The Sun.
London, England, 1864-10-11 00:00:00

The Great Strike of Collfers.

Yesterday the largest meeting which has been yet held
of the colliers on strike in South Staffordshire took place at
Bilston. Detachments of men marched into the town from
Wednesbury, Great Bridge, Tipton, Dudley, Oldbury, and
Brierly Hill, each headed by bands of music and men carry-
ing mottoed banners. They were followed by armed police-
men until by the time the meeting commenced the police-
men in the town numbered 150 sabres. At the meeting there
were perhaps 8,000 perscnP, nearly all of them miners.
The speakers complained of alleged interference by the
police authorities, and said they should bEng such intc:fe-
rence before the constituted authorities, for the men on strike
were peaceable and loyal subjects for her Majesty, and
would allow no one to tempt them to break the peace. We
may, however, sta' e the alleged interference consisted only
of the refusal of Major M'Knight, the deputy chief constable
of Staffordshire, to allow the bands to play to and fro on
the high road near to the collieries where miners are at
work, such movements by the men who are out being in-
tended to draw out the men who have resumed work. Lord
Leigh's offers were again severely strictured,and clergymen
, and others who had counselled a return to wark on mas-

ters' terms, were censured as friends only of the wealthy.
Efforts made on 'ho previous night by individual employers
to secure some arrangement between themselves and the
leaders of the strike were described ; and the determination
repeated that henceforth no communications, with such an
olj, et in view, shall take place between representatives of
the two contending sides. It wrs repeated that the masters
were quite able to give the rise, and that they were only
cent:ading for the subjcation of the men. Central points
at which bands of men were
in the district were announced,
to meet on the morrow (this) moining, to beat the dtuals
at ha'f-past four in the moiaing, to "draw out the black-

legs."
The Uhairman rnnounced that pecuniary help and expres-
sions of sympathy bad been received from the Birmingham
branch of the Amalgamated Engineers, whose secretary had
also been instructed by the lodge to write to the general
secretary with a view to a grant from the general fund. The
Birmingham Lodge had also formed itself into a committee
to procure help from other soces.
At the close of the meeting, irresolution veal una"imously
come to that the strike ehotOd be contiLued till the martens
gave them " the'r wages."
The eighty Lancers, who are in barj.`2:kg in Birmingham'
" ready to ride
have for some time been kept " saddled-up,
into the black country at a moment's notice, end a
.-::nomber
of the volunteers have been kept under arms in Bingley
Hall ready for any emergency to which the colliers' strike
might give rise in Birmingham, where there is a strong
sympathy with the colliers amongst all classes,and where a
rumour had got afloat that the colliers intended to march
into the town in vast numbers with enything but a peace-
able intention.
Yesterday the leaders of the movement received an official
communication from the Mayor of Birmingham, in answer
to a formal application which the colliers had made to his
worship desiring permission to hold a meeting in the out•
skirts of the town, and in which his worship states his rea-
son for refusing to comply with such application.
During the whole of the strike the Earl of Dudley has
had one of his collieries (Hirnley Collier) at work by men
who had accepted the reduced wages; but the workmen
have been subjected to much tainting and intimidation.
Yesterday the cottage of one of these workmen, named Jos.
Roberts, who lives at Gomel Wood, was partially destroy( d,
and his own life, and that also of all his familly, attempted
by one of these da3tardly trade outrages which are un-
happily so notorious in workmen's disputes in Sheffield.
At an early hour in the morning Roberts, who was sleep-
ing with his wife and children in the top storey
-load of his
dwelling, was aroused by something like a heavilyde
can having been thrust through the window of the bed-
room in which they were all lying, and almost imme
diately afterwards a terrible explosion happened, which
blew off the roof of the house. Assistance was soon forth-
coming, when it was found all the sleepers had experienced
a;,Providential escape. They were all uninjured. This is
the first colliers' strike during wh:oh this class of outrage
has been committed in this district ; but the ono of yester-
day is the third crime of the kind which has been com-
mitted here during the present movement. No detection
has yet taken place in either instance, but the police autho-
rities are making every effort to secure the arrest of the
offenders,