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Leader (1850-1860), 31st August 1850, Edition Town of 1, Page 540, Untitled Article

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      Untitled Article

      their foreign connections . This foreign alliance , therefore , proves to be a broken reed even when employed by more legitimate members of royalty than Napoleon the Emperor . Louis Philippe ' s repeated failures seem to have another pregnant meaning for the politician . Since the restoration , it is the second instance in which France has repudiated royalty . Louis XVIII . was felt to be a failure . On his accession the reactionary Charles X . was expected to evoke some angry feeling ; but he did not obtain very

      serious attention until his attempt against the press : that attempt provoked the response which ended in his flight . Louis Philippe had not sense enough to avoid similar causes , and in his case they were attended with a similar effect . He fled in the disguise of an Englishman . It would appear that the royal classes of France are unable to invent a plan of reigning by a royalty which shall fit more with the state of public feeling in that country , and

      can only revive the old pattern : a pattern that can only revive the old pattern : a pattern that France has distinctly declared she will not have . In the actual state of doubt among parties in France it would be well if they could bear this manifest conclusion in mind . Whatever may result from the confused state of parties , it is clear that France will not accept a restoration of monarchy as it was under Louis Philippe . Some other plan , therefore , must be devised , unless the next Government is to be like his , simply

      a lengthened Provisional Government . This , perhaps , is the greatest public service that Louis Philippe has rendered . He has shown that a remarkably clever and astute man of business has tried all the old methods of governing by force of penal law , by force of soldiers , of National Guard , and of the cleverest public servants that he could collect ; and yet the final declaration of France is , that she will not have it .

      The " Napoleon of Peace" has been likened to our own Minister Peel , for his common sense , his practical candour , and his objection to war . But there was one remarkable distinction between the two . Louis Philippe tried to establish himself by using old methods , crowned alliances and so forth , with a large infusion of public money ; he dallied with titles , multiplying them for his progeny ; he attempted to obtain state dotation . In short , his method was to unite himself , if possible , with the

      old idea of royalty in the country . A more impolitic selection could not have been made . With the striking improvements in the material sciences , and other processes going on before our eyes , changing all the methods of society , we have drifted far beyond that antiquated station of royalty . The greater the success , therefore , in any device of that kind , the more fatal the result . The more thoroughly royal Louis Philippe could make his family , the more was it bound to the institutions in

      that are marked for destruction our political progress . The conduct of our own Minister was the very opposite : we observe him declining to unite himself with the titled nobility ; foreseeing the spread of opinion among the industrious classes ; attaching his family as far as possible to that branch of the Government , the representative branch , in which the political power now centres ; providing , in short , for the identification of his house with the power which is rising . Peel ' s paternal instincts took the prospective form : Louis Philippe ' s the retrospective form . Peel succeeded : Louis Philippe failed .

      Untitled Article

      SELF-SUPPORTING FARM SCHOOLS . In her excellent letter on the land question Miss Martineau says , "We may argue for ever about large farms and small holdings and be no better off , unless science and sense are brought to bear on the process of cultivation . " All will admit the truth of this remark ; the great question then

      is—How can we best educate and develope the agricultural faculties ? There has been a great deal of talk lately regarding the education of the people , and many schemes have been devised for giving the children of the poor a due portion of book learning . But throughout all this discussion very little has been said about another kind of

      education—of much more importance to the great mass of the working class—that which will enable them to earn an honest livelihood by skilful labour . Town-bred people are apt to fancy that field-work requires little intelligence or education , that it consists mainly of , what political economists call " unskiilpq Tabpur . " There never was a greater mistake . TM cultivation of the soil , although chiefly left U ) men very ii ^ it for the task , is an occupation

      giving ample scope for the highest skill and intelligence . Among agricultural labourers the difference between one who has learned his business properly and one who has not learned it is so great as almost to ensure constant employment to the former , at wages from fifty to a hundred per cent , higher than the other can obtain . And yet , notwithstanding this difference of wages , the great mass of the agricultural population are deplorably ignorant of the business by which they earn a living . Much of this ignorance is owing to

      the large farm system , with all its attendant evils . Into that branch of the question , however , we shall not enter at present , interesting as the enquiry would be . Our sole object now is to call attention to an educational experiment , suggestive of a method by which the industrial training of the poor might be promoted without imposing any additional burden upon the ratepayers . In the neighbourhood of Perth , as we learn from the Edinburgh Witness , an Industrial School Farm has been lately established , which promises to create a great change in the management of ablebodied

      paupers and criminals . In this instance the boys employed upon the land , whose ages varied from eight to sixteen , were all in a very destitute condition . Several of them were orphans , and of those not so , the parents were drunkards . All of them are described as having been " graduating for the hulks . " With such habits it was feared that they would not have much inclination for steady industry ; but this has proved to be a mistake . After stating that a change of the most gratifying nature has taken place in the behaviour of the boys , our Scottish contemporary proceeds : —

      " These moral results were accompanied by others of an equally gratifying description . At certain stated hours , when they have gone over their lessons , at which they are making good proficiency , they shoulder their spades and away to work . They are remarkably fond of working , and soon learn to use the spade and hoe to good , purpose . Neither are they at all frightened at hard work , but willingly undertake any kind to which they are put . They have been employed , for example , in reclaiming a small piece of waste ground , which , owing to its steepness , had to be formed into terraces before it

      could be cultivated . This was all done by the boys , and was performed iu a very satisfactory manner ; and thus green kail ( coleworts ) and Swedish turnips now occupy the place of docks and nettles . On the whole , it may with truth be asserted that , so far as it has hitherto gone , the experiment of a boys' farm has been eminently successful ; for it ' is now quite clear that the blackguard boys who infest our streets and swell our police and poorrates may be made to raise food for themselves , and thus relieve the community of a heavy burden , while , at the same time , they themselves are being converted into honest and industrious members of the community . "

      Now , what is there to prevent the establishment of an Industrial Farm School in every parish in England ? If men would only be in earnest in their efforts to renovate society the thing could very soon be accomplished . The great obstacle is the difficulty of persuading official men , and that army of subalterns who obtain a living by the present system of prison and pauper discipline , that the change would be an improvement for them When Mr . Rowland Hill first broached the idea of

      a penny postage , the Post-office authorities were up in arms against it as utterly Utopian . This is always the way with officials . They never believe in any measure of reform . They naturally like to have as little trouble as possible , and all reforms are troublesome . They , therefore , denounce every change , whatever advantages it may propose , on the ground that , " it would not work well , "which means that it would cost them a considerable effort to organize the new method .

      Meanwhile , the subject is well worth the attention of all Social Reformers throughout the kingdom . They may not be able to establish Industrial Farm Schools in every parish , but they may at least have one in every county , and , were that accomplished and found to work well , the example would soon be extensively followed . The following letter is from a gentleman who has taken a leading part in the Perth experiment : —

      " I need not inform you that there are arc many who doubt the possibility of cultivating the soil by means of boys or paupers ; and I remember noticing that a member of the Edinburgh Parochial Board , when the subject was brought before them , scoffed at the idea of its being done . I wish that that worthy gentleman would pay a visit to our little establishment at Craigic , and see our juvenile

      labourers at work . I will not say that he would see anything very wonderful ; but I think , if his mind was not blinded by prejudice , he would be compelled to allow that boys of ten , twelve , or fourteen years can dig , and hoe , and trench , and perform any piece of plain field work in a very creditable manner . For my own part , all doubts upon the subject are completely dispelled . Boys of the ages I have mentioned can be made to work to such good purpose . that , under efficient superintendence , they could ,

      I am convinced , raise a sufficiency of food to support themselves , and perhaps something more . In it ed , their liking and aptitude for out-door abour has , I confess somewhat taken me by surprise ; and it only requires to be taken advantage of to enable us to reduce the poorrates very considerably . Of course boys cannot be made to work in the same manner as men ; but , by judicious management , they could be got to labour cheerfully at least six hours a day . I never made them to work for a much longer period than four hours ; but this was

      because a great portion of their time was occupied with their education , and because I experienced difficulty at times in getting employment for them ; but in spring time they will be made to work for a much longer period . Our little farm consists of four imperial acres ; and I am convinced that it could be kept in excellent order by twenty stout boys , whose education could be carried on at the same time . We propose taking in fifty ; but we will not have nearly sufficient employment for that number , unless we extend our limits . "

      Untitled Article

      THE RAILWAY STRIKE . Although mercantile men chuckle over the impracticability of " strikes , " the project of ageneralstrike on the great railways has caused general consternation . The vast size of railways el vates their proprietors above the ordinary influences of trading competition : it seems likely also to elevate the working class into a position of unusual command . As the number of servants on the railways must be calculated pretty close to the actual want , and the proper service requires some practice , there can hardly be any considerable , " surplus population" in railway employment : nor can any shift from other quarters

      supply an effective staff . A combination for a strike , carried out with good , faith , might be contrived with far less sacrifice and more probability of success than one in any trade . The sheeting or broadcloth supplied by any particuiar mill , or even a district of mills , is not of any peremptorily urgent necessity ; the public can wait for that particular supply of piece goods . But the whole public cannot wait to go on its daily travels . A strike on the railways , therefore , could not only be practicable , but formidable ; and for once it might force the public to look into the merits of a case on the side of the working men .

      But the example of a successful strike , the illustration of its method and conduct , would be a startling innovation in the history of English commerce . The contagion might spread from the railway system to trades , and a new influence might thus be raised up against naked competition . Such is one among the many results which the managers of railways are hazarding by harsh conduct towards their inen . The men on the Eastern

      Counties have struck ; those on another great railway are said to be ripe for mutiny ; at Leeds support has been promised to a general movement . The fact is , that if railway managers understand their permanent interests they will not seek to introduce competition into their system , either to catch passengers or screw down workmen's wages . The public cannot afford to let railway servants be paid ill . If the men are not animated by the consciousness of liberal treatment they will not act in a spirit needed for the comfort , and even for the safety of the public . An engine-driver dozing over his engine would be a more dangerous workman

      than a weaver dozing over his looms ; in railway business an " end out" is a train off the line , and no " abatements" would compensate for limbs broken or lives lost . A discontented driver may grow reckless , and to a vindictive feeling of that nature a serious accident might have its solace . We see a driver at one of the recent meetings confessing that he should not dislike a good old collision ! ' Will the public like to be driven by men reduced to that mood under any system of screwing . Of all trades for a railway company that in dead passengers would be the most disastrously unprofitable : but sulkv servants would be very apt to induce large dealings in that line .

      Untitled Article

      THE LEAGUE BREAD COMPANY . It is one of the most encouraging facts to those who are labouring for a peaceful and gradual change from the antagonistic to the associative system of society , that on all sides are to be discerned signs of that change being commenced among us . with the stroke

      You cannot alter the social aspect of a wand . If such were in your power , the transformation would be as untoward in its results as ungenial in its operation . Like the imperceptible yet ever-progressing change of a dissolving view , must be that of society if it is to be effected with present safety and the promise of stability ; such a change is now going on amungst us , and the policy of reformers is to assist ana avail themselves of

      Untitled Article

      540 . SCfttf yLt&iltX * [ Saturday ,

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  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 31, 1850, page 540, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1851/page/12/