The Sun.
London, England, 1842-02-03 00:00:00

TO CORRESPONDENTS.

The practice of which " Veritas" complains, is, we be-
lieve, general among private bankers, and has been
adoptod to cover risks and expenses, which, according
to our Correspondent, is not sufficient. The person
who took the 401. Bank Post-bill should have seen
what it was worth before he left the bank.
We have not room for the letter of a " Looker On," but
agree with him in thinking that caution should be ob-
served, till we see the whole plan laid before the public.
If the phrase alluded to by " William Magee," ever ap-
peared in The Sun, it was as a quotation, and never
formed a part of our writing.
THII WEATHER.—NOON, FEBRUARY 2.
ROYAL GALLERY OF SCIENCE, ADELAIDE-STREET.
Thermometer... 44 Highest 45 Lowest 32
Barometer. 29.92.—Wind W.—Freezing Point Deg.

HIGH W ATE AT LONDON BRIDGE THIS DAY.
Horning...... 5 minutes after 7. I Evening ......30 minutes after 7.

to suffer from a succession of Commanders, as it
did at the period of the battle of Vimiera. That
he was a member of the Whig Board of Ad-
miralty will not justify appointing a Tory in his
place, till he has executed, or failed to execute,
the service he has been sent on.

•
Sir THOMAS COCHRANE, too, may have many
claims on his party; we are not aware that he has
any on the country. He contested Ipswich, and
suffered, as he has avowed, a plucking for the
good of the Tories; we have no recollection of.
any victories of his which are recorded in our,
naval annals. He was one of those fortunate
youths, being the son of an Admiral, who are
said to be born with silver spoons in their
mouths, and was made a Post Captain while
yet a youth, more by his father's interest
than his own merits. It may be his misfortune,
not his fault, that in all the appointments he
subsequently received he failed to acquire any
distinction so as to warrant the Admiralty, by
his great professional reputation, to bestow
on him one of the best stations in its gift.
There is nothing in the antecedents of Sir
THOMAS COCHRANE to make naval men believe
that he will succeed should Sir WILLIAM
PARKER not bring the Chinese war to a fortu-
nate conclusion. Naval men accordingly regard
the appointment as a reward for party sacri-
fices, and they express great surprise that Sir
GEORGE COCKBURN, who is responsible, it is
supposed, for all naval appointments, should have
sanctioned it.

Of late great exertions have been made by
the Tory writers to blacken the character of the
manufacturers. They are conscious of having
injured them, and now seek to stifle the monitor
within, by abusing them. Tory and landowning
legislators first plunder, and then insult, the ma-
nufacturers, by spreading abroad against them
the grossest calumnies. On this account we
think it right to give as much prominency as we
can to the following circumstance, which we
borrow from the Sheffield Iris:—
On Thursday, a public dinner of the masters and
workmen of the old and highly respectable firm of
Messrs. Richard Groves and Sons, in this town, was held
in the large room, at the New Inn, Shalesmoor, for the
purpose of presenting to that firm a superb piece of
plate, as a token of respect and esteem from the workmen.
Near two hundred persons sat down to dinner, a few
of whom were ladies, for the most part members of
the respective families of the gentlemen in the firm.
After the cloth had been drawn, Mr. Josh. Ibbotson, one
of the workmen, delivered an address, which had been
drawn up by the workmen for the occasion, from which
we make a brief extract:—
" Gentlemen—We are are deputed by our fellow-
workmen to present to you this token of our gratitude,
as an acknowledgment of the numerous comforts that we
have enjoyed from your unexampled kindness, through
a long series of years, some portions of which have
been to thousands of our townsmen seasons of unpa-
ralleled distress. And while many have suffered all
the miseries of penury and want, we have enjoyed
comparative prosperity, owing, principally, to the
spirited manner in which you have maintained
the character of your manufactures, long rendered
famous in every part of the civilised world. Since
the commencement of your establishment, in the year
1776, no firm has attained greater celebrity than
that of R. Groves and Sons, and the superiority
of your articles are universally acknowledged.—Whe-
ther in the hands of the hardy pioneer in the Far
West, or in the use of our more refined transatlantic
brethren, they are not only aiding the march of civiliza-
tion and intellect, in the remotest regions of the earth,
but are the means of producing many of the elegances
and refinements of polished society. They have, in
fact, maintained a name as yet unsurpassed in the annals
of our commercial records. Not a fading, fleeting,
ephemeral popularity, but a fame honourably acquired
on your part, deservedly conferred on the part of our
patrons, and characterised by a stability, firm and last-
ing as time itself. The prices paid by you to your work-
men, we can conscientiously affirm to be at all times as
high, and, in many instances, much higher, than those
paid by any other manufacturer in this town,
a circumstance which has created a praiseworthy
emulation amongst your men, and enabled you
to send into the market an article for which
you have long been celebrated and eminently distin-
guished. It was the consideration of these circum-
stances that gave rise to this day's proceedings. We are
exceedingly gratified that the earnest desire manifested
by all to promote so laudable an object, should, in so
short a time, be realised. Under other circumstances,
this memento would have been of a much higher and
more valuable class ; but be assured that no time, place,
or circumstance, could more enrich it than the outpour-
ings of those warm and grateful hearts which now fill it
to overflowing, and hallow it, too, by the best and noblest
sentiments of our nature. Having explained to you the
motives by which we have been actuated in this proceed-
ing,' 'ate reSpettfttlly solicit your nctiFfltitinCd tYmitrrOt-
fered gift, and may you long live to enjoy it ; and may it
be considered by your children, and by ours and their suc-
cessors, for ages yet to come, as a solemn pledge and
covenant of good faith between us; and when, in times
remote, they hold their joyous festivities, to which this
day's transactions may probably give rise, may this re-
mind them of us, who have journeyed on before, on whom i
nature's scene will then have closed for ever ; and while
they endeavour to avoid our faults, may they far excel
us in every good and generous act".
Mr. Enoch Furniss, senior workman, in the employ of
the firm, presented the cup, which is of silver, of the
Pompeii vase form, richly embossed with union borders,
acanthus leaves, and other embellishments on the body,
foot, and cover, surmounted by a wreath of laurel and
bee-hive (type of industry, and emblematic of Messrs.
Groves and Sons' manufactories, which are called Bee-
hive Works.) On an antique shield is engraven—
" Presented to Messrs. Richard Groves and Sons, by
their Workmen, as an humble Testimony of Respect and
Gratitude.—Jan. 27th, 1842."
On receiving the testimonial, Mr. Groves addressed
the men—we give only a part of what he said :
Esteemed Workmen—After the lengthened period
during which many of you have faithfully served us, you
have this day given to the world such a substantial
proof of your good-will as can never be erased from
our memories ; and we all, this day, thank you cor-
dially. We have not spent these thirty or forty years
together, without having to pass through many storms.
But we have hitherto realised the truth of the
maxim, that union is strength.'—(Cheers.) I well
remember our late venerable father's advice. After
sustaining severe losses in trade, we asked him if we
must reduce the number of our hands ; but he re

joined—' You must work harder and live carefUliy.
—that wiill help you best over losses.' This sentiment
I would impress on the minds of my son and nephew. I
have generally found that most men will listen to reason,
if properly addressed to them, and we know that our
union is our interest. Was it ever seen, in a country of
slaves, what we see this day, in this unlooked for token
of esteem ? Flattery may be given to power ; but chil-
dren seldom flatter fathers, and this day you appear one
family, and I feel as a father amongst you. This beauti-
ful cup will ever be a memento of joy; because, whenever
I look at it, I shall be reminded of that mutual good-will
which subsists between us, and which greatly increases
the pleasure of this day. And now let me once more
impress on your minds the need of persevering in your
present efforts to excel, that the quality of our Sheffield
wares may continue to maintain their superiority over
all other tools ; for it does appear to me, that our Shef-
field wares are yet unrivalled in quality ; and if union
betwixt master and servant be the order of the day, we
shall yet see better days in Sheffield."

Such proceedings and such language do honour

to the masters and their workmen. -We noticed
some time ago a friendly meeting which took
place at Edinburgh, between the Messrs. CHAM-

BERS and their workmen, but the present is more

especially worthy of record, from its occurring

in the heart of our manufacturing districts, and
amongst men whose minds have been represented
to be as horny as their hands. It refutes, more

emphatically than a volume of essays, the heart-
less calumnies of the Tories, and confers more

lasting honours on the system which prevails in

the manufacturing districts, than a great multi-
tude of leading articles. Every one acquainted
with the manufacturing neighbourhoods could,
we believe, quote similar examples of reciprocal

good feeling existing between employers and em.

ployed, at Derby, Stockport, Leeds, Manchester,

- .
and Birmingham.

Without wishing to disparage the agricultural
districts, we doubt whether any such amiable

sentiments and amiable scenes can be found in
them. Now and then we hear of some tenants

paying a compliment to their landlord, because
_ ..

. .. ....
he has not exacted the full rent he might legally

claim ; now and then we hear, with great corn

mendation, of the bounty of some squire, that he
has given his labourers a dinner ; but we have
no recollection of farm-labourers clubbing to-

gether to present their employers with a piece

of plate, or to bestow some testimonial of their

approbation on the squire. The labour of a life
would scarcely enable them to purchase it. The
little knowledge we have of agricultural dis-
tricts, which is almost confined to the south of

England, teaches us that the labourers on one

hand, and the farmers, landowners, and parsons

• .
on the other, regard each other with the most
unamiable feelings. The latter live in appre-

sion of the petty plunder of the former, and the
former look on the latter as combined to oppress

them. Such sentiments as those Mr. GROVE

and his workmen reciprocally expressed, are as
unknown, we are afraid, to the classes in the
agricultural districts as to the planters and slaves

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