heir industry to rise from their
present position--to exercise self-help, to acquire property, and
possibly to become coal masters themselves."

It had been said in a newspaper, that a miner was earning wages equal to
that of a Captain, and that a mining boy was earning wages equal to that
of a Lieutenant in Her Majesty's service. "I only know," said Lord
Elcho, "that I have a boy who, when he first joined Her Majesty's
service, was an Ensign, and that his wage--to earn which, remember, he
had, under the purchase system, to pay five hundred pounds,--was not the
wage you are now receiving, but the wage which you were receiving in bad
times,--and that was only five shillings a day." It might be said that
the collier risks his life in earning his wages; but so does the
soldier; and the gallant boy to whom Lord Elcho referred, afterwards
lost his life in the Ashantee campaign.

The times of high wages did not leave a very good impression on the
public mind. Prices became higher, morals became lower, and the work
done was badly done. There was a considerable deterioration in the
character of British workmanship. "We began to rely too much upon the
foreigner. Trade was to a large extent destroyed, and an enormous loss
of capital was sustained, both by the workmen and by the masters. Lord
Aberdare was of opinion that three millions sterling were lost by _the
workmen alone_, during the recent strike in South Wales. One hundred and
twenty thousand workmen were in enforced idleness at once, and one
hundred and fifty thousand pounds were lost every week in wages during
the time that they remained idle.

What the employers think of the recent flash of "prosperity," can easily
be imagined. But it may not be unnecessary to quote some of the
statements of correspondents. A large employer of labour in South
Lancashire says: "Drunkenness increases, and personal violence is not
sufficiently discouraged. High wages and household suffrage came upon
the people before education had prepared them for the change."

In a large iron-work near Newcastle, where the men were paid the highest
wages for rolling plates and rails--and where they were earning between
three and four hundred pounds a year--the proprietors observe: "Except
in a few instances, we are afraid that workmen and their families spend
most of their earnings." Another employer in South Staffordshire says:
In the majority of cases, the men employed in the iron-work spend the
who