On this page
-
Text (5)
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
-
Untitled Article
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.
-
-
Transcript
-
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.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Untitled Article
that the decimal system of account would "be of immense advantage ; even if there were a doubt , the high authority in favour of it would be resistless ; but with regard to a decimal system of coinage , they had not yet received sufficient evidence . It certainly was very plain that that class who had really paid great attention to the subject , the commercial population , were certainly favourable to the general principle of a decimal coinage with a pound as the unit ; but there were numerous masses of people who knew nothing of decimals , and who carried out their business on a different Bystem of account , with different divisions , offering some peculiar facilities ,
• which would be lost if they adopted a decimal system . It was remarkable how the mixed decimal and duodecimal system had lived . It was impossible not to be struck with this , and also with the fact that it was bound up with the habits of the people , the system being one of dividing decimally into 20 , and duodecimally into 12 . But in his opinion this was a question on which the mere judgment of the Government was of no importance . There were some questions which were carried on the recommendation of Government , and others by the convictions of the country , arid some by a mixture of both . Now , this was one on which the feeling of the people
must decide the whole question . He frankly owned that he was by no means convinced that they could get rid of the penny ; but he made this admission to them , that nothing could be more unimportant than the opinion of himself , or any man in office , upon a subject of this nature . The question was—what did the country think ? Were they prepared for this measure ? It was a matter on -which they could not take any decisive steps until it had undergone that sifting and scrutiny wMch were necessary to enable the masses to well understand it . Patience was a had text for a sermon at any time , and was not a very popular one ; but they must hare patience until the
matter was further discussed . There were great differences of opinion upon the subject ; and the views propounded by the various portions of the press were by no means unanimous in favour of any particular system , so far as the discussion had yet gone . He hoped , therefore , that those gentlemen who were engaged in this interesting question—for it was an interesting and important question—would persevere in their laudable efforts to sift this matter , and he had no doubt that future discussion , with the means happily afforded for such a purpose , would bring them
before long to some practical result ; but the feeling of the Government was that they were not ripe for decisive measures , and the opinion of Parliament ought not to be invoked until they were ripe . Sir John Herschel , a favourable witness , had said that it would take twenty years to carry out an object of this nature . He was far from committing himself to such an . opinion as this , but he quite agreed in the statement of Mr . Brown , that the system proposed would be a labour-saving machine , and it was by labour-saving machines that the power and greatness of this country had been achieved . After a few words from Mr . Moore , the deputation ¦ withdrew .
Untitled Article
MAURICE'S LECTURES .. We were unfortunately prevented from hearing the second lecture of the course on " Learning and f orking , ' * now in process of delivery at Willis's ltoom . The third was given on Thursday last . The lecturer began by Btating that manual labour was not necessarily a hindrance to mental education ; but that , on the contrary , it was one of the great instruments of education . . He showed that the real worker could never be a mere " bustler upon compulsion ; " that steadiness of purpose and continuity ^ > f action in a specific direction were essential to tiltj good work , as vvell . jof h ^ ni ^ -aa-of ^ brnhi ; that tW fi £ WU . VT \ JA <* l f «*» ¦ ¥ » V ; U' * 1 " J * m — """^ V * . V * Hill j UI | UU bltU
order , reguterity , and discipline , which prevailin all factories ana large establishments , as well as fn * e fact of working with a large number of his fellows , ha . d an excellent effect on the intellectual nature of the working-rnan . He showed the different influences of agricultural andjnanufacturing labour upon those engaged in them . He spoke strongly upon a point which deserves to "be insisted on by all who treat of work and its effects on the worker , viz ., that a man ¦ who works for bread will , cceteris paribus , do his work better and be more elevated by working than one who is not impelled to work by any such stern netessity- Mr . Maurice endeavoured to make his hearers feol that there is a dig-nity given to the life ,
an intensification to each day ' s work , by the mere fact that a man works ( u maintain himselj \ and not to turn his leisure to account . This is so contrary to the common view of the matter , is so much more elevated a view than the common one—and as it is uIbo that which we ourselves believe to be the truest viow of labour wliich man in his present stugo of existence can obtain , that ve were heartily glad to hear it supported on this occasion by the lecturer . The prime condition of human life ( to be read in the great open Bible as well as in the canonical one )—viz ., that " nmn shall earn his bread , " i . e ., tfrow atK ] develop hia manlike power * , " in the sweat of hia brow . " cannot bo a condition the main element of
which is evil—accursed . The lecturer spoke of the additional moral good to the worker of having to wor t : -fpi ; ^ wife and children as well as for himself . Ket it is not to be denied that the working for daily bread , pccupies too many hours of the day ; and that this excess of a good thing is the great evil of the present state of things among us . The foundation of the Mechanics' Institute by the late Dr . Birkbeck was spoken of as the first movement towards imparting regular instruction to the working classes in towns ; and the lecturer showed how those institutes had been insensiblv aDvroDriated
to another class of young men , and had been used for a lighter and more superficial sort of entertainment . The more recently established evening classes for young men ( clerks and shopmen ) , he spoke of with approval . In them the students were not superficially taught ; they did not merely listen to lectures , they received lessons on important subjects . The want of sympathy between , the employers and the employed he instanced as a great cause of the want of education among the labouring classes , and spoke in high praise of Mr . Wilson ' s educational establishments and projects at the Belmont Factoryespecially of his attempt to educate adults .
The conclusion of the lecture assumed the form of an imaginary conversation between a Mend of the lecturer , and a mysterious , unknown companion in a railway journey . The subject of the conversation was the boasted freedom , civilisation , and commerce of England . These three blessings—the basis of our nationality" and prosperity—the stranger declared could not exist fifty years longer as they- now exist . That was not a truly free state in which the vast
majority of the population could be denned as " wages-receiving animals ; " that was not a true civilisation in which the civility , the citizenship of the civet , was based not on . civil union and brotherhood in labour , but on competition and mutual destruction ; that was not a lasting commercial prosperity in which every effort was made ( at the risk of starving labourers at home ) to keep up our superiority abroad over every other nation in the cheapness of all our manufacture .
A right understanding of the value of money , and the speedy destruction of its false estimation in the minds of the young , were urged on the serious con . sideration of its auditors . It is those who give the tone to society , who make society , that can best bring about reform in our universities and public schools . It is they also who will be the means of raising the labourer to his proper intellectual level- — by showing that no man is , ox ought to be , valued by the amount of the money property he holds , but by the amount of his virtue and usefulness .
Untitled Article
THE LOSS OF THE EUKOPA . The magistrates of-Gibraltar have taken affidavits from five of the survivors of the troop ship Europa , burned on the night of the 31 st May , some ninety miles from Brest . Our readers are already in possession of the general facts of the case . The affidavit of the master , William Gardiner , contains an account of the disaster : — " At about ten o ' clock on the evening of the 31 st he was sitting in the cabin -with Oolonel Moore . The alarm of fire was given ; he ran forward , and found the storeroom in the fore peak in flames . Tbe chief mate at this moment was by the master's side , and they did what they could , by throwing water on the flames , to extinguish them , but all was in vain . The master then made up his mind that the ship was lost , and took what measures he could for the preservation of life .
The gunpowder must be thrown overboard , the forcepump be kept playing down below , the boats be cleared , but not lowe / qd . A bark and a brig were in sight , and the endeavour flras to bring the burning ship as nearl y as might be withirTreach of help from these . For a few minutes all went Sn well , and orders were obeyed ; bub then the crew and . too many of the soldiers lost all presence of mind , and made a rush at the boats . For a moment they wore driven back or dissuaded from their purpose ; but us soona 3 the master and Colonel Moore had turned away they lowered away the quarter-boats . The Admiralty agent ' s boat , at or about the same time , was let go by the run , and disappeared so quickly that the master had no opportunity of calling her back . The wheel was deserted . Wlion the master , at tliis point of the proceedings , called out for the chief mate and the ship ' s company , the second mate and two of the crew were all who answered to > his call . It was then the
spare quarter-boat was got out and was lowered down , Lieutenant Black and a hind 6 mcer being in her . The master refused to go in her , as he was employed in steoring the ship ; and Colonel Mooro refused al . to , notwithstanding the earnest solicitations of hia men . This was the lust boat that left the ship , at about halt-past 11 o ' clock at night . Between twenty anil thirty persons were left on board—one woman among them , —and still the rl . inoa increased , and still help did not arrive . Attempts wero made to _ Ret out to its lace
the horseboat , but this was fixed hard nnd fast p , and the tackles could not bo got at . Thn ( i . um'B now canto up the main hutcliway . All on board to . k rehigo on the poop . For a few minutes there was a gli'iiin ot hopw us a light was seen , which was , in point of fact ,- n light on board of the Kennet Kingnford . No « r the mainmast toll , and then the foremast ; tliu flumes wrero lapping round the inizen chains . The 1 >« raonH remaining on board at this iiwlui moment took refuge in themuen channels , but presently the inhenmust went too , and the flames were reaching tnia
place of refuge also . Two chances still remained . The wreck of the mainmast was floating near , and some of the men had succeeded in reaching this , and were sitting upon the rim of the top . The master endeavoured to persuade Oolonel Moore to try for this , but the colonel replied , the attempt was useless . The next and last chance was to make for the fore part of the ship , where the fire was not racing with so much intensity . Even this wais above Colonel Mocre ' s powers , and the master , in company with one or two others , succeeded in reaching tbe fort channels , from which he was picked off about 3 o ' clock by tbe boat of the brig Clemanthe . ''
The other deponents corroborate the story . It is evident from their accounts that great confusion ensued , that troops and sailors were under no control , and that the boats were lowered without orders by the crew . Lieutenant Weir says he was pushed into a boat ; Joseph Gurder , the chief mate , avers that a jerk of a boat the men . were lowering astern pitched him over ; that he tried to regain the ship but fell back , ani that then the tackles were let go ; Lieut . Black , Admiralty agent , went off in a boat without oars . In that boat the second mate went , by permission of the hailed
captain . He the master to send him some oars , as there were none in the boat ; but this the master refused to do , and said , " But if we send you oars , you will leave us . " They wexe picked up by the chief mate , and towed to the Kennet Kingsford . When the chief mate had reached the Kennet Kingsford he did not return to the burning vessel , because the boats had been cut away by some person on board the schooner . Altogether it would appear that the crew behaved badly , or everyli £ e might have been saved .
Untitled Article
IMPRISONMENT FOR CHURCH-BATES . The petition presented by Mr . Bright thVotW dayhaa been printed With Unvotes . The two petitioners , parishioners of Ringwood , Hants , labourers , earning 1 qs& than 9 s . 6 d . a week each , and each having » wife : and faro children entirely dependent on him for support , were , arrested on tbe 24 th of April , banenffed together , though offering no resistance , and , after being kept in hold till next day , conveyed to Winchester gaol . There they were treated as felons —stripped , washed , clothed in tbe prison dressy allowed no communication with their friends even by letter , and-kept in continual confinement in a cell measuring about nine feet ; by tive j with the exception of about an hour daily for exercise , during wliich they were compelled to wear , a mask . They state that they were subjected to this degradation because they were utterly unable to pay the church-rates demanded of them—Is . 9 d . and la . 10 Jd . They are now at liberty in consequence of a public subscription having been set on foot to procure their release .
Untitled Article
KEGINBAL VERSOS MARMAXTSEE . This case is one of those which rarely come before a court of justice ; but which never fail to shock the thoughtless and respectable public when they do come before them . Is the public horrified at the sin or the scandal ? The trial to which we refer came before the Court of Common Pleas on Tuesday . The plaintiff in the case was a French girl , named Reginbal , the defendant , one Germain Marmaysee . Reginbal sued him for 70 / . money due , and sought to recover Jher riding habit and linen . The galleries of the court were fall of Frenchwomen , who took a deep interest in the proceedings .
. In opamng the case , Mr . Sergeant Bytes said that the plaintiff was a French girl , who formerly lived at Hiivre-dej-Grace , and she was something above twenty-one years of age , and the defendant , like tbjft plaintiff , was a native of France . The name of tbo defendant was Marmayaee , but sometimes he . was called Germain , and sometimes Le Brun , under which latter name he now resided at 84 , Newman-street . He was one of those person ! in this country whom he might describe as importing young ladies from France , who were to live in a house kept by him for a purpose which need not be further mentioned . He hUd a great number of French girls living there witli him , whom he had collected in the course of his
business , for the importing of these girls vau as mucli a trad « as the purchase of cattle iu Holland wasthe fact being thatr these poor girls , having lost their only possession atf an early age , were bought and sold in France , and imported into this country like any other commodity , and they were , when immured within the walla of the defendant , entirely and absolutely under his control ; they were not ev « n allowed to stir out without being attended » y a person called a femme de conjiance , a near relative of his , or by some other duenna . Tlie
arrangement was this . The defendant said : " I expectyou to exert yourself to make yourself agreeable , and to get aa mucli as you can-, one half of the coiaplinientB arc to be paid to you , out of which you must keep yourcieif , ~ <\ Ono half you will give to me . " The expenses of eaca bv-i W ( , r < J to be abOut 27 s . a week , but sometimes considerably » .,-- tlia » n this was charged . The defendant kept a carriage , and the Indies rode out in the carriage , for their own bent'tit , arid for his , and each lady was charged 5 s . fore-very ride in the carriage , and this sum was act dovm in the expenses . Sometimes also the ladies
Untitled Article
June 24 , 1854 . ] THE LEADER . & 85 \ - <
-
-
Citation
-
Leader (1850-1860), June 24, 1854, page 585, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2044/page/9/
-