The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1856-11-25 00:00:00

of our fellow creature;

and in which

dependent bumai natt

I have no heMtation in asserting that this mind
--slavery--cuts off, prematurely, an incredible number of
those inhabiting our country, arising from consumption,

le-str4E

consequent upon being over-worked, starvation, or other-
wise; yes,.it. is the truth—this thraldom has more or less
to do, with it, and let those who doubt it look well into the
matter .andjmlge for themselves. The whole thing may
be presented in this light. Say that we number 20,000,000
Of huinan beings—although, in reality, England and Wales
are below tl.is number; but England and Wales, with
Scotland—that is Great Britain—above it. How many
persona, let me ask, are required to supply this number with
clothing —how many with toed, and other necessaries of life ?
Perhaps some may oherve,wbe c4iauswer such aluestion,
to make an approach towards solving it
ranee how many tailors and shoemakers,

b-an ev

Who can

batebbrt•arrd bab
be ? But yet,

penance;
sho

[erg, or trades of arty kind Owe ought to
nevertbelss, this. question- is of vast im-

mt: (leat to do with m

As of every dose

t their 011 Inn and th

Agin, 1 ape,

very twi

ITb ad nay

arkiitn'ent

working

aemselves with

, clothing sufficient

her, educl-

tends to crime of the
it is allowed to .be

overlooked, and treated by ..most people as an
evert-day,• • Matter-of-course •occurrence.' The more
we.: investigate, the more do •we find a relationship
hotiveen.different kindi of abweS,
.and the. more do they
appedr.to come under one and the same system of cause and
effect: • En:mine,- for instance; - the reports of our daily
I:olice't)adriess, and hoW freq,intly dOve reed of such poor
ill-remunerated creatures, as these I have pictured, dragged
before_ rt-in igistrate,.charged with pledging the property of
emplNyoiS, which has l-eanintrustedin their hands to
fibrict4e, and oth,r charges consequent upon poverty and
slavery too mini; rous to mention. All this I maintain, to

a fearful degree, is caused by this grinding system, bringing
with it poverty, hunter, and want ; demoralising and de
basing the minds of its victims, and intuitively impelling
them on, step by step, in the course of crime, which so often
fills to oveifl )wing our reformatories and prison walls. Let

us at once strike at_the root, and, instead of spreading our
phil,nthropy so ouch abroad, let us turn our efforts to the
improvenYcnt of those sufferers so immediately under our eye,
to the utmost of our power, try to rescue them from
e iron-grasp of slairery-4hat slavery which is so often
4t us, I say again, each and every
he root, .for crime, as we well
God nerno fuit

,e hot-Led of crint

oue of us.

ka( w, is a gradu2lpr

repente turpissimus

uld be chec

Sfeondly,l wish to make it appear how it is in the power
of every employer to elevate the labourer to the level of his
calling, and to raise him from the dust in which he is at
present grovelling, Before entering upon this I may oh
serve, as your readers are well aware, that in all trades there

are many inefficient workpeople, and, from natural inapti-
tude, and various other causes,. always will be se. Many of
them, on the contrary, are perfectly conscious of their
ability, and would be only too glad t

:et such

rly remunerate their lab;iu

r, must

admitted by trios

liberal thinkers, to a great ext€

been denied a

~ena, hence, to a most alarmink degree, all the
tearfulmischief,, crime, and dissipation I have depicted is
created. Let us not, however, draw the comparison at
proi.ent, hut deal with the matter collectively. We all
know—at least ought to know—that the workpeople are the
real, gigantic, creative force which practically carries on
evervtton,- is

ifig that is accomplished, and tin, being the case,
surely Itifluential rulers of trade who haVe so much in their
power--for their own sakes at leE.st—and furthermore to-
wards assisting •in improving the public merality of the
Million., should see the necessity of paying them
higher wages according to their work; and the num-
lan- of hours they are employed—in • a word, to take an
interest. in their welfare—to visit them, to converse
with them, and instruct them how to manage their worldly
affairs—to encourage, by their presence occasionally, a
desire to- take pride in their labour, to take a delight
in keeping themselve cleanly and attending to the
Order and regulation of their households—in making them
to feel it a duty to educate both themselves and their
children—to try and bring them up in the faith and fear of
the Lord, and to transform, in a manner, their present dark
wilderness into a true enjoyment of light. But if no attempt
of this kind is made, it is quite clear so long as those who
are engaged in various branches of trade, and who are
determined to persevere in making the money God all-
powerful, then, I say, moral consideration will be sacrificed
in the eager and insatiable way to procure it.
Look well into these matters, my friends, in their full
bearing and proper light, and let us learn to loathe slavery
in all its hideous shapes and aspects, multitudinous as they
are ; for; undoubtedly, it is an injurious and iniquitous
'—and if what I have said is acknowledged to be an

~e ~ofla~

ial part of se;ety exert

1, Nov

TO THE EDITOR OF TE

VkRIT 603

columns of your invaluable and
widely circulated lOttrnal, my attention has been arrested
of _late by...several very poli,:e and elaborate epistles,
which havt!appeared in it from time to time, subscribed

NO ETII FtIV TIMES,

—ln perus

" Verit as," iii which the writer attempts, as' well as he
can, to present the public wi!li an exposition of the
What is slave?y ?" and to show to what a fear-
,rge a por; ion of the community,
h I cannot for a moment refuse
ant to the truth of the statements contained in

tent 'it exists in so Is
[d us. Now, althoug

those letters—as I admit that there nie many crying evils
prevailing in society, evils which come under our daily
observation, which ought , not to be tolerated in a
Christian country like Britain, and which it is desirable
should be removed in some way or other ; still I think
that your correspondent would have acted more prudently,
had he allowed them to pass unnoticed, seeing that little
or no good is likely to accrue from the-agitation which he,
has commenced, and which, he vainly Hitters himself, will
bring about the result which he professes so ardently, to
desire, viz., the emancipation of servants from the
authority of their masters. For my own part, I think
that " Veritas," pathetic and-eloquent as he strives to be,
has meddled with a subject for which he is quite unquali-
'. totes""-- 't
—and "--

'd
—o, .wtrich he is .ally ignoram—u, with the
difficulties of which greater and far more penetrating
minds have been unable, to cope. Surely your very

•
acute correspondent does not mean to tell us that a con-
tract entered into betwixt an employer and an employe is
slavery, ;if so, according to the present cons itution of our
social life, we never shall have this species of servitude
abolished, as the most careless and unthinking observer
cfm hardly fail to perceive. I say again, the most care-
less and unthinking observer, for everybody knows
(unless "Tesitas " is an exception) that the price of labour
it regulated in a great measure by supply and demand,
and that when the former is greatly in excess of the
requirements of trade, very low, and, in some cases, almost
unremunera.ting wages are accepted by those whose
services are open to au engagement. The reason of this
is evident, one man refuses to accept the terms offered
for certain services
,required of him, another is glad to
comply with those terms, and give his labours in exchange
for them, hence the drudgery of which " Veritas "
so loudly complains. " This being the ease, I am
at a loss to comprehend how this state of things is to be
altered, how this slavery to which the working "classes
voluntarily submit themselves, is to be extirpated. Per,
haps !, Yeritas " will enlighten me on this point in Lis next
and suggest some means whereby the amelioration of the
labouring or slaving portion of our fellow-creatures may
be effected, their arduous and incessant toil lightened,
and their miseries mitigated and removed, for I can
assure him it is all very well to make touching and
powerful appealS to the tenderest and• rest feelings of our
nature, to those sympathies which the very thought of
the distresses and sufferings of humanity never fail to
excite. I say that this is all very well; but, unless we
have something more practical and more productive of
results, it will be folly to look for a redress of those
grievances so vividly pourtrayed by the humane • " Veri-
tas."

I always rejoice when I see or hear of any project
brought forward which has for its object the improvement
of the poorer classes, who have the strongest claims of
our sympathy ; but I fear very much that your corres-
pondent is not actuated by any question of philanthropy,
but merely by the empty desire of parading before the
public his would-be inimitable productions—productions
which savour strongly of the midnight lamp, and the
object of which 'is evidently to attract the admiration of
the illiterate multitude.—l am, yours, &c., ALPHA.

LIVERPOOL BRUNSWICK GRAVING DOCKS