the lot of the honest Dissenter who objects to an
establish- frightful responsibility to delay passing it, when the delay may ment and the honest Churchman who desires it. The National be the cause of an agonising death to hundreds of gallant Church cannot indeed absolutely remove this inequality. The fellows, each one of whom perhaps is the chief support provisions it makes for the poorest districts and poorest classes of an aged mother, or a young wife, or of helpless child- in the kingdom is of course an inefficient provision ; but it at ren. But not the less is it clear that, supposing the Bill to be least diminishes the inequality ; it gives religious instruction bad, it is the duty of the House and the Government to con- where none could otherwise be given ; it even renders vince the country of the fact, and to show unmistakably that Dissent itself possible where the very meaning of Dis- their hesitation to grapple with an admitted evil is due, not to sent would otherwise be an enigma ; it lays the basis on indifference, but to want of light.
which Nonconformists no less than Churchmen, the heterodox Of course Mr. Plimsoll has of late been doing all sorts of no less than the orthodox, build ; it tends to rectify the most indiscreet things. He has made cautious, unenthusiastic miserable of all inequalities, the inequality between those who persons doubt his judgment, though not his truthfulness. And have a capacity, however uncultivated, for forming religious he has rendered it difficult even for the most sympathetic to go opinions, and those who have none. We do not hesitate to say along with him the whole way, so strongly do they feel the that the Dissenters themselves would not have near the power need every now and then of entering a protest against they really possess, if they had not had the religious teaching, some act or assertion of his. All this is greatly to be good or bad, of the Established Church on which to base their regretted, and it would even be provoking, if being provoked own different teaching. The Disestablishers measure their would do any good. But after all, is it not irrational to strength against the Church on the unjust assumption that the allow our ardour in a cause to grow cool because we don't question is one between convinced Churchmen and convinced wholly approve the course adopted by its leading advocate ? The Dissenters. On the contrary, it is properly one between those who point for us to consider is the need of protection for the Sea- have no power to judge at all as to the character of the religious man. If we are satisfied on that, we may safely leave Mr. teaching they desire, and the State, which is trustee for their Plimsoll to settle with those whom he has offended whether interests, and has no right to disregard their interests on the his charges are well founded or his assertions exaggerated.
mere ground that by the very conditions of the case they At the same time, however, we must not be unjust to Mr. themselves cannot plead for their own interests. Religious Plimsoll. As we have allowed ourselves to speak of him with scruples of conscience are entitled to every respect, but not to so much freedom, it is only right that we should not deny to so much respect as are the uneducated consciences which have him the merits which are fairly his. It must never be not yet grown to the level at which religious scruples are forgotten that the criminal practices which he has so possible. The inequality between those and these is to our dauntlessly dragged to light have long been notorious. apprehension far greater, and far more worthy of such redress Not only have they been for years matters of common converse- as is possible, than the inequality between the owners of tion in the seaport towns, they have been well known to officials different kinds of religious scruples. in high places, as well as to Members of Parliament of standing We think it a good sign that Mr. Miall has not only and influence. It is to the honour of Mr. Plimsoll that been defeated, but has been defeated by a majority of he risked comfort, peace of mind, and perhaps fortune, by doing nearly two to one of the Liberal party taken alone ; that this, in the effort to protect a class of men from whom he Scotland has defeated him by three to one, and England could expect in return nothing more substantial than gratitude.
by six to one. And when Mr. Gladstone said very justly And from the very nature of the case, it is manifestly unreason- port is to doom hundreds of men to death ; but that, as he does not pretend to be able to point out the absolutely best way of Board of Trade, it is painfully evident, from the return of cases in which ships have been surveyed on the requisition of seamen recently laid before Parliament, that the protection afforded by the Act of 1871 is totally insufficient. For in- stance, the Elizabeth Knowles put into Milford in July last in a leaky condition. Four of the crew there refused to proceed farther. They were brought in consequence before the magis- trates, and were sent to jail for six weeks. A new crew was shipped, but the vessel had to put back again. The impri- soned crew thereupon applied to the Board of Trade, an inquiry was ordered, and the surveyor found "one part [of keel] quite rotten, and iron bolt fastenings eaten through by corrosion."
Furthermore, he reports I had several bolts driven out of her side, and two out of three were defective, some originally seven-eighths reduced in centre to three-quarters and one-half by corrosion. Many bolts I had tried could not be got out, on account, I suppose, of their being so thin ; they would not drive." The imprisoned crew, after spending a month in jail, were then set free, but without a penny compensation for the false imprisonment. And will it be believed that the vessel put to sea with a third crew, and again had to put back ? Three months later, that is in September, the Petrel, bound for Singapore, put into Poole harbour in such a condition that the Collector of Customs writes to the Board of Trade, "She was much too deep even for a coaster ; besides which, the house on deck, for such a vessel, is of an unusual size, and if bad weather was encountered and a heavy sea struck the vessel, most likely the house would be carried away, or the vessel would be lost." At the inquiry which followed, the Captain further admitted that at sea "the water went down into the forecastle so bad that the bedding of the crew got so wet, that they were obliged to put their bedding round the casing of the funnel to dry ; and they slept there." But, perhaps the case which shows most clearly the unsatisfactory state of the law at present is that of the Orontes. This vessel having put into Holyhead in January last, the crew refused to proceed, and were brought before the magistrates. The following extract tells the rest :—" The Court is of opinion the fore- castle, where the sailors forming that portion of the crew were put to live, was leaking and quite unfit for its duties when the ship left Liverpool. On the passage the clothing and bedding of the men became wet, and their life rendered miserable. In consequence, a Board of Trade surveyor has been called in from Liverpool to examine the ship throughout. The Court is of opinion that great carelessness has been shown in the entry of the crew, some having come on board as the ship was undocking, without even a shift of clothing. These men were found to be incompetent for their duties. The remedy taken to make them competent was quite an unjustifiable one, which was harsh treatment, beating and knocking down, added to abusive language." Such being the finding of the Court, the reader will naturally suppose that the charge against the sailors was at once dismissed. Nothing of the kind. "Such a course," the report proceeds, that is to say, beating, knocking down, and making the life of the sailors miserable, "is to be deprecated !" and "the Court, taking all these circumstances into consideration, sentence each prisoner to one day's imprisonment." So that it appears sailors may be put to sleep where the water pours over them, may be beaten and knocked down and their lives may be rendered miserable, and if they refuse to submit, a bench of magistrates will send them to jail!
It is quite true that Mr. Plimsoll's Bill does not attempt to deal completely with such a case as the latter, nor with many other like evils. But the evils with which it does grapple are admittedly those which are most productive of shipwreck, and most loudly, therefore, call for a remedy. And in devising the remedy, Mr. Plimsoll has given evidence of a desire to meet the wishes of respectable shipowners, as well as to consult the convenience of trade. He has offered to adopt, instead of the rules proposed by himself, any others that in the judgment of Lloyd's and the Board of Trade will be equally efficacious. He has offered not to require any vessel to be surveyed which is under five years old, and is presumably, therefore, sound. And lastly, he is willing that the Act should not come into force till the beginning of November, lest owing to the great number of vessels to be surveyed, if sufficient time were not given for preparation, there should be caused an injurious delay in the sailing of ships. These various concessions having been made, there seems to us no reasonable ground of objection remaining to Mr. Plimsoll's Bill. Underwriters always have insisted upon rules for preventing overloading and deck-loading, and it is only common-sense to assume that the rules to which they attach so much importance, they find tolerably effectual in practice. And surely what underwriters can enforce ought not to be im- possible to the British Government. At any rate, it is clearly the duty of Parliament to make the trial ; especially is it the duty of the Liberal party. We Liberals profess to be, in a peculiar sense, the representatives of the people and the champions of their rights. We are therefore under a stronger obligation than others to watch over the safety of the poor, and to see that in earning their livelihood they have all the protection which the law can give them. If we fail to do this, we are giving the lie to our own professions, and earning contempt instead of confidence. But we do not fear that Liberals will fail. It would indeed be a lamentable thing if there were justification for Mr. Plimsoll's statement that Conservatives are more alive than Liberals to the interests of the working classes. We do not for a moment doubt that the Conservatives are sharp enough to perceive the party capital which may be made out of this agitation. They see the profound impression which Mr. Plimsoll's book has made on the mind and conscience of the people, they recognise the deep hold which the cause of the seamen has on the popular imagination, and they are eager to put themselves forward as the poor man's friends. Liberals, more confident of popular support, are less solicitous about appearances. We would remind, however, those who are in need of so ignoble a reminder in relation to such a subject as this, that it may be dangerous to disregard even appearances on the eve of a general election. Anyone capable of understanding public opinion must see that this question of protection to seamen is one which the people are resolved to carry through,—the extraordinary popularity so suddenly won by Mr. Plimsoll is sufficient proof of that,---and it will not do, therefore, even for the most selfish and cynical, to appear indifferent to it. The majority of the Liberal party, we sincerely believe, do not re- quire to be reminded of such purely self-interested considera- tions as these in order to support the cause of justice and humanity.
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