The Sun.
London, England, 1852-01-28 00:00:00

JANUARY 28, 1852.

been sent round from Portsmouth amongst other old
stores, as it was intended to pltsce it on a monument
which is to he erected on Soothsol brach in cernmewe-
rati(,n Of Nelson, that ph ee being the last ground in
England on wh.ch Nelson trod previous to his ethbarka
city-, for the service which ended with his death at the
battle of Traia'gar. Every search has been made for
the anchor referred to, but without success, and it is
feared that it must hare been sent round to this yard
without any designation or request being attached to
preserve it; and it is probable it may have been looked
upon as old iron, and converted into new material for
some of the vessels that have been constructed at this
port.

THE STRIKE.
TO THE WORKMEN.
FELLOW COUNTRYMEN,—The very act of addressing
you as such sends through my own frame that which
I doubt not you in reading will patriotically recipro-
cate—a feeling of jealousy for our country, and a
willingnesQ, amounting almost to a desire, to
make any personal sacrifice when the fair fame
and welfare and real honour of that country
concerned. If you acd I bad ought against
each other at such a time as this, my feeling would he
to lay all such differences before the altar of our
fatherland, and so reconcile myself first to my brother.
If the masters have not souls high and holy and pa-
triotic enough for this, set them the example. Let all
domestic discord be bushed ; " Tell not of it in Gath,
publish it not in Askelon," if ye make the despots
of
the earth rejoice and endanger ouryoung and rising
liberties.
I yeterday addressed those masters (through the
medium of The Sun) on what I consider to be their
duty towards you; allow me now briefly to advise
you what I conceive to be your duty towards them
and to yourselves, dismissing for the present
any further allusions to our country. On
the commercial policy and bearings of your
position, and on the political economy of
the case, I shall say nothing, perceiving
that you have in your Mr. Newton, and other able
intellectual friends, many of the advantages which
knowledge and science can render, and which perhaps
I cannot ; but there is a higher guide even than
knowledge, a truer and a safer guide even than
strength—wisdom and duty. "Wisdom is the prin-
cipal thing, therefore get wisdom," and in the lan-
guage of our great poet, "Do right, leave Heaven
to answer for the rest."

Allow me, then, to say I think you are at present
doing wrong. Ido not mean wrong as tried by com-
mercial principles or civil judges, I do not mean
wrong on any principles by which the masters pre-
tend to act or to justify themselves (for in these you
are quite equal with them), but I mean wrong, be-
cause you are not acting wisely under the circum-
stances, nor consistently with the really high moral
and intellectual bearing in which the poor of this
world are, I hope, about to set an example to the
rich, nor in agreement with the divine teachings of
Which a Jesus is so bright an exemplification ; and as
the masters and rulers of this world will have Moses
and not Jesus, I wish to see you shining out in the
light of a brighter and better dispensation.
To simplify your case, let me ask you to look at
your society collectively, as if it were an individual,
for I know of no really high and true (viz., moral)
principle or rule that applies to an individual em-
ployed in the service of another that will not equally
apply and be obligatory on 12,000 collectively.
The difference between twelve and one is only in
strength, is only in the power to do this or do that ;
and such is a principle which you should be among
the first to condemn, and to tell your employers is a
brutish and selfish one, fit only for Egyptian task-
masters oraContinental despots.
I want you, my friends, to rise above your em-
ployers in all that is manly, God-like, glorious, and
divine—if they will not rise with you. I want you to
put aside your strength and array yourselves in
beauty, the beauty of forgiveness and forbearance. I
want you to forego the petty victory of a day, that
history may record the lasting triumph of 12,000
sons of toil, forbearing to enforce their rights by any
other argument than reason ; that 12,000 of the em-
ployed, in duty to their families, submitted to labour
under conditions they did not think reasonable, until
their employers could be led by reason and public
opinion to alter those conditions,
Now, suppose an individual who had been long in
the employment of a master was dissatisfied with his
hours of labour, or with the wages he obtained ; would
he, think you, be acting the part of a wise man, a pru-
dent parent, a kind husband, to quarrel with the master
and to quit his duties, thoughtless or uncertain whether
he could find employment elsewhere, rather than sub-
mit for a time to the supposed injustice ? Yet such, my
friends, is what you are now doing. And let us add
to this case the supposition that this individual had a
friend, who was also a mutual friend with the master
and had great influence with him, but instead of
making use of that friend to effect a reconciliation and
argue his case, should strike and quit, without dis.
cussion or arbitration, do you not think that such
workman would ha acting wrongly, unwisely ?
Wrongly to himself, to his family, and to the neigh-
bourhood who should suffer by the closing of the
master's shop ? Ytt such it appears to me to be very
much your own cas-. Your friend, the free press of
England (I will say nothing of coercive Acts of Par-
liament), is willing and able to unite with you in rea-
soning with, and persuading (if possible), the masters
to " do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly," and I
very much doubt if those masters could long resist
such a legitimate strike—such a stroke on their con-
sciences and their pride.
My readings of your case, I acknowledge, have
been very limited, but from all I have seen it appears
to me that enough weight has not been given to the
fact that the difference which exists between you and
the employers is in a great measure a difference of
opinion. And I ask both you and the masters whe-
ther to take up the weapon of coercion to settle a
difference of opinion is consistent with that glorious
and heaven-born freedom of mind and soul which as
Englishmen we boast of, and which as Christians we
ought to exercise and possess ?
Fellow countrymen, the columns of a newspaper
will not allow me to enlarge; let me repeat, set the
masters an example. Humble yourselves, and history
will exalt you. Use not your power to do evil.
Your material strength is not half so noble as your
intellectual and moral. You say your cause is just;
be it so, what glory is there when you suffer for evil
doing ? but it ye be buffeted for well doing, and ye
suffer patiently and nobly, the glory is yours, the
shame your oppressors. " Blessed are ye if ye suffer
for righteousness' sake."
Do not confound my exhortation with cant. Just
the contrary. I want you to exercise the practical
and business-like, and manly duties of a divine and
enlightened morality, in opposition to cant, to mem-
mon, and to " spiritual wickedness in high places."
In short, I want you to be wise men, and if your
masters will be fools, forgive and pity them, but do
not sacrifice yourselves, nor bring dishonour on our
country. Have the courage to throw away all
obstinacy and pride, and tell the masters plainly and
at once we will comply for a time to your unreason-
able requests. Stoop for once and conquer. A
hcoavne-
quest over pride is glorious. Your commit
tiv shown talent enough for the Executive of our
that
ment—let them also show more wisdom than
oe erns
Government can boast of, and then the time may not
y, but the
e lib
be far distant when not the rich and might
" meek shall inherit the earth." Excuseth
but liberty
am
I have taken in addressing you thus hastily, ,
with best wishes, yours,
DALETII.
Cheltenham, Jan. 26.