The Sun.
London, England, 1870-02-05 00:00:00

WHAT MA Y BE DONE WITH OUR OLD
FLEET.

The Engineer has an article on the conversion of some
of our screw line-of-battle ships into monitors, some for
sea service and others for coast defence. The late Board
of Admiralty were so much im pressed with the sug-
gestions made by Mr. Henwood that they directed
the working drawings, and details of weights of
H.M.S. Duncan to be supplied to Mr. Henwood
that he might work out his proposals for a particular ship.
In the current number of the Engineer illustrations are
given, showing what may be produced by converting
the Duncan into a coast defence monitor, on the breast-
work system as adopted by the Admiralty from the plans
of Captain Cowper Coles. It has been thought by some
persons that these line-of-battle ships would not be
sufficiently strong to carry so much armour, but the
case of the Ocean, sister ship to the Duncan, proves the
strength of converted line-of-battle ships. She is armour-
plated from stem to stern, from a depth of about six feet
below the water to the height of the upper deck, with
plates 4in. thick. If the armour extended to half the
height, it might, of course, be double the thick-
n‘pss without increasing the weight, and thus
the Ocean could float a belt of armour
thick, as well as she does her 41in. of armour ex-
tending to the upper deck. The total weight of the
Ocean complete for sea is MOO tens; and the total weight
of the Duncare, converted into a coast defence monitor
with 550 tons of coals on board, would not exceed 6,30)
tens, or 240 tons less than the Ocean.

Ar. MICHEL CHEVALIER ON TRADES
UNIONS.
M. Michel Chevalier is delivering a course of leciures on
political economy in the College of Fiance. His first
lecture was on the relations of Capital and Labour, and
he advised the working classes to leek on capital not as
an enemy, but an auxiiiarly. The great strike at Creusot
led him to 'consider the trades' unions of England, and he
made especial reference to the work of Mr. James Stirling
on the subject. The productive powers of mankind, said
M. Chevalier only became great by the aid of capital. The
greater the increase of capital, the greater the
perfection to which science brought tools and machines,
and the more rapid became the development of produc-
tion. One cf the historians of the Great Exhibition of
1867 remarked that if the cotton manufactured in Eng-
laud alone had to be worked by the hand it would not re-
quire less than one hundred million men. Notwithstand-
ing the extraordinary development of the cotton trade in
England, it did not now employ more than one million
workmen. The consequences of the vast productive
power resulting from the assistance of capital was, that
abundance took the place of penury. The presence of ca-
pital in large quantities brought those articles into com-
mon use which would otherwise be reserved for a few
privileged persons. The immense difference in the wel-
fare of the workmen employed in an undertaking with or
without the aid of capital is clearly shewn by the construc-
tion of two canals in the same country within one short
half century. The Canal Mahmond, in Egypt, between
Alexandria and the Nile, was undertaken by the cele-
brated Mehemet Ali, Viceroy of Egypt, and was carried
into effect by poor peasants forced to the work, and find-
ing nothing prepared for them. They were obliged to
scoop out the earth without proper tools, and
had for their support only rations of beans. Thousands
of them died of fatigue and hunger. The other canal
which we have just seen completed was carried out under
the most favourable conditions. The workmen, who came
mostly from Europe, were supplied with good tools, with
abundant rations, with medical attendance. Powerful
machines, established at great expense, saved them from
much painful labour, and they received such good wages
that those who were careful took home large savings to
Europe. Such is labour with and without the aid of
capital ! After touching on other branches of the subject,
M. Chevalier came to that question which lies at thefoun-

dation of most strikes, and which he stated in these terms:—
"Does capital in dividing the profits of industry, whether
agricultural or manufacturing take for itself or not the
share of the lien? " In England, he said, it had produced
vehement agitation, while in France there could be little
doubt the feeling'en the subject was growing in intensity.
Until late years the employer and employed had not been
equal before the law. Only ten years back the United
States was the only country in which such equality existed,
but England first, and France after, followed their
example. Before French and English tribunals the poor
workman had as much weight as the most powerful
manufacturer in any dispute between them. Both alike
are at liberty to coalei 0.3 with their fellows, and French
workmen, imitating the English,. have not delayed
to form coalitions demanding the increase of wages, a
dimminution in the hours of lsbour, and other advantages.
This state of things, which seems likely to extend
throughout Europe, causes some persons great alarm.
There would, however, be no risk if the labouring popula-
tions ,as well as the heads of trade, would observe tha
law in the letter as well as the spirit, and if they would
not allow themselves, under the pretext of exercising
liberty, to interfere with the rights of others. The events
in England are incomparably more serious than those in
France, and more offensive, but unhappily, if matters
in England remain the same, France will very soon reflect
them,since to day ideas and actions cross the;channel as easily
as men and merchandise. The trade unions of England
after having been praiseworthy institutions, framed origi-
nally for the assistance of the sick and aged, had changed
into a means of warfare against the chiefs of industry. At
the same time that they abandoned their earlier policy,
they became the instruments of oppression, first towards
those workmen who would not join them, afterwards
towards their own members. Many such associations were
directed by committees which claimed to dispose not only
of the labour and liberty of their members, but of their
very lives, if they contravened their designs. The member
of such an association no longer belongs to himself.
Ile has no longer the right to work when he likes or where
he likes. Tyrannical regulations exist forbidding the
employment of females, limiting the number of appren-
tices, interdicting the entrance of certain productions in a
particular district. In a word, a part at least of these
English trades unions are a standing protest against the
pretensions of the nineteenth century to boa century of
freedom, and more especially freedom of labour. Mr.
Chevalier said he did not think these abuses need excite
too much apprehension, for public opinion, becoming
more and more active and vigilant, was certain
eventually to secure the victory of right
against arbitrary authority, of liberty against tyranny.
wherever it existed. Competent observers in England had
stated that those towns in which trades unions were the
most powerful, were those in which the welfare of the
working classes was the least advanced, a proof that oppres-
sion is fatal even to the very interests it wishes to favour.
An attempt of another kind had been made by workmen
to compete with capital. They had endeavoured to com-
bine the two positions of master and workman by organis-
ing co-operate societies of production, but this effort, though
creditable in itself, was certain to fail for lack of capital
and experienced ability to direct it. Such attempts, however,
led us to consider whether there might not be in the
future new relations established between capital and
labour—a system by which workmen should receive a
certain part of the profits independently of their regular
wages. In conclusion, M. Chevalier charged all workmen
to work resolutely-, industriously, and prudently, each in
his own department, else the best hopes of the working
population would prove illusory; and their true friends
would be those who with firm voice recalled them to the
right lath.

The Globe thus comments on Mr. Lowe's announcement
of his intention td'ax hearses :—Charon has found his
match in Mr. Lowe. The grim ferryman takes toll of
those whom Ihe carries across the dark river, and the
Chancellor of the Exchequer has announced that
henceforth he, too, will demand payment of all persons
who choose to indulge in the luxury of being buried;
that even the parish hearse must pay the license
duty. The proverb says that "Nothing is certain except
death and taxes." Yet the apothegm never implied that
there was any other relation between them except the
common quality of inevitableness. The " fell Sergeant
Death" was supposed to set us free from all liabilities to
pur creditors whether private or public. But Mr.
Lowe, who has lately warned tradesmen that he
will tax them if they use trade-devices on their
circulars, is still more daring: he will levy posthumous
duties, he will carry taxation into the next world, and
make the collector dog the steps of " the Shadow with the
Keys." This funereal finance opens quite a new world,
such as even the Liverpool Financial Reform Association
never dreamt of. If hearses are to be charged with the
license-duty why should not thehearse driver and the mute,
be also included in the Chancellor's little bill? They aro
men-servants as much as the doctor's medicine boy,
and are a good deal more of luxuries. Why not,
too, levy the land-tax on graves, and charge us with
the succession duty when we come into our estate
seven feet long by three feet broad ? Nay, why stop
here ? Why not tax our defunct ancestors ? There is
many a tomb on which armorial bearings are en-
graved, but whose occupants contribute nothing to the
national exchequer. This is a Clearly unwarrantable
3mission, to be easily supplied by charging every tenant
of every tomb with the new guinea licence. This will be
nothing more than bare justice. Our ancestors imposed
on us the huge burden of the national debt ; en revanche
we tax them to pay it off. In this way the
gallant generals and admirals who made fortunes
and founded families, fighting under Marlborough,
Hawke, Nelson, and Wellington, will be bearing a share,
though only an inadequate share, of the weight of taxa-
'.ion which they shifted to our shoulders. Let Mr. Lowe,
then, make use of those effete functionaries, the garish
clerks, and charge them to make returns of all tombs hav-
ing crests, shields, quarterings, or other heraldic devices,
not forgetting the skull and cross-bones. Having collected
his statistics, let him levy his duty, and if he reckons
arrears, together with compound interest since the battle
of Blenheim, he will not only be able to give us a free
breakfast table, but will wipe out the national debt. If
any one suggests that there may be a difficulty ill
obtaining payment, we scout the objection. There
Bishop ..temple wilt preach his first Sermon In is nothing difficult, still less is there anything impossible
London at the Chapel Royal, Whitehall, on Sunday, the to that wonderful financier who has proved to the
British
13th inst., on behalf of the Poor Clergy Relief Corporation. taxpayhaertt (thouo
aghdtwid
ke five, but sa taxpayer is too stupid to see it), no:
At the Mallow election 174 voters polled : the
number on the register is 211. Thus there were 37 who al not make two, and that to pay the same bill twice over 3r
only twno ma that
not, care to gierci4e 41_9 franchise. ttot more expensiYQ to the payer than to paY it once.

town.

TIIE LATE EDITION of " THE SUN" at
JAMES SPEEDY'S, The Weltington,"Welling,ton-stroot,
S,rand.

THE LATE EDITION of "TEE SUN " at
J. SMITH'S, 39, Bow-street, Covent-garden.

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