The Sun.
London, England, 1841-11-08 00:00:00

HOUSES

TO THE EDITOR OF THE SUN.
Sin,—l shall feel grateful by your permitting me
publicly and solemnly to deny the truth of the allega-
tions made against me at the meeting of Friday, and as
stated in the Report to be as follows:-
Ist, I had prevented men Ist, I never refused any
from paying the last rites of my men,and never hesitat-
to their deceased relatives. ed in readily giving permis-
sion when applied to. One
of the masons under me
wished to be absent a fort-
night or three weeks. I
told him I could not keep
his job open so long for
him. He came back in ten
days—went to work, and
continued t• do so until the

strike.

2d, I bad locked up a 2d, lam sure all my
pump, to prevent men wko brother foremen here, and
were teetotallers having Mr. Wardle, the principal
access thereto. clerk, will bear witness that
this is untrue. I never
locked up any pump, nor
was any complaint made to
me.

3d, I had behaved bru- 3d, A man after a severe
tally in refusing a man accident, employed under
employment who was re- me, applied again to be
covering from an accident. placed to work. I found him
unable to undertake em-
ployment so laborious, being
still obliged to use a stick.
I recommended his appli-
cation to Messrs. Grissell
and Peto for a lighter berth;
they appointed him as one
of their tallymen or clerks
on board the brick barges,*
and where he is still em-
ployed.
I should also say their charges against me were brought
after the strike, in a letter addressed to the Earl of Lin-
coln, and sent by him to Messrs, Grissell and Peto, and
who, so far from refusing to look into the matter, insti-
tuted a most searching inquiry, and which extended to
their other agents here, and they were fully convinced
that the bitter persecution of me by the Union arose
from my bringing before them the limitation of the
amount of labour by the Unionists, and their fining those
who did more than the prescribed quantity.
The good workmen under me know well I never com-
plained of them. The letter to my employers stated,
" They, the masons, would not return until I was dis •
missed, as I required more from them than they thought
a fair day's work."
I always required what I did believe to be a fair
day's work, and shall always do so, while I am re-
tained by Messrs. Grissell and Peto ; but I will never
submit myself to a system which levels the good man
with the idle and bad; and to my withdrawal from the
Union with this feeling, I am indebted for all their 'at-
tempts to ruin me with my employers, and cloatroy my
character with the public.
I am, Sir,
your obedient, humble servant,
Novembera 6, 1841. GEORGE ALLEN.

THE MASONS and the " DISPATCH:

TO THE EDIT 51? OF THE SUN.
SlR,—Finding in the Weekly Dispatch of Sunday last
an article headed " The Masons and the Dispatch,"
wherein it is stated that the masons have come to the
formidable resolution of discouraging the circulation of
their paper, on account of its being an enemy to the
working classes,—in answer to this we beg leave to
state, that it was at the meeting of Trades' Delegates,
held at the Craven's Head, Drury-lane, Oct. 27, when
that resolution was passed, on the ground that the Dis-
patch is not the friend of the working man ; so that the
Editor of that paper will perceive it is not the " wrath
or froth of the masons," as he calls it, that passed that

resolution.
The Dispatch feels very indignant at being put in such
bad company as the Times, and conceives that " men
must be sadly dosed with ignorance or stupidity that can
class the Dispatch with that paper ; inasmuch as it is
violently opposed to the Times upon all subjects concern-
ing the working classes, except one." So is the Globe,
Morning Chronicle, and others of the same stamp ; they
are all opposed to the Times, but that does not consti-
tute them the friends of the working classes. His op-
position to the Times, we believe, is perfectly well under-
stood by the thinking part of the working men; and they
also understand that that does not prove the Dispatch to

be their friend.
The Dispatch may rest assured, whenever it is found
amongst bad company, and acting a dishonest part, it
will be classed alonc, with the rest of that company ; and
an ope* and avowed' enemy, is better than a pretended
but deceitful friend. The Dispatch makes a mistake,
when it asserts that we say it refused to insert the two
communications sent to it by us—the fact of their haying
been inserted, is sufficient to prove to the contrary; and
the reason we sent nothing more for insertion, was in
consequence of its attacks and misrepresentations which
followed those it did insert. And we beg to call
its attention to its remarks following our letter on Oc-
tober 10, in adverting to thatpart of Messrs. Grissell and
Veto's, where they allege that, " the real grievance
which we complain of is, that Allen paid a man five
shillings, being the amount of a fine imposed upon him
for working too fast, and that there is a. compact that
masters should pay the same wages to a bad as a good
workman, as also a compact to prevent any man from
taking task work." The Dispatch follows this up by
saying, " This is a grave matter, which the masons
ought to answer." If the Dispatch had been as indus-
trious in fibs attention to our answers to those gross and
scandalous falsehoods as it has been in its attention to
those falsehoods, it would have known that we have an-
swered them. We have challenged them through the
medium of some of the daily journals to come forward
and prove those charges, but they have invariably shrunk
back. In the same article the Dispatch asks " Why should
a tailor who can earn 2h a week be restricted to 305., be-
cause a majority of his brethren can earn no more ?"
Now the direct inference which the public would draw
from these remarks, would be that we have prevented
individuals from making the best of their abilities, which
is as untrue as it is ridiculous. In their remarks on the
3d October, in speaking of the conduct of Allen, the Dis-
patch says, that " necessary severity is often mistaken
for tyranny." We beg to submit a few acts of tyranny,
nay of cruelty, to the consideration of all reasonable
men, and ask if they can be considered necessary severity.
Can it be considered necessary severity to tell a
man, after having his leg broken, and upon hies return
to work, that he (Allen) did not want any such el—el
hobbling fellows as him there ?
Can it be considered necessary severity to tell * man,
who was absent a few days in consequence of sickness,
upon his return that he (Allen) did not want any but
sound men there.
Can it be considered necessary severity to tell a man who
had been to close the dying eyes of his wife, and see her
respectably interred, upon his return to work, that he
might go back and die with her, and be d—d?
Can it be oonsidered necessary severity to prevent any
man from paying the last tribute of respect to his de-
ceased parent, by seeing her respectably buried ? Good
God, what is to become of British mechanics if such acts
of atrocity as these are to be considered necessary severity?
And will the Dispatch insist upon being the working
man's friend, and yet tell us if we succeed in the removal
of this man from his situation, which his character and
disposition unfit him to fill, " that it will be the policy,
the duty, of employers to treat their workmen severely ?"
The Dispatch also states in an article of last week that
it " should be deserting the cause of the poor and be-
traying that of the working classes most culpably,
did it not denounce certain proceedings on the
part of the masons, which are vile, unjust in prin-
ciple, and most powerfully injurious to an industri-
ous population of every degree." Why say " cer-
tain proceedings" why not name those proceed-
ings which would justify the denunciation of the
Dispatch? Is it because we have refused to suffer our
feelings to be outraged by such acts of inhumanity as
those we have just named that wo are to be denounced ?
If so we can treat all such denunciations with that con-
tempt they justly merit, and we believe every honest
man will do the same. The Dispatch cordially acknow-
ledges the right of combination, and argues " if the ill-
treatment of an individual is systematic, let his brother
workmen join him and make a strike." This is just
what we have done ; the advice of the Dispatch upon
that subject is very good, but rather late. But from
ether statements the Dispatch has made it would
have the public believe we have forced some other
body of men in some other part of the country, and be-
longing to some other trade, to leave their,work, which
will bo seen from its own words, where it states, " but to
say that because one or more masters are tyrannical or
unkind in any trade, that the workmen under those
masters that are indulgent, kind, and generour, must
strike, to the injury of their employer or benefactor, is a
piece of folly and absurdity, ingratitude, and even
villany, which shall never be defended by us." No,
nor advocated nor defended by us. But it has not shown
where this has been done ; it makes assertions, but
gives no proof that we have interfered with other trades
or with employers, " a hundred miles off." This is
entirely a, new feature in this case—this is a charge
of its own manufacture, which the Times, bad as it
is, we believe, would not bear it out in ; and
et) expect
followed
noYlo ef d otherthebo by
to place this still more forcibly before the pub -
lie, the Dispatch says, " the masons claim for themselves
ec ale
expect
igrva
cli legal gs professions,tao,lutrhee
sxtarnipelres ordo
00 n
be
a power which is not possessed by the army, navy,
mercantile classes," inasmuch as when one employer or
trades to strike that have nothing to complain f
church,oNffieictehre
other trades who have nothing; to complain of, or t
ex-
tend to other employers. We entirely agree with° tli
Dispatch that honesty is the best of pol'ey, and
many people find this out when it is too late 1 a
sr
dome struckdwi
to our finding that the Dispatch is right in I ; ands
less than six.
months, if the Dispatch can persuade us that black is
white, or that those acts of cruelty are necessary severity,
we will be convinced it is right immediately.
The
Dispatch winds up by again repeating
that it is the
" warm though discerning friend of the working 4,"
cla,s^es
and we may just add that there is nothing meritorious in