The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1871-04-29 00:00:00

THE LONDON MATCH-MAKERS
IN ARMS!

The follJwing account of the Demonstration of the
Match-makers, whose iniustry Mr. Lowe proposed to itsi
so vary severely, is from our Loudon cowtvmporary, ILO
Daily hoses:—

'lns match-makers of the East-end of London, and
as iliany of the match sellers of the metroprlis as could
spare the leibure, marched westwards on Monday,with
the idea of harmlessly invading Weetmiunter and pre.
sentiog a petition to the House of Commons against
Mr. Lowe's match-tax. The poll re, however formed
an oppunng army, and completely routed the foe.
Had the demonstration been allowed to take place as
first intended, it would have been certainly isupoeing,
and, ii appearances at the beginning were a guarantee,
orderly. Daring the morning sandwich-placarded
men walked up and down the Strand and other main
thoroushfares, announcing a monster procession from
Hew Station, protesting against the obnoxious tax in
a variety of ways, and asserting that the impost meant,
if anything, the starvation of th nsands, the driving
of a lucrative trade from the E set of London, filling
the prisons and the unions, increase of tax ition,
paralyaing of a large British industry, and desolation
of thousands of homes, and intense misery.
In the neighbourhood of Bow S. ation between break-
fast time and noon here were many evidences that
the numerous poor toilers of the highway s and bye.
ways, whose means of livelihood are threatened by the
Chancellor of the Exalts queers proposals, had fonworn
work for the day. In twos and threes, halted wens and
di sees, men, womec, and children sect ed the gather.
ing at the point.d meeting place, the elders gravely
cones rsieg of the future, as• men over whore path an
angry dead had risen, the younottrs hardly certsie
ad to the precise meaning of the whole business, lut
poeitive that the time had arrived for pnaketieg a
firm front asainet some unknown and unfrienillv
power. Torte bands of music were there to lend livell•
neve and union to the procession, and placeede
pluniy, to he worn upon the person, hoisted in the hat,
and displayed upon poles, were distributed,

. - .
Putting aside ths natural "larking" of the boys
and cid., everything was done decently aid in order.
A chart was made shavit noon. The inhabitants of the
locality, although °My iodirectly intere.ted in the pro-
ceediAs, came out on the pavements, or clustered at
the wirdows, and lo Axed the Fp:wittily th, y had not
tie opportunity of expreaairg. Several carte wire
file.tl with the match.maktogfraternity and tie terhood,
the panels cod tailboarde adorned with protasis in bold
type against the routcti-tax. Them handbilis had
I;on supplied 1, pilotless of rEDeIIPO, 0.. cl come a them
eipleadid their tetras in unpretending verse. Sold on
of them, altar the ttyle of the old C troinh ballad :
And will the mach trade dlc
Aod wol the inetch b.& et,e
The,: tMrty thoatuLd working tine
Will know the reskon do.
Another proclamatien wax in the form of en inquiry,
"Why should we be rained to provide compensation
for the fficera of the an.)?" Songs were attack up,
the purport of most of them being unsparing indigna-
tion at the alle.;ed pereecution, white i.e one inetance
veo Lori a chorus of ft male V(11C..0 xfcoejog toe
ilk, determination. " We'il bang Bob Lew, ; yea,
wetd hang Robert Lowe rn a sour unite tree." Bub
there was no semblance of violence.

Tne procession at first numbered several thousands,
the majoric.y being girls b..tween 13 and 21) years old.
About half • mile from Bow Station, at the (lIo')e
Canal-lridge, a strong foree of Police w..s stationed.
A panic seiae-I the poor matchmrkers ; the childr. n
clung to the elders, the elders looked inquiringly at
one another' and tent of thousandt of spectat TR
seemed highiy outraged at the appearance of the
truncheoned guardiahs of the peace. There was not
much time for doubt; the police barred the advance,
the bands of music and the progesbion were broken
up in the con motion, hoots resounded from side t,
side, the women shrieked, flAspoles were smashed,
and the place was in a general uproar, during
which a few stones were thrown. Toe matchmakers,
however, wire so far too compact to be twiny
daunted, and they were not broken. In Whitechapel
there was more police opposition.
_

By this thee there were probably 10,000 demonstra.
tioeists, and they more eeriously re.-isted the poliee, but
the bulk passed on, and found their way to the Thames
Embankment in confirmed straggling order. Here the
police were compact and ready, as if a Reign of Terror
had set in. Aerate the road under the Charing-crone
Railwey.bridge there was a close cordon of picked men
drawn, and as the stragglers grew in numbers a cob
lision was inevitable. The collision came, and for lame
time serious mischief was imminent. Plec del boards
were smashed, the few remaining banner stance were
converted into splinters, and there was a hood deal
of bending, stone-throwing, and screaming. Blows
were given on both sides. A policeman, struck
over tie head with a ginger-beer bottle, with-
drew, or wcs dragged disabled from the fray,
and conveyed to Westtninster Hospital. Another
officer was overpowered, and nearly hoisted over
the parapet into the Thames. Many of the people
whose passage was thus blocked escaped frightened and
enraged into Parliamentatreet, where ranks of police-
men again baffled them. Nevertheleee, about 3,000
contrived to enter Palece-yard, where the police ap-
peared somewhat surprised. Entrance to Weetmineter
Hall was somehow effected by the people, but Superin-
tendent Denning quickly concentrated his men and
cleared out the intruders, not without ecofffing and
promptness, but apparently with DO more harshness
than peremptory orders rendered essential. The tele-
graph wires wore meanwhile set in motion, and rein-
forcements rapidly leaded in—reinforcements of spec-
tators as well SD police. Here and there no doubt
policemen, strong in their sense of officialism, and
bullying in their strength, approached ehe verge of
brutality. One man, for instance, we heard of who
was chased by three or four constables and knocked
down because he succeeded in breaking through the
line of bluecoats. The representative of a contem.
pottery remonstrated. "That's not English." he
exclaimed. "We'd run you in if you don't cut,"
rejoined the policeman, and run in the bold protester
would have been but for a judicious retreat. Ordinary
gentlemen, ntt excluoing members of Parliament,
barrieters, and others fresh from the courts and hall,
were sometimes rudely ordered on if they happened to
be standing two or three together.
The hunted match-maker., women, children, and
men, lire; 'red about wherever they were allowed to
rest, hissed the sheriff's' carriages as they rolled along
the Embarkomet 'Live, and hooted the police per.
eietently ; Superintendent Mott, in charge of the police
in Palece-yard, had, however, no further trouble. The
men had marche i and counter-marched, and taken up
poeitions of streneth, but the folk from the E set-end,
when their astoniehment at having put London in a
state, of war had anheided, felt no longer inclined to run
a muck against the authorities.
Seine a the C sbinet Ministers walked newel to the
House. Mr. Gladstone, who was followed acreos
Palace-yard by a stunt police-sergeant, was slightly
hiesed ; Mr. D.sraeli as slightly cheered, not by the
match-nankets, but by welbdrensed loungers on the
pavement outeide. Mr. 13ruee and Mr. Foreter, arms
in arm, were not recognised. Mr. Lowe was eagerly
inquired for, but not found. Every cloned cab was
supposed to conceal him; but time wore on, and there
was no eign of his right honourable appearance. A
strong body of police faced the covered plumage leading
to the Underground Railway ; and when half-past four
had struck the hunt ceased, and it was generally
said that the quarry had run to earth. The rumour
wee then dieseeninated, too, that the tax was to be
withdrawn, and simultaneously there was a black
threat from above of rain. By common consent the
match-makers, some f them having walked seven
miles already, and being footsore in cotereqnence,
turned their faces homewards, and straggled, iu irre-
gular columns of companies, from Westminster to
Blackfriars. The police were now drawn up at ease
on the roadside, and each group treated them to
derieive laughter as it passed to the east. The worthy
constablea, a little conecience-ntricken, may be, at the
onslaught they had been obliged to make against
women and children, waved good-humoured adieux,
and smiled smiles of as notch goodswill as was consistent
with the rules of the service.

Thus, as dusk approached, ended a demonstration
which promised to have been peaceable, thorou„hly
ffective in numbers, and genuine in composition— a
demonstration which, being at times harshly opposed,
might by 14ny accident have been converted into a