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Leader (1850-1860), 3rd September 1853, Edition Country of 2, Page 11, September, 3,1853.] THE LEADER, 851

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      September, 3,1853.] The Leader, 851

      September , 3 , 1853 . ] THE LEADER , 851

      ¦

      ¦

      ...- ' ¦ :^R—;: Saturday, September 3> 1...

      ...- ' ¦ : ^ r—; : SATURDAY , SEPTEMBER 3 > 1853 .

      ^Nbiit- Main. ~

      ^ nbiit- Main . ~

      There Is Nothing So Revolutionary, Becau...

      There is nothing so revolutionary , because there is no thing so ¦ unnatural and convulsive , as the 3 trainto keep thing's fixed when all the world is by the very law of its creation in eternal-progress . —De . Abitoi .: o .

      "Ireland, Illustrated." The Best Thing A...

      " IRELAND , ILLUSTRATED . " The best thing about a royal visit to Ireland is , that it brings to light things hidden from ordinary English view . The dail y papers delight only in strong facts , and Englishmen , keeping pace with the Times , well know the murders or monster meetings of the Irish year , but little know the good things done in the quiet course of Irish work . The < Qiueen throws a light on Irish " subjects . " We now know that if a few Irishmen whine others can work ; if some are bullies others are gentlemen ; and if some trade in politics others have mastered useful arts . We also see the latest Irish fact in its true light . In a country celebrated for despising toil , a temple has been built in its honour . Men said to lack self-reliance have done a great task without one item of foreign aid . A people stigmatised as wild and dangerous have received the Queen with a decent joy and an orderly enthusiasm . We read of other things not dreamed of in our Saxon philosophy . A vast crowd filled the streets of Dublin , yet scarcely a drunken man was to be seen . Among the merry peals which rang silverly over the city to welcome the Queen there sounded the christened chimes of Popish bells — sounds popularly linked with Irish

      rebellion . In the order and quiet of the city we see wise control and spirited decorum . In the temple which William Dargan has builtwe see how the Irish love art , respect industry , and practise both . And in the popular feelings of the people we find that sensitiveness to English praise , and that ambition to do well , which we feared had passed away . The royal coming has stirred the waters , and their native power of doing good springs forth ; the better humour of the ^ people is

      evoked—Ami many a fooling that once seemed effaced Tlio warmth of a meeting like this brings to light . Much of this is due to the Queen ' s good taste m doing honour to tho " nobility of labour . " Her private- visit to William Dargan might be said to flow from royal tact in doing courtesy , but that it more simply ovinccd the generous respect of a noble lady for a good man . Dargan declined tho " rod-hand" escocheon ; what baronet of thorn all would not give his for that kindly pressure from the Queen ' s hand P

      Iho large space devoted to works of Art in tho exhibition , luis inducod Lord Granvillo and others to noto with gladness tho artistic capabilities of tho Irish genius . Tho streets of Dublin thom-8 < uv (\ s remind one of tho same . Though tho public buildings arc nol ; all grand or costly they are all well placed—along open quays or onding street vista * not a site in the eityis ' spoiled . ' This - » ' . . ' -- —¦ %# (« . inuvj jiii . in j . 1 j \ ji \ J \ in DUUllUVta JL IJlID isli taste

      ' I' for art is also another ' discovery' of j" » old fact . It is now of value to us , for England "' ids that tho beautiful is worth money , and if Irish , fancy can supply it , wo can pay a good pneo for the commodity . But Lord & ranvillc Mould also noto that tho women of the west havo < " % delicate lingers , fitted for tho weaving of wixtilo fabrics , and oiuatio spirits to lighten monotonous toil .

      <> iio memory of Irish faults is raked up in the r « j > vds of , this event . The European lecturer 11 I ¦ nntinfr-houso-Hquim } speaks harshly of past politicians , and bitterly of-Irish public men of ' » o day . An if vvo , too , havo not had our past Rations , brimful of folly , and present politicians covered with disgrace ! Looking back wo ««« that Ireland has but follovvod England ' with jmoqual Htops . ' Tho injustices of its aristocracy tovyards its pooplo woro but removed in ' 29 ¦ ^ ur practical grievances had vanished lon # bo-\ v *' ° " , otami"tf . therefore , a nearer memory of > ' < ¦ >» £ the Ivinh ohorislied popular diseontont ' at a I tru > a when wo had given it up . Ouoo ou a time

      Lord John Russell and Lord Edward Fitzgerald sat at the council board of the same society and called themselves " Friends of the JPeople" at an epoch when the word had afresh meaning in the French dictionary of ' 93 . But the different circumstances of their respective countries sent ope to the council of his Sovereign , the other to die in a common jail . Had Ireland been the advanced nation , and England the dependency , Lord John might have imitated his ancestor on the scaffold , and Lord Edward have written a treatise on the Constitution . But when the fulness of time came , when the period which the English took to recover their good humour after having wrung common rights from the privileged classes , had also elapsed for the Irish , a better feeling gradually made way , and we have its first fruits in the present Exhibition . As to Irishmen " having nothing to do with politics in future , " as some people advise , we neither hope nor expect anything of the kind . We hope they will always take an interest in the varied politics of our united empire ; and that not as Irishmen , but as men of differing opinions sitting side by side with Englishmen of congenial aims , they will take their places in the council of the nation . We see some marks of this in the present state of the Irish members as a body . The old obstinate Tories still believe in Derbyism ; the party of rational Progress urge on and aid the Ministers in the path of practical reform ; while an independent section is but the counterpart of an impracticable English element which has melodramatic ambitions to appease , and quasirevolutionary antics to indulge .

      The Threatened Stop In The Eise Of Wages...

      THE THREATENED STOP IN THE EISE OF WAGES . We have frequently called attention to the prosperity which pervades all classes , and to its most significant result in-the readiness with which masters have , in many cases , acceded to demands for an increase in the rate of wages . We have never ceased to uphold this movement on the part of working men , because we believed that they had reason on their side , in demanding a share in the general prosperity proportioned to their contributions towards it . It was clear that

      an increase in the produce of labour should carry with it an increase of remuneration to the labourer . Very recent events however , havo tended to bring about a change in the commercial relations of the country , which can hardly fail to exercise some influence on wages . Nothing in the main can be more laudable than the moderation and sound reason which have characterized tho endeavour of the working men to obtain an advance in the rate of wages . An portunity is now afforded them for a more decicled _ exhibition of these qualities , and an occa

      sion which may serve to prove , before all classo of the community , tho intelligence and sound judgment of men in whom it has been the fashion to observe tho opposito characteristics . A further advance in tho rate of wages may , for tho time , bo rendered impossible . It is manifest that , if the circumstances which have authorized the late demands have become altered in their aspect , tho desires of tho working classes must be adapted to an existing , and not to a past , condition .

      Hitherto , money has been abundant , and no obstacles have been presented to tho froest development of commercial enterprise . An advance in tho rate of wa , gos was simply a result of the readiness with which monoy was procured . It cannot bo concealed that increased freedom in tho monoy market has been succeeded by what amounts , in some instances , to a considerable dilHculty in pocuniary advances . Everything in that direction is told when we say , that the Bank has raised its rate of discount to 4 per cent .

      The difficulty is experienced in America no less than in this country . Tho following facts are worthy of note . In tho first hovou months of 1852 , the exports in goods and specio from Now York amounted to < M , 00 () , 0 () 0 dollars , whilo in a corresponding period in 1853 , they somewhat exceeded 4 , (> , < ) 00 , 000 . On tho other hand , tho relative exports , at each of those periods , havo increased from 74 , 000 , 00 . ) to 11 . 8 , 000 , 000 dollars . This taken in connexion with complaints of " over-trading" in America , sufficiently indicates that wo must not calculate on tho sam « nxttml ; trf

      orders from the fetatoB that wo havo hitherto experienced . Those facts , tho tightness of the money market in England , and similar difficulties in America , are tho altered circumstances which

      deserve the serious consideration of our workingclasses . There must be one rule for all . If the workmen have a fair right to demand a share in the increased incomes of their employers , the masters have as fair a right to require ihat the demands of workmen-shall be accommodated to circumstances . Cases have already occurred in which this rule has not been complied with . Few , for example , will defend tho conduct of the lightermen , who are taking advantage of a crisis for acquiring advantages to which they can profess no claims . Enjoying all the privileges of a

      monopoly , occasioning a fixed rate of wages , which is not influenced by the fluctuations of commerce , they could commit no greater act of folly than to embark in an agitation absolutely incapable of success . With few exceptions , however , the workmen have not failed to justify that character for sound sense and moderation , which we have never failed to attribute to them ; and if we are not deceived in our expectations , we shall have no reason to complain that they are unwilling to make their demands subservient to honest policy , and the course of circumstances .

      There are many reasons besides fairness , why the working classes should act as we recommend —with caution , and with a candid willingness to receive evidence , however disagreeable it maybe to them . In the first place we should greatly regret if they were to give the assertion of Mr . Crawshay even an appearance of corroboration , by adding to the number of strikes , or of demands

      which , fail . Now , if employers are decidedly short of cash , it is undoubted that they will be obstinate in refusing demands for increased payments ; and if a man is obstinate in refusing to pay , you cannot make him . The condition of the masters , therefore , will be such as in itself , in many instances , almost to involve the necessity of failure in any demand for increased payments ; and where that is the case it will be most

      impolitic for the men to choose such a time for pressing their demands . We are well able to preserve certain distinctions in view ; and , as we showed last week , we well know the assertion that strikes are always injurious to the men to bo untrue ; but they are sometimes so , and we do wish that the men may not add to the evidence on the side of our antagonists . There is , however , a still more important and impressive reason . The present state of tightness is nothing in the nature of a decline in trade , and it is well that the working classes should understand the true nature of it . When

      the gold was discovered in California and Australia , it gave an immense impulse to trade in England and America . It aided tho impulse already given by Free-trade ; and markets appeared to be opened for England and America , in all parts of each other's territories . The American tarifl is not so liberal as ours , and perhaps that is one reason why she suffers , in part , from tho illbalanced trade illustrated by tho figures which wo have quoted ; since she has been unable to receive some commodities that we should havo placed in her stores , to be sot against tho commodities that sho has sent to us . Whatever tho

      causo , however , tho fact is that the Americans have a littlo overdono the matter ; they will have to proceed a littlo more carefully for a time ; their orders will slacken in our markets , and we shall havo to shorten sail . In Australia even the disturbance which has been occasioned by withdrawing men from regular employment , to gold-digging , has ended in Home amount of accumulated disappointment , and it is possible that both markets and orders from Australia may , in some degree , bo influenced . Still the production of gold in Australia , the production of money commodities in America , and tho production of our own country , continue , and will continue , to inureaso the substantial riches of all . Tho wealth of all

      will continue to grow , and more prosperity remains in store for tho working man as well an tho merchant . It is tho more necessary , therefore , that he should co-operate in getting over tho temporary difficulty , whether il ; bo more or less ; and ( hat , while ho expedites the ( lay when full activity shall be restored to commerce , ho should preserve for that day his own influence , unabated by the recollection of any indiscreofc demands , or any failure , during a temporary period of dimon ! ty .

      Charts. Many A Man How Foremost Amongst ...

      CHARTS . Many a man how foremost amongst tho lending minds of the day , could , from the reminiscences of his boyhood ' in his school-days , toll how ho

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 3, 1853, page 11, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_03091853/page/11/