The Sun.
London, England, 1853-12-30 00:00:00

CHRISTMAS WEEK.

Tull. ALBERT SMITH will give his ASCENT
TX of MONT BLANC TO-NIGHT (FRIDAY), and EVERY
EVENING (except Saturday) at Two and Eight o'Clock, during
the week. Egyptian Hall, Piccadilly.

ROYAL POLYTECHNIC READING AND
CHESS ROOMS, 5, CAVENDISH-SQUARE.
_Noblemen and Gentlemen are respectthlly informed that the An-
nual Subscription to these Rooms is reduced to Two Guineas, which
includes the entree to the Institution.
R. I. LONGBOTTOM, Secretary.

[]TILL SHORTLY CLOSE.-DR. KHAN'S
ANATOMICAL MUSEUM. Portland Gallery, Regent-
street, opposite the Polytechnic.—Open for Gentlemen daily at the
'usual boars, excepting on Wednesdays and Fridays, from Two to
Fire, during which hours Ladies only are admitted. Explanations
for Gentlemen by Dr. Leach, and for Ladies by Mrs. Leach. Ad-
mission, Is.

INTER
ChOLERO-Soo+ OVER-COATS
largestana stoColcsAPhiELSondaont
of superior Garments, thoroughly Waterpoot ; also of ditto for
Youths, at W. BERDOE'S, 96, New Bond-street, and 69, Cornhill,
only.

L4.PORTERS ,to AUSTRALIA, EAST IN-
DIES, CAPE, &c.—Genuine YARMOUTH" BLOATERS.—
For terms apply to Thous LErris, Fish Merchant, Great Yarmouth.

4 TKINSON and COMPANY, CABINET
.41L MANUFACTURERS, UPHOLSTERERS, and CARPET
WAREHOUSEMEN, 69, 70, 74 72, 73, 74, and 75, Westminster-
bridge-road, Lambeth, London.

A TKINSON and COMPANY, DRAPERS,
11L. SILK MERCERS, LACEMENi, &c., 69. 70, 71, 72, 73, 74,
and 75, Westminster-bridge-road, Lambeth, London.—Shawls, Furs,
Mantles, Family Mourning, &e.

THE PRESTON STRIKE.

(From the Times.)

At this moment public interest is divided
between two struggles, which, different as they
may be in their general aspect of circumstances,
present some features of resemblance, Between
Preston and Constantinople,—between millowners
and artisans on the one hand, and Russians,
Turks, and we know not how many tribes of semi-
barbarians on the other,—what community or
likeness can there possibly be ? Yet in both in-
stances it is a point of honour, and little else than
point of honour, which has created a deep hostility
between two mighty Powers, and led to a pro-
tracted and still unfinished mixture or negotiation
and war. In both cases it is a long-standing,
deep-seated, quarrela war of classes, in which
the difficulty is not so much the question imme-
diately at issue as ancient prejudice and supposed
rivalry of interests. Strange to say, Lord Palmer-
ston, who might with more propriety have been
invoked as the arbiter between the ambitious Rus-
sian and the high-minded Turk, and who, in that
capacity, would doubtless have carried all the arts
and delays of negotiation to a still greater length
than we now see, has been invited to assist at.the
settlement of our domestic feud. The turn-outs
of Lancashire have submitted their case to him,

in the hope of eliciting a favourable response
from the oracle of the Home-office. The response
has been given tardily, yet fully, and, though
courteous to all, is by no means ambiguous. If any-
thing, it is rather too philosophical for an, official
document. Lord Palmerston favours the opera-
tives with a chapter of political economy, inter-
mixed with a homily on peace and forbearance.
The operatives should go away better Christians
and sounder philosophers, but if they are not much
improved in either point it is no more than we ex-
pect. They are not in a condition to listen to ar-
gument just now. There is nothing, indeed, in
Lord Palmerston's letter that is not trite and.
'familiar to every full-grown operative, though pas-
sion has long rendered him proof against its just
influence. His Lordship, as if he were trying,
with his usual sleights of diplomacy, to induce two
nations to forget their quarrel, and surrender
themselves to a maze of negotiation and an inter-
minable series of protocols, urges a silent and gra-
dual action of general causes, in equitably adjust-
ing, from time to time, the proper rates of, the
money reward for labour. He can scarcely doubt
that, by forbearance on both sides, and by mu-
tual and reciprocal good feeling, the proper ar-
rangitments might generally be effected. —To be
sure, as his Lordship says, the workmen might,
meanwhile be subjected to undue privations, just
as at this moment, while the friendly Powers ere
interfering for Turkey, she is losing her fleet and
her thousands by actual war. But, as half a war
is better than a whole war, so Lord Palmdrston
thinks any discussion, however tedious, however it
may try the patience and fortitude of the operative,
is better than a strike or a lock-out, which consigns
a whole population, not to low wages, but to none
at all. _ _

Ws believe the truth to be very much as Lord
Palmerston puts it. The operatives, at all events,
have been much too precipitate in their recourse to
the last appeal, and do not take sufficient pains to
find those common grounds on which the difference
might be settled, not merely once or twice, but for
good. The present result has undeniably proved
the workpeople to be in the wrong, inasmuch as
the declining course of trade shows that the .mas-
ters could not have carried on up to this time a high
rate of production at the same wages as heretofore.
In order to obtain a sale for their stock, low as it
is, they are obliged to submit to a large reduction,
and this reduction they must distribute over the
expenses of the manufacture, particularly on wages,
as the most reducible item. Had there been no
strike, long ere this the masters would have
been obliged to reduce wages or have recourse to
half time. Nobody at this moment can fail to
see the truth of this. Now, had the operatives al-
lowed themselves to be warned on this point, which
was, indeed, foreseen—or, at least, thought highly
probable before the commencement of the strike—
it is hardly credible that they would have com-
mitted so suicidal an act as to insist on a rise of
wages at the very time when it was no longer com-
patible with profit to continue the existing rates.
As it is, the operatives have been unwittingly
playing into the hands of their masters ; for, though
the latter did at first lose by the suspension of
work, they are losing no longer, for it is very
doubtful whether the mills, once closed by the
strike, could now re-open with benefit to their
owners, even if the operatives were so disposed.
The same result almost invariably follows all
schisms between the belly and the members. The
members suffer the soonest, the worst, and the
longest. It is possible that the blame does not lie
wholly with the operative. The manufacturer is at
the head of the commercial community ; he is the
captain, the pilot of the vessel, the chief of this
great battle of industry, the king of this busy
industrial realm. But, why are there some men
with more head, more authority, more moral force
than others, if they are not to use those gifts
for the good of mankind, and exhibit a wise,
righteous, and potent pre-eminence in public dis-
cussions Much may still be done, doubtless, to
repair the long neglects of the past and bring mas-
ters and men into reasonable communication with
one another. To the fact of those long neglects
we owe the present strike and the credulous and
ignorant character of our working population.
If, instead of the quarrel being pushed to an ex-
tremity at once, it had been referred to something
like free and friendly discussion, with a view to
bringing out all the " facts of the question, we are
inclined to think that at this moment the opera-
tives of Lancashire, instead of holding out for
higher wages, would have been submitting with a
very good grace to lower.
It would, of course, have been greatly to their
advantge to do so, as no loss they could have suf-
fered would have come near what they have brought
on themselves by four months of idleness. The
particular ways and means for effecting this ami-
cable adjustment of difference is a question of ex-
treme nicety, which time alone can solve ; but,
doubtless, much may be done by a wish to agree
—by a proper sense of the mutual obligations of
master and man, and, above all, by a resolute de-
termination not to be managed and overruled by
designing agitators, who are busiest when others
are unemployed, and best paid when their unfortu-
nate clients are starving.

NEW CEBIETRY FOR ISLINGTON.—Lasi night an ad-
journed vestry meeting of the parish of St. Mary, Isling-
ton, was held in the parish church on the subject of
authorising the Burial Board to borrow the sum of
20,0001. for the purchase and other expenses of the new
cemetry at Finchley. The Rev. D. Wilson, the vicar,
presided. Mr. Waller's resolution was that the sum
above-mentioned be authorised to be borrowed, repayable
in twenty annual instalments, and the amendment moved
by Mr. Lewis, that arrangements may be made with
existing Cemetry Companies for the burial of paupers
and that other persons be left to make their own arrange-
ments, and that the subject be referred back to the
Burial Board. A long discussion took place, and on a
show of hands being taken the numbers were declared
to be for the amendment, 63 • against the amendment,
41 ; majority for the amendment, 22. A poll of the
parish was then demanded, and arranged to take place
on Monday and Torlday next.