The Sun.
London, England, 1864-10-14 00:00:00

LONDON, FRIDAY, OCT. 14, 1864.

Mr. GLADSTONE has certainly been busy enough,
and has done mote than his share of speechifying
ter the recess. He had to perform a very gracious
taslr in opening the Park at Farnwortb. This was
one of those occasions which are cf so interesting
and exciting a character that they are far beyond
ordinary affairs of the (ley, and live in the re-
collection, invested with peculiar and particular
,regard. Mr. GLADSTONE, of course, uttered some
appropriate remarks as he performed the task as-
signed to him, and appeared to be deeply impressed
with the nature of the scene before him. To one
so often accustomed to formal arrangements and
6*.ereotyped methods of carrying cn affairs, it must
have been a relief to witness the general expression
of feeling among the vast multitudes assembled, and
to take part in a ceremonial where the trammels of
official life were cast aside, and a universal senti-
ment of hilarity and good- will reigned supreme and
paramount. Mr BARNES deserved the encomiums
which were passed upon him, and none the less so
because he is, as the right hon. gentleman observed,
no isolated instance of the sort, but the honoured
representative of a principle which adorns this
generation. Mr. GLADSTONE could not have
more forcibly expressed the purport and
bearing of the work before him than in these words
--(t In this busy, stirring, critical, industrious,
enterprising, money-making, money-accumulating
age, it is well that while these pursuits have full
scope given them, it should be forgotten that there
are other wants and other interests." This is
exactly the definition of this affair, and it fulfils
one of the great requirements of our time, that time
and opportunity should be afforded to the over-
worked and over-tired population to refresh them-
selves for a season from their hard positions, and to
think of the world around them, besides the limited
part which contains their Engagements. -Work is
better when the workers are allowed a little breath-
ing time, and there is no greater mistake made
than that which taxes the energies to the utmost,
and in the end produces exhaustion and incompe-
tence. " Property has its duties as well as its
rights," is a very true maxim, and one that cannot
be too much attended to by all whom it concerns,
and unless it is recognised and fully carried out
there can be no peace or prosperity in any land,
however many advantages it may enjoy or
possess. Mr. GLADSTONE laid great stress
upon this point, and it certainly is one that
was particularly applicable to the subject before
him. He said that its consideration had increased of
late years, and what had at one time been looked
upon as a" dreaded monster," was now a "domesti-
cated idea." Well might we say that it was offend-
ing against the will and design of Providence to
refuse to recognise the truth of this adage, and that
the relation between the master and the workman
ought not to be carried on without good feeling
and mutual feelings of respect. The right hon.
gentleman very truly observed that in no part of
the country had the rights of labour been more
respected than in Lancashire. The changes that
the law had made had also brought about changes
that no law could produce ; the " moral transforma-
tion," as he truly called it, had been shown in the
manner in which recent trials had been borne, and
this surest test of what constitutes the true man,"
has shown in what estimation the factory people
ate to be held by the " rest of their fellow-
countrymen:. Pursuing his theme to a wider
extent, Mr.
GLADSTONE remarked that the
enterprise of the British nation was some-
thing surprising, and when he said that for
every two yards of cotton consumed in the world
one was of British manufacture, he thought the
factory system should be recognised as an important
element in all economical and social arrangements.
Wnen things are viewed in this light, it -
is surprise
ing what a different aspect they assume, and it is
only by taking all these into consideration that
a due estimate of the relative importance
of these matters can be arrived at. The right