The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1856-11-20 00:00:00

TO THE EDITOR OF THE NORTHERN TIMES

Sir,—Once, again, I ask what is slavery ? I might occupy
columns of your space, week by week, in recapitulating this
oppressed condition of the artisan—this disgraceful, odious
practice, I should rather say—so much carried on by the bulk
of our tradespeople ; but what I have already addueed may
suffice to show the great and gigantic evil which this abominable
grinding system produces upon those miserable, half-clad,
half-starved creatures, who are so far ignorant of the value of
their labour that they are doomed to be cooped up in miser.
able hives, to endure late hours, ill-paid wages, scanty fare,
and work such as dim the sight, and ends in utter darkness ;
of failing ltmbs, toil-worn fingers, sinking hearts, despair, and,
too often, the premature yielding up a life of misery and woe.
This hidious picture, which I have faintly endeavoured to
pourtray, will occur to every searching mind, that our poorer
brethren ought, for various reasons, have better wages for less
work, as well as more constant and equally-timed employment.
Unless this is the case, tell me how is the hard driven labourer,
who is often compelled to work 18 hours a day, allowed the
opportunity of attending to his moral culture, or improving his
intellectual faculties? Has he not a right to sip at the foun-
tain of knowledge as well as those moving in a higher sphere
of life? Has he not evety right to enjoy the same
privilege of frequenting public libraries and other useful insti-
miens, in order, in some way or other, to store his mind—
however slightly it might be. Some may remark, that to such
a class of people as this, it would be absurd to suppose that a
little learning would prove advantageous to them; hut, on the
contrary, tend to evil results. Whet ! a little learning absurd !
W:iat ! knowledge tend to evil result - ! Ilow did Lord Pal
merston speak on the subject of (elite ttion the other d ,y,
while ho was addressing the ruse!, teics of Salford, in that
magnificent, thriiling speech, which it is impos ible to convey
in any other language titan his own. That great statesman '
wisely observed, " 1 say, those who afford to the labouring
classes the means of acquiring knowledge, not only contribute
to their advancement in life. bat contribute to their innocent
and laudable enjoyment. There is great respect due to axioms
and savings, but they soineltnes mislead; although they may,
generally, be right. We have often heard it said, quoting
from the words of o to of our great poets —that,
A little learning is a dangerous thing—
Drink deep, or taste not of the Pierian spring.'
I hold that that is a mistake; and much error has it produced.
A little knowledge, is better than no knowledge at all. The
more knowledge a man has, the better; but if lie cannot—if
his time does not allow—if his means do not enable him to
acquire great and deep knowledge, why, let him have as much
as he can ; and, depend upon it, he will be all the better for it.
And, although he may not bo able to drink deeply of the
spring, d,pend upon it, if his lips have once tasted its waters,
he will go back t, the same source whenever he has an op-
portunity of doing so, and that the draughts, bo they great or
small, will refresh his mind, will invigorate his intellect, will
raise him in the scale of society, will contribute to his indi-
vidual happiness, and make him a more useful and more
honourable member of society." Yes, Lord Palmerston is
unquestionably right, " a li tae knowledge is better than no
knowledge at all," and no one, save those whose time is so
selfishly engrossed in this world's affairs—the love of money—
would so cruelly and heartlessly keep their victims chained up
in all the misery, filth, and wretchedness I have described, and
which, as I have already endeavoured to show, as is too often
exemplified, the root of all evil. These tradesmen, I assert
again, who not only display that avaricious sprit of acquiring
wealth, that they not only grind the poor working people down
to the utmost, but in many cases they moreover cheat the
public. For instance, they have two or three prices for the
same article, according to the presumed position in life of the
customer. This, to say the least of it, is by no means an
honest practice. A purchaser who pays 3s for a given article
in the shop Ito casually walks into, will be charged 3,9 d, if
they find out that he lives at Aigburth, Abercromby square,
or in any other aristocratic district of the town ; but .if he
happens not to be very fashionably attired, and resides in a more
hutnblo locality, they will give it him, most likely, for 2s 91.
They all, more or less, I fearlessly say, impose upon the
public—some by adulterating their goods—some by unscru-
pulously insisting upon keeping up prices which they ought to
lower—others by retailing at high prices some article with a
fine name, which, after all, is manufactured from common
materials, and in endless other ways taking advantage of the
credulity of the people. We all feel this in a greater or less
degree, and find seriously to our cost we are too frequently the
dupes of the shopkeeper, but few, it is to be lamented, will
step out of their way to expose such business frauds, existing
in every day life. Really this is monstrous. 'Why can we
not " live and lot others live."

I contend that abuses of every kind should he made known
to the world at large, and it is only a moral obligation wo owe
to each other to use every effort in our power to sift them
thoroughly, and, if possible, as far as we are able, to eradicate
them.

It is quite clear, then, as will at once be seen, that many
shopkeepers are nothing else than middle-men, who stand
between the public and the artisan that slaves for them, who
screws Loth parties to the very utmost, and take all the profits
to themselves :—Sic transit gloria mundi.
I have not yet exhausted this theme, sl»uld you, sir, have
no objection to my continuing it ; and, if the asguments and
facts which I have already urged should not be acceptable to
the minds of some of your readers, I say, let them boldly come
forward and answer. V ERITAS.
Liverpool, 18th November, 1856

THE POFESSIONAL ABILITIES OF PARIS

SWINDLERS

The eeriudiers, or chevaliers d'induset ie. as they are
whimsically termed, are certainly the most accomplished
professors of the art of thieving to be found i❑ any Earopean
capital. A case has just occurred which shows the cleverness,
address, and cunning of this class in a striking light. An old
gentleman, stopping the other day on the Boulevards to
examine the engravings displayed i❑ a shop window, used
a very handsome gold eye-glass to assist his vision. In a
few moments, having ceased to employ the glass, and being
about to do so again, he found that only the string to which
it had ;been attached remained, The glass itself had dis-
appeared, abstracted by some skilful hand. Upon discovering
this loss, the old gentleman grew touch excited, and drew
upon himself the attention of all the bystanders near by his

agitated manner. A stranger among the crowd, seeing his
embarrassment, politely offered his arm to the old gentleman
until ho had recovered himself. The offer was gratefully
accepted, with all the unsuspectingness of an old man who
suddenly finds himself disturbed from his usual state of mind
by an untoward occurrence, and the two walked away along.
the Boulevards. On the way the old gentlemen grew confiden•
tial, charmed by the sympathising conduct of his companion.
He entered into details about his domestic matters ; gave his
address; described very minutely a service of plate that had
been presented to him some time before ; told the name of his
servant; and stated where and with whom he was going to
dino that day. The stranger listened very attentively,
and, after seeing the garrulous old man to the door
of the house occupied by the friend with whom he had
engaged to dine, bade him adieu, and promised to call and
see hint in reply to the invitation of the other. He kept so
firmly to his word that he immediately went to the old gentle-
man's house, addressed the servant by her name ; said he had
been requested by her master to ask for several items of the
service of plate, which he minutely described, and as credentials
showed the eye glass of the old gentleman. The servant, ima-
gining that every thing was right, gave the articles required to
the stranger, who carried them away. Almost directly after he
had left the house, however, with his valuable parcel, he was
aecosted by an officer of justice, who had been watching his
movements, and who recognised him as a man of good
education and family, who for some time had become a skilful
member of the honourable fraternity of swindler's. The
chevalier is, of course, safely lodged in prisen, and awaits his
condemnation.

INSOLVENT DEBTORS AND THEIR PROTECTION.—In the
London Insolvent Debtors' Court, on Tuesday, an applica
lion was made for the discharge of an insolvent, named
John Luff, from a commitment of the judge of the
Marvlebane County Court. The insolvent petitioned under
the Protection Act,. and was: h int.] on the 3rd November
before Mr. Commissioner Phillips. His case was adjourned
with protection to the 24 h inst., to serve some creditors.
One of the creditors opposing was a Mr. Brolkes, an
ironmonger, who some days after the adjournment with
protection obtained a commitment from the Marylebone
County Court for 14 days, and on Monday the insolvent was
lodged in Whitecross street prism. Mr. Commissioner
Phillips made some inouiries in order to ascertain whether
the warrant of commitment was subsequent to the protection
of this court, and being satisfied on that point intimated his
intention to discharge the insolvent from the commitment of
the county court judge. The registrar remarked that under
the recent County Court Act these commitments, he thought,
were settled. His Honour ordered the insolvent to be
discharged from prison.

A BOY KILLED BY His BROTIIER.—On Wednesday
last, a respectable young man, named Thomas Blundell,
son of Mr. Blundell, of the Barley Mow Tavern, Runcorn,
was brought np at the Town Hall, charged with the man-
slaughter of his brother William, a boy about fifteen years
of age. It appeared that, on Saturday evening, the prisoner
asked deceased to puta pony in a sh andry, and upon the latter
refusing; struck him on the face with the back of his open
hand. The deceased cried a little, but took his tea, and
made no complaint, except that some time after he lay down
on the sofa and slept for about three hours, and then went to
bed. About eleven o'clock, the servant girl was in his room,
and finding she could not awake him, gave au alarm, but
though every effort was used to arouse him, he did not
awake, and expired about five o'clock on Sunday morning.
Mr. Wilson, who made a post-mortens examination of the
body, said he found no external marks of violence on the
bead or body; but on removing the scalp, and exposing the
temporal muscle on the right side, he found a great portion
of it bruised and blacked with effused blood. On removing
the upper part of the skull, he found on the part correspond-
ing with the bruise, Ave or six ounces of clotted blood, and
further examination disclosed that a ;mall portion of the
temporal bone was broken off. These appearances, Mr.
Wilson was of opinion, were quite sufficient to account for
the boy's death, He added, that the fractured bone was
unnsnally thin, and much less violence would, therefore,
produce fatal conenuences than in ordinary cases.