The Sun.
London, England, 1859-10-26 00:00:00

by insisting that every man should sign a docu-
ment repudiating all connexion with trades' unions.
After 15 weeks' battle, and spending £25,000, the
workmen accepted the terms of the masters. But
it is unnecessary to advert to the other remarkable
strikes and their consequences. They have been
always disastrous to both masters and men, and
injurious to the country. The unionists of many
other towns have driven away thriving manufac-
turers from their own locality. It may be supposed
that the calamity cannot be very great if it is only
the removed of a branch of manufacture from one
town to another ; but workmen would do well to
consider that by these frequent strikes they are
playing into the hands of their competitors in Ame-
rica and on the Continent of Europe. Many parts
of Prussia, Saxony, Switzerland, and France, have
extensive and flourishing manufactures ; and now
that communication between one country and an-
. •

other is so easy and rapid, these countries are corn-
ing more and more into the market of the world
to compete with the British manufacturer: It ap-
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whom
there are no higher authorities on such subjects,
that the demand for raw cotton in 1853 increased
7* per cent. in Germany, Russia, and Holland,
while it fell off 1 per cent. in Great Britain. It
is not by illegal violence alone that personal liberty
may be encroached upon ; there are other means of
intimidation that may be as effectual, or even more
so. The Pope, by the threat of excommunication,
was able to control the most powerful sove-
reigns. A similar threat is one of the most
effective instruments in the hands of the com-
mittees of the unions. When they order a
strike, he would be a bold man who would
preach the right of private judgment, and act
upon it in opposition to the commands of the secret
committee. He -would not only be shunned by all
his companions, but reproached and denounced as a
snob, a nobstick, as unfair, and insulted in other
opprobious terms. By cajolery, molestation, and
threatening, the combined leaders strike a general
terror into the whole community. In most of these
contests 1 have no doubt , there are many who in
their own minds ure satisfied that they are unne-
cessary and ruinous, but arc as much afraid of
stating their convictions and acting upon them, as
men who live under the nightshade of the Inqui-
sition are afraid of professing their faith in the
right of private judgment lest they should be per-
secuted for heresy. What right has any man or
society of men to prevent a boy from learning a
trade by which he may earn an honest livelihood ?
To prevent him is inhumanity to the boy, is cruelty
to his parents, and injurious to the country. And
what is the class that is injured ? These boy s are
the sons of workmen, and it is workmen who doom
them to idleness. They are their own children
who are thus barbarously treated. If the son of a
carpenter should desire to learn to be a printer, or
the son of a printer desire to learn to be a carpenter,
to prevent them is to exercise cruelty of the worst
description, as it is against the young and un-
offending and helpless. And what is the reason
for this exclusion ? It is avowedly to secure a
monopoly of the trade, by preventing an increase of
workmen. While you so rigidly maintain mono-
polies among yourselves, who are so ready to de-
nounce monopolies in all other cases ? Another
way in which unions encroach on the rights of both
masters and men is, their dictation of the manner
in which work is to be executed. From the nature
of these rules, they appear to be devised by the
most idle and unskilful men of the union, as they
generally favour these at the expense of the indus-
trious and skilful. For example, they insist that the
wages shall be uniform; that the man whose work
is superior in quality and quantity shall receive no
more than the man whose work is inferior and de-
ficient. The work of some may be worth 405., and
of others 20s. If the union determine that all shall
have 30s. (that being the average), is it not a pal-
pable injustice done to the superior workman who
is thus compeiled to contribute 10s. a week to a lazy
and clumsy companion ? Then they forbid piece work,
by which the man who is skilful and industrious
may gain much more than he. could possibly gain
by the ordinary weekly wages. -The effect of this,
and fixing an average wage for all, is to keep the
whole body of operatives on one common level,
without the hope of ever rising above the status of
a working man. I have known operative masons,
industrious, frugal, and skilful, who, by taking
piecework and making extraordinary exertions,
gained money enough to enable them to commence
as masters, and, by good management, rise to great
eminence. Had these men been doomed to the dead
level of an average wage, cramped and manacled
by trade union rules, they never could have reached
their eventual prosperity. The noble workmen
George Stephenson, Telford, and Tredgold, laboured
as journeymen at not more than 12s. a week ; they,
by the exercise of their free and unfettered talents,
increased the power of the country, and added im-
mensely to its wealth and happiness ; but had they
been fettered and confined by trades' union rules
and control they would have died unknown and un-
honoured, and Britain wouid have been deprived of
the incalculable benefits resulting from their exer-
tions. It is said to be a rule among the bricklayers
that they are never to leave the trowel out of the
right hand, that they may never be able to use both
hands in laying the bricks. In the business of
printing, although a small number of a book may
be printed, the men are not permitted to charge for
less than 250. If I want to publish a book in ten
volumes, each volume separately at intervals, I
should calculate that the sale would fall off, per-
haps, by 50 of each successive volume. In this case,
common sense would say, I should print 50 less of
each successive volume, and both the printer and
pressman would see the reasonableness of this and
be willing to charge accordingly ; but, if they were
to venture to do what seemed to themselves so rea-
sonable and just, a mandate would go forth from
the committee that they must stop or the office will
be closed. The result is that by the rules of the union,
if I print 50 I must either pay for 250, or at the close
of the publication I must be left with a great many
imperfect books. The consequence of these frequent
interferences between workmen and their employers
has been that masters have stimulated men of
mechanical genius to invent machines which do the
work of hundreds of men, and never combine. But,
could the operatives have had their way, the nation
would have been deprived of the incalculable bene-
fits which these inventions have conferred upon the
community. There would have been no power-
looms, no spinning-jennies, no steam printing-press,
no boot-closing, machines—in short, almost every
invention which has abridged labour and increased
the comfort and wealth of the people has met with
determined opposition from the operatives. I be-
lieve that in almost all trades the unionists dictate
to both masters and men the methods to be followed
in carrying on their business, and lay down arbi-
trary rules which are often not only inapplicable to
the tusiness in hand, but are positive hindrances.
Were all left to act like free men, the customer
would say how he wanted the material supplied,
the master would negotiate with him accordingly,
and would engage with the men to do the worY on
such terms as might be agreeable to both parties;
but, instead of that, a third party, who has no in-
terest in the transaction, steps in and in a dictato-
rial style controls them all or forbids them to pro-
ceed further. One wonders how sensible men—men
calling themselves freeborn Britons—have so long
submitted to the dictation of this secret tribunal.
We are accustomed to laud free national constitu-
tions, but freedom to act in all social relations in
such a way as will be most conducive to man's own
happiness, uncontrolled either by prince or priest,
or by any committee of his own trade, is the most,
invaluable of social privileges. Britain has expe-
rienced the blessings of free trade, and I hope and
believe that our countrymen aro determined to re-
sist every attempt to deprive them of this source
of national prosperity, and will guard it with the
greatest jealousy. In conclusion, allow me to say
that, although many of you may not coincide with
my views on this important subject, I have told you
what 1 believe to be the truth, and in doing so
my sole object is to promote your advantage by
saving you from fruitless expenditure, from an
oppressive yoke of superintendence and control,
and from dangerous conflicts which are pregnant
with ruin to yourselves and families, and which
are injurious not only to you as individuals, but
have a baneful influence on the material interests of
the country.
At the conclusion of the lecture,
Mr. EVERETT, a working man, in the front seat
of the area of the hall, rose and attempted to address
the meeting amidst considerable interruption. He
failed in getting a hearing, but Dr. Guthrie helped
him. up to the platform, and, heedless of the noise
which prevailed, he asked Mr. Black who ought to
settle any differences which arose between employers
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lecture. The case was precisely the
same as that of the farmer who brought his grain
to the market and the baker who came to purchase.
They must agree between themselves. There
Might be some Niggling between them, but they
must come to an understanding. themselves (cheers).
Mr. W. CHAMBERS proposedt a vote of thanks to
Mr. black for his lecture. He was sure that what-
ever might he their individual opinions on the sub-
ject of the lecture, they must all admire the manli-
ness and the kindness with which Mr. Black had
come forward and announced his principles (cheers).
He was happy to think that, notwithstanding the
differences which existed between the employers