The Sun.
London, England, 1850-12-28 00:00:00

61- betnilut gint

LONDON, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 28, 1850

Although the engine-drivers and firemen of the
northern division of the London and North-Western

Railway have not as yet withdrawn their unreason-
able demands, or formally abandoned their ridiculous
pretensions, the contest may be regarded as virtually
closed. The difference between "sayings and doings"
has received an additional and very striking illustra-
tion. While the malcontents have been " talking,"
the directors have been acting strenuously and effi-

ciently, and they are already prepared for
any alternative—ready, not only to accept
the resignations that may be tendered, but

even to_ take the initiative and remove the

disaffected—all who may refuse to abide by the re.

gulations that have been adopted, after full and ma-
ture consideration—from the company's service,

This day will bring matters to a crisis. There mei
be a total and unconditional submission, en the pare

of the men, or they will receive notice to quit; there
will be no parley ing_witla delegates, no recognition of
illegal confederations, but each man will be required
to state positively and distinctly his unqualified alle-
giance to his employers. Woe to those who refuse or
even hesitate.

" There is a light cloud on the moon,
'Tis passing, and will pass full soon;
If by the time its vapoury sail
Hath ceased her shaded orb to veil
Their hearts within them be not changed"—
then must they be prepared to encounter the inevitable
results of their insubordination and their mischievous
attempt at dictation. They have grievously miscal-
culated their own strength, and the ample resources
of those whom they have so inconsiderately set at
defiance. They seem to have been impressed with
the notion that the matter was one simply between

themselves and their employers ; that ther
were no auxiliaries to whom the latter could
look for assistance and aid, no persons out of
employment in any degree acquainted with the art
and my stery of engine-driving, or of the mode of sup-
plying coke to the furnaces, so as to keep up the ne-
cessary fires under' the boilers, who could be procured
as substitutes in their places. They were, however,
egregiously mistaken in these opinions, having
" reckoned without their host" with a vengeance. As
we have already stated, the question is not one in
which the directors of the London and North-Western
are alone concerned ; every board of every com-
pany, throughout the length and breadth of
the land, are equally interested in the re-
sult, and would join heart and hand in the
struggle, notwithstanding any minor disputes or
differences that may still remain unsettled. Party
dissensions are forgotten in the face of a common foe.
Whig and Tory, Conservative and Radical, Protec-
tionist and Free-trader, would cordially unite to
repel an invasion, and so would railway directors to
overthrow a mischievous system, equally injurious to
all, and to which each might fall victims in turn.
Ample assistance might therefore be looked for from
the locomotive departments of other companies, and,
indeed, we believe we are justified in stating that offers
have been made to a greater extent than the exi-
gencies of the case could require.
There are also, it appears, many duly qualified and

competent engine-drivers now unemployed, men
whose characters would bear the strictest investiga-
tion, desirous of obtaining engagements with the
North-Western Company, who would gladly sub-
scribe the regulation as to the three months' notice.
The directors would have no difficulty in providing
fitting substitutes for the. seceders, without being
driven to the necessity of taking inferior men, or
having their duties performed in an improper
manner. During the Eastern Counties' strike
so many applications were received that the directors
were enabled to obtain picked men of unquestionable
character, and to reject those who would not have
been accepted under ordinary circumstances ; and, as
we have already shown, the fate of the combinators
may afford a salutary lesson to those who have suffered
themselves to be misled through the sinister advice of
mischievous find designing men, who are acting on
them for their own vile purposes.
The meeting of the men of the southern divisien,
which took place on Thursday evening, however,
gave the coup de grace to the hopes of the insurgents.
It was distinctly shown that those who had themselves
no grievances to complain of would not make com-
mon cause with the disaffected, or, to use the words
of one of the delegates from Wolverton, that " they
would not turn out' with the men of the northern
division." This was decisive on the question, and
there was much sound sense exhibited during the
discussion. What fell from an engine-driver named
SIMPSON, a delegate from the Great Western
Railway, was especially deserving of notice.
He said, " that he could not see the
inconvenience of the three months' notice, if it should
be signed, provided the masters willingly agreed to
allow the men, if they obtained boat fide situations,
to quit them at a week or fortnight." Now this
point was especially looked to by the provision that
" for any enginemen who wished to make a bong fide
engagement with any other company, or who shall
propose to go abroad, or, in fact, shall wish to leave
the company's service for any valid reason un-
connected with a general strike, the usual
fortnight's notice would be deemed sufficient."
What they are contending fur is therefore nothing
affecting their individual interests, by which any
man could possibly be prejudiced or his privileges
curtailed, but to retain a mischievous power of con-
trolling their employers by illegal combination.
That is the true point at issue, and that must now be
set at rest. The judicious advice of SistrsoN, one
of them-elves, should sink deep into their minds. lie
declared, " to come to the conclusion to advocate
strikes is only to advocate a rod for our own backs, and
must prove a great disadvantage to the whole body of
enginemen. We have had evidtnce of this throughout,
and I believe the Eastern Counties' strike might have
been prevented, if they had adhered to wise and good
counsel. The more shrikes there are the worse for
ourselves, for we always find a certain set of men

who have no characters wile things are straight,
but who are taken on to u iv! y the places of honest I,
men if a strike occurs. Astrike, therefore, throws
respectable men out of sivations ; and I know
many men who, though iisufficient, are depend-
ing on what they think our over-sufficiency."
He added, and with much truth, his belief " that
strikes can always be avoidel if proper precautions
are used," and that he, for one, would never advocate
a atrike, because he thought things could be amicably
settled without it." The men It Bedford had exhibited
a similar spirit, and illustrate the accuracy of our as-
sertion, "that a majority of the men themselves, if
they ventured to express their own views, would
coincide with the public generally." A resolution
was ultimately carried, recommending a compromise,
but the time for a compromise has passed. The direc-
tors must and will stand firm. They have now the
game in their own hands, and they will not throw it
away. We cannot conclude without imploring the
misguided men to reflect on the fearful consequences
t,f continuing in their unreasoning obstinacy, and to
avail themselves of the locus penitenlice that is still
afforded to them by the leniency of the directors.

A striking illustration has again been afforded of
the evil consequences resulting from the preference of
the longer over the shorter route from England to

he North American continent. The circumstance
:o which we would here direct attention is the more

significant at the present moment, seeing that a Cum•

mission is now sitting to decide upon the best line of
intercommunication between the Pacific and the At-
lantic, as well as between the eastern and the western

hemispheres. Considering the enormous sums of
money expended upon the maintenance of the
route to New York, considering, moreover,
the immense importance of expediting the voy-

ag. as much as is practicable, and in ad-
dition tc. all this, considering the circumstance that
the vessels going td New York pass by Halifax vo
their way to the United States without putting in—
it is really a matter Of some moment to resolve upon
the line to be definitively established as the passage
course to the New World from England. As re-

cently as the 3d instant, according to the advices re-
ceived in this country among the last North Ameri-
can intelligence, the Government steam-ship Asia
passed the capital of Nova Scotia in the manner in-

dicated, namely, on her way to New York, without
pausing to communicate with that province ;

whereas an hour would have been amply

sufficient to allow of her putting in to
that harbour, in which case the news from
Europe might have been transmitted on the

wings of lightning over the length and breadth of the

civilised portion of the American continent (by means
of the electric telegraph) forty-eight hours earlier
than it could possibly be effected according to the

existing system of arrangement. In consequence of

:his blundering regulation it happens actually that
letters and packages, after passing close by our North

American possessions, are conveyed to a distant par

of the United States and then sent back again by

land (paying tribute, observe, to the Republican tilro.
vernment, for so doing 1) to their original destination
Was ever anything, we ask, more absurd than this I
Was ever anything more shortsighted or extravagant 1

Yet such is habitually and systematically the case

now-a-days—now in these times of steam and electri-
city, when the longest possible distances are travelled
over in the shortest possible time ! The origin of all
the evil is the arrangement not lung since come to
that the steam-packets shall alternately proceed to
New York and to Halifax, in connexion with which

preposterous and unsystematic regulation we are now
paying no less a sum than 145,000/. per annum to the
Cunard line from Liverpool !

Supposing either Halifax in Nova Scotia, or St.
John's in Newfoundland were made the calling port,
all these difficulties would be effectually obviated
and a variety of other benefits would accrue, not only
to ourselves, but to our Transatlantic possessions. As
was observed as far back as the 31st of July last, by

a merchant of Portland, you would by this means be
enabled to leave the starting point with less coal, in
which event " your boat will be lighter, and she will
steam faster and maim the voyage in one or two days
less time." The consideration, though apparently
trifling, is in these times of rapid locomotion of no
little importance. Besides which, the same intelligent
observer continues—" you will have more room to
carry dry goods, which pay well, and I presume large
quantities will hp fihippcd by Oliornnfa fnr Canada,
the States, and lower provinces." Innumerable other
advantages might be calculated upon with readiness,
but enough has already been observed to suggest to
the mind of the reader the value of such an inno-
vation.

During the week which is now just expiring an
Irish deputation, headed by Lord MONTEAGLE,
waited upon the Commission already mentioned as at
present sitting to decide upon the most available
route to America, in connexion with the linking to-
gether of the Atlantic and the Pacific. On this oc-
casion it appears that Mr. Howe, the Honourable
Provincial Secretary of Nova Scotia—a gentleman
whose arrival in this country we have before this more
than once alluded to—was present as a spectator.
Although participating in no way in the proceedings,
Mr. Howe was ultimately induced to address a few
words to the Commission in the presence of the Irish
deputation, having been induced to do so by a direct
reference to the fact of his presence made in the
address of Lord MONTEAGLE. The Honourable
Gentleman observed " that, as Lord MON•
TEAGLE bad done him the honour to mention his
name, it might be proper for him to say that he had
come to the commmission by invitation of one of the
gentlemen who took an interest in the proceedings,
only as a spectator, and to show that the general
question involved deeply concerned the provinces he
represented. He had come to this country to endeavour
to interest her MAJESTY'S Government in a scheme
of policy and public works, by which an extension of
the English and Irish railroads would be carried al-
most immediately through the North American pro-
vinces, remotely, perhaps, to the Pacific. His first
duty was to place before the Right Honourable
the Colonial Secretary the views of his Government.
Ha was discharging that duty, and would much pre-
fer that the Commission should have those views in a
condensed form, to which Earl GREY would probably
not object, to encumbering their minutes with dis-
jointed evidence. The first result of the policy be
edvocated would be to secure to British subjects and
British seaports the conveyance of passengers
and letters between Europe and America. The
next, the establishment of cheap steamers for the
middle and working classes ; and, thirdly, the filling
up the waste lands of the provinces with industrious
and prosperous people. The territory which Great
Britain owned in North America was as large
as the whole United States—as large as
all Europe—with noble harbours on the At-
lantic and Pacific coasts—rivers and lakes
of great magnitude for internal navigation—rich
and extensive mines—the best fisheries in the
world, and a bracing and healthy climate. There
was a home and a freehold estate for any English-
man, Irishman, or Scotchman that wanted one-
The best test of the resources of the coun-
try was to be found in the last five
years' experience. The potato rot had been as de-
structive in North America as in the United King-
dom—the, fly during the same period had wasted
much of the wheat. In the mother country thou-
sands had died of starvation—in the North American
provinces, not one ; nay, he did not believe that one
man, woman, or child had during these five years
gone without three meals a- day. England
supported last year about 60,000 able-bodied people
upon her poor-rates. North America could, with a
little judicious preparation, take them all; and once
removed there, after the first year they would never
know want again. It was not for him to say what port
in Ireland or elsewhere should be selected for purposes
of emigration ; various ports would be convenient, as
Glasgow for Scotland; Belfast, Cork, or Galway, for
Ireland ; Liverpool or Southampton (or both), for
England. He might observe, however, that for
the transmission of letters, telegraphic mes
sages, and commercial passengers, a great
mistake would be made if the shortest
route was not selected. Ssippose they selected
the wrong port, for a time, perhaps, the bounty which
the Government gave of 145,0001. a year might defy
competition with the right one; but remove that
bounty, and he would form a 'company in a week, who,
if they would save ten hours in the transmission of
letters, commercial travellas, and telegraphic mes-