The Sun.
London, England, 1844-07-15 00:00:00

GERMANY.

RIOTS IN THE MANUFACTURING DISTRICTS.
The riots which took place in the early part of June, in
Silesia, have been followed by others in Prague ; and Com-
missions are sitting in both districts, to explore the real cause
of these excesses. From the various accounts from those
districts, these causes are pretty plainly excessive lowness
of the price of labour, and, to a great extent, utter want of
work. For a long period the distress among the hand-loom
linen weavers has been dreadful. This has now extended
itself to the cotton spinners, and the description of the ap-
pearance of these workpeople—the formerly simple, peace-
ful, industrious, and happy inhabitants of the Silesian val-
leys, is heart-rending. Pale, consumptive, weak-eyed men,
languidly gliding down from the mountains, staff in band,
clad in their blue linen jackets, and bearing wearily the
bundle of linen to the master's, which they have woven at
eighteen-pence the 120 ells ! is the picture of the linen n eavers.
That of the cotton-spinners is worse, because it is more
morally revolting. Before Christmas some disturbances took
place—the distress has gone on increasing. On the one
hand the formidable competition of England; on the other,
the strict closing of the trade across the frontiers with Russia,
has at length brought the people to desperation. They at-
tributed all their miseries to the introduction of machinery,
and accordingly against that they turned their fury. Col-
lecting in a mass of more than a thousand, they marched
with a white curtain torn down from a window, and hoisted
on a pole as a banner, and to the singing of a song which
had long been sung through all the district to express their
injuries, into the populous manufacturing villages of Peters-
waldau and Langenbielau, where they attacked the chief
factories, those of Messrs. Zwanziger, Hilbert and An-
dritzkv, and Dierig. Attempts were made to turn away
their fury by the distribution of money, but in most cases,
in vain. The fury of the rioters was terrific. Windows,
roofs, machinery, furniture, all met with one common de-
struction. The stores of yarn, indigo, manufactured goods,
spindles, &c., were all carried out and flung into the mill
streams. During four-and-twenty hours that it required to
get an order from Breslau for the employment of military,
this work of demolition and plunder went on. The soldiers,
on their arrival, fired on mob, and killed thirteen on the
spot, besides wounding many others. The rioters then fled
to the hills and woods, whence the soldiers hunted them out.
Upwards of a hundred were conveyed to the prison at
Schweidniz. The Prince Adalbert of Prussia hastened to
Breslau, to ascertain the real facts of the case. There, also,
the mob manifested a disposition to the same excesses ; broke
the street lamps, and the windows of houses, and of the Re-
formed Church. No sooner did the news arrive in Prague,
than the cotton -spinners also assembled on the 17th and 18th
of June, and demolished the machinery of the factories, to
which they attributed the lowness of their wages, and all
their consequent miseries. All these excesses, except those
at Peterswaldau, have been attended without loss of life.
Thus Germany is beginning to taste some of the sours as
well as the sweets of the manufacturing system. With all
their ambition to become a great manufacturing power, and
to make themselves independent of us, it is plain that,
spite of our corn-laws, and excessive taxes, they find
it a severe contest with us ; and if these things
" are done in the green —tree, what will be done
in the dry ?" If these miseries store them in the
face in the youth of their manufactures, what may
they expect when they have converted millions of their la-
bourers into spinners? It is a prospect that may well in-
spire the most serious reflections. In the meantime, the
manufacturers raise a loud cry for fresh import duties, not
only on our fabrics, but on our yarns. Till they can make
their own yarns, they assert that they cannot fairly compete
with us, as they lose the profit on the manufacture of those
yarns. To effect this objects fresh duties must be imposed
both on webs and yarns. This now will be the vehement
cry on the Zollverein, and this our manufacturers must ex-
pect, for nothing less than this can remove the dreadful
misery that haunts the once happy Silesian valleys, or, in-
deed, save from premature decay the manufacturing system
of Germany. At the root of all this forced and unnatural
system lies our corn-law. Abolish that, and the whole
convulsive effort is annihilated, and a healthy ex change of
our goods for their corn is secured to both countries.—Atlas.

FRIGHTFUL OCCURRENCE ON BOARD THIS WATER-
MAN STEAMER, No. 6.—On Saturday, between the hours
of eleven and twelve, a deplorable accident happened to
a tine lad, named Waller, on board the: Waterman
steamer, No. 6, when off Blackwell pier. It appatra
that the unfl)rtunate youth was what is termed a call-
boy, and at times would assist in cieaning the machinery.
At the period above stated he was performing the latter
duty whiht the engine was at work, a practice much
adopted on hoard the small riv,r steamers, iv hen, through
some unfortunate circumstance the huge rev olving crank
caught his head, and completely smashed it. against the
frame-work. lie was removed to a neighbouring
surgeon's, Dr. Bain's, but the unfortunate lad was
beyond recovery, and died in the course of two hours.
LARGE IMPORTATION OF SALMON, Sct FROM
SCOTLAND.—On Friday morning the Dundee, P erth, and
London Shipping Company's steam ship Dundee,. Captain J.
Kidd, arrived at her moorings. off Itore's Steal n-paelcet-
wharf, Wapping, after ct very expeditious pass are from
Dundee. She brought a considerable number of ps ssengers.
Part of her cargo consisted of no fewer than 180 boxes of
River Tay salmon., a large number of live oxen, lamb &c.