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May 4, 1850.] ©ft* ILeailtt. 123
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PUBLIC EDUCATION MOVEMENT. An important ...
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History Op The Week. Among The Earliest ...
Sir Charles Wood denied that , prices had gener ally fallen . Potatoes have risen in price since 1843 ; and the increase which has taken place in the price of greengroceries will nearly compensate for the fall in the price of corn . It is unreasonable to ask Government to make a general reduction in the salaries of public servants , many of whom have much more ¦ work to do than they had some years ago . Besides , a very large reduction had already taken place . Between 1815 and 1835 the salaries of public officers were brought down from £ 3 , 700 , 000 to £ 2 , 700 , 000 . At present the business of the country is done for little more than the cost of a private establishment . The salaries of all kinds paid by the bank of England
amount to £ 211 , 000 , whereas the whole of the salaries of the Government , including the Tieasury , the Home-office , the Foreign-office , the Colonial-office , the Council-office , the Board of Trade , and the department of education , amount to only £ 238 , 000 , which is only £ 27 , 000 more than the Bank of England . Mr . Hume , as a consistent ( Economical reformer , supported the motion because it would carry out the avowed object of Government . Mr . Roebuck looked upon the motion as a mere truism , the mover having no other object in view than to cast odium on Government , and obtain popularity for himself as a pretended economist . Nevertheless , he strongly advised the Chancellor of the Exchequer to accede to the motion , as the best way of damaging it .
Sir Robert Peel perfectly agreed with Mr . Roebuck that the motion was a truism , but he did not consider that to be a reason why he should support it . It was evidently Mr . Henley ' s belief that a large reduction could be made in official salaries without impairing the efficient performance of official duties ; and he could not countenance such a delusion by voting in favour of the motion , believing as he did that the persons holding such situations are not overpaid .
Mr . Cobden viewed the motion as expressly intended to throw discredit upon the working of freetrade . It would be viewed generally as a war upon weekly wages , and he would be no party to a decision of the House in favour of a general reduction of wages throughout the country . But to talk seriously of such a reduction is sheer nonsense . Granting that there has been a general reduction in the price of articles of general consumption , that is no reason why wages should fall . Nor can it be said that any large has suffered reduction ot
class of the community a income . Rents have not been reduced , nor is it likely that they will be reduced The wages of manufacturing operatives , instead of falling , have risen simultaneously with the fall in the price of provisions . It is true that in some counties the wages of agricultural labour have been reduced ; but that is because the labourer in those districts has , for the last fifty years , been limited to bare subsistence wages , which necessarily rise and fall with the fluctuations in the price of food .
Mr . Disraeli taunted the free-traders with their inconsistency in opposing a motion for oeconomical reform . Mr . Cobden said he opposed it because it was a condemnation of the new system ; but it was not so much a condemnation as a consequence of that system . That condemnation will come in due time ; but one of the consequences of the new system is , that we are obliged , owing to the increased burdens of the people , to examine into the public expenditure of the country , with a view to effect every possible reduction . The Conservatives had been taunted with their new-born zeal for economical reform ; but , if
they would look back to the history of England from the epoch of the independence of the United States to the passing of the Reform Bill , they would find that every measure of public economy and financial reform has been effected by the Tory party . As for financial reformers who made such strong professions in favour of sweeping reforms , nothing is to be ex pected from them this session . Ministers need not feel any alarm on account of what that party might do now . If measures of economy are to be carried out , it must be by the Protectionists . It is right that the country should know this : —
" Here are seven millions and a half expended , and I want this to be understood out of doors . I do not want people to be led away by the sentimental appeals of the right honourable member for Tamworth , as if we were dealing with an insignificant sum , and making a petty motion with a petty object . The motion of my honourable friend will effect a reduction of at least one million , and perhaps more , in the public expenditure . Those who will form a judgment on your conduct to night are hard-working men , who are suffering hardly , and you must not be permitted to ride off from the con-Beauences of vour vote bv sentimental descriptions of
chief clerks and virtual Ministers of State in Downingstreet , nor by a declaration from the honourable Member for the West Riding , that he cannot vote for this motion because wages will be affected by it . In a great part of this country wages are affected already—{ cheers from the Opposition )— -and it is our belief that there is no part of this country in which , before long , wages will not be affected . You may try to evade the responsibility which hangs over you by a thread , and those clamorous patriots who founded institutions for financial reform , and who addressed the House at lennth in favour of some impracticable proposition , but who fly from the test when a
definite sum is proposed for a particular object , may tell you that the Government will be in danger and wages will be affected , or resort to any other shadowy subterfuge , which may suit their purpose to-night , but which will condemn them for ever in the eyes of the country . { Cheers . ) I care not to inquire into the causes of the universally acknowledged distress which has been referred to by so many gentlemen . I have no doubt that evils so generally felt must have many sources , though I think there has been one predominant cause which has been injurious , and which may become more than injurious to this country . I think the distress is mainly of 1846 which has
owing to the legislative measure , lowered the price of commodities . We have alwa ); s been of that opinion , and upon legitimate occasions we have always expressed it . The noble Lord says , ' if that is your opinion , why do you not bring forward the question ? ' Well , we are perfectly aware of our deficiencies on this side the House , and we are often reminded of them by the eminent and almost illustrious persons who are adverse around us . We do not attempt to rival you in eloquence , in statesmanship , oi in that prudent sagacity which has always distinguished you ; but whatever may be our failings we have , at least , not
the weakness to allow our campaign to be chalked out by our opponents . But though my friends do not intend to bring forward the question as it has been chalked out for them by the noble Lord in this House , and by one of his colleagues in another place , I will candidly tell the noble Lord the reason why we do not wish to bring it forward . We do not think it is a question to be settled in this House . I do not think , whatever may be our constant divisions upon such a subject , that they can be very satisfactory to the country . I am afraid it is incident to human nature that wisdom should only be
acquired by adversity , and when the country has arrived at that pitch of suffering which shall teach them the great lesson , no doubt the country will settle the question without troubling either the noble Lord or myself upon the subject . And I am sure that no other settlement of it will be satisfactory ; for what will be the effect of a vote of the House upon such a question as the reconstruction of our commercial system ? The people out of doors who are suffering will say * a vote of the House of Commons in favour of Protection , ' to use a common phrase , or against it , ' will be no adequate test ; we have had votes of the House of Commons upon the same
important subject before ; and whether our opinion is m favour of Protection or against it , we have been equally disappointed in our expectations and our views . We have elected Parliaments , * they may say , 'to support Protection , and they have repealed the laws we sent them to support '; whilst those who are opposed to those laws , if a vote of the House of Commons were to come to a contrary decision , and require what you call Protection , would be equally dissatisfied . It is a question , then , which can now only be settled out of doors . " ( Cheers . )
Lord John Russell contended that this motion was plainly one of censure on the Government , seeing that it called upon the Queen to do what Ministers have already undertaken to do . The condition of the labouring classes is not worse now than it was before the abolition of the corn-law : with the exception of some agricultural counties , wages have not been reduced since 1846 ; and he would not , therefore , give countenance to the doctrine that it is necessary for the sake of the nation to reduce the wages of every labourer in the public service ^ The motion was part of an avowed system of tactics for restoring protection to agriculture , and no such proposal would be listened to by the country . After a few remarks from Mr . Henley , the House divided :
the numbers were—For the motion 173 Against it 269 Majority 96 The second reading of the Railway Traffic Bill , moved by Mr . Ricakdo , on Wednesday , was negatived , after a short discussion , without a division . The object of the bill was to check the injurious rivalry between ' competing railway lines , by . which each sought to throw obstacles in the way of the other ; but the general feeling was opposed to the
measure . The second reading of the Landlord and Tenant Bill , which was moved by Mr . Pusey , was opposed by Mr . Christopher as unnecessary and mischievous , by Sir George Strickland as likely to create discord between landlord and tenant , and by Colonel Sibthorp for similar reasons . If such bills passed , he should expect soon to see a bill brought in to declare what wagee he gave to his footman , and what time he should go to bed . " Mr . Aglionby , Mr . Octavius Duncombe , Mr . Newdegate , and Mr . Sydney Herbert having supported the bill with the understanding that it should undergo certain modifications in committee , Mr . Christopher withdrew his amendment that it be read a second time that day six months . The bill was ordered to be committed .
The House having gone into committee on tho Benifices in Plurality Bill , Mr . Hume moved an amendment , the effect of which would be the entire abolition of pluralities . In the course of a short discus-ion on it , Sir George Grey expressed his opposition to the amendment . There were many small livings in England out of any single one of which " no gentleman could be adequately paid . " Mr . Gladstone held that all pluralities ought to be abolished , but was unable to see how the principle could be carried out .
The amendment was negatived by 166 to 53 . The bill was ultimately passed through committee with several amendments . A discussion on agricultural distress took place in the House of Lords on Thursday evening . The debate was opened by the Duke of Richmond , who insisted that the whole of the land -will be thrown out of cultivation if prices continue at the present low rate . As a proof of the existing distress among the farmers , he stated that in a Northumberland paper there appeared , last week , sixty advertisements for the sale of live stock on different farms in that
vicinity . Earl Grey declined entering upon a discussion of the free-trade question . As for the statement that in one newspaper there were no less than sixty advertisements of the sale of live stock in Northumberland , this was no more than the usual number of sales of that description which took place in that county at this time of the year . But . if these announcements are to be taken as proofs of agricultural distress what would they say to the fact that in September , 1844 , one newspaper in Sussex contained seventy advertisements of the sale of farm stock , so that , judging by this rule , the distress was greater under protection than it is now .
The Duke of Argyll was not friendly to these irregular discussions on the question of Protection , but he did not see how ministers could complain of them , as the same course was pursued by the advocates of Repeal . He did not think the low prices now prevailing would be permanent , but , in the event of their being so , a considerable alteration must be made in the distribution of the public burdens .
Lord Faversham denied that the present state of things was exceptional , and as for the statement that the distress was partial , he asserted that it was deep , general , and universal . He defied the Government to call to the bar of the House a single impartial man who would dare to say that there ^ was ever before known in this country , among the agricultural interest , such deep , universal , and overwhelming distress . ( Cheers f rom the Opposition . )
The Earl of St . Germains admitted that much distress exists among the owners and occupiers of land , but it was folly to think of relieving it by a return to protection . The Earl of Stradrroxe differed from the last speaker . Such a declaration was equivalent to saying that the people of England were henceforward to be deprived of justice . , . of the
The Duke of Richmond said the repeal corn laws had been carried by means of an agitation commenced at Manchester ; they would be restored by an agitation on the part of the people of England . The Earl of Mountcashel said the shopkeepers of London were suffering more than any other class . The reason was that £ 30 , 000 , 000 a-year were spent less by ladies than used to be . The discussio n then term in ate d .
The greater part of Thursday evening was spent by the House o f Commons in the discussion of the County Courts Extension Bill , which went through committee . It was announced that the Chancellor of the Exchequer would not bring forward the Stamp Duties Bill last evening .
May 4, 1850.] ©Ft* Ileailtt. 123
May 4 , 1850 . ] © ft * ILeailtt . 123
Public Education Movement. An Important ...
PUBLIC EDUCATION MOVEMENT . An important education meeting was held in Bradford on Monday . Though the meeting was only announced on Saturday , the Temperance Hall was crowded . The Reverend Dr . Burnet , the Vicar , presided . A resolution in favour of national education was moved in an admirable speech by Mr . W . E . Forster , of Rawdon : he who objected to the voluntary or ' hap-hazard " principle , contended that the national eviland its l
want of education was a , suppy a national duty ; and he recommended the working classes to support Mr . Fox ' s bill by holding simultaneous open-air meetings , on Whit-Tuesday , in all the large towns of Lancashire . The resolution was seconded by Mr . David Lightowler , a Chartist , and supported by the Reverend J . Giyde . Mr . J . Cockin moved an amendment in favour of the voluntary principle ; but , after a long and animated discussion , the original resolution was carried by an immense
majority . Meetings with the same object have also been held on Monday evening at Preston , and on Tuesday evening at Hulifax . In the Court of Common Council , on Thursday , Mr . F . Bennoch moved that the Court petition both Houses of Parliament in favour of the establishment of the system of national secular education , contained in Mr . Fox's bill . Mr . Bennoch " considered it was by national provision alone that education could be effectually secured . What tho advocates of
the voluntary system would dole out in charity he would give as a right . Tho voluntary system was a failure It was . not his wish to exclude religious education , but he thought the state ought first to furnish secular education , and leave it to the various churches to see to the spiritual instruction of the people . " Sic Peter Laurie opposed the motion .
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), May 4, 1850, page 3, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_04051850/page/3/
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