The Sun.
London, England, 1867-09-25 00:00:00

THE SUN. LONDON. WEDNESDAY EVENING, SEPTEMBER 25, 1867.

than they gave. It would be still worse if they
availed themselves of legal quibbles to repay the
timely advance by giving less than they received.
Yet this is the Democratic plan for dealing with
those who trusted the United States. The
English who have heard much of the base
tendencies of Republicanism might take this
lesson to heart; it is the Conservatives of
America that are engaged in this wicked
scheme to defraud both the creditors of the United
States of their money and the nation of its honour,
that party which has been foremost in exciting the
worst feelings of animosity between the kindred
nations, the promoters of corruption, who have
used as tools, the ignorant emigrants, to attain
their own base and selfish ends. It is not diffi-
cult to predict the result of this attack. It will
end in shame to its originators, and although it
cannot fail in the first instance seriously to injure
the national credit, it will produce so clear an ex-
pression of the national mind that eventually this
ghost being laid, the shade which has hitherto
created so undefined a feeling of alarm, damaging
materially United States securities, will be set at rest
for ever. Now is the time for the people to speak
out. A glorious opportunity is offered to crush for
ever the detractors of the honour of the nation by
giving to the creditors a clear, well-defined, irrevoc
able pledge, that, come weal or come woe, through
sunshine and through storm, in prosperity or adver-
sity, the nation, above all things, will maintain its
honour, redeeming every liability, no matter how
great the pressure. This, we feel assured, will be
the answer of the nation to the Democratic agitators,
who, even if successful on such a ticket in can-
vassing some States, would quail to carry into
effect a measure—even, if possible—which would
stamp for all time with infamy the great Republic,
and hurl into ruin the citizens by thousands.—
Anglo-American Times.

MR. HUGHES, M.P., ON PARTNERSHIPS

OF INDUSTRY.

The second soiree in commenoration of the for-
mation of the collieries of Messrs. Henry Briggs and
Sons, at Whitwood and Methley, into a partnership
concern, in which the workers have an interest,
and a bonus is paid yearly to every labourer in pro-
portion to his wages and the success achieved, was
held at Whitwood, on Saturday evening. Up to
two years ago the proprietors of these collieries had
been engaged in constantly-recurring disputes
with their workpeople as to the rate of
wages and the number of hours' labour that
ought to constitute a working day, and, as
as a consequence, the success of the firm was small
and the dividends paid on the capital invested by
no means satisfactory. In order, if possible, to
obviate these difficulties that so frequently arose, to
render the works remunerative, and to make the
relation between employer and employed more
amicable, the proprietors converted their works into
a limited company, in which the workmen were
allowed to have shares, and after a fixed dividend
had been paid upon the capital the remainder of
the profit, provided there was any, was to be divided
amongst all the persons interested, including those
labourers who had no pecuniary stake in it. The
proceedings on Saturday evening commenced with
tea, of which 1,800 persons, all of whom were in
some way interested in the colliery, partook.
After tea a meeting was held, presided over
by Mr. Henry Briggs, the chairman of the directors,
who was supported by Mr. T. Hughes, M.P., the
Hon. and Rev. P. Y. Savile, rector of Methley ; the
Rev. J. Armytage, the incumbent of the parish ;
the Rev. J. S. Gammell, the Rev. B. Hinde, Mr.
E. 0. Greening, Mr. Archibald Brigg, Mr. G.
Bradley, and others.
The CHAIRMAN, in opening the proceedings, said
that since they met last year at Leeds they had had
continued prosperity, and had been able to divide a
large sum amongst their operatives. This amount
had increased by one-half since last year ; then it
was £l,BOO, now it was £2,700. He believed that
they would continue to prosper, and that they
would find that the operatives who worked at these
collieries would improve in their character for steadi-
ness, thrift, and sobriety, as they had done of late
years.
Mr. limas, M.P., then addressed the meeting,
and, after congratulating all present upon the suc-
cessful result of their co-operation, said that they
bad had great success during the past year. The
directors had been enabled to pay to the men who
worked with their hands and sinews in the colliery
for weekly wages no less a sum than £2,700 out of
the profits of the concern. He had heard it said
about that movement in which they were embarked
—" after all there is very little difference between
you and other concerns in the same trade ; it has
been a good year, and everybody is content and
pleased at what they have done this year in the
coal districts." He was very glad that other
persons were as satisfied as they, but he did
not hear of any other place in the coal districts
where £2,700 bad been distributed amongst the col-
liers, and if there were any such places he should be
glad to hear of them. He 'was there as a capitalist,
having a few shares in the concern, and if the work-
men, shareholders, and those who had no share in
the firm, but had received a bonus on their labour,
were satisfied with the success that had been
achieved, he could say the capitalists also were. If,
then, those who advanced the money and those who
worked in the collieries were pleased with the result
of the year's labours, it was a strong proof they were
in the right road, not only to success, but to do some-
thing higher than any mere money success could
bring, for he would be ashamed to talk about mere
money returns as the real great advantage of that
movement in which they were all deeply interested.
If it were merely for the money success that that
colliery had achieved, they would not have had such
athnereenftohruse,iahseticshg
should like to tell them one or two
reasons as that met there ; and,
reasons why he thought they were doing something
much more valuable than making profits for them-
selves by working heartily in that great work. In
the first place they had gained a great reputation.
He was not one of those who counted reputation at
more than it was worth, but he thought that
all men who were in earnest and meant to do
well that work which had been given to them
to do in the world, and had strength given to
them to go through with it, whether they were well
or ill spoken of by men, merited a good reputation.
At the same time there could be no doubt that next
to the " well done" of one's own conscience, it was
the greatest encouragement any man or body of men
could have to know that they were spoken of with in-
terest and watched. with anxiety by those whom they
respect outside of their own body. With regard to
that point he could say that even at the end of the
first year of their operations their proceedings were
drawing attention in many parts of the world outside
the West Riding of Yorkshire, and during the year
which had passed since their last meeting that reputa-
tion had spread very widely. Two years ago very few
persons away from that village were interested in the
properity of those collieries ; but now he said deli-
berately because of his own knowledge, that not
only in all parts of England, but also upon the con-
tinent, in the United States of America, and in the
colonies there were many persons watching with
the greatest anxiety the experiment they were
making in the Whitwood Collieries. That placed
a great responsibility upon their shoulders, for they
had a great reputation to sustain. Why did people
watch them with anxiety ? Why did some persons
represent that there was nothing.' to distinguish
their concern from the ordinary run of joint-stock
companies, and detract from all the good which
was spoken of them, and endeavour to lesson by mie.
representation the success they had achieved ? And
why, on the other hand, was it that many other
persons were anxious to exaggerate the success they
had attained ? It was because, whatever their
opinions might be on these subjects, they believed
that they were trying a critical experiment ; that
they were lacing the great labour question which
was puzzling and daunting statesmen, which was
carrying misery and pauperism into a great many
parts of England, and which was, in fact, the most
important and most harassing question that men
had to face in all the civilised countries in the world.
They believed that possibly in their success might
lay the solution, probably the only solution, of that
question. The principles upon which that society

was founded were such as this, that "the interests
of capital and labour are identical." They had
been told that for years ; people had said that capi-
talists and labourers were flying in the face of
natural laws in disputing, as they had disputed, and
as he was afraid they would continue to dispute.
That might be very well in theory under the old
system, but so long as it was found, as it had been
more and more of late years, that capital lay with
one set of people, and labour naturally with another
set, and that, whatever good-will they might have
towards one another personally, antagonism rose
up between them, they might just as well say that
strife would not occur as that water would not run
down hill. Another principle was, " Co-operation
for ever, and no more strikes ;" a sentiment which
he was sure came home to the hearts of
many persons in the room, for it was only four
years ago that there was a terrible strike in the dis-
trict. Let them consider the difference between
what they saw around them and that miserable time
when that strike occurred, and ask themselves
whether it was likely that there would be a strike
now at Whitwood Collieries. He, as a share-
holder, should be very much surprised if a strike
took place, because the works were carried on upon
a new principle—that of co-operation, which had as
its root-principle the idea of justice. They had been
told that demand and supply would settle these
questions satisfactorily, and that unlimited compe-
tition was the way in which universal peace was to be
brought about in this world, and especially in the
world of commerce and trade. They saw what had been
the result of the application of that principle of every
man taking as much as he could and giving as little
as possible. Not only had there been strikes in the
coal district, but the whole industry of this country
had become almost in a state of dead-lock. They
heard on every side that in a great many branches of
industry in which England had been famous for
generations, and had been in the front of the nations
of the world, we were being supplanted by foreigners
on the Continent and in the United States. It
would be a sad day for England when that actually
occurred, because she existed, and only could exist,
by being in front of the commercial world. He would
like to know bow it was possible for her to main-
tain her hold as the workshop of the world and her
place in the front of the nations if things were
to go on in the old style. We were hearing day by
day that our trade was being supplanted, and he did
not think that anything could bring it back, or give
England her old post in the very front of the man-
ufacturing and commercial nations of the world,
except some form of that system of co-operation
which they were carrying out, and which was be-
ginning to take a great hold upon both the work-
men and capitalists of England. They at Whit-
wood bad been very prosperous hitherto, but they
could not expect always to have good years and good
trade, although he believed that their prosperity would
last longer under the co-operative system than under
any other ; and when bad times did come, he asked
those who were trying theexperiment of the first great
industrial partnership in England whether they would
then stand true to their colours. He hoped and
believed that they would ; and he could assure them
that they had men who could lead them through
bad as well as good times. There had been co-
operative societies which had been started on prin-
ciples similar to theirs, and had gone on well for a
time and then fallen away from their first faith.
It was a matter of great regret to those who had
engaged in a work of that kind, in the success
of which they sincerely believed the future of
England was bound up, to find that those
who had put their hands to the plough should
draw them back again ; but it would not do to ignore
the fact that workmen in Lancashire and Yorkshire
had started co-operative mills upon what he believed
to be right and true principles, and had afterwards
converted them into joint-stock companies. lie was
delighted to hear, however, that in many instances
they had not. succeeded, since they departed from
the true and right principle, because he thought it
served them quite right. He hoped that that would
never be done at Whitwood, and that the workmen
remembering that they were carrying out a great
experiment under the eyes of all who thought
on these subjects, not only in England, but
also on the Continent, and in the United States
even, would work honestly, and make the most
of their opportunities, not only for their own bene-
fit, but also for that of all those who were engaged
with them in that concern. He bad been attending
to these subjects for many years, and he had more
hope of seeing a successful issue to those questions
that had been agitating the country from the expe-
riment they were trying there than from anything
else that had ever been offered as a solution to them.
Ile therefore besought them to work honestly and
heartily, supporting one another in the work, the
highest that could be given to man to do, of mak-
ing the country in which they were born a better
place for Christian men and women to live in.
(The hon. gentleman resumed his seat amidst loud
applause.)

Other speakers afterwards addressed the meeting.

Social Science Congress.

BELFAST, Monday.
One of the most attractive papers, so far as a
large audience was concerned, was that read by Mr.
Goldwin Smith on Saturday, in the Department of
Education, on " The adaptation of the old univer-
sities to the requirements of the present day," in
which it was primarily remarked that public edu-
cation was destined to be the great organising and
conservative force of the future ; but while the
rich were being educated the poor must not
be neglected. The reform and extension of
universities was as important as the improve-
ment of popular schools. After showing that
the colleges were not only in date and in
outward form, but in character, distinctly
medieval, he noticed the recent reforms in the
universities, such as the opening of fellowships,
the better endowment of the university professorate,
especially in the department of science, and the
breaking up of the exclusive dominion of the heads
of houses, and the institution of an elective council.
Still much remained to be done ; medieval shackles
had been loosened rather than struck off. Though
the fellowships had been made prizes, they were still
sinecures, and the headships had been left without
fixed duties, at least of an educational or literary
kind. With a passing comment upon the evil
results of the requirements of celibacy, and the
unsatisfactory relations of the colleges to the
universities, Mr. Goldwin Smith proceeded to point
out that Oxford was completely in the power of the
clergy, and of that party which predominated among
the clergy ; and if the same ascendancy had been less
marked in the case of Cambridge, it was, perhaps,
because the clergy there had, so to speak, been less
clerical—possibly because so many of them had
undergone the somewhat secularising training of
mathematics. Ile would not presume to treat clerical
ascendancy as an acknowledged evil, and as many
good men thought it so much the reverse of an evil,
he would only say that, as no man could serve two
masters, so no institution could serve two objects—
that of national party and that of national educa-
tion. How incompatible the two objects were
every one who had been engaged in university
education, and in whom the sense of national duty
was paramount, had bitter reasons to know.
Referring to the religious tests which cut off the
universities from the Nonconformist part of the
nation, he observed that an institution which was
sectional could not be national, and thatlm institu-
tion which was not national could not educate the
nation. The tendency of legislation was at present
towards the removal of the tests ; and there could
be no doubt that the progress of philosophy,
science, and philanthropy was steadily giving
the victory to the common convictions and
interests of men over those denominational
differences which, two centuries ago, seemed
of such absorbing importance. A denomina-
tional system of education was built on a founda-
tion which, to all appearance, was being eaten away
by forces more silent, but more sure, than a party
movement in the universities or in the House of
Commons. Upon the question of university exten-
sion, Mr. Goldwin Smith was of opinion that more
room might be made both at Oxford and Cam.
bridge by giving up the college monopoly, which,

as a matter of right, ought to go ; and at Oxford
by allowing students to live in lodgings instead of
compelling them to reside inside the college gates.
A proper entrance examination would keep out
unfit men, thus enabling the university to
admit those who would really make good use of
their advantages. Deprecating the multiplication
of local universities and the introduction of the
political element into the management of education
--it was a misfortune to Oxford and Cambridge,
whatever it might be to the House of Commons,
that they were represented in Parliament—Mr.
Goldwin Smith pointed out some of the evils
which he thought militated against the system
of compelling students to reside inside the uni-
versity walls, and concluded by observing that
he would not have Oxford and Cambridge go
the length of the London University, which had
become merely an examining board. He would,
however, give the lower degree, 8.A., to those
who had completed a course recognised by the
university, and passed examinations conducted
under her authority while attending the local col-
leges. The higher degree and the franchise of the
university he would reserve for those who had
undergone the highest training in the university
itself, and would admit to the university only such
as were prepared to undergo such training.
Many ways might be suggested in which the
universities might act as centres of upper class,
and perhaps even of general, education—such
as the examination and certification of teachers,
and possibly the inspection of public and
grammar schools. Academical statesmanship,
seeking with singleness of heart the interests of
national education, would gradually solve these
problems. Ecclesiastical party would not solve
them. Unhappily, in his own university
ecclesiastical party was likely to be the growing
power for many a year to come. He then pro-
ceeded to urge concessions to the Roman Catholics
in the matter of education. He divided the
Roman Catholic clergy into two parties, one
struggling for power, the other fighting for conscience
sake. He gave a qualified adhesion to the policy
of extending the charter of the Queen's University
to a Catholic College ; he even eulogised the con-
duct of the Roman Catholic universities in earlier
times, as the beacon lights of civilisation amidst
comparative barbarism, and he emphatically declared
that he would make concessions to the Roman Ca-
tholics in this country which he would resist on
principle in lands where they were dominant.