"The sea is Heartily wishing for employers generally a state of feeling towards their workpeople such as the above remarks indicate, the Editor would likewise direct attention to the summer excursions, which form another pleasing feature of the Belmont arrangements. The first experiment of this sort was made in June 1850, when one hundred boys went down by train to Guildford, and spent a fine day in strolling about the beautiful neighbourhood, having their meals on the grass, playing cricket, and attending church service, (for Mr. Wilson has a happy and cheerful method of bringing religion into everything). This passed off with such perfect success, that in the following summer an expedition on a grander scale was planned and carried out. On Saturday, 21st of June, 250 boys started before six in the morning by a small steamer from Vauxhall Bridge, to join a large steamer lower down the river, in which to go to Herne Bay. Not one out of ten of this number had ever seen the sea before. not so perfectly sea at Herne Bay, as the country is country at Guildford; but still it was an exceeding delight to them, and as the wind freshened a little on the way back, they (which was not quite so delightful) felt as well as saw it; and the majority showed that they did so. All the first who felt qualmish, were greeted with a general cheer to console them, but another half-hour made a sad alteration in the proportion of the cheerers to the cheered. The day was as perfect as that of the previous year, and as the water was quite smooth going down, and as the boys had so heartily enjoyed the voyage, the run on shore, and the bathe there, the half or three-quarters of an hour's sickness coming back did not much matter; but, on the contrary, would make them understand the sea all the better." This second excursion was as successful as the first, and will not easily be forgotten, were it only for the complete flaying of many of their faces by the sun. The expense of the first excursion was 287.; that of the second was 487. A third excursion promises, through the kindness of the Bishop of Winchester, to exceed the foregoing in interest, for it includes an invitation to Farnham Castle, where the old keep, the gardens, park, hop-grounds, &c., will afford abundant sources of pleasure, while the hospitality of the good Bishop, and his hoped-for presence, will constitute great attractions and subjects of long remembrance for the happy boys whose good conduct in the school shall entitle them to this privilege. To crown the whole of the admirable arrangements of this factory, the services of two clergymen are secured, one to perform the services in the chapel, the other for the religious work of the factory itself, consisting of early morning and evening prayers, teaching in the schools, and visiting of the families. Much of the above relates to the plans adopted for the benefit of the younger members of the factory; but there is also a society entirely formed by the men, and managed by themselves, for mutual improvement; "and from the character of the managers," says Mr. Wilson, “we are sure that its power will be exerted on the side of religious, as well as intellectual advancement." The particular means adopted for the intellectual, moral, and social advancement of the members of this society, are the establishment of a reading-room and library, the formation of classes for reading, writing, music, &c., and the institution of scientific and other lectures. All these efforts have been made under the sanction, and with the active co-operation of the Messrs. Wilson; while the benevolent writer of the letter referred to has likewise defrayed the whole expense of schools, salaries, buildings, excursions, &c. for three years out of his own private resources. The total expense thus incurred was 3,2897. To the honour of the Company, all these educational and other efforts have been cordially adopted as their own at a meeting of the Proprietors, held 24th March, 1852, when a sum of 1,200l. per annum was freely voted for the future carrying out of these measures. The sum spent by Mr. J. P. Wilson is also to be reimbursed; but that gentleman, with characteristic singleness of purpose, refuses to receive it into his own pocket, but devotes it as the commencement of a building fund, for rearing a chapel near the factory, with school-rooms on one side, and rooms for the Mutual Improvement Society on the other. This act of generosity is in perfect consistence with a long course of self-denying exertion, arising out of convictions which are thus forcibly put in the sequel to his letter, and which are earnestly recommended to the consideration of all individuals or companies employing numerous hands. "What are the duties of the Directors of a Trading Company, and indeed the duties of the Company itself? Is such a Company only bound to give an honest living to the young people who work for it, leaving all other care of them to the general institutions of the country, and to parental or other individual exertion? Or is it bound to take also a moral charge over them, and to provide in the factory system itself counteracting influences to those evil ones which are sure to spring up and spread rapidly in any collection (and by the mere fact of its being a collection) of young people of this class if left to take care of themselves? For my own part, I should view an affirmative answer by our Proprietary to the latter of these questions as a matter of national importance. That which is looked upon as forming the chief danger of England at this moment,—the separation of the owners of capital from those by whose labour it fructifies,—can nowhere exist more strongly than in a Joint-stock manufacturing Company,— one such as ours, with its three or four hundred capitalists, and more than twice that number of workers; the capitalists and the workers as completely separated from each other as if they belonged to different nations. Now, if into the very business system of such a Company arrangements can be introduced which shall completely counteract this danger, by forming the working part of an association to such a character as will keep them in full sympathy with the class of their employers, by their possession of the same ideas and feelings, and to some tolerable extent the same intellectual education, and if these arrangements shall be declared by a deliberate vote of the Proprietors to be an essential part of their system of business, and as such to be attended to by the Directors, to whom they entrust that business as carefully as anything else in it, am I not right in saying that the recognition of such a principle by one powerful Company, will be a matter of national importance?" Every reflecting person must answer in the affirmative, and rejoice that the vote alluded to was passed, and that the rights of the working-classes to that general consideration on the part of their employers, which includes their moral and spiritual instruction, should thus be publicly recognised by one of the most influential Trading Companies of the kingdom. DIRECTIONS TO THE BINDER. THE INTRODUCTORY ESSAY, pages i. to clx., to come immediately after the Title-page and Preface. THE BRITANNIA TUBULAR BRIDGE to form the Frontispiece to Vol. I. THE GREAT BRITAIN LEAVING LIVERPOOL, 1853, Engraved Title to Vol. II. WORKING PARTS OF THE ROYAL EXCHANGE CLOCK. LIGHTHOUSE. REVOLVING DIOPTRIC APPARATUS 40 54 184 185 |