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APPROACHING PROMOTION OF CUBA
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erf reprisals . At the outset of the-battle the conduct of the masters was , at any rate , bluff and straightforward — obstinate if you will , but still obstinately honest ; bvtt | z 3 o ^ v there shines through all the proceedings of the association a pettifogging M&oriieyism , obtrusive as the dirty akin of a beggar through his rags . Nowhere is this ¦ a d fplainly perceptible as in the late prose-^ tiDii , ' both in the matter of the prosecution and the manner of the same ; the spying and fflryiiig into the goings-out and the comings-**» . namnaiila , A ^ 1 . L - ' - * ¦* ' ^ J * . i ll . _ 1 j _ j _ 1 _
it . "We say nothing about . their bond ; we dwell no longer upon the unfair advantage Which they have lately taken of their position as magistrates ; we comment not upon the expensive but hitherto futile experiment of taking a crowd of dirty paupers into Preston ( that is , a rod of scorpions for thair own backs ) ; the resolution of the 4 th of November alone is sufficient to account * ± ^ "WTT" _ i _ i _ _ l _ . _ i . ji . i i '
3 uS | t > f = the "Unionists , the noting down of their ldcpirair ? fwords , the employment of one of ¦ fjpfrd privileged sneaks ( a police-officer in plaini clothes ) to dog their every step , and nbaually the most indecent manner of the prosl ^ tifebn ; - —aUthesecireuirrsiances conclusively ; 5 > iove' that the Associated Masters of Preston are . : luifortunat © in their advisers . B ut now t&at the coup has fallen short , and another t&Uure has signalised the progsess of the i ^ pO ^ nppn toi * side , is it not well worth ^^^ g ® le at : kMpi to \ ake into consi-J ^^^^ t h ^ ' ^ Btq ^ khv of th ' eir position , and : *« aUv rin RnmfitJiiTio- irwli ^ k nf « riwmvt * n
^ bring ^ nat state of things to a close which is = d ^ w |^ g rj ^ minot only upon themselves , but ^ ttp ^^ wh ^ e cbmmunitv ? ¦ '' f ^^^^ igme- ^^ i ^ eT Cent . Question " ^^ l ^ lim ^ Btef ' s point of viewj it is customary ¦ ^^^^^ B- ^ ie ^ iojplBra <^ s wijbh : ; an uareasoni ^ H ^ i ^ llstnTlacy iii ^ demanding a 'higher rate of 3 j || g ^^^^ -will ' ^ mMM ^^ sni : ^ * iio ^ riHS % v ® iKnce of this ; iit
$ ^^ SsaM 0 mT ^ per ^ ent . ^ ana no " Siii > - | pte » % : ^^* is J ^ &fM -justice" of this argument by the standard of a few unquesfSSmi 0 ^ Bm' - - : ' - ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ — ¦ ^ tHe slimmer of last year , a demand for ; : |^ fei 8 ^^^' W' ^^ V ' wiaB respectfully made ^ P ^ S twi ^ ort masters , Tingr ^ ciottely reiM | f-iict ^ afler a brief sia-ug ^ le of nine ^^ m ^^ m ^^ : ^ m ^^ " ^^ ^ s
for all the weight of public opinion now arrayed against them . It is regarded as despotic , it is regarded as absurd , it Is regarded as subversive of all the best interests of trade , as well as an offence against fair dealing , that any one clique of men should arbitrarily dictate the market value of labour .
Iiooking now at the conduct of the operatives , we admit that in some cases they hastily took offence ; that they were occasionally insolent , and very often unreasonable . "We admit that the exaction of an equal ten percent , upon all prices alike , — high or low , just or unjust , —was as absurd and as despotic as the resolution of the 4 th of November ; but ( little as it may suit the masters to admit it ) the operatives have long
since . virtually abandoned these primary errors . It may answer the purpose of those who argue the case far the masters to quote the hasty words of their open-air orators , and their popular war-cry quoted above ; but the truth is ( and the masters know it ) that the operatives are willing to compromise . "Without referring to cases in ¦ whi ch a compromise bas actually been made , with the full sanction of the Unionists , we
may notice that there have been several distinct overtures made to the employers for an equitable adjustment of the matters in dispute . Wot only have the leaders of the operatives offered to meet the committee of tfce Masters' Association , but they have suggested arbitration by impartial persons , aa a feasible mode of terminating toe struggle . Latterly , an appeal has been made to that combination of employers at Manchester who
have taken part in the battle by subscribing for a defence fund , with a view of p ersuading £ hem to interfere , so as to effect an amicable settlement ; but these gentlemen , very inconsistently , replied that they could not interfere , because they had nothing to do with the dispute . This week we find in our correspondence a resolution passed by a general , meeting of the " Unionists , professing their willingness to
abandon the ten per cent ., and to accept an average rate calculated upon the- current prices of neighbouring towns . Tinder these circumstances , and in the face of all these conciliatory advances from the other aide , how can the Associated Masters hope to persuade the public into a belief that the prolongation of the dispute is wholly attributable
to the operatives ? If , instead of instituting bootless prosecutions , and irritating -the sore by importing useless paupers into their mills , they would condescend to imitate the tactics of the operatives , by making some slight and just concession , we venture to predict a speedy and happy termination to the Preston Labour-Battle .
It they fear that by so doing they will lose any of the proper dignity of their position , let them remember tliat men are really beaten only when they commit an error , but that they achieve a glorious victory when they candidly and fearlessly acknowledge a fault .
the Stirst time that the Ijancashire masters : j ^^^^ . - ^ M ^^ n ^ p ^ ^ inik ^ - ' ; By -no ; i || $ | ipp "For many mont ^ previoiis : ' . ; tO ' -- this Sfcockport strike , demands for an advance , and demands warranted by a nioat prosperous trade , ^ a d" been universal throughout the district . "Wise inengave at once , ¦ | q |! l cheerfully , such advances as they ! i ^ I ^ TDght righ t ; the Preston masters growled , Hxuib ^ itst of them submitted . IFive or six •^ bf '' ffij&m :, however , contrived" to quarrel * ifp | their hands , —either as to the quan-1 1 ? I $ jJ r ! 9 ^' " "' 'manner of the advance , and "fiYe ^ or six isolated strikes resulted . It was
upop this hint that the Associated Masters of Preston spake . They were an old body ; active , at intervals , since 1836 , and reorganised for offensive and defensive measures in the month of March , 1853 ( long "before even the Stockport strike ) . They repented them of the ten per cent . ; so they topic the five or six isolated strikes for a text , Ic ^ feed up their mills , and preached up a ^ idapujsiaiie against the Operatives * Union . The
battle 'Hjfag ' 'to be one of authority ; which w ^ to pe the master . Ten per cent , was no objieet ; discipline was aH they cared about . l&ifc on the 4 th of November they passed a vote , declaring that whenever they re-open their mills the price of wages must be regulated according to a certain arbitrary rate . Now , here was an inconsistency . They
declared that the question was not one of wages ; while , at the same moment , they expressly made it so . They had resorted to a measure , whicli was fitly termed " aa attempt to starve a community into surrender , " upon the plea that they were fighting for authority , and then they super-added a condition so absurd and bo untenable , that it precludes all possibility of a compromise , and imposes an alternative so degrading that yro should sorrow to see free meu submit themselves to
Approaching Promotion Of Cuba
doom which besets other States , obliging them to seek a conflict in which their own condition and boundaries are to be altered , had been extended to that corner of Europe , and to all the possessions annexed to that « * i *««• > - .. _
corner . In . every particular the Government appears to be . disorganised . The army , which is the main strength of any country , the whole body of whose citizens are not armed , is broken up by its own divisions * opinion , by the demoralising influences which have been at work in the military body , and- by that administration of the court which beats
down the authority of officers through continual removals , disgraces , and other destructive influences . The official departments are prostituted to personal objects ; and the administration of the country is but a subservient part of a corrupt court . It ia a corrupt administration . The royal family
lives in an odour of scandal . It was bad enough during the Queen ' s minority , when the Queen-Mother was the favourite object of scandalous- Teports ; but now it is the Sovereign herself who is the aim of the satirical shafts ; and the stories related of her point not only at "breach of conventional law , but at such disregard of good taste as could be found in this country
only amongst degraded classes . Spain has always boasted of some independence towards Home , and although distinguished by being the native country of the Inquisition in its highest flower , the boast has hitherto been partly true ; but the Church is now broken down , in great part by the spoliation of Church and conventual property , and Spain has become reconciled to Eoihe under circumstances which may be said almost to add spiritual to social and political
degradation . The insolvency of the finances is notorious all over Europe , and quotations of Spanish stock , new projects for imparting a little life to bonds indistinguishabl e " active " or " deferred , " is a standing joke on the English Stock Exchange . The country could well furnish activity to railways ; for there are portions of it which more than survive the national degeneracy—which have , in fact , developed an industry worthy of a better
country . The projects for establishing railways were in themselves not altogether ill contrived ; but the very fact of their being objects of Government patronage threw suspicion on them , and at once suggested very intimate relations between the Court and those enterprises . In fact , some of the romance of Capel-court bas been repeated at Madrid , with the highest personages in the country for the dramatis personce . Of course this went far to destroy the credit of
railway enterprise in Spain , and although the communes talked of giving their guarantee , the fact that the court was a partner in the undertaking was fatal to its acceptance in the country where the capital is to be found . Spain can never flourish , nor have commerce and railways suited to the energy and intelligence of her best inhabitants , so long as she has her present Government . A revolution in Spain would be the only process for restoring to her something that makes law worth having .
APPROACHING PROMOTION OF CUBA . Spain will not leave the American Eagle alone . The Peninsula has been curiously omitted from the Bfcorm whiclt ia just now gathering over all tlie rest of Europe . But now she , too , has exposed herself to a storm of her own brewing ; and it loolts us if the
It is under these circumstances , as if not a portion of her dominions should bo left without commotion , that Spain keeps up in Cuba a series of irritations against the United States . Two more vessels have been seized at Havannah , and so far as accounts reach us , seized on tho most frivolous pretext . The Hlach JVarrior , a steam-ship , conveying cotton from Mobile to New York , was seized
because she Imtl , or was said to have , some portion of cargo on board which was not in tho manifest ; and this , it is pretended , was ft breach of tho Cuban revenue lawa . On the
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300 THE LEADER . Saturday , t
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), April 1, 1854, page 300, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2032/page/12/
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