The Sun.
London, England, 1841-12-31 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, FRIDAY, DECEMBER 31. 1841.

MANUFACTURERS VERSUS LAND-
O WNERS.

Mr. Cobden has addressed a letter to the manufac-
turers, mill-owners, and other capitalists, of every shade,
of political opinion, engaged in the various branches of
the cotton trade, in the district of which Manchester is
the centre, of which the following is a copious extract :
" You have been compelled to adjust the price of la-
bour to the market price of its products ; in other
words, you have reduced the wages of your operatives,
in consequence of the diminished value of your manufac-
tures. However deeply to be regretted, this is not to
me an unexpected occurrence ; for when I look around
and find that many employers are ruined, and that
the remainder have been carrying on their business for
some years at a sacrifice, I know that great privations
and sufferings must in consequence fall upon the
working population. Still, you have had to per-
form an irksome and distressing task—one, too, that
always entails, however undeservedly, a large amount
of odium on a master. Through your agency
the incomes of your dependants have been curtailed,
a diminution of their comforts must follow, even a
restriction in the quantity of their food will in some
cases be the consequence ; whilst young children, de-
prived of education, will be forced to labour still more
prematurely to eke out the pittance of their parents.
Contentment and cheerfulness will thus be banished
from your industrious neighbours' homes, and they will
be filled with sorrow and disaffection. I know that
you arc not the willing or the interested authors of
these evils. I know that, as a class, your sufferings
are as severe as those of the working population, and
that the interests of both are indissoluble. So far from
low wages being the concomitant of high profits, your
greatest prosperity has always been accompanied with
the most liberal and satisfactory remuneration of your
workpeople. Since 1835, the scale of earnings has
been considerably reduced ; would you not gladly ex-
change your present trade for the business and wages
of the above year?
But, still, let me press upon your attention the fact
that you are made the involuntary instruments of in-
flicting great privations and sufferings upon your work-
people ; and it is on this ground that I venture to en-
treat you to institute an inquiry, in the same calm,
business-like spirit, and the same absence of partisan-
ship with which you regulate the wages of your opera-
tives, into the remote causes which force you to a re-
duction of wages. 1 beg that you will analyze the
meaning of this word "protection ;" and the two ques-
tions which I would in the first place submit for your
consideration are—What protection have the cotton
spinners and manufacturers by law for the prices of
their productions? and what legal protection have the
operatives for the value of their labour? Your whole
case depends upon the answers to these questions ; and
Lord Stanley answered them at Lancaster, by admit-
ting that you have no protection. He added, more-
over, that " the cotton trade required no protection."
There his Lordship was in error ; for you will find that
it requires to be protected against that system of legis-
lation which cripples it with restrictions and prohibi-
tions, end taxes the food of its operatives, for the pro-
tection of the proprietors of farming land. It needs
only this protection to ensure its prosperity.
During the last four years, bread and provisions have
been dearer than for any similar consecutive period for
a quarter of a century, and, whilst the value of agri-
cultural lands and rents have been rising in proportion,
your fixed capital has depreciated in value nearly one
half, the wages of labour have suffered a diminution,
and great numbers of the operatives are now unem-
ployed. Take an individual instance of the depre-
ciation in the value of property in Stockport. 1
allude to the case of Mr. -----, with which some
of you are familiar. After thirty years of incessant
industry, he had accumulated property in mills,
machinery, houses, cottages, and building land, eAi-
mated six years ago at the value of upwards of 100,000/.
He is now penniless. The property had been mort-
gaged for 15,000/., and such is its depreciation, that it
is doubtful it the mortgagee could at this moment be
fully repaid. Had that capital been invested in farm-
ing land, its value would have been sustained by Act of
Parliament. But I put it to you, gentlemen, in the face
of these facts, what protection has the manufacturer or
spinner?
I do not expect that the advocates of the food mono-
poly will in future urge the argument, that land is ex-
clusively and unduly taxed, for it has led to the develop-
ment of facts which they would have done wisely to
have concealed. Let me, however, recommend one item
for your consideration. The land-tax* in England, the
only direct and exclusive impost paid by our landowners,
amounts to about 1,200,000/. per annum, and, including
the amount redeemed, it forms only a thirtieth of our
whole taxation ; whilst in France, Austria, Prussia, and
Italy the land contributes one-half of the entire reve-
nue, and if the landowners of this kingdom were the
proprietors of estates of equal value in either of those I
countries, they would be taxed at least twenty millions
sterling a year for the service of the State. You will
find, on investigation, that, so far from the landed pro-
prietors of England being more heavily taxed than the
manufacturing population, " no other country in Eu-
rope," to ott.ote the words of Mr_ I-1 ockisson, "has so
large a proportion of its taxation hearing directly upon
the incomes of labour and productive capital." Why,
then, should not the British agriculturist be equally
able now, as seventy years ago, to compete with the
foreigner, provided his rent should be fully adjusted ?
Why should it not be as much in his power as yours to
inset competition abroad, seeing that you are the more
heesil taxed of the two ?
But he is no longerlealled upon to seek his customers
abroad. Recollect that the owners of farming land in
this country have the ens iable advantage of possessing
a market for their produce at their own doors, whereas
their foreign competitors must pay, on an average, IW.
a quarter for freight and expenses, before they can land
their grain upon our shores.
On the other hand, beer in mind that you are
obliged to send abroad three-fourths of the cotton spun
and manufactured, because you cannot find a market for
it at home. You are compelled to meet your foreign
rivals at their own doors, after paying freight, expenses,
and their import duty.
Again, do Lot forget that the goods you sell in the
home market are purchased by the landowners at the
same price as that paid to you by the foreigner ; they
pay you the same amount in money only for a piece of
cotton which the German or American pays, whilst you
are compelled by law to give them 40 per cent. more
money for their corn than you might buy it for in Ger-
many or America.
Above all, Gentlemen, remember that your work-
people are compelled to compete with the foreign arti-
san, although their food costs them 40 per cent. mare
than the price paid by the latter. There is no protec-
tion for your operatives. The, law which raises the
price of tneir bread does not enhance the value of tl.e:r
labour. The manufacturer and spinner abroad buy their
cotton at the same price as yourselves ; they sell their
goods in the neutral markets alongside your own.
It is obvious, then, that your operatives must
produce as cheaply as the foreigner. How is this
effected ? By greater toil, activity, and skill ; by
doubling their spinning frames, increasing their speed,
and every other expedient which gives augmented
value to their labour. Still we are told that the
English workman earns higher money wages than his
Continental competitor. True, and we have seen how
he does so ; if he did not, he would fail to secure an
equal quantity of food. But they who tell us that
wages are lower on the Continent than in England,
because the weekly earnings there are less, forget alto-
gether to take into account the difference in the
quality of the workmen. If we would make a fair
comparison between the wages of the English and the
foreign artisan, we must consider not only the time
they work, but compare the result of their labour.
If measured by this standard, the English operative
will be found to be the cheapest workman in Europe.
If you will examine the subject dispassionately, and
with the same absence of party political feeling with
which you adjust the rate of wages, you will arrive at
the unanimous conviction that you are the victims of
partial legislation ; and you will feel that your duty to
yourselves, your dependents, and your country, calls
upon you to unite in a struggle to secure the un-
doubted birthright of Englishmen—Equal laws. You
are not required to enter upon a contest for the triumph of
tbis or that political party, to seek constitutional changes,
or to array yourselves against the authority of the
executive Government ; you are merely called upon to
endeavour to place yourselves upon an equality, before
the laws, with a body of your fellow-subjects who have,
by their influence over the legislature, encroached
upon your rightful interest. Contests like this, between
different bodies of citizens, must often occur in every
free country ; and it is only by keeping a vigilant guard
over their own interest that the different sections of
such a community as ours can long preserve themselves
from injustice.

An enviable distinction awaits the man, or the
body of men, who shall place the question of Free
Trade beyond the pale of politieal faction. This
achievement may be yours! You have been compelled,
without distinction of party, to reduce the rate of
wages paid to your workmen. Think ! if it be not
your duty to deliberate upon that system of commer-
cial policy which presses you down upon tha
operative, and compels you to diminish his hard
earnings? Never must it be said that
you cannot
suspend party animosities more readily to improve
than
to impair the condition of your depen-
dants. Let your regard for their welfare constrain you ,
to meet without distinction of party to confer together
upon a subject in which you are all equally interested.
Banish from your counsels every party predilection.
Let no mares opinions upon Church or State policy be
invaded or compromised. Regard him as a traitor to
your interests and his own, who,
at such a conference,
shall breathe a syllable about Tory, Whig, or Radical.
Ina word, enter upon the consideration of the question

* Properly speaking, there is no tax upon the land of
this country. 1. he land-tax, so called, is merely a rent-
charge payable to the State, in commutation of services
previously rendered to the Crown. The land-tak is a
condition of the tenure of laud in this country.

of protection in the same dispassionate temper in which
you deliberate each in his own concern upon the rate of
wages, and you will separate in one mind upon the sub-
ject. Thenceforth we should be united as a trading
community upon commercial matters, although sepa-
rated into parties as before upon other public ques-
tions. Political contests might still be waged amongst
us, but the combatants would range themselves under
banners bearing the same motto of—Free Trade and no
Monopoly. Mr. Cobden concluded by eloquently call
ing on the other manufacturers to unite fur their own
protection.

MODE OF RECEPTION INTO THE
ORDER OF THE TEMPLE.
Being asked as to the mode of his reception, he states
that when William de la More, the Master, held his
chapter at the Preceptory of Temple Bruyero in the
county of Lincoln, he sought of the assembled brethren
the habit and the fellowship of the order ; that they
told him that he little knew what it was he asked, in
seeking to be admitted to their fellowship ; that it would
be a very hard matter for him, who was then his own
master, to become the servant of another, and to have
no will of his own ; but, notwithstanding their represen-
tations of the rigour of their rules and observances, he
still continued earnestly to seek their habit and fellow-
ship. He states that they then led him to the chamber
of the Master, where they held their chapter, and that
there, on his bended knees, and, with his hands clasped,
he again prayed for the habit and the fellowship of the
Temple ; that the Master and brethren then required
him to answer questions to the following effect :—Whe-
ther he had a dispute with any man, or owed any debts?
whether ho was betrothed to any woman ? and whether
he had any secret infirmity of body ? or knew of any-
thing to prevent him from remaining within the bosom
of the fraternity ? And having answered all these ques-
tions satisfactorily, the Master then asked of the sur-
rounding brethren, " Do ye give your consent to the
reception of brother Walter ?" who unanimously an-
swered that they did ; and the Master and the brethren
then standing up, received him, the said Walter, in this
manner :—On his bended knees, and with his hands
joined, he solemnly promised that he would be the per-
petual servant of the Master, and of the order, and of
the brethren, for the purpose of defending the Holy
Land. Having done this, the Master took out of the
hands of a brother chaplain of the order the book of
the Holy Gospels, upon which was depicted a cross,
and laying his hands upon the book and upon the cross,
he swore to God and the blessed Virgin Mary to be for
ever thereafter chaste, obedient, and to live without pro-
perty. A❑d then the Master gave to him the white
mantle, and placed the coif upon his head, and admitted
him to the kiss on the mouth, after which he made him
sit down on the ground, and admonished him to the fol-
lowing effect : that from thenceforth he was to sleep in
his shirt, drawers, a❑d stockings, girded with a small cord
over his shirt ; that he was never to tarry in a house
where there was a woman in the family way ; never to
be present at a marriage, nor at the purification of wo-
men ; and likewise instructed and informed him upon
several other particulars. Being asked where he had
passed his time since his reception, he replied that he
had dwelt three years at the preceptory of Blancradok
in Scotland ; three years at Temple Newsom in Eng-
land ; one year at the Temple at London ; and three
years at Aslakeby.—Addison's History of the Knights
Templars.

LAW INTELLIGENCE.
COURT OF BANKRUPTCY, Dec. 30.
IN THE MATTER OF BR -)01i V. 13E001+1.
The bankrupts were extensive drapers, carrying on
business in Stourbridge, and appeared in Court on the
proof of debts and choice of assignees.
Debts having been proved to the amount of about 2,5001.,
in which was one proof by the bankrupt's brother for
1,0591., and another proof tendered by the trustees of their
mother in a certain property, in which they possessed a
reversionary interest for 1,0001., Messrs. George Moore,
of Cheapside, laceman, and Wolfrey Middleditch, of
St. Paul's Church-yard, warehouseman, were appointed
assignees.

almost exhausted when two men opportunely arrived,
and the prisoner was given into custody. A large bundle,
containing blankets, sheets, and other property, which
the prisoner had tied up ready for removal, was found in
the room.

Sergeant Palmer stated that the prisoner had been re-
peatedly in custody on charges of felony, and was com-
mitted for three months a short time ago for stealing a
quantity, of cigars.
Mr.BINGHAm commended the young woman for the
spirited self-possession she had displayed in the matter,
and said he should commit the prisoner fbr
LAMBETH-STREET.

Yesterday Alexander Wilson, alias &miming, a well-
dressed and smooth-tongued Scotchman, was brought
before Mr. NORTON, for final examination, on a charge
of stealing four knives and forks, the property of Mr.
Robinson, an eating-house-keeper, in Whitechapel-road.
From the evidence it appeared that on the 22d inst.
the prisoner entered the parlour of the prosecutor, and
called for dinner. The waiter, having recognised him
as having paid a former visit to the house, on which
occasion a valuab!e Bible and several knives and forks
were missing shortly after he was gone, not only ap-
prised his master of his second appearance, but kept a
close lookout, and saw him go to a drawer, and put some
knives and forks into his pocket. When about to leave
the house Mr. Robinson stopped him. The prisoner
declared that poverty of the direst description alone had
driven him to the commission of the act, and so plausible
were his manners, that the prosecutor would have let him
go, had he not strong suspicion that he it was who
had stolen his family Bible. When brought to this
Court, the prisoner said he had kept a " whiskey" store
in Edinburgh ; but having unfortunately failed in busi-
ness he came to London, six months before, in the hope
of getting something to do, and though he had made
every effort to obtain even the most menial situation, he
was driven to the greatest state of distress, and this alone
had caused him to take the knives and forks ; but this
was his first offence. At this time he gave a fictitious
name and address, but ultimately gave his real name,
and said he lodged with his sister in Finsbury-street,
Finsbury-square, and on the policeman going he found
that the prisoner and a young woman, whom he repre-
sented as his sister, occupied an elegantly-furnished
room, in which there were a number of books, and
every thing betokening the greatest comfort. Unfortu
nately for his representation there was but one bed in
the room. The landlady described the prisoner as a per-
son who appeared to have an excellent competency, and
his manners at home were very different indeed to those
of a person in distress.
The policeman produced a number of books, some of
which were bound in the most costly manner, and others
were odd volumes, which had evidently been stolen from
some public libraries or coffee-rooms, as the names were
erased from many of them, and leaves cut out of others.
Mr. NORTON told the prisoner that to the character of
a petty thief was added that of a most impudent liar, and
a plausibility of manner which rendered him most dan-
gerous to society.
The prisoner was committed to the Quarter Sessions
for trial.