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Leader (1850-1860), 5th November 1853, Edition Country of 2, Page 6, THE WIOAN RIOTS. Unpoutunatkly the men o...

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      Tile Wages Question. Mil. Iiumk Lias Add...

      dialect of the county , and " using all the idioms of the class , with a clear consciousness of the force he gains by so doing , and stems all opposition by the goodhumoured decision "with which he puts aside all objections . " The men expect that they can hold put until past Christmas . The most significant circumstance , in the present condition of the strikes , is the absence of enthusiasm , and the stern determination with which they maintain their ground . Nor , on the other hand , do the masters exhibit any inclination to depart from their resolution . Masters , like men , have combined , and henceforth there can be no individual action .

      The seamen demand an increase of wages at Hull . They refuse to go on a Baltic voyage for less than 51 . a month , a much larger sum than was paid a y ear or two ago . And there is little probability that the rate of wages will generally decrease while there i s such a demand for seamen in other ports . On Monday the majority , if not the whole , of the crew of the barque Fergus , signed for 41 . 15 s . a month , and wore to be on board that night or on the following morning . The time arrived some of them were not to be found ,

      although they had received advance notes . Subsequently two of them , were found intoxicated , in which state they were taken to the station-house , and were committed to prison , for three months . The Fergus left the Old Dock on Tuesday evening . A number of seamen assembled near , and shouted and threatened the crew as the vessel glided down the harbour . They , however , separated peaceably , owing probably to the appearance of Inspector Dorsey and three or four police officers .

      1062 The Leader. [Sawuday ,

      1062 THE LEADER . [ Sawuday ,

      The City Commission. The Commission Of I...

      THE CITY COMMISSION . The Commission of Inquiry into the state of the Corporation of London met on Tuesday to receive evidence . Mr . Labouehere , Sir John Patteson , and Mr . Cornewall Lewis , were present . As yet only two witnesses have been examined—Mr . James Acland , secretary of the City Municipal Reform Association , and Mr . John Ingram Travers . Their evidence does not go for much . Mr . Acland brings charges of bribery in general against all the branches of the Corporation . Aldermen , he says , are elected by bribes , Common Councilmen have patronage—an equivalent for bribery ; the Chamberlain by direct and avowed bribery ; the Sheriffs by bribery , the Brid g emaster , and the various officers , usually by bribery . He brings charges of nepotism , backed by the names of the parties , against both Aldermen and Common Councilmen ; and he charges the latter with directly bribing the daily press . Here is the charge : —

      In the year 1849 the consolidated committee , considering that the corporation had been misrepresented before tho Government and the public , mode a report to the Court oi Common Council , asking 1 for a gropt of money for the purpose of setting themselves right with the public through the instrumentality of the press . The Court had sineo voted the committee ji sum of 100 OJ . annually , to be allotted for that purpose , and I believe that 4000 Z . during tho last four years have been spent in the ordering of hundreds of papers upon occasions when a newgpaper reported the

      proceedings of the Corporation , an they thought satisfactorily . I am quite sure that during all that period the Times had not received one farthing of that money . I am quite certain that tho expenditure- of that money directly or indirectly induces the papers to suppress that which would be unfavourable to the Corporation if known , and to give as favourable ) a report of its proceedings as by their ingenuity they may bo able to do . The Chairman : Are not the details of this expenditure of 1000 J . a year laid before tho Court of Common Council , and afterwards before tlie public ?

      Mr . Acland : Certainly not . There are many details of moneys expended by the Corporation which are not published . Mr . C Lewis : Assuming that certain quantities of newspapers aro purchased , who decides which newspaper shall bo selected , and how many copies shall be taken p Mr . Acland : Tho members of the consolidated committee . Mr . C . Lewis : Do you believe the quostion is brought before the committee and put to tho voteP Mr . Acland : No ; I . think the committee will have some confidential agent or loading member , or they have conlideneo in some of their officers ; and an intimation that a paper has a satisfactory report on a particular day will bo followed by the sending lor 600 copies . I believe that in some eases the application is made , " Won ' t you take Home papers—wo have im excellent article on tho Corporation in our paper to-day P" I believe that is the

      system . Mr . Travors deals with the question in a summary fashion . lie looks upon the city system aH worn out and obsolete . Ho would mvuep away its municipal in-HtitutioiiM altogether . Of course , the charges of Mr . Acland could not lu > permitted to pans by the Court of Common Council whieh mot tho next ( lay . Mr . Anderton ankod if the charge wan truo ? Tho Chairman of the Committee implicated having caused the report mentioned to be read , gave the following explanation : -

      "I will now tell ' the court what tho eommitteo , in the exercise of their discretion , thought it proper to do as a kind of temporary proceeding . The impression upon many members' minds at , the time was , that perhaps there should be some c < mimunication of a permanent character , by which justice should be done to tho conduct and character of the gentlemen composing thin court . There was much difficulty in Boein how it could be done , but in the end tho

      committee came to the conclusion of directing the hall-keeper m this place , without reference to name of paper or politics , or otherwise , to look at the newspapers on the morning after each sitting of the court , and to select from them the one that seemed to him to contain the best account of the proceedings——" Mr . Blake : " The longest * the most voluminous ac count ; " . ' .. '' . Mr . Wood : " The hall-keeper was to select the newspaper which contained the longest account of the proceedings of the previous day . That course has been pursued lip to the present time . The result of the order of the

      committee to the hall-keeper has been thought by members of advantage to the corporation in this way—it has brought to their notice that the proceedings have been fully and fairly reported in many instances . The hall-keeper has , by direction of the committee , ordered 300 copies of the paper containing the longest report of the proceedings of the court . Of this number about 260 are circulated amongst the members of the court , the- other 60 being sent to the town clerks of the various boroughs' throughout the kingdom , in order that the country corporations may know what is going on here . The cost of this amounts to 5 ? . or Gl . each time the papers are purchased , and does not exceed 150 ? . a year . "

      A great deal of warm feeling was manifested at the " misstatements" of Mr . Acland ; but it was generally agreed that Mr . Anderton had put an inconvenient question , and that the place to reply to them would be before the Commission .

      Norfolk Worthies: Lieutenant Cress Well....

      NORFOLK WORTHIES : LIEUTENANT CRESS WELL . Lynn , in Norfolk , is the birth-place of Lieutenant Cresswell , the gallant subordinate of M 'Clure , who has actually made the N 6 rth-West Passage . For three years he has been absent , and great anxiety has been felt by his parents and townsmen for his safety . Now that lie has come back among them , and brought so much honour , they make much of him , showing that some prophets are honoured in their own country .

      It was a touching sight , that , in the Town Hall of Lynn , on the 26 th ult ., the third anniversary of the discovery of the passage . There were the civic dignitaries of Lynn , with a cordial address ; there was Sir Edward Parry , who had travelled two hundred miles to be present ; there was Lord Stanley , Lynn ' s clever Member ; and , above all , there was Lieutenant Cresswell ' s father . After the address had been read , Lieutenant Cresswell returned hearty thanks to his townsmen , and in return gave a narrative of the voyage of the Investigator . Sir Edward Parry followed with a few cordial and appropr iate words , and that ceremony was over .

      In the evening there was a banquet to the hero of the icy seas . Here the speechmaking was renewed ; and Sir Edward Parry delivered some interesting notions on the subject of Arctic expeditions . " In the first place , I spent many of the beat years of my own life in services similar to that in which Lieutenant Grurney Cresswell has been engaged . It is now thirty-five years since I commenced upon the same field of labour , and it is thirty-four years since it pleased God to permit me , with two of our shipn , to penetrate to tho western end of Melville Island . That I was permitted to accomplish in a single season ; and , considering the nature of that enterprise , there is no doubt I had a favourable season ,

      and WH 9 very much favoured in doing it , because , until the year 1852 , from tho time I speak of in 1819 , although several efforts have been made , no one has ever readied within 300 or 400 miles of tho same spot . Whilst this was going on , the north coast of America , from Behring ' s Straits , was being surveyed by several accomplished Arctic travellers . We have in the list our dear friend Franklin , Kichardson , and . Deeded , and Simpson , and Wray , and JJoechey , and Pullen , and Hooper , and perhaps one or two others whom I have forgotten . But you see there is a long list of gallant nautical men engaged in surveying that part of the coasts of America which you see before you on the chart . So that in point of fact , when I reached the

      wostnrn extremity of Melvdlo Island , and saw Banks ' s Land sixty miles from it , which is laid down in my chart of that day , there then remained a considerable portion from tho continent upwards to that point yet to bo explored . Our dear young friend bos had tho privilege of accomplishin g that ( applause ) ; and I venture to say that there is no portion of the north-west passage more difficult of accomplishment than that . I will say , too , that there never lias been an instance in which so magnificent a navigation ha « boon performed in a single season as was performed by Captain M'Cluro and his officers . Gentlemen , there is nothing in Arctic discovery to be compared to that one Hummer ' s exploit in the year 1852 . It is between 900 atut 10 ( X ) miles , very nearly 1000 , from Point Barrow , which we consider any ship may roach in those days—we don ' t think . so much of getting a littlo into tho ice as we

      formerly did but from Point , Barrow along to Cape Parry , from which our friend struck off in the Investigator , to the Inland you soo there—Baring Island , and then upward ( o tho Hay of Mercy , whore , the Investigator , I am uftoud , is till this moment confined , is from 900 to 1000 miloH ; and Iaa'iuro you , from the experience 1 have bad of Mm navigation of those seas , it is a most marvellous navigation to accomplish . I bcliovo no man can tell more of Mm difficulty of it than I can ; and I repent that there has boon nothing in tho wholo course of Arctic discovery equal to that which Captain M'Cluro and his companions accomp lished . The exploit then comes to this , that by this gallant achievement tho existence of the whole of i \\ o northwest paNHftgo ban boon ascertained beyond a doubt ; and it is a curious circumstance that Captain M'Cluro should jimf ; have been enabled to reach from tho westward to tho Imy of Mercy , which is , in point of fact , upon tho very land I

      saw in coming from the eastward , but could no t reach , so that there we are met within sixty : miles , and I onl y hope that the crowning triumph of getting completely through may be reserved for our gallant friend , Captain M'Clure ( cheers ) . . -.-. I was one of the committee appointed by the Admiralty to propose the plans for the recent expedition , and was therefore personally concerned in sending our young friend Cresswell ¦ Out ; so . that I did feel upon that point a personal responsibility , though I believed I had done the best thing that could be done , and believe it still . It was the best chance of finding our dear friend Franklin , if he was to be found ; but still I did feel a personal responsibility , having taken a part as one of the committee to recommend the plan which was put into practice . Then give me leave to say , that there is still another reason why my interest and anxiety was deep in this matter

      and that was that 1 had no small hand in sending out our dear young friend himself ( applause ) . His dear and revered father , who sits before me now , knows that we talked it over , and I advised him . I said , ' Let the young man go ; I give you the advice I would for my own clear son in the navy . Let him go by all means if he wishes . We must not stand upon these points , but let him go where honour and reputation are to be earned . ' I need not tell you that Mr . Cresswell was not long in responding to that . It waa the young man ' s wish to go , and go he did . .. . . I can form but a single idea as to the probable fate of Franklin . I do not a ^ ree with our friend , Gurney Crosswell , about the probability of both ships having gone down and nothing been seen of them , because , although it is true that nothing might be seen of the ships themselves , I do not believe the crews would all have perished at one moment . I think there is that stuff and stamina in one

      hundred and twenty Englishmen , that somehow or other they would have maintained themselves as well as a parcel of Esquimaux would . They would have found the Esquimaux , and there would have been something like a trace of them if they had been on earth . The only thing which I can suggest is this : Wellington Strait was discovered by myself on the expedition I spoke of . It is a large opening from Lancaster Sound . When I was going up westward from Melville Island , vre saw Wellington Straits perfectly free from ice , and so I marked it on my chart . It was not my business to go north as long as I could get west , and therefore we ran past , and did not examine it . But it has always been a favourite idea of those who imagined the

      north-west passage was to be easily made by going north , That we know was the favourite idea of Franklin , and wo know he did intend , if lie could not get westward , to go up Wellington Channel . We have it from his own lips . My belief is still that after the first winter he did go up that channel , and that having steam power ( which I had not in my time ) , it is possible he may have gone up in a favourable season . For you cannot imagine anything more different than a favourable and an unfavourable season in those regions . You cannot imagine the changes that take place in the ice there . I have been myself sometimes beset for two or three days together by the ice , in such a way that from the masthead 1 could not see sufficient water to

      float that bottle in ; and in twenty-four hours there was not a bit of ice to bo seen—nobody could tell why—I cannot tell why ; and you might have sailed about as you may in your own river , as far as ice is concerned . Therefore in a favourable season he may have gone up that inlet , and may , by the power of steam aud favourable circumstances , have got so far to the north-west that in An ordinary season he could not get back again . And those who know Franklin know this—that ho would push on year after year so long as his provisions lasted . Nothing could stop him . Ho was not a man to look back if lie believed tho thing was still possible . He may have got beyond tho r « aeh of our searching parties , for Sir Edward Belcher has not been able to get fur up , and wo have not been able to get the investigation completed I hope you will must

      pardon tho loquacity of an old , old Arctic voyager . I say that when I bear those stories , as 1 heard this morning , and as I read thorn—of what has been performed , the w « T in which tho last link of the north-west ; passage baa been discovered—that to which I devoted the best yearn of my life—it rekindles in my bosom all tho ardour of enterprise , ay , and much of the vigour of youth ( loud app lause ) . 1 will just say , that tho only thing I regret in coming hero to-day is this simple fact , that wo have been obliged to designate our door young ; friend by the name of ' Lieutenant Cresswell . I know not anything of tho intention of tho Admiralty ; but I will Hay this , that I do not believe tlio Admiralty of Great Britain can possibly refuse to givo promotion to the first man who , since the world begun , ni »« over traversed tho north-west passage . " ( Loud ana

      continued cheers . ) Lord Stanley Hiibfloquontly made a speech , and backed up the strong hint for CrcKHwell ' s promotion used by Sir Edward Parn .

      The Wioan Riots. Unpoutunatkly The Men O...

      THE WIOAN RIOTS . Unpoutunatkly the men on strike- at Wigan have damaged their cause by a riot , in the course of wlncli much property wan wantonly destroy oil . . Desirous of taking measures in concert to result t »< men , tho ma-stern met -it the Itoyal Hotel on 1 ' nda . yf and there deliberated . While tboy did ho , » tf ° J crowd of collier and factory , hands gathered m »<| street outside , anxiously awaiting tho decision of > coal and willingit io saidto take one '""' '

      owners , , , the advance they demanded . Foremost among t " employers is tho Earl of Balcarres ; and his man , u ' - Peace , had brought up a lot of colliers from VV « u <<^ Peace ' s mm , a young man , got into a quarrel within factory boys , and was obliged to take refugo in «• 1 >" lie-house . While this wan going on , the decision oi * masters became known . They agreed to adjourn a fortnight , and give tho colliers the option of «» n ing to work at tho old wages . Tho men did not i thiH . and stood about tho front of tho hotol m a nw

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 5, 1853, page 6, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_05111853/page/6/