The Press. — London, England, 1853-10-29 00:00:00

MR. COBDEN AT BARNSLEY. AT the Barnsley Mechanics' Institute the reopening of &lecture hall w,►s made the occasion of a gathering which wax numemusly attended by the local gentry, and furnished Mr. Cobden with the text of a speech which was chiefly devoted to the subject of education, as prepared and fitted for mechanics and operatives. The following is an outline of the hon. member's ad dress : What, lie must inquire, wen• these institutions wrote limbed for? Not as a system of education, but to supple. meld the want of education, awl we want the editeatisni still which we wanted when these institutions were fi blinded. I never regarded this as a party question. I don't care through what it couses—give me voluntary education ur state education, but education I wan t . I can't accept sta tistics to prove the number of people who attend sc ho o ls — t I prove that the people are isineeted, is-cause I can't shut my eyes to what is evident to my senses, that the people are nut edneateil—that they are not being eshicatell. l jp. Maw.) I wax talking tally yesterday with a mereliant in Manchester, who told me thud he had attend at the swearing in ofthe militia hi one of the largest manufacturing towns in England, and that not ime•lialf of those sworn in colds' resist, and not one.third could sign their name. Now, without wishing to utter any fanatical opinion with regard to the peace spiestion, I must say, with all sincerity, think it would have been much better to have handed these young wen over to the schoolmaster rather than the shrill sergeant, fur I think the safety of this country would be more promoted by teaching theist to read and write than by teaching them to (ties, about right rightly. (Laughter. ) eau I shut my eyes to what is going on around Its ? I Call. not ,8111.1 therefore I say we are not an cdnrated people. In point of sichool•learning the mass of the English people are the least instructed of any Protestant cot tttttttt tity in the world. (Shaine.) It meets its at every turn—you ean't do anything in social reform butt you are met with the spies. tine of education. Take the guests of sanitary refusal. Why do people live is, had cellars, sunounded by filth and disease ? luu may say it is their poverty ; but their po. yerty rouses as much from their ignorance as their viers often spring from their ignorsinee. (.Ippbeisse.) The great 111104 of thus people distil know what the - sanitary laws are ; they don't know that ventilation is good for health they don't know that the miasma of miseavenged and nus• raswered streets, or import, alleys, produces cholera and disease. If they slid know these things people would take care they inhabited 'whs.'. houses ; soul if people were only more earefnl in their habits than they are, and hus banded their means, they mi g htget into better tenses. And when I hear pensions advocate temperaisee. 1 say the be s t way is to oiforst them some other ocentiat ion sir re s.reation than that which is derived only through their 10.11111 Si; and the best way is to give them ethical' . lithe working man is deprived of tISCHt. uxs realtous, Which casuist of the enjelyinents that eiliteati 111 l and 14414141 trl illi l ig give, naturally fall. into Ilse excitement of sen sual inibilgenee, bei.attss• excitement all individuals mast lieu, hear.) I gee in Inherent parts of the ei try a great social movement l asing on isetweeu different chums of the so •. For iushulre,in 1'11.14011 plll ha Ve 911.11011t11 :41111111 1s•nuous old Of Work, 1 there is in that vireo not a Chi 111 l hey but is eels' and cheerless neither snook.. nor steam cheering your eyes. balk at the destitution and misery eallhed by laying a loan is, this state for um tit sir Ni% weeks. Why is this I misses.. it springs forth ignollUlet . . Not ig 111111111111 l Clllllllll4l 141 p ar ty eta the & Mat t e . ( .Ipphirs se.) It ia both aide-4, and ileptiiral•le is its 11.14111 t. Wit 110 pill sop• pose that when the world bowsaws more enlightened t h at yin' will hare 'welt a seen.. as 111 k, of it %lads. i s . • !,• stop• ping its hshamns for a month OE mix weeka, slut emitting miseries, immorality, and slestititte that may out ha' 11.- 1 0 41 for lice sir six years to eilllll. ( I When masters and men nuadristus,l trot. priori onesups 'ii %%Melt the rate of wages amt profits they will set tle their matters and arrange their slitferenees in a less bungling way than that which now li r iss t .!s so mush misery upon sill parties to the quarrel. t tedibliese. We shall never be aide as fl 1111 1111 l mini n g community until a scloossi invariably goes tip shrug sing every manufactory. mid at the lull al's' mine in the kingdom. ( Loud applause..) When l cants. through AI •liester the salter 'la) I th r ush many tot tits. most Milli entity' neumfartuiring empitalists talking very gravely nisei a report which hail reached them from r grutls.ulun whss was avivetesl by the t:overtinnist to go out to America to make a report upon the Brest Exhilliti 111 l in New York. ale had been over to New fork to n•port ntion the progress of mechanies and mechanieuil arts in the United States. ( /Icor, bear.l NO rillOrt to the tiovennsient has as yet been published, but it has oozed slut that be hem found in Allll'ol4l *degree of intelligensve among the matinfactui hog operatives, and a state of things in the ineelianis.al arts, whieli has convinced him that if we are to hold our OVlll— we are not to fall back in the rear in the rases. of nations —we moat educate 1.111.1.1.1.111 V, so a s t o p o t them mesa a level Wills the more s dile:still artisans of the I uutrd `lutes. I situ delighted with this :t r. let lint Englishmen k •of a danger to fees. and of a difficulty to surmount, and there is nothing within the omits' s.. of bnniass callsichs w hi c h they will not 11 15.111111111 , 11, its, why should AlliCrietl lit• better editeated than England ' Ito you think that a new country, which has the wilderness to cultivate, pr * I A forests to level, n 1111174 to 11111.10.,111111 every bridge and church to erect, iN is, a position to rival an old courtly, it' that tionntry will only do its shitty tll its ? t near, No : an old country has greater ivolvantau.:es and facilities at command than a new a.m., still, it von find a new country heating an old One in this manner, depend upon it, it is tiresome of some fault in the obi sine. t I And don't despair even now—l should not ski:otir sit this c try. if the people monist only resolve to du it. surpass. Mg all the world in education in a geneniti , in sir tu us. hot Wu &twat uut refuse to adopt the itarrovd wachiuely ut THE PRESS. other countries. if we see the Americans beating us in their spinning-jennies and iu their wailing-boats, we adopt their improvements—if they send over a yacht which beats ours, we build one which will beat them ; if a man comes over and picks our locks. we may wonder how it is he makes better locks than we do, but we buy them. But on the question of education. they have, in the United States, adopted a system which we in this country have not adopted, except in Scotland. to some extent ; mid what is so natural as that we should follow the same rule in this matter as we do in the manufacture of our machines for spinning cotton, and in the construction of our ships. There is not any party, I believe, now opposed to education —none who du Hut think but there is more danger from 4,eioraticein our present artificial state than in education. Whatever our political predilections, there is not one who will not say, whatever we are downed to undergo, whether proceeding from a straitening of circumstances, from a , decline of our commerce, or from ditticnities of a strictly puliticsl character—whatever there may be in store fur us of troubles and distresses, we haul better have an educated people to meet them than have to encounter them with mousses of ignorance and untrained passion ; for, after all, the masses of the people do govern in this country—they are called on in the last resort. ( Hear, hear.) Every one mast admit it is better to have an arbitrator who is trained to discuss reasons and to deduce Net* from evidence—it is better to have minds of this sat to settle great national questi than to refer such mighty interests to the arbitro molt of ignorance and passion. (" Hear." end apphosme.) Whether you look at this question of education in the interest of morality or religion, us of the letpuin,ss, the wealth, ir the welfare of society—in whatever way you mord this question—you may depend upon it the very highest interests—the dignity.honour, and happiness of the people—are bound up with it. CRIMINAL RESULTS OF STRIKES. lx his opening charge to the grand jury at the Ceti teal Criminal Court, on Blonday last, the Recorder of London, the Right lion. .1. S. Wortley, having on his list SUMO prisoners for trial on a charge of conspi • racy against their employers, offered some valuable re •ks upon the subject of strikes, viewed in their relationship with crime : At the present tut, when au many strikes existed, anti the struggle between ettpitid and labour met attracting SO luurlr atlcutiun, etliSeri of this Malley 1 wettllle of the great• cat possible public iistportance. It was not for hint, sitting in that place, to snake any observations with regard to strikes of workmen, lint he might be pardoned for ex pressing his regret at such prouteedings, when the ruinous Bost they entailed both upon minden* and workmen was ettioddered. Ile saw that a calculation , had been mash) that in one limited mannfitettiting district wages to the a 1111 l lust tot' 1,0,004 t/. a week had been lost, then-by oe easio • g most serious injury to both musters and work moen, to the tnidesitittit of the (Hatt iet, to the revenue, and also, no doubt, totaling seriously to damage and disturb the co -roe of the eottittly ; and he could not refncin, there fore, from expressing his regret that Borne Illettlll4 elilthl not be devised to remote& these unfortnitate different-es. For merly, every condoling iiin antuung workmen for the 1. 11 151i4t, of raising wages was illegal, and rendered the parties liable tii att indictment for mistlemea 1111 l ir ; but as it was felt that this was it hulvlahip, uu d NOS ill SOlllO eases productive of injustice, in 1 ,0 26 an set of Parliament was passed which eltanged that state of the law, Rio legalised combinations, either of masters to lower the torte of wages, or of workmen fiir the purpose of getting them raised. While, however, this net of Parlbuttent gave. both to the employers . and the employed, the privilege 4.f holding tutectings and taking !unmet -dings to regulate the rate of wages, it ut the same time expressly poshibited workmen front doing anything tending to 111'e'vtglt employers from taking into their service any persona they pleased, Or preventing any persons front accepting such employtuent. The quest' was tune of such very great iniportanee that the grand jury would pro bably excuse hint for calling their attention to some kaiser vat ions made by a late learned judge, Sir N. Tindal. npon the occasion of it trial of n similar kind which took place a few years ago at Stafford. his lordship Sttid : " The first observation that arises is, that if the workmen of the several collieries mid manufactories, who erouplaiucd that the wages which they received were inadequate to the value of their set - vices, Mai assembled themselves together peus ably for the purpose of coleotiting tiltoti and dew, • g the rate of wow , or prices 'obi. 11 the persons pre , ent at the meeting Ithottltl require for their work. and lied acti4l with an agreement amongst themselves for the purpose of tittle such tide, they would have done no 4' illatil till' lest allowe d . A co u t hinatani for that purpose mil to that extent (if. hole, .1, it Is to be called by th a t 1111111,) 11l no Mere than is reeet,Olistst as lee'id by the statute till. ieorge IV., by which statute, also, exacta) the same rote of rout bination, to the toude exteul, and nu 1111 11.. r, iS %keit to the ;misters when met together, if they are of opinion that the rate of wil V eN is VS) In the ease supposed—that is, a dl-pute between the maaters still the workmen as to the proper amount of wages to be gives, it, won ti gilt by the Legislature that if the workmen ou the one part refused to work. or the MSS tens on the other retotuul to eloplOy, as such a Plate of things Could Hot eolittitlle tong, it :night, fairly be expected that the party lama ultimately live way whose pretensions were not founded upon rea son ant justies--the toasters if they offer too little, and the workmen if they demanded too mh. Hut, unfor tunately ohnih en anti tlause who we er, discoat,•stcll did not rest here. Not satisfied with the excreta. of their own right to withhold their own labour if they sere 411Prolitelited with the price they reeviYeil for it, they assimicul the power of in terfering with the right which others reasesseci—of exercising their disendloit upon the same paint, amp seeordingly on will have tottecrons eases laid before you in which large bodies of dill astistied workmen interfere by personal violence and by threats unit nit; lotion to compel others who were perfectly willing to continue to !Bisor at their calling at the rate of wages then paid, to desert front their work. and leave the mine or mantifitetorc. and. against their tom will. to add themselves to the members of the thsemitented party, than which a more glaring *A of ty ninny uud de-potisni by one !.. , t of no al laser their felloAs cattliot eoueeired. If there is one eight which, beyond all others, the labourer ',ROA to be able to call his ettm, it is the right of the SATURDAY, exertion of his own personal strength and skill In the full odor went of his own free will, altogether unshackled by the cotitr . ol or dictates of his fellow-workmen ; yet, strange to say, this very right which the discontented workman claims fur 'Masa( to ire fullest extent, he does, by a blind perversity and unaccountable selfishness, entirely refuse to his fellows who ditrer from him in opinion. it is unnecessary to way that a course of proceeding so utterly unreasonable in itself, so injurious to society, so detri mental to the interests of trade, and so oppressive against the rights of the poor WWI, habit be a gross 11101 dtterbillt viulutiuu of the law, and must be put down, when the guilt is established, by a proper measure of punishment." The Recorder proceeded to detail the facts of the case in question, which related to the alleged dis missal of a man named Spence from the lithographic printing establishment of Mr. Jackson, by the allei4ed illegal interference of his fellow-workmen. He thus concluded : It was very important that the law upon this subject should be understood, particularly as an impression existed in the minds of workmen that they were justified in pro. curing the dismissal of one of their fellows and refusing to work with him by any means shunt of resorting to actual violence. This was a delusion ; and it should be under stood that, if even the most harmless weans were employed fur the purpose of preventing any employer from taking ally person he pleased into his service , it was a breach of die law for which they would be amenable to punishment. TREATMENT OF AUSTRALIAN EMIGRANTS. As immigration increases, the treatment of pas sengers by sailing-ships appears to get worse and worse. The Sydney papers teem with exposures of the rascality, drunkenness, and brutality of the captains, and the unscrupulous rapacity of the owners. Old anti rotten hulks, badly provi sioned, are puffed as first•clnss vessels in every respect, but the passenger soon finds that the vessel leaks at start►ng ; that the provisions, after the first few days, are changed for an inferior quality ; and that they have to tare hard and work at the pumps to keep themselves afloat during the whole of the voy age, with a commander drinking himself daily into madness, so that they have at last to seize him and put him in irons, to prevent him from committing a murder or sending the ship to the bottom by sense less orders. This is a literal sketch of what took place on board one of the last vessels front Liverpool. The passengers had deprived the captain of the corn mend, and kept him in irons the greater part of the passage. On arriving at Sydney they deposed to the above details on oath, and stated other facts publicly that were not necessary to prove the legal charge ; but, beyond being exonerated from blame for the restraint they placed on the drunkard the owners had entrusted their lives to, they have no redress. This, it may be admitted, was a bad case, but too mislay others ditlir from it only in degree. If anything worse is to be discovered, it is on board the American ships bringing passengers from New York to Califon. nia. It is a common trick for the owners to take the passage money to Port Phillip, and get rid of the pas sengers at Sydney by continually putting oft' the day of sailing, or stopping the issue of provisions. The passengers see they are swindled, but have no re medy One English method of catching passengers de serves equal exposure—it is that of advertising ships to sail on the principle of "select emigration," the announcement being worded to create a helief the passengers will be " selected," so as to present a higher tone of religious and moral feeling than among ordinary shiploads of emigrants; and that sonic sort of inquiry is made as to character before the application for a berth is granted. The bait is not unskilfully thrown out. but let no one be taken in by it. The brokers and agents neither elect, nor select, nor require any test but ability to pay the passage-money. The consequence is that the de• hided emigrant s instead of finding himself among persons of similar feeling, is thrown into contact with mere ordinary worldlings, and the expected three months' communion in religious privileges is out of the question. A ship recently went out on the " select " principle, and proved an eminent failure. The serious section of the passengers, thinking themselves empowered by the prospectus to carry out the religious dicipline of the ship, foamed a com mittee and drew up a set of regulations. which the other party lit their pipes with, any attempt to enforce rules made by a self-constituted authority being resented as an impertinence. The result was a series of quarrels *Melt lasted the whole voyage, ending with an exploSion of wrath and recrimina tion in the Sydney journals at its close. What might have been a pleasant voyage—for no complaint was made of the ship or the treatment on board—was thus made very much the reverse. Emi,.rnnts had better suspect all brokers' promises, especially if phrased religiously, and calculate on finding at sea just as much devotional fervour as they carry with them, and no more. But the crafty trading on such feelings is very disgusting. The Melbourne Argue alone consumes 30,0007. worth of raper a year, and a watch is constantly kept on arrivals to get the consignments of paper from the incoming vessels, lest the newspaper should collie to a dead stop. I