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Leader (1850-1860), 3rd September 1853, Edition Town of 2, Page 851, ^lt lilir Maha.

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      self-reliance have done a great task without one item of foreign aid . A people stigmatised as wild and dangerous hare 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

      " IRELAND , ILLUSTRATED . " The best thing about a royal visit to Ireland is , that it brings to light things hidden from ordinary English view . The daily 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 Queen 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 . AVe also see the latest Irish fact in its true light . In a country celebrated for despising toil , a temple lias been built in its honour . Men said to lack

      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 WilliamDargan has built we see how the Irish love art , respect industry , and practise both . And in the popular feelings of the people wo iind 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 Hiiiny a , feeling 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 i 11 doing honour to the " nobility of labour . " Her private visit to William Dargan might be said to How from royal tact in doing courtesy , but that if- more simply evinced the generous respect of a noble lady tor a good man . Dargan declined the " rod-hand" esooeheon ; what baronet of them all would no I , give his for that kindly pressure from "ie Queen's handP

      I ho large space- devoted to works of Art in the exhibition has induced Lord Granville and others to nofo with gladness tho artistic capabilities of tho I risk genius . The streets of Dublin themselves remind one of the same . Though tho public buildings are not all grand or costly they are all Well placed—along open quays or ending street yisUs ; not a site in the city * ' spoiled . ' ' This rish

      • I taste for art is also another ' discovery' of an old / uc |; . j t j H now of value to us , for England Jl"ds that tho beautiful is worth money , and il -Irish fancy can supply it , wo can pay a good pnee for the commodity . Hat Lord Granville "hould also note- that tho women of the wesl ; have j ° » g > delicate- fingers , fitted for the weaving of ' <<> xtdo fabrics , and elastic spirits to lighten monotonous toil .

      One memory of Irish faults is rakod up in the veeordH of this event . The . European lecturer 111 fnntiug-house-s <| u ' aro-speaks harshly of past Politicians , and bitterly of Irish public men of Ml « < lay . As if we , too , havo not had our past ; Wations , brimful of folly , and present politicians covered with disgrace ! . Looking back wo Hl 1 o that Ireland has but folkwod England ' with unequal stops . ' Tho injustices of its aristocracy towards i ( , n people were but removed in ' 2 <>—•

      <; ' » r practical grievances had vanished long belo . . Retaining , therefore , a nearer memory of wrong the Irish cherished popular discontent ' at a powod when wo had given it up . Oneo on a tirao

      Lord John B . ussell and Lord Edward Fitzgerald sat at the council board of the same society and called themselves " Friends of the People" at an epoch when the word had a fresh meaning in the French dictionary of ' 93 . But the different circumstances of their respective countries sent one 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 .

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      THE THREATENED STOP IN THE RISE OF WAGES . We have frequently called attention to the prosperity which pervades all classes , and to its most significant result in the readiness witbr 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 , have 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 tho moderation and sound reason which havo characterized the endeavour of the working men to obtain an advance in the rate . of wages . J * i portunity is now afforded them for a more decided exhibition of these qualities , and an occa

      flion which may servo to prove , before all elasse of the community , tho intelligence and sound judgment of men in whom it has been tho fashion to observe the opposite characteristics . A further advance in the rate of wages may , for tho time , bo rendered impossible . It is manifest that , if ( he circumstances which havo authorized tho bj . t ; e 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 boon abundant , and no obstacles have been presented to the freest development of commercial enterprise . An advance in tho rate of wages was simply a result of the readiness with which money was procured . It cannot be concealed that increased freedom in the money market has boon succeeded by what amounts , in . some instances , to a considerable dilliculty in pecuniary advances . Everything in I ; ha . I ; direction , i . s told when we say , that the Bank has raised its rate of discount to As per cent .

      The diflioulty is experienced in America , no less than in this country . Tho following facts are worthy of note . In tho first seven monthn of 1852 , tho exports in goods and specie from New York amounted to 44 i , ()() O , OO () dollars , while in a corresponding period in 185 , ' $ , they somewhat exceeded / 1 , 0 , 00 <) , 0 ()() . (') ri tho oilier hand , tho relative exports , at oaoli of these periods , ' . have increased from 74 , 000 , 000 to 1 . 18 , 000 , 000 dollars . This taken in connexion with complaints of " ovor-tnuling" in America , suflieiontly indicates that we must not calculate on tho same extent of

      orders from the Mates that wo have hitherto experienced . Those facts , the tightness of tho money mark el ; in England , and similar difficulties in America , are the 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 that 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 the 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 denfands 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 aide 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 the impulse already given by Free-trade ; and markets appeared to bo opened for England and America , in all parts of each other ' s territories . Tho 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 receiver some commodities that wo should have placed in her stores , to be set against tho commodities that she has sent to us . Whatever tho causo , however , the fact is that tho Americans have a little overdone the matter ; they will have to proceed a little moro carefully fora timie ; ( heir orders Avill slacken in our markets , and we shall have to shorten sail . In Australia even

      ihedisturbanoo which , has been occasioned by withdrawing men from regular employment , to gold-digging , has ended in some amount of accumulated disappointment , and it is possible that both markets and orders from Australia may , in some derive , bo influenced . Still the production of gold in Australia , the production of money commodities in America , and the production of our own country , continue , and will continue , to increase * tho substantial riches of all . Tho wonlf . li of all

      will continue to grow , and moro prosperity remains in store for the working man as well as the merchant . It is tho more necoHHary , thoreforo , that ; . he should eo-operato in getting over tho temporary difliculty , whether it bo moro or loss ; and that / while ho ' expedites tho day when full activity shall be restored to commerce , ho should preserve for that day his own influence , unabatod by the recollection of any jndisereot demands , or aiiy failure , during a temporary period of difficulty .

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      ( MIAKTS . Many a man now foremost amongst tlio leading minds of the day , could , from tho reminiscences of Juh boyhood in his school-days , toll how ho

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      There is nothing so revolutionary ; , because there is nothing so unnatural and convulsive , as the strain to jcocp things fixed when all the world is by the very law of its creation in eternal progress . —Db . Abitoi . b .

      ^Lt Lilir Maha.

      ^ lt lilir Maha .

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      ^ ' ' ¦ : ' .. H - — ; ¦ ¦¦ ¦ ' ¦ SATUKDAt ' , SEPTEMBER 3 , 1853 .

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      September 3 , 1853 . ] THE LEADER . 851

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 3, 1853, page 851, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2002/page/11/