Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-11-03 00:00:00

who stands

intimid
Messrs,

STRI}

NTIMIDATI(

the workmen in the employ of t

'ip-er, the builders of Bishopsgate-street,
resumed before :Mr. Corrie, at- the.Clerkenwell Poll(
court. Mr. R. Muliens attended for the prosecutic
and Mr. Roberts, of Manchester, for the defence. T

TO, as on the previ

Mr Corr

rue And money wasted in this' alifOrtunl
the matter is not settled ; bitt as th

so must I .dispose of it,
to which I shall refer

•The first
is as to the

1, therefore,

used by the defendant were so used when the man came
up from Tavistock, and whether such words calm within
the construction of the 2 In this ca-

t of parliament

Liestion, for the public undoubtedly suffer

As I sit in this e

suffer, for I have been compelled to send a nlair to
the Rouse of Correction for not supporting his wife and
family. That man could have gone to work if be pleased,
but he refused, and in consequence was sent to gaol. In
prison he had to be supported at the public expense, so
that the public are deeply interested in the question. It
is an offence against the law. • The words meant to
threaten, within the meaning of the act of parliament,
which runs thus :—" And bp it further enacted that if
any person shall by violence to the person or pro-
perty, or by threats and intimidation, or by molesting,
or in any way obstructing another, force or endeavour
to force any journeyman in any manufacture, trade,
or business, to depart from his hiring, employment,
or 'work, or to return his work before the same
shall be finished, or prevent or endeavour to prevent
any journeyman, manufacturer, workman, or other
person not being hired or employed, from hiring him-
self to or from accepting work or employment from any
• persons or persons, or if any person shall use or employ
violence to the person or property of another. And
every person, so offending, aiding, and abetting or assist-
ing th?rein, being convicted thereof in manner here-
under mentioned, shall and may be imprisoned and
kept to hard labour for any-term not exceeding three
calendar months.". This is .the part_ "If you have
engaged yourselves with Messrs. Piper, we shall succeed
eventually, and then .you will be turned out, and you
will not then be able to get work." I believe and am
of- opinion that upon the meaning of those words
there can be no reasonable doubt that it amounts
,to intimidation. In the - case before alluded to
the judges said, that "the intention of the legis-
lature :was to make them quite free, and seeing
that intimidation might be used to carry out such
agreement, it was enacted by 6th George IV., cap. 129,
sec. 3, that if any person should by violence, threats,
intimidation, molesting, or obstructing another, force or
endeavour to force any workman to depart from his
employ, or prevent him from accepting employment, &e.,
he should be liable to imprisonment for three calendar
months." It had been said that no threats or intimida-
tion had been used, but the use of express words of
intimidation , was not necessary. Green, the delegate
from London, had stated that the society had £20,000
at their command, and that if the prosecutors
discharged a man because he
was
association, they could stop the a member of their
tsrplies, and they
would not have a single hand upon their works. That
might be construed as a threat e'venn bya
than
man
of strongo
nerve. This is a far more serious point
personal. violence, for personal violence, when oppnoesel
to a strong and vigorous man, might be equally-met,
but it would require a man with higher nerves
to counteract such words when he found that
they were calculated to take the bread out of
his mouth and deprive -his family of support. This
was an offence that came within the meaning
of the Act, of Parliament, and was the most serious
that could be held, out. Having arrived at this con-
clusion, it now becomes my duty
.to consider the amount
of punishment to be inflicted. Owing to, the appeal which
Mr. Roberts made yesterday in his defence, that I should
temper mercy ,with judgment, I shall not inflict upon
the defendant the punishment and deeTadation of hard
labour, for degradation it would be. It is my duty to
prevent such attempts at cembinatiOn, and inflict a
punishment adeanate to meet so serious an offence ; but
in so doing, as. I before said, I shall not have recourse
to hard labour. ' The sentence of the Court will be, that
the defendant be imprisoned for two months for the
,threats used by him.

SOIREE TO MESSRS. COBDEN AND BRIGHT.—Owing
ibsence' of Mr. Cobden on the Continent, the
council, have been unable as yet to fix the day for this
demonstration. It will, however, be towards the end
of the present month, or early in December. An early
application for tickets is narticularly desit'able.—Liver-

Reformer