Star. — London, England, 1819-08-12 00:00:00

ITIO.V OF TM NATIONAL DEBT. TO THS EDITOR OF THE STAR. • have said that our National Debt is the an Natiunal Distress, and I have promed hould endeavour to reduce this Debt by a 1,0:Ilry I would now recommend that Land , be disposed of, and the proceeds the same purpose : these lands would now ge price, and a more proper application of It could not well be devised. A consider ,fth is pre pert y would certainly be brought !diate oil:iv:alum and thus would employ- Worded Co thousands of the labouring poor. 11 be the oppositioa which will be strewn, Icl , a measure; but surely nothing can be than that national property, which could without inconvenience, should be applied on of the National Debt ; but even sup s we were making a great sacrifice in pan.- :is property, will any man venture to say ,uation of the country does not require it? :!round him will he not perceive that Manufacturer has pressed down the price the Landholder has forced up the price of that the efect of these. measures has been le Artisan and Husbandman? Would, he at the wages of labour are no longer suffi-. rocurc the ant necessary of life? That the the industrious prove unavailing, and that i c rverre to their sapport, they are dishear themselves on tae Parish, and become :tent he considers of the extreme i:i.h has been already occasioned by the A: el our National Debt, will he not at expedients to be extremely cruel? !...nd to raise the price of bread, and on co le.seu the means of procuring it I the last twenty-five years, the interest of al Debt, an chic his defrayed by Taxes, has, Lumbers, risen from ten to forty millions The Revenue is said to be collected at an pease of nine millions; and within the same Poor Rate has amounted to nine millions It is worthy of remark also, that with sc cf debt there has been an enhancement 11,: of property generally, but more parti that of lard, the price of which new, as with the commencement of the period I :d, will be found in racist instances to have net in many to have tripled, and even ice of Corn, too, has by Legislative enact g; 2:11y enhanced within the same period : !very thing seems indeed to have been on o have kept pace as it were with our in debt, and thereby enabled us to meet the coLi.:3, with' thu . e.ception of the wages dt 1 the state of morals. among the working while our National Debt has increased, value of property generally has increased, land, the price of corn has g;;;ratly risen— the wages of labour, and the state of morals, .ntly declined. The cause we need not go Supposing the wages of labour to be the , that it was twenty five years ago (I am it it will not be found to be greater), and Faxes, during that period, have been in am ten to forty millions, • it necessarily fol t the inci cased pressure upon the people as four to one. This, together with the i ue of corn, and the depressed price of (. I .lect tendency to dishearten and de :he wni king chutes ; as have also, the Col the I: , ..:venue, and the Poor Rate the 'first, a poisonous example of bribery, frauds, ,; And the latter, from having been, as it aied originally, the dernier resort of the infirm, is now applied to in the firit instance ang and the robust, and therefore become .nd curse to the nation. These are points inand, and mast have our attention. We k the evil in the face ; and when we have ..ve can to relieve the people by reducing vse shall perceive a revival of the spirit of and a consequent improvement of morals the lower classes. cuation of this country is such as to require Iperation of all who have the general weal at We may talk about Sedition, and Reform, nagogucs, and Ex-Officio Informations, and Corpus Suspension, but a yoke has been in the Nation which demands to be heard' krill not be silenced, and to which the Execu wer womld do well to listen is the voice ;er!! The price of labour will not procure tnd this i; the engine, the weapon, the handle, xl of the machinery whereby all the existing ;ion is manufactured, by Orator Hunt and .et 05, then, set our shoulders to this wheel to a proper remedy, and these fellows will soon as contemptible in .he eyes of their auditors, do now in those of the Nation.—l remain, our obedient and obliged servant, toe, August 9, 1819 k B. .{TA" 1 7 .esnrvz.—Ilats of pink or lilac gauze are mostly Y of F.t.,bl3;t; pufDrsgs are no longer worn round s 0; the bonnets, but ::mall rosettes of gauze instead, Wrc.etbs of flowers are much worn :he crow as ; white hats, wreaths of roses or hyacinths; c odor, , r.hcs minted with vine leaves. Some wreathi of rcs, hyacinth - 4 and vine leaves intermixed.— ‘.*.a gtuw;lly wwu with thew bath and giee 5 airy dint. Q crn. • H..-- I , c of Cl twe sl, . rs of Crown lied to l h I:irg er , ;( ,„•lit poi 6011 • be aff will silo :fps! II st ared .o ,ctioi : fi g; fiat pith the silo e Loki t • • tl the tha , a t o pro its tit tl• io.ide , tow' ••• ,• del i it , Olit• Glier tt ithin ▪ '.;ationa • xr.d hit 0. ',Lg. 1 ic ,1 the I • au sum. in‘reas , be he vale • •;lyin t pare • m • named ar .. 1 .:13 3 , talc , ' Pt' ort, es to • of ":rtigc • and the; • or tile v • pnce r er le • I:: idet to seek. now, ▪ id that our T ' • sed Ito s, that :id be Ili Nr.l,,t• ••••.:-e rl nt , . of t ..h.!;1•12; el • iat•ota d and it • the r C'J " 1, °Urge den st lock all • t debt, "try, uag th da the sit hi co•op, cod t. V Dem •,, e •as I , r•rcl in ev hlt 171 her t Pow na Lurg4 d ; an IP. • Ii whee :e Iffecti •• Le a fir . " 'ear ;11,1 they id; t lot Lome PA atm dp" ' by nit i 1 :i 41 the boss Jr: Seni :ty rr. STATE OF THE COUNTRY. new legislative enactment. Only regulate,' say they, the prices of wages, and the district will be kept perfectly quiet f the poor rates will be kept down, and you need no longer have recourse to the parish to make up any deficiency in the earnings of your labourers.' Such, in effect,, is the obvious ten dency of Mr. Hale's letter in the STA a of Friday last, and it is only with a view to qualify some of his statements relative to the :opposed beneficial ten dency of the Spitalfields Acts, that I have to request your attention ; the general policy of such Acts hav- 1 ing already been disposed of by yourself in a very masterly manner. " Ist. The tendency of these Acts is to augment the price of labour, and consequently to diminish consumption. This posi. tion is denied by Mr. lisle. In his evidence before the House of Commons, he says, that a penny or twopence per yard extra on the price of labour, will not occasion one piece of goods more or less to be made or sold ; and in the letter above referred to he remarks, that it is ' vain to talk about the depressed stat of trade not affording better prices or labour.' How far this general denial of the value of pence in the price of labour w apply to the manufacturing of many low articles of the produce of Manchester, I leave to your readers to decide. " 2d. The Spitallields Acts oblige the master to pay the same priec for an indifferent dr bad pieceots for a good one. He has I no remedy but to turn off t h e hand when the piece is mark ; and the obvious tendency of such Acts for the remuneration of ' labour, must be to blunt emulation, and deaden every motive to exertion. The child who is just able to throw the shuttle is paid the same as the most experienced weaver. " 3d. These Acts compel the master to dismiss his work people the moment that he Inds the demand slacken. " A temporary and trifling reduction in the price of wages would, in all ordinary cases, be a sufficient guarantee to the manufacturer to keep his looms in action till the demand should come round again.— During the great period of distress in Spitalfields, in 1817, numerous instances occurred of weavers who world gladly have worked at a reduced rate of wages, .rather than remain destitute of work altogether ; but the manufacturer dared not to employ them on those conditions, he being subject to a penalty of £5O for every instance in which he was found so offending. " 4th. These Acts occasion continual disputes between the masters and the men. " This is strange, you will say—the prices ate set tled, and the Magistrates have confirmed them, and there cannot be any possibility of disputa. It is, how- At the Annual Meeting, last week, of the Work ington Agricultural Society, Mr. CURWEN, M.P. the President, made a long and eloquent Address to the Society, on the state of the Country, and the means of relieving the distress under which it labours. " The people of England," said the Honourab l e Gentleman, " are enlightened and generous—they may for a season be misled, hut they have that solid good sense, that they will not long continue in error. It is impossible to contemplate the utfferings and pri vations of a great proportion of the labouring classes without the deepest commiseration. Greatly did he regret the measures they had resorted to for alle viating their distresses—metwircs calculated to aug ment and not to lessen the evils under which they laboured. Whilst he condemned them, he could not but pity and compassionate tack sufferings. .4 It was unavailing to look back—men of all sides—Whig and Tory, were at that moment honestly zealous to find a remedy for the evils under which the country suffered, The difficulty was great, and they must submit to great and heavy privations. 4 , During the war we manufactured for Europe; now we are reduced to a share, and he would ask, could any one wi,ll the prosperity even of his native land to be founded on the misery of other countries? Could we ask that Europe should have its popula tion idle and unemployed in order to give us a mo nopoly of trade? " It t ehoved us to husband our own resources—. to endeavour to improve every internal means of wealth. Here he hoped that we had great resources and that much might be dyne. " Labour was a source of riches infinitely beyond. all others. It had been six times more in amount than the whole of the real property cf the Empire. ever, not mere strange than true; and I appeal to The demands of labour could only be supplied by its any silk manufacturer to bear me out in my as,er being made productive. The whole incCme of the ;i°ll' Many of the branches are so complex in them country would no feed the workir.g classes for three selves, arid so ill described in the price -book; added to which, marry new works have bean discovete,i months. No mere expedient could remedy the evil, since the last prices were settled, and could not of To employ the people, they must be profitably em- course os provided for, that differences of opinion as played. . to the proper scale of remuneration ire. perpet ually " Cheap bread and want of work war, ten thou- arising between the masters and thstnen. eussal sand times more grievous than dear bread and em- course is, on giving out the wo4, to enter into an arrangement with the weaver as to the price to be Rloyinent." paid. In most cases he is perfectly satisfied with whai " The Corn Bill, which had - been Zb industriously he is to receive, and would remain so, but for the cried down, had proved no security to the farmer.— busy interference of a Committee formed amongst It was nut what it purposed to be. Had the average wiseourneyrne for thffprotection of the trade ; these men are sure to dud out that the work is under been fairly taken the ports had not been open to a paid, and threaten the weaver, although be may be great portion of the grain which had inundate., the perfectly content, with punishment, it he does not country. Ile thought t Os. would be a sufficient pro- demand a higher price ; and thus is laid the founda tection if the average were fairly taken. Now be tion . s o th f . p s ernt fi llx; n ckering ' en e of thee' Aey, has lo s t would meet the question honestly, and admit at once many very important branches of it s trade which hathei their ori that this would enhance the price of bread. Suppose gin in that district, as crape, gauzes, silk handkerchiefs and bom bazeens all of which have been removed to Coneleron, i‘laccles it effected an advance of 6s. a quarter before th e fi eld, Leek, Taunton, Reading, and otherplaces;a:4l would have ports could open--how would that affect the interests been lost i f i or i ey s e h r t k o led the country, if the wages at these places had 1 a litg labourer ? Suppose a family of five persons, ~ 6 th. B r y Y s thesti Acts Spitalfi4ds has been totally deprived of ecmsyming each a stone of flour in a week—the ad- the use of mac! inery ! Will it be leiev.:(l at this age of the . . t. orld, and in this day of improvement, that the sibs trade of vance would be two- pence trnd A fraction in the stone, ' London is fettered by Acts which declare that all works, the • I or Is. per week. In return what wouldise tilip.pro, weaving of which is wasted by tr.achinery, shall be paid for es • . icily theunte as if the whole w.fre r e:formed by m A:I nal labour? spect of gain? The corn imported in the last twelve I t u i s r a u , s ievathtl.ba. What would have become of our cot months had given employir.ent to 200,000 individu-' ton manufacture, and of the inventions of Sir Richard Ark- I wright, if such a law 11:4 existed in his time ? I may add, what als in foreign countries—to supply ourselves would would have become of the country, if it had not been for in =- require at least this number cf hands in addition to poor m i a s iTY... ? 'the LI glitn ir ce silk-loom—t tar hat hat has remul op eration aMed in es e., be seen those who arc now occupied in agriculture; one . the urne state since ia yeas introduced by tha llefuves, wherms million of our population would hired by calling the French silk-loom has ,aeon in a state of progressive ins proven-Lent. 200,000 hands into active employrr.ent, ' " 7thly. 'Since the passing of these Acts, there has been no " All seemed to agree that an augmentation of la- re w iluct . ion at ot w he h r ate i v a er cm in di th ey e wea ving w i i n, h S tre tal lit i t a" have pric price correspondeds of hour could poly be looked for from agriculture. To Ours of the supp p ly . of, and the demand for lab Jur. In ore In hope for it in its present unprotected state, was vi- stance, however, be it meattoned in praise of their good seise anti d.scemment, some journeymen ' did voluntarily make an sionary. He offered it as his honest and conscien- offer of reducing tile price of weaving bombazeopx five ihillings tious opinion, that it was freetuaely leaving l e d or the interest of all to con and per el th w a e t of the . nu d ing rube that r of I th oo e n t i ra s g l a e d w b a e s eil au cur in ere:ruin% foreign grain, and in devising means in consequence from five hundred to ninety. These men accor torii3eg ce Lo , i n n d c on qe onse feed ourselves, and to oive labour, and by labour dangly applied tp the ct work at reduced prices, rather Magistrates, and stated their willingness to than lose the trade altogether.— - hat piness to thousands." The General Cominittee of the Journeymen Weavers (for they too have their Committee of Ways and Means) became alarmed lest a similar redaction shatild be proposad in the other branches of the trade, and opposed the prayer of the Bombazeen Weavers .with all their might and main; and being seconded by a wise Bench of Magistrates, who saw no necessity for any such reduc tion, the application was of course lost, and the article has fOr ever taken its eight front London. " Bth. 6 The tnisary of Spitalfields, at particular periods,' as you truly state, , sinews that the law for regulating the Silk `Nlanufactures cannot protect the workmen from the vicissitudes of the times.' " The distress of 1617 is still fresh in the recollec tion of your Readers, when the Public, to whom an appeal of real distress is never made in vain, so ge nerously stepped forward, -and contributed to their relief. This was the second instance of the kind ; the first assistance rendered to them having taken place about 20 years before. . " I will not now 'detain you by going into any lengthened argument, for the purpose of pointing out how far such a system of forceti prices of labour, and such occasional assistance from' the Public, may have contributed W keep dovin the public burdens of the , . parishes in which the weavers reside. Suffice it to say, that with such a statement of facts as I have exhibited, staring us in the face, relative to a trade fenced and protected by particular laws —a trade that never was, and on account of the f ostly nature and limited quantity of the article, never can be, the subject of speculation to any great extent—a trade confessedly depending .on home consumption, and therefore exempt from those great fluctuations which characterise the cotton, woollen, and other manufac tures, I say, that it. is matter of grief and surprise, that men are to be found who can gravely recom mend that the same line of policy should be adopted in the disturbed districts, as a nostrum which will secure at once i fair price for the lab Our of the work man—effectually prevent all combination and insub ordination, and put an extinguisher on all further in crease of the poor rates ! if I have failed of disprov ing the evil tendency of the taws in question, I shall be happy to enlist myself as an advocate for their extension to every town in the kingdom. . " I beg to repeat, that it was the establishment of ON LEGISLATIV2 INTERFERF.NCF. IN TILE RE. (;ULATION OF THE PRICES OF LABOUR. TO TILE EDITOR OF TIIE MORNING CIIRONICLE. " Monday, 9ch August, 1819. , g Sin—Permit me to present my tribute of grate ful acknowledgment for the very able ma:iner in which you have pointed put the fallacy of all legis htive interference in the regulation of the prieek . of labour, and of the utter impossibility of such an in terFosition, ameliorating, in the remotest degree, the ' distress which prevails at present in the manufactur ing districts. Several statements have recently ap peared in contemporary Journals on this subject, in which the conduct of the Manufacturers of Manches ter and other places, in loWcring the wages of their won kmeo, is held up to the indignation of the public, in a way that is likely to prove injurious to their characters, and danerous to their pertooal safety, residing as they do, to the inidst of an irritated and half starvin g population. If, instead of bu s y in g themselves in paining in such a marked manner at the supposed authors of these distresses, these Jour nalists had occupied themselves in reflecting on the causes of so much misery, it would have occurred to them, that it is not only nit in the power, but that it is not the intervl of the Manufacturers, to depress the wages of their workmen below the natural level ; and that if at any time they are obliged to lower them beneath the price which affords the means of subsistence, they are not to be charged, as of late it has been the fashion to charge them, with a total want of feeling and of principle ; but they ought to consider whether the causes of that reduction ought not rather to be referred to die broad and awful facts of overstocked markets, and a diminished demand? It seems, however, that these causes are either over looked or forgotten, in the propensity, common to many good men, of meddling with those great prin ciples which have always been suppoied to regulate over political economy, and who•think to find a re medy for all the diseases of the body politic in some an arbitrary scale of wages in Spitalfields that gave birth to those numerous and flourishing manufacto ries which are now to be found in most of the coun ties of the kingdom ; and compelled the London masters to seek out those spots where at 'east they could be free horn all magisterial influence between themselves and their workmen. Scarcely a month elapses that does not bring fresh intelligence of some new Establishment. already formed, or that is in con templation ; and if those laws are suffered to gown= repealed a few years longer, must end in the removal altogether of the silk trade from the Metropolis. On the contrary, if similar acts for the regulation of la bour are to allowed to pass into law, and to be consistent, they must embrace every species of la- . bow, not excluding our coachmen, footmen, cooks, and drabs, to what spot will the oppressed and shackled manufacturer be then enabled to retire frost those vexatious enactments, those chains and fetters, of skill, industry, and capital? They map! quit the . country altogether, and leave those would-be philo sophers to their melancholy musings. It is nothing short of the infatuation of, *no , ranee, to ask the Legislature to interpose its autho rity under those circumstances : it is to ask the desert*. Lion of that freedom of trade to which we owe ont present security, and by which alone we have been enabled to retain our rank in the scale of political ex istence. All such interference is impolitic, absurd, and an invasion of one of the plainest rights of men. The system of commerce, from its centre to its. ex tremities, is a gem of mutual and equally-balanced advantages, and those measures which propose ete' enrichment of one party at the expense of the other, ir fallacious and wmngr—because the interests of all co: ceutrate and s coal. f in the principle of'unres-* tricted " I am, Sir, your's respectfully, W. B." TO THE EDITOR OF THE STAR. Sic—i would ask your Correspondent," A SilvaLimas I Manusaexuaza," if he can suggest any better method of securing fair wagel to the LAbonrer than Mr. 114i.x has proposed? Ought not the conduct of those masters who, as he says, " have no.. thing to prevent them," yet do not give fair prices, to shew us, that they nevor will give them, unless compelled so to do? Is' it probable that a ranch of Magistrates, from the evidence ad duced on both sides, would fix injurious wages? Will any man 'assert wages are sufficiently free, when we have daily proof that 'the master gives his own price? Is it fair to assert, that good and bad workmen being paid one price, there is no encou ragement to the best workmen? Is it not rather true, that no one would employ a bad workman, if he could get a good one at the same price; and that, consequently, merit would obtain con stant employ, and bad wcikmen would be compelled to ler t prove? Is it not true that the best work is made in London in the Silk Trade, because wars re fixed there; and have not our silk goods improved im . quality ever since this Act? 0: late, since wages have been so borne down in the country, the London Weavers bays been rapidly improving; bad their misters been at liberty to reduce the price of their goods, the probability is, they weehl have endeavoured onlyto make more and not better goods, wh:ch they now do in self-defence. Though a Eill to extend the provisions of the Weavers Act was rejected, so have been Bills for the Abolition of, the Slave Trade, fur protecting Chimney-sweepers, &c. In many parts, this Bill was highly approved. Next Session will prove, I trust, that it is not wholly abandoned ; if not, the country masters will find the number of their workmen will diminish, and their poor's rate will increase : no man can find bodily strength 4:01 to continued labour of six teen hours per day, if supported by such nourishment as Bs. or 9;. per week will procure fur him and his family. It seems, many anticipate that tl,e present difficulties will have an end in a very few months. I fear not; the favourable course of ex 'change will make foreigners buy unwillingly. Silver it is very troublesome to remit; gold always bears a premium on the Con tinent; and though we shall find a metallic currency a national blessing, yet I fear many mouths more of suffering must pro cure it. J. H. CAPE OF GOOD HOPE. EXTRACT or. A LETTER PROM TILE REV.- DATED AT CAPE TOWN, MARCH IQ, 1819.: " The Caffre war still continues to rage. Mr. Al bricht writes, thai. it is impossible to describe the cnndition we are in. I can only state a few particu lars. Nearly eight hundred head of cattle are taken from Theopolis, which we were qhliged to see driven away, without being able to prevent it; we are sur rounded with Caff es, who are only waiting an oppor tunity to rush in upon us ; the whole country between this and liitenage is deserted by its inhabitants; the dwellings of farmers are burnt, the military stations forsaken, and some officers and others murdered; our remaining cattle are, kept in the village, the.women and children sleep in the place of worship, and the church and village are defended by one hundred of our people, who are in possession of fire arms. We have hardly any rest day, or night: all is confusion and distress. Our frierids at Graham's-town have vited us to come to thim ; but I cannot prevail upon myself to quit my station. Were we to leave this place, the houses would all be bornt, oqr.forn would all be destroyed, and the Hottentots would .¢.45, , dis= couraged. On the 9th of February last, the Mora vian New Settlement' at the White River was at , tacked by the Caffres, who drove away 23.5 head of their cattle; the people were in the most imminent danger; and by another letter, dated the 9th of March, they went en plundering and murdering those wilo opposed their thefts." SUTHERLAND EMIGRANTS. — Extract of a, letter re ceived yesterday from Cronarty, in North Britain, under date the 31st July Our feelings have been again shocked on the - subject of wig' ants ! The last vessel that sailed from this port for America, with the expelled people, was deemed very unfit for their ' accommodation ; so much Ss, that many of the peo ple would have declined embarking in her could they have redeemed their passage-money--ono fimily in particular, the mother only three days lam in of twins, but this was flatly refused. The ship sailed, and we yesterday learned, was wrecked off the, Orkney Isles. The poor people's lives were saved by the ex ertions of the crew of a Revenue Cutter." From an American Papv.--7.'hiladelphia, June 22: The blockade of the whole coast .t Peru, under date of March 3, from the port of G. ajaquil to A', cam; by Lord Coc ta RA/re, as Vice-Admiral of Chili; will be viewed with surprise by other nations :—thc coast is 1800 miles in extent, contains from 30 to 40 harbours, which he pretends to blockade. The Go vernment of the United States will probably. order *vessels of war into those waters, to protect the Arne , rican trade." i • r!AI f 1A I I, ..i:4. : . 11 i , , , : i '... 11 . 1 f i I * . L I • ti , ay 41 it It! 1, r f ~ 1