The Sun.
London, England, 1863-09-16 00:00:00

,AING, SEPTEMBER I.G, 1863,

of an cabinet su,ggcsts that the
the
separate treaties be' ,nree powers who proposed
r.,w_een Austria and Russia, and
PIUSSia and ItU
Yto
informedh generaltreatyreult
ofo
f
ti•ei tnani na sPbh;l:ltc:l afterwards
br meet e e t" together, P" i" 1
and that France and Great
Btheir del3!derations.

There aro two reasons, either of which would be suffi-
cient to condemn this suggestion:-
1. The treaties in question, taken apart from the pro.
visions inserted in the general treaty of Vienna, have
reference only to material objects—the use of the banks of
rivers, the regulations for towing paths, the free passage
of merchandise from one province to another, and such
other matters of convenience and of commerce. No
political developments or details are contained in them.
2. It is obvious that such a conference would place
Austria in a false position, and be inconsistent with her
relations to France and Great Britain.
His Majesty the Emperor of Austria, therefore, with a
proper sense of his own dignity, has at once rejected the
Russian proposal.

In communicating their views to Prince Gortschakotr, it
remains to her Majesty's Government to discharge an im-
perative duly.

It is to call his excellency's most serious attention to the
gravity of the situation, and the responsibility which it ha
poses upon Russia.

Great Britain, Austria, and Franco have pointed out the
urgent necessity of putting an end to a deplorable state of
things which is full of danger to Europe. They have at
the same time indicated the means which, in their opinion,
ought to be employed to arrive at this termination, and
they have offered their co-operation in order to attain it
with more certainty.

If Russia does not perform all that depends upon her to
further the moderato and conciliatory views of the three
powers, if she does not enter upon the path which is
opened to her by friendly counsels,
responsible' for the serious consequences which the pro-
longation of the troubles of Poland may produce.
I am, &e., she makes herself

(Signed) RUSSELL,

Lancashire Central Relief Committee.

The weekly meeting of this committee was held on Mon-
day—the Earl of Derby in the chair.
The Hon. Secretary reported that £149 3s 3d had been
received during the week, and that the balance in the bank
was £'299,853 lls sd. Three packages of clothing had been
received during the week, and two had been sent off.
Mr. FAItNALL read the following report :—" I beg to in-
form you that on the sth inst. there was a decrease in the
number of persons receiving parochial relief in 27 unions
in the cotton manufacturing districts, as compared with the
number so relieved in the previous week, of 1,669. This
decrease of 1,669 is explained as follows :---There is a de-
crease at Ashton-under-Lyne of 592; Barton-upon-Irwell,
28; Blackburn, 48; Burnley, 48; Bury, 119; Chorley, 24;
Chorlton, 354; the Fylde, 25; Garstang, 46; Haslingden,
11; Leigh, 23; Manchester, 328 ; Preston, 309 ; Saddle-
worth, 143 ; Salford, 167 ; Stockport, 82; Wigan, 59 ; total,
2,396. But there is an increase at Bolton of 3; Glossop,
23 ; Lancashire, 3 ; Macclesfield, 8 ; Oldham, 405 ; Prest-
wich, 10; Rochdale, 196; Todmorden, 30; and Warring-
ton, 49; making a total increase of 727,—50 that there is a
net decrease of 1,669, and since the 6th of December last a
total decrease of 129,203 has taken place. There were on
the sth inst., 142,780 parsons receiving parochial relief in
the 27 unions adverted to; in the corresponding week of
1861, 46,725 persons were so relieved; there is, therefore,
' an increase of 96,055 persons in the receipt of parochial re-
lief, or 205'6 per cent. In the corresponding week of 1862,
144,007 persons received parochial relief. It will be a source
of satisfaction to your committee to observe that the pauper-
ism of this week is less by 1,227 in number than that of the
corresponding week of 1862. The total weekly cost of out-
-1 door relief on the sth inst. was £8,749 4s ; in the correspond-
ing week of 1861 it was £2,236 Os ; there is, therefore, an in-
crease of £6,512 14s 2d or 295.7 per cent. In the correspond-
ing week of 1862 it was £8,193 Os 10d. The average per
centago of pauperism on the population of these unions on
the sth inst. was 7'2 ; in the corresponding week of 1562 it
was 2.4 ; and the corresponding Week of 1861 it was 7.3.
The amount of money in the hands of the treasurers of the
abece unions en the sth inst. was £93,576 9s.
Mr. VAIINALL remarked upon the fact that whilst at this
time last yea; the number relieved by guardians was increas-
ing at the rate of 5,000 per week, it was now decreasing after
the rate of something like 1,500 weekly. He then, in con-
formity with notice given last week, introduced the question
whether it was expedient or desirable for distinct relief com-
mittees to undertake contracts for the execution of public
works by the men on their relief lists. For his own part
he was prepared to answer the question distinctly in the
negative. Committees, by entering into such contracts, and
employing the operatives on them simply as a labour test,
would cause unfair competition with corporations and other
contracting bodies, who, under the Public Works Act,
would be able to occupy the men upon work for a fair rate
of wager, and thereby tend to the demoralisation of the ope-
ratives by maintaining them as paupers instead of allowing
to extend th.
Llsem to become independent labourers, in accordance with
the `retention of Parliament in passing the act referred to.
and as quicl,
sets
_tor themselevine;
Mr. s: • IL If uToiriNsoer proposed :—" That, with a view
would be no that the
possible, it beh recommended
winter month
duo of the
months, assist
various relief comn...lttees,
as to provide for the able-bodied
in procuring contracts a,..q
,liyop,:e4rations ofduthrienrgutble.ic Works Act as much
e•care to ensure them b lee
unemployed operatives, tale!.'l. ,
extensively on measured
ei -0
placed on this employment very ~
ns so that those t"ured
work, and conducting the operatic,.
...
carrying_
a ot
ho out
tawkoiun
the act after the terminatiosnonorteifnpuutehbielsi°cwiltibn°.tdei:.":
mtPublna:diYtne:ridn thereasonslnthayere bs
inducedopewvetehcrutiaictivhneoedfboatt
pos-
sibility of discriminating. as to the kind of labour which
should be employed on these works,—that was to
course than that lie hadooriccincadliccoamtemd,itttheeerse
say, when there was not sufficient work for all, the em-
ployment would fall into the hands of the single men
and those with small families, whereas the Committee
of which he was a member felt that the married
men mitls large families ought to have the preference till all
could be employed' Ile was of opinion that corporations
alone would not be enabled to undertake many desirable
contracts which, under the arrangement lie proposed, could
be carried out. According to the opinion of counsel which
had been obtained corporations could not recover losses
which might arise under them from the rates. At least that I
would be the case at Blackburn. The municipal
rate, as it
obably the only Wes pry
was called, one upon which such a
charge could be made, and that would not suffice. In course
of some mouths the committee would
be able to resign The
work of °uterine'', into contracts entirely into the hands of
corporations and other properly-constituted bodies. What
he desired was,
thatduring the winter season the commit-
tees should have power to afford temporary relief to those
engaged on these public works, but who, from inclement
weather, would occasionally be unable to earn sufficient
lie trusted this a
maintenance.committee would, by their
adoption of his motion, allow
local committees the oppor-
tunity of usiug the labour at their command upon public
works as a fit and proper test
of eligibility for the relief to
afforded.

Mr, a oopArn seconded the motion, urging various
grounds on which he concluded that the Public Works Act
would tprovo insufficient to provide employment for the
s wholetr c tof
committee. Re thought there was no choice except
the
tbecarrying
distressed
operatives, without the aid of the
d
as between Out of Mr. Ilutchinson's sugges-
tionsallowing the
and ;operatives to walk idly about the
streets.
ii

The Ctra-trolAN said this would probably bo the fitting
time to read a minute on this subject from Sir James Kay -
Shuttloworth, who
was unable to attend. The minute
went very closely
into the quest'on at issue and the main
principles which it involved. Ills lordship then read the
communication adverted to, which was as follows :
6i Ninuto as to contracts by relief committees, and em-
ployment of indigent cotton workmen in such contracts.
~ The reii if of indigence in the cotton districts has
hitherto proceeded mainly from two sources, viz., the legal
charge en property, and the voluntary contributions of
charity to publish funds. These two sources of relief are
subject to a law of economy. When the poor rates and the
relief funds have provided to the indigent the means of
sustaining health, they have discharged their function.
i‘ 1. '1 he laws for the relief of the poor never were in-
tended to Provide employment with wages. Such an obli-
gation would convert the poor-laws into an organised system
of labour conducted by the state, which would destroy the
relations between capital and labour—employers and em-
ployed—and establish a form of socialism destructive to
private capital and demoralising labour. Every step, there-
fore, from that legitimate use of the poor-rates, or of public
charitable funds, which restricts them to the maintenance
of health, to another which proceeds to assume obligations
to provide wages from such sources is full of danger.
"2. Wages are given to the able-bodied without respect
to the wants of their families. A single able-bodied man
receives as much, at piece work, as a man with a wife and
four children. To find employment with wages, therefore,
if general, necessarily creates a heavier charge than the
simple maintenance of health.
"3. A relief committee has no corporate power to enter
into any contract to secure employment for those whom it
relieves. Such a contract could only be legally entered into
by individual members of the relief committee in their
private capacity. y If such private persons enter into such a
contract, they can receive no legal security for its fulfilment
from the coniraittoe.
"4. Supposing these technical difficulties to be over-
come, and that the majority and most influential mem-
bers of such a committee sign such a contract—if they de-
termine to Provide from their relief funds ordinary wages,
either for Piece work or day work, they have no warrant to
expect any aid from the Central Executive Committee to
carry out a scheme inconsistent with the economy of funds
intended simply to support health.
" 5' It is possible to adjust a scheme of labour to a scale
of relief adapted simply to sustain health, by paying for
work done by the hour at the usual rate, and not requiring
more hours' work than will enable the workman to make his
labour and that of his family equal at that rate per hour
tP OW Kale of nuaiiltwidcd (9 NOWA health, Au utter