The Express.
London, England, 1853-11-03 00:00:00

SUDDLN RECALL OF THE PERSIAN
AMBASSADOR.

—.—
We have to announce with regret that his Excel-
lency the Persian Ambassador has been suddenly
recalled from England by his royal master the
Shah. He ceased oa Tuesday to occupy the diplomatic
residence in Cumberland place, and will, it is stated,
leave London this day for Constantinople, en route
for Persia.

THE STRIKES.
FROM OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT.
PRESTON, WEDNISDAY.
Tho difficulty of coining to a decision in the case
between the masters and the men is almost insur-
mountable from the fact of the direct contradiction
which exists between the statements of the two
parties. It is absurd io talk of weighing evidence
when assertion oa one side is met by point
blank denial on the other. The state of things at
present is onset downright opposition and enmity. I
do not hesitate to say, as the result of much investi-
gation, that some of the masters contemplate the
strike with a kind of grim pleasure, as the means by
which the men are to be brought to their
senses. They believe—without (I feel warranted
in saying) any vindictive feeling—that the
men want a severe lesson. They think that
the only way to make the men feel the
" absurdity" of their conduit is to punish them
severely. They feel, also, that, even supposing they
I were to make a compromise with the " turn-outs,''
or rather "lockouts," this would be sharpening a
weapon against themselves. The winter is coming,
and the men may possibly be glad enough to tide
over the difficulties of that season at the sacrifice of
some of their present pretensions. Bat the certainty
of a strike in the spring tells strongly against the
propriety of such a compromise. They think that
the only possibility of ensuring anything like a safe
prospect for the investment of capital is by insisting
upon unconditional surrender on the part of
the men. Thus far as an introduction to
the case of the masters. They would not
say so in so many words, but I feel con-
vinced that they entertain the impression that the
men must be punished—brought on their knees—
before the state of trade can be put into its normal
sondition. This feeling is not at all vindictive. The
masters, u far as I can see and learn, are all humane
men ; but they look upon the present condition u
something to be taken advantage of only as the re-
sult of a stern necessity.
Possibly you might have been momentarily in-
duced, as I was myself yesterday, to sympathise
partially with some of these views had you accompa-
nied me in a visit to some of the empty factories, It
is a sad sight. There before you is a monster crea-
tion of capital, a giant which ought to be in the
active exercise of all his monstrous powers.
The chimney ought to be pouring forth volumes
of smoke to heaven, black but cheering.
Every implement in the court-yard ought to
be in the hands of a living agent, making a pro-
vision for himself, and wealth for the nation. The
air ought to be agitated with the ceaseless move-
ment of thousands of wheels. Mount the stairs, and
you ought to see all those complicated machines of
bright steel and iron, which, as we looked upon them
in the Exhibition, seemed instinct with life, perform-
ing their functions with a steady perseverance,
which puts to shame the convulsive motions of hu-
manity. This is what you ought to see, but what do
you see? The giant lies dead before you. He gives
no signs of motion or vitality. A solitary, indivi-
dual is attending to a fire or two, ust sufficient to
warm the machinery. You may walk through room
after room, and notice nothing but the dust which
settles on the looms. You stand in the midst
of a capital of eighty or a hundred thousand pounds
doing no more for the nation than the gold which
slept at Mount Alexander or Bendigo some five
years back. It is impossible, for the moment, not to
sympathise with those who have lost the services of
a mammoth producer of wealth of this kind. It is
difficult to repress a feeling of vexation to see a
marvellous mechanism of this nature reduced to a
dead skeleton. he sight is saddening, and you ask
for some information. There, in the midst of dead
boilers, and wheels, and springs, you may listen to a
tale of the following nature :
The persons who ought to be tenanting this mill are
divided into what are called card-room hands,weavers,