The Sun.
London, England, 1859-07-30 00:00:00

THE NAVY.

The sailing, line-of-battle ship Collin wood,
• which is brdered from Portsmouth to'Chrithami is
tPii)o:4.t.t:4olied td the fleet of. veSsels in. -Ordinary at
,that, port, which now .numbers_upwards of 50 yes-
"seis'ef all classes and sizes. • •
lettets'received in Plyrnoilth 'dated Corfu, July
aS, state that the screw steam corvette Racoon;
captain .Tatnes.A. Paynter, had just returned from
taking the Lbrd High Commissioner on hri official-
;visit to all thelislauds, and that she. way:then •pre-
.paiiing to leave for some Turkish possession in the
Adriatic.

' • The •DaUntless, 33; screw, Captnin 'Edmondstone,
was swung ;--e..sterdy at the iniddloharbour buoy
in•• Portsmouth harbour; to ascertain .the deviation
of her compass prior to proceeding to Spithead.
The Himalaya, o,' Commander 'John S,2combe, ar-
rived at Spithead.yeSterday nforningfrom Graves-
end, and anchored broadside mi. with the Russian
flag•ShiP Grcimoboi. Those of the Russian Officers
who hadlnever witnessed 11.114 beautiful ship were
astonished ather length and fittings. She will . e--
ceive on board the 36th. Regiment, comprising 331
'd.f&ers and 345' rank and fife, Willi • J77liivo en
ni
and 110 110 children, 4nd:convey. Octal tp.Dev.onport.-
,From thence she embarks the .2d 7 baAaJion. of
'the 22d Foot, :comprising" 33' officers dud 'fl£lo rank:
and file, andihqlst battalion ofthel6th;,.3o officers
and 854 (Rep for Liverpool,
The paddle-wheel steam-sloop Gladiator, 6, Com-
mander •Hickley, left Plymouth on Wednesday
evening for tho West Indies, but returned, to the
;Solinfl-nt 6:30 on Thursday,inorning; This unex-•
yeeted ' return is attributed, to a Misunderstanding
attieeu the Commander and the master. ImMe-
cliatelyon her arriN'al 'tom trialitterigHltkley- 'had-ttn
interview with the Port-Admiral, Sir Barrington
Reynolds.. Subsequently Capt. W. Steward; of the
flagship Inipregnable,.and Capt. Hall went on bodrd
the Gladiutcr to investigate the circumstances. I
The gunboat Clinker went outside Plymoutfi
Sound on Thursday morning for an experimental
cruiSe, under the direction of Capt. R. S. Robinson,
of the guardship of steam ordinary Wellington, 72.
She attained an average speed of
,ten .k.,lots,
The screw steamship Caesar, 90, "Ciiptain r. H.
Mason, went from Hamoaze on Thursday into'Ply-
mouth Sound, .One of her cutters is fitted upon
Capt. Kynaston's plan for lowering boats.. !
• The -Mutine sloop-of-War, 17 guns, will be
launched,-from Deptford dockyard this afternodn.
The Mutine is a remarkably fine vessel of its claps,
and has, been builtunder the superintendence of
Mr. W. Chatfield, master shipwright. i
The. following appointments .were made vest r-
day at the Admiralty :—Thomas Goodman, ttsOit-
ant-paymaster, to the Arrogant ; Thos. Chambe s,
clerk; to the Dauntless ; and Henry P. Hought n,
clerk, to the Melpomene.. . :, 1

THE BUILDERS' STRIKE.

We are threatene4 withinstheText few ,weekswith_ one of tae greatest. earamities'eririch can e.
be-
fall an industrial natione-a -calamity, too, which
will fall' ihost heavily `on these whose wrongheaded-
ness and folly are the causes of L. The is orkmen
ineeebuilding . trade, who have long been agitat-
ing for a reduction of the leiurs of labour to nine
daily, instead oaten, as at present, have nowitaken
the unwaerau;able step of directing the net"em-
ployed by a particular firm to strike, not`' or an
. advance _ of esvag'ese-but for sa-essi+ailment- of -one
hour in the day's work: This proceeding &eV in-
deed, carry us back t ) days which we hoped-had
for ever gone by. Nothing.has given thin-kingAnen
so much pleasure-during the last few years as the
progress made- ,by the labouring e classes in% good
sense, honesty, self,centrol,' and their acquaintance
with the first laws of political economy which re-
-late-to the-employment of capital.- In -former
times, when a burdened Exchequer and narrow
financial laws depressed the energies of the country,
there was only one way by which the working man
.who thought himself on himself injured revenged.
the society which he conceived to inflietehe injhry.
The agricUltural laborirer set fire to ricks, the arti-
san broke machinery, the Mobs of great towns
turned out.to hiss Royalty, or to pelt theTresereers
of thelpece. 'Those were' the. day's' Of 'Chartism
and. "strikes," one the political system of the im-
patient masses, the other tic means by which they
sought to enforce compliance with their desires.
-The miseries-brought on-the country by these events
,will nevier be blotted from the'minds of thoge who
are old enough -to recollect them. • Even. in' the
rein of the' present Queen, in those days when Sir
11.,'Peel succeeded- to power, the already stagnant
tyede:of England Was still further e.:ols.ecl by the
general iebellion of English' labour. in the .nbrth
against the so-called tyranny of capital. The
terrible days of 1842 have, been almost forgotten
by the
,neW generation which has risen' Up at ,Man-
chestet'and the other great northern towns .since
that timeeebut who can pasesee'este, the ruin -that
was then, worked, and' the euersi deln/dsion 'which
followed when it was fully proved that, struggle as
th(iafeirlarneussaight, it was, the master- who must
win in the long run ? -
And yet in those days 'men did not" StrikretZ for ,
nothing. The people who stood out against/the
cotton-spinners and iron-feunders all over England
had 'real and deeply-felt grievances. They asked
for more wages because bread was dear and their •
families were starving. Political economy reßlied
thut the price of 'food did not regulate the rate of
wages, which depended on the supply of labour in
each particular trade. • The manufacturers who
could get a man for half-a-crown a-day would not
give three shillings because the.quartein 'loaf was
at 13ct, nor would they employ men at all when
the same labour could be performed by a woman or
a child. It is. ill rarguing with' a- Iturigreastahach,
and the evorkmen who. stood -out-by hundreds of
thousands in.lB-12 urged their natueal Aights to a
full meal and such wages, forehein labour as would
enable them to procure it.'. ..Thep- the .systens of
Protection; in spite of its triumph, haunted
the consciences of legislators, who knew that the
evils suffered by the poor Were not entirely owing'
to unavoidable economical causes ; and yet, with all
these things in their favour, have the leaders of the
great "strikes" of past years gained their-point, or
the respect of their countrymen ? Is it not notori-
ous that even these excusable, we had almoSt said
legitimate, outbreaks, have ended invariably in the
eventual submission of the' workpeople-afteethe
savings of years had been devoured in a few weeks' .
idleness, or in supporting conferences, delegates,
oratorseand aletliaeapparatus Of 'agitation ?
If these thins be so, what can come of the pre-
sent movement T -The-men who now intend to stop
work throughout' the conntry-eto ruin, as far as
they can, hundreds of 'employers WhOse enterprise
.has given bread to. the workmen and their families
—to bring a -great branch ofeindustry to a stand-
'still—to)disappoint all- who are whiting for the
completion of important Works, and, What is per-
haps: of nbt least importance,
,to throw out of em-
ployment ell the subsidiary trades, such as painters,
joiners, and others—have no ground of complaint
with their condition which will' bear. a moment's
examination. They are working for better, wages
than ever, bread is unprecedentedly 'cheap, and 'for
many months they muat, if they continue to work,
be laying up no contemptible savings. , Their
fathers and 'grandfathers worked 10 hours a-day,
and often more, for about two-thirds of what they
receive, and that, too; with' wheati.at War prices,
and every article of consumption .pang a heavy
tax. The present race of wgrkmep, having nothing
to .cinarrel with ;fekturie their mesteis' about, have
decided that, 10' hours a-day .is too %protracted a
'jeteKrOf labour for a full-grown man, and :they
clake'begun by "striking" work to get: rid of the
extra honr, it being note obscurely intimated that
if this agitation-- b successful- an' agitation will
begin to reduce the hours to eight.
It may be said, why should not men work just
as long as they please, their pay being propor-
tioned to the labour they are willing to undergo P
But this is just the point. These very reasonable
and enlightened men,,who have .their conferences,
their committees, and their secretaries, want to go
home an hour earlier than heretofore, but to se-
ceive just the same sum as is now . paid for ten
hours' work. Any attempt to redice the paynient
in ,accordance with the diminished supply of the
article paid for- would produce the most intense in-
dignation in the "Conference of the 'United Build-
- ing Trades." It is indeed to be regretted that; in
spite of the progress of knowledge and the general
extension of reading among- the class to-which the
operatives belong, such' doctrines should still exist
among them. In every' part of their conduct they
are in the wrong'. , They are wrong in what they
aim at, and in the means they take for securing it. ,
That full-grown, strong-bodied men, should object
to working ten hours 6.-day, when a woman or a
child works as long, and a poor maid of 'all' work
is on her legs from six in the morning till eleyen
at night, 'is utterly absurd. And, if there were
any reason 'in their claims, the plan of enforc-
ing them by recourse to the tyrannical ma-
chinery of "strikes" would be sufficient to con-
demn them with moderate, "right-thinking men.
Can the operatives not understand what has- been
told them by every writer on political economy,—
that wages must find their level according to the
quantity of Work done, and that an einployer' who
pays for eight hours' work .the price of ten must
expect shortly to be in the Gazette ? One offim
' twos
things must inevitably happen—either the
will be
departments
of
will be compelled to stop work, and
,se the
work-
people be reduced to starvation, or the voids w
filled up by competitors from other
t re-
humbly, and either work full time or accep
labour, and the men on " strikeloteed,to come back.
duced wages. -
th sv.horW they
trial is beyon d 'adoubt. personsewi
-
have contracted will give there Awe indulgence,
That the public will support the employers in this
These last are, in-
deed,men will be signally punished.
preparing every kind
and any violation of the peace o-ri''Ehe part of the
out of mere wantonness
At a time when they, in
community,pitythey think proper
are enjoying a
commonof m ireasonableserywf
ioatrhm themselves.toui
entiholeoi
f p r ser
0
to throw all these advantages away, and when
winter comes with its enforced cessation of work
the punishment of their improvidence and reck-
lessness will be heavy indeed.—Tinies.

THE LAYING OF SUBMARINE TELE-
GRAPII CABLES.

Of all the difficulties which beset the establish-
ment of long submarine telegraph lines the greatest
are those experienced in the submersion of the cable.
We have all heard the tale of the repeated attempts
to lay the Atlantic cable, and of the constant risk
and fear of failure under which it was at last depo-
sited. The knowledge of these ' facts urges us to
ask why it is that no step has been taken towards
the trial of a plan which has been fully explained
in our pages—which was designed by an esteemed
naval officer—which removes most, if not all, of
the difficulties hitherto experienced—and which
has been the subject of the repeated commenda-
tion of nautical men and. engineers ? We refer
to Captain J. H. Selwyn's patented method of
employing large drums or cylinders floating on
the water and carrying the cable. Hitb.arto
we have heard no objection offered to the ad-
vantages which he claims for it. If its novelty
be an objection, we may say farewell to all possible
improvement. Nothing can be more simple or, W 3
he shows, less expensive ; and the Atlantic Tele-
graph Company, or their contractors, woui.d per-
haps do well to give the principle a fair r) al be-
fore reverting to means which have so_
ept, 13 oftent failed.
With whatever modifications may be adopt, ad, there
aresfunf.amental errors in the process e
,f paying
out coils of cable which no system of
' °rakes can
a rho tnhoe ri s
pro-
cessk of laying, save that of Captair
od
fo
a othergale tdhaarni
eagggtrhaevaotpee,
raantidonth,efor
re
wi s
,l
r
i Selwyn, pro-
vides in any
,adequate way. The danger to the
crew—no small consideration—is in his plan en-
tirely obviated. Further, wil;
---; .ie the Admiralty
might assist .in a mode I'd'. .ich only requires
ing, they would cer-
tainly refuse such aid if inv 0'
ex-
penditure as that which v lying so large an the services of steamers in tow
Agamemnon's fitting d
an 'IF 1 pairs (E 40,000 sterling),
and wei ht of the
and which—or some sun
Pr °portioned to the size
xas necessary for the
have to be borne new c able—would otherwise
'ay the contractors, anal even-
tually by the shareholders. .....xechanics' 324.gadne.