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

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

818

that this change of position can scarcely have
made them dishonest or cruel, which the tutu
allege the masters are. " Your leaders talk of
" protecting you from capital. Why, capital re-
" presents knowledge, the moving power which
" is to keep you in work. L►►ok at Ireland. which
"has been protected— self-protooted from
" capital. Here weretyranny and misery without
" capital." lie suggests, then, instead of losing
as they have 100,0001. by the strike, it would
have been fie• better to continue work—
save that sum, invest it in a ►will, and aster
tuin by experiment what wages they could
afford to give. The writer, however, wenns
the men that he does not think they can com-
pete with the toasters. After pointing out the
misery the 1111`1I have brought down on them-
selves, their firesides, and the immense
injury they have inflicted on their children. by
habituating theta to idleness, anti depriving
them of instruction, the !nester concludes an
able letter, written in a kindly spirit, with
these words There is a demand for the
" labour of all of us. Depend upon it we are
"not placed here with power to fix even so
"simple a thing a■ the rate of wages. Time,
"the progress of intellect, invention, and the
"accumulation of capital (fir thrift will pros-
"per) will upset any regulations of lo or 20
"per cent. we may make."

Of this address we have given only the salient
points, but itis a marked advance in the right
direction fora master to step forth and aripte the
question at issue with the turn-unts. At Preston,
also, another address has been issued by the As
sociated Manufaeturers of thuttown, the gist of
which is, that " the differences between the
" demands of the operatives mid the offers of
"their employers were MO eXeeetliligly
"that it was found that a more important
"question than that of wages was involved,
"and that these firms were to be made the
"victims of an organised combination. whose
"avowed object was to take the masters in
" ~cession and eottqwl them hi accept the
"terms of.the unionists." It will be observed
that hitherto tho Preston matmfaeturers have
not been fighting on equal terms with the
men, for, whilst the masters llave had only:
their own resourees to rely upon, the men have
been eneoursged and supported 'by contribu-
tions, derived from a well-organisod and widely
extended system of canvassing and agitation.
The men of Preston have been assisted by the
men of Lancashire, and even of distant coun-
ties the masters were alone. Now, however,
the masters have derived an immense acces-
sion of strength, and the men have been weak-
ened proportionally.

The manufacturers of Limeashire on Wed-
nesday last resolved " to support the Preston
" masters ill the present struggle." This re-
solntion was come to after long. serious, and
mature deliberation, on the express ground
that the present contest Wax not fOr an in-
erease of wages—the money questiim they
regarded with indifference—but for mastery,
for the predominimee of men over masters, of
labour over capital. Their resolution, arrived
at. slowly. will doubtless be adhered to reso-
lutely, even unto the end. It may mean pe-
cuniary aid to the Preston masters ; it may
metuk prevention of contributitos front the
operatives they employ to those on strike at
Preston ; or, these measures failing, it may
mean a universal lock-out in that teeming hive
of industry, Lancashire. Whatever it be, the
conditions of the eontc.4 have greatly altered
to the disadvantage of the men. and. though
the manufacturers may bind these strong
measures neeessaly, we trust that they will
not deem it beneath their dignity to imitate
the courtesy of Lord PALM E RsToN, or to emu-
late the kindness and the intelligenee of their
brother manufneturer. to whose letter we have
alluded. If they. like him. condescend to give
good reason for their tuition, then, with the
united capital of Lancashire and the universal
voice of public (Onion against them,—with
the supplies of their fellow-operatives cut off,—
with only the workhouse and a severe labour
test to fall back on, and the factory bell still
ringing to summon them to work at the
former rate of wages.—nothing but pride can
make them hesitate as to their course. This
pride is the germ of great deeds. Those who
fought at Waterloo felt it : they were Enylish,