The Sun.
London, England, 1830-12-16 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

There was something curious in the oblervation
that took place in the Housetar.Commons on Tues-
day night, crs the expected resignation of the Chief
Baron of the, Court of Exchequer. Mr. O'Connell
Stated that the Lord Chancellor, when a Member of
the House of Commons, bed intimated his opinion,
that the present Chief Baron was no longer compe-
tent to his situation through age and infirmities.
His Lordship had, indeed, alluded to the improba-
bility of the Chief Baron ever making his Court ate
effective Court of Common Law. It is, therefore,
not quite accurate, that hie Lordship had spoken so
freely and so positiVely as Mr. O'Connell stated on
a subject ordinarily of some delicacy among people
of the some profeesion. BO the notoriety of the
fact may well have given occasion to Mr. O'COn-
neb'e mistake respecting it. Its truth, the Chief
Baron has passed sentence au himself; for he has,
we hire understood, presented a medical certificate
of his state of health, ireorder to be excused from
presiding over the present Special Commission,
issued to try the rioters and incendiaries in the dis-
turbed counties. This is a very serious injury to
the country. We do not say that the eminent men
acting on the Commission are inadequate to the
duties which have thus devolved upon them ;
but a Special Commission is, as the term im-
plies, a rare thing, and should have all the dig
airy and seeming importance possible imparted
to it. The Chief Baron is the usual person at-
teeted for such an occasion. But the present Chief
Baton cannot undertake the task ! The inference
is ohvious,—hie indisposition is not accidental, but
" marlins seneetus." Surely the administration of
justice ought nor to suffer, even in its " pomp, pride,
and eitcmnstance," from personal considerations for
one man, How great and how general suti.faction
would have resulted from an appointment which we
have 'expected, by which the place of the Chief
Baron was to have been itipelied.—Times.
Thu Bill introduced by Mr, Littleton on Tuesday,
which we are happy to find supported by a large
majority of the House of Commons, will, in our
.opinion, produce great advantage and unspeakable
comfort to the toiling and oppressed manufacturing
population of this country. The object of this mea-
sure is to abolish a mode of payment (or non-pay-
ment) by the master-manufacturers to their work-
MM, which is usually termed the " truck-system."
Many of our readers probably do not understand the
meaning of the word, and we May briefly describe it
by slitting, that after the master has agreed to pay
the workman his Wages, at the rate (e.g.) of le.
per day, the mode he adopts for executing his part
of the contract is, to open a kind of slop-shop,
where the workman is, through sundry contrivances,
Owed under the necessity of resorting, to procure
slt.aeveral articles of daily consumption for hie fa.
account of whieh is kept, and shown him
aef are. end of the week, and stated as a pet-off
azair4t his wages, of which it generally eats up the
se or within a mere trifle of the whole, amount.
0. Well," says Mr. Hume,--and so doubtless will
fay many of the musters, (although it so happens
tlt :t the ww:htuen hold the practice in abhorrence)
what eats he more fair than this ? Is it not in
nutty reypectu u vast convenience to the workman
t 1 hare ilk wants supplied to him on the spot, and
wit!, !ittle trouble ? and is it not a crime against
hi cal economy' to interpose by law between
eca.:re- trooofoturers ,and their men ?" We
eoel.i to add in passing, that the Member for
speech against the Bill, as in-
getciiyri+ a+; string of untenable fallacies could
Ise : that anon. The master pays, then, en
,rooms--. na " and what of that ?" say
;he print deal economists. Why, the master buys
goctiii as he esti, acid sells them to the atalkMitti
JO: Whit price his • conscience—that is, his pleasure
—vinAn4eK. For instance, he buys cheap beam,--
that j.;, indifferent bacon,-.-find sells it at the price
oti, good ; rancid hotter, and charges for it the price
a good ; rile tea, mixed bread, rotten leather, rag.
grab clothing,---if he does not more fool he (as the
World gce,),; for the unfortunate customer has no
powcr to .prevent hint; so that the week's articles
.I.4larzed at Ili. would probably, if retailed in open
marligt, potleteh 4s. etch is described to be the
truck ,ystem.. We ask, therefore, ought 'such a
olyi,tettr to cotrit:tle ?ds the trade so curried on en
til t+ ;Arles Lett.. a.rt the rio and peremptory em-
ployes', acid the laborites poor and dependent, One
which de, :e vet the mime of ",free Dude ?" Is it
not wte Mick- all the powttr its on one side, end all
ti.l,anpge, where the seller may cheat die buyer
ad liNtaln, and where, the latter has no shadow of
red! ouu. ? The 'ream why, as a general principle,
s'utcnmc t s e ought not to' be meddled with by law is,
that interference fur the most part psoducece re.
atraints which press more seve=rely upon the week
t ban on tl,e strong, tending to uphold the tick man's
moitepoy or Aggressive powere,, and to make the
poet.. 111. A victim. Interference itself is neither
good nor bail but through its consequences, which
exist etc r,c'e shows to be generally such as we leave
ire ilt:lolowiedgcti. But the case arising out of the
gruel( System is an exception,and calls for interference
men cure for ,the evils which more frequently proceed
from it. ,Ii" it be wise and just for the supreme
power of a t;.itate to legislate at any time against arti.
fiend and 'usurped anthorityi it is eminently required
in the case of the truck system, which, doei in fact,
and beyond all question, put the poor man et the
mercy of the rich, If it be right to maintain the
eyed obligation of contracter—whicb has always
beeti a rule of civilized (lovernroentre-there is surely
no occasion for the exercise of such a duty more
urgent then one which:enables A to elude his en.
;violin:tit with B, and to rob him in substance while
ire odde to tins sting of successful fraud, by pretend-
ing that the sufferer Is, and ought to be, left a " free
rgeot."- The truth is, that the laws of the last 40
years have, in their general scope and character,
ett-
croaehed greatly on the free agency of the induistrious
duties—a working manufacturer is, in many point,
u practical slave. This truck roameavre has Mani-
feFtly for its consequence
,to make him ale inextricable
pauper, He does not get from his employer that
for which be hired himself to work, tie does not
obtain from bins a fixed portion of the standard coin
Of realm, about the value of which there can
he jio dispute, should his master be disposed to
plunder him. No, but he gets payment in pieces of
bread, or cheese, or lard, which leave ne determinate
value, because the weekly valve affixed to them hi
that which the master or his foreman pleases. Arid
whist a I emptatino is this for the honesty of the mas-
ter, supposing him to be honest! But iwlr, lintne
says—Are not many contracts made among thee
farmers of Scotland, aceertling to which the servant
agrees to take a portion of lets wages in oatmeal,
potatoes, ficc.? To be sure.. there :mei but •the
difference is, that the Scotch servant settles before-
hand, how Much of these articles twit to'receive in
hunch, and what surplus he is to have in money.
The -Scotch einployer never ventures to tell hi•
ploughman or lebourer, ue he rosy happen to be,
whatever articles of consumption you want, you
must .buy from me at my own price, and they shall
go as n set-off against yeur stipulu.tecl Mein wages."
The Suotebtriann may frequents is hat shop he likes,
and htiy, his articles at :the cheapest Mtiiket;—
Wikreini tins poor Englishmen is forced to deal with
a monopolist who admits no rival. But the mas-
ters, we are told, have recourse to the truck-system
from the " pressured distress," because they could
not elfo,d to pay their men in money. Is nut this,
then, an ucknowledgment that they impose upon
their men, and pay tlietn-but 'nominal. wages, In-
stead of those for which they contracted ? If that
In so, the oleo ought to retaliate by saying, if you
pay us 16d. worth ofgoods, instead of 2s. in hard
inoney, we
,will work but S hours instead of 12,
‘o;cli you take curt to exact from us. Mr. flume
will you Whet a neve penal statute on the
• roanufisetufers, beside the 14 which already exist ?'
eve reply, if the masters invent a loth fraud, the
Legislature mit,t tocerthem with a lath remedy.
sVe agree toil .'sir. Littleton that his Bill will do
•