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-d ^ 4 & m ! £ un& , " so soon after a war that the ^ SSfieatiottB- of the Ttt&tf of Peace had not 3 * ee £ declared ? To fchrtist these disdussions tipon 1 t&e liegifllattire , to be cut ? short after a fe \ v pMtndes on a 3 i sides , is to degrade a 3 T $ e £ tioii , which , to be fairly metj must come oit'ifr'it&o-tffi : season , under a / real national i ^ p ^ sfe , ; with jyoliMeai' ardour enlisted in the oaiise . At present ; the classes most interested ¦ in' parliamentary reform stand aloof feom their offierous advocates in the House of" Commons . Where are their jpetitions ? Where are their Voices heard ? It is true that the prospectuses of a " ^ League" flit noiselessly from the metropolis : to tlie manufacturing towns , and that the system of corresponding sections is in course of experiment ; But all' that is being done is preparatory .
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LORD JOHN'S FAILURE , In the midst of more stirring movements , we must not quite forget Lord John Russell ' s education plan , for its failure has a moral needful just now . The plan proves to be not the best measure for the purpose of the present day , for the hard reason that it is not carried . But we must , loot a little beyond this particular bill . We have already shown tbat it would have secured three great
results—the three greatest results that we might expect from any system of public education . It would have placed tuition within reach of any child of the community ; it would have secured the freedom fox parents of withdrawing any child from sectarian teaching , while it would have placed ¦ within , the reach of every pupil the knowledge of the religion which is the religion of the land ; and ifc would , have rendered available some of those
charities which were left ; for educational purposes but which are totally wasted , and in some cases criminally abused . JSTo scheme of public education which did not secure at least the two first of these results would be worth anything , and , although Lord John ' s plan was full of faults , open for easy detection , the faults were as nothing compared to tho attainment of those three objects . We have been , no eulogists of Lord Jomr ; we soo him
now lying , under all the discredit of lailuro ; but we shall not on those accounts withhold the utterance of our bolief , that if his plan had . beon fully carried out , wo should havo got from it the chiof objects which , wo require from any plan whatsoever . In losing Lord John ' s p lan , which wo regret ,, have wo the promise of any otherr Noi And why not ? How do wo stand with reference to other measures ? Mr . BAJNEa tolls us tbat tbo Voluntaries arc
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piece of mertid at the back , fitted anew piece intto itTsdth a rod protruding , and then afterwards snapped the'rod off and polished the surface : In . the new plan of casting some bubble-holes were caused in the face , and these were filled in with cast-iron plugs . One of tho mortars burst in proving ; of the three mortars used with the ordinary charge , the first burst at the ninth discharge , the second at the tenth , and the third at the hundred and thirteenth .
Here we have the explanation of Messrs . GrEissEiiL themselves as to the making , with the results . There can be no doubt that the mortars were inferior both to the ordinary class of such arms , and to the expectations of the firm . The introduction of a separate piece Into the breech of the mortar must have tended to weaken it ; and the plugging of the flaws in the side was of course a serious defect . N " , even as a repair , was it well executed . It has been said that this plugged part is really stronger tban any other part ; an assfertion which denies the nature of the
lowing the ordinary maxims and rules of trade . If the contractors were thus acting the officials cannot be let off . If the manufacturers were thus exercising the sharpness of trade tor the purposes of passing off ' defective goods , the officials were acting like chapmen in the market , trying to bea-t down prices
and trusting more to the binding of the coul tract than to the character of the men with whom they were dealing . If customers were not bent immorally upon obtaining goods without giving the equivalent for them tradesmen would not resort to practices of evasion in order to obtain covertly what the customer will not give openly . The
process ot adulteration , in great firms at least , has grown up pwripassu with the progress of beating down . In former days , gentlemen piqued themselves o n paying handsomely for what they got ; they now pay handsomely only to the money-lender , or to the tradesman who gives long credit on the money lender ' s principle . In those former days , too , the great merchant and the great manufacturer piqued himself on his power to challenge the world to prove that any part of his wares were other than " sterling * " Sterling was the price paid by the purchaser , sterling 1
the goods sold by the maker ; and , each would have thought his character- impaired by the discovery of any trick or meanness in the transaction . If the maker has fallen off from that standard , so has the ; purchaser . The Government teaches the lesson to vendors by exposing contractors ; it teaches purchasers by exposing itself as it has . If both parties were to return to the old plan , of doing the thing handsomely , they would substitute a real gain- —the gaining of the thing wanted on each side—in lieu of the loss which both , incur in the endeavour to cheat each other .
THE GRISSELL CONTRACT . 3 pHEE verdict of the public on the appeal of JfesrW H . antflM :, ~ & . &bisseijd , of the ! RegentV Cjanai 1 ^ be a paraphrase of that pronounced by the jury of fe ntan who was accused of having . T > eaten nls "wife to death : ^ 3 $ Tbt guiUjy , and she Was as Bad as he was . " Messrs . GfeissEMi'
succeed . in- showing that they are not so conspaeuoiis- and singular intheja ? conduct as ? trade $ nien ,. but they ; do so at-the . expense of ^ xposiixg their trade ; and , we may add , of exposing the official persons who had tp deal with them . TJiey , have put forward a patinpbiet whicE coinprises part of the official corre 9 p 6 ndei ^ ee and . their- own story . * They cajHiot plead ^ experience . "We have , ' lh \ ey sayv w bteeri in the iron trade all our
lives , andbelieve that , so far as iron is poncelmed , ; for ^ aii tne purposes of machinery aria ^ ^ engineeriiigj , we know our business as ^ ell as aii ^ men in GJ-reat Britain . " About tlie middle of last year , the- Government required a large > number of mortars ^ persons vrtio Had % kon contracts proved to have no j > ower of producing them ; circulars were jssued frppi Woolwich Arsenal > inviting founders to make , a large number of heavy
mortars , and indicating " the price usually paid for the service morfcar" at 21 Z . to 23 £ , per ton .- lilessrs . G-bissexi , say , distinctly , that they were " requested by the authorities " to manufacture some of the mortars . One of the officers of the arsenal sent the circular , am . d's ^ i& that 24 tZ . per tpn would be given . ! Ehe firm caleulated that their , own cost would T&e , Z $ K per , toil , and they asked" 32 Z . ; ., but , jSnding that ttte ' ' ordinary" price was . not inore than 24 Z ., desiring to render assistance to OoTernment at sucKa time , and " having
Been entrusted with extensive works for the Ctovernnient for so many years , " they agreed to undertake eight mortar > at 247 . when they set ' to work tbiey met with difficulties that they did' not anticipate ; and to complete ) bfteir , means of execution , they entered into spfcoutlay ' p £ 1090 , ^ ,, although ttiey were cerjtam \ pf makip ^ no profit' by ; the transaction . £ m Tl * rtK ^ J ^ V 11 iv ^ H * Aii ¦»*» n * ¦ # ¦ I * ^ v v ^ > k . * h ^ lii n n ^^ 4 * A + 1 * ^^^^ tmtm ^^ ** ^^ . k < m ^ ^^ ^ 1 . ^ .
^ 'fch ' er' ^ d ^ jr . ' ,, In 'tl ) . e mean while they ^^ ad ies ^ pe ^ to iwQ ^ coip ( t riYancea not usual' in the ' anaiaufactur ' a pf mortars . Instead of pouring HHe niettil ' in at tlie sicle , and allowing it to ^ se ,. t ; hey pourod in two-thirds that way , and ^ feMW ( o !» tlie top ,, expecting to gain a pejftt ©* denait ^ , To fit the mortar to the JPMilfe " WQ . ^ purpose of boring ,. it has been ^ tQino : ^ to scifew two holes in the sides for > bpu . t , twp-third ^ pf ihe' thickness : instoa 3 of ^ F ^ J ^' W ^^ N- ^ sstsL ^ cut out a cubical
metal ; since the constant expansion and contraction of two separate- pieces of metal must tendv as it proves' in fact , ultimately to loosen the piece inserted . In the present case , however , the holes were larger than the plugs . ' In some instances they extended to the depth of about four inches ; in two , they were of a complicated form—the first hole opening into a secondj or even a . third chamber ; arid , in one instance , the plug was too small in its diameter ; Sueh were the pieces
of artillery- that such a firm , describing itself as one of the most experienced and eminent in England , would have furnished our forces in the face of the enemy ! In the official eyes , however , the great offences were the fraud and concealment ; tind it is from these two charges that Messrs . Gbaissniiii seek principally to free themselves . The plugging ,. they say , was not executed for purposes of fraud , but only in the ordinary process of iron manufacture , in order to reridei ? the matiufaetured article " neat . "
Now , we have heard of pluggingj for purposes of neatness , in ornamental fire-grates . But however neat the grate might look to the purchaser , the' flaw ultimately becomes an eyesore . Nor is neatness the grand object in artillery . If manufacturers will thus treat the weapons of war , may we ? nob expect that neatness is- sometimes made to cover equally serious defects' in machinery , for
manufactures and railroads , upon whose completeness safety of life depends almost aa much as in the caseof artillery . lTet Messrs . G \ risse : lIj tell us that thi » is the usual mode . They affirm thai ; the plugging was " as plain as the spectacles on a man ' s face ; " and they deny the concealment , on the ground that that method of finishing should have been treated as a matter of course . Messrs . ll K . Bbunei .
and John * Fowxeis , the eminent engineers , gave them a ' testimonial to combat the , charge of fraud 5 and hence wo have- rather on alarming corroboration of tlae suspicions which we m ^ y entertain with respect to engines for factories and railrpads . Ultimatel y ^ the firm were ; acquitted ^ hyi tho o Ificials ,. of fraud ,, b ut not of the concealment . One case of plugging wasr pointed out to Mr . QmssE ! . !* in
December last , and he ihen said : that it had been resorted to by his foreman without his Icii 6 wledge ; but by a letter from the firm of the 9 th imst ., ifc appears that they had , very deliberately considered the process of , plugging , and 1 had endeavoured to give it some degree of completeness ; an inconsistency of behaviour which certainly looks like a desire to * avoid a full iwowal . The whole tenor of
the correspondence ) on the aide of tho uaanu factureis , nowever , is to strengthen the aaau ranee that , throughout , they were only fol
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Bjfe . fHH EIA 1 EI , [ No . JO 8 f ^ ttiepa , y .
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" ^^ n ^ l otiCori& ^ ttdm ^ rolfttiro to tht > Chargea of . ^^ . ipo ^^ bpUi . ^ O ^ aeB «^ parliament , "by tho W « r ^ SSWTSf&ft . flP *^ ** W tlofcota iia tho breech , 2 l ° r Sr 1 $ Soa'aox % co Mortars ; lioing ft por , Uon of t # o * kontiU& i % plft 33 W Hi > rind M . ' D . Griss ^ H , Ko > gontfiOttnal IironwoirkB , London . Watwlow and Sons .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), April 26, 1856, page 398, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2138/page/14/
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