The Northern Daily Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-10-20 00:00:00

THE COTTON

SPINNERS'
PR BS' 2' ON.

TURN-OUT

(FROM OUR OWN REPORTER.)
According to the present aspect of the turn-out, there
.does not seem to be the slightest probability of a settlement
of the'dispute between the masters and the men for some time

Yesterday a large mcetinG, of the turn-outs was held on
the Marsh, an immense plot of land, about a mile from the
town. It was calculated that, at various parts of the day,
the number present would range from 10,000 to 15,000.
The meeting was rather a general gathering of the hands,
than one convened for any special object. No formal reso-
lutions were passed, but the meeting was addressed during
the day by several speakers, who urged upon all present the
desirability of union and firmness, and earnestly called
upon them to endure any amount of pecuniary and physical
suffering, rather than submit to what they designated the
tyrannical and despotic requirements of the employers.
Amongst the speakers was Mr. Swinglehurst, who stated
that he was at Blackburne on Tuesday night. There was a
great meeting of the hands there, who expressed their deter-
mination to support the Preston Spinners in the present
struggle, to the utmost of their power. He, therefore, urged
upon them to be firm and hold out, and they might rely upon
it that they would ultithately compel the masters to yield to
all their demands.
During Tuesday and yesterday, the committee of oper-
atives connected with the union, sat at the Temperance Hall,
for the purpose of taking down the names of all those who
have now become chargeable to the relief fund, in con-
sequence of the " lock out" on Saturday. For the last two
or three weeks, the allowance to the weavers, (now some
weeks out) from the union funds, has been about an aver-
age of six shillings per week per man, but it was confidently
stated in Preston yesterday, that, in consequence of the
immense increase of spinners now on the books, by the
simultaneous closing of all the mills on Saturday last, the
average allowance to be paid at the end of the present week
will.not be more than two shillings or half-a-crown a head,
unless there is a considerable increase in the amount of
subscriptions sent in from the other manufacturing towns in
the county; and this is rendered exceedingly improbable,
as it is believed, the turn-out will extend to several other
places in a week or two. We understand, that to-morrow
week, no less than sixty mills in Burnley will be closed,
under circumstances precisely similar to those which have
caused the masters in Preston to close theirs.
The• matter is beginning to be viewed by all classes in
one of the most serious concern, and the
roomiest apprehensions are entertained as to the conse-
quences, .by tradesmen, shopkeepers, and others vitally
interested. From information obtained by our reporter
yesterday, it appears that so indignant are the masters at
the violent language used towards them by the operatives
at their various public meetings, that they will not only not
consent to re-open their mills until the men have with-
drawn themselves from the union, but, further;: that trade
being how so gloomy, they are contemplating keeping
them closed for at least several weeks, and one of the
masters, (a very extensive spinner,) yesterday remarked to
our reporter's informant, that he hoped the millS would nz,t
be re-opened during the present year, and that he, for one,
was resolved not to open his establishment before Jaauary
next. Should this feeling prove general on the part of the
mill-owners, the misery and suffering which this unfortu-
nate dispute will
..entail upon the operatives, during
the ensuing winter, may be more easily conceived than
expressed.
The walls of the town are thickly placarded with docu-
ments referring to the dispute, some of them in favour of
the operatives, and others against them, and fresh
announcements are hourly appearing. Yesterday a large
placard was issued on behalf of the men, headed " To the
Public-Cause of the Lock-out," and signed by George
Cowell, the secretary to the Operative Weaver's Association.
This document professes to be a "a clear and concise history
of the rise, progress, and present position of this unfortunate
dispute." It states that up to the Ist of June in the pre-
sent year, the weavers had no combination or organization,
and that the foundation of that organization, which the
masters now so much dread arose in consequence of several
of the weavers being "discharged from their employment, and
thrown upon the wide world to starve" because they asked for
an advance of 10 per cent on the price of weaving all fabrics
of cloth. It then details the negotiations which afterwards
took place between the masters and men, and states that on
the termination of the Stockport strike, the masters in Pres-
ton, with the exception of six or seven hands, agreed to give
the 10 per cent advance, and that every thing was settling
down harmoniously, when "on the 15th of September, a bill
appeared on the walls„ signed by thirty-five manufacturers,
announcing their intention to close their mills in one month,
unless those now on strike are prepared to resume work,
and a better understanding is established between the em-
ployer and employed." The document .then refers to the
proposals made by the men to the masters, with a view to
come to some amicable arrangement, all which proposals had
been rejected' by the masters, their only answer being that
"the associated masters did not recognize the committee of
workmen ;" and after stating that all efforts on the part of
the men to terminate the dispute had been fruitless, the
placard thus concludes :
•‘ I have now performed my task ; you have now before you
a clear statement of facts, which cannot be controverted; every
step taken has been to conciliate, but how has that conciliation
been met? Let the above facts rnswer. And now, on this
17th day of October, 1853, nearly 20,000 of our population are
already in the streets; not idle and dissolute characters, for
mark you, the President of the Masters' Association, Thomas
Miller, Esq., has publicly declared • that they are the best
work people in Lancashire.' An act unprecedented in history,
save by the Millowners of Preston ; an act of despotism which
has roused the virtuous indignation of all classes in every town
and city, not only in England, but throughout Europe; yea,
the feeling of execration has already penetrated to the southern
and far west States of America, and resounded back, that they
find no parallel to it in the history of the much. sympathized.
with negro slave, and despised slave owners.
" In conclusion, I beg publicly to state, that the questions in
dispute are still open to negotiation ; that the committee will
abide by any proposals that have been made by them, or that
may emanate from any other party likely to lead to au amicable
arrangement."

Preston, a

THE RECORDER ON THE DISPUTE.
Yesterday, the Quarter Sessions at Preston commenced,
and in his charge to the Grand Jury, the Recorder, T. B.
Addison, Esq., alluded to this unfortunate dispute in the
following terms :

" Gentlemen, I won't detain you further, except to allude
to a circumstance which has attracted so much of our .attention,
that to pass it over entirely without notice, would scarcely be
justifiable : I mean the unfortunate breach of confidence and
of good feeling that prevails in our own district, between the
principal manufacturers and the operatives in their employ, and
which is leading to a suspension of their previous amicable
relations, and to an entire stoppage for, the present, of work in
a class of very great magnitude. 'We cannot look at such an
interruption without apprehension and without great regret,
because we know it must lead to very great loss and suffering—
to great loss on the part of the manufacturers, and to great
suffering on the part of the work-people and their families ;
and we know that such loss and suffering has a natural tend-
ency to produce crime, and that it will make the duties of
Quarter Sessions, in all probability,•heavier for some time to
come. We all regret that we are obliged to confine ourselves
to good wishes that this calamity may cease from amongst us,
because I do not see in what manner it is possible to interfere,
with anything like authority, in the making of those contracts
which must necessarily be voluntarily entered into by both
parties. 'We cannot compel the workman to labour. He
labours for hiS own benefit, for the support of himself and
family. If he does not choose to labour, we may regret it,and
we may think him ill-advised, but it is not in our power to
put conpulsion upon him, neither on the other hand, can we
compel--nor indeed is it desirable that the law should
compel—the master manufacturer (if he may be so called)
to carry on a trade which he, in his own judgment, does
not find it desirable to carry on. We may be sure that he
does not stop his works, that he does not allow his capital to
remain unemployed, that he does not forego the profit which
his trade would produce him, voluntarily ; but that he does so
from a necessity of which he is the judge, and in which it is not
for other persons to interfere or to tell him that he forms a
mistaken judgment. -With regard to both parties therefore,
we may regret the difficulties, the loss, an& the suffering that
are brought upon them, but we must, I fear, leave them to
their own good sense and good feeling to renew the former bet-
ter and happier condition of things, and must confine ourselves
to good wishes that that may again take place at as early a
period as possible, at the same time that we look with increased
care and increased energy to the maintenance of peace and
good order, to the utmost of our power."

M. KOSSUTH ON THE FOREIGN POLICY OF ENO-
LAND.—In replying to an invitation to attend a public
meeting, at Stafford, on Monday next, to memorialize her
Majesty on the Russian invasion ofthe Turkish provinces, M.
Kossuth makes a fierce attack on the foreign policy of this
country, with reference to Austria and Russia. He says :--
" In ana!lyzing the conduct of the English Government during
the present crisis, it is impossible not to come to the conclu-
sion that it is not so much either by fear from, or by a par-
ticular predilection for, Russia, that the English Govern-
ment has until now rather served than checked Russia's am-
bitious designs ; but that it is rather for fear test, by en-
couraging Turkey to legitimate resistance, an opportunity
might be offered to some successful popular rising
.in other
quarters. I have, indeed, no hesitation in saying that
the policy of England has long since been Russian in its
results, though not Russian in its motives ; it has been worsc,
it has been anti-liberal in principle. Kossuth in proof of this
statement, says that in 1848, when Russia interfered
against the popular movement in Moldo-Wallachia by armed
invasion, and thus prepared the way for the subsequent
intervention in Hungary, as well as for the present occu-
pation of the principalities, England did not oppose it.
Soon after, Russia interfered by arms in Hungary, and
gained by it an awful preponderance throughout the con-
tinent of Europe. The Government of England had nothing
to object to it. "And now," he says, once more, the
Danubian principalities are occupied, and their resources
made subservient to Russia in her hostility against the
legitimate suzerain of those provinces ' • and, again, the
EnglishiGovernment is guilty, before God and the world, of
having :permitted such piracy to be perpetrated without
resistant.,"