The Express.
London, England, 1853-11-26 00:00:00

A CASE FOR THE HOME SECRETARY

-4--
BLACKBURN, FRIDAY.
This populous borough has acquired a notoriety
for violence only equalled, in the eyes of the public, by
the utter incompetence in times put of its local govern-
ment to protect its burgesses and other inhabitants in the
discharge of their chief duties. To go back only a couple
of years, we find recorded a series of outbreak' not equalled
in any other town in England in the period. It has a
charter of incorporation, and enjoys what is termed " self-
government," yet it can scarcely be said to have appreciated
the responsibility of the trust imposed upon a borough
with such privileges. The history of the riots at the gene-
sal election, at the subsequent election of a new member
isst spring, and again on the sth November, is fresh in
the public memory. An attempt had been made before the last
outbreak to provide better for the public safety,and the police
fora, which at the elections consisted of eleven constables,
was increased to 18 ; yet so badly were the people of the
borough protected on the sth November, that several of
them were outraged and crushed in a way to endanger
their lieu. A noble lord who occupies a high position,
and is said to have more regard for the lives of the people
of Blackburn than Its own corporation has shown, is re-
ported to have taken notice of this last affair is a letter to
the late mayor from the Secretary of State's office; but its
contents have never yet been allowed to see the light.
Wednesday, the 16th inst., brought another display of mob
law, when the master cotton spinners and manufacturers
had assembled in their Exchange (at the Bull Hotel) to
meet the merchants and agents who usually at-
tend that market to buy their yens and piece
goods. The particulars of this outrage have al-
ready appeared in the Daily News, but as represen-
tations of the affair have been snags to the Home Secretary,
it will be desirable to call more especial attention to it.
The manufacturers who principally attend the Blackburn
market are those of Acerinittos, Blackburn, Burnley, Bob
ton, Chorley, Clitheroe, Coins, and Preston ; but of all
these persona those who were singled out for insult and
violence were the masters only from Preston. So serious
has the matter appeared to be to the spinners and manatee:
turers of Preston, that they have deemed it desirable to
make a representation of the circumstances to Lord Pal-
merston. The following is a copy of the document, which
is dated November 21st

"My Lord,—We beg to draw your lordship's attention
to the riots and disturbances which took place at Blackburn
on Wednesday last. Blackburn is the seat of a large cot-
ton manufacture, and the master cotton spinners, agents,
manufacturers, and others from Preston and other
places in the district are in the habit of meeting
there onWednesdays for the purpose of transacting basins...
" Moat of these gentlemen stay at the Bull Hotel in
Blackburn, and at the front of that hotel they amenable to
transact Huai? business.

" On Wednesday last the Preston cotton spinners were
informed on their arrival in Blackburn that they were to
be attacked by a mob and turned out of the town. This
threat appears to have been partially carried out, and from
what has since transpired there is every reason to believe
that it was a preconcerted step, and that it was known in
the town that something of the kind would be attempted.
" We will not hen trouble your lordship with the parti-
culars of what took place, but send for your lordship's
perusal the three Preston papers containing accounts of the
disturbance. But we may be permitted to call your lord-
ship's attention-to the fact, that after a mob of people had
been assembled for a long time in one of the meet
public streets in the town with the avowed object of ill-
Whiting the Preston masters, the safety of the persons and
property in the principal hotel in the town could only be
secured by allowing six delegates from the mob to search
every room in the house for those whom they wished to
attack. At the present time most of the operative cotton
spinners and weavers in Preston are out of employment in
consequence of the dispute between themselves and their
employers, and we are happy to state that hitherto no se-
rious breach of the peace has occurred For this we are
mainly indebted to the g lly well disposed and peace-
able character of the inhabitants, but also to the mayor and
other borough magistrates, for the firmness which they

dhisereplaaytedtbeancdomfomr
etcheeemecesidte:
thes uo, thef
ke
urea
Ou the other hand, whilnt the operatives engaged .
ory, continue tht ir eel., •
the cotton trade in Blackburn have bee so, endean,sfZut
employment, that town has for some time past beep
cane Nene of great excitement and disorder. Acts of i I
and disturbances have frequently lain repeatell,:,,,e—ne more than one occasion persons and c raperty Ito
ously suffered at the hands of lawless mobs. `e seri.
" From what occurred on Wednesday last, it is quite
parent that the Preston cotton muter, have rend
r'el
ptoe4frwallat 11: lknybiacialect7ecui;:".-h:
themselves obnoxious to thengedlrenrreadtthiliesmt
out
thdeanpgree ;ono; et te
annoyanceoffeealrinend
sary visits to that place, unless some steps we tsken forcil•
purpose of preventing such acts of ungoverned I I etiCG te
those , Twh
That
havesueha
stepsuded :on;
we think there can be no doubt.
" We have the honour to be your lordship's most obe.
dient servants." [Here followed the epicures.]
The master cotton spinners and manufacturers of Pen.
ton, consistent with their own expression of fear in that
letter, have discontinued their visits to Blackburn market
On Wednesday their absence was noticed in the main.
and from the reports in circulation it was only a desirable
measure of prudence that they should keep away, inciehuit:,
as threats of further violence had been uttered, and wool
probably have been carried into execution. It had bet
openly stated at a public meeting of operatives that if Ike
Preston masters had got " a squeeze" on the 16th ensue.:
from the mob who hunted for them, their lives would n:
have been worth much, and round about the frost of the
Blackburn Exc:eange on Wednesday, for many hours nt.
merous bands of operatives presented themselves at the ends
of the five streets there converging, and attempted to cot.
centrate their firers for " a elute ze." it is but justice t,
the authorities of Blackburn, however, to say that on to,
occasion they acted with prudence and vigour. They to
elected a new mayor on the 9th instant, in the person of
Kr.Thos. Dugdale (chairman of the East Lsueashire Railway
Board), who according to a declare:ion he made to the lawn
Council yesterday, proposes to increase the police force per.
manently to thirty men, and that in fact, looking upon the
preservation of the peace of the borough as paramount to
all other considerations, he is determined, with Voir hel2
and that of his brother magistrates, to secure that (deer;
without reference to cost. On Weduenday this new spied
of " self-government" had already beg en to display itself
by the increase of the police force to thirty men, all tk,
firemen of the borough having been incorporated with the
constabulary fur that purpose, whilst trout every ward in
the borough burgesses were specially summoned to attend
at the Sessions House to be sworn es special constables—o
Morse which, whilst it ranged the householders on the side
of law and order, served also to spread far and
wide the intelligence to those who were lawlessly
disposed that tne authorities had an lunation
tau
time to vigorously resist the gratification of one of
their favourite employments. But, in addition to this, a
determination was manifested to take the evil in time, and
policemen were placed on duty early in the day, who
exerted themselves to break up all those knots of persons
above alluded to as attempting to concentrate near the Et.
change. Three Sr four operatives were not allowed for a
moment to stand together in the neighbourhood ; bat the
order to " move on" was given, and unceremoniously cm-
, vied into effect if resisted. And although Preston mune
lecturers abstaiued from attendance oa this occasion, the
I precaution taken can hardly have been deemed unnecese
ury, inasmuch as employers at the market from other
places have become unpopular. At Accrington, where
to the present time only a couple of mills have been closed,
the rest having given the ten per cent. advance, notice was
served upon the weavers generally ten or twelve days ago
that it would only be given a fortnight longer, and it is
expected that 4,000 looms will there be thrown idle, addtig
largely in a few days to the unemployed it the operatives
should resolve to strike, as it is expected they will do. .t
meeting of Blackburn masters also had been summoned for
yesterday, to consider the propriety of doing the same
thing, and this had become public.
A curious feature, however, connected with the die.
turbances of the 16 inst. remains to be noticed. It will be
seen in the above letter from the Preston masters that they
hold up their own turn-out operatives as comparatively
well-behaved people, and lay the charge of violence upon
the operatives of Blackburn. In other places it has been
said that the mob who attacked the Preston maxers war
composed of Blackburn people, who were roused by a
belief that the Preston misters came to persuade their own
to take off their 10 per cent. advance. There is an Cocoa.
kno last i
n gt
hsatto rtyh,. becauseprestothe
Preston
ran
teen,: operatives
roseisfgti3eunllsacreYlkybatuot their thiseir market every Wednesday would not fall
into the mistake of misconstruing the main object of their
visit. But the authorities of Blackburn say the operative:
of their own town are peaceably-disposed enough—which
is rather curious after the specimens of their mildness given
at the elections and other times Oen' referred to—and
attribute the attack upon the Preston masters, entirely to
operatives who had come over from Preston (nine miles
distant) especially to annoy and attack them. It is said,
and there is little doubt of the fact, that the mayor of Black.
burn had written au account of these disturbances to Lord
Palmeston before the Preston masters bethought themselves
of an appeal to his lordship, in which he gave his own Ter.
Mon of the matter. I have not been able to get a copy of
his worship's letter for publication, but am credibly
' informed that having evidence of large numbers of
people from Preston following their employer' over
to Blackburn on the day of the riotoukproccedings, he bat
called the attention of his lordship to the present unsettled
state of the borough of Blackburn and district, as nun
principally by the dispute existing between the masters
and their workpeople. Ile described the assemblage a;
uttering divers threats under the impression that cotton
spinners from Preston had come over for the purpose o:
inducing those of the same trade in Blackburn to close their
mills and turn out the operatives—an impressioa which,
though unfounded, could not easily be removed. The
number of the mob had been sworn before the magistrates
at one time to be three to four thousand. The most im-
portant part of the mayor's letter, however, is understood
to be one in which he states that the justices feel that the
public peace is liable, under present circumstances, to be
interrupted suddenly, and on the least excitement, by mod
which no civil force which the borough can well undertake
Ito provide will be able to suppress, and expressing their
(the justices') opinion, that it is desirable to have
company of soldier, stationed in the borough during the
ensuing winter, or until the operatives of the neighbourini
towns again obtain employment.

In addition to the outcry by the Preston manutseturen.
the manufacturers and merchants of the whole district—
and those of Blackburn not excepted—have raised iniig•
flint remonstrances against the corporate authorities of

Blackburn, for allowing the unlawful proceedings of the
16th instant to remain unchecked so long u they were
The above statements show that the leadiag gentlemen is
the corporation are desirous of preventing a recurrence et
sack scenes, and perhaps it is but fair to say that the chat
magistrate having only recently taken office, withoa:
having bad time to mature the necessary re•
forms, is not justly blameable in the matter. la
fact the law provides certain times for the re-
constitution of the watch and other committees tabsequeat
to the 9th of November, and these committees not haying
been reconstructed on the 16th there was a difficulty in the

way of any immediate action on the subject, which only I
sense of previously existing urgency could have justified his
worship in setting aside. So far as the charge made agsino
the people of Blackburn by the masters of Preston is con
cerned, and the counter-charge against the people of Pro*
ton by the authorities of Blackburn, the truth appears to
rest partially with both sides. There is no doubt that the
people of Preston came in great numbers to Blackburn to
annoy and intimidate their late ens{ loyers, but on the othet
hand there is as little doubt that the people of Blackburn
sympathised with them, and hounded them on, when they
were there.

The peaee has been tolerably well maintained in ether
towns up to the present moment, notwithstanding the

strikes. At Burnley there is now reason to believe that
good many of the operatives will take the offer of the em-
ployers and resume work at the old wages, foregoing LI
connexion with the strikes elsewhere. At Bacup no rem.
lotion has been adopted by the masters, but it is thought
that next Thursday the mills will be re-opened on Mania
terms to those offered at Burnley. The Blackburn meet.
ing resulted in nothing, but the Harwood millowneru bee
withdrawn from union with the Preston people and jollied
those of Accrington, and are going to work abort time, 141
take off the ten per cent.

THE MURDER AT DEPTFORD.—The man Brx
nahan, who hail been stabbed on the night of Monde!,
in 01.1 King•etreet, Deptford, died at Guy's Hospital 1
Thursday ; and an inquest was held there yesterday upon
the body. After hearing a great deal of evidence the pro-
ceedings were adjourned. Just as the jury were departing.
Mr. Dollond, the surgeon, was brought into the roost
charged by t►e foreman with insulting him at the door of
the room. The coroner, after hearing the complaint, sm,l
that all persons attendiag there on a public duty must b?
protected. Upon this Mr. Dollond apologised, and the
affair, which had drawn together a large number of student,,
then terminated.