The Sun.
London, England, 1869-10-06 00:00:00

On Monday Lord Stanley visited the various works of
the Builders Industrial Company, and on Tuesday he war
entertained at a working men's banquet in the New Trades'
Hall. After dinner the guests all adjourned to the Concert
Hall, where Lord Stanley delivered an inaugural address.
Adverting first to the New Trades' Hall, his lordship
thoroughly approved of the main idea which actuated
the working men of Liverpool in establishing it
—to put an end to the inconvenient habit of holding
meeting of trades societies, for whatever purpose, le
public-houses. "Now, in that desire I hold that they ar
thoroughly right. Ido not take an aesthetic view of these
matters, either in theory or practice. I do not think, at
any rate, that it is for those who are surrounded by the
luxuries and comforts of life to denounce the indulgencies--
harmless when not excessive—of those who probably work
harder than themselves, and certainly receive less ; but I
think most people will agree with this, that business and
beer•do not go well together. When they are col-lined it
is more likely that more attention will he raid to the latter
than to the former, and it is not desirable that meeting:.
for serious purposes should be held in houses where drink
is an inevitable accompaniment. Mere than this, I think
that the feeling that leads any man, or any body of men
to like to have a house of their own over their head is
reasonable and respectable. If we are to lock at this insti-
tution merely in the light of a club, I believe that clubs
cheap, comfortable, and orderly for working men arc
among the things which our generation has found out the
want of, and which the next generation, at least, will see
provided in every large town." Proceeding to the more
general question of trades unions, Lord Stanley freely con-
ceded the full right of working men to combine in joint
action in matters relating to their trade. It was only by
unions that men could meet their employers on equal terms.
" At any rate, this latter point the parties interested have
settled for themselves. They do it; they have a r:glit to
do it ; and it is for experience and for the future to shess
how far and to what limits they have done it wisely. Ido
not think that the mere fe et, indisputable as it is, that
the power cf cemLinatien has ecreetimes been used incon-
siderately and wante nly and to the great danger of these
who have so used it is say valid arguree at against its being
used at at all. Esse erience must be leught, and often
bought dearly. Considering hew sheet a time Las passed ft-.
the history of the smilers since cembinatien cf the em-
ployed against employers v.:as proldhited Ly the law of the
land, I see nothing to wonder at—nothing to justify alarm
for the future—in the mere feet that in the ceercise of
this new power mistakes have c ceasie rally been made;
that unreasonable demands have se metimes I een put for-
ward, and that wasteful and ennceessery quarsels have
arisen. Of these things I say they will bring their own
remedy, sooner or later, though, no doubt it may be at the
cost of much individual ince nye nience and fuffuing. Let
me explain what I mean. If an exerbitant rate cf wages
puts np the price of any article, cne of two things will
happen, Either the demand for that article will diminish
or it will go to foreign countries. I think I ern speak ine
to an audience too well acquainted with the ideas and
feelings of our time to indulge in the idle drceris that the
protection which twenty-five years ago wee removed fain
agriculture will be re-impesed for the benefit cf my other
class. But let it he euppesed, even, that, through the
operation of similar causes to these which are at work
here, foreign competition does not come into play, there
is still a limit fixed by economical laws—laws which man
did not make and cannot alter—as to the rate of wages
which can be obtained in any trade. A very small part of
human outlay is absolutely cempulsory. Raise prices and
you lessen demand. I know nothing more unjust,
nothing mere absurd, than that indiscriminate outcry
against all associations of vecrkiag-men for trade purposes
which has been produced Ly the Lilies and—l must use a
harsher word—the crimes which have been unhappily cc ra-
!flitted in one or two places and in one or two trades. I
believe that acts of the kind I allude to are utterly re; ug-
nant to the feelings cf working-mcn as a class. If there arc
two things which, more than any other, Englishmen in all
ranks of life thoroughly understand and cordially sympa-
thise with, these two things are fair play and indi-
vidual freedom. And in a country like this,
where public opinion governs, I will venture to
say it, no institution has a chance of permanently
holding its own which is even reasonably suspected of en-
souraging and sanctioning or tolerating interference with
the free action of those who don't belong to it. The doc-
trine that the end sanctions the means, the theory that
men are to be unlawfully coerced, to their own advantage
even, has never come to gcod yet, and never will. The
right to combine is undisputed, and equally so is the right
of other men, if they think fit, to stand aloof from combi-
nation." The principle of co-operation was, Lord Stanley
thought, the most natural in the world. It was human
nature that a man should like to feel he
is to be a gainer by any extra industry
he may put forth, and that he should like to
have some sense of proprietorship in the shop, or whatever
it is, in which he passes his days. "It is because the
system introduced of late years of co-operative industry
meets that natural wish that I look forward to its exten-
sion with so much hopefulness. I believe it is the best,
the surest remedy for that antagonism of labour and
capital which we hear so much talked of, and which to a
certain extent no doubt exists ; for it is not in any way
necessary to successful co-operation that the capitalist should
be turned out of the concern. The very best instances of
its working, in my belief, are those where the men em-
ployed hold a certain number of shares in the undertaking,
the rest being held by the owner, But questions of this
kind—questions of detail—will settle themselves better
with the help of time than we can settle them. The one
that seems to me desirable is that, no matter by what par-
ticular agency or mechanism the men who give their
labour to 'the concern shall to some extent. share
in the profit that it makes. No doubt that parti-
cipation is not to them an unmixed gain. There
are losses as well as gains, bad times as well as
good times ; but the very fact that these vicissitudes
occur will make the men who share in them understand
and feel better than they ever did before the responsi-
bilities and the difficulties of the employer, and if, as is
quite possible, many having felt its difficulties, prefer the
certainty and security of fixed wages, they will, at least,
have had their choice between the two systems, and will
only have themselves to blame if they are not satisfied.
Now, I am well aware that such a state of things as I have
pointed out is one which cannot be brought about in a day.
It is quite probable that there are some trades, some
kinds of businesses, in which it cannot be brought about
at all ; but it seems to me that it is in that direction that
the efforts of the best workers and the ideas of the best
thinkers are tending, and we are not to disheartened by a
few failures, or disappointed because we do not at once hit
on the best way of doing what has never been done before.
That, gentlemen, is, in a few words, the conclusion I form.
Hope for the future, patience for the present, respect
for individual freedom, and nothing asked from the State
except neutrality and fair play. You may believe me
when I say your own experience will tell you that to
the wealthier part of the community the condition of the
working classes is no matter of indifference. The days of
mere apathy and neglect, if they ever existed, are gone.
They have trusted you, the workers, with the practical
control, through your votes, of the government of England.
Larger authority has not often been conferred on any set
of men in any country. You are now on your trial, and
as you use that power patriotically or selfishly, prudently
or recklessly—for what seems the immediate and exclusive
benefit of Cite nation as a whole—according to the decision
that you shall have come to, will the future destinies of
England be prosperous or the reverse."
The address throughout was frequently interrupted by
the loud applause of the working men, and Lord Stanley
sat down amid great cheering. Resolutions to the effect
that the hall deserved the support of men and masters
were then passed, and a pleasant evening terminated.

sioaers of Income Tux were engage(' "„n
SERIOUS CHARGES.—The IlirtninghP7,l ecmmis-
Vg atil l 3 a number of seri,: Tuesday in hives
-
s charges made against Mr.
Cave, the colle,a-
--1 Jr for Birmingham. Mr. Cave, it is
alleo^
a, has in a hage number of cases made out warrants
for distraint in cases where arrears were due, pocketing
the fees for these illegal warrants. About forty gentlemen
tttended to make such complaints. A portion of the
evidence was taken. and the case adjourned for a fort-
night.