The Sun.
London, England, 1838-03-27 00:00:00

/ A

WITH WHICH THE "_TRUE SUN" IS NOW INCORPORATED

No. 14.208.

LONDON, TUESDAY EVENING, MARCH 27, 1838

PUBLICATIONS.

THE CORN QUESTION.

THE PILOT.—" Fear not, but trust in -Prov.
(fence," his late Majesty's favourite Song,
Written by THOMAS HAVNES BAYI.Y, Esq.
Price .9.5.

(From the WeeMy True Sun.)
An adherent of the Ministry, Colonel Seale, has this week
obtained a splendid triumph. He has actually got leave to in-
troduce a bill for " grinding foreign corn in bond." This
grand question was carried by a majority of :35. Surely the
list of the majority will be published in letters of gold. But
then how grievous is the reflection that the highly excited
hopes of the twenty-five or thirty millers who expect to benefit
by the measure are doomed to be blighted in the house of he-
reditary wisdom. Seriously this petty paltering legislation
upon commercial questions is only worthy of an assembly of
delegates from the nursery. Looking at the trade of a miller
alone, it would be quite fair that whether one man or
one thousand men found it beneficial to grind and re-
export Foreign Corn, permission to do so should be
given by law. But this is only a fraction of a deep
and universal injury to the community, and there is
no reason a few millers or a few shipowners should be released
from their share of the burthen it occasions. No, no ; let u=
have the voices of the millers to swell the shout of universal
execration which some day or other will be raised against the
upholders of general starvation. We cannot afford to permit
the shipowners to sink their cry of "No Corn Laws." The
squires are quite right in their opposition ; the very scent of
foreign flour must be an abomination in the nostrils of a land-
owner. If those mighty monopolists would take our advice,
we would tell them, abate not a jot of your pretensions, grind
the people to the earth, and take care that not even a grinding
capitalist escape. When once a breach has been made in the
outworks of an injustice, who knows how soon its citadel may
be stormed ? We trust the House of Lords will teach the in-
dustrious host of this country that stragglers are not safe, and
that the only hope of redress for the capitalist and the shop-
keeper is to cordially unite with the masses in demanding full
justice. That such will be the result there is no kind of doubt.
Yet though we rejoice in that blind selfishness which will
ultimately lead to its own destruction, we cannot forbear to
contrast the conduct of the corn monopolists, in respect to
their own interests, with the manner in which they deal with
the interests of the weak and unprotected.
The legislature of landlords says not an atom of cheap grain
shall come into,this kingdom ; " we will rigidly exclude com-
petition even with our poorest soils ; no matter who starves so
that our rents be maintained." We venture not to dispute
the wisdom of monopoly, for those who thereby profit say that
it is wise. We desire not to call in question the honesty of
excluding competition in corn growing, for the exclusive corn
growers say that it is only common justice—to themselves.
,We scarcely dare to murmur out a suggestion, that consumers
of corn and employers of capital have interests to be con-
sidered, for the corn growers tell us, with ferocious yells, that
all must perish rather than the landed interest be thwarted in
its wildest freaks. Be it so. We are the slaves of the laud-
owners, and " to hear is to obey."
With all submission, we endeavour to educe arguments in
'favour of the tyranny of our tyrants, and we believe that we
have found the true principle of legislation to consist in pro-
tecting actual interests against competition.
Delighted to have reduced even tyranny to a method, we
;east our mind's eye around, and to our surprise observe the
;self-same legislators who have so carefully protected them-
selves from competition, endeavouring, by no small pains and
with enormous injustice, to promote competition against the
fortunate owners of labour in British Guiana. Here the con-
victions we had attained to with difficulty must be reversed.
Monopoly of high wages is unwise, although the free negroes,
the receivers of wages, assert its wisdom. Combinations to
raise the price of labour are criminal, notwithstanding, the ex-•
elusive owners of labour maintain them to be honest and use-
fel_to themselves. Consumers of sugar and coffee-growing
capitalists are entitled to introduce competing workmen, al-
though the native labourers declare such competition injurious
to their interests.
How are these things to be reconciled, for both must be
right, since both are done by those who (for our sins) are set
in authority over us? We must again seek for a new princi-
ple, we beat about for fresh arguments, and we conclude that
principles vary with localities and races of of men. Justice on
the eastern side of the Atlantic is not justice on the western.
Protection, which is right when applied to the interest of the
British landowner, is wrong when applied to the negro la-
bourer. Monopoly in favour of the white corn grower may be
carried out ahnsst to the ruin of his country's trade : monopoly
in favour of the black hoer of sugar-canes must not be allowed
to trench upon the profits of the planter. Such are the ano-
malies sanctioned by our rulers. And unless we suppose the
simple rule to be to support the rich against the poor—the
strong against the weak—the few against the many—we can
find no clue to the dispensations of our lords and masters.

CA urrioN.—The extraordinary popularity of this beautiful Song
having induced other Publishers to adopt the same title, the Musi-
cal Public are respectfully informed that the only true and Genuine
Edition of " THE PILOT" has the words " Pear not, but trust
in Providence," and is published by Leoni Lee, 48, Albemarle_
street, London; where may be had Sporle's elegant Ballad, " The
Winter's Wreath." Price 2s.

SOCIETY OF BRITISH ARTISTS.
THE EXHIBITION of the SOCIETY of
BRITISH ARTISTS, Suffolk-street, Pall-mall East, IS
NOW OPEN from Nine in the Morning till Six in the Evening.
Admission Is.

MR. QUIN'S NEW WORK.
Just ready, in 3 vols., post Svo.

H. E. DAWE, Secretary.

CONTRACT FOR CANDLES AT WOOLWICH.
DliP ART MEN(' OF THE STOREKEF.PER_GENERAI, OF
THE NAVY, SOMERSET-PLACE, MARCH 23, MS,
THE COMMISSIONERS for EXECUTING
the OFFICE of LORD HIGH ADMIRAL of the
UNITED KINGDOM of GREAT BRITAIN and IRELAND,
do hereby give Notice, that on THURSDAY, the 12th April next,
at One o'clock, they will be ready to treat with such Persons as may
be willing to Contract for supplying her Majesty's Dock Yard at
Woolwich with

_ ~. ..
N 0 U 1 M A II A L.
AN ORIENTAL ROMANCE.
By M. J. QUIN, Esq.
Author of " A Steam Voyage down the Danube, &c.
henry Colburn, Publisher, 13, Great Murlborough-street.
4',„' Orders received by all Booksellers.

MRS. TROLLOPE'S " VIENNA and the AUSTRIANS."
Now ready, in 2 vols. Bvo.,
MRS. TROLLOPE'S NEW WORK
VIENNA AND THE AUSTRIANS."
Embellished with
• Fourteen Characteristic Engravings, by Hervieu,
• Richard Bentley, New Burlington-street,
Publisher in Ordinary to her Majesty.

THE NEW NOVEL, by the AUTHOR of " THE WHITE

MAN'S GRAVE."
Just ready, in 2 vols., post Svo.
H E MAN WITHOUT SOUL,
A NOVEL.

By FRANCIS HARRISON RANKIN, Esq.
Author of " The White Man's Grave," &c.
Richard Bentley, New Burlington-street.
*„'' Orders reeeived by all Booksellers.

THE NEW NOVEL BY " THE OLD SAILOR."
In l.
TOPSAIL 3vo
SsHpEostEBvo.T, BLOCKS
Or, THE NAVAL FOUNDLING.
By " THE OLD SAILOR."
Author of " Tough Yarns,"," Nights at Sea,"
" Land and Sea Tales," &c.
IS NOW READY,
Richard Bentley, New Burlington-street.
Orders received by all Booksellers.

CHEAP EDITION OF CAPTAIN MARRYAVS NOVELS,
Each Work complete in One Volume, price only Six Shillings !
With the Magazines, on the 31st inst., oomplete in One Volume,
price 65., embellished with Engravings, T
" K I N G'S W N.
By CAPT. MARRY AT, R.N.
Also, just published,
JACOB FAITHFUL. I PETER SIMPLE.
JAPHET IN SEARCH OF A FATHER.
Richard Bentley, New Burlington-street.
Orders received by all Booksellers.

MR. G. P. R. JAMES'S NEW WORK.
Just published, in 2 vols. Bvo., embellished with numerous Portraits,
THE LIFE AND TIMES OF
LOUIS THE FOURTEENTH.
By G. P. R. JAMES, Esq.
Author of " Darnley," " Richelieu," " Do L'Orme," tic.
" An agr, cable and diversified narrative."—Atlas.
" A valuable contribution to our literature. The narrative is
full, clear, and satisfactory "—Spectator.
Richard Bentley, New Burlington. street,
Publisher in Ordinary to her Majesty.

This day was published, in 2 vols. post Bvo., with Illustrations, IBs.
RIVER AND THE DES ART.
By MISS PARDOE.
There are few pages of this work in which it would be difficult
to trace that power, whether of abstract reflection, or of graphic
description, that gives so much earnestness, force, and varied beauty
to Miss Pardoe's series of pictures of The City of the Sultan.' "
—Court Journal.

Henry Colburn, Publisher, 13, Great Marlborough-street.
Of whom may be had,
THE CITY OF THE SULTAN.
A New Edition, in 3 vols. small Bvo., with numerous Illustrations.

OF GEOMETRY.
Just published in Bvo., part 1, price 2s. 6d., with 30 original
Problems, and the one of Napoleon Buonaparte to his Staff,
THE ARCANUiVI, comprising a concise theory
of Practicable, Elementary, and definitive Geometry,
By JOHN BENNETT, Engineer.
. —„..

London : John Bennett, 4, Three-Ttni-Passa7e, Newgate-
street ; and Sunpkin, Marshall and Co., Sherwood and Co., and
all Booksellers, of whom may be had, by the same Author-1. The
Pocket Director, for Milwrights and Engineers, Bs. 6d. 2. The
Pocket Director for Carpenters, CabinJt-makers, Builders and
Smiths, 4s.

THE ASIATIC JOURNAL for April con-
tains a large mass of Intelligence from all parts of the
East, by overland conveyance, down to the end of January, em-
bracing topics of considerable interest from the Presidencies, Cey-
lon, Singapore, the Cape of Good Hope, Burnish, Siam, China,
Dutch India, &c.—the new Tariff of Duties in Java—Difference
between the British Superintendent and the Local Authorities at
Canton—Critical State of the Foreign Trade in China—Operations
of the Dutch Boers in Southern Africa, &c.—The List of Promo-
tions and Changes in the Services in British India is unusually ex-
tensive.—Time Original Articles include:—Review of Eastern
News—Voyage in the Red Sea—Vow of Sunjogta.—Mr. Wilkin-
son's " Manners of the Ancient Egyptians"—The Angels of Life
—The " Black Act"—Adventures of Frank Hartley, No. 11.-
-Proceedings of Societies at home and abroad—Examination at
the College of Fort St. George—Critical Notices of Books—De-
bate at the East India`House, &c. &c.
Win. H. Allen and Co., 7, Leadenhall-street.

On Friday morning, between seven and eight
o'clock, two bricklayers, named Henry Pearce and Edward
Hopkins, while at work on a scaffold erected to the second
story of a Louse in Barnesbury_street, Islington, were preci-
pitated to the ground, owing to one of the putlogs slipping
from its hold in the brickwork. Pearce had his right leg broken
in twu places, and Hopkins, in falling, struck his chin against
the top of a door in the area with such violence, that the bone
of the lower jaw was shattered into several pieces ; he also
sustained a violent concussion of the brain. The unfortunate
men were removed in a state of great suffering to the Univer-
sity College Hospital.

On Monday last a weaver of Howard-town, Glos-
sop, enlisted into the army, and went to his late employer,
Mr. Wood, accompanied by another recruit named Peter
Downs, and demanded a week's wages then due to him. Mr.
Wood refused to pay him, it being a rule of the trade that
persons leaving without notice forfeit their wages. Downs
took the man's part, and behaved with great violence, assault_
ink Mr. Wood, who gave him into the custody of a constable.
Whilst the officer was conducting him to the house of the
Magistrate, Downs swore that he would either kill the oflic9r
or himself, at the same time giving him a paper to read, which
be said would convince him that he bad no right to take him
into custody. As the constable was looking at the paper he
perceived Downs make a lun,=e at him with a knife, which he
most providentially_ avoided by stepping back ; but before he
could seize the man's hand, Downs plunged the knife into his
own breast, and died in about two minutes. An inquest was
held bow yesterday,d but the verdict has not transpired.
n t
—by he
R

The vine is not the Husbandman. Christ is God's.

CHRISTIE'S DISCOURSES on the DIVINE
UNITY. Fourth Edition. 3s.

If any stranger to Christianity, having read once, or a hundred
times, the narratives of the Evangelists, were told that one of the
leading objects of Christ's discourses was to prove himself equal to
God, would he not set down his informant a stark-staring mad?
G. Fawdon, May's-buildings, St. Martin's-lane.

No. 10, LUDGATE-HILL.—A NEW DISCOVERY.
il-VIONS. JAMES M. MALLAN, Surgeon
Dentist, No. 10, Ludgate-hill, olTosite the Bell Sauvage
Inn, continues to RESTORE DECAYED TEETH, however large the
cavity, with his celebrated MINERAL SUCCEDANEUM, without
PAIN, HEAT, or PRESSURE—it hardens into enamel, allays the most
excraciating pale, and lasts for many years, preventing the necessity of
extraction.

The following
DUTIES (SeOTLAND).
rice" len•oduce ofeyac'elen'vnegyanaCiisnegs•
areSe.xrtArftl;:from some just remarks on the subject subject written in
decreasedeTx from
yet neither the
the last number of the Scotsinun :
of
eons v obvious that a
p title uht.rou2:r
3te;d to get thesehB, ,tooi
into
duties
nor the
pifsenrtroeaoni
nfnsBeipsdi
sse7ti
hro, considerable bno 11 ell
asslvt6cpea:
)amoetrolvptao
}dr.douafittniiteitealsl
attempted
reduced.
In the Bill for consolidating the Stant -d •
Parliament a year or two ago, (but not yet passed) 1 -
posed—as will be discovered in a careful examinati 't
is
pro-
crease still further the stamp-duties on conveyances and mt°oi;ti--
gages, although it is obvious, from the great decrease
proved abortive.
mentioned, and which affects England as well ass,„wedhaN,i7e
that this branch of business is already over-taxed. B—uot—iat"i;
ainveremedyin
not merely the conveyances which are greatly overch
duty, but also the conveyancers. No other branch oafrged with
ttoimeobsthaoinuldrebleielfosht
fession, nor any other trade or profession, i, so highly. the pro
taxed ;
pre-
sent cumbrous and expensive system of conveyaneingg thethe
portunity which will probably present itself in thisl "-
present
session of Parliament, on the introduction of the now Stamp
vetN S'b i lteh,e therefore,il sttenlP attempts
Bill, should not be lost, of attempting to b '
o tain a reduction
of the Stamp-duties oa conveyances and conveyancers, an ob-
ject in which the public and the profession are equally inte-
rested. At the same time, we see no
.occasion why the Stamp.
duties in Ireland should continue, is still proposed, one-half
lower than in Scotland ; for it :sidais is eulous to allege that, to the
poorer classes of Irishmen, it ' of any consequence on what
amount of stamp the conveyancel is written, or whether silver
plate pays 9cl. or Is. 6d. an ounce of duty. Justice to Scot-
land requires that Ireland should not be exempted from her
fair share of the public burdens.
A curious compilation '
the title of " Paris floral" ' trot yet published, bearing
, contains the following matrimonial
statistics of this o
capital in 1837 :
Wives who have deserted their husbands ... 1,132
Husbands who have deserted their wives... 2,348
Couples legally
separated
living ' in open variance
living in secret variance 13,279
mutually indifferent
-- reputed happy
-- nearly happy
—.. truly happy ll
7,- Gallfinani's m ...,--,,,,,

......
LOOSE TEETH FASTENED whetherarising from A GE,NEGLEcr,
DISEASE of the GUMS, or the USE of CALOMEL.
I NCORRODIBLE ARTIFICIAL TEETH, from a SINGLE ONE
to a COMMETE SET, matching exactly in form or colour the adjoin-
ing ones. Thee teeth will not corrode or become discoloured ; they are
fixed without WIRES or other LIGAIURES, on a principle which at
ords support to the adjoining teeth, however loose, and answer every
purpose of MASTICATION and ARTICULATION.
To clergymen and public orators, labouring under defective renuncia-
tion, Monsieur J. M. MALL AN'S method of replacing Teeth will be
found peculiarly valuable, as it obviates all defects of articulation.
The use of Artificial Teeth, in some instances, has been found objec-
tainabb‘ by invalids taking medicines that have a tendency to discolour
them, or in the performance of op:rations which compo itheir removal,
perhaps, in the presence of an attendant or domestic ; Messrs. M., how.
aver, have been suceossful in removing thes: objections, by constructing,
teeth for those purposes of substances, and in such a manner as to render
them capatile of withstanding orects of the most inimical nature.
NATO It AI. TEETH PLACED on the above improved principle.
Charges as in Paris. Frans Ten till Five. No. 10. Ludgate hill.

_essenger. 96,834
A remarkable increase of steam navigation has taken
place in the communications with Greece. In the year
1834 one steam-boat went monthly from Falmouth to Patras,
touching at Gibraltar, Malta, and the lonian islands. At the
present time French steamers of 400 tons burden each leave
Marseilles every ten days for Athens, from thence to Con-
stantinople, and back again to Athens. Other French
steam-boats run from Alexandria to Athens, visiting that
city 108 times in the year. Austrian steamers leave Trieste
for Athens every fortnight, and revisit it on their return from
Constantinople and Alexandria. The ingress of these vessels
to the port of Athens is about 150 times in the year. Eng-
lish steamers now proceed once a fortnight from the Tower-
stairs to Patras on their way to Corfu, and again enter it on
these benefits Greece is mainly in,dplitekl 4, one of
that they visit Patras fifty-two time 10 the
ytl
eleairr . retFuorrn, so
our countrymen i.
Mr. ueorgo ct3olir:o4, who arranged the
plan, awl ill the Iwo, 1444 had a grant conceded to him by the
(ire 4 Qoyertatiiint far running- steam-boats between France,
Italy, and Greece. As. happens not unfrequetirly, tlie
with
-
with which steam-l-vo°atts.
jector himself has not shared at all iil tile ilenetitr. resulting_
from his own ingentslit,! '4 'he fteench Government stepped
in itml p.roenre4 -a ofwe
were forthwith
i t from o
equipped
tl I e
to
oppose
hip-4 competition too powerful to be witli§firoct,

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I , ,
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' -• ..„,..s. , . ......
la
..... ,-,lt k -•', \ - --'- 'fq vs)
, .•• . . ....„
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t\g'...k. I.'
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c 114), . . .
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„iv 16 i' c'l 1" c'-i- ~..,.4' ~ -,---..: , 7,.....,, i It'-' 0 .
-'• - . ,-.. -.....-::,
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4,.. •0" . - 4.
4.1,r•--•• ",
./."-N •tt 4 6 -t—% ••,' . • • VU,,, 1:‘. At, ro - •1) \ ---.- of 17 it ' '.- ',. ,„ ' 44, 4? 3r, •6. ~,'- '
7 ditip /i D I_Ni , *-0 AIDA)))))1)1 , *l. !;'_( , . tilV, „.., 0084' fl„ % --4 j -Z? 0 , ,-, \ 1,,W. - - ':-/
--.• „. • 4, ,-I. )- ,, . T . ,' •,,;-r--2t-
N.

PRICE sd.

A reduction of only Gd. a-day among the labouring popula-
tion of Great Britain, exclusive of their families, amounts to
.54,750,000/.. per annum, This enormous sum, at present cir-
culated in wages among slio;keepers and tradesmen, might at
first be added to the profits of manufacturers; but coutpeti
tion would soon reduce these to the old standard, and many of
those persons who are now ornployed in manufacturing or ex-
changing those few comforts the norking min is enabled to
purchase with the extra sixpence, would, if the redl:ti took
place, be soon forced to compete with him I.K. a subsistence.
l pu, i.ensfoed by strikes is
We pre.mme, therefore, that the
trifling when contrasted tiitlit 'illa greater evil. But we 0,,,1
be told that the 4110-otit of capital Hill not be lost ; True :
npitim i 4 the capital ptcduced by the ha'S-wyr.,tvd peazantr
of irotaud ; but it might. as welt '0- ir,4,:., as far as their as it Ittay.oi noir hearths and homes
comforts are concerned,
greater security is found for ifs
in desolation, and io.cri Where
employment:
~,... . - .

_ ..
1,3,7Q' of
charged with drunken, disalpttted habits, the conse-
quence of receiving too high Wag .1,, We deny the charge so
our
sweepingly made, cIINCIAIIy against the members of
unions 3 and lad
do we derby that high wages promote the
y.,1,1. Wit} few elkceptiorl,qw unions are composed of men who
willingly make tr,:-';;,,ut sacrifices to secure distant benefits, ha
§,e; ',PA viouttui; with diss4atioll. 13ut4 admitt;ag that the

THE TRADES' COMBINATION COM
MITTEE TO THE WORKING CLASSES.

FELLOW-Wonaeme.—lt would seem that every little ccasa-
tion from the daily toil, to which corrupt and partial institu-
tions have deomel us, is requ'red to be occupied is vigils: t
watchfulness; lest we fall still lower in the scale of poverty,
and lose those few trilling advantages our ueited energies have
justly preserve], despite of cupidity, avarice, and exclusive
power.
We have, through all past times, been a persecuted and ca-
lumniated class; our oppressors have bowel us to the earth,
and scorned us because we were down—they have kept know-
ledge from our reach, and taunted us with our ignorance—they
have goaded some to violence by their injustice, and sweep-
ingly condemned all as participators in the guilt.
Within these few months, the corrupt pens of the privileged,
and aspersious tongues of the idle and the wealthy, have been
industriously engaged in villifying and condemning the sons
of labour ; they hare magnified isolated acts of violence into
crimes of the blackest atrocity; they have sought to prevent
justice, by slander; and what they failed to substantiate by
facts, they have depicted in words of deadly meaning. They,
have not hesitated to condemn all our Unions, because guilty
individuals have been detected in some—as reasonably might
the Nobility of England be generally condemned as criminals,
because the most dishonourable crimes have been broteght
home to individual members.
But, fellow-countrymen, while we solemnly condemn all
acts of violence, we greatly question whether the violent pro-
ceedings of Unionists were the originating motives for this
• Parliamentary investigation. We rather suspect them to be
the anxious desire, for cheapened labour, and firr disuniting the-
peoole. Unions of the people are the weakness of their op-
pressors, and the cheap labour of the industrious is the gain
of the privileged orders of society—do we want any other •
reason to account for the inquiry ? We have been told that
Trades' Unions are mischievous monopolies. Well, so are
the exclusive monopolies of law-making between Peers and
ten-pounders—so are the Trades' Unions among lawyers-.-the
chartered monopolies of the East and West—the agricultural
monopoly is also highly mischievous—so are guzzling and use-
less corporations, and a multitude of others that might be
named. Therefore, why begin by condemning us? Simply,
friends, because our combinations may endanger the existence
of all the rest.
We arc gravely condemned for charging large sums for
admission into our unions; those who make the charge forget,
we presume, their own union fees. They also forget that the
capital we have honestly accumulated for the purpose of sup-
porting our members when out of employment ; when sick, ac-
cidentally wounded, or unfortunate ; or for burying them when
dead—cannot be justly shared with those who keep from us at
their pleasure, or join us at their convenience.
Our so called " insolent" dictation to employers has been
denounced in the strongest terms ; the presumption that work-
ing men should dare refuse to bow submission to their masters'
terms, or work with those who will, is indeed intolerable to
men of wealth and power. They choose not to remember our
toilsome condition from youth to age ; the threats and taunts
to which we are daily subject ;• the proscriptions and persecu-
tions we meet with in our efforts to sustain our wages ; the
documentary terms of base servility often proposed as the alter-
native of "work or starve ;" and, with all our care and fruga-
lity, the end of our industrious career, too often, in the Union
workhouse.
We have been recently assured by certain newspaper writers,
that all our combinations are ineffectual and mischievous, as
we cannot raise our wages above the natural level. Let us
hear what professors of political economy say on this subject.
The natural rate of wages, according to Dr. Smith, "is rot
only the commodities that are indispensably necessary for the
support of life, but whatever time custom of the country renders it
indecent for creditable people of the lowest order to be without."
You will perceive, therefore, if the working classes of England
are content with low diet, bad clothing, and mud cabins, they
will continue to compete with one another, till the natural
rate of wages is so reduced as only to procure such miserable
subsistence, instead of those superior comforts which their
increasing knowledge and industrial powers have established
as the "custom" of their country.
But, then, we shall be told that the amount of wages must
be governed by the supply of labourers with the demand for
their labour, and, therefore, it is a folly to combine to en-
deavour to force the price of labour in opposition to this law.
We reply, that Trade Unions do, to a great extent, regu-
late the number of labourers in the labour market. If,
for instance, the present demand for labour is only equal
to 100 labourers, and if there be 120 competing fur
this demand, without any union or understanding among
them, they will continue to undersell ono another till
their wages are brought down to the lowest point of subsist-
ence. But, if they unite in a trade society, and, by subscrib-
inetheir means, agree to take the twenty surf lus hands out
of market (by paying them, so much weekly), they cut off
takewages, advantage of any increased demand, and to get senploy-
inent for their twenty surplus lalsourers. Now, this is no fan-
eiful theory—it is the mode adopted by many trade societies in
town and country. _We will here pass over ether advantages,
such as support in sickness and old age, and aiding their sur-
plus numbers to emigrate, which many, societies embrace, and
confine ourselves more immediately to the question. But we
shall he told that there is a point beyond which we cannot force
our wages ; granted—but that is no reason why we should not
try to keep our present position, and maintain, as far as we
are able, a respectable class of workmen in the country in well
as shopkeepers and tradesmen who depend on them, who will
contend for comfortable subsistence, and, rather than be content
with less, will take refuse in other countries, if they cannot im-
prove the condition of their own.
But then it will be said, " that if we insist on high wages
we cannot meet foreign competition." In reply, we would
urge them not to forget the superior advantagea of a profita-
ble home consumption. For it wages are to he continually
reduced to meet foreign competition, there will be a gradual
lessening of our home trade; the respectable class of shop-
keepers and tradesmen, who are somewhat prosperous by rea-
son of the present wages of the working classes--if these
wages were reduced down, orally ways approximating, to those
of our unfortunate Irish brethren—would soon be driven from
the country, or sink into the same degraded class we should
all be reduced to—time mere starving conductors of the splendid
machinery of England; manufacturing to clothe the naked of
the world and be in rags ourselves. Nay, as low weelea tend
to perpetuate ignorance, and degrade and bruaelifte a people,
it is questionable whether the capital now employed 1.1-1 bur
extensive manufactures would havv ,guy security Mfr its exis-
tence; for as similar caused have prevented capital from
taking root in Irelaad, so might the boast of England be driven
to other climes,
But it has been said that we should retain the same amount
of wages if we had no combinations. " No," says Mr.
M'Culleeh (no bad judge by the way)—" No master," says
he, " ever willingly consents to raise wages ; and time claim
either of one, or of a few individuals, for an advance of wages,
is likely to be disregarded as long as their fellows continue to
work at the old rates. It is only when the whole or the Eteater
part of the workmen combine, or act in a sinneltaneous man-
ner (which is equivalent to a combination), and refuse to work
without receiving an increase of wi,ges, that it becomes the
interest of the master to cchiply with their deriiand." Our
own experience proves the truth of this, Without combina-
tion we should vapidly be reduced to the starvation /wait
amid, even with the advantages of union, we arc centinu.;ll;
being called upon to act on the defensive again:;, (1m employ):
ers, individually or eolleetively, who cannest resist the tempts..
tion of rodociug our wages in order to add to their profits.
tint, even when they are most ateeeeasful in their object, their
benefits are fleeting, as the competition between themselves
soon brings down their profits to their fornicr level,
The imm.nse sacrifice of capital occasioned by strikes has
been gri,atly lamented by soma persc4ns, and eloquently en-
larged upon to our pd by
But we would ask, do strikes
always originate with us are ours only remembered, while
those of our employers are justified or forgotten ? We at
ono adroit the evils of the sacrifice, and have generally I
the strongest reasons for lamenting it-,.we see and feel
result in our erg and our homes. time
But have these persons calculated the sacrifice and consi-
dered the result qf our aubmissicom to any reduction our em-
ployers might propose without a struggle? We respectfully
submit our own experience, that the immediate loss
is future
gain,.not only to us, but to society at large, in preserving the
working classes from poverty and ignorance, the inevitable re-
sult of low waeos—clearly demonstrated in every country
where men are badly paid for their labour. If ho combination
existed among us, and emplopra eould freely tolect the over.
burthened and timid poyiltm of their workmen propos their
own selfish 'ierv:llq terms, the cenaequences ►
would be soon
'1PP417,0 Fongtte; Us—hypocrisy, cunning, and tame servility
would be ;generated— and a hundred men in one employ would afford a hundred instrument:, far reducing all to the same de-
graded level.