The Sun.
London, England, 1838-02-02 00:00:00

fired his pistol at ore of his own friends--( Hear.) No
it:tviestai'zr7 11... ard o
i-Glefvertook
5001.
apprehended ; and the party who fired tie shut was now a
was poifface' r'edi,ntbout the
no pmeurtesto en r.
had h a
ts
t
barber in Calton : and yet, knowing this, the prosecutors had
Lot la ought him forward on the trial.—( Hear, hear, hear.)
Such was the tragedy which was said to haxe taken place 20
years age.-_( Hear.--The next case he would refer to was
the death of the widow M'Pherson. How did this arise?
Mr. Dunlop, who had a large factory, had ttated his de.
termirratien to emplot there none hut females; but the men
in Scotland wire not fond of seeing women weak hard—
(Hear)—aud they were not pleased at seeing their places tilled
by females. Many a joke respecting the matter had taken
place, and th %WYE:, advised. as a remedy for the evil, to marry
the women as soon 'as possib e.—( Hear, and a laugh.) The
widaw, hoe ever, had three daughters who were employed in
the factory, and had a number of lodgers who were also
enployed there. She hers: If was an old bed-ridden woman,
and a number of men used to assemble in her house on
Saturday nights, in order to have share of the earninga ht
the worm's, for they expended their earnings libera;ly a 9
the men. On one night, however, whentt
number of pers
see s were assembled in her kitchen viitwee the widow by in
lard, and when they had made too free with the whiskey,
diet curse cf the WO. king Hear, hear)—a quarrel
lead ensued, and two or three persons had fallen upon the ell
woman, which, no doubt, assisted to sherten her for
she died soon efterwards —( Hear, hear.) No apnaehensions
had tsken niece, boaevir, in consequence—a:3 investigation
had cecur
ne ted, eor had there been any ieformation against the
Assnciati alear, hear.) 'Whatever was the motives by
which parties were influenced in bringing forward this matter
now—it was rot brought farwerd then. Another dark point
which was mentioned iq the evidence was the word " colliery,"
bat he (Mr. M.Nish) had never seen the. word but once in
the bouts etf the Association, and this had occurred when a
sum u? money had been lent to the colliers who bad struck,
and appeared in the old echedule of 1819, which was in the
hands of Myrdeeir, who perhaps even then had in view the
betrayal e%7 what was entrusted to him.--( Hear, hear.)
In
1824 the first troubles had caremenced between the spinners
and the masters as a body. The Combination Laws had been
repealed in 1813, and the masters and men then combined ;
but the combination of the masters was the better mode
edepted, as they dropped the proscription of men. .In 1824 a strike for four months had taken place, and many
of the operatives were reduced to the lowest point of misery
—it was then that two cr three persons had fired at Graham
—they were tried before the Justiciary, and hating been con-
victed, were flogged and banished; but there had not been,
in -consequence of this, any blame at that time thrown upon
the Association.(Hear, hear)—and yet Murdoch had at.
tempted to impute this to the Committee—the then Secret
Select Committee, of which he spoke. In consequence of
the matters to which ho had referred, however, the masters
had agreed to pay a certain price for labour, and they left it
to the Association to see that none paid a price below this,
and he (Mr. M'Niah) wished they had continued to act thus
in unison. --(Hear.) In 1826, however, the trade became
very good, and the operatives became anxious for a rise of
tvagts, but they allowed two years to elapse before they acted
on this wish, and then when they sought for it the majority
complied at once, but there were numbers who threatened re-
venge when it would be in their power to inflict it. In six
months after the increase had been given a stagnation re-
curred, and the masters proposrd•a reduction, but they did not
give the workmen time to consider their proposal, On a
Wednesday they offered to take off a halfpenny, which was
a reduction of 15 per cent. of the gross wages ; but a
fast-day intervened, and on Friday night, when the trades
met, it wes found that the majority of the masters had
not proposed the reduction, and it was considered that it
would rot be right to yield to the minority. On Satur-
day, however, those parties who had been noticed were
thrown upon the streets, and on Monday the Associa-
tion was broken up. The men were turned out or
their employments, but in a fortnight they agreed. to
the terms of the masters, and again offered their seT vices,
but they were not accepted; the masters then wanted to make
a reduction of 35 per cent., and in the cases of some to re-
duce one-half from the gross amount of wages.—(hear,
and cries of " Shame.") They proposed a principle which
they knew would be the ruin of the operatives—the system
of per centage.--( Hear' hear.) Two hundred spindles were
as much as a man could do at a certain rate; but the masters
%ranted that for every hundred spindles which were added, to
make a reduction of one per cent.—( Hear.) So that if a man
had double tho amount of work his wages would be reduced
one-half; and if he went on at that rate the operative would.
work for nothing, for he had his piecers to pay.—( Hear.)
So that by this priaeiple two wheels would be thrown into
one, and the number of persons employed would be reduced
one-half.—(llear.) This was what caused the strike, but
the members of the Association had conducted themselves
with so much sobriety that the Sheriff himself had ex-
pressed himself surprised at the proper mode with which
they had conducted themselves under the circumstances.--
( Hear, hear.) At the commencement of the strike a Come:
niittee of twelve had been appointed, the three presons who
had before then composed the financial committee being
rr erged into this. They all formed the Committee of Supply,
Another Committee—a Guard Committee—had been ap-
rointed by the Association. It had been endeavoured to
prove on the trial that this Guard Committee had been up-
painted by the Finance Committee ; but this was not the case;
it had been appointed by the Association.--( Hear.) Most
Associations knew what was the use of guards—two or three
of them were placed en each work, in order that if any of the
b nly took employment there, they might be thrown off the
ailment, that they should not have both.—(Hear, hear.)
And also that they should reason with the new hands, and
dissuade them from taking employment by all legal raeans ;
bane if these new hands threatened the old hands with pistols,
and if the old hands, under such circumstances, resented it,
were they to blame ?—( Hear.) Ile would now refer to the af-
fair of Mile-end, where a mob of 5Q,000 persons had assem-
bled to see the nobs coming out, and the police guarding
them. Amongst the parties thus assembled was young
Kidd, who ha; pened accidently to jostle one of the police ;
but having been recognised as one of the cotton-spinners,
they were rejoiced to have the opportunity of seizing him ;
he was accordingly apprehended, and without having corn-
nritted any crime, was sentenced to three months' confine-. rent. His friends, however, inter fcred, and applied to Mr.
Gamble, the agent of the Association, who applied to the
Sheriff, who stated that the guards should be withdrawn from
the factories, Mr. Gamble, accordingly, came to a meeting
of the Association, and requested that the guards should he
withdrawn, which was agreed to, as a large
minority had been
already against the appointment of them. It was agreed also
that they should assist the Sheriff in keeping the peace, and
lt,is was afterwards made a matter of grave accusation against
them. Kidd, however, was not imprisoned.__( Hear, hear.)
Next to this was the affair of Oak Bank, complained of at
the trial. This arose out of a number of persons having fol-
lowed a drunken piper, and some stones having been thrown,
the accusation was brought now against the Association,
although it had not been made at the time. He would now
come to the last foul murder, which had been complained of ;
it had not been proved who had committed it : no one could
say how it had occurred ; but would to God they did know !
Sixteen weeks had elapsed since the strike, and the opera-
tives became anxious for a settlement of the matter. Mr.
Denistoun was then canvassing the city, and the Committee sent
to know if he, who had a large factory, would be instrumental
in leading to an amicable adjustment.—( Hear.) He (
M`Nish) was one of the two persons appointed to meet Mr.
Dennistoun—two neutral electors were appointed to go with
them, and two influential men were with Mr. Dennistoun.
The case was argued on a Friday, and a dispute arose between
Mr. Deneistoun and hint (Mr. M‘Nish). It was arranged.
that it could not be settled until Mr. Dick, who managed Mr.
Dennistoun'a affairs, was present. On Saturday, accordingly,
there was a meeting, when Mr. Dick was present, and he
pledged himself that a meeting should take place between
the men and the masters on the Monday. Let the meet-
ing, then, view the position of the men. Were they not
anxious for a settlement of the affairs ? And was it their inte-
rest, then, on that very night, to take away the life of a man
by the foul deed that had been complained of, for it was on
that night that Smith had been fired at ?—( aar, hear.) He
did not wish to accuse any one—but he would say, that at
that time there were two or three hundred new hands_men
of dissipated characters—employed iu the factories; these
men knew of the, ikelihood of a settlement, and that if it
took place, they would be turned out of employment; and
circumstances showed that this position was the true one,
for many of them had since been turned out of employment.
And he would now ask, was it not more the interest of the
new hands than of the cid to have committed the foul deed ?
'But he would not accuse any parties. A minority of the
masters also %Tithed to crush the Association, and to carry out
their principles of a per-aentsge, and to ruin thus the opera-
tives ; but he would not accuse them—he would merely say
that the meeting of the operatives and the masters had never
t eken place. The election had followed in the succeeding
week, but there had been no accusation made against the
cotton spinners. Although a reward of 5001. had been offered
for the murderers, and it was stated that the turn out cotton
spinners were the parties, yet no steps had been then taken
to arrest the Committee. On the Saturday on which the
arrests were made, the Committee had in their hands 1001. to
pay the idle men; and if they had been guilty, having such
a sum in their hands, would they not have availed themselves
of these means of escape? At six o'clock on that night they
paid those men, and tey did not then go home ; they sat
waiting for the Sheriff, and the great Miller. to seize the con-
spirators,—( Hear and a laugh. Did this look like guilt?
But the Guard Committee were in another house, and heard,
as well as the Supply Committee, that they were to b 0 ar-
rested ; but they did not try to escape; they sat till twelve
o'clock, when they were arrested, the Finance Committee
having been arrested at ten o'clock. He would not dwell upon
the usage which these men met with at Bridewell ; but he
would make one remark as to the number 60 which had been
made such a bugbear against the parties accused. Why, what
did this mean? There were 59 shops aumbered from No. 1
upwards, and thee idle men received their allowance under the
No. GO, which was the bit; shop, and the money paid theta
was marked as paid to N. 60. Then in resnect to the " fre
Itne" SO Much dwelt on at the trial; it was merely the travel-
ling line fel' the men who wished to go to other places, and on
whieh it was shown that they were free, of debts to the Assn.
elation. He himself had availed himself of this free line,
as many others had done ; and it had no other meaning than
that which he applied to it.—( Hear, hear.) He would now
canclude by first stating that, he would be ready to reply to
any questions, which thrwe present might think fit to put to
him.—( Cheers.),
in In reply to several persons Mr. IVl;Nt:esdtt
the
sssotactieaddotnhiaiti
retarence to secret oaths, he had joined
the manner hg had stated; that the articles he had referred
to were teed to him, but if any such oaths were taken they
ware unknown to him; 'indeed so I;ttle had this subject im-
pressed itself on his mind, that he had not a'luded to it save
in the way he now did. There Lai& have been some weak