The Statesman.
London, England, 1823-03-03 00:00:00

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tw.Tvg DI Frit: COILS pr RETREAT.. 4,
(Mr. Allflareed'e Letter concluded front Titmice* PapOrtdc
•p,
..;
Attelook ft the ebntracti of reagati Thee, in InZalle •
daisies, have net set beet. reduced as all, allhough * •
&miles is quite certain in the mud., and *totally certilblho
leader discontented every person exposed to it's acticiOo—
the shoemakers- and the tailors. for insulin. .-.411V
should the wages of these moo be reduced to the level%
existed before• the war? They have scarcely yet been re-
diced at all ; nor hive the artizans and labourers of Lott- •
don. end other large towns, been reduced In any &grey • •
worth mentioning, although it is certain that they also, by
Ithe preisure of the ancient slandered. will be shortly we-.
deiced to the ancient level. It is only the agricultural
hourers,..and some of the more exposed classes of We me-
chanical labourbrs, who have yet experienced any
reduction of wages. and, even that would not.be injured.
but benefitted by a retreat. which would immediately rea-
der their labour more beuelleial.:to thilr employers, and of
course the natural process of competition would quickly.,
render it more beneficial to themselves. In any cases where
they happen tote bound by contract at any fixettsnm, it
would be peeper tolive them the privilege of on opt/east
release ; which would also necessarily be gives la the ameo•
of landlords and tenants, who have formed new contrecte
'Mow ISIS..
1.01 any one compare the wages now gerendlp pleat In
London, with those thet•were given in 1791, and it wilt
he evident that no violation of contract will take place in
London in the payment of wnges, by: any reduction of the
metallic standard. which may he necessary to preserve
thoseiwßees at their present level. Without such redue-
tied, their present levet cannot be much longer supported..
.B is only now supported by a system of, plunder and con•
fiseetton, which is, in it's eTry nature, temporary. A'.
long as the fundowucrs can continue to plunder the coun-
try, and the landowners can continue 'to plunder their te-
sentry, of nearly doable tlie mane which they are really
entitled to, the expenditure of these two great bodies- of
area, which chiefly developer itself in London, necessarily
props up the wages of labour in London at a high and uu-
*Moral. level,—Labour, therefore, still brings 20 or 304.
per week In London, whilst in other parts of the country.
it will scarcely bring Ss. or 3s. per week.—But when the
landowners begin to lose three fourths of their present
rents, and the ftindowners to lose one hail of their present
I dividends, which notting upon earth ran permanent:it
(prey-at, under the standard which is now attempted ; then
Illsivident, that the wages of labour in London will saoe
be brooght down to their ancient level.—is it not better
that this inevitable fall of wages, should be prevented by
se equitable arrangement of the currency ? is it not bettor
to lift up the measure to a level with the things measured,
lead thus equalize and harmonize ill interests at once, than
to leave nature by the painful and tedious operations of
bankruptcy and ruin ; to beat dews the Innumerable filings
Illtelslioned, ton level with an arbitrary and unsuitable
Is it not better to work our operations upon :n-
-lsensible masses of metal, than to act upon flesh and Woad !
I pay 51.55. f•r my cost at present, which is the highest
war price, or very nearly so. I shell get as good a coat
shortly at 21. dos. or Si. which is indeed all that I ought
•sow to give. But the secret and fraudulent change of the
isurreney, enables some sets of tradesmen, and their servants
and dependants to practise a kind of fraud upon the publiz,
for a certain period, almost as ellectually, as if they bad pos.
messed legal contracts for fixed sums,like the fundowner, the
lejalowoer, the placeman, and the pensioner. It is in this
way that the trade end revenue of the country are bolstered
up for a time, so long as the system of plunder and confisca-
tion can be going on. It is the cheap prices of use wt of
wee, combined with the high prices of another set of ratio,
erblch causes the country to whvent such n melange of pc):
Wry and deist% of misery sad levity, as no other country
ever presented to the World xi
before: is it possible for this
mixture of-ekoippriees and hipk prices to centime permit-
t ? bit.M* for tits labor sad kW products of Jure
let of men, terwaseetly deer, whilst the labour arai
the produitsof soother set of men, are permanently cheap?
The question is *Vied. It Is only by a positive fraud.
that say human being is helmeted by the preseot state of
things itandhowper strongly the laws on the anemia. and
customs eqtrility Strong slaws ste the other Med, may strive
and wants to perpetuate the fruits of this frond, thothing
is utterly impowildlo in the mid. After a little whlts, tie
wages of labour to Leedom, sad in all other Owes, will tie-
cesstaily be reduced by the sealant standard to the ancient
level. Where then is the injustice of preventing such a re-
duction of wages, by a timely liberalists of the standard, by
i timely adispliag of the stindssd to their heisting level ?
Every ones Who lowers the nueserfeal amount of his wages,
feels Injured and deigreded. •In fact it is not possible to'
tower it, without exposing Lim to injury and degredstiou;
for nothing bet the went of a demand fee his labour. ant this
sense of Willey and degradation which that want involves;
eanever compel him to moment to lower it. It is in human
natters that he should sifter Wore injury and degradation
froth the lowering of . his wages only 3 per cent. than he
sustains irate a rise of prices of more than 29 per cent. I
have known men cement to live upon 125. per week, for
month after month, before they could be brought to redcee
their wages from Ms. to 30s. per week ! 1 have known,
other men, accustomed to get V. Ss, per 'week, in the money
of the seer, who have positively left their place% to get only
W. IK per week, rather than consent to remain in their
plea." et el. Ps. per Irak! Why is all this sufferlue en-
Wired? it is homage see ase accustomed to estimate the
I value their labour in money, and not is commodities, !*
nominal and not in real prices. They look to the sums cf
money which they have been accustomed to receive. and to
consider as their right, and no abstract principles of pol:t' cat
economy will ever bolos% them to reduce those sums of :no-
' ney, without first going through the ordeal of misery nail
degradation. Without Sue, they wi:l not reduce them five
per cent. although all otter prices should be reduced fifty
per cent. Nothing but the workhouse staring them in the
lase, will compel them to consent to such reduction ; sad
therefore it has not taken 'place in any branch of trade. In
which the greatest mislay and degralatiog have not Pent
endured. Where then', 1 again ask, is the Injustice of re-
renting ;his redaction of wages by a timely ;Iteration of
the standard in which they are measured? an a!teratioa
which whilst it preserves and seems the wages of some
classes of labourers at their present level, tec eeeee ily
up the wages of those cleaves of labourers, who have been
elreetiy reduced t and places.l-strong ground under the feet
Wall labourers, by readering theii labour profitable to their
employers, without whicis.it cannot possibly be long mask
tJ themselvetl '*
As title's *aware, {bra labourer holds his eery ezictence,
almost as a layout.! t II: is injured in many Gases, cart
humbled and degraded in all. He knows that whom**
made the mouth. t ale bra hands to feed it. But those
hands are bound tint now ; or, if allowed to ode
them, he can only use item to the injury of Mullett; or his
employer! La all oases since HOS. in which thelabourer hat'
received only the full miles of his labour, only the si.nie
which his einployer would would have bad a profit in gislng
him, in all thins view, the labourer Ws-beat forced apes
the 'work!. Sulfa forin no instancehas the profit upon his in-
dustry furnished the means of rewarding it. And in all other
eases, in which the labourer has been apparhatly t.enefittdi
Mime 1012, hit bandit has been. writeg out of the coadintco-
Lions of -capital which are going bet which mast came
to an end, some time. How precarlow-and deogerous then
Is the situation! flow injured are the ishotimrs in sods •
cites, sad he* *graded in all. The' strength of their
includes is gone. No oae cm use their labour, with 'refit
or advantage, and therefore no ouerequires it. The rimi-
est injury which a labour." on feel, is the want of a
dr-
raand for his labour. •Xiittloot this, he walks the
earth, mif he had rb el* to relit upon it. The great-
est benefit which a labourpr•dan enjoy. in an we*, and
swum demand „1.9 r lie laboirs, a demand which lifts him
a use V•efrdoistef masters; makes hint feel the jAPark-
ariCe and rape value &ibis industry, and enables him to ((oaf
with his employers, hitiout freeman ought to deal with m-
other. This is his liberty. hie Independence. his sireneth,
eis bread. Without this, he is but a doer in fact, eithoegh
tiring iu the !teem e pantry in the world. Without Om.
no bolstering andproppiep. no pampering, and fie:tiny cut
truly save hint. Those du bat teld to confirm its eloper,.
for they arc 40 many proofs that he holds his sery esistesum
at the mercy of others!: I What can e..e,ogipenee a lir ppursor
f.,r such mortal degrees tier' 01 this ! is there any comlisaft
in the nation which fought to be so ',erect from fraistatiee
&reap, as that which gives the labourer the 55me rigfel tP
the war-prices of Iris tabour, as the feadoweer Meta
alb
tear prtiet of and the said right to lire 'lsee