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new in portions of working people all over the world being accustomed to misery and privation. It always existed; and the difference now is, that the opportunities of making that misery known from country to country, are every day becoming more abundant; though the means of preventing the misery altogether, by the proper instruction of the sufferers, have not been resorted to. But to the humane heart there are other indications of a more gladdening nature, mingled with the instructions of want,-in France, at least, if not in the other European countries. The French working mechanics are resolute to become a power in the state. The revolutions have done much towards the breaking down of arbitrary aristocratic distinctions; but they have not done all. The aristocracy of trade has succeeded to the aristocracy of war, even as that succeeded to the aristocracy of rank; but the trade-ocracy and bureau-ocracy must now, with as good a grace as they respectively can, prepare themselves to defer to the opinions of the men of hardened hands, unless they are prepared to fight the matter out with them, with other weapons than the mere power of chicanery. The matter in question is not entirely the discontent of the belly, and is not to be allayed with the same ease with which it was stirred up, by the advent of "better times." It is the French mode of expressing a desire for, if not universal suffrage, at least suffrage as extensive as good wages. It means that the man who earns five francs per diem, by manual labour, is determined to have as much respect paid to his opinions, as to those of the shopkeeper who gets his five francs per diem, by a profit on the distribution of the results of the workman's labours; and he is quite right in this, even though the worshipful guilds of shoemakers, and curriers, and carpenters, and cabinet-makers, and watchmakers, and others, owing to their little study of the principles of philosophical justice, may perhaps think that the opinions of common labourers, who earn low wages, are of very little importance. The guilds have set a good example, by which the rest of the population will profit in time, as the common people of England have done by the original example of the Barons. It is a condition of humanity, that those who suffer under oppression, must work out their own personal redemption before they can attend to the wants of others; therefore, the guilds look down with contempt on the mere labourers, forgetting that they are men like themselves; and these same labourers visit upon their wives, like most men, the indignities wherewith themselves are treated. In the free states of the American Union, the same excitement has long been taking place. The mechanics there aspire, through their numbers, to the possession of a very large share in the government of the community; and ulti-thing has been done or used before, but simply mately they will have it. It can scarcely be supposed that, in so plentiful a land, anything like an approximation to hunger can be a stirring cause with them; but the shrewd ones

| amongst the middle classes see clearly enough that though, for a time, the tactics of the working men may be defeated by superior dexterity, the time must come when their voices will carry every great measure. And to a like result are the affairs of Europe tending,-consequently wise rulers would consider that the only chance of possessing a good government, must rest in providing as good a moral and intellectual training as possible for the masses of those who will be the depositories of power, in order that they may delegate that power only to the wisest and most efficient persons. That the working classes will remain quiet in their present condition is beyond the hope even of the most sanguine Tory. The working men, generally, know that their condition is not so good as it might be, or as it ought to be; and in the absence of exact knowledge on the subject, they resort to any thing which may seem to hold out a chance of improvement. Therefore only is it that the benevolent crudities of Mr. Owen have met with so much attention, in spite of their repeated failures. The fact is, the human heart will not give up hope; and the uninstructed mechanics will cling to bright-looking fallacies, until they shall be swept away by hope-giving truth. And there is hope for them-much and bright hope; for each day the names wax more numerous of those amongst them who, selftaught, pierce through fallacies, and incite their fellows to better things and higher aspirations than of old. It is from amongst the ranks of the mechanics that the teachers must arise, who will gain the confidence of the working classes by their sympathy with their feelings, by their knowledge of their wants, and their freedom from the conventional prejudices, and slavery to customs, which so strongly beset the middling classes of the community. The middling classes have, for the most part, much to un-learn, and they will not voluntarily leave the beaten paths in which they have been accustomed to tread, in search of advancement, without the necessity of much personal hardship. Let well alone" is their motto, and it is religiously observed. But not so the mechanics. They err in ignorance and not from predilection; and an error once exposed is unhesitatingly thrown aside. They have no superstitious abstract reverence for it. Their condition in life is not sufficiently easy to permit them to maintain a darling absurdity, involving cost and sacrifice; they care nothing for Lord Mayor's shows, or coronations, or other things analogous to them. They leave them to the middling classes, i. e. to the vulgar wealthy people. One thing by which the people of the United States are remarkably distinguished from the inhabitants of the British Islands, is their freedom from prejudice, in all their habits of life, as well as the materials of comfort. They never ask whether a

whether it be adapted to the purpose it is intended for. Thus, in articles of use, the inventions and customs from all parts of the world, are found side by side in useful proximity, im

proved on in innumerable modes, by a people who never rest satisfied with a thing, so long as it remains short of perfection. Thus, it is rare to see an American astonished at any thing new. His active mind has no time for astonishment. He scarcely speaks, unless to enable him better to comprehend the matter before him ; and his ideas are concentrated, as to how he may best turn it to account. And superficial observers call this coldness and want of enthusiasm. A Frenchman once asked a shrewd Yankee why it was that America "progressed" so much faster than France, in physical matters be it understood,- | and the reply of Jonathan was no less true than characteristic. "Why, Mounseer, I guess, aour people think considerable, and I calculate your people talk considerable."

The difference of character between the mechanics and middling classes of England, is of a similar kind. The mechanics think much, and the middling folks talk much. The reason of this is, not that they are differently organized, but that they are differently situated. The former, by the peculiar nature of their employments, for the most part exercise their hands mechanically, while their brains are left at full liberty to exercise the power of thought, which the very sight of the ob. jects before them is calculated to call forth. Thus, a carpenter, or watchmaker, or engineer, is constantly beholding geometric forms; and if the power of mathematics be in him, it will most probably be called forth. And what can be better adapted to call forth the power of abstruse calculation, than the intricate patterns, and crossing threads, which must be manipulated in setting a loom, after the mind is left unoccupied by the remaining work being purely that of the hands, -simply, a piece of animated machinery. But in the case of the middling classes, especially those who live by traffic or merchandise, the mere distributors, their minds are constantly occupied with considerations of pounds, shillings, and pence; what leisure they may chance on being devoted to the " keeping up appearances," and "doing company." The exceptions which may exist, are no answer to the fact of the glaring difference between the mass of the mechanics and those who employ them. There have been examples of studious and learned booksellers, but that in no way impeaches the truth of the general fact, that booksellers only judge of books by the amount of sale; whereas the thinking writers, who are frequently men of less worldly importance, judge of them by the intrinsic value of the thoughts they may contain. Let there be no misunderstanding here. I make no imputation on the natural capabilities of booksellers, or others of the middling classes. Like the mechanics, both intelligent men and dolts are to be found amongst them. I simply affirm, that the general employments of the mechanics, not only afford leisure for the brain to work, but in many cases excite it to work; whereas, the employments of the middling classes absorb both their time and faculties, and leave them no leisure for the cultivation of the mind.

It is true that the progress of the mechanics has hitherto been chiefly in physical matters, such as the producing and perfecting of inventions; but that has been, because the only subject matter placed before them, on which to exercise their intellect and judgment, has been their tools and instruments, and the results of their various callings. And even in this have their intellects been cramped and narrowed; for the apprentice laws, and other restrictions, intended for the advancement of the revenue, have tended to confine each one to the knowledge of his own especial branch. Thus, a currier could not be a tanner, nor a tanner a currier, because, combining both trades, a man might more easily cheat the revenue, though there is a decided advantage in carrying on both trades together. And upon the type of such sapient political economy have been formed the private laws and regulations of the different trades, causing the workmen in the different branches of art to regard each other as enemies, seeking for every opportunity to rob them of the fruits of their labours. Thus, instead of sharing each others knowledge, and mutually improving the whole mass, all have been circumscribed to a narrow routine. The extraordinary ignorance thus kept up is almost marvellous. I have frequently watched a working mechanic using an imperfect process in his business, without being aware that his neighbour, a few doors off, employed, in another branch of art, another, and a perfect process, perfectly adapted to the result he himself sought to attain. Had apprentice laws and guilds never existed, each one would have known what his neighbour was about; and the improvement and superior economy would have been enormous. I have known a blacksmith, a first-rate workman, unaware of the fact that what are called "tin saucepans" are made of tinned plate iron; and there are abundance of tinmen or tin-plate workers who are entirely ignorant of the process by which tinned plates are prepared. The fact is, that the "division of labour," though good in principle, has been carried to an absurd and mischievous extreme. There is a limit where it ceases to be available to increase production. If a solid cylinder of iron were expanded into a hollow cylinder, containing the same quantity of metal, it would acquire additional strength, up to a certain point; but if expanded beyond that, the sides would lose their firmness, and the total strength would be diminished. Thus, it is good that in the manufacture of a pin one workman should do one thing, up to the period when the repetition becomes wearisome, but after that he should change for another branch, and so on through the whole process. It is a fallacy to suppose that the total production would not be increased under such circumstances, by the superior alacrity of the workmen, and the increased amount of the intelligence they would acquire. It is amongst carpenters, joiners, and cabinet-makers, that the most intelligent mechanics are usually found. From amongst the former, the best working engineers are principally furnished. Why is

this? Because the different processes they go through tend to improve each other, and thus make a better whole, acting upon the principles of verification. The notion of seven years being necessary to learn a trade is a monstrosity. If a boy be put to a trade, for which he has no liking, or is otherwise unfitted, he will not learn it properly though he were seventy years at it. But, as regards all the ordinary trades, an intelligent boy would acquire a competent knowledge of each in six months, as easily as in seven years; and, with proper methods, a far better knowledge than is at present acquired. There is a natural division of trades and arts, into sections, and classes, and orders, as well as the animal and vegetable kingdoms. Thus, there can be no doubt, that a tailor, and hatter, and shoemaker, and stocking- maker, and shirt-maker, and glover, are all ramifications of one branch, whatever may be the diversity of their materials; and that the basis of the whole is a knowledge of anatomy. Yet how very short is the time since the first glimmerings of the truth have appeared. The object pursued in English dress the attainment of warmth being of course paramount-is at least, in the male portion of the community, to display the figure as much as possible, by closely fitting garments. Yet not many years are passed since coats were made with scarce a seam in them, as though the human body were a cylinder, without rise or hollow, and a flat piece of cloth were the best adapted to cover it closely. Shirt-collars were also constructed in the same unscientific mode, as if a human throat were like a ship's spar; and shoes too! There are "respectable" old gentle. men still to be found, who will roundly assert that shoes fit the feet best when not made right and left. Possibly this may be owing to the fact, that their own feet have been rendered so shapeless by ill-usage, that no anatomically-formed shoe could possibly go on them. But these prejudices are almost worn out. Tailors profess to fit the human form anatomically; and even shoemakers do not disdain to call in plaster casts to their aid, in order to get their lasts accurately made. But nothing like perfection in the art of covering the human body will be accomplished, until it shall be the practice to teach the same individuals all the separate arts, in order that they may combine them with compound advantage. The workers in metal, also, are in many cases only varieties of the same thing. The roasting-jack, maker, the watchmaker, the mathematical instrument maker, the engineer, the gunmaker, and many others, ought to be so instructed, that each might, in case of necessity, exercise the calling of the other. The arts of the architect, the builder, the joiner, the carpenter, the cabinetmaker, the chairmaker, instead of being studiously kept apart, ought all to be understood by the same individuals. The upholsterer should be familiar alike with the adornment of houses and of wheelcarriages; and the builder of carriages should be familiar with every class, from the highest invention of luxury down to the common

barrow of the brickmaker. The chemist should be versed in the principles of farming, in order to bring his knowledge to bear on the cheap production of vegetable matters for the purposes of food. And the farmer should also be a practical gardener, and be somewhat familiar with chemistry; and thus a rapidly increasing production would be the constant result.

But in spite of the disadvantages under which they have laboured, and the small amount of the subject matter on which to exercise their thoughts, the mechanics have advanced. It has been principally in physics, it is true, but the same faculties which enable them to draw correct inferences in physics, will also enable them to make a corresponding progress in the moral sciences, whenever the elements shall be placed before them, and the germs are springing in all quarters. The honoured names of Ebenezer Elliot of Sheffield, and Rowland Detrosier of Manchester, and John Wade of Leeds, and Samuel Downing of London, and Francis Ross of Dublin,* are all precious to us, not simply on account of their individual worth and excellence, but also because they are men belonging to the working classes, and true samples of the sterling stuff of which those classes are composed, and are evidences that proper cultivation will bring forth thousands of such men, who at present lack language to enable them to appear that which they are. More than that, the examples of such men become a standard for others to follow. The example of good is more contagious than the example of evil; and it is not possible that their fellows, who know their history, should recede from the onward march of improvement.

It is clear, that the combinations at present taking place amongst the working men, cannot by any direct process raise the standard of wages. It is not possible to disprove the fact, that while workmen are in surplus, wages must be low, and that only by the diminution of their numbers can they permanently rise. But the agitation of the Trades' Unions will do great good, for it will cause knowledge to be spread in the process of discussion. The Times talks of putting down the complaints of the workmen by the strong hand. This may seem to some a simple process, but it will scarcely be put in practice, for this plain reason, viz. "the weavers of Lyons beat the troops of Louis Philippe ;" and the English mechanics would laugh to scorn every effort at coercion, which might fail to coerce their reason by the force of argument. They are not stocks or stones, and they bear in mind that the massacre of Manchester has yet to be accounted for. Perchance the indignant feelings of honest and well-meaning, though ignorant and injured men, may yet be urged into folly, by the absurd cruelty of wealthy superiors, still more ignorant than themselves. If so, the struggle will be sharp and short, and the enforcers of the cruelty will have little cause to congratulate themselves.

A journeyman printer in Dublin, author of a little threepenny tract of sterling matter, composed and printed from his brain, without the intervention of MS.

But we will hope that they will take counsel of fear, and suffer the instruction of the working classes to go on. Powerful the working men will be; they should therefore be so instructed as to use their power beneficially for the whole community.

"But," say the middling classes, "we are the holders of the capital,-and, therefore, we will force the workmen to our own terms, as we can live for a long time on our hoarded means." Perhaps so, but the workmen have a remedy. All capital is the result of the savings of human labour. Therefore the same process which has made what now exists can make more also. The workmen can save their earnings, and become capitalists themselves, to carry on very profitable joint-stock labours, whenever they shall see their true interests. Whenever a good system of that kind shall be digested, in which all can have confidence, workmen will be enabled to lend money to their employers, who will thus dwindle by degrees from the capacity of masters to that of foremen. I am not alluding to a mere association of surplus workmen, forcing others out of employment by superior cheapness, after the fashion of the Labour Exchanges, but to the great mass of the workmen employing their time and money for their own benefit, taking interest for their capital, and payment for their labour, producing just what may be necessary for the supply of the markets, and no more; and not wasting time, and skill, and material, in a mischievous competition to keep up a constant glut. There is no doubt that all this might be done, and a considerable portion of each day left at the disposal of the working men, for the cultivation of their own minds, and the growth of refined tastes, as well as the instruction of their families. Some of the workmen allege, that machinery will prevent them from doing all this, by depriving them of employment. But they will not deny that machinery is a good thing for those whom it enables to live without labour, or with less labour. Their straightforward course, therefore, is, to accumulate capital of their own, and be. come the proprietors of machinery, which will at length elevate them to a station in society as important as that of their present masters.

"What!" say the respectables, "are the workmen, the common workmen, to be raised to our level? The very institutions of society will be rased, if vulgarity is to rank with refinement-the working mechanic with his employer." Stop, be not too hasty. It by no means follows that the workman, when he shall be in a con

dition such as I contemplate for him, will be at all anxious for your society. His intellect is aleady considerably stronger than yours; and when education shall give him the aids of refinement to boot, he will be exceedingly apt to look down upon you as his inferior, and be as anxious to shun you as you now are to shun him. You are shallow, he will be sound. You are conventional in your tastes and habits, he will be natural and simple. You have lost your relish for what is truly high and noble, and have substituted "respectability" in the place thereof. Your eyes have lost the power of glistening at the recital of a generous deed, while his will overflow. You are palled with artificial pleasures; he has yet to open upon him the whole round of rational enjoyment. The perusal of works written by high and noble-minded philosophers will elevate his perceptions, and the intellectual delights of reformed theatres, and national galleries of art, will call forth the dormant love of beauty in every shape which nature or inventive genius can offer to his gaze. He will find that the possession of enormous individual wealth is by no means necessary to enjoyment. He will leave you to your ostentation, and smile at your folly, in foregoing the exquisite delight arising from the expansive throbs of generous

emotion.

Let not the reader deem this to be the mere dream of an enthusiast. The position is simply this. The working men of England produce annually a certain amount of wages, which are divided amongst the whole number. But only a portion of the number do the work; and consequently only that portion is necessary for the work of production. If, therefore, the surplus workmen were not produced, or were provided for by emigration, the total amount would be divided amongst a smaller number, who would thus become comparatively wealthy; and might, by saving the surplus, ultimately become capitalists, and the proprietors of machinery. A consummation most devoutly to be wished, by all those to whom the interests of humanity are dear.

I have more to say on the subject of the working classes; but shall forbear for the present. I remain,

SIR,

Very truly yours,

JUNIUS REDIVIVUS.

WHAT IS TO BE DONE WITH THE PEERS.

DURING last session of Parliament, ground was broken for the thorough discussion of this ques.. tion; and no man who sees a few yards before him can believe the ground broken will be allowed to

lie unsearched or untilled. It may, indeed, be gravely doubted whether our countrymen have enough of what they call "Metaphysics" to authorize an adventure upon so knotty a point; and,

be it readily conceded, that "the multitudes" might make little of Blackstone, and prove slow of comprehending the fine spun theories of a Russell, a Scarlett, or a De Lolme. But the consoling dispensation is, the problem is marvellously expanding, and will stretch forthwith beyond the enclosure of metaphysics; for, if a man of the present day is like a man of the olden time, we are about to be enabled to re-solve it by as beautiful an amount of experience as even the practical Mr. Baring could wish. The question will come to be answered, not after a few speculators shall have more strongly indoctrinated the public mind, but after a few additional lessons are administered by that most effective schoolmaster, the House of Lords; it will come to be practically answered, after the creation of delays and doubts without number; after public business has been stopped over and over in its course, and measures of improvement so often mutilated, or, as the word is, " modified," that the people shall know better than they yet appear to do concerning the excellence and well-working of our "matchless con stitution ;"—all which is to say, that it will soon be answered with plainness and emphasis by the patriotic Peers themselves. At the last, there will be this virtue in them: they will assist us to the right conclusion, without the embarrassment of intervening logic :-they will aid the world on to an opinion at which it appears marvellously loath, or unable to arrive;-they will establish a good lesson in their last days, by reason, we suppose, of the wisdom bestowed by providence upon men whose lamp is just expiring;-they will illustrate, for the behoof of all future time, a great abstract truth in Government, and effectually prevent coming generations from committing the follies our ancestry committed, or suffering the evils we are still doomed, for a time, to endure.

The people, if we are to believe the Whig papers, were violently bent during last session on doing two things, against each of which we beg most strenuously to protest. They desired, it is said, in the first place, to unseat my Lords, their Reverend Nobilities, the BISHOPS. Now, instead of assenting to any such plan of policy, we oppose it as against all expediency and all rule; for we maintain that there is great virtue in their continuing in the House, whether considering the matter ecclesiastically or civilly. Will any man contend, that by the mere exclusion of these Bishops from power of voting in the tapestried chamber, the connexion of Church with aristocratic power would be diminished, and the temper and character of Church improved? Would priests lead wiser lives, or doctrine be purified and humanized? But if not, why dispense with my Lords, the Bishops, who publicly teach concerning the condition of Church as to these important matters? and why, while so much is being gained by his pre. eminence, would you send my Lord Exeter to eat his John Dory in quiet? By no means, good countrymen! Right reverend fathers must remain where they are, until you, at least, know

better what sort of Christianity will ever be taught you by such a Church! But let us also rejoice in these fathers, civilly. For the purpose of exhibiting in his own mind the perfect mould and temper of an institution, give us, above all things, a clever and speculative man. Your dull practical Peers only live according to their order; and, in their case, you require to be at the trouble to draw inferences. The Bishop speaks the thing fairly out. He is a Peer in his speculative as well as in his practical nature; and there is, therefore, no disguise in him. He is the very mirror of the Peerage-the beau ideal of " the order." Would you then, good people, get quit of an instructor so very valuable, an instructor who would be quite inestimable, only that you have scant grace to profit by his lessons? Foolish scribblers make, as if they thought, a Bishop peculiarly anti-social. Never was error more unfounded; for, in the first place, he is cleverer than most other Peers; and, in regard of moral appropriate aptitude, to what charge is a Bishop obnoxious which does not tell with tenfold force against their lay Lordships? Is it that he has sinister expectations of promotion? How small and trifling is that, compared with a lay Lord's expectations, which are expansive enough to survey with a leering eye every vacancy within the wide power of Government-which can take a Bishoprick for one son, a Generalship for another, a Colonial Governorship for a third, a snug pension for Miss, and a pleasant sinecure for Master,—in short, who has a stomach for all food, and a puppet admirably fitting every size and variety of appointment. Is the Bishop arrogant? Arrogance is begotten of Privilege by Unfitness! and how can a Bishop in this respect compare with a lay Lord? In the Bishop's case, the privilege is only the creature of a few years; whereas with the lay Peers, its pride and ignorance accumulate through generations, and enter into the victim's bones! No such thing, good countrymen! let us cease this inapt babble. Take any rule of calculation or admeasurement you like, and you will find the Bishop the best possible Peer. In regard of him alone, too, have you already attained the recent great improvement of the French ;-he alone is a Peer only for life. We do not say that even in this state he does no harm; witness, for the reverse, Louis Philippe's Chamber: but we say he does less harm than if he were a lay Peer; and, therefore, we maintain your Reform proposition to be no Reform. You should attack at once the Boa Constrictor, whereas you are only fighting the wasp!

And what else, good countrymen, did the papers say you were violently bent on accomplishing? A creation of new Peers-and that a Whig creation! Verily, an odd remedy, except in one not yet possible case! That single case is, when bis gracious Majesty shall, in the expansion of his benevolence and good clemency towards his subjects, create us all Peers-including Paddy, Paddy's children, pigs and all! Then, indeed, would we be an honoured nation, and then alone

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