ICE Trauiurm

Lord Palmerston, through Mr. Waddington, has sent the following reply to the memorial forwarded to him some weeks ago by the " locked- out" hands at Preston. The letter is addressed to the President of the Operatives' Executive Council.

"'Whitehall, Dee. 24, 1853. "Sir—I am directed by Viscount Palmerston to acknowledge the receipt of the memorial, dated the 15th ultimo, signed by you on behalf of the power- loom weavers of Preston and its neighbourhood.

"Lord Palmerston has delayed till now answering this memorial, in the daily hope that he might hear that an amicable arrangement of differences had been come to between the work people and their employers. I am, however, to assure you that his Lordship read the memorial with much sympathy and with deep regret.

" It was impossible that he should not sympathize with the feelings of a large number of a most deserving class of the community, who have been led to think that they are suffering under acts of injustice, and it could not but excite his deep regret to reflect upon the severe privations which the state of things to which the memorial refers must have inflicted upon those on whom it so hardly bean.

"Lord Palmerston desires me to state, that he feels bound, moreover, to

do justice to the temper and moderation with which the memorial has been drawn up. His Lordship is sorry, however, to say that he has no means of interposing to apply a remedy for the evils referred to. It would be impos- sible for him, without much more detailed information than he possesses, to form a just opinion as to the merits of the points in dispute between the working men and their employers; and he could not, as a member of the Government, possess any right or power to interfere in the matter. "Under thee circumstances, his Lordship would only venture to suggest, in the most friendly spirit, some topics for the consideration of the memorial- ists. They must be well aware that labour, being a commodity like any other, its money value in the market must be regulated by the same general principles which govern the price of other commodities, and that, among these governing principles, the most influential are the cost of production and the relative proportion of demand and supply. The cost of production, in regard to labour, means the price of the necessaries of life ; and the propor- tion of demand and supply must depend very much upon the periodical fluc- tuations of trade. It is greatly to be wished that both the working men and their employers would allow these general causes to act silently and gradu- ally in equitably adjusting, from time to time, the proper rates of the money reward for labour ; and it is scarcely to be doubted that, by forbearance on both sides, and by mutual and reciprocal good feeling, these arrangements might generally be effected without a recourse to such injurious methods as strikes and lock-outs. It may be said, that in times when, according to the general principles above adverted to, an increase in the rate of wages would be just, that increase might be too long delayed, and the working men be thus sub- jected to undue privations, if the adjustment was left to the gradual opera- tion of forbearance and good-will. But may not an appeal be made to the result of recent events, to show that even such inconvenience would be less than the evils arising from extensive and general strikes ? These evils are many and great. The strike of the workmen deprives the strikers of their wages, and, so far as wages are concerned, it deprives them of the means of subsistence. On the other hand, the strikes of course stop production ; and unless markets happen at the moment to be much overstocked, strikes give to the foreign producer a position of advantage from which he may not after- wards be so easily dislodged. And if strikes were to become too frequent, or of too long duration, a part of that capital which is now applied in giving employ- ment to labour at home, might possibly be transferred to other countries, to the disadvantage of British industry ; and that this is not a groundless sup- position, is proved by the fact that British manufacturing establishments have been formed in Belgium, in France, and in Mexico. This, too, leads to a reflection upon the opinion which seenis to have actuated the strikers, that the general-prosperity of our export trade was in itself a proof that the rates of wages ought to be increased. Lord Palmerston does not pretend to form any judgment as to whether that opinion was well or ill founded in the particular instance to which it referred ; but his Lordship has desired use to remark, that our power to supply foreign markets with manufactures de ponds upon the cheapness at which those manufactures can be sold, that their price must depend mainly on the cost of production, and that the wages of labour form a material part of that cost.

" Therefore, as our exported manufactures must always be running a hard race with the similar manufactures of other countries, an apparently flourishingtrade may possibly be checked by an increase of wages, which would add to the cost of production; and the gains made by the manufac- turers may often consist of a very small profit upon each separate article, the aggregate amount of gain depending on the quantity exported, and that quantity, depending on the cheapness again, is governed by the cost of pro- duction.

" In directing me to submit these general reflections to the consideration of the memorialists, Lord Palmerston does not mean to give any opinion on the immediate subject of dispute; but his Lordship would earnestly entreat the working men to lay aside those feelings which are too apt to be engen- dered by a struggle, and to endeavour, if possible, to come to some arrange- ment with their employers. " I am, Sir, your obedient servant, H. WADDINGTON." " Mr. Kinder Smith, Preston."

The manufacturers of Lancashire met at Manchester on Tuesday, and passed a resolution pledging themselves to support the Preston masters in their struggle with their workmen.

The Preston employers have published an address to rebut the asser- tions made by the delegates of the turn-outs. This is the most important passage- " Being anxious to ascertain the difference (if any) between the earnings of the various classes of operatives in 1847, before the above-mentioned re- duction took place, and those in the summer of 1853, before the 10 per cent was demanded, we find, from the returns furnished us from the wages-books of several large and influential firma, that instead of any decrease there has been an actual increase, varying from 5 to 30 per cent, after making due al- lowance for the difference in the hours of labour from sixty-nine to sixty hours per week. We have not thought it necessary to extend these inquiries, not having the slightest doubt that if the average of all the mills now closed had been taken the result would have been the same. We take this oppor- tunity of stating, for the information of those persons whose aid and contri- butions are solicited for the hands, that in a well-regulated spinning and weaving establishment the weekly earnings of men employed therein vary from 128. to 358., women and young persons from 7s. 6d. to 15s. and children from 4s. to 68., according to the nature of the employment and the diligence and ability of the worker; and that the average of all classes of bands in such an establishment is about 10s. each."

They consider that the statement that wages at Preston have been lower than elsewhere is refuted by the fact that hitherto the town has been well supplied with good hands.

,.."" The associated manufacturers of Bury have notified that members of their body are at liberty to give employment for four days a week until the 1st of February to those willing to work, on the understanding that the operatives should not subscribe for the support of turn-outs. The factory-hands have met in thousands, and passed a resolution rejecting employment on such terms.

Messrs. Stubs, file-workers at Warrington, have, without any solicita- tion, advanced the wages of their work-people 10 per cent. The men held a meeting, passed a vote of thanks to their masters, and invited them to a dinner. The firm declined the dinner, as they had merely done an act of justice.

The petition against the sitting Members for Liverpool has, it appears, been withdrawn ; but a local journal asserts that an amended petition may be substituted, praying not only for the unseating of Mr. Liddell and Mr. Horsfall, but for an inquiry generally into the practices usual at elections for the borough.

At a meeting convened by Mr. J. B. Lloyd, Mayor of Liverpool, and held in the Sessions-house of that town on Wednesday, resolutions were unanimously passed approving of a decimal coinage upon the plan recom- mended by the House of Commons Committee in their report. Speeches were made by Mr. William Brown, Mr. Thornely, and Mr. Horsfall, Members of Parliament; and copies of the resolutions were ordered to be forwarded to Mr. Gladstone, Lord John Russell, and Mr. Cardwell.

[The plan proposed by the report, it will be recollected, was to take the sovereign as a unit and divide it into 1000 mils ; the half-sovereign would then represent 600 mils, the crown 250 mils, the half-crown 125 mils, the florin 100 mils, the shilling 50 mils, and the sixpence 25 mils. Our copper coinage would therefore require to be altered, and perhaps the half-crown, and pieces of 10 and 20 mils struck instead.] For the past eighteen months there has been a reformatory school in existence on the estate of Mr. T. B. H. Baker, one of the Magistrates of Gloucestershire, at Hardwicke. The first occupants of the school were three weakly boys ; its holding was one acre of land. Last winter, they took six acres ; now they have ten. The first annual report, made on St. Thomas's Day, shows that twenty-three boys have been received ; that the cost for the establishment has been 4001., including 2501. for

building; the value of the stock, 1711., reduces the whole cost to 2301., or 1/. per head for eighteen months. Of the twenty-three boys received, four are failures, three have been provided for, and the remain- der are undergoing the reformatory process.

The Birmingham people, disappointed of their "crystal palace" at Sutton, are promised three small "parks" nearer the town. Lord Cal- thorpe, Mr. Adderley, and Mr. Joseph Sturge, have offered three plots of land ; the ratepayers have sanctioned an application to Parliament for powers to levy a rate; and the Town-Clerk has been instructed to see to the passage of the necessary bill through Parliament.

The Delegates of the Oxford University Press have this week given an entertainment to their workmen and boys, and to the wives and children. Afterwards the workpeople gave a concert, at which the Mayor and many ladies and gentlemen were present. The University Press establishment "educates 150 boys who are employed on it, and they meat every evening for an hour or two for instruction. In addition to this, they have formed a brass band among the workmen, and supplied them with musical instru- ments, and the performers have in a short time attained great proficiency."

A church-rate for the repair of Malvern Abbey church-tower has been carried, on a poll, by a large majority : the minority voted for a year's delay.

Mr. Bankes, the Member for Dorset, is about to be presented with a testimonial, for his exertions as Chairman of Quarter-Sessions in that county.

The military lines to the North and East of Devonport, long left un- finished, are now under the hands of engineers. It would seem to be the intention of the authorities to complete them.

At the funeral of the Reverend John Hawtrey, late Vicar of Kingston Seymour, twenty-six non-commissioned officers and privates of the First

and Second Life Guards attended, as a mark of their respect and esteem for the deceased. Mr. Hawtrey was once in the Dragoon Guards, and had recently preached in the military church at Windsor, while staying with his son, the Reverend Stephen Hawtrey, one of the Masters of Eton: SchooL A tablet is to be erected to his memory by voluntary subserip. dons of the soldiers of the Household Brigade.

The extension of the South Wales Railway from Carmarthen to Raver- fordwest was " inaugurated " on Wednesday, at a public breakfast, given by Mr. Waters, the Mayor of Haverfordwest. There was a solemn civic procession to the Shire-hall, which was decked out with evergreens and banners bearing such mottoes as " South Wales—the Highway of Na- tions," "Milford Haven, Panama, and Australia," "Milford Haven' and America," "Milford Haven, East Indies, and China," and quotations from Shakspere's Cymbeline. Lord Evelyn, Mr. Isaac Butt, Mr. Phillips, and Mr. Talbot, Members of Parliament, made speeches; and the "greatest enthusiasm" usual on such occasions prevailed.

A new theatre is about to be erected in Leeds ; and a large portian of the capital, which it is proposed to raise by shares, has been already sub. scribed.

The deposits in the Lewes Savings-bank have increased during the past year to the amount of 28641. 7s.

The wires of the electric telegraph have been brought into the centre of Cambridge and Yarmouth.

The Committee of Visitors of the Hanwell Lunatic Asylum has passed a resolution declaring that from the 1st of January 1854 the weekly sum to be paid for each person confined in the asylum chargeable to the county, or to any parish therein, for the purpose of defraying the whole expense of the lodging, maintenance and care, medicine and clothing, and ether expenses requisite for each person, and to pay the salaries of the officers and attendants, shall be fixed at the sum of 10s- 6d., instead of Ss. 9d., as at present ; being an increase of ls. 9d. per week.

The skeletons of no fewer than five infanta have been discovered at a cot- tage in Ditchling, Sussex, while workmen were pulling down a fireplace. The children had been concealed behind the brick-work in which the grate was set ; an oldfashioned chimney-corner having been altered and modern- ized some years ago, so as to leave large cavities. The cottage was formerly occupied by Gatland, an old labourer, his daughter, and a young woman mei a youth. 7fhe daughter had two acknowledged illegitimate children. The suspicion has arisen that the infants were the progeny of this woman, se. cretly born and disposed of. She was arrested, but no evidence was adduced at the inquest to warrant her detention for murder. She was subsequently again arrested for concealment of the births.

One Evans, of Caerleon, ill-used a woman named Wilford, with whom he lived ; the Police interfered, and Evans was summoned before the Magis- trates. Wilford did not appear against her paramour; but the Magistrates ordered search to be made for her to compel her to come forward. Evans went to a house where she was stopping, and asked her if she meant to ap- pear? she replied that she was " afraid" the authorities would make her; whereupon the ruffian seized hold of her, and with a razor gashed her throat : her state is hopeless. The assassin is in custody.

The Coroner's Jury which sat at York on the body of Mr. Hall, drowned in the Ouse, have pronounced a verdict of "Wilful murder" against Camp- bell and Nicholson, the girls who pushed him into the water.

Thomas Husband, a collier of Barnsley, has been-robbed and murdered. His body was found by the road-side, with the neck dislocated ; his pockets had been turned inside out. Husband was a boasting man, often talking of

his money ; he spent freely at public-houses; on the night his corpse was found he had been drinking in Barnsley, and left a tavern with a num- ber of pot-companions.

Manning, a keeper in the service of Mr. Berners, at Holbrook in Suffolk, has been badly wounded at night by a poacher. He and others were pur- suing the depredators, but had not come into collision with them, when a poacher hidden in the rear fired at Manning, and no fewer than 160 shots entered his body. The poacher has escaped detection for the present.

Two farmers, named Withers, father and son, while returning home in a gig from Bristol towards the Mendip Hills, were set upon by five men, and robbed of 1001. Samuel Skeates, a noted bad character, has since been ar- rested, and the farmers identify him as the leader of the highwaymen. Two others are also in custody on suspicion.

The four prisoners accused of complicity in the Leighton Buzzard bur- glary—Marshall, Sanders, and Parker of the robbery, and Myers of receiv- ing the property—were taken from London to that town ; and after two ex- aminations there all have been committed. Bail was refused for any.

Three burglars entered in the evening the house of Mr. Thomas, a butcher of Pencoose, near Penryn ; maltreated Mrs. Thomas and her daughter, who were alone in the place; and carried off upwards of 5001. in money. They were all disguised.

Mrs. Webb and her sister, the Colchester shoplifters, have been sentenced to four months' hard labour in Springfield Gaol.

A large number of manufacturers in Leeds have been fined for neglecting to provide apparatus for consuming the smoke arising from their furnaces.

A frightful disaster—not an accident—has occurred on the Taff Vale Rail- way. The branch from Merthyr to Dowlais has an incline of 400 feet in one mile, which is worked by a stationary engine. On Wednesday, "the officials neglected to attach the rope to the mid-day passenger-train before starting it. It consequently dashed down the incline with prodigiously increasing velocity as it neared the bottom. The guard leaped off the break soon after the carriages commenced their descent, and was unhurt. None of the passengers were, however, enabled thus to escape, as they were all locked in the compartments ' • and their shrieks while passing along the bridges over the roads near the town were most appalling. The branch joins on to the main line at the bottom of the incline by a sharp curve. The train abandoned the rails at this spot, leaped clear up into the air a great height ; the carriages separating into shreds, the passengers thrown out, and, with the debris of the train, falling like a shower into the Taff river and on the adjoining cinder-tips. Notwithstanding this extraordinary vio- lence, some of the passengers were enabled to walk away comparatively unhurt ; others are much hurt, and two women are dying, one having her back broken, and the other a fracture of the skull, besides which they are frightfully lacerated and torn almost to pieces."

There was a fatal collision on the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway on Thursday morning, at Newton Heath, near Manchester. A train leaves Manchester for Rochdale at 9.40, rand stops at Miles Platting and Newton Heath stations—the latter four miles from the city. Five minutes later, an express-train leaves Manchester for Oldham, stopping at neither station. Thursday morning was frosty, the ground covered with snow, and a heavy fog in the atmosphere. The first train was just about to move from New- ton Heath station, when the express dashed into it, crushing the last car- riage to pieces and damaging the one in advance of it. Miss Jane Sykes, a con lady of Lindley, near Huddersfield, died a few moments after she was ,,',csed up; her grandmother, Mrs. Lord, lies in a very dangerous state; jaws, Tidy, a guard, is iu peril from a concussion of the brain ; and a dozen other persons were hurt, some seriously. The precise cause of the "acci- dent" is not yet clear—unless the system of starting the trains is a sufficient explanation. The greater portion of the Royal Paper Mills, situated on the Mole near Esher, was destroyed by fire on Friday last week. The fire broke out about see o'clock, apparently among some rags, and perhaps from their spontaneous combustion ; but the cause is not known with certainty. The flames tra- velled rapidly, from floor to floor and from building to building. A small portion of paper was saved from some of the burning buildings. The loss is estimated as high as 100,000/.—there was a great quantity of costly machinery' in the mills : both buildings and contents were insured, but not to the ex- tent of their value. No fewer than 250 persons will be thrown out of em- ployment by the calamity.

Two men have been burnt to death in a barge on the Kennett and Avon Canal, at Pewsey : they entered their cabin drunk ; there was a stove in it, and probably this got overheated ; early in the morning the barge was dis- covered in flames.

Three men—a father and two of his sons—have been killed at Porkellis United Mines, in Wcndron, by the fall of part of the roof.

A brewer of Selby has been found drowned in a vat of ale, into which he bad fallen when alone in the brewhouse.

There was an immense accumulation of colliers last week in the North- eastern ports, detained by the continued Easterly gales. It was reckoned on Saturday that there were a thousand sail thus hindered from departing. On Monday the wind changed, and the shipping crowded out of the rivers and harbours.