The Sun.
London, England, 1864-10-31 00:00:00

the terrible " butty" deprives of his hard-earned
stores, is not in a position to exact justice from
either employer or middleman. Union is strength,
but if the combined resistance of fifteen or twenty
men is pronounced to be rash and suicidal, of what
avail would be the remonstrance of one or two
labourers ? They would lose the little they had;
the offended " butty" would take good care that no
other "batty'' employed them. What, then, are
the men to do ? Are they to submit uncon•
ditionally to every dictum of their masters, and to
be content to see their wages dwindling away to
❑othing in the butty's hands ? If individual appeal
is fruitless, and organised opposition is illegal,
where is their resource ? It may be said that public
opinion will guard them from oppression, but public
opinion has already said pretty plainly that they
have been to blame in the present strike in refusing
to come to terms, or to make any effort to conciliate
the men, and we see as yet very little effect.
Rightly or wrongly, the men consider they have a
grievance, and therefore their obstinacy is not to be
regarded as a mere contumacious plot to extort
money. If the coalmasters and great employers of
labour generally were to show a little more readi-
ness to investigate these complaints, which are not
always groundless, we should hear less of these for•
midable strikes, which aro as disastrous to the in.
terests of trade and commerce as they are destruc•
tive to the welfare of the men, It ia said that the
specie circulation in South Staffordshire is now at
the rate of a million sterling per annum less than it
was this time last year, and therefore the strike is
certainly not going on without cost. But the
masters prefer to lose than to appear to make
any concessions; possibly they are afraid of a dan,
gerous precedent. If, however, they would
look more closely into matters they might
ascertain the truth of the men's assertion, that
both aides would gain were the butty done
away with. The evils of this system are manifold,
and have been insisted upon by every one who has
examined into the condition of the labouring classes.
Even novel readers can remember the vivid picture
drawn by the eloquent author of " Sybil" of the
miseries inflicted by the petty tyranny of the hated
little JOE and his father. But this, again, is a case
in which it is very difficult for the men to get their
rights. They declare that the butties defraud them
to a great extent by their mode of reckoning time.
They are paid for a day's work, for a half day's, and
for a quarter, but not for a less portion of time, and
therefore the butties frequently tell them to leave
the pit after working for two hours and a half, so
that they receive no payment whatever. A day or
two a week is commonly last by the men, which of
course tells heavily upon their wages. Another
loss is, :hat they are entitled by the rule of the trade
to an allowance of a ton of coals for every 24 days'
work ; bqt the half and quarter days are not
reckoned, so that a man may work for a good many
months even without becoming entitled to his share
of coals. All this is very difficult for them to re.
dress ; they are powerless against the butties, from
whom alone they have any chance of employment,
and these obnoxious and oppressive rules ar© so
much the custom of the district that one place of
employment is as bad as another. Driven to such
extremes, the men find a way to help themselves,
which is extremely prejudicial to the interests of
their masters. They take powder with them into the
pit, and blast the coal instead of picking it, so that
while of course the work is done much faster, the
coal is shattered into fragments instead of being
picked out in large lumps, and its value is greatly
diminished. Such a system, even in a time of appa-
rent harmony and tranquillity, could not go on
without injury to both masters and men, and the
butty or middleman fills the enviable position of the
monkey with the oyster, and takes, if not like his
fabulous prototype, the whole of the profits, at least
a very great deal more than he has any right to.
If the South Staffordshire strike brings about a
final reform in these matters, the sufferings of the
men and the losses of the masters will not have been
in vain. If the difference is merely temporari.y
djusted without any regard to the deeper grounds
for discontent, it will be but surface work, and we
shall have to look to a Parliamentary committee to
do the work which the masters could and ought to
do for themselves.

An interesting affair took place at Nottingham
on Friday, when the prizes, and diplomas, and cer-
tificates were distributed to the successful candi-
dates. The Mayor alluded to the death of the
Duke of NEWCASTLE, who was only interred the
previous day. The death of the noble duke is
a great loss to education, and will long be felt
by those who take an interest in the subject.
Mr LOWE, having delivered the prizes and certifi-
cates to the successful candidate?, made a very in..
tereeting speech on the occasion, that appeared to
give universal satisfaction to all present. In the
first place he addressed some stirring and impress
sive remarks to those who had that day been for-
tunate enough to receive testimonials of approval.
He urged them not to consider the success thus
gained as anything in itself, but only an induce-
ment to incite them in the way of progress, and
acquaint them with what they would have the
power of doing. In especial they should develop
a taste for reading, which is one of the chief ad-
vantages a young man can assume. This is essen.
tially true, and the following passage relating to
the benefits of study and reading is worthy of being
fixed on the attention and impressed upon the
memory of all concerned, not only those imme-
diately connected with these institutions, but on
society generally "A young man who has formed
a taste for reading and study has a constant solace ;
he gets that which is likeliest of all thing 3 to keep
him from worse tastes and pursuits, a companion
that will never desert him, an enjoyment in which
he can indulge without extravagance and self.re-
preach, while he is far from being a barren pos-
session, because among men of ordinary capacity it
is the greatest amount of reading which
one man has compared with another by which he
is distinguished from the crowd, and which con-
duces to his success in life." This is an admirable
account of a delightful study, and is very appro
priate to those who are entering life, and forming
their tastes as it were. No.better safeguard can be
given to those e:.posed to temptation than to train
in right principles, but to insure these taking
effect, and to give them the chance of being put into
practice, nothing is wiser than to inculcate the love
of refined and elevated occupation. Another thing
which these young men will do well to remember
was pointed out to them by Mr LOWE, and this was
the importance of valuing their real acquirements
as solid and permanent acquisitions, and looking
upon their triumphs as momentary attendants of
the fact. The certificate is the guinea stamp, the
knowledge is the "gold for a' that." The right
hon. gentleman pointed out the necessity that existed
for these examinations, and wisely declared that it
was absurd and unwise for people to be continually
decrying. If people really know so much, there
can be no need for them to refuse to have their
knowledge tested, and the young man who declines
examination is not likely to succeed in life, as is
declared in these emphatic lines—

" He eithzr fears his fate too much,
Or his deserts are small ;
Who dares not put it to the tow:l3,
And win or lo.se it all."
All who really wish to,have the sub; nee of JnoW.