The Sun.
London, England, 1854-03-23 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, THURSDAY EVENING, MARCH 23, 1854,

" Who takes the foremost foeman's life,
That party conquers in the strife."

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"We shall be asked for a remedy without calling into
activity the disused and dormant powers of the law. It
is not difficult to comply. If an act of Parliament were
framed, the main provisions of which struck at the levy-
ing of contributions raised by combinations, to aid em-
ployers against employed, and employed against em-
ployers, the thing would be accomplished at once. If
heavy penalties were provided, who could object to
them ? They could only be enforced in favour of trade,
and therefore in favour of everybody, and of the well-
being of society at large. Destroy the thews and sinews
created and nerved by money, and there is an end of
the mischief. We throw out this suggestion, moved by
no to either class, and we feel persuaded that no
man of sound and benevolent impulse will condemn us.
All we wish to show is, that there is a remedy within
the reach of the Legislature—a remedy that may be re-
sorted to, if good sense and good feeling among employ-
ers and employed refuse to assert themselves. Not only
is the present state of things against the 'policy of
trade,' but against the peace and health of society ; and
the sooner it is put an end to the better for us all."
He also declares that he is quite prepared to
give the substance and effect of a more practical
suggestion. We trust that he will do so. An
exposition of the views of the able contributor to
Blackwood who gave to the world the articles on
the " Revolt of the Workers," and " The Employer
and the Employed," must be well worthy of
perusal and attentive consideration.

* One or Two Remarks on the Law Relating to Com
binations. By a Member of the Temple. London
William G. Benning and Co., 43, Fleet-street. 1854.

It is rather hard to defend a well-meaning man
in a false position, or to argue the right of the
case as between parties, both of whom are more
or less in the wrong ; and this, we humbly pre-
sume to think, was the position of the able lawyers
who skirmished so briskly on Monday over
the Attorney-General's 13111 for healing the mala-
dies of the boroughs which had been probed by
the Bribery Commissioners. No one denied that
something ought to be done, or that the voters
who had confessed to bribery richly deserved dis-
franchisement ; but the delicate question arose—
Are they to be disfranchised, first, on their own
confession ; secondly, after they were promised
indemnity from penal consequences, as an induce-
ment to confession ? On the second point, as even
Sir FITZROY KELLY showed, in strict law the
Attorney-General might be right ; and the mean-
ing of the indemnity clause might be that they
should be free only from pains and penalties
under existing laws. Still, the confessor pro-
bably thought that no punishment would
light upon him, individually, in virtue
of his confession ; though, after the examples of
Sudbury and St. Albans, he could not expect to
escape the effects of any general measure, to
which his conduct, and his confession of it, had
given birth. The Attorney-General and others
seem to think that ag the .confessing bribe-taker
might expect disfranchisement in company with
fellow-electors, there is no hardship in disfran-
chising him without punishing the innocent with
him, when the size of the boroughs in question
admits this mode of treatment. The opposition
lawyers, on the contrary, seemed to think that it
was just this distinction on which our national
faith hung, since the guilty man would be treated
differently to the innocent, although he had
thought the national faith was pledged to treat-
ing none the worse for his confession.
It is the first point, however, which will make
the bill unpopular. If the times of the SruAnTs
left one feeling engrained into our national feel-
ings, it is that of hatred to the very thought
of compelling a man to criminate himself. We
assuredly do not wish to argue against it, but if
we did it would be perfectly useless. A French
or Prussian lawyer might offer reasons in plenty
which we could not easily refute on their abstract
merits ; but we should have one unanswerable
argument which no Frenchman or Prussian could
gainsay, that we are Englishmen and not French-
men or Prussians, and that we would rather some
half-dozen of the worst scoundrels should escape
justice annually, than allow any man to interro-
gate us with a view to exposing us to penal con-
sequences. We would not dispute the merits of
other codes and other nations—but worse for the
Judge, or Jury, or Counsel, or House of Com-
mons itself, which in this our England attempted
to act on a principle odious to the inmost heart
of the nation. Sir A. COCKBURN, we are con-
fident, has no such wish whatever, and he does
not like probably to come so near in appearance,
if not in reality, to Star Chamber practice, but
we incline to think that his approaching so near
the detested idea will ultimately be fatal to his
bill. All agree it would be a great good to strike
every bribed voteroff the register for ever, but whe-
ther the Rouse dares consent to do it, on his own
confession, remains to be seen. One view of the case

tent tribunal, and the actual state of the law will
receive a calm and unprejudiced interpretation
from those who are fully authorised and pre-
eminently qualified to speak ex cathedra.
But, while leaving the subject for that deci-
sion, we cannot help expressing our satisfaction at
the prospect of a speedy investigation into a topic
of deep and paramount importance to the national
welfare and prosperity. It is impossible to over-
estimate the magnitude of the interests involved
in the result, or the injurious, we might almost
say the ruinous, consequences of a further separa-
tion between masters and men—,aye more, be-
tween labour and capital. Let it not be supposed
that the question is one solely relating to Preston.
That town is merely the " Cock-pit" in which the
battle is waged by the representatives and cham-
pions of the different classes. The large contri-
butions afforded to the belligerents, the ample
supplies paid into the money chests on either
side, prove beyond the possibility of dispute or
difficulty that the affair is not one merely of out-
posts, but that its termination is regarded as
indicative of the ultimate issue between the oppo-
nents.

So it is at Preston. The victory there will
probably be decisive on the entire vexata questio.
Indeed, were it otherwise, a peace of some kind
would long since have been patched up, and the
ruinous internecine conflict would have termi-
nated in some way or other.
Strange it is that so little attention should
have been directed to such a matter as the volun-
tary cessation of labour by many thousands of
persons, and their support in idleness by the con-
tributions of myriads of working men, who spare
from their own scanty and hardly-acquired earn-
ings the assistance willingly bestowed on their
brethren, nor is it less significant that other con-
tributions are also flowing in to the masters whose
factories are closed, and engines rusting, uselessly
and unproductively. In fact the dangerous com-
bination on one side is met by an equally dan-
gerous combination on the other, and the union
of the masters would be inexcusable but for that
of the men, which rendered it a necessary act of
self-defence.
The step just taken will bring this matter pro-
minently before the public, and will prove,
beyond the possibility of doubt, that which we
long since asserted, "the necessity for further
legislation on the subject." Many suggestions
have been offered (although not within the walls
of Parliament) as to the nature and extent of the
enactments that may be required to meet the
exigency. There is one, however, recently put
forward, which seems so simple, and yet so
effectual, so easily brought into operation, and
yet, so potent in its effects, that we should be
inexcusable if we did not direct the legislative
attention to the valuable hint. " A Member of
the Temple" is the CEDIPus who has solved the
problem—the COLUMBUS who has taught the
mode by which the egg may be balanced on its
narrow end. The remarks on the law relatingi to
combinations are, indeed, worthy ofnotice. They
are brief, but to the point—manifestly the pro-
duction of a man capable of " condensation."
There is not a superfluous expression, and the
very simplicity of the proposition is perhaps its
chief recommendation. An enactment directed
against the " levying of contributions" on either
side is all that is required. The mere hint shows
us how effectual it would have been. It would
clearly have prevented the calamitous struggle
that has been going on for so many months. In
justice to the learned writer, we give an extract
from his able brochure, allowing him to express
his own views in his own words :

I does not seem to have struck the Learned Gentle-
men on either side ; we mean that the loss of a
vote, the only thing which the Legislature pro-
fesses to give, can hardly be any punishment at
all to the man who sells it for a bribe. Sir A.
COCKBURN deprives him only of the power of
voting for this or that Candidate ; but he has
shown that he cares neither for Candidates nor
for their politics ; and it must require some
assurance to pretend that to lose his vote merely
would to him be any penalty at al].
We shall not, on the whole, be sorry to see
this measure kicked out. Besides the very ques-
tionable ground of acting on a man's extorted or
purchased confession, the thoroughgoing Re-
formers have a fair claim to try their hands on
these boroughs. Why should not the almost
forgotten Sir WILLIAM MOLESIVORTH have a voice
for once, and be allowed to try the Ballot upon
five almost hopeless boroughs? Has he lost him-
self amongst the Woods and Forests ? The Attor-
ney-General himself is also, if we remember rightly,
a friend to the Ballot. We shall have no pity
for a Cabinet in which the Ballot is an open ques-
tion, if it will continue doggedly to refuse a trial
of it in any shape or form. Minority members,
and disfranchising voters on a confession obtained
by promises of immunity, are infinitely more at
variance with all our English habits and feelings
than secret voting. To this it must and will
come at last. Indeed we question whether the
disfranchisement of all who have confessed to
receiving bribes would not leave ten times as
many in each constituency who have been bribed
by hopes, or fears, or flatteries, as degrading to
them, in their station, as the few pounds to the
needy man by whom they are received. All these
can be emancipated by the Ballot alone.

Colonial Church Disabilities might really be
removed very easily, and with satisfaction to all
parties. It is only to carry out the colonial sys-
tem which is now so fully recognised by all our
statesmen, and to give up all interference on the
part of Government with Colonial Churches, and
the whole thing is settled. As we observed last
year, Mr. WALPOLE was perfectly right in refus-
ing to impair the supremacy of the Crown, while
Mr. GLADSTONE was right in wishing the Epis-
copal Church to enjoy in the colonies the liberty
necessary for efficiency ;—.a liberty, as Lord JOHN
RUSSELL pleaded on Monday, enjoyed by Catho-
lics, Wesleyans, and all but Episcopalians. Mr.
BETHELL'S Bill, then, should have but one clause,
a clause declaring that henceforth in all our colo-
nies, properly so called, the Episcopal Church was
entirely freed from any legalised ecclesiastical
connection with the Church of the mother
country ; that such connection with the Colonial
Government as it seemed fit to the colonists
to establish or allow, should be left to
the colonists and their Church ; but that
all connection with the Church of England at
home should be purely voluntary. No one seams
to know precisely what are the links which at pre-
sent unite the Colonial and the Mother Churches.
Lord JOHN RUSSELL thought they might be re-
duced to one, the nomination of their Bishops by
the Crown. If this be all, nothing would seem to
be easier than to say to our colonists, "Choose your
own Bishops as many, and as you please ; give
the Colonial Governments power to name them if
you like, which probably you will not prefer, but
take the matter into your own hands. Our own
Bishops are quite enough for us." Lord JOHN RUS-
SELL'S parallel between the allegiance of Colonial
Catholics to Rome and of Colonial Wesleyans to
the English Conference would then hold through-
out, since that allegiance is entirely non-political.
Even Mr. HADFIELD, and the Member for Rochdale,
would probably vote cordially for such an arrange-
ment, since their only objection to Church freedom
in the colonies is the connection between their
churches and the Government of the mother country.
We presume that both these extreme Nonconformist
members, and those who think with them, would
be perfectly satisfied were the whole business
turned over to the Colonial Churches, govern-
ments, and people. The supremacy of the Crown,
which we hope Mr. WA.I.Ponn will continue vigi-
lantly to guard, could not be trenched upon if the
Colonial Church was declared to be a Colonial
and not a Crown affair. All regulations made by
Synods then would have only the force of volun-
tary rules, or, if the Much was endowed by the
Colonial Legislature, would come under the cog-
nisance of the Colonill Government as purely
colonial matters. Mr. GLADSTONE, on the other
hand, could not object to the Bishops being nomi-
nated and consecrated for the Colonial Churches
in any way by which ii was preferred to keep up
the ecclesiastical connexion with Canterbury and
the Mother Church. He would have at once his
Spiritual Freedom and his Church Unity.

MONEY MARKET

AND
COMMERCIAL INTELLIGENCE,

CITY, TWO O'CLOCK.
The sales of cotton at Liverpool yesterday were
estimated at 5,000 bales, with a heavy market, and
prices had a downward tendency. The sales com-
prised 4,000 American, 300 Egyptian at bed. to
74d., 500 Surat at 3d. to 41d., and 30 Sea Island
at ls. lid. to ls. Bd. per lb. Railway Shares
were quiet, but dull.
The following communications show the very
great interest felt at the outports in the promotion
of Tribunals of Commerce :
" TRIBUNALS OP COMMERCE ASSOCIATION.
" 12, Mark-lane, 23d March, 1854.
" Sir,—Will you permit me through your columns to
inform your many mercantile readers that last week the
Mayor of Bristol, the President of the Chamber of Com-
merce, the Vice-Presidents, and about 50 of the leading
merchants and shipowners of that city, became sub-
scribers to our fund. This example, we have no doubt,
will be followed by other towns, and thus we shall be
enabled shortly, we hope, to do what our President the
Right Hon. Lord Beaumont has now recommended,
viz.—gay some clear and intelligible plan before the
country.'
" Up to the present time, by advice from the highest have avoided details, dealing only with
the narrow end of the wedge—we have now studied all
that can be said about the necessity of 'a strict observ-
ance of the forms prescribed by law'— the fact that
custom creates no right' in law,--and that to sub-
mit a Tribunal of Commerce to the control of a superior
law court would be an absurdity.' As soon as our funds
afford us the means of bringing needful talent to our aid,
we shall meet, and, we hope, conquer these objections
as our continental neighbours have.
"I am, sir, yours very obediently,
"FRANCIS LYNE. Chairman."
The Turkish Loan has at last been announced,
and the amount is 2,200,0001. The price is to be
85 for a 6 per cent, stock, redeemable in 15 years
by equal annual drawings. The dates at %.hich
the several instalments are to be paid is not yet
announced.
The increasing tightness of the money market
has induced the banks to give more for money left
with them for employment, and much attention is
now directed to the future action of the Bank of
England. There is no unusual demand for money
to be employed for business purposes, but for ex-
portation the inquiry continues, and, as far as
present appearances go, is likely to be kept up.
There is no occasion to seek an explanation be-
yond the heavy charges we are entering upon
in our warlike preparations. The large arrivals of
grain must absorb some amount, but they are
partly from the United States. The corn specula-
tion now seems breaking up, and with fine weather
we shall expect prices to go still lower. There
will nevertheless be steady imports. The arrival
of more bullion from Australia is expected in the
course of a week or two, and it will no doubt be
immediately absorbed.
The last week's railway receipts ascertained up
to this day are in round figures as under :
1854. 1853.
Great Western
North-Western
South-Western
Brighton
Midland
2
South-Eastern 4,688 22,636
14,298 10,921
Caledonian, and Edin. and Glasgow 15,200 12,683
Great Northern 18,250 14,359
Lancashire and Yorkshire 17,592 17,478
The English Funds have been depressed again
this morning, but the business done has been
smaller. Consols have realised 894, and are now
only 89 to k. Exchequer Bills have been at par to
4s. premium, and East India Bonds at 3s. discount.
India. Stock has been at a decline to 230.
Foreign Securities have been heavy generally,
and Russian are still giving way. Looking at the
gigantic combination against that empire, and the
exhaustive process through which she must go in
defending herself, many consider the Bonds to be
even now 10 per cent, above their value. The
holders in Holland are very numerous, and they
are justly alarmed. The 5 per Cents. have fallen
to 77i e. No business has been transacted in
Dutch Bonds. Mexican Stock is worth 224 to 23,
and Peruvian 56. Danish 5 per Cents, have been
at 92 ex dividend.

Tha Railway share Market is heavy again and
many of the English lines are cheaper. The North-
Western and Eastern Counties are flat. French
shares are nominal, and nothing is doing in the
other foreign lines.

The shares of the Land Companies have been
falling. Australian Agricultural are about V.
down, and Peel River 4 to
The Bank Shares of Australia are heavy, and
Mines of all descriptions are nearly nominal. This
remark applies even to the English mines.

BRITISH FUNDS THIS DAY AT ONE O'CLOCK,
(From the Official List. )

3 per Cent. Consols Annuities Rosiness doneB9l i it
India Stock 230
India Bonds, £lOOO . . —
Ditto, under £lOOO 3 d
Consols for Account 18th April B9i 9 it
Exchequer Bills, 2d.
£IOOO
PRICE OF FOREIGN FUNDS AT ONE O'CLOCK.
Danish Bonds, 1825, 3 per Cent —
Ditto 5 per Cent .
biexican 3 per Cent
Peruvian Bond; 4a per Cent. 56 x d
Russian Bonds, 1822, 5 per Cent. £ St — x d
Ditto 4i per Cent 784 74 1
Spanish Bonds, 3 per Cent —
Ditto Passive (Converted)
Dividends on the above payable in London.
HALF•PAST TWO.
Console B9i i
Ditto April Account B9 i