The Sun.
London, England, 1860-08-29 00:00:00

THE COVENTRY STRIKE.

We introduce our readers this morning to the
secret history of a " Strike." We describe it in these
terms because such proceedings were never, to the
best of our knowledge, revealed before, but we are
bound to say tnat the confession is now made with
such unblushing effrontery that very little in the
nature of mystery can be said to attach to the trans-
action. More than once on the oce?sion of these
deplorable quarrels have we defined the limits within
which, if the law of the land is to be observed and
the toleration of the public secured, the action of
the operatives must necessarily be confined. They
are entitled by right and reason to ask what wages
they like, just as their employers aro entitled, on
the same principle, to say what wages they will
give. As a difference between these two standards
is both natural and probable, it follows that the
men may have to stand out for dear labour and the
masters for cheap work before they come to an
agreement, and the law allows that workmen may
combine together for the purpose of giving greater
force to their demands. It is mare likely that an
employer would concede terms demanded by 1,000
men in a body than that he would yield to the re-
quisitions of a single unsupported artisan, and this
expedient for placing labour on a fairer footing
with capital is recognised accordingly. Men, there-
fore, may " strike," either for higher wages or
shorter work, without any offence against law or

opinion.
All these admissions, however, proceed on one
fundamental assumption, and that is that the
men act;ng in combination are voluntary agents,
that each and all are impressed by the same con-
victions and actuated by the same motives, and
that they have united together for the prrpose of
' promoting a common object. As soon as any vio-
lence or terrorism is imported into the proceeding
it becomes not only illegal but outrageous. If a
number of men, not content with agreeing upon a
purpose between themselves, and combining to
forward it, proceed to coerce others into joining
them, their conduct is an offence against law and
right. One workman is just as free as another.
It is absolutely at every man's option to join a Trade
Union or stand aloof from it ; to "strike " or to
continue working ; to take high wages or low, and
to subscribe his money or refuse it. He may con-
duct himself in all these respects exactly as he
pleases, and any interference with his freedom by
oppression, intimidation, or other species of coercion
is tyranny of as detestable a character as any despot
or capitalist could possibly assume. It matters not
whether a man is robbed of his liberty by the act
of one or the act of a thousand ; the loss and the
crime are the same in both cases. Now, it has re-
peatedly been alleged that almost all " Strikes"
were maintained by terrorism ; that the men who
chose to throw up their work invariably endea-
voured to make others do the same, and that the
principal action, indeed, of Trade Unions consisted
in applying this coercion by an organised machi-
nery. We were assured that the " subscriptions "
announced every week were to a great extent prc-
cured by the most ruthless extortion, and that thou-
sands of men who would gladly be at work on ob-
tainable terms were driven by threats of persecu-
tion and ruin to inaction and suffering. A "Strike,"
in short, was often nothing less than the enforced
idleness of men compelled to obey the orders of a
Committee, and provided with a miserable suste-
nance by the unwilling contributions of others as
oppressed and as terrified as themselves. This is
what we were told when masons, bricklayers, engi-
neers, or weavers announced their resolution to
stand out for the "rights of labour" against the
" tyranny of capital." Of course the imputations
were contradicted, but that they are certainly some-
times deserved will appear from the documents to
which we now introduce the reader, and which we
really consider as tile most monstrous specimens of
brutality and tyranny that we have ever seen.
At Colne, in Lancashire, a "Strike" has now been
pending for nearly three months. Into the merits
of the question we purposely avoid entering. It
does not concern us to inquire whether the men or
the masters have the better cause. We design
simply to-show the agency by which the " Strike"
is conducted, and the means employed for raising
the funds by which it is supported. Before us lie
two copies of a report periodically circulated, and
professing to give an account of the finances of the
" Strike" for the weeks ending on the 6th and 13th
inst. Such documents we never in the course of a
pretty considerable experience inspected before.
The report descends to the minutest details of col-
lection, and enumerates to a fraction the pence
gathered from particular mills, shops, cellars, rooms,
and sheds. It contains also a general abstract of
receipts and expenditure, and appears, indeed, for
that matter, to be faithfully framed, The astound-
ing feature of the document is the terrorism it dis-
closes—a terrorism directed against the most help-
less creatures, exerted in the most shocking form,

and avowed without the smallest attempt at dis-
guise or apology, The statements of the sums col-
lected from the establishments laid under contribu-

tion are followed by remarks on their sufficiency or
insufficiency, and by gross threats of slander, in-
sult, or persecution, wherever any room or individual
is thought below the mark. All this, however, bad
as it is, we pass over to something far more infa-
mous. The specious and favourite objects of attack
are women and young girls, who are designated not
only by the establishments and departments in which
they work, not only by numbers easily intelligible,
but by their proper names, printed at full length,
while the charges suspended over their heads are of
the most abominable description. The agency at
work is impersonated under the name of " Punch,"
and Punch informs these poor girls that if they do
not pay, or pay more, or pay more regularly, he will
hold their reputations up to shame, these threats
being accompanied with the vilest and most dis-
gusting allusions to peculiarities of person, face, or
manner. "IfE. P. does not pay next week, Punch
will attach something to her name which she will
not relish." "IfM.A. G. won't pay, Punch will
say something about her." What this " some-
thing" means—and the reader must understand
that the names we have given in initials are at
full length in the original—will appear from the
specimens following:—" If that old maid on No.

182 does not pay-next week, ' Punch' will say
something about her walking out with a married
man." "If No. 90, that young woman who makes
a practice of going into the back streets with men,
does notipay, Punch' will set somebody to watch
her." " 73, look here ! a young woman going with
another chap in the dark." We need not go be-
yond these examples, but what a state of things
does such a publication diSclose.
It must be understood that this is no case of a
petty local squabble raging in a corner. The
funds collected by this agency are coming in at the
rate of £6OO a week, or £30,000 a year, and the
balance-sheet or report which is made the vehicle
of these atrocious scandals has a circulation of
18,500 copies weekly, each of which is probably
perused by scores of readers. The sheet itself is as
large as a railway time-bill, and contains not the
least attempt to colour, disguise, or excuse the ter-
rorism it expresses. We are glad to see, however,
that the matter has attracted some attention on the
spot. The Manchester journals have exposed the
outrage in becoming language, and from more
than one quarter specimens of the Report have
been transmitted to us. Its effect will probably be
very different from that which its authors antici-
pated. What was al ways alleged, and often believed,
of " Strikes" is here confessed with a, shameless har-
dihood which shows how completely the system is
taken for granted. The Colne " Executive" would
never have gone so fearlessly or imprudently to
work if they had not looked upon their proceed-
ings as regular matters of course. They have
given us a full view of the machinery of terror-
ism, and it will be the fault of the public if the
exhibition is not turned to good advantage.—
Time,.