The Sun.
London, England, 1865-03-16 00:00:00

London was hold last evening at the Sussex Hotel, Bou-
verie-street, Fleet-street, to consider the best means to be
adopted to aid their brethren in the iron trades successfully
to resist what is stated in the circular to be " one of the
most stupendous attacks ever yet made by combined capital
on labour." A deputation from the Brierley-hill Executive
Council of the National Association of Ironworkers, and a
deputation from the Millmen's Association were present.
There were present in the body of the room upwards of
150, chiefly delegates. _

Mr. G. PorrEß having been called to the chair, after ex-
plaining the object of the meeting, observed that capital
and labour were combating with each other in the iron
trade. On the one side capital, with its unlimited wealth
its unbounded influence, and its immense resources, was
standing in array against labour, while on the other side
labour, which had been seeking fair remuneration for its
services, stood by willing to see what the employers meant
by this present lock-out. The men believed the masters
were actuated by a principle which sought not only a re-
duction of wages) but the destruction of all combination on
the part of the working men. For a proof of this assertion
he had only to refer to their own organ, the Mining Journal,
which clearly stated that to be the fact. The Government
of the country bad given the. working men the privilege of
and the liberty of combining together for the protection of
labour. The ironmasters said it mattered not to them what the
Government had done; they did not approve these combina-
tions, and would therefore use all the means in their power
to destroy them. The men said they combined not to in-
jure others, but to benefit themselves and maintain their
own social and political position. The masters did not agree
with this, and the Times of that day said that the men had
brought this combination of the masters into existence—
that they were originators of combinations. But he be-
lieved it could be proved that the maste rs had had their secret
combinations before the men adopted the principle. Mr.
Potter then stated the various steps that had ultimately led
to the present lock-out. On the 31st of December, 1864, the
masters gave notice to the puddlers of intending to reduce
their wages Is. per ton and the millmen 10 per cent. A
deputation of workmen waited on the masters and ex-
pressed their willingness to accept half the reduction, or 6d.
per ton to the puddlers and 5 per cent. on the wages of the
millmen. But the employers treated the proposition with
contempt and indignation, and told the men that they must
submit to the terms they had themselves proposed. Tha
delegate of South Staffordshire said they would submit to
the reduction, but the delegate of North Staffordshire said
he did not think their men would submit ; and it was then
agreed that the North Staffordshire men should cease work,
while the South Staffordshire men submitted to the reduc-

tion. That was a legitimate movement, and the men had
a right to come to that decision. Well, the masters of
North Staffordshire, finding they had lost their men, ap-
pealed to the masters in other parts of the country, saying
that if they did not interfere the demands of the men must
be conceded. The ironraasters then held a meeting, at
which it was determined that if the North Staffordshire
men did not return to work a lock-out should take place.
A fortnight's notice was then served upon the men, and
the South Staffordshire men then made every possible
effort to avert such a step, and requested the North Staf-
fordshire men to resume work, and told them that if they
did not their allowance from the funds would be stopped.
But the men of North Staffordshire said they would not
return. These efforts on the part of the South Stafford-
shire men it was supposed would be satisfactory to the mas-
ters, but instead of that the masters gave the men no credit
for what they had done, and expressed their determination
to carry the lock-out into effect. This act on the part of the
masters was most unwarrantable and unjust—nay, more, he
believed the iron masters were guilty of an illegal con-
spiracy, and that if the Legislature did its duty it would at
once institute an inquiry into their proceedings. There
was nothing on record which could possibly justify the mas-

ters in resorting to these measures. But it was done, and
the masters had thought fit to place themselves on
this basis. They told the men that they believed secret
support would be given to the men on strike, and they had
therefore made up their minds to bring the question to an
issue, and that issue was the destruction of all trade societies.
The present struggle must continue if the masters persist
in the lock-out. How was it possible for the men of South
Staffordshire to compel the men of North Staffordshire to
resume their work? They had done their utmost to conciliate
the masters. They were prepared to meet the masters and
discuss the question, but the masters would never seek an

interview with the men. If the masters had placed confi-
dence in the men he was persuaded that an arrangement
might have been come to, and the lock-out have been
avoided. The present position of the men, therefore, in the
iron trade rested entirely with the ironmasters themselves.
The working men did not grudge the advantages which
capital enjoyed, but they fairly claimed a share of those ad-
vantages to which theii labour so largely contributed. If,
however, it should become a serious contest between capital
and labour, the working classes would have nothing to fear.
They could with ease cross the Atlantic and find a home in
the world, and where ample remuneration could be obtained
for their labour. But the working men did not desire to
enter into a combat with capital. They never advocated
strikes. He had never recommended a strike. But whenever
a case of tyranny on the part of the masters occurred, then
he had ever been ready to come to the rescue. Still he had
no abiding faith in strikes. The time had come when their
disputes ought to be settled by conciliation. Let the masters
meet the men. Why should they stand aloof ? Such meet-
ings had taken place in the building trade, and why not in
the iron trade ? He would guarantee that if the masters
would meet the men, in nine cases out of ten there woula
be no necesssity for a strike. But the masters refused to
adopt this conciliatory course, hence the necessity of the
working men putting themselves on a proper basis before
the world. Let it, then, go forth that all they asked was
a fair share of the profits derived from capital and labour
combined.

Mr. HOWELL, a member of the Council of Operative
Bricklayers, asked by what authority the present meeting
had been convened. It had not been called together by the
Trades' Council, and was therefore an illegal and iurespon
Bible meeting.
A great deal of angry discussion ensued, and there was
much noise and confusion, but finally it was agreed that
the meeting, though it might have been informally called
together, should be considered legal for the purpose of
hearing the deputations from the North of England. It was
afterwards stated that the meeting was actually summoned
by the editor of the Beehive newspaper, which is the chief
organ of the trades' unions.
Mr. ATKINS, the president of Brierley_hill National Asso-
ciation of Ironworkers, then addressed the meeting. He
said the association to which he belonged was at the present
moment under a dark cloud. It had been privately initiated
at a time when the remuneration the ironworkers received
for their labour was wholly inadequate to support them and
their wives and families. Their union had grown up gra-
dually, and the association had enrolled upwards of 5,000
members; but ho believed that the real object of the masters
was to crush the association. One of them had declared as
much to a working man who had waited upon him as a
member of a deputation. He said, " Your trades' unions
will soon go to the four winds, and then we will put the
screw on you."
Mr. HOBSON, one of the deputation from Brierley-hill,
said that the men considered the lock-out by the ironm asters
to be one of the most unjust acts that had ever been taken
against any body of workmen. The masters had stated that
they were as firm as a rock in their determination to resort
to a lock-out unless the men of North Staffordshire re-
turned to their work ; but how could the men of South
Staffordshire bring this about ? They had endeavoured
to .do so, but without avail. It was true they had con-
tributed to support the North Staffordshire men as long
as their funds lasted, but when the lock-out came they
needed those funds themselves, and now they came to
solicit the sympathy of the metropolitan trades
unions. The conspiracy of the masters will only have the
effect of cementing the men more firmly together.
Mr. DAVIS, the treasurer of the Brierly-hill Association,
said that prior to the trade having a union the puddlers
were paid by a sliding scale, which was found to work
oppressively, and the original object of the union was to
destroy the sliding scale. By it the men were sometimes
reduced to a rate of wages so low as to be altogether in-
adequate to their support. Rut the masters wished to
maintain the sliding scale, and hence the " lock-out," be-
cause the men would not submit to it. It had been pro-
posed that they should puddle bars in South Staffordshire
and send them to North Staffordshire ; but that they
would never do. They were quite willing to wait the issue
of the " lock-out." Meanwhile, they were glad to see the
faces of their fellow-workmen in London, and to receive
from them a cheer on their way.

The CHAIRMAN then read a letter which he had received
from a Mr. Kane, the treasurer of the Gateshead Executive

of the Trades Council, in which he stated that they had
upwards of 4,000 of their members locked out, ranging from
Sheffield to Newcastle-on-Tyne. It also stated that the
delegates from .each large work in the north had had a
lengthened interview with the ironmasters on Tuesday,

and that the meeting had been adjourned till Friday next,
(to-morrow) at the Railway Hotel, York. The writer
added that should the "lock-out" continue it would require
the assistance of every true unionist.
Mr. BIDDDLESTON, one of the deputation from the mill-
men, said that he represented a body of men who were iron-
workers, but nevertheless a distinct body from those who
designated themselves puddlers. Tho millmen had nothing
to do with the present struggle, still they were sufferers in
consequence of the " lock--out,"because their work was so
closely connected with that of the puddlers that anything
which affected the interests of the•one in an almost equal
degree affected that of the other. _ _ .

Mr. LAUGHTON, also a deputy from the Millmen's Asso-
ciation, said that the wages of the millmen were guided by
those of the puddlers, and hence the latter had the ympa-
thies of the former in their present struggle. There were
in his association upwards of 1,800 members suffering from
the lock-out of the puddlers.
Mr. CONOLLY then moved the following resolution :

That this meetingoid. elegates from ihe London Trades'
Societies having heard the statements made by,the deputa-
tion from the Executive Council of the National Associa-
tion of Ironworks, and from the Millmen's Association, is
of opinion that the efforts made by the council and delegates
of the ironworkers to avert the threatened lock-out was
amply sufficient to have satisfied the Ironnmsters' Associa-
tions, and all that they ought in justice to have required

from the men; and that a general lock-out in the face of
those efforts is unwarrantable, unjust. and deserving of the
strong condemnation of all classes."
He contended that the iron workmen in South Staffordshire
had done everything consistent with common sense. When
the men of North Staffordshire refused to return to their
work the South Staffordshire men took off their supplies;
what more could the masters expect from them ? It would
be the fault of the masters if this disastrous lock-out should
continuo.

Mr. OSBORN seconded the resolution, and entreated the
masters to withdraw the 'obnoxious notice, and allow the
men of South Staffordshire to go to work. But if they
should refuse to do this, the time would come when it would
be too late to attempt to retrieve their error in seeking to
coerce the free working men of England.
The meeting was then addressed by Mr. GEO. PHrePs,
from North Staffordshire, who said that the men had not
come out on strike upon their own responsibility, but that
they had the sanction of the Executive Council of the
Trades Union of their district. Ile described the men to
be in a state of great distress in consequence of the two
Executive Councils having withdrawn all assistance. There
were 496 men in his lock-out, to whom £B6O had been paid
for nine weeks, and then the allowances had stopped.

A MEmßEß—What was the effect of that ?
Mr. PHIPPs—It made the men more determined.
The resolution was put and carried unanimously.
It was then moved by Mr. GOITLE, and seconded by Mr.
LISTER :-

44 That the magnitude of this :aggression of combined
capital upon labour, evidently made not so much from the
local strike in North Staffordshire as from a desire on the
part of the ironmasters to destroy the combinations of the
men, calls for a corresponding amount of resistance on the
part of the trades' societies, and that this meeting, there-
fore, recommends every trade society throughout the king-
dom to at once vote, without waiting for any formal depu-
tation, a sum of money from their funds, also to place a
weekly levy on their members; the amounts thus voted
and raised to be sent as early as possible to the Executive
Councils of the men so unjustly locked out, and to the
North Staffordshire men on strike."

The resolution was unanimously agreed to.
A resolution to the effect that the meeting, having heard
the reports from the North and South Staffordshire dele-
gates, do strongly recommend a reconciliation between the
two districts, was unanimously adopted.

The meeting was then adjourned till Wed nesday next.

SPIRIT OP THE PUBLIC JOURNALS.

TI3IES.—The merchants who trade in China
have done a graceful act in sending Col. Gordon
home to us with a vote of thanks and congratula-
tion. This officer has just closed a career of foreign
service which reflects equal credit upon himself and
upon the community which claims him as a com-
patriot, and there is nothing exaggerated in the
terms of the address which has been presented to
him at Shanghai. His position has been, as the
Shanghai merchants say, one of unequalled diffi-
culty. He has been conspicuous- for gallantry and
for ability in organization and command, and he
has given to the Chinese Government an example
of a foreign officer serving them with honourable
fidelity and undeviating self-respect. This spectacle
of high principle and chivalrous conduct in a soldier
who had every opportunity to satisfy any amount of
greed of gain is not only gratifying to our national
pride, but it is also valuable to our national inte-
rests. When a British officer is emancipated from
the stringent obligations of his own service, and
allowed to go forth with an independent command
in a male of barbarians, it is satisfactory to know
that he comes back to us untarnished in fame, and
that he has left behind him among those barbarians
memories of acts of humanity, disinterestednsss, and
gallantry which even they must admire, although
they may feel no desire to imitate. Colonel Gordon
seems to have well earned the golden opinions he has
gained, and we think we may ratify in England all the
fervid testimonies which comes with him from China.
To this Captain of Engineers the Chinese Govern-
ment owes that the organization of the rebellion is
broken up, that the old capital of China is recovered
to the Emperor, and that the silk districts are freed
from the locusts that were devouring them. To
him also the European community owes the compa-
rative safety and quiet which exist in that portion
of China which is most immediately concerned with
our principal ' trading operations. It is now five
years since the banditti, who had so long harboured
at Nankin, issued in what seemed to be irresistible
force from the shells of the cities whose substance
they had devoured. They spread themselves over
the great alluvial plains which lie between Nankin
and Shanghai; they sacked the towns, they slaugh-
tered the people, and they drove before them an un-
resisting multitude, which no man might number,
but which rolled on in waves of famine, until it
surged against the outer ramparts of the European
settlement at Shanghai. Then it was that the hideous
scenes of slaughter and the broad horizon of blazing
cities moved our Admiral and our Commander of
the Land Forces to draw a cordon of 30 miles round
the settlement, and to make this a frontier line be-
yond which the murderers should not murder, and
within which the fugitives might at least starve in
peace. The Chinese officials were abject and useless
before this great invasion. They were ready to
catch at any offer of assistance. Something must b e
done. These millions could not be left to starve in
their asylum, where nothing was afforded to them
but immunity from violent death. Then first arose
the offers of foreign mercenary bands, who proposed
to go beyond this cordon of 30 miles, and drive back
the rebels, and recover the land from which the
fugitives had been expelled. Ward, the American,
a brave, energetic, but rapacious adventurer, who
had been too unscrupulous to be tolerated even in
California, was the first to raise a rowdy band of
European and American desperadoes, and to offer
them for hire to the Chinese Governor of Shanghai.
The exigency was so great that even our Admiral
patronised " General Ward," and condescended to
act with him. But the" General" sold his victories
at so much apiece, exacted contributions on every
side, and was rather more formidable to the Chinese
governors than to the Taepings. He was, however,
brave as a leader of ruffians need be, and he fell fight-
ing. He was succeeded byßurgevine, also anAmerica n,
one of the episodes of whose career was his desertionto the Taepings. It was the intolerable evils at-
tendant upon the employment of these adventurers
which compelled the Chinese Governor of Shanghai
to apply to Admiral Hope and Brigadier-General
Staveley to nominate some English officer, who
might form a force of disciplined Chinese to act
against the Taepings beyond the radius. This appli-
cation led to the appointment of Captain Gordon,
an officer of Engineers, who had distinguished him-
self in the Crimea, and who was then serving at
Shanghai. Gordon accepted the very perilous offer.
He went upon half-pay, thus risking his prospects
of promotion, and taking a step in which only one
officer—a medical officer—was found to follow him.
He applied himself diligently to the formation of a
force of 5,000 disciplined Chinese, whom he was
compelled to officer by European soldiers and sailors
and uon-commissioned officers from the army and
navy and mercantile marine. It was with these very
difficult materials that Gordon did his work. He
assumed his command in March, 1863. By dint of
a prompt provost-marshal he pommelled the China-
men into a sense of impropriety or impolicy of gene-
ral plundering ; by higher qualities of command he
managed to obtain the confidence and even the obe-
dience of the rough soldiers whom he had converted
into lieutenants and captains and majors. In April,
1863, he took the field against 100,000 fighting
Taepings, and he went out into those vast plains
where the paddy fields and cotton fields alternate
with mulberry plantations and bamboo groves,
where a net-work of canals intersects the unvarying
flats, and where nothing breaks the line of vision
but the waving reeds of the funeral mounds and the
charred ruins of walled cities. Here he worked
with immense patience and courage. His difficulties
were greater with his own troops than with
the enemy. He could organise an artillery, he
could teach the Chinamen to manage the cast-
away smooth-bore muskets of the Indian regi-
ments, he could even form a steam navy
of two boats drawing three feet of water each ; but
he could not always get the Chinese Governor to
pay his troops, and he could not always get his
troops to follow him without their pay. The bar-
barous names of the cities he recovered would
rather repel than excite the attention of the
reader ; and the slaughter he inflicted, the reverses
he sometimes underwent, and the wounds he suffered
would never give dignity or interest to a story
which must be told of such places as Chang-Chow,
Kin-Tan, and Sang Kiang. Soochow, however,
may claim to be known even in Europe, for the
city is famous for all that is imagined famous in
Chinese art, and has lo;ag been the seat of the most
costly and elaborate manufactures which survive in
that degenerating land. Having reduced all the
surrounding country, Gordon had planted breaching
batteries round the walls of this city, and had it in
his power. The Taeping Chiefs, finding resistance
hopeless, surrendered on conditions, and the troops
of the Chinese Governor were admitted within the
fortifications. The Chinaman immediately gave
loose to his instincts, broke all engagements, and
despite Gordon's indignation, the city was sacked.
This was an outrage which neither Gordon nor the
British Government could endure. Gordon retired
from the-active service of the Chinese Government,
but was persuaded after a time that the evils which
would accrue from leaving his followers without a
leader would be so great that he must continue at
least nominally at their head. When the news of
the treachery of the Chinese governor at Soochow
reached England the order in Council under which
Colonel Gordon had obtained leave to serve was
revoked. Gordon, however, had in the meantime
accepted as his mission the task of destroying the