The Express.
London, England, 1852-01-03 00:00:00

LONDON, SATURDAY, JANUARY 3.

Ir is asserted that one of the reasons of Lord
PALMERSTON'S retirement was the demand, or
something like • demand, made by • high mem-
ber of the cabinet—nut Lord JouN -RUSSELL—of a
personage in the coutidence of the Elysee, to obtain
sa assurance front Loris NAPOLEON, that he meant
IN ly to respect the treaties of Vienna. Could
theltiTonounceil at the opening of Parliament, it
would, it was said, be of the best effect. We by no
means wish to give any opinion at present on the
wisdom or the inexpediency of making such a de-
mand. But we are compelled to state it, in order ~to
record the very important fact that such demand was
not complied w rib. Our contemporary, the Times,
which revealed to the world the tact of the demand,
sow admits that it was met by evasion or refusal.
The 21tnes adds that Loris INAroteoe is about to
send confidential agents to the four chief courts
which constitute the powers of the congress of
Vienna, in order to sound their opinions on different
subjects, but especially relative to how far the
delimitations of the treaty of Vienna are to be
considered sacred. Our correspondent writes, that
it is M. PertaltiNt who is to proceed to Frankfort,
there to commune with the representatives of the
great powers assembled in the Diet.
M. PERSIONT went upon a similar errand before.
At a time when Freesia was making head against •
hostile league, of which Austria and Bavaria were
the chief members, Louts NAPOLEON sent M. PER-
. MONT to Berlin, where it is well known he made offer
of all aid and alliance, provided he were allowed
to take that portion of the Bavarian Palatinate
loft to France in the treaty of 1814, but taken from
France in the treaty of 1815, by way of punishment
for the outburst of Waterloo. This tract contains
the important fortress of Landau, as well as Sane-
Louis, Philippeville, and Marieuburg. Landau was
garrisoned, like \layence, by fedenn troops. In the
Rhenish insurrection, however, Landau had been
seized ur had gone over to the insurgents, and the
Prince of l'uts•sti had re-captured and re-garri-
soned it.
LOUIS NAPOLEON'S demand of the frontier of 1814
is not, we believe, the first. The elder Boulteoes
reckoned ou getting it with the consent of Runic
And M. Timm, who saw traces of the negotiation
is his office when in power, made no secret of it.
The only dillerence was, that M. TIMERS hoped to
gain the restitution with the Ailment and support of
England, the elder BOURBON with the assent and
support of Russia.
M. PERSIGNT represented that it was a common
object to all the sovereigns of the continent that
Louts NAPOLEON should succeed, should
.put down
the republic and anarchy, and that for this purpose
it was requisite that he should have something to
show to France with pride, as his acquisition for her.
lie, Louis NAPOLEON, had rather not do this by
war. What he aimed at was peaceful conquest.
Be,would be content with the frontier that the allied
powers had given to France in 1814, being the fron-
tier in 1792.
It does not appear that M. PERSIGNT'S represen-
tation made the least impression upon the court of
Berlin, which had enough of ' enmities on its hands,
without embarking in a French alliance, and which,
whatever its cause of complaint against Bavaria and
Austria, could scarcely have lent itself to a con-
vention that would have deprived her own
Rhenish possessions of their German fron-
tier and defence. M. PEILSIONT failed, as •
presidential diplomatist. lie is now about to try
whether he may not succeed as an imperial one.
A great deal might be said on both sides. But
for the present we can augur nothing but failure
and disappointment from the mission of M. Pie-
staroT and of the other Nspoleonite envoys in their
efforts to get the territorial arrangements of 1815
altered for those of 1814. It is to be now regretted that
the three great powers have shown so little respect
for that treaty of Vienna whose decision they affect
to regard as sacred. Russia has done precisely
what she pleased with these treaties, in the
am of Poland and of Cracow. The treaty of Vienna
stipulated that German states should have constitu-
tions, and that certain German cities should be in-
dependent and free. When the powers of the East
insist on LOUIS NAPOLEON rigidly respecting the
treaties of Vienna, he can reply, "In what I my-
pose I respect them just as much as you have done
yourselves. Should the diplomacy of the Elyse*,
minim this tone, it would at least riot bo weak in its
logic, however defective in principle or honesty.

Tat electric telegraph last night brought the fel-
lowing message from Manchester :
" The masters cams to resolutions for giving a
week's notice to close workshops on the 10th of
mar,"
Whilst congratulating masters and sea a kw
days dale *pen the pas
hembadea this b
put to a aratroversy 11161 theeeksed b seas
an es blonseiwe Wriggle, we bed se wish to didirb
theqpimmeatenky between the respective paean
by lavidier anissay sate the lasi tine
nalerighl. le sr
ail l.l.
arm hose the oitit la vibkh we have
ask dheeideee Advisedly, we eh-
h era wheb oar Now
patient, may`prowibil es real pkt
at ioseo Ilkodieder mesas ail
their 11111.116111110. t else meee eihnood.
sot to 611166 etaideigfela the ediar
try the to*. et
tie mass where/ *am IPllle to be
We Ihe eau de the basest of the widow
fright Wad*
bloke% allselksly, if the eel&
were emeillicitly
bavigise smit of prudeese to
bedaw was worth the
Malts nit sormsailt miirrin; it—to ..ay
MIMI e
tird NMI dietn
"NOV in fa an yto uve
wassailer. Wise trig a " strike" as
WPad awe dim Waft, In=
eedlit yam let eeedisviagTALLETZAND VIM* than
aloft we marsimib trulall the peril that so
imam a slop *WI be hoarded by
• trad ambient at awatentla in t, and
Ibeabalweesbeers. MR this ob-
gampratively
wia both elfish ift emu-
lators sal Plastesiale
• imatimh platerere
itilskire were'
end mai Wit int
ben adrift Am • &rite betweasaliZier din-
and la a single setallbhment.
head. ..gaged by the firm in gaieties, or
• MIS Se twelve *man& subscribing members
ill dr Amalgamated Society, were but parts of
a dir larger whole which would be sadly thrown
oat. of gear, if not brakes up altogether, if their
amiatris movements, or beet remstance to all
mossassat, were to be oseelArilzood. For the
mho at the great mass of the MI we beefed that
theliew which was withheld migh be Sealy averted •
Batt tbst the peavedireipir dicedgedisa—origsbie:
if ihr wide aid sobered kook le
allii=iteteeso lisped apes 6o ionstviel pae-
pries;tiNl7l--ehould act be wandered apes
as as aerrew sad quesdcsalde as that width
the era their own 'howler
hem led pospost.linietAe restion has now, how-
ever, bussed p stage which requires attention to

semi esieseemoginan. The step tiken by the men
los bi the meet= Ms fix the 10th of January ea the
it OR width the daps are to be closed.
weal. 'a w *Me," says Mr. BAIBBAOR. who
bee disieseed this seleset in the genuine spirit of a
askaille philanthropist, jaW&ble only if it fulfils
them dweeeteditiont—First, that it conduces to the
bessit of the whole number of persona cm-
; eseendly, that it prevents fraud ; end thirdly,
k laterfwes ea little as pssible with the free
of.every individual likely to MOW within its

Theory and experience alike concur in showing
bow few can be the occasions, and holg delicate
most be the management ett the couiliinsfflons which
fulfil these requisites. The 'abr, loam's offers
barely an exception to the rule that all states are
invariably injurious to the very parties fm whose
benefit they were undertaken. AU the ehanom are
against the workmen.,Ja isoh conflicts.. tither the
trade which they have brought to. a sudden stop
disappears altogether, or new hands arc introduced
and educated to supersede the old, or ma-
chinery is invented by which the works, for-
merly entrusted to skilled labourers are per-
manently and more economically performed. So-
ciety generally gains in the long run by the
event, and the manufacturer sometimes; but the
operative, almost without exception, comes out a
loser from the hazardous contest which he has him-
self provoked.
That such must be the most frequent result of a
workman's combination against his employer, we
have more than the incidental results of by-
gone experiments to prove. The affluence of trade
is one of the most sensitive, not to say capricious,
elements of human fortune. It depends in some de-
gree upon cheapness; in some upon quality; but in
a still greater measure upon the certainty of supply.
With this last-named quality the occurrence, or even
the apprehension, of a "strike," may fatally inter-
fere. Nor are the foregoing elements unaffected.
Price, for example, may be considerably and
disastrously enhanced by the same influences.
In the composite processes of manufacture,
it often happens that a regular supply of one ingre-
dient may be essential to the employment of a long
succession of operatives. Coal to the workers in
iron; yarn t the weavers; chemicals to the calico
printers; and machinery to all—are things that
cannot be dispensed with. A strike in one depart-
ment may forcibly suspend operations in all the rest
—and to obviate some of the risks attendant upon
such eventualities, the manufacturers in these several
departments are often forced to keep large supplies
on hand of raw or semi-manufactured matenals.
Better this, than to run the risk of total stoppage • but
the result is, that a large amount of capital is left to
lie practically idle, and the principals pay,—or rather
the consumer has to pay—in theend a heavy premium
by way of insurance against the risk of a " strike." We
will not insult the understanding of the least educated
operative by further explanation of the loss that he
and his fellows must sustain by an increase in price
of the article finally sold not arising from any
enhancement in the wages paid to themselves.
Another disadvantage results to the workman,—
even more destructive to his moral well-being than
the diminution of his wages. Fearing the possi-
bility that his workmen may take an undue
advantage of his necessity, the manufacturer acquires
the habit of concealing from them the amount of the
demand ho has to supply. When orders flow in
abundantly, he dreads lest the operatives strike for
an advance, or by other contrivances snatch out of
his hands the prospective gain. He preserves, there-
fore, a mysterious and disadvantageous silence on
the subject; and the workmen, in their turn, being
left without other indications than vague rumour, as
to the probable duration or impending close of the
term of activity, find the work slacken and the
wages diminished at a moment when they are un-
prepared to encounter the inevitable vicissitudes
which would, in fact, have lost half their severity if
fair warning had been given of their approach.