The Sun.
London, England, 1860-05-23 00:00:00

THE ARMY.

The authorities at the Horse Guards have directed
a board of Royal Engineer and other officers to be
assembled for the purpose of making a survey and
reporting upon the condition of the Government
stores at Purfleet, Tilbury Fort, and Chatham.
Tn addition to the 53d Regiment, which has em-
barked at Calcutta for England, information has
been received at Chatham garrison that the Ist bat-
talion of the Bth. (the-U.1120) Reghttemb-ifrITOWITtr
its passage home from India in three divisions, and
may be expected to arrive at Gravesend during the
present summer, after an absence of upwards of 14
years, the regiment having left England in April,
1846. During the time the Ist battalion of the Bth
has been in India it has seen a great deal of service.
It was one of the regiments which bore the most
conspicuous part in the suppression of the great In-
dian revolt. It served at the siege and assault of
Delhi in 1857, under Col. Greathed, including the
six days' fighting within the city. The regiment
was also present in the action at Balundshur, the
battle of Agra, the action at Dilkoosha, the relief of
Lucknow by Lord Clyde, the battle of Cawnpore,
and the aetion of Khadagunj. In all these engage-
ments the gallant Bth suffered most severely, and
the regiment was so weakened that the service
companies at the present time number only about
400 bayonets. The depot at Chatham is, however,
very strong, numbering about 500 men of all ranks,
which will raise the regiment to its required number.

THE BUILDING 7RADB3.

(From the Times.)
We regret to hear that the strike which crippled
the building trades through the autumn of last year
has not been so completely terminated as was hoped
and believed. The men, if at peace with their mas-
ters, are at strife with each other. Not only are the
unions maintaining their old system of persecution,
but the recollections of the late struggle are still
allowed to create discord and conflict. We cannot
say how far things have actually gone, or what may
be the present designs of those agitators who aim
at controlling the " destinies of trade." We hope
they have learnt wisdom from their late defeat, and
that the resolutions of renewing the contest which
they vauntingly proclaimed meant nothing more
than the ordinary cries of a losing party. If, how-
ever, matters should be otherwise, and the societies
are really organising any fresh disturbance, we ear-
nestly ask the attention of the workmen for a few
brief remarks. We can tell them better than they
know themselves how they stand with the public,
and what results any renewal of the late struggle
would be likely to produce.
There is no objection taken to fair combination,
even for the purpose of raising wages. The law
recognises, and the opinion of the public fully
approves, these rights of the working classes.. If a
number of masons or joiners agree among them-
selves to sell their labour only on certain conditions
they are perfectly entitled to do so ; and if the
strength created by this union is sufficient to
affect the prices of the labour-market the benefit
will be their own. As a natural consequence from
these admissions, they may organise their unions,
have their presidents and secretaries, and pay them
such salaries as they think fit. Nobody wishes to in-
terfere with them in these respects, or to circum-
scribe their freedom of action in turning their own
property, their labour, to the best account. Nobody
wishes to see them overborne by the masters. The
single condition which public feeling exacts, which
the law demands, and which the Legislature, if need
be, will undoubtedly insure, is that their rights
shall not be exercised to the injury of others. A
trades' union may make its own laws for the gover-
nance of its own members, but beyond that circle it
is powerless, and its action, when exerted against
those who do not belong to it, becomes absolute
tyranny. Unionists may resolve to work only for
certain wages or certain hours. They may agree,
in default of such conditions, not only to quit their
work, but to quit it in a body, provided they do not
violate the terms of any existing contract. When,
however, they proceed to dictate to others, and re-
quire of independent workmen that they also,
though not members of the union, shall obey its be-
hests and fall into its views, they are guilty of un-
justifiable interference with the rights of indi-
viduals. This was the kind of conduct alleged in
the charges, whether sustainable or otherwise,
brought before Mr. Poynter on Friday. We are told
that the " society men" engaged on the works of the
new Westminster Hotel presumed to demand that
some 20 workmen should be dismissed, and a com-
plaint was also made by one of the workmen at
another establishment to the effect that he had
been incessantly insulted since signing the " docu-
ment" last Christmas. All the allegations, in fact,
went the same way, and tended to show that, not-
withstanding the nominal termination of the re-
cent struggle, the unionists were still bent upon
coercing or intimidating all who stood aloof from
their body. Now, that is the very system against
which public feeling rebels. We warn the men that
they will not be able to maintain it. If they persist
in thus abusing their privileges, they will very,
likely see them curtailed. The laws against com-
bination were relaxed because it was thought that
working men ought not to be deprived of that
strength which union confers. It was intended to
put them on a fairer footing as regarded their em-
ployers ; but if they turn the privilege to the in-
jury of their fellow-workmen and to the destruc-
tion of private rights, the matter will be looked at
in a very different spirit. This feeling was very
evident throughout the course of last autumn. It
cropped up repeatedly in Parliamentary discus-
sions and the speeches of public men. The country
will not tolerate a system of terrorism in any trade ,
or calling. Every workman is free to dispose of
his labour as he thinks best. He may make his
terms on his own private account, or adjust them
after conference with others exactly as he pleases,
without being subject, either in the one case or the
other, to obloquy or persecution. We could not
quite approve the masters conduct in exacting an
acceptance of the famous " document," but the con-
duct of the Unionists in persecuting those who did
accept it was less allowable still, and, if the men
persist in requiring that all who have not joined
their Society shell be dismissed from their work,
the masters will have no option but to reproduce
the " document," or some equivalent guarantee
against such tyranny and disturbance.
Unionists must speak for themselves only, and
leave others alone. There is the condition on which
they must work. It is the condition, in point of
fact, by which at this moment Unions exist under
the law. Lord St. Leonard's has explained this
thoroughly. Every man is free to combine wi.
others, and to act in such combination not only with
a view to mutual support in sickness or age, but for
the purpose of enhancing the value of his labour.
It is only, however, within the limits of the Union
itself that its resolutions or its power can be en-
forced. Its decrees can bind its own members
alone, and when the Societies attack those who
decline to join them, or who take a different view
of the terms on which work may be performed,
they not only offend public feeling but they violate
the law. We know full well that they make a
stand at this point. They see that their power is
diminished by the recognition of independent
rights. They feel that their ability to coerce their
employers is proportioned to the extent of the sway
they can get over the whole trade. If at the bid-
ding of the Union every workman in the trade,
without exception, had to leave his work, the
masters must needs be beaten ; it is only through
the non•unionist or dissentients that they hold out.
Ihe Societies, therefore, would fain intimidate
every single man into submission or combination,
but this is precisely what they will not be permitted
to do. They must content themselves with their
own power, and with the imfluence they can exert
through their own numbers. Directly they are