The Sun.
London, England, 1867-01-28 00:00:00

,cr'Jf .-;>,:',.,.
Z "Tet V . --e...reL.' ~r4,,,r., ,•-
i.,
2 illl .
,t) •Lv .. . - ;

,

LONDON, MONDAY, JAN. 28, 1867.

Among the many reforms of various kinds
anxiously looked for during the coming Session,
the Government will certainly not be allowed to
overlook the necessity of retrenchment in the ex-
penditure of the Admiralty. It is very likely that
the actual outlay may be the same or even more,
but the question is, whether it cannot be more
efficient and produce tangible results, instead of a
long row of figures and a list of officials. Mr.
SE ELY, M.P., always a dangerous critic of the
Board, has just been refreshing the public memory
in regard to the Admiralty statistics. At a meeting
of thc electors of Lincoln on Wedneday last the
two borough members were present. Mr.
lIENEAGE had enough to do to defend himself
fro:n the charge of hostility to Reform brought
:against him by some who were displeased with his
dotes last session. Mr. SEELY, however, after de-
claring himself an advocate of household suffrage,
left general politics alone, and proceeded to de-
nounce the mismanagement of the Admiralty and
the shortcomings of Parliament in dealing with that
mismanagement. lie reiterated the charges which
he had brought against the naval administration in
the llousl of Commons, declaring that the Admi-
ralty had never disputed his figures with regard to
the cost of ships, or that if they had they were after-
wards forced to admit the truth of his statements.
The five old vessels which were repaired at a cost ex-

ceeding the price of five new ones were again referred
to, and the anchors furnished by BROWN, LENNOX,
and Co., were the subject of fresh strictures. These
anchors, according to Mr. SEELY, are anchors of a
particular pattern, condemned by a committee of
inspection some twelve or fourteen years ago as
being the worst of seven specimens submitted for
examination ! Lord CLARENCE PAGET said Mr.
SEELY had answered his complaints about the
cost of these anchors—about £170,000 more than
the market price in the 25 years during which they
have supplied the Government. Lord C. PAGET
said, " We must take care of the lives of our sea-
men—we cannot have bad anchors." Mr. SEELY
asked, who wanted the Government to have bad
anchors? Ile, for his part, wanted the Government
to have the best material possible, but he did not see
why they should pay extra money for inferior goods.
As for the iron ballast which Mr. SEELY calculates
is answerable for a waste of £150,000 or £lBO,OOO
of the public money, he expressed his conviction that
" those pigs would squeak" when Parliament assem-
bled. Some of his statements have, no doubt, been
disputed, but there is quite enough substance
for serious complaint. Mr. SEELY, for his part, is
not disposed to let the matter rest, but is deter-
mined to bring the Admiralty accounts again before
the notice of Parliament. Sir JOHN PAKINGTON is,
we believe, sincerely anxious to secure an efficient
and economical administration, but he has great
difficulties to contend against, many of them exist-
ing in the very constitution of the Board. He has,
during his former discharge of the duties of the
office, been of good service in increasing the
naval resources of the country, and we hope
he will not rest until he has considerably
increased our fleet. He must, however, be
cautious in adopting new theories, and must submit
them all to the test of practical experience. It is
one thing to withhold a fair trial, as was done by
the late Government in the case of Captain COLES,
and another to permit a large outlay on untried
and, possibly, unsatisfactory schemes. We hope
our First Lord will avoid both extremes. lie will
find enough to employ all his energies. Probably,
however, the whole Board of Admiralty may be the
better for a little severe but wholesome criticism,
and we are, therefore, not sorry that Mr. SEELY
keeps their delinquencies so resolutely in mind.

Lord ELCHO'S remarks are always worth hearing,
and many will be glad to find that he has spoken
on the vexed question of strikes as well as upon
other topics. Last Saturday the noble lord deli-
vered on address at the request of the Miners of
Mid-Lothian, in the Corn Exchange at Dalkeith.
He commenced by stating that he felt especially
honoured by their asking him to come among them
just now, when he had been held up to reprobation
as an enemy of the working classes, and when the
" great agitator himself had, on the Glasgow
platform, announced that he was not worthy to
sit in the House of Commons." So far as re-
garded the miners, their numbers are very great, and
an interest in their welfare should be increased by
the thought that they are constantly exposed to
great perils. After entering at great length upon
the subject immediately before them, the noble lord
concluded by making some impressive remarks upon
the general state of things at present. At this
moment there is unfortunately, as he says, a state
of war between capital and labour. While the men
do not think that any evil effects are produced by
these unions, the masters are much against them,
and political economists entertain the worst opinion
of their influence upon our national prosperity ;
and as it is emphatically put in this
speech, " a greater or more momentous question
could not be put to this country than to decide on
which side of the argument the truth and the facts
lie the heavier." The noble lord, in giving his own
view of the mstt€r, said that it would never do to
seek a remedy fur this state of things in the re-
enactment of our combination laws. "No ; political
economy forbids a return to penal legislation—the
feeling and insticct of our nature revolts against it.
I look to reconciliation, and not to penal legisla-
tion—l look to arbitration." No doubt there is
great force in these arguments ; and now-a-days
the natural desire of men seems to be to have
recourse to this mode of dealing with awkward
matters and settling grievances.
All this, however, must be borne in mind, and
that is the necessity for arbitration to precede
strikes and not to follow upon them. We quite
agree with .Lord ELoxo when ho says that if
matters are properly arranged there will not be
near so much likelihood of strikes taking place.
If things are quitely talked over, reason takes the
place of obstinacy, and recourse is not had to ex-
treme measures. " I am convinced," said he, " that
if you could get masters and men to meet quietly
together, in ninety-nine cases out of a hundred you
would have no strikes, but you would have
an agreement between them, and good feeling
would take the place of war." The
system that prevails in France seems to answer very
well, where they have the Conseas des Prudhonznies
composed of masters and men. These meet to dis-
cuss the matters which affect capital and labour, and
there are two kinds of tribunes to which appeal is
made, but it is seen that out of 133,000 cases sub-
mitted to the council of conciliation as many as
29,000 were settled satisfactorily, and went no
further. " Well," exclaims Lord ELcHo, "I want
to know what there is in a Frenchman so different
from an Englishman that we are not to have the
same thing established in this country, more
especially when it has been twice recom-
mended by Committees of the House of Commons."
It is quite true, as the noble lord says, that the
remedy which we now want is immediate, and co-
operation if it ever be established can only be very
gradually done. Arbitration seems, after all has
been taken into consideration, to be the best thing
we can do under the circumstances of the case.
Lord _am wishes a commission to be appointed
to inquire into the relations of labour and capital in
the United Kingdom. Thus we may fully ascertain
all that relates to strikes and unions, what there is
good in the latter and what there is defective also.
The noble lord declared he hail such confidence in
the good sense of the workmen of the country
that if it were plainly put before them that the
result of these unions had been otherwise than
beneficial, and would be injurious to the future of
their children, that they would be the first to come
and say, " We must put a stop to this state of
things." We hope and believe that the noble lord's
remarks are correct, and it would indeed be a happy
thing for this country if the hostile unions of
capital and labour, now so unfortunately arrayed
against each other, became united in a union
of interest and feeling, " standing shoulder to
shoulder, while they manfully wrestle against the
competition with foreign labour, which daily
becomes more formidable, and which wrestles with
us now for the custom of the world." It is high
time that something decisive was done to check this
growing evil and put a stop to this state of things
between labour and capital, which is sapping the
commercial prosperity of the country and militating
against the true interests of the community. Lord
ELcuo deserves great credit for the masterly style
in which he has treated the subject, and the best

thanks of masters and men should be his for seek-
ing to put before them in its true colours the con-
dition of things at present affecting the question of
labour.

The people of Prussia seem already very much
dissatisfied with the state of things, and the popu-
larity of BISMARCK which had increased so much of
late seems again on the wane, if we are to judge of
what is said in various quarters. This is not to be
wondered at, when we take into consideration the
way in which he has carried on affairs of late.
Ile has framed his Federal Constitution in such a
m ,nner that it may be looked upon as adverse to
the system of Parliamentary Government. It is one
thing to make the be.A of the great success
which he met with iu the last campaign, and
another to keep up the advantage for any
great length of time. We have no doubt that in a
short time he will find out his mistake, and regret
that he failed to adopt a wiser course. If anything
were wanting to show the fallacy of those who think
that a new era is dawning for Germany, it is
afforded in the desire expressed by the Berlin
Government to have the complete control and
direction of military matters. The clause which is
to grant military supplies in perpetuum is indeed a
significant one, and aptly represents the real meaning
of the BISMARCK manceuvring. What the Berlin
authorities want is to get all the power into their
our hands, totally irrespective of the claims of
justice, and then they will set at defiance all the
remonstrances of those who persevere to differ from
them. Altogether there seems such a confusion of
interests and such a variety of plans in formation
that under the best management it would be ex-
tremely difficult to arrive at a srtisfactory conclu-
sion. The work which the Prussians have under-
taken to perform is one of far too much extent and
importance to be hurried over lightly and super-
ficially, still less should it be carried on by those
who are actuated by selfish motives.

The Atlantic Telegraph, again in working order,
brings us brief but most important intelligence.
The telegram dated New York, January 23, even-
ing, tells us that the House of Representatives has
passed a bill prohibiting any person who took part
in the rebellion from practising at law. The news,
two days later, says there is a tendency to panic in
the share market, and several failures are reported.
Nothing seems to deter the Radicals from pursuing
their headlong course, although they must by this
time be able to realise the effect which their policy
produces upon the commerce of the country. The
notion of prohibiting any one who took part in the
rebellion from practising at law is preposterously
unjust. Perhaps they fear to have the Constitu-
tion continually pleaded against them by the
Southerners themselves towards the negroes. The
whites excluded the blacks from courts of law. The
Radicals are willing indeed to allow the testimony
of the Southern whites, but they virtually condemn
them to have their causes pleaded by their
antagonists. The feeling between South and North
is unfortunately not such that a Southerner would
willingly entrust all his interests to Northern hands.
Yet, if no person who took any part in the re-
bellion is to be permitted to practice in the law
courts, all the Southerners of standing and education
will be silenced, since the Radical deputation in-
cludes, as we know, every one who subscribed or
aided in any manner the Confederate cause, or even
consented to its maintenance. The exclusion of
Southern members frcm the national Congress was,
one would imagine, intolerant enough ; but this
further step of the Radicals shows very clearly
that their object is to reduce the South to absolute
subjection. These intolerant advocates of Repub-
lican doctrines emulate the most unscrupulous of
despots in their impatience of free speech and free
thought. Conscious of the harshness of their
conduct towards the South, they are unwill-
ing to allow its people the smallest opportu-
nity of representing their grievances, and
every fresh movement seems to increase the ani-
mosity of the Radicals against the population of
the South, and the merchants and stockbrokers of
New York may well feel apprehensive of the results
when they see such recklessness and folly in the
leaders of the Congress. By the mail we shall have
fuller details of the state of parties, though, of
course, intelligence of an earlier date, but meanwhile
the telegraph has told us enough to make us fear
that peace and prosperity are still some distance
removed from the people of the United States.