The Sun.
London, England, 1864-05-12 00:00:00

The aspiring genius of Mr. Gladstone, however, tested at almost every variety of outdoor work—in
spurned all prudential considerations, and launched excavating a stiff heavy clay soil to a considerable
him into a discussion which is destined to form an era depth, in draining, in stone-breaking, in road-
in the annals of party, and to influence most mate- making, and in excavating for street sewers to fe
rially the remainder of his political career. Taking depth of 14 26, and sometimes 20 feet. In many
upon himself to speak on behalf of the Government, cases while thus employed they are standing in
Mr. Gladstone laboured to teatend, instead of mud and water to the depth of 10 or 12 inches, and
striving to limit, the import of the proposition he- in all they are exposed to a climate which for chilly.
fore the House. There are two points of view from humidity is not surpassed, I suppose, even if it is
which the question of the franchise may be equalled, in that of any district in England. Yet.
treated ; the one is practical, the other specula- notwithstanding these disadvantages, lam free to
five. The one would regard the admission of a say that although I have been in daily contact with
large number of fresh voters to the franchise as the men and their superintendents, I have not
a measure to be argued on the ground of prat- heard a single complaint as to the nature of the
tical improvement, as a means likely to remedy work the men were sent to execute, except in cases
a mischief of some kind clearly proved to exist. of sickness or bodily infirmity, and even these lam
The first point in such a train of reasoning would glad to say have been rare. Whatever may be the
be to show the failure of existing arrangements ; shortcomings of the Lancashire operative, so far as
the second, to show some connection between my experience has enabled me to judge, it cannot
that fail'ire and the remedy proposed. This is the be said of him with truth that he is either afraid
point of view from which, as it seems to us, every or ashamed to work. The nature of the
person really deserving the name of a statesman outdoor employments in which the men
would be disposed to regard the subject. But on are engaged shows further the beneficial
this part of the question Mr. Gladstone is utterly 1 results which the Public Works Act is drawing
silent. He expressly admits that the working men out of so great a distress as the cotton famine. It
have learnt to place confidence in Parliament, that is enabling towns to undertake and execute many
they feel they may look to Parliament to pass bene- improvements which it would have been almost
ficial measures without agitation, and that for these impossible to succeed in without some very power-
reasons they have abandoned political agitation, and ful motive. The interests of the owners of the
betaken themselves to the improvement of their land, of the builders of house property, of rate-
minds. He does not pretend for a moment to say payers, &c., are so various, and the increase of
that any measures beneficial to the working classes towns so outran the possibility of simultaneous
are withheld by Parliament as at present elected sanitary arrangements, that it required the extra-
which would be granted if the working classes had ordinary pressure of a great calamity to force so
more votes in the constituencies. Nay, he is at pains many conflicting interests into agreement, and the
to show how greatly the position of the country intervention of the Legislature has made provisions
has been amended by the labours of a Parliament in to assist them in obtaining the requisite funds for
whose election she working classes have no share. completing many very useful and much needed
Putting aside these practical considerations, Mr. public works.
Gladstone bases his argument exclusively on the
ground of equality and abstract right. He does
not try to sho tv that the country will be better or
even as well governed. But he says that every
man who is not presumably incapacitated by some
consideration of personal unfitness or political danger
is morally entitled to come within the pale of
the Constitution. He adds, " I contend that it is
on those who say it is necessary to exclude forty-
nine-fiftieths that the burden of proof rests to show
the unworthiness, the incapacity, and the miscon-
duct of the working classes." Surely this is the
language of sweeping and levelling democracy, of
men who have emancipated themselves from the
doctrine of the Right Divine of Kings in order
to fall into the equally dangerous fallacy of the
Right Divine of multitudes ? This theory considers
Government not as existing for the sake of the
governed but of the governing class, inasmuch as it
makes the admission to the governing class depend,
not on the interest of those for whom the act is to
be done, but on some previous claim which all men
are supposed to possess to manage the affairs of their
neighbours, unless some positive disqualification can
be established agaiest them. It is Equality against
Liberty, Theory against Practice, abstract dogma-
tism against experience, a confusion between the
end and the means. If the object of Government
be simply to govern, it may easiiy be admitted that
all men not subject to some manifest incapacity
should as freely participate in this function as in
air, light, and warmth. But if the object of Go-
vernment be, as we maintain it is, the welfare of
the governed, then we say that the only right to a
share in the Government is the capacity to exercise
that function, not only for the benefit of the person
himself, but of those whom he governs. We cannot
wonder that doctrine so thoroughly unpractical,
and resting on a theory so manifestly unsound,
failed to secure the assent of the House of Commons,
and we hope the day is far distant when this coun-
try, which mainly owes its progress to its steady
adherence to practical views, and equally marked
distrust of abstract reasonings, will entertain a
Reform Bill based on principles of abstract equality,
which the whole experience of mankind has proved
to be groundless and mischievous.
POST.—Soon after the effects of the war in the
United States had begun to tell upon the demand
for labour in the districts of the cotton manufacture,
some of the relief committees endeavoured to lighten
the distress by finding employment for the opera-
tives in out-door work—in excavation and levelling.
But even in those places in which this out door
work was not ostensibly a labour test it became one
in fact ; since it was for the most part paid for
either at the exact rate of relief, or by a sum closely
approximating to it. The relief committees, indeed,
being the almoners of the public bounty, were bound
to restrict their action to the great object of alle-
viating distress. They would have been exceeding
their functions, and going beyond the intention of
the subscribers to the several funds, had they ad-
ministered the charity with which they had been
entrusted with an eye to any other end. Still, the
condition of many of the manufacturing towns was
such as demanded imperatively the most extensive
sanitary improvements. Labour was at hand in
the shape of the unemployed factory operatives; it
was desirable from every point of view that this
labour should be utilised, and that it should be paid
for at such a rate as would insure the hearty co-
operation of the workmen employed, and make their
work really efficient. The rapid development of the
cotton manufacture in the years immediately pre-
ceding the distress had given an extraordinary im •
pulse to the building of houses and cottages. The
mills could not be worked without hands, and hands
could not be obtained unless there were houses on the
spot for them. Dwelling-places were run up and
occupied, and then, the immediate want being sup-
plied, the completion of the roads—their paving,flag-
ging, and sewering—remained in abeyance. There
was an important work to be done; the labourers
were ready at hand, but whence was the money for
their wages to come from—those wages to be some-
thing like wages, and not merely charitable relief?
The public, who had contributed so generously for
the latter purpose, could not be expected to supply
a wages fund as well. To meet this emergency the
Public Works Act of last session was passed-26
and 27 Viet., chap. 70. The purpose of this Act
was threefold—first, to enable the local authorities
in the cotton manufacturing districts to borrow
money from the Exchequer Loan Commissioners;
secondly, to facilitate the improvement of the towns
in these districts; and thirdly, to provide work and
remunerative wages to the unemployed operatives.
At first, the opinion that any rough out-door work
would impair the aptitude of the operative for his
proper occupation seemed likely to interpose a
serious obstacle to the working of the Act, and the
hope that the war in the United States would come
to an end very speedily operated in the same direc-
tion. The continuance and the prospect of the con-
tinuance of the war, and the necessity of employing
the workmen actively, have caused this objection to
fade away. Accordingly, more than fifty districts
have availed themselves of tL o provisions of the
Public Works Act, and various sums, amounting to
a total of more than £BOO,OOO, have been authorised
by the Poor-law Board to be borrowed for different
public local purposes. Mr. Redgrave has given in
his last report a tabular statement of the places in
his district of inspection to which loans have been
granted, recording also the amount in each case, and
the specific purposes to which it is to be applied.
Thus the borough of Blackburn has received about
£144,000 to sewer and drain certain parts of the
borough, to flag and pave certain streets and high-
ways, to pitch the bed of so much of the river as
lies within the borough, to improve bridges, to
establish public baths, and to level, drain, and
plant public works. The township of Wheeltou
has received £lOO to level and improve certain
highways, public roads, and footpaths. A grant
of £l,OOO has been made to Hurst district to pave,
flag, sewer, and complete certain streets, and to
provide lamps and other requisites for lighting the
district. Droylesden has borrowed £2,800 to make
sewers and provide gas pillars, lamp-irons, Sse.; and
the city of Manchester more than £150,000 to con-
struct a reservoir, to extend and improve the supply
of water, and to provide and lay out a cemetery. To
the borough of Preston nearly £50,000 has been
lent to block, pave, flag, sewer, level, and channel
streets, to form and complete certain roads, to make
footpaths on the river side, and to lay out and
improve public parks. The borough of Salford has
received more than £50,000 for the purpose of
sewering, &c., streets, constructing a canal basin,
building walls, and executing other works at a great
manure depot, laying out the land purchased for
extending the Salford cattle market, and construct-
ing a canal basin, building walls, and executing
other works at a great manure depot, laying out
the land purchased for extending the Salford cattle
market, and constructing cattle stalls, sheep pens,
&c. The above particulars are examples of the sort
of out-door employment which is affording work to
many of the unemployed factory hands, and with it
wages, which, though they are much below what is
necessary for the requirements of an operative's
family, are nevertheless a great aid to him, and are
received with satisfaction by men who are willing to
dig and ashamed to beg. The cheerful alacrity with
which they have accepted the work offered to them
says very much in their favour. On this point we
may quote the following remarks from a letter sent
to the factory inspector by the chairman of the labour
committee at Blackburn—" A greater contrast than
that presented between the cotton.spinner as a
skilled workman in a factory and as a labourer in a
sewer 14 or 18 feet deep can scarcely be conceived.
Accustomed as he has been to a temperature ail
but tropical, to work at which agility and delicacy
of manipulation availed him infinitely more than
muscular strength, and to double and some-
times treble the remuneration which it is possible
for him now to obtain, his ready acceptance of the
proffered employment involved an amount of self-
denial and consideration, the exercise of which is
most creditable, In Blackburn the TO en have been