The Sun.
London, England, 1864-09-29 00:00:00

LONDON, THURSDAY, SEPT. 29, 1864.

The last intelligence that reaches us relative to
the arrangements of the peace negotiations are far
horn satisfactory. It would seem as if it was the
intention of the Government of this country to
favour to the utmost the c ins° of the oppressors,
and though making faint protests against their in.
road. 3 at the outset, at last coming virtually round
to their views, and actually assisting to inaugurate
their policy. it is said that Earl CLARENDON has
intimated to Count RECLIDEP.O that the sooner the
negotiations are arranged the batter, and that the
Duke of AUGUSTENBURG should soon be inaugurated
in hid rule=--adding that he would be recognised by
England, Thin is most extraordinary, and nothing
can justify such a step. It an extreme measure

for our Ministers to take to sanction such a course
as that taken by the Garman Powers in the war
just concluded, and it is setting an example to other
States that will be most prtjudicial. It is of no use
to put forward the excuse that nothing we can do
now will arrest the progress of events or stay pro,
Geediega in the line marked out by Prussia, but

the fact of one nation being resolutely bent upon
wrong-doing can never excuse or justify another
from agreeing to its course. Such an explanation
will not suffice; and if England recognises the Duke
of AUGUSTENBURCI, it will be a very great disgrace
to all concerned immediately or remotely in the
transaction. It is a sad state of things that our
policy has been so mismanaged that nothing open
could be done in this matter of Schleswig• Holstein,
but it is scandalous that, when a cruel war is over,
we are to side with the spoiler and devastator, and
thus present to the world the appearance of haying
been all along on the wrong side. It is extraordi-
nary to realise the way in which statesmen and
diplomatists explain away such departures from the
right course; but they who look calmly and dis-
passionately at public affairs, must see how false is
the doctrine upon which our present foreign policy
is formed. In the end we shall have been quies•
cent when we should have acted decidedly and
promptly, and then we shall have mixed ourselves
up very unnecessarily in negotiation and arrange-
ments, in which we have really no part, and from
which we had far better keep ourselves aloof. As
it must be pretty apparent by this time
to the slowest comprehension, that the
voice of the English Government has no
influence whatever in the councils of the Ger-
man States, it would be more decent to keep out of
transactions that cannot possibly reflect any credit
upon any one engaged in them. Such a course
will be far more dignified, and produce a better
effect than if we pursue the meddle and muddle
policy which Earl RUSSELL so much affects, and
which he seems resolved to carry out to the utter-
most. It is always a sorry spectacle to behold the
triumph of might against right, but there can be
no need whatever to add to the bitterness of regret
that is occasioned by these so-called peace negotia-
tions, the conviction that the name of England is
brought into discredit and disrepute, and that
the usurper of other's rights is to be recognised
by those who secretly disapprove of his tactics.

It is often said that good comes out of evil,
though the process is not always easily discernible;
but already our wise men are tracing substantial
benefits to a period of great and prolonged distress.
The address delivered by Mr. CHADWICK on the
recant Lancashire distress, as president of the
Economy and Trade Department of the Social
Science Congress shows very clearly that in
consequence of the temporary depression of trade
both employers and employed are likely to profit.
Mr CHADWICK'S address, although somewhat
weighty in character, contained a good deal of
useful information. He has naturally seen a good
deal of the internal affairs of the cotton districts,
and he asserts as a positive fact that the great im-
provements which have taken place of late years in
our manufactures have been mainly due to succes-
sive periods of agricultural distress. The late Mr
KENNEDY, whom Mr CHADWICK styles the father
of the cotton manufacture, used to hold it as an
axiom that no great strides were ever made except
on " threadbare profits." This is easily comprehen-
sible, since the temporary profits do not in most
instances represent the capital of the manufacturer,
who, finding the trade at a dead level, with little
return for his outlay, ponders how he may best en-
large his sphere of action or improve his machinery,
so as to cheapen the cost of production and stimu-
late trade. When, on the other hand, the profits
are large the manufacturers, generally speaking,
think it better to " let well alone," and do
not trouble themselves about going out of the
ordinary track. Manufacturing distress, too, pro-
motes foreign consumption, for the millowner, not
liking to keep unsaleable goods on hand, often
sends them out as a speculation to some new quar-
ter,' and thus widens the area of commerce. In
view of these various possibilities and probabilities,
Mr CHADWICK considers the late distress to be
very likely beneficial to the manufacturers, and cer-
tainly advantageous by opening up new sources of
supply. Mr CHADWICK, indeed, goes so far as to
say that it would have been well for England it
every pound of the Confederate store of cotton had
been burnt, so that exertion might not be checked
and enterprise damped by,the uncertainty felt as to
the English market being again supplied, byAmeri-
can cotton before the newer and naturally more ex-
pensive fields had obtained any return for the
money invested in them. Coming to the condition
of the labouring classes, Mr. CHADWICK observed
very clearly how the distress had benefitted them
by calling attention to the very defective sanitary
arrangements of the districts, the wretched state
of their homes, &c., and by giving the time and
money necessary for a thorough and lasting reform.
Under ordinary conditions, according to well esta-
blished facts, premature death is the rule and not
the exception among factory workers, while hall
their children die before they have completed
their sixth year. Besides the improvements
needed in larger matters which are beyond their
own control, it is to ba hoped that the great
scarcity will induce the people to cultivate greater
habits of prudence and thrift. The amount of
savings on hand was not at all commensurate with
the former high rate of wages, and much of the lime
provident outlay which is common among this class,
Mr CHADWICK sets down to ignorance. He pleads
strongly in favour of the extension of the half time
system of education and physical training. The
great drawbacks to the means of the working
classes he considers to be the credit system, interne
perance, and want of thrift. Besides these, the
retail system is costly and unsatisfactory, and
a surprising difference is perceptible in the
prices of food and other necessaries obtained on the
coeoperative system. A reduction of 20 per cent.
is made on some articles, such as flour, of which
the cost of retail distribution is heavy. An inci-
dental confirmation of the excellence of this plan is
obtained from the experience of some manufacturers
who have during the distress fed their own work-
people. The food supplied was of course bought
for cash at wholesale prices, and as a sample of the
difference between this mode of purchase and the
ordinary small retail and credit system we may
mention that the prime cost of the 41b. loaf was 4d.
at the time when the working classes were charged
7id. and 74d. for it. We need scarcely add that
the wholesale loaf was of very much better qua.
lity than the retail at nearly twice its cost. Other
articles of food were on the same scale, so that a
working man got three meals a day for an average
of 71d. The estimated difference is that a given
sum will produce one day and a-half's subsistence
at a retail shop on credit; two days on ready
money; and three days on ready money at whole
sale prices; so that the wotkiog clots would get
just twice as much for their money on the co-opera-
tive store system. They have also great difficul-
ties to contend against from their ignorance.
In some places 75 per cent. of the workpeoplt
wore unable to read, and not knowing how to make
a single calculation, their wages are wasted by the
credit system and other means because theydonot
see their own loss. The women, again, are .very
ignorant of the ordinary duty of sewing, and are,
therefore, unable to make the most of the family
clothes. In this respect,
the sewing classes held
during the late famine will have bee highly bene-
ficial. We must remember in extenuation of this
ignorance, how early the children a e put to work,