The Sun.
London, England, 1867-09-18 00:00:00

in the spring of 1863. Was using common bricks
for the backs and machine bricks for the fronts.
Saw Jas. Kay, who told him if he used a machine
he could not have hand-made bricks, and he had to
give up the contract. Was building nine houses in
Crowther•street in 1863, and the walls were pushed
down. It was a wet night, and they made such a
wreck of the buildings that he should think a dozen
must have been engaged. The damage would be
about 110. He was using machine-made bricks.
Machine-made bricks were better and cheaper than
hand-made, and would supersede them in an open
market. He had been stopped building with them
in consequence of these interferences.

Mr. J. Ashworth said he was a brickmaker, of
Regent-road, Salford. In June, 1864, he found
more than 60,000 bricks destroyed. Employed 30
men, all union men. He had a son in the croft who
was not a union man. He had been nrrying slack
for the burner. He attributed it to that. Four men
were apprehended, but discharged. After that Pa-
trick Cullum was apprehended. Jonathan Edwards
and another man came from the union and called
the men away. Jas. Manning and George Kershaw
came and said he must pay £5O for the expense of
taking Cullum up. Said he would not, and they
said he would have to rue it. He and bis sons and
two men then did the work, and he got a machine
and made bricks by machinery. At first he found
a market for his bricks, but afterwards, when the
hand-made brickmakers and bricklayers had amal-
gamated, the market was stopped. In Aug., 1865,
received a threatening letter (which was read) tell-
ing him that at a meeting of brickmakers it had
been agreed to shoot him, or put an end to him, if
he continued making by machine. It was signed
by a well-wisher, who desired him to advertise that
he had received it, and he did. In consequence of
the spoiling his and other bricks to the extent of
150,000, the masters offered a reward of £2OO, of
which he offered £5O. Remembered 10 days after he
got this letter W. Parks, who, dressed like his (wit-
ness's)son was found 50y ards from the house of witness
badly beaten, and nearly killed. In the pool of blood
in which he lay were found bottles with which they
had beaten him. One bottle was filled with blasting
powder. In consequence of this he feared some out-
rage being attempted on himself, and had to keep
house a great deal. Knew of no reason for that but
that he made bricks by machine. After Parks was
hurt some masters came and went through his works
and said they thought the men had had enough, and
offered a sum of money for the machine, but he re-
fused. Had been at great loss through the giving
up his machine, and resumed hand making. A few
days after theanonymous letter a :man came to
him and told him two men were to take his life, and
a house had been prepared to harbour them in at
Eccles, the house of a man named John Mosley.
After that employed Ryder, a non-union brickmaker,
to do some house painting, and in August a man
came from the union and told him he must discharge
Ryder. He was obliged to do it. His son was ad-
mitted to the union now, and employing union men.
He (Mr. Ashworth) was making bricks without in-
terruption now.

Thomas Ashworth, son of the last witness, cor-
roborated the evidence of his father as to the bricks
being spolt and the visits of the union men offering
terms.

William:Ashworth, another son of Mr. Ashworth,
was giving evidence in further corroboration of the
statement of his father when our report was de-
spatched.

SOUTH GERMANY, AUSTRIA, AND
FRANCE.

(From the Westminster Gazette.)
Europe is threatened with a new plague in the
shape of alliances. The armed peace, as was to
be expected, is breaking out in the first stage
of war—alliances for warlike purposes. These
purposes need not of necessity be aggressive,
nevertheless they point to war. The journey of
Napoleon to Germany—his interview with the
Emperor of Austria, explains itself. There is no
need of listening to Imperial speeches, or of
poring over official and diplomatic interpretations
of what was said, or done, or arranged at the
meeting at Salzburg. The matter speaks for
itself ; this ominous alliance is a matter not of
choice but of necessity. Austria is flung into
France's arms as a last resort against the
intrigues and stratagems of Prussia and the
Revolution. France also, as well as Austria,
needs an ally in the three pending questions
which affect the interests and stability of each
country alike. The conclusion of an alliance,
if it be not, indeed, already concluded, may be
safely predicted from the need of such an alliance

between two countries equally threatened in the
Eastern question, the German question, and the
Italian question. In all these questions France
and Austria are opposed by three enemies ; in the
East by Russia, in Germany by Prussia, in Italy
by the Revolution. Russia aims at the extinction
of the Ottoman Empire and the absorption of
the European provinces of Turkey. Her success
in the East would be a death-blow to the Aus-
trian Empire. The Cossack again would be the
terror of Europe. Russian policy never swerves
from its aim. Russian diplomacy is the secret
agent ever at work—not only in the Courts and
Cabinets, but in the Press of Europe. But if
France and Austria have to guard against the
predominance of Russia in the East, in Prussia
they both see an enemy who, after driving Austria

out of Germany, aims at the incorporation of the
South German States and of the German lands of
Austria, and which, thus aggrandized at the ex-
pense of its neighbours, would be a perpetual
source of danger to France. And thirdly, there is
revolutionary Italy which, if encouraged by the
new alliances that armed Europe is forming,
would not hesitate to seize upon Rome in defiance
of France, and thus inflict a most damaging blow
on the influence, military and moral, of France,
on the peace and safety of Europe. With so
many aggressive views in common, it is only in
the nature of things that Prussia, Russia, and
Italy should strike up an unholy" alliance, and
such an alliance, if not as yet actually formed,
is virtually so. And it is this danger to the peace
of Europe, to the stability of their States, and to

their rightful influence which has driven France
and Austria into a counter alliance. It is the policy
of such a defensive alliance not to take steps
likely to precipitate a struggle. It is the duty of
France and Austria to appeal to the Conser-
vative instincts of Europe, and to place their
strength in the defence of right and order against
the ambitious and revolutionary designs of the
allied aggressors. The most important question
which seems still in doubt is as to the part that
South Germany will take in a war which, when it
breaks out, will soon develope into a war of prin-
ciples most deadly in its character, and likely to
be not a seven days' war as that of last stunmer,
but a seven years' war, involving the whole of
Europe.

South Germany is in a very difficult position.
Mistrustful of Napoleon, it has, on the one hand,
a natural and deep-seated aversion of French in-
terference in the German lands, and on the other,
a repugnance easily to be conceived against the
intolerable arrogance of Prussia and against its
scheme of universal domination in Germany.
Between the choice of these two evils South Ger-
many vacillates. It is not powerful enough to stand
alone, nor united enough in opinion and policy
unreservedly to declare itself on the side of
Austria. Moreover, a strong Prussianizing party
is to be found in the South German States, espe-
cially among the governing classes. The ma-
jority of the people undoubtedly is opposed to the
schemes of Prussian aggrandizement, even though
propounded by the Liberals under the name of
German unity. And though the Grand Duke of
Baden is prepared to offer up himself and his
people at the shrine of Prussian ambition, Wiir-
temburg prefers to preserve its own autonomy.
Bavaria, on the other hand, is ambitious not only
of preserving its independence, but of taking the
lead in South Germany, and of actin; as mediator
between Prussia and Austria ; but there is also in
Bavaria a party, large and influential in official
circles, devoted to Liberalism and russian inte-
rests. The alliance between Austri.. and Napoleon

produces a widely different effect on these various
parties, and ~hence the conflicting opinions which
abound R 5 to the true state of feeling in South
Germany.

South Ge rmany is weak by its internal divi-
sions, and by the vacillations, if not corrupt
policy, of the Governments. But its greatest
danger springs from the Liberal party, which sees
in the trio] nph of Prussia a means of establishing,
on the mitts of existing kingdoms, a united and
revolutionary Germany. But a wholesome popular
feeling is being aroused, and it remains to be seen
whether the sound and Conservative and national
opposition. to Prussia is strong enough in Wiir-
temburg and Bavaria to resist, with success, pro-
Prussian Chambers and temporizing Govern-
ments. It remains also to be seen what effect on
the political action of the Southern States the
alliance of Austria and Napoleon will produce.
Care is requisite on the part of Austria not
to awaken the national susceptibilities of Ger-
many by this alliance, which only otherwise irre-
trievable mischances have forced upon her. It
must not be by her fault that German land should
be lost to Germany, or that victorious France
should again be master on the Rhine or in the
Bavarian Palatinate. Her most difficult task will
be not to allow herself to be made a tool of to
work out the designs of Napoleon for vindicating
the military superiority of France over Prussia.
She must act with France simply on the defen-
sive against the aggressive policy of Prussia, and
cause her alliance with France to be regarded simply
as a protest against the understanding entered into
between Prussia and Russia, and as a protection
against such a hostile combination. The war—if
war is to come in Germany—must not be the
result of Austria's alliance with the foreigner, but
be rightly traced to the ungovernable ambition of
Prussia. Thus only can Austria escape the obloquy
of bringing French soldiers on German soil. Thus
only can she hope to regain influence in Germany,
and be able to play the great part which we hope
she is still destined to fulfil in Europe.

The Turkish Minister's Address to the

President.

BLACQUE BET, the Turkish Minister, when for-
mally presented to the PRESIDENT August 23,
delivered an address which has caused some amuse-
ment and no little astonishment in the United
States. He said—" Our two nations have more
than one cause for mutual esteem. Both conquerors,
each has followed in its conquests the path traced
for it by the manners and instances of its epoch—
one conquering by the force of arms, the other
chiefly by the arts of peace. There is still one re-
markable circumstance, perhaps not yet sufficiently
understood in this quarter of the world—namely,
that these two nations differ slightly in the prin-
ciples on which their social organisation is based,
and while on the one hand the extent of ocean which
separates and divides them seems destined to keep
them strangers to each other, on the other hand
the Democratic affinities of their institutions tend
to draw them to one another."

Ambassador may not be so far wrong
If an American were asked
On the principle that extremes meet,atshpeeTopulrekisaht
first sight might suppose.
to give an instaTnucerkoefy.a
i; pureas asked
mn
m e hx
example wouldp
probably select of
the broadest spirit of Republicanism, he would un-
doubtedlytes Yet BLACQUE
BEY, a travelled Frenchmen,
the United States.
"ally connected,
e
alien finds in these two
them to one wicihthtewnhdsichthhed officially
where, in the BEY'S opinion, the affinity lies.
"an o
affinityun t rs
countries
h
an-
other." We would much like to know the points,
successive Sultans has so degenerated throughout
Although an absolute despotism, the rule of the
Turkey that the law has little force, even the law of
the SULTAN'S will. As the hand of authority is re-
moved, either the liberty of the subject is increased,
or, more generally, the control is grasped by those
strong enough to usurp it. In the former state of
society "every man does as he damn pleases." In
the latter this privilege is confined to the few.
Where the first prevails every man is tyrannised
over by his neighbour ; where the latter, if the
number of tyrants be fewer, the unjust rule to
which he is subjected (if less frequent iu its instances
of oppression) is even more complete. Where the
liberty of the citizen attains its greatest proportion,
society may have a tendency to approximate to a
condition where laws are set aside ; and there are
Territories and States of the Union to which the
remark of the Turkish Ambassador may have some
application. Where an unbounded freedom is
given, license will surely follow, for this is the price
men pay for being freed from the restraints of law.
An Eastern despotism, tempered by an occasional
revolt, which finishes by the bowstring or the scimi-
tar the career of the ruler, has many striking points
of similarity to a country boasting of the greatest
freedom. Mexico and Persia are not so dissimilar
as the nature of their institutions would lead one to
suppose. Where all may aspire to any post, the
great principle of equality is conceded. If the
barber who shaves the SULTAN may become his
Prime Minister, and eventually his successor, this
principle is acted upon. When Secretary SEWARD
asked HEPWORTH DIXON "what he thought of our
country," he replied partly in jest, " I find your
country so free that no one seems to have any
rights." It was the exaggeration of this idea which
must have possessed the Turkish Minister when he
claimed an affinity between the United States and
the nation he represented. In both he regarded the
citizens as born equal, acknowledging only the
authority of those in office. Travellers in America
are astonished at the unquestioning deference shown
by the people to those having the semblance of law-
ful authority. " Every dog in office," HEPWORTH
DIXON says, "is obeyed with such unquestioning
meekness that every dog in office is tempted to be-
come a cur."

In Turkey the office holder asserts precisely the
same control, and the Minister may have been
struck by the similarity presented between the popu-
lations bowing to the mandates of those clothed
with office. The Turk in this acts from fear of
consequences ; the American, from an innate reve-
rence for the law. The motives of each are totally
dissimilar, yet the action is alike. In Turkey all
Turks may aspire to any office, and, when attained,
the incumbent rides the high horse and enforces the
obedience of his fellows. In the United States the
case is similar, and herein is the democratic affinity
to which BLACQUE BEY alludes.

In England, on the contrary, and even in her
colonies, the landed gentry patronise and look down
on office-holders from an elevation which makes the
incumbents appear quite small. When the English
magnate accepts office he dignifies it—not it him—
that is, he enjoys a social rank which no office in
the country can confer, and to which no man in
America or in Turkey can aspire, unless he earns it
by personal qualities. Wherever the feudal system
prevailed it has left in a greater or lesser degree this
trace, and the broad lines drawn between classes
present such a contrast to a society where such lines
can scarcely be seen, as tho stripes do to the stars
in the national flag.
" Society is made and held together," lIErwoRTH
DIXON remarks, "by the poise and balance of two
radical powers in man—the separating spirit of
freedom and the combining spirit of union. Always
acting, and in opposite ways, these forces bold each
other in check ; that, shaking masses into units ;
this, drawing units into masses; and it is only in
their nice adjustment to each other that a nation
can enjoy political life in the midst of social peace."
Before the civil war, the action of all political bodies in
America, of all colleges and corporations, of all private
teachers, agitators, and philosophers, was directed
towards making the popular voice in favour of indi-
vidual rights. Society rights, class rights, property
rights, State rights, land rights, church rights, per-
sonal rights, rights of labour, negro rights, Indian
rights, woman's rights, babies' rights, were samples
of the names under which a common sentiment of
division had taken shape. Every man was to be a
law unto himself, and after contemplating the pic-
ture he drew HEPWORTH DIXON' exclaims, " What
a glorious strength of constitution this young
society must have had to endure with so little waste
the shock of so many forces. What energy, what
solidity, what stamina, in the young Saxon
Republic !"
The Civil War—the great fire that Tau oYer the