The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1888-05-19 00:00:00

UNIONIST LABOURERS'
LEAGUE.

Mr. J. Chamberlain presided on Saturday over
• meeting held at Birmingham to inaugurate the Rural
, Labourers' League. Amongst those attending were
Mr. Jesse Collings, M.P., Mr. R. Chamberlain, M.P.,
IMr. Powell Williams, M.P., and Mr. Austen Chamber-
am. Letters of sympathy were received from Sir
Henry James, M.P., Mr. G. Dixon, M.P., Viscount
Lymington, Mr. H. Wiggin, M.P., and others. In
vening the proceedings Mr. Chamberlain briefly re-
capitulated the history of the Allotment Association,
which he claimed owed its existence, its programme,
and all the influence it ever possessed to the inde-
fatigable exertions and the self-denying labour of Mr.
Jesse Collings. (Cheers.) He did not hesitate to say
that the majority of the Liberal party at the election
in 1885 was swelled by Mr. Collings's exertions to a
beater extent than by those of any other leader, how-
ever distinguished. It was true that Mr. Gladstone,
in the general election of 1886, spoke contemptuously
of a certain Mr. Jesse Collings and of his policy of
three acres and a cow, forgetting that Mr. Jesse Collings
had assisted in increasing the majority which brought
him into power, and that the policy of which he
tpoke so lightly was the policy to which his Govern-
Inent was pledged, but which was laid aside and for-
gotten when it had ceased to serve its purpose. It
was true also that the Allotments Association had
now received the distinguished approval of hie
friend, Sir William Harcourt, who a day of two ago,
Speaking at Croydon, indulged in some ponderous
merriment at Mr. Collings's expense. I really do not
know (continued Mr. Chamberlain) whether you will
think it necessary that I should reply to Sir William
Harcourt. He is the Major Dalgetty of modern politics,
and there is a boisterous humour about him which
makes it very difficult to be angry with him, or to
take seriously anything that he may please to say.
Sir William Harcourt, like his great prototype, that
ether soldier of fortune, deals his blows in such a
fashion that while he is belabouring us we cannot
doubt for a moment that he would have Da equal or
even a greater pleasure in slashing at his present
employers if his time of service with them had
happened to have expired. (Laughter and cheers.)
When that time comes, and in the case of Sir William
Harcourt who can say how soon it may arrive—
(laughter)—can you not imagine, gentlemen, the
unctuous satisfaction with which he will laud the
consistency of his honourable friend Mr. Jesso
Collings, and with which he will scourge the in-
gratitude of those mere partisans and office-seekers
who have deserted him after profiting by his labours ?
But in the meantime I will only venture to tell
Sir William Harcourt that at least in supporting a
Unionist Government Mr. Collings has had the satis-
faction of advancing and furthering the ca..c.
he has at heart, since he has secured what he could
not have hoped to secure if he had continued to
support the policy of Mr. Gladstone—an Allotments
Bill passed upon the principles and the main lines of
his own proposals, and a Local Government Bill which
will extend to the rural labourer equal rights and pri-
vileges with those which have so long been enjoyed
by his fellow workman in the towns. (Cheers.) We
have to show Mr. Collings that we still value his
servicer,—(hear, hear)—that we desire a continuance
of them, and that we sympathise with him in the dis-
courteous treatment to which he has been subjected.
And in the second place we have to see that the
labourers' interests do not suffer in this controversy,
and that they still have an organisation specially
directed to promote their interests in the
place of one which has been turned to other purposes.
He proceeded to speak of the work that lay before the
new league. He hoped it would be found possible to
establish a monthly journal dealing exclusively with
subjects in which the labourers take an interest.
Already they had secured from a few friends a sub-
scription list of £llOO, and he had no doubt whatever
that with a little exertion they would be able to bring
it up to £5OOO. (Applause.) In conclusion, he said:
We think that the Irish peasant may now well take
his turn with the English labourer—(hear, hear)—and
while we are quite prepared to deal with any proved
grievances, or with any reasonable claim for redress
that may still have been left without attention, we
refuse altogether to put aside and sink all British
interests—(cheers)—in order to bring back into
power Mr. Gladstone and Sir William Harcourt—
(laughter)—or in order to satisfy an irreconcileable and
factious party, that take their policy, as they take their
pay, from the enemies of this country. (Loud cheers.)
Gentlemen, I beg to move the first resolution :
“That it is desirable that an association should be
formed for the purpose of securing to the rural
labouring population the benefits of the Allotments
Acts of 1882 and 1887, and of other legislative mea-
sures. affecting them; of improving by all legitimate
means the social and material condition of the
labourers, and generally of promoting every effort to
make the village life of the country more prosperous
and attractive." (Cheers.) The motion was seconded
by Mr. Eli Morris, miner, of Cannock Chase, and •
carried. Mr. Powell Williams,,M.P., then proposed a
list of officers, including Mr. Jesse Collings, M.P., as
president,the Marquis of Hartington, the Earl of Fife,
Mr. J. Chamberlain, and Sir Henry James, M.P., as
vice-presidents, and Mr. Austen Chamberlain as hon.
secretary. The appointments having been made, Mr.
Jesse Collings expressed satisfaction at the con-
tinuance of special work for the labourers by a new
and larger organisation than that which had been
deliberately turned into a Home Rule Association. A
vote of thanks to the chairman closed the proceed-
ings.