The Press. — London, England, 1853-12-31 00:00:00

// z , ;,: 1 L ) t rt No. 35.—VoL. I. LONDON, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 31, 1853. PRICE SIXPENCE• t4t Vrtss. LONDON, RATUID.4I", DECEMBER 31, 11453. OUR anticipations of last Saturday having proved correct, and lords PaLmEasvos and LANSDOWNE having resumed their seats in the Cabinet, by these accessions the Ministry of Lord ABERDEEN has temporarily recovered from its first paralytic stroke. It would, indeed, have been decent if exultations had been re pressed on the part of those whose proposals to revolutionise English constituencies have been modified or adjourned, and whose " vacil lating" and " sluggish " policy in the East has been submissively amended to procure this result. If, however, the renewal of their lease of office at the expense of their principles be a temptation to comment on their particular degradation, there are other considerations to which this is insignificant ; and the first of these is the realisation of the hope we expressed that " for the sake of her Majesty, and con " sidering the season of the year," the pliancy of her remaining Ministers would prove ade quate to the emergency. It is another and a less consolatory re flection when we turn from the paramount claims of the moment, and consider the scan dal which by means of such emergencies attaches to the cause of constitutional government. Some of her Majesty's servants are at this mo ment compelled to administer her affairs at the sacrifice of their engn gements,because they have supplanted the only machinery by which they r any men could carry out their convictions. When Lord Jons RessELL declared that " he " would belong to no Administration that " would not extend the franchise," did he mean or did he intend his words to convey that he would belong to an Administration which would confine that extension to the safe limits required by Lord PALMERSTON ? When Sir JAMES GRAHAM promised " a large measure " of Parliamentary lleform, " did he mean nothing larger than the measure to which he is restricted by the return of the Marquis of LANSDOWNE? It may not concern those whose professional task it is to apologise fin these statesmen if they are compelled to dis parage to-morrow the intentions of to-day, as they have unsaid to-day the virulent abuse of yesterday ; but it concerns men of every party to know that they have friends or opponents in whose promises they can confide, while the discovery of the contrary is of the greatest import to all who are unaffectedly solicitous for the morality of public men. It is a more immediate cause of apprehen sion and disgust that the crisis involving this sacrifice should disclose the inherent weak ness of her Majesty's Government at the mo ment of all others when the European diffi ulty has assumed its most imminent aspect and most menacing dimensions. We may be about to commence a war of which our children may or may not liVe to see the termi nation. We may be overtaken by a complica tion of circumstances which may subvert the balance of power and alter the map of Europe. and we proceed to take up our position with councils thus obviously embarrassed and rued litany. With what confidence eau we inspire our allies, or how can we encourage accessions from the waverers ? A Cabinet which may reel suddenly and then recover, while its friends will considerately ask us " not to in " quire too curiously " into the nature of its visitation, is not the most competent to take the conduct or the initiative of a great war or a great negotiatiou. But its competence is irreparably damaged when it has so reeled iu the presence of discriminating enemies who are watching for signs of its infirmity. Its policy is for ever compromised by its liability to change, and even its weakness is made weaker by the evidence of its disunion. Passing to internal polities, which may or may not be matters of importance, as circum stances shall determine, the same moral is im pressed upon us. A Cabinet of suspended opinions is so open to pressure, if circum stances make any one of its elements predomi nate, that we have not the slightest guarantee at any one moment what may or may not be its policy the next. It requires no great effint to remember that when Irish votes were necessary Lord JOHN RUSSELL had to cool his Protestant fervour at the requirement of three Ultnunon tstive representatives of the Pope; and, should the prospects of Europe allow Ministers to cul tivate the Radical classes in the boroughs, we must be prepared at any moment for this pro bable contingency. Thus much we may infer as to the nature of the bill which Ministers have as yet largely con sidered. and only half withdratwinthatoriginally promised to the Radicals, in a moment of pres sure, to prolong the lingering existence of a former Administration, the spirit of the mea sure will be in accordance with their views. It is not the Foreign Minister of Sir Roamer PEEr., it is not the Prime Minister of to-day, who will be the author of the important change in the Constitution which his Government may—and which it is at all events pledyed to—propose. The Reform Bill is the price to be paid to the Radicals for a continuance of their votes. The presence of Sir WILLIAM MOLESWORTH in the same Cabinet with Mr. GLADSTONE was "a material guarantee" that the pledge would be fulfilled. That Right Honourable Baronet is posted in Downing street by the J3ftIOHTM, the Count:NH, and the WALMESI.EI,I4. as a sentinel over the fragments of the party that Sir RoaEirr PELL compromised, and the section of the Whigs which is allowed to retain office. Political honesty and honour have already been laid down on the shrine of Coalition by some of the members of the pre sent Government, but democracy demands yet further sacrifices. These the promised Reform Bill, if it. be introduced, will involve. Never had Government so little hold on the country never was any Government so destitute of the support of some one great section of the com munity. The Administration of Sir Roma Piet. in 1841 was supported by a great and distinct party ; so also was the Administration of Lord lhoinv ; but the present Government counts not one of the great interests of the nation amongst its adherents. Neither by the high nor by the low, neither by the landowners nor by the working classes, is it maintained in power. The glimmerings of the coming mea sure that have been already granted to us in the organs of the Cabinet show us the bearings of this. Whilst to the yeomen and the mechanics of England the franchise is not to be extended, the landed interest is to be swamped and neutralised by an inksion of the ten-pound householders into the counties. It is to a temporary confederation of Peelite*, IVhigs, and Radicals, who owe their seat* chiefly to this indeterminate element, that the AI inistry are indebted for their present position. If the basis be widened the superstructure may be the more permanent. It is, therefore, that we are menaced with this proposal. or rather. we should again say, this promise. Let the Conservatives be on their guard. The pressure which has induced Ministers so far to forget their pledges may yet be so shifted as to revive their cogency ; and it is not to the temporary predominance of this or that member of the Cabinet, but to the organised strength of a great party, that we may trust the security of the Empire. STRIKES, AND A GENERAL LOCK-OUT. A Lerrv.a written by the direction of Lord PALMERSTON, in answer to a memorial addressed to him on this lamentable subject, will be found in another part of the paper. A second letter, published by Messrs. CHAPMAN, has also appeared, and in it the relations Arian seat between the employers and the eimplered--• between labour and capital--are clearly slated and ably discussed. The writer at owe ad mits that ho is a master manufacturer. His first point is, " that a mill is not a republic. " The hands have no rights except payment for services rendered: they contract to give work " —the master, pay or wages. Any decisions as " to mode of management must urine with the " master and be controlled by him." He thus states the aim and object of the men :—" You " will try to regulate all prices by clubs; rule " trade by agitation; give all men alike; fix the " rate of wages, never to be lower—nay, if clog " makers are not wanted, you would still keep " up their rates of wages, and, if nobody will " employ them, why, the dubs, the labour par " lian►ent, in eommi in honesty must keep them." Ile next proceeds to point out the fallacy of the claim preferred to " share in the profits of the mastent." The men first sell their labour for the highest price they can obtain, and are in no sense partners with the masters, other wise they should participate in the losses as well as in the gains, and, if that was the case, " at this present moment wages would have " fallen twenty per cent." After stating that, rather than submit to the control of his work men, the master would remove his capital to America or elsewhere, the letter calls the atten tion of the men to the fact that strikes hitherto have always resulted in a permanent reduction of wages, bemuse, as a substitute for their labour, new machinery is invariably invented. After hinting that a majority of the turn-outs are controlled by an active and a noisy minority, lie suggests that when the sense of a meeting is taken it should be by ballot. The interesting fact is mentioned that three parts of the masters have risen from the ranks of the men themselves; and it is justly argued