The Sun.
London, England, 1844-05-16 00:00:00

THE FACTORY QUESTION.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE MORNING POST.
Sift,—ln discussing the merits of any scheme for the im-
provement of our currency, there is one point which should
never, for a moment, be lost sight of, and that is, whether
such currency will afford to the labouring classes of this
country, both agricultural and manufacturing, such a scale of
wages as will not only relieve them from the pressure of in-
direct taxation; but, in accordance with the demands of
philanthropy, will permit of direct interference on the part
of Government in abridging the hours of labour, and thereby
enabling the working classes to devote a portion of their time
to moral and religious improvement. That this desirable re-
sult can never be attained under a gold, or a gold equivalent
, paper currency, like the present, will appear obvious from the
following considerations :—Th at, whereas, wages are the means
of distributing wealth among the great mass of the people, and
that it is only by a high rate of wages they can be defended from
the effects of that taxation which at present enters into every
necessary of their life, and that they can be enabled to de-
vote a portion of their time to the improvement of their *mind,
so necessary to their elevation in the social scale. But high
wages paid to the workman requires that the employer should
obtain from the general consumer high prices; otherwise the
whole burden of taxation and elevation of the condition of
the labourer would fall upon him, and the rich and unpro-
ductive classes would wholly escape. -Now, seeing that these
high prices are high prices in gold, ,and that the country con-
sists of producers and consumers, it is evident that the pro-
ducers would have little chance of selling their goods either
at home or abroad ; for, as free trade is the order of the day,
and as we generously give the foreigner the advantage of our
improved machinery, the producer will have some difficulty
in persuading the consumer to buy dear at home what he can
buy cheap abroad ; and he will be unable to compete in the
market of the world with the producer of lightly taxed coun-
tries, where the standard of living is lower than that which
we wish to establish here. Under such a currency, then,
and such is the one under which this country now groans,
we must abandon all hope of alleviating the condition of
the labouring classes, for the stern necessity under which
the producer is placed of struggling against foreign compe-
tition, renders it imperative on him to diminish his good wages.
This gives rise to extra toil, to lengthened hours of labour,
to the slavish employment of women and children in facto-
ries, and to all the miseries we daily witness—the burden of
indirect taxation is thus thrown on the shoulders of the op-
pressed producer—master and man ; the rich and unproduc-
tive, the fundholder, sinecurist, absentee and idler escape free
at the expense of the overworked and underfed millions.
With a symbolic money, how different is the case l With
such money, representatives of
.value, not value itself, we may
have any scale of wages that Government may see fit to esta-
blish—in such representative money, the price of gold would
rise like that of all other commodities; thus preserving the
natural relation that all commodities have to each other.
High wages and high prices might thus be maintained in' this
country, without in the least interfering with our foreign
trade, because our goods being sold abroad at their untaxed
or natural value would be returned to our merchants in the
gold or goods of other countries which would command the
high prices of this country.
Of this symbolic nature was the currency which existed of
old in Sparta, which flourished for 500 years under the money
established by Lycurgus Such was the currency which
existed in "merry England" when Exchequer tallies repre-
sented the supplies levied by Government on the people, and
passed current as money. Such was the currency which
existed during the last French war, when a Bank of Eng-
land "rag" enabled the producer, by means of high prices at
home, to recover from the general consumer the immense
sums raised by indirect taxation, and at the same time to
give high wages to the labourer; when, in short, the whole
country flourished,- and "war prices" became proverbial of
prosperity. Was there any virtue in war to produce all this?
Are there not far nobler triumphs to be achieved, by the
same means, in the ARTS of PEACE?
I trust, therefore, that those patriotic Members who have
more than once defeated the Ministers and mammon-wor-
shippers on the Factory Question, will follow up their advan-
tage, by rejecting the pernicious resolutions of Sir Robert
Peel on the Bank charter, and compelling him to adopt an
honest monetary system, without which their benevolent en-
' deavours to improve the condition of the labouring classes
will be ultimately ineffectual.—l am, Siro our most obedient
servant, Q. T.
' London, May 11, 1844.

GENERAL POST-OFFICE.--The amazing increase in
the daily duty of the General Post-office is manifested. n
every department of that gigantic establishment. So greatly
is it felt in the newspaper-office that the authorities have
been compelled .to resort to every practicable means of as-
sisting the executive officers by the introduction of mecha-
nical contrivances to lighten the labour of the department.
From the bulky size and weight of the double papers, and
their great numbers (now nearly one hundred thousand per
night), it is found necessary to make them up in immense
sacks, which, the men being unable to carry, are wheeled
upon a tramway to the floor of the omnibuses, whence they
are taken to the termini of the several railways in transitu
to their destinations. Since the reduction of the rates on
foreign, colonial, inter-colonial, and inland letters, the num-
ber, both inwards and outwards, has materially increased.
The three first classes per annuwn amount to 8,583,040, and
the inland letters to 209,611,508. The deliveries from the
provinces by mid-day mail also continue to increase, and the
money-order service has multiplied 25-times in comparison
with its amount of duty before the reduction of the rate of
poundage. The acceleration of the mail trains, which came
into operation on the Western line yesterday (Weffnesday),
and the projected employment of the Eastern Counties Rail-
way for the conveyance of day bags to Brentwood, Witham,
Chelmsford, and Colchester, and the opening of the Canter.
bury and Dover lines throughout, will tend also to increase
the duty, and add materiallyto the accommodation of the public.
SHOCKING ACCIDENT ON BOARD THE MERCURY
STEAMER.—On Monday whilst the General Steam Naviga-
tion Company's vessel, Mercury, was on her usual passage to
Ramsgate, the passengers on board were greatly alarmed,
when off the Nore, in hearing loud shrieks proceeding from
the engine-room, . and which were soon ascertained to come
from a poor fellow named Nevell, stoker, from having become
entangled in the machinery. It seems that he had but a
few minutes previous replenished the fire, and, on doing so,
sat down on a piece of skirting-board to smoke his pipe.
Unfortunately, through some unaccountable cause, the
board suddenly, slipped and he fell amongst the moving
machinery. His cries immediately brought assistance, and,
after great difficulty, the engine being stopped, he was ex-
tricated, when it was found that his left leg was completely
crushed in several places, and was only hanging by ligatures.
The steamer being close to Sheerness, she bore down to one
of her Majesty's ships for medical aid. This was gained,
and the vessel proceeded on to Ramsgate, Nqere the man
was landed,- and in the course of the evening the limb was
amputated just above the knee. He still lies in a bad way.
He has a wife and six young children totally dependent on
him for support.
CALEDONIAN ASYLUM.—The free seceders among
the Directors of this Institution have resolved, by a majority
which it is hoped will soon be reversed, to dispense with the
long-established custom of inviting the Scottish Presbytery
of the Church of Scotland in London to examine the thildren,
and on Tuesday last had them examined by two seceders, or
English Presbyterians. A vote of an accidental majority
may invite two Socinian ministers next year, as the opening
the door to -all must give a right to all. It is hoped the
Directors will not allow their vacancies to be filled up, as on
the last occasion, by free seceders, nor the children to con-
tinue to attend the free chapel in Regent-square--practices
anti-national and injurious.—Post.
ANCIENT CONCERTS.—The sixth performance of
ancient music took place last night, at the Hanover Rooms,
under the direction of the Earl of Cawdor. Conductor, Sir
H. R. Bishop ; Leaders, Messrs. F. Cramer and Loder ; Organ,
Mr. Lucas. The Earl of Cawdor having in his possession a
very valuable musical library, containing many productions
by the old masters, availed himself of it, and introduced se-
veral compositions on this occasion, which were never per-
fore at these concerts, among which are those by Bach,
Righini, Vogler, Clari, and Berton. An obligato (oboe) part
in Baeh's aria was well performed by G. Cooke. The song
by Righini is modelled on Handel's tine bass songs; it was
excellently sung by Staudigl, and well received by the com-
pany. The first two bars of Vogler's quartetto are almost
note for note like the Scottish (or Irish) air, "My lodging is
on the cold ground," and the accompaniments have the same
phrase, while the voices sustain the harmony, which produced
a very fine effect. Miss S. Flower sang Chetubini's song
extremely well, and her debut at these concerts was highly
successful. It were impossible to speak too highly of the
brilliant manner in which Dorus Gras sang Mozart's fine
scena from the " Zauberflote." Handel's grand chorus brought
to a conclusion a very fine performance, and one that ap-
peared to give great satisfaction to a very brilliant assemblage
of rank and fashion.
Yesterday a ballot was taken at the East India-
house for the election of a Director in the room of the Hon.
Hugh Lindsay, deceased. At six o'clock the glasses were
closed and delivered to the scrutineers, who retorted that the
election bad fallen on Mr. John Clarniont Whiteman.