The workingman's advocate. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1864-1877, 1869-10-16
LONDON, Sept. 8, 1856

lon expressed BY eur cosrespondenss.l
FROM ENGLAND.
LoSDon, Sept. 8, 1859.
70 the Editor Of the WosKseMAs's ADvocATR:
write nov without being perfectly salts
ned as to the absolute correctness Of the re-
ports Of the proceedings Of the intern stionsI
Congress, Published in the London daily
papers. As there, 10 however, sufficient agree
mens in the statement Of the questions
brought under discussion, to lead TO the
belief that the general character Of those
questions Is correctly enough set forth,
am not going to examine them, as that is a
work which will be better performed by
some person present during the time the
business Of the Congress lasted. What l
want to notice more particular 10 the signi.
6cancs Of the three great as sembliesof work
ingmeu. I call them great, inasmuch as l
consider their bearing on the labor question,
will be OF the most important kind, and
want your readers to note what the dele
gates did and how they talked, at each Of
these mee'ings, as it is on the spirit thus
display ed We shall see what effect the
united action of the workingmen Of the
world is likely to have on that most impor-
tant Of all questions-the future relation
ships of labor and capital
have already pointed out the practical
way in which The Birmingham delegates
dealt with the business in hsnd-and how
their proposals and resolutions had refer
ence to their practical condition as working
men, as also their relation as citizens to the
law. Even the question of national unsec.
tartan education was approached with q
degree Of caution which indicated very
clearly the anxiety of those assembled not
to commit themselves to any question ex-
cept such as specially belonged to them in
their character as workingmen.
am not justifying this caution It may
have been carried too far, but the feeling Of
which it is the natural but excessive express.
sion is creditable to those who possess it,
and more likely than anything else to keep
them in safe tracks whilst following out the
principal and primary objects Of their asso-
citation as workingmen. Mind ] do nos
commit cowsrdice, recommend above oil
things, courage, resolution, progr ess but
with these, unless their is GOODNESS and mo-
deration Of tone, and altogether q betting
and necessary manifestation OF statesman
ship, the highest aims and noblest impulses
may lead to the most deplorable disasters.
At Philadelphia the same spirit Of prac-
teal good sense was exhibited over the
whole range Of questions that had to be
considered. Coolie labor, womsn's labor,
workhouse labor, and many other questions
which were practical present difficulties
just such as needed taking up and, as far as
such thing was possible settling, and the
discussion your American Congress gave
them, and the conclusions they came to,
proved very clearly that every one Of those
questions bad beed well anu wisely consi-
dered BY the individual members of the
Congress before they came together st their
can spirit were sparks from the same FIRE,
the light was not many colored or unsteady,
nd IL gave surety that men, were ut work,
who, in both countries, ere long would
shape out questions which. national legisla.
lures must deal with, if they would move
safely into the future.
Can so much be said Of the meeting at
Basel. The questions no doubt very impor-
tant and interesting, and the ability display
ed by several Of the speakers was certainly
of very high order, but as Mr.. Sielerknecht
said, they "were not very pressing questions
and might be discussed at twenty future
Congresses" and it it difficult not to feel
that the zeal and ability with which they
were discussed, il so applied, would have
told well in helping forward matters Of more
immediate utility.
Landed property, land tenure, and the
rights Of inheritance, are questions which
will some day come up for settlement. The
future has, no doubt, Eauch in store for the
world which is would be almost madness on
our part even to hint at. There is, however,
every reason to believe that the men Of the
future will be quite equal to the task OF deal
ing with them, and TO their hands We may
may be content to leave them.
The great object to he aimed at by Amer
cans and BY Englishmen, 10 to get trades
unionism well established on the continent
OF Europe, simply 40 trades unionism, as
much Is possible apart from politics Of all
descriptions. The system Of association in
trades societies either carries within itself
great principles or the seeds of them-prin-
ciples for the regulation Of the great bnsi-
ness Of life, Of universal application, and
when they established themselves the politi-
cal questions Of the world will take root in
them, and thus we shall see the political
thinking of the world gradually modified.
But if workingmen in France or elsewhere
bring first their societarian theories and
political exigencies, and weld trades union
ism on to them, they will increase and null
tiply their difficulties, and, perhaps, ruin
their practical work by allying it to prema-
ture, and, it may be, ll-developed theories,
and unrecognized principles. And one thing
which they may be sure of, is, that if at
lacks on present institutions and govern
ments make any important portion of the
business Of the members Of the Intern ational
Congress, the governments of the continent
will their emissiaries present, have whose
extreme opinions, strongly and theoretically
expressed, will soon bring the whole thing
into discredit. The press of Europe 10 mot
yet much in favor Of Workingmens' theories,
or practices either. when the opportunities
present themselves they will cOnfound DIS
EinctiOns rather than draw them, and the
violent or foolish expressions of two or three
hired agents may thus, at its very CON-
msncement upset one Of the grandest works
ever undertaken by men. Certainly work
too noble IN promise to be msrred at its Out
set BY The open, honest zeal Of indiscreet
friends, or the covert hostility Of secret
Ices.
Nothing could be more interesting and truly
than the appearance at Basel of these int ell
ligent honest workingmen from countries 80
far apart nor could anything be better
than what they had to say when they de-
scribed their situation as workingmen in the
various countries they came frOm-as in the
sDeech of Mr.. Capurasso, Of Naples. These