The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1878-04-20 00:00:00

THE LANCASHIRE COTTON TRADE.

On Monday night a meeting of cotton spinners and
manufactiwers was held in the Mechanics' Institution,
Burnley, to consider the proposed reduction of 10 per
cent. There was a large attendance, and the following
resolutions were carried unanimously
"That, in the case of a strike occurring at any of
the mills where the notice of reduction of wages has
been posted, we hereb; pledge ourselves to support
the districts or firms singled out by closing our mills."
"That any firma of the districts attacked shall be
liberally compensated until the remainder of the trade
is stopped or the strike terminated."
The feeling of the meeting was that the exigences
of the trade left them no option but to abide by the
above resolutions.

On Monday evening a crowded meeting of card.
room hands was held in Blackburn to consider the
proposed reduction of 10 per cent. in the wages.
The dell-dation, who had seen various employers, made
their report, and the question was thoroughly dis-
cussed. It was decided unanimously to strike if the
masters refused to pull down the notices. The chair-
man and secretary of the Weaver's Association have
issued pamphlets stating that they have found it im-
possible to avert the strike. They advise the opera-
tives to form deputations and ask the employers to
withdraw the notices, and if they do so to continue
working. Considerable excitement prevailed in the
district.

According to the vital statistics of Italy for 1876,
ittnirt; ws4reoo
tittlt thO
i2,2o6,7oa3tAaratirir, Apits

LORD SHAFTESBURY AT EDINBURGH.

On Saturday the Earl of Shaftesbury was presented
with the freedom of the city of Edinburgh, in the Free
Church Assembly Hall, in presence ef a large assem-
blage. The Lord Provost, magistrates, and town
council wore their robes of office, and were attended
by the city officers With the insignia. Among others
present were Lady Edith Ashley, the Hon. Lionel
Ashley, Lord Belhaven a deputation from the
London Ragged School 'Union, consisting of Mr.
Gent, secretary, and Mr. Williams, one of the
managers, Sir James Falshavv, Major-General Ander-
son, &c.
The Lord Provost presided, and in presenting to the
Earl the burgess ticket, which was enclosed in a hand-
some 'silver casket, said he had now the honour of
placing in his lordship's hands the document which
conferred upon him the freedom of that ancient city, to
mark their appreciation of those successful efforts which
with untiring devotion during a long life, he had made
to ameliorate the moral and physical condition of the
labouring classes, and in recognition generally of
the work which he had performed as a Christian
philanthropist. In referring to the numerous
schemes of benevolence in which his lordship
had bsen engaged, he said that there had
scarcely been a movement for the improvement of the
social, mural, and spiritual well-being of society with
which he had not been associated. On his auccession
to the peerage his increased influence was all used on
behalf of the objects of philanthropy which he had at
heart. The course of his life all through had been the
unselfish promotion of the well-being of others. Nor
had he confined himself to his own country. Not
only had his eye of pity fallen upon the
ragged and deserted child of the streets, but the
enslaved son of Africa had also elicited his com-
miseration; and from them upwards through the
social scale, he had sought to do good to all. The
records of the religious and benevolent societies
showed that his charity extended to all lands, and
that the aspiration of his soul was, that the time
might speedily come when the grace of God would
regenerate all men. (Applause.) He had lived a
noble life, had accomplished a noble work, and would
leave behind him a noble example. It was a proud
act for the corporation of that ancient capital to
enroll his name on its list of citizens feeling that
although the list shone with a brilliant citizens,
from the
names already inscribed theieon, it would shine with
a yet brighter radiance when there was added that of
Anthony Ashley-Cooper, Earl of Shaftesbury. (Loud
applause.)

Lord Shaftesbury, who was received with loud
cheers, said it would have been a sufficient honour for
him to have received this grant of citizenship by
official fienouncement and at a distance from the
locality; but the honour was very much enhanced by
the fact that it was conferred upon him on the very
spot, in the presence of so many high authorities, so
many inhabitants of that great city, and not a.little
by the very kind and, he was afraid, very undeserved
expressions which had fallen from the Lord Provost.
He could only say that when an additional honour
was conferred it brought with it an additional
responsibility, and he trusted that, God helping him,
he should do nothing to tarnish the distinction
which had just been conferred upon him. (Applause.)
His lordship had been good enough to enumerate
a variety of movements in which he along with
others had been instrumentally engaged for the
general improvement of society, but he wished to ob-
serve that many of these movements were of a charac-
ter that could occur only in a free country where
individuals might stir and urge forward great matters
of legislation, where they were free to appeal to and
excite public opinion, and to bring that public opinion
to bear upon reluctant Governments, who at last, by
the force of the appeal and by the truth of the facts,
were compelled to undertake those measures that
at first they rejected, or from which they shrank
under the pressure of existing responsibilities.
What then, he asked, had nduced more to the
creation and to the existence of freedom than the
existence of municipal institutions? (Applause.) He
could not but recall to their minds a very recent fact in
very recent history to exemplify what he said and
to give them reason to rejoice and thank God that
they had lived so long under suet' a constitution of
government. They would remember that Italy,
divided into many distinct States, feeble and with-
out power under various forms of government, was
held at the time to be altogether incapable of a homo-
geneous whole. Was it so. Suddenly Italy started
up into a united kingdom, free and independent, and
whence was that? Why, because she had inherited
from her Roman ancestry municipal institutions, of
which she never was deprived in the hour of her
deepest servitude. They were the secret depository
and the secure resting-place of liberty and fitness for
self-government, to be brought out on the day of neces-
sity. It was the glory of our own country that our
land was rife with such institutions, and that the
motto which among our neighbours was the sign of dis-
union and revolt was with us the sign of harmony and
true conservatism—liberty. equality, and fraternity.
(Applause.) In estimating the value of the honour which
had been conferred upon him, he must bring under
consideration the charaoter and position of the body
that had conferred it. All municipalities were good,
but all were not of equal dignity, and he could not
but rejoice that he had been called to the citizenship
of one of the most noble and the most ancient in Her
Majesty's dominions. ( Applause.) Omitting to enlarge
on the illustrious history of the people, of their deeds
in arms' of their struggles for civil and religious
liberty, he could not but regard the capital of the
kingdom of Scotland as the capital of a people
unrivalled, he thought, in the annals of mankind,
and he would show why. He observed a people,
few in numbers, with a scanty and comparatively
barren territory, producing an effect that excited
the admiraticn, and made them known among all
the nations of the earth. Few in numbers they
shone in arts, in arms, in commerce, in political admi-
nistration, in literature' inthe pulpit; they occupied the
highest level of intellect and morality„ and in propor-
tion to their numbers, no nation had produced so
many men of note as this had done in the community
of the whole earth. (Applause.) If he were to select
two of the most striking instances of the wonderful
power of resolution and force of character, of that
vigour of principle that reigned in their hearts and
governed their actions, he would name, in early times,
the grand deeds of the Reformation, and, in later
times, he would name that which, whatever might be
the issue, or however there might be difference of
opinion upon the measure, must ever be regarded as
one of the most remarkable instances of vigour, of
resolution, and of self-denial, political, social, and finan-
cial—he meant the institution of the Free Church.
(Applause.) But in enumerating the glories which sur-
rounded the city of Edinburgh he must not forget its
, schools and its famous University. He knew that the
University and the municipality were distinct, and he
could not venture to hope that the University even
sympathized with the honour now conferred upon him.
But this he felt, that the University reflected a lustre
upon Edinburgh, and Edinburgh reflected a lustre
upon it ; and he trusted that the world at large would
not be over-minute in analyzing the component parts
that formed the aggregate of that great city. He felt
very deeply what had been said by the Lord Provost,
and by the manner in which they had received it when
he went over the various incidents of his life, and the
various duties to which he had been called. He took
no credit for them. He felt that from the beginning
he was called to the work, he had by the blessing
of God been sustained in the work, and he had re-
ceived his remuneration. Let him say that he could
have done little or nothing without the agents who
had been confederate with him, without those
bodies of men and women in the middle and upper
classes of society who had come forward with energy
and zeal, piety and truth, with knowledge, wisdom,
perseverance, and self-denial, that made him hope that
there were many years in store of honour and dignity, of
power and greatness in the service of God and in the
welfare of men, reserved for those great kingdoms of
Scotland and of England. (Applause.) They might
forgive him if, in the midst of that peaceful ceremo-
nial he turned his thoughts, and endeavoured to turn
their thoughts, which seemed to be inevitable, to
another state of things that might afflict their country.
Wonderful it was to observe that as man seemed to ad-
vance in mere intellectual power and attainments, he
seemed also to advance in the spirit of -strife and pug-
nacity. (A laugh.) The last Exhibition in England
manifested this fact, that there was more power of mind
and. thought devoted on the means of destroying life
than on the means of saving and beautifying it. Now,
to detest war it was not necessary to maintain the low
doctrine of "peace at any price." (Applause.) There
had been wars which were just and necessary, and God
forbid that there should be any more wars; but this
he would say, that if war was looming in the distance
and if the possibility of war was in their considera-
tion, they were bound by every consideration, by
by 'every sense-' of duty to" God and man, before
they rushed into the frightful conflict, to be sure that
their cause was righteous —(applause)—to be sure that
they had exercised all forbearance, and that they had
exhausted every means—even to the very uttermost—
of reconciliation. (Applause.)
At the call of the Lord Provost, three cheers was
then given for the youngest burgess.
A vote of thanks was then given to the Lord
Provost for presiding, and the proceedings terminated.