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THE BUILDEKS' STRIKE
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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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WEST INDIES AND PACIFIC . The Teviot has arrived at * % * % " % ; £ *» day rFridav ) , with the West India and Pacific Mails . ES ^ SaKfeKsafcrts suits South Pacific news unimportant . _ SSSS ^ -nS hostilities .
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true that the Duke of Modeua is the " avowed lieutenant of Austria . " As no doubt has ever been expressed that the pamphlet in question , whether actually written by him or not , represented the actual views of the Emperor of the French , it is important to observe how completely it indicates the dangers to which Italy will be exposed if some additional territory is not added to Sardinia by way of federation or actual incorporation . _ The writer says—" Italy alone could not defen&her lndet oendence unless she were capable of bringing into whom , . ., '' - - » i p -tiri . ! - „_ i ~ * i , « « flirnnrarl
line 200 , 000 well-disciplined troops—ot 20 000 should be cavalry—500 pieces of field artillery , and 200 siege guns , which would require 50 , 000 draught horses . " It is plain that Sardinia and Loinbardy alone could riot afford to maintain this laro-e and expensive force . A subsequent passage points out the weak position of the Italians , even if victorious up to the Adige , provided Austria still held the fortresses , and could pour in troops by IBassanb , Vicenza , Verona , and . Lakes Idra , Iseo , and Como . Under these circumstances it is declared " she could fall suddenly on the
flanks and rear of her enemy , cut off his communications , and , in the twinkling of an eye , throw him back beyond the Po . " This then is the dangerous position in which , by his own confession , Louis Napoleon has left Northern Italy , and it need not be made worse by re-establishing Austrian ^ lieutenants in the immediate vicinity of the Sardinian kino-dom . The despatches and declarations of Lord John llusscll are thoroughly satisfactory , and contrast most favourably with those of his Tory opponents , Avhose sympathies with Austria have not been concealed , and who
If the King of Sardinia should cease to support the rights of the Italian people and sink into the selfisli monarch of a small , weak state , his dominions , instead of contributing to constitutional progress , would become the focus of a' revolutionary propaganda , while no outrage of modern times cpuld surpass a forcible restoration of the deposed princes , in opposition to the declared will of their late subjects . Ijnglnnd regrets that Napoleon ' s programme was not fulfilled ; and if it be not possible now to make Italy free from the Alps to the Adriatic , lot our statesmen endeavour to obtain for her the largest amount of immediate freedom , and protest against anything that wquld diminish her chances of future success . Austria has herself
ENGLAND AND ITALY . Whether or not the short but sanguinary war , of which North Italy , has been the . scene , will be productive of any siibstantial good will chiefly depend upon the extent to which the inhabitants of the duchies and of Tuscany arc permitted to decide their own concerns , and it should be the effort of English diplomacy to strengthen . Prance for all purposes of good , and to isolate Austria in her evil doings from the sympathy and support of European powers .
broken the treaties of 1815 , not only by her absorption of Gracow , but by committing her Italian dominions to the chances of war . It is for Englund to recognise and approve the annexation of Lombardy to Piodmont , but it is no pavt of her duty to sanction the peaoe of Yilla Franca as the basis of a now and permanent settlement . There is no good purpose , of balance of power , or imything else , that is served by Austria ' s hold over
the quadrangle of fortresses and the Venetian territory , and wo ought to bo perfectly fVco to accept and sympathise with any beneficial changes that may hereafter occur ; above all , wo ought to relievo " Franco from tho slightest fenr of our being hivciglod to act against her through Gorman intrigues , if tho conduct of Austria should provoke a renewal of wax * . Tho abdication of tho Grand Duko of
Tuscany , and his attempt to procure tho succession for a his son , who fought in tho Austrian army against the rights of the Italians , docs not change the conditions depicted in tho famous pamphlet , " Napoleon III . and l'ltaly . ' Of the son , np of tho father ! it may bo said , " between him and his people stand tho bayonets of Austria . " It is as true now as whon that pamphlet was written , that the Duchess of Parma is ' allied to Austria by policy $ that she belongs to Austria and could not boar the yoke of a revived Italy , " and no loss
will pretend agreement with the Peace party , or with any other party , if they can succeed in hampering the action of-a liberal statesman , or throwing a doubt upon the course that England will pursue . This game will be repeated on Monday , when Lord Elcho promises , his non-intervention motion ; and we hope that those members who are known to represent enlightened popular opinion will abandon the reserve usually exercised in debate on foreign affairs , and leave no . doubt on the minds of any people in Europe that the British House of Commons desires the moral power of the Cabinet to be freely and energetically used on behalf of Italian liberty , and in support of Sardinian policy , so long as it is identified with the national cause .
The Buildeks' Strike
If they are wrong it is for those who know better to enlighten them , but nothing can be more absurd than to abuse them , as if it were a crime to hold mistaken Views upon political economy , and have a dim perception of a possible condition of their order more co-operative and more fortunate than that which now exists . We can easily understand the anger of those who have a prodigious amount of real or fictitious capital engaged in building adventures at the disturbance which has been created , but philanthropists and statesmen will carefully avoid raising mists of passion when clear distinct vision is the thing most needed . Tf tlipv are wronfirit is for those who know Y » p . t . tAr
The first thing that strikes an outside observer is the absence of apparent reason on the part of the men for believing that an increase of wages—or , what—so far as the masters are concerned—rig the same thing , less work for the same wageswill be acceded to by the employers at a tune when the supply of labour considerably exceeds the demand . If indeed a general combination took place throughout the country it is just possible that the masters might find the cost of resisting
the demand greater than that of temporarily granting it ; but unless entirely new circumstances arose , the increased cost of building would lessen the quantity required , and the higher rate of wages could not be maintained . There may be circumstances in the building trade that we have not been able to discover , arid which may make the cause of the men less hopeless than it appears , but we suspect that a very exaggerated belief in the power of combination lies at the bottom of the
attempt . In a thriving country wages are never so low as they might be if capitalists chose to make a general combination for their reduction . The tendency is for working men to fomi improved habits , to require more comforts , and to raise their earnings by the gradual establishment of a custom that tuey shall participate in a larger portion of profits and the employers are able to accede to this change from the increasing stability of their occupations / These circumstances do not , however , change the law of supply and demand ; they only determine which available
some of the conditions under an supply and an effective demand grow up . A speaker , who was much applauded at the great meeting in Hyde Park , said , they were told what they sought was contrary to political economy , and then showed his perfect ignorance of the matter by adding , " tliey had seen what political economy was in our French and Austrian neighbours , who had led their people to slaughter by thousands- " This is lamentable enough , but it is not many years since the landed aristocracy and a large portion of the manufacturing and mercantile class wished to improve their position by protectionist
THE BUILDEKS' STRIKE . After an agitation that scarcely attracted the attention it deserved , the wen engaged in the building trade have come into ruinous collision with thuir employers . The former have had a " strike , " the latter threaten a . "lock out , " and unless some judicious neutral parties can step in and ¦¦ effect a reconciliation , a most alarming amount of s . ullcring and irritation will be . the result . - The number of skilled-labourers employed in the London building trade , is stated to bo about 60 , 000 ; and some idea may be formed of the vast interests connected with this branch of industry , when we find the census of 1851 , representing nearly half a
million of men and youths as employed m tho construction and reparation of houses and other buildings . The wages pnid in the different branches of tho trade are hig h as compared with the remuneration of factory Tiands , or agricultural labourers ; but tho occupation is precarious , and during the winter there is usually no small quantity of distress , For some time past , the London operatives have not , ns a clnss , been in a satisfactory condition ,, inasmuch as large numbers , have been unable to' obtain employment . To remedy this state of things tho men combined to make certain demands , the rofusnl of which lias led to tho prosent collision . The men believo that tho masters
could afford to pay them higher wages ; but instead of asking for an advanco in monoy jmymont they solicit n diminution of tho hours of work , which , if gran tort , they expect would load to tho engagement of additional hands , and diffuse tho benefits of employment ovor a larger area . They also dosiroinoro leisure for educational purposes . It has long boon a favourite theory among tho working classes , that none arc entitled to superfluities while othora want , and that persons of unusual skill or working power are not justified in earning extra pay at the oxpenoo of kooping others without any pay at nil . Working men aro olearly entitled to hold those opinions if thoy ploaae , rind to combine within logal limits to give thorn practical olluot .
schemes , quite as much in defiance of this mucn abused science as any which the striking builders have put forth . A great deal of the dislike of the working classes to political economy is traceable to the conduct of such men as Mr . Bright and the Manchester school , who resisted every piece of factory legislation , by which the mill owners were prevented from taking advantage of the poverty of the operatives , and ' forcing them to work under conditions that would not only have wrought in-Dutwouiu
jury to multitudes of individuals , «» vo thrown upon society the cost of keeping a diseased and demoralised population . This antagonism to a branch of knowledge it peculiarly concerns them to cultivate , is increased by violent tirades from that portion of tho press which makes ^ itaeu the special guardian of tho employers interests . For their own sakes and tor tho general welfare of society , it is most desirable that iho working classes aouM know how to value their labour , and what oxo tUo possible and honourable moans by which » tB rcnuueration can bo improved , but those who approach , them with rudeness and insult cannot expect their assertions to bo behoved , or their SSnionto to bo admitted . Tho master builders ^!^ wn ,. rantnd in their endeavour to destroy tho
notfslibo ry of combining as the law allows , and to oo men out if they will not undertake to forogo this Hbortv is n piece of tyranny that neither can nor ought to succeed . Tho remedy is hot force but information , and if tho employers wish to stop cooperation for mistaken purposes , let them teach tuo inon to unito for wiser ends . Wo have a specimen before us of the absurd concision of thought which prevails upon these
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SATURDAY , AUGFST 6 , 1859 .
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There is nothing-so . revolutionary , because there is nothing so unnatural and convulsive , as the strain to keep things fixed when all the world is by the very , law ' of its creation in eternal progress . —Dr . Aksold . - »
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SUBSCRIPTION TO "THE LEADER . " ONE GUINEA PER YEAR , UNSTAMPED , TKEPATD . ( Delivered Gratis . )
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. ~ 1 ft KQl THE LEADER . 913 No . 489 . Aug . o , lootM *• ¦ - : - ^™^^ MM ^ ^ ^^ ~ ¦
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 6, 1859, page 913, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2306/page/13/
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