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

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rending to mach misreptesentation. and very possibly to the dis-
pleasure of thane whose interests lie %slid especially bound to pro.
toot—he meant those he had the honour to represent in that Hoare
the Hon. Gentleman alluded to Liverpool) ; but he had felt it to
be his duty to persevere even under the danger of forfeiting their
good opinion i and he was sure, when they calmly considered the
Modem" of the menthe* against which his oppointion wee directed.
that they would be thankful for hie having milled the attention of
I:Ltt House to the subject. (Hear, hear.) The Right Hon, Gm.-
tleman then moved that a Select Committee be appointed to ietjutie
into the conduct of workmen in various parts of the Unite.l king-
dom, and to take into their consideration the propriety of the repent
of the bili of Geo. IV. chap. 95.
Mr. HUME. (ruin the attention he had paid to this subject,
thought himself entitled to offer a few observations. No person
had watched whit more care than he had the proceedings antler the
late Act, and he was not unaware of those instances of viokace and
interrupttoo to the public tranquillity upon which the }tight lion.
Gentleman (Mfr. llttekissrm) founded his objections. lie should he
happy to go into a Committee because he was CISIViRC*; it would
be proved that many had availed themselves of the benefit of the
measure of last Seesion,.without abusing their freedom, and that it
had proved of great advahtage to labourer and employer. He ai-cl
not mean, however, to deny thanthcre had been exceptions. than
thine lied been disturbances and viola:cc, but they had not, in Ida i
o i lion, Vented the gener; 1 prhiciple of the Wit. No ore who "
c:nsidered for a moment the dependent state in which I/theatres
end workmen had been kept br the late law, could be sormieed if
them was a slight reaction. ( her.) There was, however, an.
othee reason which bad not been seeriently intended to by the
Right Hon. Gentleman. The call for labour 1... d incretuted in an
unprecedented degree since the pissing of the Act. It was tint
which had enabled the workman to presume, and to orbited&
his supposed rights in oppotitlon to 11111 employer; it WAS than
scarcity of labourers moil the increased demand which Lad en.
cuureged than to those encases which had been the etilneet
of complaint. He owed it to himself and the Committee to ,taut
what bad passed on this Bill, and be intuited he should prove
that the Right Honourable Gentleman had been mistaken. lie
had stated distirtaly in that Comm itteethat there were two morns
of proceeding, one under the Statute Law, and the other under the
(:,moon Law ; bat that the Common Law WAS the MOM oppres-
sive of the moo, because by it any •two or three 'notions (mind
together considering about wages wore liable to avitupialty of a
!ate': imprisonment. 407 measure to remedy the e • (mile
was of course entirely (attic, unless that motility removed.
Nothing, hetwesu, bed banes done in the Committer witheut tbd
most mature c alliteration ; they sat fotty-seven days ; what was
proved before then' in evidence, was, on his motion, printed in the
form of Resolutions. These Resolutions bad Leen In the fiance
of the Committee for fourteen days, and he could state without
fear of contradiction. that there bed not been a dissentient route;-
that they had come to 'unanimous opinion upon every poise; •
ceptieg only the question of machinery. Upon that question ten
gilpx
hod been a delay, but en hie advice the Committee had nally
placed it in the fornt of a Resolution, which stated, that hi prevent'
the contention, violence, and murder which had ensued, the
Statute Lair, and also the Common Law„ be repealed. These
facts he was quite satisfied to rest upon the examination of the
printed Resolutions. With regard to the operation of the Bill,
he called upon the Right Honourable Ovulation to acknowidger
what he had certainly nut stated, that there had been meetirm for
pesemble settlements of differences between masters and norkmee,
as well as violent attempts at compulsion. So far the Act had
been of service; it gave the workmen es well as the masters the
{newer to consult for their interest, and he begged it to be
borne in mind, that although there had been many con.
vicions under the Combination Laws for conspiracies among the
workmen, and none among the employere, still it was nut to
be thence inferred that the masters did not conspire. The diffi-
culty of detection and proof bad coated the difference, and It was
therefore worth their consideratim whether multiplied eroeseedings
under the Combination Law, inflicting months of imprimmnent,
and meeting violence and hatred. was to be preferred to a peaceable
and amicable compromise. The itight lion. Gentleman could not
have read the Act attentively, or he would net have said it wet cu-
dowdy worded ,• the language made use of being that of the nth
said ellth of the late reign, anti particularly »elected to prevent mis-
construction. The 6th clause, amend of taking sway the power of
punishing acts of violence, or lessening the efficacy of existing laws,
actually gave an accumulative power. (Rear, hear.) Under other
moms there was a regular process of law, which oneupied much:
time; but this gave a power of punishing immediately upon nom.
vienion before the nearest Magistrate; and indeed both the pus
nishment and the meats had been suggested by the Honour:
able lllember for Yorkshire (Mr. Stuart Wortley), who bad
intimated that the breaking of machinery prevailed to a con-
siderable extent in the district from which he came, and that
it would be desirable to adopt some more speedy remedy
than the long process which the law then regnireti. But did Mot
take away from the power of any existing Acts ? No such thing;
the 6th section especially provides that this Act do not affect any
existing law ; and only enacts that persons convicted under it be
net punishable again. It hail therefore only given a choice of
punishing under a summary manner, or by the more tedious pro-
m., of the old law. (11ea,.) This must be, he contended, of W-
heat ; and they therefore came to the plain question, that if
masters would not exercise the remedy. they had no right to corm%
plain. His opinion was, that masters, should he at liberty to employ
whom they pleased—the men to refute ; but that whenever men
rendered themselves liable to the operations of the sccondclause it • ,
was impossible for them to escape. The failure, therefore, of. the
Art, if failure there was, proceeded solely from the parties not . .
eying its provisions with firmness into effect. The Ht. Lion. neat.
lied mentioned that there were alum murders since ttegparming of
the Act. If there were he had not heard of more than lite or viz,
and those moody in Dublin, where there had been murders fee.
quently before the Act, and which were solely to be attributed to
the defective state of the police. It should be recollected, that
there was an union of fifty trades in Dublin, and that it had been
the custom for the camomile when they thought themselves
aggrieved. to get the cunt...re to Inflict punishment. and the cur.
tiers in their turn, when " colts," as they cnlled the new mm,
were introduced, to seek the aid of the hatters,or some other trade;
but he was able to state, upon the authority of a letter be had re-
ceived from the Secretary of the Union in Dublin, that thole prac
tices were much diminished, end that the uncles implored the
House not to be deprived of their freedom from the crimes of
others. It would be mono. therefore, to punish the many for the •
faults of a few. It was sot always the men either who were guilty
of outrages; the masters were frequently as bad. In Glasgow
the workmen of a Mr. Dunlop turned oat. What did he do, did
the House suppose? Why, he summoned all the masters in Glas-
gow to come forward and make a stand against this attempt. The
masters obeyed the sumnenna, and came to an unanimous Imola.
time, that if all Dunlop's workmen did not return immediately •
to their duty they would discharge next day the ten thou.
sand wtwkmeti engaged in their own manufactures. In vain
did the workmen protest against this art of injustice, and item
plies the masters not to punish them for the fault of ethane
their complaints were disreended, and upwards of twelve Omen
sand workmen turned into the streets of Glasgow without say
hope of meeting work in any other place. Would the House
consider the conduct of the seamen tit to be planed in compariton
with this ? (Cries of " Hear, hear.") What had been the re.
suit of this contest? Why, the masters did get the better of
the workmen. The workmen were compelled, after holding out for
five weeks, to return to their duty, and the masters to complete their
triumph, actually charged interest upon their wages at the rate of
10 per cent. as a compensation, they said, for the loss they had in.
• surred by the conduct of the workmen. The tame had happened at ..
Manchester and various other places. The Right Hon. Gentlemen .
had said sailors would not sail with those who did not belong to
the Union. It was not always I.a in the Union be knew a Mr.
King, a tin menufacturer, who had turned eff one of his workmen . ,
for gator! (ook, and by that Mann hist amentomere others,
who ing to their amides, were bnund to fallow their comps.
nice. Mr. King be knew mainutined Ms resolution, and absplutely
adVertised foe workmen, stipulating that he would not receive one
of any society lehatevee The amnequer.ce was, that the last time
he (Yr, Hunte) beard of him, he had obtained sixty workmeo un-
connected with any of the Unions he disliked. At Menehestat
the practice of the masters was to keep a list which wee
invited), transmitted from one house to another, in maim
what the following worts :—" Sir, we beg leave to transmit
you the names of Mote who have turned out in our service, seed
remain, yours." None could obtain employment who were
mentioned in these lists ; and if this was not a combination.
of the masters against the men he knew rot what was. He
water convinced there was not one who would not concur with
the Right Hon. Gentleman that somethirg was proper to by done.
llc only eldrasead.of-liiovelest no ...,—..".: woad be steered to be
adopted that should indiseriminetely involve the innocent with the
guilty. The Right Hon. Gentleman had brought the case of the
colliers before the House, but be (Mr. Mime) would just mention
one tact on that subject : there motet' a law expremly referring to
the COIIeSiCS of Smtlaut. That law had be found so completely
inefficient that it was tried whether it might not he done matelot,
and the result was exactly at wee expected. Whet ho required
(vas, that the men should be at liberty, to weak upon their own.
interests ; but if they were net reasonable in the estimate of theie
wages, or should attempt to intimidate or dictate. to their toasters,
i then the masters, should be allowed to lake that lion stand against
them which the case justified. He, Mr one, ehottld hare no 'Mier-
' tion to a Conurduee of Inquiry, it the Right Hon. Gentleman
should be able to devise the means of more effectually establishing
a right understanding between the masters anti men; for no one
deprecated more than he did the acts of violct,ce and truintidatica
which bad taken place.
Mr. PEEL said. he was not aware till to-night that the numLer
of Gentlemen who set on the tommittee to frame the Bill had
&neonatal to fifty, or that their deliberetions had extended to so
long it period at had been stated. lie must say, that these facts
had entirely convinced bins that a mutant:de of counsellors was
'rather an cell than a good. He thought the precipitate repeal of
thirty-six Statutes, which constituted a body of law regulating the
respective rights of master and 'creme without substituting any
new measure in their stead, was, to say the least, a hazardous tut-
dertaking. In his judninent, this measure, ought to have been
proceeded in with considerable caution. Ile was not intending to
vindicate the old Law, among which there were undottbhdly may
things very justly objectionable ; but he did think that before it
WAS attempted to repeal them souse better mode of :mold:Mg the
rtlations betweeo the empinyer said the journey Oman ought to hat c
been brought he. He was convinced that no subjort could be .
more important, nor any more worthy the serious romideration of .
this House, than the queerion now before it ; invoking as it did the ,n
interests of so lime a portion of the f llibl;C; and Le nog sure :hum • •
it would meet with the most calm deliberation, as there could net , ~
possibly be any political feeling mixed up with it. But if it should. t
be refused to appoint a Cosninittee, then it would be impossible Ili
my that the ?freer' of the Act had been attended rrat: thou, balm.

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