The Statesman.
London, England, 1823-06-12 00:00:00

THE STATIISMAN

Tbelinsest giontlemle "lorliewmin at Logroeo, where e.
toe mope oh atr et discipline in that town.
Fres* Fund s ofTuesdriy, J u ire 10, ea. 441c.--Spanish
STOCK EXCRANGt, TWELVE o'cLocx.e.—The
panic which retailed yesterday on 'Change,owitig to the
F'rench,Rentes and tipaoith Bonds hayloft fallen, has
this ;nothing subsided. The Expresses from Paris tads,
briag the French Funds at 87, 65, after %Agoge hours,i
and Spanish at 40i.
Congas opened this morning at 914 to 811, at which price
they remain.
FOREIGN Manicer.—Spanish Bonds opened this morning
at NW with some business doing.
671 to 68—New Spanish, 3641—Neet Prussia, 844
Su—Daslish, 90—Neapolitan, 76—Colombia, et;
PA ELI A M ENTMM—TCOMMENTARY.
The" Silk Manufacture Act," as it is called, but the
bill to drive the Spitalfields wearers to the Work-house.'
as it should be called, was last night read a third time,
sad parsed by a majority of thirteen only—the nombersl
being 53 to 40. We have still some faint hopes that the
till will be rejected by the Lords; but we confiss the pro-
babiliti is, that it will become a law—because the body
at whose interests it strikes,are not potent nor influential
enough to be heard against it. It is with souse surprise,,
as well as regret, that we perceive Mr. Rieardb, night
after night, having recourse to the weakest tiepins-
tries, and the most palpable evasions of argnmenc—.
He says the tendency of the existing bill is to
" diminish the rate of wages ;" and yet he avows that the
object of the new Saw is to enable the town-masters to.
compete with the country masters, by reducing the presentl
rate of wages in London. Bet says Mr. Ricardo, though .I
the present rate of wages be steinfiudig high, the welshed
to little work to do, that in point of fact, there-wages were
Magically low. Now, if Mr. Ricardo have a grain of that
common sense upon which all sciences, is well as the
science of political economy should be founded, he
must know that to make the wallet both nomi-
nally and practically low, will not have a ten-
dency to better the condition of the labourer. Mr.
Ricardo always looks at these questions with the eye
of a mercantile speculator, instead of considering
them In the character of a Legislator. Ile sees that the
merchant adventurer, pert. icing he ern no longer find an un-
contested market for his wares, must multiply his sales to
continua his prt•fits :—and therefore he wants commodities
manufactured at half price, by the labourer. Suppose the
merchant's profit upon an article to have been 10s., and he
ran now only obtain 54. by selling two where he sold one,he
is • My the loser of the adoitional freight ; and Mr. Ricardo
calls upon the labourer to make two where he was accustom-
ed to make one. It is only working so many hours tne
icoger, or living upon so much the less ; and Mr. Ricardo
appears not to care which of the alternatives the labourer is
compelled to adopt Mr. ICcsrdo denies that in passing the
bill the House is legislating injuriously for the workmen."
He says he denies it " mire for all." But his dinial,
were it a thousand times repeated, does not alter the fact,
which is written in et:erecters of bronze in the features of
the Bill. Whatever it may be with regard to trade, what-
ever it may be with regard to the masters, it is a conditional
sentence of stanatioo or pauperism against the workmen.
That Mr. Ricardo does not think so, only proves that he has
not thought st all upon the subject; but that he is hurrying
on, like some fanatic in search of the philosopher's stone;
sod is now, in the course of his experiments, seizing
upon the pots and kettles of the weavers, and depriving
thee of useful utensils under the pretence of transmuting
them into gold. Mr. Ricardo talks of facts; and he
eves us what lie calls one. It is this: " A commolity
" could be made up in 'the country, and sold by the
poster manufacture, at a fair profit, for H. 4s. If the
same ccomodity were made ay in London, the master
" manufacturer had to pay the weaver for his labour, no
m less than 3e." Now we do not believe this filet.
but, if it were a fact, couple it with another undisputed
fact. that the London labouring weaver does not average
more than fifteen shillings a week, what would the
•' fact"
_prove, lint, that the Coventry labouring must be
literally starving ?—and what is the ioference, bat that
Mr. Ricardo,. in his boundless affection for the poor,
wishes to treat all alike, and reduce all to the
same miserable condition i—ff the fact were true,
it would be the duty of the House rather to
interfere to obtain remuneration for the la-
bourer at Coventry, than to destroy the means of sub-
sistence to the labourers of Spitalfields. But, as we
have already said, we deny the tact. Mr. Ricardo has
been grossly imposed upon. The thing cannot be as it
is stated. Mr. Ricardo goes on to destroy all his previ-
ous positions, by stating that if th.• proposed bill pass
into a law, the master manufacturers " in London will
" be able to compete snccessfully with those in the coon-
" try, on account of the great advantages which they
" would derive from the local situation of London.
We are glad that we pot this areummt of the " local
advantages" of the London Masters into his bead;
but we coupled it with another which Mr. Ri-
cardo " forgot to remember :" namely, the local
disadvantages of the workmen, who must purchase
provisions et a much higher rate in the metropolitan
markets. But our position was, that the local advan-
tages of the London Master did now enable them to com-
pete with the country manufacturers ; and that to legis-
late against the comforts of the labourer was not neces-
sary to enable them to compete. Mr. Ricardo allows
that they have " great advantages." Then, to add to
these advantages, the power of reducing wages to the
lowe•Lebb, is to give the London Masters. not the fair
power of equal competition, which nista already, bov,
to give the London M. avers a preponderating influence,
and thus enable them to destroy the rising manufactories
of the country—a matter which we do nut think at all
desirable. Mr. Ricardo's support is probably the cause
of the success of this bill ; and ytt it will be seen that
he is every nay in the wrong. Hilts " standard of value,"
was not half so weakly advocated, as his rea-
soning in favour of reducing the price of labour to the
Irish sten/teed of the necessaries of life.
Hume follows Mr. Ricardo as closely, and as
pertinaciously, as if he were yoked to the same delusions,
and could not shake off the trammels. Well might the
poor fellow in the galleries call out "remember the poor
weavers," when Mr. Hume was learnedly arguing that
•to diminish their wages, was to shew them how much
the legislature was their friend. It is somethiet-like
the friendship that would cut off the feet of those who
wanted shoes. We do not charge these gentlemen with
beint the enemies of the poor; but we do charge them
with not understanding a subject ; and blame them for
having given it their powerful support. 'rho Lord Mayor,
Mr. W. Smith. Mr. Bennett, Mr. P. Moore, Mr. Bright, Mr.
Ellice, and Mr. Byng, were opposed to passing the Bill
without further enquiry ; and sorely these Oentlemen know
more about such matters Than Mr. Ricardo or Mr. Ilmne
can know Mr.lluskisson wished to have no delay ; and
those two gentlemen, on most other occasions opposed to
the Ministry, very kindly consented to assist him on this.
Mr.Moore'sßill in favour of tbe workmen, is to be postponed,
and will be finally rejected; while on one against them, Mr.
iticsrdo and Mr. Hume play the part of post-horses to drag
Iluskisson's
_trotting along. '
Mr. James, the independeut Member for 'Carlisle, honestly
and sensibly said, "if these Acts are to be repealed, nut
" merely the Combination Acts ought to be repealed, but
" also those which prevented artisans from carrying their
" labour abroad; tied if the principles of free trade ought
" to be ado Merl, they ought also be applied to the
" CORN LAWS !" This was met by astounding cries cf
hear, heart but the corn taws will not be removed; although
before the price of labour!a reduced, the price of provisions
ought to be left. to regulate itself. Bet there
is another point in this enquiry., which hat been
Welly over!ouleed. Since the existing laws have regu-
lated the trade, of Spitalflelde, the whole body of the
workmen have been apprenticed, and have grown up un-
der the supposed protection of a peculiar Act. The ad-
vantage has been the peculiar consideration and ii -
durement of many to place their children in that quart-
et; and they have an undoubted right either to prce.ec•