CHRISTMAS WEEK IN LANCASHIRE.

Southland Times, Volume 2, Issue 67, 26 June 1863, Page 5 (Supplement)

CHRISTMAS WEEK IN LANCASHIRE.

l! ( Translated Jo* the Sydney Morningm " '~ Herald.) ' ' '" t §»Wo extract the flowing frorn> s ■ifcper fey ftfciTorcade, in the Jievue .dcs Wueux Monde3, attributed to the Count j «e ! P*n*V.- : ? : "' ; "' ri ''' li '"'.'\ '.■.''■.■■ " ; '" . £ U has heard of the meet- \ Wig'-rald ifi- Lancashire to answer the j of indifference brbught by f ijihe English^ press "against tlie principal proprietor 'of the cotton districts, and ! j thej^sum of £50,000 was sub- f during the sitting. The res- 1 Ijjonse was sufficient. Lord Derby, ( r|Srho joined actions to words, and in a T IpscouTsel which I have already cited t l^stiae^lthe proprietors, and in parti- t (■afor-' tbf cotton weavers, by giving a , Mketch •fall that had been done for the , •^.workmen previous to the subscription. j Wm It is impossible to estimate in figures g fftiat which individual charity accom- | fyfoisbed in this critis, but it has played j ML role too important to be neglected. Some examples will give an idea of the ( |Mituation of the cotton manufacturers Mn whom had naturally fallen all the , Emrst burden of the workmen. While t ffthey have been obliged to close their ' jSnills. the crisis has increased instead of j diminished the charges with which their ( properties were already ■^burdeied. The poor-rate is imposed } >^jupon the manufacturers whether they , n Tffork or not so long as their machines ( ! %re there. To remove the machines j iw would be an expensive operation, and < ■for the credit of the establishment , IJnearly equivalent to a failure. They £ rilwere not able in the state of the market , Jtogive help to their workmen by con- < iminuicg to work at a loss. The quan- , mtity of. cotton necessary to feed the . Jwnachines and simply put them in move- , ilment represented in some of the facto- ( ?lries, a value of from £7000 to £8000 ; , land at the present time the least flue- , Ituation in the price of this merchandise , -■suffices to make the manufacturers lose j ?l6ums capable of sustaining all their , during many weeks. They , >lhave reason^ then, to prefer to employ (1 their resources in this manner than to risk them by resuming their work. Nevertheless, in tlvs point of view their ( situation is not always the same. In Lancashire there are spun various kinds , of cotton. The town of Stockport, for . example, employs much Indian and , ! Egyptian cotton, and the machines , were constructed for this special task. , Some of the factories of Stockport have , been able, therefore, to. resume their , work. The most considerable employs ( 1200 workmen, and has been for the . last fifteen days in full activity; but . *biß employment is very precarious. . The manufacturers cannot think at pre- j sent of going beyond the demand. At , Blackburn, on the contrary, they spin , American cotton, and all the labor has , ceased for more than a year, so that , this town is regarded as the point most , cruelly struck of the whole district. ; Jpie' spinners of Blackburn, therefore, | have suffered more than those of the ( other districts. They have been ( obliged, during many months, to sus- . tain by their own resources all the j working population they formerly em- , ployed. Among many others may be j cited the example of Messrs. 8., whose , works are suspended. Nothing can be , more sad than the aspect of these de- { serted buildings, of which the silence | is not interrupted save at rare intervals j when it is necessary to move the j machinery to preserve it from rust. . The fires have not be lighted for a long j time. The only place not absolutely < deserted in this vast solitude, is the ( office, where you see gliding timidly ] one by one, the workmen who before ( eat noisily in the morning at the gate , of the manufactory. Whilst Messrs. , B. employ not more than a dozen out ( of a thousand to maintain the neatness ( of the establishment, they pay all at , the rate of two and a-haif days per ] week, either in money or in food, at y their own warehouse, where they have j established a kitchen and a depot of t provisions analogous to those of the £ committees. 150 fires are maintained f f \ at the houses of the poorest by the ] if charity of other workmen, who find still c ' ihe means of saving from their reduced s salaries some pence to furnish the g necessary coal. The amount imposed r upon the Messrs. B. may be estimated t at £110 to £120 per week for the as- f sistance of their workmen. It is pro- r per to add the rates they pay for their j, " factory — particularly the poor-rate, and r the interest on capital at present unpro- t ductive and lodged in these immense r establishments, in order to give an idea <j of what the cotton crisis costs daily to the great spinners of Lancashire. ] As I have said before, the sufferings v .of Lancashire do not strike the eyes of v the passers-by. Misery is not obtruded ; t and to be persuaded that these suffer- t ings exist, it is necessary to seek them T out. Thus, after having visited the 0 establishments of charity, where the i poor are, so to say, in public, I pro- j with the secretary of the com- i Ifoittee to visit a certain number of fami- v [lies who had addressed themselves the t evening before to this committee* I c returned from this visit powerfully c I affected by the spectacle of ruin to so 8 many honest people formerly happy c and in easy circumstances, but who T now, attacked day by day by a slow T ir} pitiless law, have descended gra- v dually in all the steps of wretchedness, j I returiied, above all, penetrated with ] respect- for-the- courage with which the workmen had, combated in a struggle without issue-— supporting their suffer-. ingslwith independence, but neyerthe■lw Without hatred- or envy against the t ; sjtuatejd, .and .. receiving 1 ( BMkMuatkude as aid that which they c merited

!We visited .tli,e, locality Avhere the sottages of tbe'twpi-limen are., erected. D*ne individual has often constructed »v entire row, but in these latter times Many, Mrorkmen ,h.ave v invested . their savings in. building for themselves, or purchasing such cottages by their own individual exertions, or by means of issociations for ithat purpose; a These louses are let at from L 6 to LI 2 stering, and portions are sublet by the irst. lodger, who pays , weekly to the proprietor. It may be seen how ruin b as spread, from neighbor to . neighbor imong these persons* so dependent one upon another, so soon as the salary of the workman failed. The misfortune is not equally great in all cases. When the proprietor is a rich man, and, above all, when he is a spinner, he does not require any rem. '''his is his first method of succoring his ; men. Charity, however, is now organised on a vast scale, and the workmen employ the little they are able to obtain in money to pay their rent. It is for the most part a point of honor with them to keep 3n a level with it, but God knows at what price they do so. Many are not ibie to pay the debts they contracted, to whomsoever they might be owing. Fo comprehend how rude has been the blow to the population by the closing af the factories, we must recollect that the men, women, and children all worked at the same manufactorj'. This work was the onl)' source of subsistence [>f the family where they knew no other trade. The men gained from 15s. to 2l)s, per week, and the children above twelve years of age, about 10s. With 3uch wages, they lived in certain ease, and were well fed and well clothed. The simple workman made but little savings, but employed his wages to live as well as he could. Now, however, we see a numerous family, without occupation, shut up in a smalJ lodging, their furniture, bedding, and habiliments, carried successively to the pawnshop. Their nourishment is bad and insufficient. Such is the situation in which months of idleness have reduced two-thirds of this population. My course in Lansashire finished at Blackburn on the evening of New Year's Day, and I had an opportunity of witnessing the Christmas festivities. According to the English idea, it is necessary that at this time all the world should be content, and above all that it should have its stomach well filled. At Blackburn, a public subscription was made. The object was to give a dinner to the value of one shilling per head to all who were receiving support from the schools. Each priest or minister brought his school, and the gieat Town Hall received this population on different days, the spece being insufficient to accommodate more than a thousand at a time. Separate days had been fixed for the men, women, and children. Half-an-bour after noon the town, which just before was so gloomy, took the air of an unusual fete* The schools came out, preceded by their ministers, and accompanied by drums and banners. Twenty years ago such demonstrations in a crisis like the present would have brought trouble, but since that time intelligence lias made much progress. These banners bore no other inscriptions than " God save the Queen," and the sole object seemed to be to forget for the moment sufferings for which no one was culpable. I entered the hall, which rapidly filled. Ihe workmen took their places ia ranks before long tables pressed one against another. A platform was raised for the visitors, but the ministers had their table prepared in the midst of those of the workmen, with whom they partook their dinner. After a species af hymn chaunted by the workmen, dinner v. as commenced and continued merrily, and having myself tasted, lean certify that it was very good. When I quitted the hall to hasten to the railway station I encountered still a long line of " roast beefs'' smoking. There was no need to wish a good appetite to these people, who tern mated with joy a year so fertile of suffering. The satisfaction painted on these honest Paces gave me good hope for the future. [ there saw only the sign of a great ;risis victoriously passed, thanks to the spontaneous charity ot all ranks of society, and also to the more intimate sledge of union between the proprie;ors and the working classes — a union ounded on mutual confidence and •eeiprocal esteem, and on the healthy cnowledge of common interest which ■ender them One — the most sure guarantee of order amontr free people, and the leeessary basis of all liberty in our molern society. In this picture of the misery of the English workman all the world will feel vith us a reflection of the misfortunes vhich our own. workmen suffer. In he exposition of the ingenious precauions taken by our neighbors, all the vorld will have seen examples worthy >f imitation. And how shall we fail to >c struck, above all, with the combinaions, as efficacious as delicate, realised >y the Hulme Institute, where the vorkmen succoured have charged bemselves with this benevolence — a :ombination which we should be able so ;asily to appropriate in present circumitances with the mechanism of our so :ieties for mutual succour, all the world ivill comprehend the conclusion at ivbich we arrived, from that which has preceded it, that it is necessary social raternity should fulfil its work in France with not less grandeur and virtue than in England.