Bhow of justice , to the fact that there are now twenty-one firms in Preston whose works are running at the advance requested . A placard headed " Questions ADDRESSED to the PRESTOS ASSOCIATED MASTERS , " puts the point in the following emphatic terms : — V Why don't those firms reputed to be the richest take the lead in paying as high a rate of wages as it is possible to give ? Is it intolerable greed of cash or is it colossal pride that prevents ' a consummation so devoutly to be wished ?' If ptide be the reason , what is that sort of pride which accepts contributions that enable master spinners and manufacturers to ' carry on , ' rather than do as the before-mentioned twenty-one firms at the present period are doingsgive ' a fair day's wage for afaiir day ' s work ?'"
It should be observed , that in . this list of twentyone firms are to be found the names of Messrs . Napier and Goodwin , the second employ era of labour in Preston , whose works have never ceased running , and who gave the required prices in August last . AmoBg the incidents of the week , I may notice the sale , by public auction , of the goods and chattels taken , in distress , as recorded in my letter of last week . The sale took place in the Orchard . The delegates made speeches from the cart , exhorting the people not to bid against them . The goods were bought in for about > ls ., and were carried through the streets in triumph , " Tek per Cent , and no Surrender" being painted upon an empty flour cask .
The committee of the Masters * Association held a very long and private meeting this afternoon , but the result is not known . It is thought that they contemplate Bcouring Ireland and the agricultural districts for recruits to fill the factories , and it is even said that posters are now being printed for the purpose of agitating the agricultural districts . Those manufacturers who make very coarse goods may be able to carry on their business with such aid ; but it is impossible for those who make fine goods for the home market to employ untrained hands without serious injury to their business . The skilled handsare therefore very easy about this . On the other hand , the unionists threaten to transport all the skilled labour out of Preston unless the masters
speedily come to terms , and as their funds , instead of falling off , are upon the increase , it is by no means impossible that they may carry the menace into execution . This , certainly , would be a perfectly legal method of forcing up the value of the Labour Market ; but the manufacturing interest of Preston would be many years in recovering , from the effects of such a blow . There are , however , many difficulties in the way of effecting this-, and I would , fain hope that matters will hot be allowed to reach so terrible an extremity .
The balance-sheet of the Amalgamated Committee , for receiving public and trades' moneys , affords the best possible proof of the side which public feeling takes in this dispute . The list of associated trades which pour in their subscriptions is astonishing , and the moneys so derived amount to 1127 / . 9 s . 7 d . The Amalgamated Engineers figure to the tune of 600 / ., the metropolitan trades send 130 / L , the chair-makers , 20 / ., the tailors of Cambridge , 2 / ., and the boilermakers , 10 / . ; even the workpeople at the Crystal Palace appear to have caught the infection , and Mr . Hawkins ' s plasterers , those ( if I mistake not ) who are briskly engaged in calling into a new existence the monsters of the prao-Adamite world , have enough of modern sympathy to send . 13 s . 9 dL down to 1 'reston .
" That this meeting , at its rising , do adjourn to Thursday , the 23 rd of March , 1854 . " From the language of this resolution , it will be seen tlfat the masters arc content to preserve their present attitude , without offering any terms to the unionists , upon the faith that large bodies of operatives are desirous of resuming upon the terms offered by the association . After careful inquiry , I have not been able to ascertain that anything approaching to molestation has been offered to those hands who have accepted work at the mills of associated masters ; indeed , if any coercion has -been exercised , it has been on the other ' side , many old servants having been summarily dismissed , for not inducing their children to
accept the masters' terms . It appears , however , that many of those who were at work last week have since left their employment , either l > ecause they were dissatisfied with the rate of wages paid , or because they have been bribed by the- union . The latter is assigned as the prevailing cause ; and it is said , that as the masters put on ' the screw , " the delegates have , tried the effect of a little " palm oil , " and that the application has been found to be efficacious . Several of the masters ( among whom the names of Messrs .. Horrockses imd Miller ¦ . stand conspicuous ) have taken out summonses against those who have abandoned their work without notice , and the magistrates were this morning engaged in hearing several cases that have arisen in this manner .
It should be clearly understood that the rate of wages now offered by the associated masters is in accordance with the resolution of November the 4 th : " That whenever the time shall arise for the re-opening of the mills , the rate of wages shall be the same as was paid on or before the 1 st of March last , subject , however , to such alterations as may be recommended by the committee in particular cases . " The fallacy of the principle upon which this resolution was founded has been frequently pointed out , but the associated masters do not yet seem to understand that nothing short of absolute starvation is likely to induce the operatives to submit to a rate of computation so dictatorial and so manifestly
unjust . If the masters Uad resolved that , whenever the time for re-opening their mills should arrive , they would pay no more for their cotton than they did in March last , they would not have committed a more glaring absurdity than they did in the resolution I have quoted ; but the derisive laughter of the country , and the indignant refusal of the cotton brokers to acknowledge such a principle , would have speedily convinced them of the futility of their proceeding . Now , the operatives are quite as keenly alive to the value of the commodity which they have to sell as even the cotton broker ; and it is quite certain that nothing short of absolute necessity will drive them into accepting such an arbitrary method of ruling its
price . Another obstacle in the way of reconciliation is to be found in the resolutions with which the master&refuse to acknowledge the existence of the delegates . A deputation of the Spinners' Committee sought an interview with the committee of the masters immediately after the meeting this morning , but without success ; and the text of the resolution refers to the conduct of the unionists as "interference on the part of strangers , to which the present unhappy differences are mainly attributable . " Now , whatever , may be the opinion of impartial observers as to the policy of combinations on either side , they are now accepted facts , and both sides are now irrevocably pledged to act
under the direction of their committees . The masters , with an apparent distrust of each other , have bound themselves by a bond conditional for the payment of 5000 / . upon a breach of the laws of their combination } and the great body of the operatives having been kept from actual starvation entirely by the strength of their union , exhibit no disposition to disobey those who have hitherto conducted their agitation . So long as the association lasts , no associated master can uinke terms with his hands without the consent of his committee ; and so long as the union is in existence , no interview between employer and employed can come to any definite result without the ratification of the delegates . To ignore
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Leader (1850-1860), Feb. 25, 1854, page 176, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2027/page/8/
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