The Sun.
London, England, 1868-11-25 00:00:00

A LUCKY ESCAPE.

Six men have been summoned at Blackburn under
the Combination Act for unlawfully and by violence
causing Edward liowcroft to leave his employment.
The offence was fully proved by several witnesses.
The defendants refused to work with the prosecutor.
He was knocked about, pelted, and kicked, and the
manager dismissed him to prevent disturbance. Tho
defence was that Ho weroft had summoned them under
the wrong Act. That Act, as stated in the preamble,
was directed against workmen who combined and
by violence and intimidation prevented others from
working, in consequence of the question of wages or
the number of apprentices, but it had no bearing
whatever on the present case, which was one where
the workmen had squabbled among themselves as to
politics, and the strong party had turned the weak
out. It was stated that for twenty years the practice
lativeat44g_vorkmext thick Nair —bacl_PAilitad—oi

- • 5 4':. •
1 Mr. Finlen's is an unenviable position. Rejectea
by all parties, on all hands, he has thrown himself
on a dying cause, and now amuses himself by.
" spouting stale sedition " on Sundays. The Tele-
graph, never an enthusiastic admirer of the Reform
League, and by no means disposed to condone Finlen's
faults, seriously considers whether "James" should not
be legally called to account. "go doubt persons like
Pinion are in themselves so contemptible, that if
dragged into a police-court they are as highly
honoured as respectable men would be by an eleva-
tion to the peerage. But, though personally insig-
nificant, they may do serious mischief to ignorant
people by the use of such language as that
employed en Sunday. With respect to tho
aristocracy and to the exemtion of the law,
Finlen and lis colleagues used words which
were. a direct incentive to violence and
riot."
We are disposed to think that our contemporary
over-estimates the evil which Mr. Finlen is capable
of doing. even to " dupes." But it is worth while
considering whether sonic means cannot be found for
i Lifting Eiden among the powers that were, without
increasing either his popularity or notoriety,
ANO-111Eit SPINSTEIt.
The ambition of the ladies has been fired by the
recent attempt to give them a voice in legislation.
The gallant editor of the Post gives these letters the
honour of leader type. " A Spinning Spinster"
now writes to complain of the difficulty of suburban
driving. In the London season, when she drives a
pair of ponies through the streets, she meets with
great politeness from the 'bus drivers and cabmen;,
but this winter she has Ventured into the suburbs,
and to her dismay she finds she has to dodge in
various ways numberless brewers' waggons and.
market carts, whose drivers are engaged in after-
beer siestas, :securely happy in the knowledge
that other carriages could not hurt them. ,
She remarks that a shriek of indignation would burst
. from the great unwashed if one of the Upper Ten.
slept in his drag and put a donkey cart in -aanger.
The lady evidently thinks that the evil days are
coming when it will be a crime to have a white hand,
and the cry of "Aristocrat" will be followed bx
"A la lanterne." Let us rather attribute her diffi-,
cultics to the sleepy-headed Cerberus at Scotland.,
yard, who; in the estimation of the public, has alum.
bered long enough.