The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1869-11-13
LONDON, Oct. 16, 1869

FROM ENGLAND.
LONDON, Oct. 16, 1869.
70 the Editor Of the WoRKmaHAH's ADVOCATE:
SIR:-If things continue to progress as
they are now going on, the workingmen Of
England will, ia q short time, be blessed
with too many advantages. No sooner has
Lord SANKEY'S voice ceased to sound at Liv-
erpoOl, as q favorer of cooperation and trade
unionism, than great meeting OF working
men is called IN the same town by the
church congress for the purpose Of enlisting
their sympathies on behalf Of the church
The Bishop OF Chester presided and claimed
for himself and the other dignitaries OF the
church, who addressed the meeting, the right
of being considered as workingmen. II so,
they must certainly be looked upon As the
best paid Of their class, with no occasion to
strike or fear Of being locked out. Whilst
instead OF being engaged by the hour or the
day, which is now becoming so widely the
fash N here, their engagement is for he
and il they give up their job through inabil-
ity to perform the work, they have a claim
as long as they live on large proportion Of
the wages paid for its performances. If
certain Of the poor curates uttered this
sort Of thing it would not be very far from
the truth, as many Of them do work very
hard and get little for il. In the mouth Of n
bishop, however, it can never be considered
as more than a stupid practical joke, very
much more calculated 10 produce disgust
than to excite laughter. In all they say and
do II is wonderful how utterly impracticable
the clergy are-how totally unfit to deal with
commones. questions of every day life.
These men are very anxious to make the
church popular, to bring to it the affections,
confidence and support Of working men, but
it never seems to strike them that there is q
m UGH better way Of doing that than BY Civ
ing themselves the sham title Of "working-
men," that is, by going amongst them in q
spirit Of Notwithstanding into their con.
sheraton the questions that lie nearest to
workingmen's hearts, because they most Sc
riously affect their lives-and laboring with
interests in q hearty human spirit. IL is
curious to look back over the political and
social changes which have taken place In
England during the last thirty or forty years.
Changes the most important, perhaps, that
ever took place in any country in the same
time, by the peaceable process of legislation,
and yet in none Of these were the clergy pi-
oneers in advance, or soldiers where the con-
At0e III g -
stand or explain this, the TACT, however, s IN
deniable, and certainly furnishes something
like justification of the distrust with which
so many Of our working men regard minis
ters OF religion, notwithstanding the broth
erhood in work to which they 90 frequently
lay claim.
| have just returned from Birmingham,
where / went three days since TO attend TIE
congress hell there for the purpose Of in
sugurate the national educational league.
The meetings held were entirely successful
There were present members Of nearly every
religious body in the Kingdom, and there
appeared 10 be thorough unity,of opinion as
to the duty and necessity on the part of the
state to see to the proper education Of every
child born unto the land. Too much Of the
time was taken up in trying to disarm re-
ligious hostility, but as the fear Of Opposi-
ton lfes on this side, 1t was natural enough
that those who spoke as well as those who
read papers, should try by redundant argu-
ment to show that education without dog
matte theology did not endanger Christian
verify, and that nation might become edu-
Gated without abandoning religious faith. Il
il astonishing how tine people Of this coun-
try cling to old methods Of doing things, and
the old prtjudices which in all sorts of
ways uphold ancient absurdities-and even
when they let q principle slip, under the
pressure q necessity, they cling to certain
Of its details with as mucn tenacity as If il
was . matter Of life and death. But we
really are being rudely awakened from some
Of our dreams. We are beginning to find
out that We cannot neglect to educate our
people and vet retain our position amongs
the nations OF the earth. This has been very
clearly pointed out by the gentlemen who
were appointed to examine and report on
the various kinds and qualities of goods ex-
hibited at Paris, in 1867 Tn Sc reports
have alarmed US, and the more we consider
them the more cause we shall 6nj to trem-
BILE for our comPercaL, We
were already beginning No find out that sew
eral continental nations had, for some time,
been making great Roadway, not only 10 pri-
mary education, bal in sound and thor
oughly practical system Of technical educa-
ton. 1t wOu1Fbe absurd to suppose that
these thiE gs should not produce their nstu-
raj effects9 and hence we find that the ret ort
issued by par government points to a danger
10 the future which our people must attend
V or they will assuredly suffsr for their ne.
glect. Mr.. Massey, Of Leeds, who reported
on .ione branch Of the wooden ira ie says
. There can be no doubt that the French,
Belglan and Prussian manufacturers are
greatly indebted for their progress 10 this
and many other industries to the very su-
perioT education which their n anufacturers
and workmen obtain by means Of e schools
for special instruction, not only
in design, but 10 everything which has any
relation TO each particular manufacture. The
adoption Of similar schools in Great Britain
will, before long, become a eccssity, ard
the sooner they are established the better''
Mr.. Murray, who reported on the cotton
goods, most intelligendy uses words which
appeal directly to the nation, be says "while /.
We are. towering round the question Of ma
tional education and hesitatiDg over,the petty
interests of parties 10 regard 10 il, the in
dustrial sceptre - imperceptibly slipping
away from US, and, with practical obtuse- /
ness, we shall refuse to see it until the fact