The Sun.
London, England, 1844-09-06 00:00:00

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MACHINERY.
TO THE WORKING MEN OF NORWICH.
Permit me to address a few lines to you on the sub-
ject of machinery. They come from one who has to
contend with it; one influenced by the same hopes and
the same fears as yourselves ; in short, a working-
man, but one who has devoted the whole of his
leisure, for the last seven years, to the attentive study
of wages, and the causes which influence them, one
way or another. I assure you, men of Norwich, that
my feelings towards you, at present, are of a strange
nature ; I cannot find language to describe them—
deep regret, almost giving way to indignation and
contempt, to think that thousands of my fellow-
workmen should congregate, for the purpose
of yelling----brutally, savagely yelling—at what ?
a corpse! Fit result from such leaders as you have
believed and trusted in ; one who misled the true-
hearted, but hot-headed Welsh exiles, calumniating
and denouncing, as moral force humbugs and cowards,
those who foresaw and tried to prevent the fatal ten-
dencies of his exciting language ; and the same per-
son, now leading you astray, has the impudence to
tell you that he always advocated moral force alone !
The second of your advisers was imprisoned as a
debtor. The third was voted by the House of Com-
mons, a calumniator ! Truly, are you choice in your
advisers, and the tree bears appropriate fruit. Howl-
ing at dead men ! Not only is this a disgrace to the
working men of England, but a foul stain upon
humanity. Such conduct recoils with a fatal force
upon ourselves. It gives our opponents a lever which
they know full well how to use, while, at the same
time, it damps the ardour of our best and most effec-
tive friends.
I have told you, that the leisure of the last seven
years has been devoted to the study of wages. I en-
treat your attention and reflection to a few remarks,
regarding the influence of machinery upon them. The
question might he asked, what constitutes machinery ?
Without stopping to exardile this point, I beg: to
explain that I adopt the pOpular idea (although an
erroneous one), namely, steam power. It would not
be possible to come to a sound conclusion, in such
a case, without examining into the rate of
_wages,
previously to the introduction of the steam-engine
as a great producing power. Should wages have
been greater at the period anterior to this, and as
the powers of steam became developed had wages
proportionably declined, such events would have been
strong presumptive evidence that machinery did ac-
tually reduce wages. But if it could be proved that,
for a long time previous to the introduction of steam
power, and up to the very season of it coming into
existence, the wages were at the lowest ebb; and that,
as the wonderful engine extended its capabilities, so,
in like proportion did wages increase; surely, then,
machinery could not be regarded as the cause of de-
clining wages. Rather, the same principles which
reduced our forefathers to toil and penury, is now at
work; pulling us down to the same degrading level;
while we, by our fatal delusions and ferocious pre-
judices, are doing all we can to strengthen this deadly
enemy.
The first proof I shall offer to your consideration
will be from an author who is looked upon with
respect by every enlightened mind in the civilized
world; he is known to be, with regard to facts,
.most
scrupulously correct. It is from Smith's celebrated
work on the " Wealth of Nations." Here is,the
ex-
tract :—" Eighteenpence a day may be reckoned -the
common price of labour in London and its neighbour-
hood. At a few miles distance it falls to fourteen and
fifteenpence. Tenpence may be reckoned its price in
Edinburgh. At a few miles distance it falls to eight-
pence, the usual price of common labour through the
low country of Scotland, where it varies a good deal
ess than in England."—(Book 1., chap. viii.)
I would anxiously entreat my fellow 'workmen's
attention to the above extract. Let them be aware,
that this was the rate of wages just previously to the
steam- engine coming into operation, as a great pro-
ducing power. My father, who is now alive, has a
perfect recollection of this state of things. 'When he
was a boy the weavers received, if possible, less wages
than they do at present ; and other trades most de-
cidedly less ; in many cases, not above one-half the
present rate.

- I dwell upon this, being desirous, above all things,
that the suffering artisan should be attracted from the
false scent which he now pursues. Yes, my coun-
trymen, the two leech-like powers sucked from the
labouring classes, in those days of no machinery, all
that should have rendered life desirable, leavitig
nought but toil, and wherewith to continue the
miserable race.
The same principles are new at work, and we, by
every stumble we make, or erroneous conclusion we
come to, tend but to increase their strength. how
anxiously, then, ought every working man to devote
a little of his leisure to a calm and temperate reflec-
tion as to what is and what is not an agent of oppres-
sion on his class. You may imagine, in those days,
that food and clothing, &c., were proportionably
cheap. Such, however, was not the case; the quar-
ter of wheat, which fetches now about 50s. then ave-
raged upwards of 40s. ; while clothing oievery deft
scription was much more expensive than now. The first thing which materially disturbed this
shocking deadness—which for a time loosened the
bloodsuckers from the industry of the nation—was
the application of steam power to the spinning -of
cotton. This at once reduced the price of yarn, so
that goods could be produced at an amazingly lees
cost; while, at the same time, the wages of the fabri-
cators of those goods were four, five, six, and, in many
cases, ten times the amount previously earned by
them. Ultimately, all trades were affected and bet-
tered by this same cause; rent and money powers
were for a time confused; they could not fix upon
us ; but by cool watching, and legislative influences,
at last they got hold, and now, providing we wake not
from our fatal delusions, the same principles which
reduced our forefathers to pauperism, will absorb
every advantage which the beneficent steam-engine
has given to us.
I had intended to have shown how the introduction
of machinery, at first, had a tendency to hurt us, and
that the remedy rested with ourselves, and ourselves
alone ; but I find my space filled up. Should this
meet favour, I may yet endeavour to do so.
In conclusion, then, I compare machinery to a
grand river; in spring tide overflowing its banks,
enriching and beautifying the soil, while on its mag-
nificent bosom float the barques which spread nature's
blessings over the wide, extended earth. This same
river, yielding so many benefits, reviving a fainting
and weary nation, may still, at, times, burst through
its boundaries, committing havoc and devastation.
This is not to be avoided by drying it up or shun-
ning it, but by a cool, calculating examination into its
weak parts, with a resolute determination, at the same
time, to strengthen them when they are discovered.
Most respectfully,
A TIN-PLAIE WORKER.
_ _
3,1 E _

.OST.XTRAORDINAT TASTE. A bricklayers'
iabourer, at Norwich, some time ago, took a strong
liking to black beetles, or cockroaches, which he eats
with great gusto. His usual breakfast is a penny loaf
and some twenty Or thirty cockroaches, if he can catch
as many, which he eats as he would shrimps, but with-
out being cooked or shelled ! He says they aro a great
dainty, and the flavour excellent.
DEA TIE FROM 0 FER-EXERTION.,--On Tuesday,
Mr. William Baker, deputy coroner, held an inquest at
the Black Horse, in the Kingsland-road, on the body of
Joseph Peachy, forty-nine years of age. It appeared
from the evidence that deceased was a coal porter
but had for some time past been in very distressed cir-
cumstances, arising from the want of employment, and
unable to procure the common necessaries of life. Oi
Monday morning he obtained a job of unloading some
coals in John-street, Hoxton, and, whilst carrying a sack
into the house, he suddenly fell down, and before medi-
cal assistance could be obtained he expired. The sur-
geon attributed death to the rupture of aeabrlisliooietydy vessel,
caused by over-exertion in his debilitated state and want
of strength. The jury returned a verdict in accordance
with the medical testimony.
Bealatithsa'et the instance of de-
ceased's SKILL BAFFLED.—Mrau.gneldiNvrtw
enty-seven,
jawsl
that she had met with her
heldehreao ssep
dint, nsa spinster.l
sister,
oinsprqt
ehut
rehe: se
bodynv Tuesday,ohqnuesioitifnljtveaadns e
h
‘a‘ dlvniilliotsteed.tlat the report
(to use the worthy
s death
coroner'slvoru n unfairly, yiwords),n fact
cet
tr
were
completely
he
fabri-
cated was completely groundless.. locked when
i •
historyh e n
shes hofefa was
he
case is, however, rather curious, and proves that there
are cases which baffle rne teal men. Mr. Quain, house-
surgeon, stated that the deceased was brought to the
hospital on Wednesday last in a cab. She complained
of a pain in her back, which she said had seized her on
the previous day. At that time she had symptoms of
fever different from that of ordinary fever, and such as
were not generally observed in that disease. Her body
was covered with a rupture similar to small-pox. She
died in thirty-six hours after her admission. Her dis-
ease baffled him and the other physicians. In conse-
quence of a report that she had been poisoned he opened
the body, but could not detect the cause of death. It
was quite a new form of disease. In his opinion death
ensued from the diseased condition of her blood. Mr.
Wakley severely censured the sister for having circu-
lated a report that deceased had been poisoned, but for
which report no inquest would have been held. The
sister said that, as the deceased's disease had baffled the
skill of I)rs. Quain and Williams, she suspected that the
deceased might have been poisoned. Verdict—" Natural
death."

ELOPEMEET FROM NEW YORK.—Quite a sensation
incidents in real life, now and then spring up to
was created yesterday afternoon by one of those rormattie
which
relieve the monotony of this somewhat dull world of
ours, it having been discovered that a daughter of a,
baker bad eloped with a sturdy Dutch-
tahl);iateur of loaves and ladies ; the intelli,.
genrein certaina n
lavwarseeaapliolitely communicated to the police by the
lady's father, and a pursuit was promptly commenced,
but how it will terminate is yet in a state of uncertainty.
The bereaved parent is inconsolable for the loss of his
daughter, and vows that he will never take the " flying
Dutchman," but the police will, and looks upon the
whole affair as the most notable that has occurred since
the arrival of the news that the Dutch had taken Hol-
land. The incident is so rich and rare, the result will bo
looked for with interest.—New York Herald, Aug. 9.