The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1825-03-30 00:00:00

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11.11111.111.11m1.11
Bee* ootterquences it was desired
.te produce. Ile could not help
callus the secollectioa or the HeresumblieGattlemen (Mr. flume)
to the tenth Resolunon of the Committee on that Bill, and he did
think that some better mode 'Maio • have been aided mon what
was Snell, adopted. Tree worls ot that Resolution evidently re-
ferred to some new vactsure to be introduced in the stead of those
best of statutes which the enuotnittee hut tecosontentled to he re-
pealed But what was that new measure? Why, that the prey,
on cuovicion before two maglatrates titan the testimony of two
witnesses, should be liable to two months impdeonment. Now he
*mild undertake to ..y that this was in effect no remedy at all ; I
foe that the persons who were dispnetd to commit these nets
Wok especial eve never to do thou before more then one wit-
sea-.: they dexterously evaded the law on every occasion; for they
reel under the advice of those who knew well hoer to instruct
berm But ell shoold this be the distinguishing feature of this
law? Why should the evidence of two witness=es he requisite to •
) cone.cion ? It was ineeptiehele to him that each a difficulty
situnkl be thrown in the• way of a conviction, where the necessity
of puppsessing such outrage. was so urgent. lie thought that the
soon which was established snit acted upon in many parts of the
canary, led to a system of fei•ror anti of tyranny over the master
of which we here 'meld foie no adequate idea. Wee it proper
) that such a state of things, should he suffered to continue ? Ras
i: consistent with the interest of trade that the master should be
suaject to be told by ha men, that unless they employed certain
s ' noleeiduals ghoul they themselves shoed paint out, or unless they
4f-rimed from their employ others whom trey named, that they
i.. wood not work ? And yet such wee tee fact. in same of the
pis" ie. the North the men had actothy refused to sail with the
-i A vessel, unless the whole or ate emu belonged to a certain Union
Tle situation of the men themselves, therefore, was that, unities
i%list luei smelled themielree All members of this particular Society,
. stt;:e werewiurlizsimiteelcontsoisittennetk,...ithflttwfroeua 1413:f
atetiotl t szliLlai,
,
might do previel in this country, and totally subversive of the
f trapersompetition of labour. Ile himself knew that in the rivet
Thames there hat! been a Committee of Joenseymen Shipwrights
swing, who dictated to the master shipwrights who should and
s who should not be employed by them.. lie knew that this course
bail been taken. Sowie shurt time since, about four or ti v e men
•
same into the yard of a certain sitiperright, and proceeded to eel
themselves to wotk. ' The foremen sant to them, •• you are not
wanted here, we have plenty of hands without you: who sent
•,t our 'lnteaeswer tif the ipso mut, that the &fermium batiaeow'
them. lire matte, however, itfunel to employ them, and the
coosequende weft, teat the Cotnientee prevented the men whofwere
then at work Irani contismiog with the master; ft that, because
this shipwright did not employ they: men whom the Committee
'had stet him, all the ode rs left hind, and his busbies; was thus
exposed to be eritivoly desunytd. In the same way the men bad
acted ili other paws e.f the country. Put the tendeasy of this
ntystrenwas perniciotte, pin the principle that ie attempted-ea
. sstahlish a masienen of sages. As tar as the Workmen them..
Selves *ere one:erne& it was destructive of trade. The active and
industrious man ought to have more than the old and iodolcnt;
'hut that was not the principle upon which these unions and sock-
-1 ties acted. The yr.ung had the name pay as the old,- and the able
man as much as the Inefficient. They might depend upon it, if
they established the principle for which they were so anxiouse
they voted in the end do more mishief to the ism:lse* than they
mild at present he possibly aware of. His Right lionournbie
F i ndielr.llutskiment had atluded to the vemeethe safety of esich
had.biten risked entirely in consequence of this comhinatise system;
that rinse! would Inevitably have been wrecked but for the timely
esseenee sornesnuKka, ItOtlitithttantlitig the senors on boned might
have seed bee without such help ; hut they refine' to do so. be-
. mime ir was inconsistent with one of the titles of that Union to
ohichhhey belonged ; which decided that a certain class of men
should not assist in a spa/dealer part of the duty required to be
renowned on boatel. vile tbe removing the ballast. Suds were the
mischievous ouniyquenees of this !Tues..; and yet the Honourable '
deedernen (Mr. Hume) Revel that these oomointtiona ought to
exist hecausto the masters combined against the molt. He desired
most aaxiotesly net to nuke this a question on the part of the
mate= merely. Bet it was eel satisfactory answer to him to say,
when k complained of this eneduct of the mete, that that conduct
should not be repressed because she masters had conducted them.
sel es•hupmperly t to. He should be most sorry to make this a
question of the masters against the men. It was one of greater
-impatience. He would say, that it was the interest of the men
that acme remedy should be applied to the tail system that existed,
and if the masters acted improperly towards the men than Let the
Home apply the same principle towards them also. The measure
should be a general cane not confined either to one potty or
the steer. Let us hook then at existing circumstances, aid see
whether they did not make it absolutely necessary to inquire into
! and expoin the system which at present so unhappily prevailed. He
most IL-mlir believed that •becircuinstaiees which had been stated
.
this night showed the veri great necessity of an inquire being im-
mediately instituted ; and lie believed too that the feeli fg of Par.
?lamest, which had now been evinced upon the eubject. when
made known, would hove a mod salutary effect upon the rends of
these misguided and deluded men. He believed it would induce
them to see the policy as we 6 as *helm of abandoning this most
pernicious syst en. He hod inseve:l letters truer all pats. inform.
ing him of toe very serious effects which this system woikati. In a
letter from a Gentleman at Dublin it was stated, that mit of this
mimbination system no less than ten lives had been sacrificed, and
these of men who had nothing whatever to do with these Unions ?
wed yet not one of the persons concerned in these atroeibus murders
had been brouttlft to justice. Was it fit that such a stare of
r=ings should be allowed tteeme... Re netnaut econetweitisp 9 • those
gie hose of 'f n neeteeett men shoiXl be lest. and rut a single
Otitet uncle to pettish the guilty ? But the details oh these murders !
were esplained. The letter stated, that if the carpenters tot ned oat
they employed the joiners to avenge:heir cause agaitst the masters.
aid tf the joiners turned out they employed the carpenters, and
that the law wax sought to be crated. As tar as the master was
otamroed in the acts of these societies, it was %tamed in the letter,
that it was fixed they should employ only twelve apprentices, and
bemuse one master had takes a thirteenth, he was immediately
• competed by the Union to dismiss him under the tern:: of all the
non leavir.e. him. Seth a power as this was greater that: ever Par-
t linneet itself possessed, and would, if not eh:eked, toteliy usurp
f all the censtituted authosides of the country. It was absolutely
inmerasive on the Hosea to interpose its authority and 'lilt an end
to scathe a state of things. Pertinent nt must carry its Tiir.,4 lur,iier
I than these men, and contemplate not the interest only et a (.1.‘44,
but if the whole body of the people. The case of 11r. Robinson
was a most conspicuous one. That person was an eminent iron.
mar:stf tch/rte. lie went to Ireland and established a factory for
making of nails His men disputed with him Sr.:' refused to work,
i but finding Mr. Robinson too strong for them, the carpenters formed
4 themielves into a body of no less than 3,009 men, who all declared
that they staid not use Robinson's nails ; and if they were obliged
to uus them they would drive them crooked : the consequence ww,,
the factory was sopped, and they were now actneley importing the
t very mankind of nails from Birmingham which its y could have
had made in I:cline'. Here then was a este where it-was codes-
enured to introeuce the maim facturing of nails into Ireland, which
i would have been a very beneficial thing to that country, aided as it
Fi
would hare been by English talent and English capital; and yet
this attempt was entirely fiusti stet! owing to this pernicious system
of combination. Surely these things called loudly for inquiry.
lie *hilted not indeed to revive the old law ; what he wanted was a
i ints better and mere efficient than the old combination laws to put
! an indite diis aeominable system; and he thought that the present
was tad meet favourable time in which such a measure should be
done Ii was necessary to do it cautiously, and to consider well what
was the best plan which could be adapael to do away with so great
an vial- Sainethieg must be done to protect the masters, whose
: intemes-were now at the mercy of :hese Unions. The masters sp.
pliedlo hen for iviTista..ce. Hu answer was that they should have
rteeentssheance selects it was In his power to afford ; that there
was *e law, the aid of the police, and even the ninitary
if theseingeney reqeired et. The answer to this was, that Sty
could mg avail themselves of any of these things, because they
I :Cy set how to convict the men acting against them, such wesehe
system with which these combinations procetehil. The only ad.
vise, shereare, which It: wai able to give them war—" enter into a
tomeer.combination. tern off these non, and see nhether you can.
eot aitiniately do without them?' But this was a course most
&Matte to be avoided. as it would excee on ill feeling miriade
those seen who should consent to work contrary to the re.
huistioes of the Sinieries. Yet such sons the only randy
stuck he could, as the law at present *toad, sogrtest--one
111CnIstid certainly b; him with the utmost reluctance, be.
14Ises as he said, it was calculated to exere a strong feeling
Belem the men who shoold adieu to their duty, and con.
Item to work. lie *mid conceive no case half so spore. re the
cat of II man who was thrown nut of employment because he
itoule not join these Uniens, nor mix !Amide up with the cora-
-1 lehaions that existed. What was the case iff weft a man ? Why
he wood; venture to say there were twenty towns i:i England where
that moon meld not dare walk the streets from fear of personal in.
tut, Ming done him by the members ea these eforisties. Ile did
4°M.theerfare, that aftce having dna* every thing that was con-
.
Myr! beneficial to the interests of the sod:men; and after hav!ri
, omit a full inquiry into all the circumstances that had oceuersd, is
hlenninee woeld lee appointed to enter into the question fully and
nnereisily; and tint the ecsuk of :heir delikretions would be
may law which would prnve en dhows) remedy both to tl:c
totem avid the men, of the protect meat injurious system ; and
'ouch, if 004 put as end to, wooed Week more serious Jujuy to this
Settery than any thing ha had known to exist since he hail had the
toxin of flinty his present station in the Government of the
comoy.
Mr. H. GURNEY &fended the conduct of the Committee who
!at en the Bill which was pissed last Session repealing the Com.
poetics laws. All the evidence which was adduced tended to
Site that those laws ratites aggravated than prevented the vielence
std outrage which then took !lace between the masters and we e.'
ls o. lie believed ;hat the re-enactment of those laws, after the
',Tenee which showed that they did not prevent those evils, nor
Lai any tradeney to prevset any cambina',on whatever, would be
i.uatnecossary, and United mustobjeetienehle.
4AlAlf VV• RIDLEY complained that the Committee hod not
re
.Im:trended tetra more efficient la to substitute those which
aide id •^pesed ehonld be termite Zia Act of the Ilor.our-
41'11des11;en Ihlr. Hume) had ccr inly been much mioon.
.tee". 44, sad hie object considerably th n, which had given rise
02140,, eof these proceedings. He however, bound to say,
In Hon. Gentleman had, in* nstances titan one, rehr-
tre"&.th' 1". tilt" in'o which mesons had fallen on the coostrac-
._lo or hie Act. Rut he (Sir M. W. *linty) had frequetely hardhee teniatk trade by persons relPPe'intf these tYl""--th3"11..
Hone bad repealed Me Combiaation Less and they were now
141:s tiititied HI uniting. With regard to What had been mad by
tee R
I'ht Honourable Secretary of State for the Home three-
,
r .:4 ,
I!'emmettn.would S the state of some of the northern ports, he
I'9 r cotroberete that Right Honourable ticutlonan's sate-
' 1