The Sun.
London, England, 1867-04-22 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

THE " WESTMINSTER GAZETTE " ON MASTERS AND
WORKMEN.—The relations between employers and
employed—so complex in their character, and
touching on such dangerous grounds—are excit-
isri eet rYi—ci sa
svwue
excit-
ing no inconsiderable anxiety in almost every
country in Europe. For a long time wealth, the
employers of capital, had it all their own way.
Labour, unintelligent, disorganized, friendless, lay
at the mercy of capital. Immense profits were
realized, and the labouring classes earned out of
the joint results of labour and capital at best but a
scanty subsistence ; too frequently their existence
s to,L iemtghimes
Legislature
bordered on a state of starvation. Underfeeding,
ignorance, discontent, overcrowding in wretched
annexed
But the ch hi e
h werewisely
awaited
intervened the
uc on n dit iobne
labour.s
tween capital and its victim Parliament regu-
lated_
the hours of labour, and introduced merciful
restrictions as to the age and gex of thoseem-
em-
ployed, Searching inquiryep
n
horrified at the state of
poverty
de-
gradation which was discovered
countryr a
wg
was
spmn
shocked
among
age allko
ter
hadsleand
sides 3
the moral sense of the
la-
bourers in several of the agricultural districts—
among the operatives in most of the mills and
factories—and among
Suchthe miners of both sexes in
dieevotlrenettss*
wthiesemanindinbgen an intervention was a
teponthe part of the Legisla-
ture. Under another condition. of things it may
also be wise and necessaryto
.mvoke Parliament to
prevent an organized conspiracy against capital.
The trades' unions, which
are
power in the country, are the results of a greater
intelligence, and of consequent organization among
the employed, such as enable them
with effect, if they be so minded,
againstto combine
the em-
ployers of labour. The nature
and object of these
combinations have been fully investigated by the
s the
Royal Commission of Inquiry. Beside
gene-
ral and praiseworthy aims common to benevolent
societies, these unions have the further
object of
regulating the price and the amount of
labour, and
of coercing the men who belong to these socie-
ties, by fine and expulsion, to work at a uniform
rate, and for the stipulated wages. The
skilled
workman is not allowed by the rules to avail him-
self of his superior skill, nor the strongest man f
his superior strength, to do more work or to earn
more wages than the average amount regulated by
the rules of the society. The trades' unions go
a step further, which is of a still more questionable
character, in limiting the number of apprentices to
be employed in a trade, and in prohibiting the em-
ployment of non-society men. Should employers, a
under a pressure of business, seek to accelerate
work in hand,•by calling in additional men or by
overtime, such a demand, as it is only calculated
to promote the interests of the master and not
those of the men, is never accepted, without re-
ferring to the trades' union council, which, in
most cases, is tantamount to a refusal, sin" no
answer of any kind is given until after the lapse
of a week. Against such a combination employ-
ers are generally powerless. The expedient has
been more than once tried when, in fulfilment of
the rules of the society, men have struck work,
to seek to supply their place by importation of
foreign workmen. But the trades' unions have
met this move by a counter-movement ; they have
extended and are extending their organiEation so
as to combine with foreign workmen against the
employers of labour, and in case of strikes to give
each other mutual support. Such an organization
of the workmen in various trades all over Europe,
by their numbers and by their wealth, when it is
brought to a greater perfection, will be a most
dangerous element introduced into an already dis_
turbed state of society. What began as a defence
of labour against the exorbitant and selfish de-
mands of the capitalist may not impossibly end in
a war against property. Strikes are on the in-
crease both here and in France. The members
of the trades' unions, becoming more and more
keenly alive to the power which their organization
confers, are not slow in provoking contests and in
dictating terms to employers. Hence the irrita-
tion and the suspicions which are springing up
on both sides. In France, and more especially in
Paris, the aversion to masters and to receiving

wages is much commented on by the workmen
themselves, as may be seen in the reports of the
delegates of almost all the trades of Paris, who
were sent to report not only on the Great Exhibi-
tion: in London, but on the regulations of trade and
on the labour market. They comment freely on
the great profits made by capitalists, and on the
comparatively small rewards earned by skilled la-
bour. The Parisian trade delegates even go so far
as to suggest the establishment in France of co-
operative societies, so as to supersede the pre-
sent
irksome and, as they regard them, degrad-
ing relations between masters and workmen.
They desire the sanction and assistance of Govern-
ment in opening, by way of experiment, co-oper-
ative workshops for the manufacture and sale
of such articles, for instance, as gloves, on which
they aver the profit 4 of the capitalists are enormous
when compared with, those of the workmen.
But the providing of capital for the starting of such
co-operative and highly remunerative societies
the workmen of Paris regard as the proper busi-
ness of a Government based on universal suf-
frage. In these visionary but most pernicious
schemes we see something more than the germs
of socialism. Against the growth of this evil the
French Government is much more Powerless to
act than our own, for its existence is dependent on
three great supports—the army, the Church, and
the working men of Paris. It dare not estrange,
therefore, by any restrictive measures the latter
most dangerous class of its supporters. In Ger-
many and Belgium, as well as in France and Eng-
land, socialistic ideas as to the relations of labour
and capital, and as to their respective rights,
find expression in an otganization which possesses
the dangerous powee`of - bringing at any given
moment or place trade and commerce as well as
the traffic and ordinary business of life to a dead
lock. At this very time the union men on the
North-Eastern Railway are out on strike, and the
delegates of the Midland Company men have sent
a notice to the chief officers of the Midland
Company that if they or the Board of Directors
assist, as they have been doing, the North-East-
ern Company, "to get through the unhappy dis-
aster which they have by tyranny and oppression
brought down on themselves, the Midland en-
ginemen or firemen will join the great body of
their own calling throughout the country in an
united movement" against employer.s The cen-
tral committee of the Engine Drivers and Fire-
men's United Society, in order to. carry on the
struggle, has decided that a general weekly levy
be made of 3s. upon each driver and 2s. upon each
fireman all over the country. Another illustra-
tion of the organized action of thd trades
unions is the threatened strike of the London
tailors, on Monday next, because the masters' com-
mittee refuse to negotiate with a mixed committee
of London and country workmen, as it was plain
to the masters that the country workmen could
only negotiate on propositions which could not be
traendeetharghout the lsoU a weekly levy of
accepted or acted upon by the London trade, ex-
cept upon compulsion. To meet the expenses of
2t
si
.e
per
manstruggle, inNv
as o
rdi this il se
coun-
try. The two delegates sent to Paris by the
London men report that the strike in Paris is
progressing most favourably. About sixty large
employers have given way during the past week,
and of the 15,000 who struck, fully 5,000 have
resumed work at the advanced rate of wages.
The danger of these trades' unions lies, even far
more than in the precision in which they can bring
their power and wealth to bear on employers, in
the-absence of all moral motive in their action; they
are guided simply by what they consider their ma-
terial interests • they have no notion, as was ex-
emplified in the answers of a stone mason before
the Royal Commission of Inquiry, of duty towards
their masters, or of the common justice which is due
to them. Employers are looked upon in the light
of enemies, to be coerced or to be punished by bad
work skilfully concealed. It is not to be denied
that modern civilization is more considerate-than
society in some preceeding centuries for the ma-
terial comforts of the masses, and that a higher
value is set upon life and upon its material en-
joyments ; the risk, however, is—and it is no small
one--that men should be guided in their actions
solely by material considerations and, in ignorance
of higher motives and rewards of conduct, insist
upon material enjoyment as a substantial guar-
antee for happiness, which they have learned
to look upon as the only object of man's life
and its constant pursuit. But if baulked in
material enjoyments man, taught to regard them
as the sole purpose of life, will turn in his disap-
pointment upon society like an infuriated tiger
upon its keeper. Such a danger is evidently
ahead, and civilized society must look to itself
and mend its ways by times, or else our age
may yet witness a convulsion more wide-spread
than that of the French Revolution, more lasting
in its results, even if not so degrading
to human
nature in its passionate ferocity.
•
Naval and Military Intelligence.

At Aldershott during the past week the chief event
has been the inspection of the division by Field-
Marshal the Duke of Cambridge,
which took place
on Thursday. The Duke, who was accompanied by
Major-Gen. Lord W. Paulet, K.C.8., Adjutant-
General, and Lieut.-Gen. Sir J. H. Grant, G.C.8.,
Quartermaster-General, arrived at Farnborough
shortly after 11 o'clock, and was received at the
railway station by Lieut.-Gen. Scarlett, K.C.8., and
Staff. He first proceeded to the rifle ranges at
Hungry-hill, where sections of the 18th Royal Irish,
44th, 65th, and 56th Regiments
were at ball prac-
tice with the Snider rifle. After witnessing the vol-
ley-firing and file-firing of the sections of the 56th
Regiment at 400 and3oo yards respectively, he pro-
ceeded to Eelmoor, where the artillery and two bri-
gades of infantry were drawn up in line of contigu-
ous columns. He was received with the royal salute.
After inspection of the railks the troops marched
past, the artillery in close column of batteries at a
walk, and the infantry in open columns of grand
divisions in quick time, and in the following order :
—Staff of the Division, Lieut. Gen. the Hon. Sir J.
Y. Scarlett, K.C.8., commanding ; C and H bat-
teries, 9th Brigade, R.A. ; Staff of the lst Brigade,
Major-Gen. Renny, Col. Call and Ist battalion 18th
Royal Irish, Col. Lacy and the 56th Regiment ;
Pioneers, bands, and drums of the second brigade ;
Staff of brigade ; Major-Gen. Campbell, C. 8.,
Major Brown, C. 8., and the 44th (East Essex)
Regiment ; Col. Wyatt, C. 8., and the 65th Regi-
ment. The field batteries next marched past at a
walk, and proceeded to quarters. The infantry
formed parallel lines by brigades, and were put
through a variety of evolutions. They were also
exercised in the new style of firing and advancing in
line. The Duke then proceeded to the Long Val-
ley, where he inspected the Royal Horse Artillery
and the Cavalry Brigade. This concluded the day's
proceedings. The various movements were executed
by the troops with great steadiness and precision,
and in the firing none of the defects recently
ascribed to the Snider rifle were apparent.
The Ordnance Select Committee of Woolwich
out some impor-
tant Arsensalexp
on Tuesday and
Wednesday last, with two 32-pounders converted
eriemr ee
ne
tnsg aagt weds
hi no
ecarrying
into 64-pounder rifled guns, on Major Palliser's
system, and also with Colonel Boxer's shrapnel
shells, which were fired from a 7-inch rifled gun.
The Palliser 61-pounders having previously fired
the service charges of 81b. for range and accuracy
with very good results, the firing continued on
Tuesday with double charges, and 50 rounds
were fired with 161 b. of powder. The guns worked
well, being mounted on slides, and no signs of
any defect were shown. It is stated that the War-
office will shortly undertake the conversion of our
present useless stock of cast-iron guns on a large
scale. This was some time ago strongly advocated
and recommended by Gen. Lefroy, President of the
Select Committee, who was the first to appreciate
the value of Major Palliser's experiments. A short
time since a 64-pounder wrought-iron gun sent
Major Palliser's chilled shot through the Warrior
target with only 121 b. of powder ; it therefore natu-
rally follows that our 32-pounders, of which there
are several thousands in the service, can be converted
into rifled guns which will penetrate any foreign
ironclad. This remark applies with still greater
force to our cast-iron guns of larger dimensions.
One of these guns, a 68-pounder, was converted
into a 7-inch gun, and during the year 1865 fired
upwards of 750 rounds, every one of which, had
chilled projectiles been employed, would have pene-

trated the Warrior at 500 yards. The Victorian
Governnient has been the first to act on General
Lefroy's recommendation, and 20 32-poundors and
two 68-pounders, are being converted by their
orders into 6-inch 64-pounders and 7-inch 115-
pounders. On Wednesday the experiments at Shoe-
buryness were continued with the 7-inch Boxer
shrapnel. This shell contains about 450 bullets of
iron, and is in itself a small loaded canwa. The
powder charge is contained in a chamber towards
the base of the shell, where the sides of the shell are
thick; the bullets are put into the cylindrical por-
tion of the shell, and a false head of thin wrought-
iron is then attached. The fuse, which is also of
Colonel Boxer's pattern, is lighted by the Flash of
the gun, and communicates through a long tube
with the powder in rear. The wood targets, repre-
senting a column of infantry, were set up at a dis-
tance of 1,200 yards upon the sands, and the fuses
were arranged so as to burst the shells about 60 or
100 yar'ds in front of them. The experiments were
completely successful, as the shells burst at the pro-
per time, scattering their contents with the desired
effect. The appearance of the bullets falling on the
seashore at the distanca of 1,200 yards may be best.
described by comparing it to a shower of gravel
falling on a sheet of water, and casting up the
bubbles. When the firing terminated, the " wooden
regiment" was examined, and each target represent-
ing a soldier was found riddled in many places.
These shells are certainly the most terrific missiles
ever devised for the destruction of troops in column,
or in boats attempting to effect a lauding. The ex-
pcoer:zanntdsaNivl et,r e a cnodn dtahcetye dl
asbyte
(Co i
until
Colonel
Wednesday,l'Vilmot, the
when the Ordnance Select Committee returned to
Woolwich.

Recruiting for the East India and British depots
at Chatham garrison has been discontinued, with
the exception of the Ist and 2d Royals and the 29th
Regiment, the various corps having been recruited
up to their full strength.
A number of non-commissioned officers and sap-
pers of the Royal Engineers left head-quarters,
Chatham, on Saturday, and proceeded to Dover, for
the purpose of assisting in the arrangements for the
Volunteer review to-day. During the time they
are at Dover they will be under the orders of the
Royal Engineer est Lblishment.
Lieut. E. J. W. Laing, 2.1 West India Regiment,
and Ensign W. H. Maberly, 4th West India Regi-
ment, at Chatham garrison, have been placed under
orde s for embarkation, to join the service companies
of their respective corps.
An order has been received at Chatham directing
a number of men to be selected from the various
infantry corps at that garrison to proceed to Netley,
where they will go through a probationary course
of instruction previously to being transferred to the
Army Hospital Corps.
A detachment of the Ist division of the Depot
Brigade, Royal Artillery, has been placed under
orders to proceed from head-quarters to Shorncliffe,
to augment the Royal Artillery at.that station.
Mr. Corry, M.P., First Lord of the Admiralty,
arrived on Thursday afternoon at Plymouth,
and in passing through the Sound visited and in-
spected the armour-plated screw steamship Cale-
donia, 30, Capt. Hon. Fitzgerald A. C. Foley, flag
of Admiral
.11astings R. Yelverton, C.B. Port-
Admiral Sir William F. Martin, K.C.8., and
Rear-Admiral Superintendent the Lion. James R.
Drummond, C. 8., met the First Lord in the Sound.
On Good Friday in the morning the• First Lord
attended divine service at the chapel in the dock-
yard, and in the afternoon went on Mount
Wise. One of the principal objects of this visit
appears to refer to the condition of the iron and
armour-plated ships. On Saturday morning Mr.
Corry landed from the Enchantress at the dock-
yard. He was accompanied during the day by Sir
S. C. Dacres, K.C.8., one of the Lords; the First
Secretary, Lord Henry Lennox ; Capt. Brandreth,
Secretary to the First Lord ; Mr. Robinson, Con-
troller of the Navy ; Major Clarke and Mr. Hunt,
of the Treasury; and was attended by the Port
Admiral, Admiral Superintendent, Capt. Preedy,
Capt. Tremlett, Mr. Martyn, Master Attendant ;
Mr. Moore, Master Builder, &c. They first visited
the storehouses, testing house, south smithery, and
saw mills, and then went into No. 3 slip, in which
is the screw steamship Robust, 81. She is only in
frame ; for although. she has been six years on the
stocks, no hands have been employed on her for
some time. The disposal of this ship has long been
a difficulty at Whitehall. In slip No. 2 is the Lap-
wing, 3, a double screw gun vessel of 663 tons,
partly in frame, and building, being the only vessel
in which progress is making in any of the capacious
slips of Devonport dockyard. The mast-house
having been visited their lordships next passed
through the rope-walk, and examined the spinning
jennies and new engine-house. At noon they were
occupied some time in the office of the Admiral
Superintendent. At 2 30 p.m. Mr. Corry went on
board the Princess Alice, which•conveyed him to
the breakwater ; but in consequence of the bois-
I terous weather his stay here was very short, and
he was not enabled to estimate the damage done
by the storms of the winter to the structure, and
which it will cost upwards of £20,000 to repair.
At 3 30 p.m. the First Lord lauded again
at the dockyard, and proceeded through the
tunnel to Keyham steam-yard. He went round
the iron turret ship . Prince Albert, 4, in
No. 2 dock, and the armour-plated screw steam
ship Lord Warden, 20, in No. 3 dock ; the latter
is undergoing alterations and preparing for the first
division of the Steam Reserve. His lordship then
passed through . the great quadrangle to the new
ground on the north, where a branch of the Corn-
wall Railway, some mile and a half long, has been
introduced, by a connexion at Camel's Head. The
extension of the north basin, which lies between the
quadrangle and Hamoaze, was next inspected. Ori-
ginally this basin was 450 ft. long, 400 ft. broad,
and 36ft. deep. When completed, in about six
months, it will be 900 ft. long, 400 ft. broad, and
41ft. deep. The work, which is under contract to
Mr. Jackson, appears to be progressing very satis-
factorily. There is naturally considerable difficulty
in deepening the entrance to Hamoaze. Adjoining
this basin is a boat basin, outside its western boun-
dary, about 300 ft. long. by 100 ft. at one end
diminishing to about 20ft. at the other end, and
30ft. deep. After expending some time on board
the wooden screw steam sloop Daphne, 4, Mr.
Corry and his colleagues joined the steam yacht
princess Alice, which conveyed them up Hamoaze.
It is reported in Plymouth that the screw steam-
ship Royal Albert, 107, of 3,726 tons burden, and
I with engines of 500-horsepower, is likely to be
appropriated for a gunnery ship in place of the Cam-
bridge, 2,139 tons, Capt. Charles J. F. Ewart.
A further discharge of hands in the ropemaking
department at Chatham Dockyard has been made,
by order of the Admiralty, the late introduction of
spinning machinery having to a very considerable
extent lessened the demand for manual labour. The
hands thus discharged are to bo entered as dock-
yard labourers at 45., • 35., and 2s. 6d.. per day
respectively.
In the notice in the " Naval Intelligence"
columns of The Sun of Saturday, an error was made
in stAting that the original designs for the extension
of Chatham Dockyard, and the work now being car-
ried out there, was made by Major Andrew Clarke,
R.E., the present Director of Works to the Ad-
miralty, these works having been designed by Mr.
Scamp, the present Deputy-Director of Works, at
the time Sir Charles Wood held office as First Lord
of the Admiralty., The still greater works at Ports-
mouth were also designed by Mr. Scamp, as were
the extension works at Keyham, Gibraltar, and
Malta, now nearly completed.
The armoured screw frigate Royal Alfred, Capt.
F. A. Herbert, flagship of Vice-Admiral Sir G.
Rodney Mundy, K.C.8., still remains anchored at
Spithead, but will, it is understood, according to

If any doubt existed as to impropriety of entrust-
ing magistrates with the power of granting liquor
licenses, that doubt must be removed by an incident
which has happened very recently. Within the last
two or three years a new district has grown up in
Paddington, and large number of houses have been
built, and occupied as soon as built, chiefly by
porters and servants of the Great Western Railway
Company. This new suburb was lately formed
into a separate parochial district, a temporary
church was built, and an incumbent appointed who
organised a large staff of clergy and district visitors,
held frequent services, and established schools con-
taining some hundreds of children. But, unfor-
tunately, the publican is always on the look out •as
sharply as the parson, and in this new district the
inevitable corner-house, with plate-glass and flaring
gas-lamps, made its appearance. It was opened
exactly opposite the entrance to the church, as
though with the express purpose of entering into
competition with it. At first an ordinary license
was obtained, then a spirit license was applied
for. The clergy and leading parishicners prayed
the magistrates not to grant it, representing how
peculiarly obnoxious this particular house was be-
cause of its situation. But in vain did they ap-
peal. They were guilty of the sin of Ritualism
the sapient magistrates declared they could not do
anything which would sanction that, aud, after
chaffing the memorialists for being " Puseyites,"
granted the licence. It is almost impossible to con-
ceive of such an extremity of odium theologicum.
llad the memorialists been Mormons or infidels, it
would have been incredible that any body of men
would have deliberately chosen to grant a licence
Under such circumstances ; but that Christian
gentlemen, as it is to be supposed they are, should
actually attempt to draw people away from a church
by opening a gin-palace, should seek to protect
them from " heresy" by making them drunk, is
monstrous, and is the strongest possible condemna-
tion of the present licensing system. Unfortu-
nately, there is no appeal, and every one
who goes to this church has to encounter
the usual sights and sounds of brutality
and blasphemy which the giu-palace always
affords. Let the conduct of these religious parti-
sans be contrasted with that of Archbishop Man-
ning, who of late has joined with Churchmen and
Dissenters of " all denominations," not in worrying
religious opponents by forcing them to have ocular
experience of revelry and ribaldry every time they
perform their devotions, but in attempting the task
which successive ministers have found beyond their
power of amending the present discreditable
licensing system.—London Correspondent of the
Western Morning News.