The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-11-15 00:00:00

and though

chief direction -of these affairs. At a time when
they are earning higher wages, and are enjoying
more comforts than was ever the case with them
before, they ire collected in crowded meetings,
and told by frothy declaimers, that they are the
slaves of their emplo3 ers ; that if they -unite in
resistance, they could obtiin more wages ; and:they
have only to persevere, in order to reverse the
system, an make the 'masters the slaves of 'their
will. Their shallow intellects believe the grossest
absurdities, and these precious samples of opera-
..

tive intelligence .join In cries about ten per,Cent.,
although they have hardly sense enough to-under-
stand what it means, except that it Will 'enable
them, 'if they get it, to buy more gin and beer.
Inflamed with these harangues,t-he majority of
which v-nilhl have cliszraced the political. clubs of

forget -the :interests of their wives and th3dren

give-up the employment whiehaTorded them many
advantages, and voluntarily aceept the- Miserable
pittance which for the first few weeks may be
wrung from dupes like themselves. Poverty is,
however, a harder taskmaster than even a mill-
owner; idleness may be a pleasant relieffill want

begins to tell its tale of misery, and nowthere is
no ;doubt that the majority ,of the turn-outs
bitterly repent - their folly. 'They have "lost time
andmoney beyond all hope of redress, and they
have -not gained a single advantage ; • but 'having
exhausted their previous savings, if they possessed
any; and used up all their available resources, they
have to begin anew with blighted characters, with
no claim for sympathy or consideration, on-the part
of their employers, and with -the bitter reflection
of disappointed hopes, and the-conviction- that they
have been the victims of gross ,daision. Had the
operative classes the slightest claim to intelligence,
they would long since have seenthe folly. Of which
they have been guilty. They- would have

warning from previous strikes, Which have 'always
resulted in failure; :Lut it is evident they are defi-

sense, even to look after their own
interests, and their conduct has proved to demon-
stration-that to entrmst such a class of the com-
munity with the political franchise, would bean
act of insanity of Whiel even the extravagance of
ultra-Liberalism would ;hardly be guilty.
The folly of the men, great as it is, should, how-
ever, be met with something like good-sense on the
part of the-masters ; and it is to be hoped- that the
latter will not enhance the mischief already commit-
ted by any attempts at retaliatory measures. They
have themselves much to answer for in the neglect
which they have too often displayed towards the
operative classes. Instead of insisting upon the
education of the children as:an absolute condition
4c)f employment, -they have tempted the cupidity of
parents by allowing their offspring to be deprived
of all chances of instruction, in order that both
might gain by their 'labour at an age which should
be devoted to lean 1g and healthful recreation.
The consequence has been the growing up -a
race .stunted in mind ,and body, unfit for any ocon-
pation except the mere machinery of mill work,
and displaying all the evil results of their training:
in such -scenes as Lanea,shire has witnessed within
the last few Weeks. The masters have sown the
wind in order to add to their gains, and they must
occasionally reap the whirlwind, in -the closing of
their mills:and the dread of their turned-out opera-
tives revenging themselves by incendiary assaults
upon their unprotected property, Both parties are
much to blame, and the only course that they can
now pursue with advantage is that of mutual for-
giveness, with as little reference as possible to the
causes of the dispute, The men should return to
their work, content to receive the rate of wages
which they so foolishly rejected, and the masters
should open their mills to receive them. We may
then anticipate a revival of the activity which has
been so rudely broken in upon ; and if it be pos-
sible for such men to gain wisdom by experience,
they will have learned a lesson which they ought
not easily to forget.

cient •it

THE length of time which has elapsed since the
country felt the terrible re-action from the mania
for trafficking in Railway Shares, should have
sufficed for restoring this description of property to
something like an approximation to its real value.
It has, however, suffered considerably from the mis-
management of Boards of Directors, the heavy law
costs incurred by rival lines, the construction of
expensive branches which never could be expected
to pay, and from placing too much reliance on
eminent engineers, who receive a per centage on
the outlay, and therefore have aninterest diametri-
cally the reverse of that of the shareholders. The
Liverpool
.and Mandiester line must have long

h exhau

tion of the means, it is not yet quite at an end, as
is shown by the attempt now being, made to bring
ad. It

the ruinous broad gauge as fa
is to be feared that Railway property will never be

as Birke

a secure means of investment, until its manage-
ment is entrusted to other hands than Boards of
Directors acting independently of each other.
An arrangement of this kind will be an important
question for the Imperial Legislature ; for, though
an objection may be raised to its being an inter-

ference with the rights of property of private
shareholders, the public at large have

greater inteTest,inasinuela as the means of travelling
are now virtually entrusted to the irresponsible

holders of a gigantic monopoly.
One means of effecting this desirable object

would be to estimate the value of every separate
railway property, including all its obligations on
debentures, loans, and other debts. The whole
might then be converted into a consolidated stock,
,of which each existing shareholder should be

allowed a rateable proportion. The chief direction
of the whole might be entrusted to a Board of
Commissioners, partly nominated by the Govern-
ment, and partly elected by the holders of stock.
The traffic might be entrusted to the control of
District managers appointed by the Central 3oard,
and all the lines throughont the kingdom be
worked in subordination to one system, with fares
apportioned to the peenliarities of each locality.
The present proportion of working expenses would
then be considerably reduced ; there would be no
ruinous competition, lower fares might 4)e charged
with advantage, the trrxelling public would derive
an important benefit from the uniformity of
system, and the holders of railway stock would
possess a more mark* table investment, because the
interest would be higher and more -regular in its
rate, from the expenses being divided over a larger
surface. It is clear that the Continental lines
misgmdea men I vv
1110

arc under OrrArPrnMent contr3l, are far more
profitable than the:best of English railways ;
the adoption of such a systein in this country as
we have suggested, -would be a positive benefit to
the •shareholders, as well as to the travelling prone.

ll' the slightest -reliance could be placed on the
reports which are ',daily received by Electric" Tel-
egraph, it would appear that-the Turks have not

waited for diplomatic negotiations, but appealed at
once to the arbitrament of the sword, and that the
two principals in -the quarrel are now actually
fighting both in Europe and Asia. So many
falsehoods have; however, reached England through
the-same channel,-that it:issueless to argue upon
probabilities, though we may: reasonably conclude
that some skirmidies have -taken place, and the
Mils have possibly had the advantage at present.
The 'Times, alluding to the reported battle, from
Pelellssedt to
t a
regular. engage'
which the Russians retreated -with loss, .says
conclude that the
encounterW e are
wa lams ons t
h. c onmg
mentbetween the-main bodies of the Ruffian and
Turkish troops, in which'- the Ottoman, -though
greatly inferior in numbers, -succeeded in com-
pletelytrouting the ;forces of Czar." (On the
other ;hand, the 'Morning Irerald, speculating
on the probabilities as gathered from'-the. same
reportsesays :—" It is plain, therefore, that 'before
OMER ventures on a pitched battle--for we:do not
agree with the Times :n supposing that .any:action
meriting‘that epithet can yet:have been fought—
he must strongly reinferce one orother of the de-
tachments .now threatening the extreme wings of
the AUTOCRAT'S army." We may leave our ,con-
temporariesfto argue the point as they will, and, in
' the dearth ,of more exciting news, it ..serves,-per-
laps, as welLasany other mibject on which to dilate,
but it may :not be long before we shall :receive
intelligence more authentic than over the wires.
It will not be disputed that whatever may have
been the cause of the quarrel, it was of importance
to the interests of Europe -that: it should be settled
by diplomatic negotiation. Attempts at mediation
have, however, failed; and the mext best step that
could be taken is to ;leave the belligerents to fight
it out, -without the 'interference of other European
powers. Austria and Prussia hare hitherto held
aloof from affording any assistance to their great
northern ally, and England and France should
followtheir good example, by giving no more aid to
Turkey than sufficient to protect her from any
actual invasion by Russia, supposing the latter
power to be triumphant in the Danubian provinces.
It will be seen that the EMPEROR OF RUSSIA. has
published a manifesto to justify his armed resis-
tance to the attacks of the Turk's' forces, upon the
pretence of his right "to demand from the Ottoman
Porte inviolable guarantees in favour of the sacred
rights of the Orthodox Church." We need not
stop to inquire into the logic by which he attempts
to justify his taking forcible possession of the
provinces on the Danube, but we have no such
predilections in favour of Turkish infidels as to call

for any active interference on their behalf out of
stupid of Russia,--a power
which
is
sjslhoeuy o
sheer
rwefaknthe pessoownetrof
its
own
vast wilder-
ness,—and from the sordid consideration that
Mohammedanism is the bulwark to the Eastern
possessions of Christian England. It was the
sin of the ancient Jews that they trusted in
their
the LORD, who had rescued them from all
Egypt instead of in
the horses and chariots of
enemies ; and it will be no less a sin in England,
now entrusted with the mighty
evange-
lising the world, if, losing
all confidence in the
g
nominal
sway
of
anti.
hbtly mission of
essed with so many
sriiggmakteomusenroeisess,orfshhokereayt cause,
Theemspt s
t
tem-
poral possessions in India by perpetuating
issuesChris-
tianopreserve her
of the quarrel
slavery in Th
and the destinies of the human race are, however,
Power than the Coalition
einabthineeth,anwdhisoohf
owes
higherwnsthe