The Sun.
London, England, 1853-12-30 00:00:00

BANKING DEI

Proprietors' capital 14,553,000
Rest ........... 3,198,455
Public deposits (in-
cluding Exchequer,
Commissioners of
National Debt, Sav-
ing's Banks, and
Dividend Accounts) 11,157,724
Other etepoihs
amen DaY and other
1,179,166

£40,696,267

Dated the 29th day of Dec., 185;

PRICE OF SUGAR.
The average price of Brown or Muscovado Sugar, computed
from the returns made in the week ending the 27th thy of
Dec.,
is 245. 6d, per hundredweight, exclusive of
theec.d 85ulties3Of Customs paid or payable thereon on the im-
portation thereof into Great Britain.

THE PRESTON STRII E.

A COUNTER-00111BINAT lON.

The Manchester Examiner has the Meowing Yes-
terday a step was taken in Manchesteir which will tend
ty bring this controversy to a settlemee it sooner than it
was ever likely to be while the Prent;on masters and
operatives kept towards each other a a attitude of un-
reasoning defiance, and resisted all tern is of accommoda-
tion. The general body of manufac Curers have been
looking on at the struggle in Presto n for some time
with mingled hope and fear—hope t hat, after a time,
the operatives would return to their work, and make
terms with their respective employers —fear that, from
the language of their leaders, there wa I a formed deter-
mination to make Preston the battle-g :round of a great
truggle, the success of which would extend the circle
f controversy and antagonism until 1. he whole manu-
acturing district was in anarchy and its trade in
jeopardy. Regarding the dispute, a s explained by
its leaders, as intended to achieve the supremacy of
labour over capital, the manufacturers of Lancashire
yesterday resolved, after mature and anxious delibera-
tion, to support the Preston masters in the present
struggle.' The resolution was adopted with entire
unanimity ; and the strength of this resolve may be
appreciated, when we state that the meeting repre-
sented manufacturing capitalists from Manchester and
Salford, Stockport, Bury, Ashton, Staly bridge, Glossop,
Hyde, Preston, Darwen, Bacup, Burnley, Colne,
Accrington, and other places. The question at issue at
Preston, which has produced this strong: resolution, was
not viewed as one of mere wages, but an one of mastery
—the question, in fact, whether the masters should
conduct their own businesses, or give them up to their
workpeople. Such is the result of ate combination of
the Preston factory operatives, aided "by those of other
manufacturing towns, as well as by n ien belonging to
other trades. One combination, appalling in its mag-
nitude, and, consequently, terrible in its power, has
produced another, destined, we believe, to prove itself
more powerful. It is with no pain we view
these counter-combinations ; whither they will lead
we cannot exactly see, but it is evident that
now the Preston manufacturers, who were in danger
of falling before a powerful labour league, are
to receive such an amount of pecuniary assist-
ance as must take from the leaders of the movement
one of their strongest hopes of success, for the bank;
ruptcy and ruin of some of the Presl;on employers they
have spoken of as something certain, were the lock-out
continued for even a few weeks ion; ger. Harsh as this
Manchester combination may seem, then, it may be the
means of more speedily inculcating upon the minds of
the factory operatives a true knowledge of the relations
which ought to exist between capital and labour. Ex-
traneous aid has been thrown into Preston on behalf of
the operatives, and now extraneo us aid is to given to
the masters. The contest is, therefore, for the first
time, equal ; the many operativos have not to wrestle
with the many manufacturing capitalists. One great
feature of the Lancashire cotton trade hitherto has been
the power of individual energy, and the English public
may well believe that it is no slight matter indeed
which, for the first time in the hirrtory of that trade, in-
duces its great capitalists to lend their united aid to a
few manufacturers in one town. Such a state of things
is abnormal indeed, and therefore we must presume
that the instinct of self-preservation alone has brought
it about.

MEETING OF PRESTON MANUFA CTURERS.
PRESTON, THURSDAY.

The adjourned meeting of the associated employer?. of
Preston and the neighbourhood was held at the Tull
Hotel in this town at 11 o'clock: this morning. Alter
about an hour's deliberation, the result was made known
by placard, of which the lollowi ng is a copy :
_

"At a meeting of the associated masters, held at the
Bull Hotel, Preston, on Thursday, the 29th of Decem-
ber, 1853, Mr. Thomas Miller in the chair, it was unani-
mously resolved, that inasmuch as no disposition has
been as yet shown by the operatives generally to resume
work, this meeting do adjourn to Thursday, the 26th of
January, 1854. Should it, hovrever, in the meantime
be ascertained that many of the operatives are desirous
of returning to their work, immediate steps will be taken
by the associated masters to open their mills.
" By order of the Masters' Association,
" JOHN HUMBER, Secretary (pro tern)."
The main street, in which the Bull Hotel is situated,
was thronged with operatives during the time occupied
by the meeting, considerable interest being evinced as
to the result.

REPLY TO THE MASTERS FROM THE WEAVERS'
ASSOCIATION.

The committee of the Powerloom Weavers' Associa-
tion have this morning published the annexed reply to
the address of the Masters' Association, issued yester-
day :--
" ln con3equenee of the various misrepresentations
which have been so unblushingly put forth by the Mas-
ters' Association, we, the Weavers' Association, feel it
to be a duty to ourselves and the public to publish
the following answers :

"1. In the document issued yesterday by the Masters'
Committee, they say, that the differences which in the
first instance existed would have been arranged, and
would not have resulted in a general stoppage of the
mills, had it not been for the improper interference
of strangers between the masters and their hands.'
We beg to say distinctly that no strangers had, either
properly or improperly, interfered in the disputes be-
tween the masters and their hands previous to a notice
being given for a general stoppage.
"2. We repeat that we have been locked out, in
()vier to starve us into submission,' not because we ob-
jected to the advances made upon the price paid in 1852,
for the great body of us were perfectly satisfied with the
advances given, but because we thought fit to give our own
money to support some four mills' hands who had disputes
with their employers, the primary cause of our sympathy
being that these workpeople had been denied the opportu-
nity of explaining, or coming to an arrangement with
their employers. It is false and without any founda-
tion to say, that these firms were to be made the vic-
tims of an organised combination, whose avowed object
was to take the masters in succession, and compel them
to accept the terms of the unionists.' We deny this
statement, and challenge them to substantiate it. We,
as a body, have never done or said anything to justify
such a conclusion.

"3. They say,—' We at once admit that, owing to
•the depressed state of trade in 1847, a general reduction.
of wages took place ;' but with respect to the promise of
restoring it when trade revived, they say,—' We deny,
however, that any such promise was made by the mas-
ters generally, although this might have been done by
some individual firms.' We are prepared to admit that
every employer in the town did not make that promise ;
there were several firms where, had the hands, or any
portion of them, raised the shadow of an objection to
the reduction, or solicited a promise of any description,
they would have received summary ejectment ; and such
a process, in the state of the labour market at the time,
would have been next to starvation and death ; but the
promise given at the firms where the masters allowed
them some little freedom' was justly considered appli-
cable to all, and, consequently, to those firms where the
hands dare not ask at that time to be other than de-
graded slaves.'
".4. They say, Being anxious to ascertain the diffe-
rence (if any) between the earnings of the various classes
of operatives in 1847, before the above-mentioned reduc-
tion took place, and those in the summer of 1853, before
the 10 per cent. was demanded, we find, from the returns
furnished us from the wages book of several large and
influential firms, that instead of any decrease there has
been an actual increase, varying from 5 to 30 pei cent.,
after making due allowance for the difference in the
hours of labour from 69 to 60 hours per week.' Gentle.
men, if your object bad been to furnish statistical data
of the benefits and blessings which have resulted from
the passing of the Ten Hours' Bill. (that bill which you
so long and so zealously opposed, and which you so often
prophecied would be followed by ruinous and disastrous
results ; by the by, we are told at the present time, that
if you cannot succeed in reducing our wages 10 per cent.,
it will be followed by diastrous ruin), we could have
understood your motive ; but, because by our un-
tiring exertions we have succeeded in doing as much
work in 60 hours as we formerly did in 69 hours,
you are so ungenerous as to make this a justification for
preventing its participating in the general prosperity
which has followed ; but you say that in a well regu-
lated spinning and weaving establishment the average
earnings of all classes of hands is about 10s. each.' You
forget to tell us whose well regulated establishment
this is ; but, if all establishments where the average
earnings are less than 10s. per week are badly regu-
lated establishments, we are prepared to prove from
your own books, if you will furnish us with the facility,
that the great body of establishments are anything but
well regulated.'
We
cause
whatr e p e
oaa
ft r
tet
hh
pea
at
edt ht
eeir
nmw
oan
tgahet
esi
ro
nation
oi
fd
districts, ihn e Preston
io
sap Fe
lt eh ses"
secret
raen
to improve their condition.
" 6. We refer the public to the letters we have sent
to the Preston papers, in answer to those which ap-
appeared in the Chronicle of Saturday last.
7. We beg to say, that in this struggle the masters
are the aggressors ; we are on the defensive ; we were
(with the few exceptions referred to) satisfied with the
wages given us before the 'lock-out ;' we understand
that we must not resume work unless we will submit to
a reduction of 10 per cent. ; we have offered to have the
question settled upon reasonable terms, but no conces-
sion' is the terms of our employers; they have forced us
to rely for an existence upon aid from other towns, and
now tell us that we can only resume work upon condi-
tion that we will degrade ourselves in the eyes of the
world by accepting a reduction, which must naturally be
followed by a reduction in the wages of those who have
so generously saved our children from starvation. Are
these the only terms of honourable men ? Will it be the
interest of the employers of Preston to see their work-
people both degraded and dishonest ? We think not ;
but, if it be, we tell them that we will suffer much be-
fore we will submit to such depravity.
"In conclusion, we again reiterate, that we are pre-
pared at any time to bring this dispute to an honourable
and reasonable arrangement.
By order of the Powerloom Weavers' Committee,
"JAMES WHALLEY, Sec.
" Committee-rooms, Preston, Dec. 28."