that the superiority of the French workmen
has been occasioned solely by the evening
schools of the Christian Brothers, but, after
what we have already shown, we consider it
reasonable to infer that, since 1830, those
establishments have had a large share in the
formation of their character. In a former
report,* Mr. Tremenheere described the habits
and manners of the French colliers and miners,
especially those at the iron and coal-works in
the coalfield near Valenciennes. He was
compelled, by the force of unexceptionable
evidence, to show how superior they were in
every respect, except that of mere animal
power, to the generality of the mining population
in this country. At the large iron-works
at Denain, employing about four thousand
people, there were thirty Englishmen from
Staffordshire. These men were earning about
one-third more wages than the French
labourers; but, they spent all they earned
in eating and drinking; were frequently
drunk; and in their manners were coarse,
quarrelsome, disrespectful, and insubordinate.
The English manager—who had held for
many years responsible situations under
some of the leading iron-masters in Staffordshire
—stated with regret, that so different
and so superior were the intelligence, and
the civilised habits and conduct, of the French,
that, if any thirty Frenchmen from these
works were to go to work in Staffordshire,
"they would be so disgusted, they would not
stay; they would think they had got among
a savage race."

*"Report of Inspection of French and Belgian mines,
1848–Appendix."

There have been, lately, forty Frenchmen
employed at one of the large manufactories in
Staffordshire, by the Messrs. Chance, at their
extensive and well-known glass-works at West
Bromwich, in the immediate neighbourhood
of some of the great iron-works. Mr. Chance
gives the Commissioner the following account
of these men:—"A few years ago, we brought
over forty Frenchmen to teach our men a
particular process in our manufacture. They
have now nearly all returned. We found
them very steady, quiet, temperate men. They
earned good wages, and saved while they were
with us a good deal of money. We have had
as much as fifteen hundred pounds at a time
in our hands belonging to these men, which
we transmitted to France for them. One of
them, who sometimes earns as much as seven
pounds a-week, has saved in our service not
much short of four thousand pounds. He is
with us now. He is a glass-blower. We have
about fourteen hundred men in our employ
(in the glass-blowing and alkali works) when
trade is in a good state. I am sorry to say
that the contrast between them and the
Frenchmen was very marked in many
respects, especially in that of forethought and
economy. I do not think that, while we had
in our hands the large sum mentioned above
as the savings of the Frenchmen at one time,
we have had at the same time five pounds
belonging to our own people. They generally
spend their money as fast as they can
get it."

In Scotland, evening schools abound, and
come in effectually to aid the universal system
of primary instruction existing over that
part of our island. A Wesleyan local preacher
told Mr. Tremenheere of the Scotchmen
employed on the Northumberland and Durham
collieries, "when you go into some of the
Scotchmen's houses, you would be surprised
to see the books they have—not many, but
all choice books. Some of their favourite
authors in divinity are very common among
them. Many of them read such books as
Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations, and
are fond of discussing the subjects he treats
of. They also read the lives of statesmen,
and books of history; also works on logic;
and, sometimes, mathematics. Such men can
be reasoned with about anything appertaining
to their calling, and they know very
well why wages cannot be at particular times
higher than a certain standard. They see at
once, by the price current in the market,
what is the fair portion to go to the work-
man as wages, according to the circumstances
of the pit and the general state of the
trade. Such men will have nothing to do
with the union. They scorn to read such
penny and twopenny publications as we have
been talking about. They are fonder of
sitting down after their work and reading a
chapter of the Wealth of Nations. They will
also talk with great zest of many of their
great men—their own countrymen, who have
raised themselves by their own industry.
There are, undoubtedly, some men that come
out of Scotland bad men, but these are not
informed men. I am speaking of all this
neighbourhood, where I have lived all my life.
There are a great many Scotch at all the
collieries here, and most of them very respectable
men, exceedingly so. You may ask me
why the union is so strong in parts of
Scotland—as in Lanarkshire? It is because in
Lanarkshire the pitmen are one-third Irish,
and many of the worst Scotch from other
counties. Those who come here are among the
best in their own country, I should think,
from the accounts they give me. When a
Scotchman comes here he earns English
wages; but he does not spend them as an
Englishman does. A Scotchman often, rather
than lose buying a good book, will lose his
dinner. The Scotchwomen begin to keep
their houses cleaner after they get into
England, and by degrees they come to
keep them as clean as the Englishwomen;
and the first generation after their fathers
come are equal to the English in their wish to
keep everything clean about them. They are
generally very saving, and lay out the over-
plus of their earnings in books and furniture
or lay it by. They have a great disposition
to have their children well taught. Indeed,