The Express.
London, England, 1854-01-06 00:00:00

THE STRIKES.

BIRMINGHAM AND

(711011 • &PIMA". conassrownaiir.)
You have prominently drawn attendees to Birming-
ham and Birmingham men. Let me say a word on
that subject. Attention is being forced to the condi-
tion of the working men in thimimt districts, and
the different circumstance in which they are at this
particular time found to be comp& a comparison
between the operatives of Birmingham and of coma
other industrial districts of the kingdom. The grit
test of the condition of any local population is the
morality of its habits. Under this head we find •
remarkable fact in regard to Birmingham in the
returns on drunkenness of last session. In 1841, the
number of convicted drunkards was 2,020; whereas
iu IS3I, notwithstanding a considsnabls imams in
the population, it was only 867. The =seat •
dczen years ago was not large in oaaparirea with
other places; at present, it is so men
as to draw attention at once to a geese re
As might be expected from each aa hmiketlee, the
people are highly prosperous, ami day certainly
appear to be at present, cm the whole, stag their
prosperity extremely well. The woraiplasso are
Lot difficult to point out. They are found aneept
the least educated class, with scattered instances
of very highly skilled workmen who, earning as
much in three days as most of their neighbours do
in a week, work only three days in a week, and
sink under the temptations of idleness during the
rest. .

The great peculiarity of Birmingham, in its mann- I
factoring aspect, is that it has few citizens of great
wealth, and much less than the ordinary proportion
of very poor. Its business is one of unmeoes detail I
(and therefore bard work) with small profits.
Masters, as well as men, have to work bard for
their living. This is favourable to a fellow-feeling
between the two classes; and it does not, as might
be thoughtlessly anticipated, render the pursuit of
education and recreation more difficult than else-
where. There is, we believe, no town in England
where the means of recreation so largely abound.
Besides the libraries, and the lectures on all manner
of subjects, to which its central situation is
so favourable, there is the Town-hall with
its Monday evenir.g concerts,—threepenny concerts,
which are largely attended by the working men
and their families. There was a crowded at-
tendance last Christmas Monday, to hear the
Messiah, which produced a profound impression.
There is the fine Botanic Gard,n, open for a penny
on Mondays; and the grass is worn bare with the
multitude of feet, while the shrubs and flowers re-
main untouched. The popular movements in Bir-
mingham for early closing and the Saturday half-
holiday are well known ; and they are as remarkable
for the sense and temper with which the claim is
urged on the one side and met on the other as for the
real and perseverance of the men. When the Sutton-
park scheme is fulfilled, or some equivalent (which is
sure to happen ere long), there will be no town that
cm compare with Birmingham for means of recrea-
tion of the highest order.
Another peculiarity of the place, in its industrial
aspect, is that a very large proportion of its work can
Is done by the piece. The superiority of piece.
work over daily hiring can nowhere be more
conspicuously seen. The workers are more in-
dependent, and so are the employers; and some
of the most painful questions which arise between
the two classes elsewhere are thus obviated. When
a man takes his work home, to do it among his
children, he must feel more than when paid by the
day the dependence of the household on his personal
ou.ilities. lie earns at will, when trade is good. All
through many a summer's night, for two summers
past, and now, all through the long winter night,
the clink of tho hammer is beard, and the yellow
light streams from the high window of the domestic
workshop. Of course, it is not well to praise or
admire such an amount of work as this. It would
be much better that the people were in their beds;
but the fact indicates what men will do when they
feel their lot to be in their own hands. It must have
been widely remarked by thoughtful persons that
there have been no quarrels about wages in Bir-
mingham. It is true, there are none. The quartern
loaf is Did. there, as elsewhere. Bent is high.
Everyt hum is dear. Yet the working men make DOOOBll.
plaint They ear, truly enough, that their employers
did not lower wages when provisions were cheap;
and that they themselves prefer regularity to chaffer-
ing for rise and fall according to changes of price
which have nothing to do with the trade. They are
educated men (each one with his book or newspaper
stowed under his counter), and they therefore know
the circumstances of the manufacture—that coal is

enormously dear, and that there is an actual appre-
hension that iron will be unobtainable ere long. At
present, all who choose are busy; and they wisely
use the opportunity,—not to gain points out of their
employers lose,—but to earn while employment is
pleutiful, and to accept their prosperity, undisturbed
by quarrel. In spite of the price of necessaries, they
are, gene rally speaking, laying by at an accelerating
rate. Neither do they allow themselves to be laid
under contribution for the sake of other populations
who are less wise and Ices independent. Cowell has
been among them, and found few sympathisers with
the Lancashire turn-outs. Tee lesson ought to beall the
stronger to the Lancashire men from the remarkable
independence of the Birmingham artisans. It is not
that they decline a quarrel with employers whom
they dare not offend, but that there is actually no
question between them and their employeri; and
they have no partialities in the case at all.
If we ask why such is the state of things in Bir-
mingham, we may find the causes easily enough. It
is much that the town is favourably circumstanced
for health, which brings with it so much of
rationality and good-humour. Its exemption from
cholera will be remembered. It is so built upon a
hill that drainage and ventilation are easy, and
have always been better than in other large towns.
But it is a much greater thing that, for • century
past, Birmingham has been eminent for the amount
and quality of its popular education. When the
high church party was busy, sixty or more years
since, in burning the houses and chapels of the die-
genteel', and breaking Dr. Priestley's philosophical
apparatus, and tearing his library to shreds, those
same dissenters were educating the next generation,
and preparing for the morality, intelligence, and
prosperity which now distinguish their town.
Church and chapel hays since laboured side by
side in the good•work, and the result is seen
in such facts as have now been stated, and in
such a spectacle of contrast se the present season
offers among our towns. In Glasgow, where the
amount of convicted drunkenness has nearly doubled
in tin years, the Sunday steamboat is smutted, and
its owners prosecuted (happily without success).
Whilst in Preston, and some other towns, the opera-
tires are pinched with cold and hunger, and depend-
ent on the charity of their class for mere subsistence,
we see in Birmingham 2,000 working people wren-
bled in holiday trim in a brilliant town-hall, pouring
out their merry hearts first in shoots of laughter,
and then in a series of roaring cheers at • popular
entertainment. Superior intelligence finds ita own

STRIKES AND LOCK-OUTS.

- -
e -

The Society of Arta hate issued the following
sotbfieatiesi —The Ceased of the Society ef Arts keying
had the retest disputes between employees end employed
in the mansfacturiog districts under their melees coesider-
mien, are of opinion that this society may be made, es MOM
&erre, instrumental is promotiag a clear knowledge of the
hem and principles involved is the questions at imam, sad
may offir a neutral ground upon which both parties say
fairly sod temperately d scum the hoot modes of either per
vetting the outbreak of such diasstrous geared', or termi-
nating them as speedily and astislamortly ea possible to ell
partite, when they arise.
The Council, therefore, propose, is the Ant place, to
hold • conference, to which they will Welts the seems'
amoeistioss of muter' and operatives at Maneheeter, end
the keel associations of mecum sod operatives at Preston,
to send each a represeerative. They also propose to invite
to the Confereem as equal number of these who Melt the
most prominent p ,rt oa tither side of the bee oleopeele
among the mechanical 'semen. It will *NSW be the
care of the covert' to brie( to the Confereese.erilbent bias
oa one side or other, as nosy as possible of dame who,
without twins involved is the Labour irestien finChwoor
have studi, and mastered its various hmeingse semir
eil reap'', to regulate the order of wardlegs le that
they may have • privies' tend. sey, • beldam charlo-
tte, and not degenerate into vague, noisy, ter sales, de-
eismation. For this purpose each speaker will be strkt/y
limited to a few minutes on each topic' and, that digres-
sion msy be readily decked, the whole subject will be

&teed end divided late &Wass peepeekiese, seek.. tie
Movies
1. Comblaatiess.—A,. Ibey eljestesselide. Writ= see
M feet by em}lejMe Mesecisped.se s mem af telaise-
log Obi veleta et Mew ? Weald s law et toast lability
la lead I* noise mesh at bisseme aeseese•
eery ? De yawn tbs ipeeseiees obi "bleb they
deal ben the Wow, seibusey Issas MI. sot
pleas Am ea 4 segoissue, so 6 I% leo ne.
thlaabbeley be oisetp= sod WmOseft seaseedil
bye ea
modslia4=11:1111111 et ==.42%,-
deed Se die deolasot of tie soessassity, might be seer
enlist se seolislierd ? _

—2. litilk;n leiseta..-21eseld partial strikes.
Seeded.. inks the mime of a keen" ha assail, be met by
iseloeues Wee ether isms ass Neely se be ellinal in
tomioming tbma
a Wooo.—Does proem by pines-week alter enbelsa-
Weaf ibe aature of the minims widthso well eitletwees
I sod siiyed, Tem go kir ea, if weekly
limns Cos Ms et prism dor pismodt be
draw* so es le most the valid isomollesesTid=
eat llbeeat memeopmet. ANION&
aad may.pospess et hopoommit Ogee mew
thimes is bit terpier their sensitises .win the
ef ambit= seals of penes Arai.. work ? °
the operatives to slam bryeed tbe maim vales slue
Moor in Me Mereased peadseimmess of tempter's! ma-
diary
The osaill propose that as nealeties should be adopted
slept mire satire unanimity permiia. While they me-
ters. toe lllEVeldlleSe seer, to peeseribe as order of the
they intend to ism a .tit neutrality.
have awe Toesday, the Skit day of January,
for Use sosteream.