The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1826-08-07 00:00:00

COMBINATION OF WORKMEN.

There now exists, among certain of the journeymen shoemakers
of Edinburgh, a combination of the most overbearing and auda.
cious of any we have yet heard of. The conduct they have recent.
ly observed towards a respectable tradesman is such as must bring
some of them under the lash of the law. We have obtained a
summary of his case, as it has been laid in a memorial bdbre the
proper authorities; and leave our readers to wonder how such a
system of tyranny as it discloses can be upheld among the free-locm
subjects of this country, and still more, how it can for a moment
be submitted toe--Some time. ago, two shoemakers in the me.
menialiat's employment intimated to him that he must turn oft'
two others in his employment, because these men were in arrear
to the Soc'ety of Journeymen Shoemakers, for whom they were
delega e . The memorialist demanded, if, in case he should dis.
charge these individuals, the Society would sup* hint wilt
' others in their place. To this the delegates said, they had nothin;
to do with that. lie then raid he could not think of parting with
the men, who were as useful as any he hail in his employment.
They replied, that then his shop was struck, which meant that a
guard would be placed on it, to prevent any other men from getting
into his employment! HI the course of half an hour, a guard of
two men were accordingly placed opposite the door, who walked
backward and forward as sentinels. Soon after this. another journey.
man came to the shop and applied for work, and having obtained
the same he was immediately accosted by one of the sentinels, who
intimated to him that he was in danger of his life it he worked for
the memorialist, as his shop was struck. He even followed the mas,
to his lodgings, and staled the circumstances to his lardiorcl,who fell
in with the views otr his informant, by p:remptorily desiring his
lodger to return the work immediately or leave his house. The man
thus persecuted. complied with the former alternative. After the
guard had remained on the shop for a day, the memorialist wrote to
the Secretary of the Society, that he would comply with their wishes,
by discharging the obnoxious individuals from his employment
on Saturday following. linnoedia ely alter, this functionary, sc.
cotnpanied by others, called and stated, that lie had convened a
committee; and that as memorialist had not immediately complied
with the rders given by the two delegates, they had resolved spline
him o. e pound sterling for contempt of authority, he being bound
at s.rite time to dismiss the men complained against! Behaving
no, alteinattve, and being afraid that his customers would he
disappointed and his business ruined, agreed to pay If. but
meatit n d that they would stand the consequence of such extraordi.
nary procealing . The oard was then removed. The following
weak, businesalbeing very dull, the memoraiatist was under the
necessity of d schargi g one workman ; Immediately upon which,
two of the association, and workmen of his own, called at his house
and demanded to know why he did not give the man work. They
uses told that he had none to give hint ; and that if busineu did
not turn out bet.er, ha would have to part with :nom of them.
They then went away, and returned again in the course of half an
hour to the shop, and intimated to the memorialist that his shop
was blocked for six months front that elate, which meanie, that he
is not allowed to employ any new workmen during that period; a
grievance which will be much aggravated, should he be obliged, in
consequence of still farther depression in business, tediseharge mere
of his men ; for, in that case, lie cannot re-engage them on any
terms within the six months, should an increase of bodices require
ll'aidy Chronicle.

John Fordham, who was ordered to be executed at New-
gate on Monday, has been respited for one week.
SIN GUI. A R A CCIDE N T.—LIMRFRG, JULY 15.—The

Supplernent to a Ga:xttc of to-day contains the following
account:—" Yesterday the great tower, known by the.
name of the Town-hall Tower, built in 1191, fell down.
Being constantly inhabited, and surrounded with houses, it
might be feared that its fall would cause many disasters,
especially as a number of workmen were employed in build-
ing the new Town-hall, and many of them were inside
the tower, repairing it. Considering the circumstances,
it may be considered as fortunate that only a few persons
were killed, among whom were the daughter of the
keeper of the tower, a girl of fifteen, antd two grena-
diers of the garrison, whom curiosity had attracted to the
spot. Otherwise little damage was done, because the indi-
cations of the danger which appeared in the course of the
day, had attracted the attention of persons in the neigh-
bourhood, who were all prepared for flight. The tower
fell in a manner least calculated to do injury. The tower
walls gave way, and the upper part of the building sunk
down in the centre, filling up the space, and what there
was not room for fell in the square on the west side, where
the hackney-coaches usually stand ; but they had been
removed on account of the building of the Town-hall. For
a short time, however' the citizens were in great anxiety,
because the vast cloud of dust made it impossible to se
what damage had been done. The great bell has been found
uninjured among the rubbish."
FRACAS Ear ItAORDINAILY.—A laughablefraeos (though
rather serious in its c,onsequencet) took place at the Bil-
liard-room at Tiverton. Two gentlemen on their travels,
having dined and drank a seicient quantity of the juice
of the grape, made the best of their way to this popular
place of resort, in order to have a friendly game together.
The landlord being in attendance, offered his services as
marker,and all proceeded smcothly, until Baniface chanced
to commit a slight error, and counted 14 instead of 4 ;
which on being discovered, an attack, vi et areas, was
commenced on the unfortunate marker. John (the
waiter) coming in to his master's assistance, a battle royal
ensued. At length the master was thrown down and had
two or three of his ribs fractured—John was overturned-
on a lot of empty bottles, three dozen of which were
crushed to atoms by his portly person—and the friends
very coolly ordered a post-chaise and rode to Ashley, to
bring the Mayor acquainted with the true facts of the case,
very wisely considering that the matter would most pro-
bably come under his Worship's cognizance.
ANOTHER MASSACRE OF AN ENGLISH CREW.—On the
25111 April last, the brigantine Toni Codcrifvflelatol, James
Potter, master, on arriving off St. Andrelv 1.,0n the coast
of Africa, saw a vessel at anchor oft' that !dice, with her
sails and rigging cut away. The crew of the Tom Cod
hailed her, and hoisted their colours; but Ina being
answered they proceeded to board, when it was discovered
to be the wreck of the schooner Union, of Bristol. There
was not a living person on board ; and they were dreadfully
shocked to behold six of her crew lying in different parts of
the vessel, naked and inhumanly murdered; one was over-
baard alongside. Ile decks were broken up, and all her
cargo, excepting a few casks of palm oil, plundered; at this
time there were several canoes in sight alongshore, full of
men, who, as soon as the crew of the Tom Cod had quitted
her, went on board, ran her on shore upon the rocks, and
destroyed her. The Tom Cod fired several shots at them,
which the savages did not appear to care for.
His Majesty's steam-packet Water Sprite arrived at
Guernsey from Weymouth, on Wednesday morning, after
a run of 8 hours, and left ;his for Jersey in the afternoon
of the same day. She is destined, with two other vessels
of the same class, to convey the mails between Weymouth
and these islands. G. W. Freeling, Esq., Assistant-Secre-
tary in the General Post-office, together with several other
gentlemen connected with the Post-office Department, were
en board. It appears that the object of their visit is to
make arrangements previous to the steam-packets com-
mencing to ply. The sailing packets will continue to con-
vey the mails a short time longer.—(Guernsey Star.