The Sun.
London, England, 1868-01-02 00:00:00

THE MINERS' LOCK-OUT.

Last evening an adjourned meeting of the dele-
gates of the London Trades was held at the Bell
Inn, Old Bailey, to consider the position of the
miners who are at present locked out at Church
Gresley, Derbyshire. Mr. George Potter presided,

and in opening the proceedings said that the
lock-out still continued, and was likely to con-

tinue for some time to come. No further efforts,
had been made on behalf of the men to termi-
nate the agitation, and the masters still re-
mained silent and obstinate. During the Christmas
holidays, as might be expected, no great increase had
been made in the fund established for the relief of
the miners who had been lccked out, but the sup-

port afforded now was as great as had been hitherto.
In addition to the " scale" which the men locked
out were receiving—about 83. per week per head—

the South Yorkshire miners had sent a special gift
of c0..1 to the families of those who had been
locked out. The masters refused to give coal
to those men or their families, and bad further
pro'ihited the dealers in Church Gresley to sell
coal to those concerned directly or indirectly with
the present agitation. If the latter afforded it to
them the masters would discontinue the supply
from the mines. The coal which had been sent
by the Fouth Yorkshire miners had been distri-
buted in quantities of half a ton to each family.
Mr. Bass, M.P., had also given 151 b. of meat to
each family during the Christen is holidays—au
act of benevolence for which all Trades'
Unionists should feel grateful. Mr. Brown, who
had the distribution of money among those who had
been locked out, stated that there was every appear-
ance of the men holding out all through the sum-
mer if necessary rather than succumb. The mas-
ters were suffering severely, as might be understood
from a few facts he wished to state. In one pit 130
had been locked out, and only 60 remained at work ;
in a second 80 were locked out, and the pit re-
mained standing altogether; in a third 60 were locked
out, and only 30 remained at work ; in a fourth 300
were locked out, and only GO remained at work ; In
a fifth 150 were locked out, and 140 remained at
work—that was to say, over 900 were locked out,
while only 400 remained at work. In a pit where
100 trucks of coal were formerly raised only 30
were now obtained, in another where 40 trucks were
formerly raised only 17 were now obtained, in a
third, where 90 trucks were formerly raised only 11
were now obtained, iu a fourth whert; 73 trucks were
formerly raised only 28 were now obtained, in a
fifth where 280 trucks were formerly raised only
120 were .now obtained, and in a sixth where
2,600 tons per fortnight was the average return
the supply was now reduced to 600 tons for • a
corresponding period. ',There were 925 men re-
ceiving " scale" during the present lock-out, and
these comi3rised men of various trades and occu-
pations. He would now call attention to some
statements made by Mr. Gladstone in a speech
recently delivered at Oldham. In that ad-
dress the right hon. gentleman had repeated the
stereotyped assertions which had been persistently
made regarding Trades' Unions, but he ought to
have informed himself of the true facts of the case
before he spoke as ho bad spoken of these
societies. He had charged Trades' Unionists with
violence and intimidation; and had asserted that
the tendency of their action was to reduce the
condition of operatives to " one dead level." That
was contrary to fact. 'I he Trades Unions fixed the
minimum rate of wages which all in a particular
trade were able to earn, but they did not dictate to
the masters not to give more to skilled workmen.
It had been suggested that a special delegate meet-
ing should be called to consider the propriety of
4olding an aggregate meting of IJuiQuist4 at

Exeter Hall, for the purpose of representing the
true objec's and po4tion of Trades' Societies.
They, would invite Mr. Gladstone and other pro-
minent opponents of Trades' Unionists, and he
believed these gentlemen were not above being
taught. Ile true reason that these societies were
now so violently assailed was because t hey were be-
coming a power in the State. It was lawful for
workmen to combine, and the best interests of so-
ciety demanded that the highest uniform rate of
wages should be adopted. Mr. Attie, the
delegate from Church Gresley, said that he
was quite satisfied with the support he
hail received from the London Trades, and he
felt quite confident that the miners who were
locked out were prepared to hold out to the end in
defence of the principle which they were endeavour-
ing to sustain. Several delegates present addressed
the meeting in favour of holding the proposed meet-
ing in Exeter-hall, and urged that a public discus-
sion of the subject of Trades' Unions would be far
preferable to argumentation on the question
through the medium of letters. The following
resolution was then proposed and carried : —" That
this meeting of Trades' delegates hereby convene
a special meeting of delegates from the Trades of
London for Tuesday evening, January 1.4, to con-
sider the propriety of holding an aggregate public
meeting of Trades' Unionists in Exeter-hall,
just prior to the opening of Parliament, for the
purpose of defending trades unions from the attacks
so persistently made against them, and of inviting
Mr. Gladstone and other leading opponents of
trades unions to attend that meeting, to hear from
trades -unionists themselves what trades'. union
principles really are." The proceedings then ter-
minated.

CHRISTMAS A 7 GUERIVSEI WITH

VICTOR HUGO.

(From the Guernsey Mail.)
On Thursday last, the 26th inst., AI Victor Hugo

gave, at noon, the sixth yearly fete to forty poor

children, at his residence, Hauterille House, a large
number of influential ladie3 and gentlemen being
also present. The fete consisted of three parts :
First, the luncheon ; second, the poet's oration and
the presentation of garments; third, the distribu-
tion of articles from the Christmas tree. During the
first part, shortly after twelve, the poet entered the
room, greatly applauded by the company, the chil-

dren and the visitors having already commenced

partaking of refreshments, the .same quality being
offered to all, without distinction of rank. It should
not be forgotten that the children are always sure
to obtain an entrance to the fete, for it is considered

that it is peculiarly their own. Thus, at least once
a year, are we taught to respect the poor by a
man whose authority is immense. The party

then passed into another room, where Victor Hugo
delivered a speech, of which the following is a

summary :
lie said that he had been requested to repeat the
explanations he had already given on the subject of
his weekly dinner, aud, as the end he had in view

was to be useful, he would rapidly go over the same

ground. Scientific men tell us that poor children
equi re .proper nourishment at least once a month,
without which their health would be sure to suffer.
It was for the interest of the futtire—thit children
should be loved by the rich. In order to have a fair
future, it was necessary, God helping, now to set a
good example. Hesintlicated a simple means to ar-
rive at that end., He had established a dinner for
40 poor children, divided into two bands of 20,
which dine alternately. In order' to be invited to

dinner poverty was the only requihiste; no distinctions
between creeds or nationalities were made ; Roman

Catholics, Protestants, French, and English, were
alike welcome. This little institution, established in
his house, had been brought under the notice of Con-

readeni, almosl: all the European news

papers had republished the report of the Christmas
had—taxo.,2Divats in view—First, to
show that the hygiene which he carried out-iiras
success; and, secondly, to spread the knowledge of
the reasons why he gave the dinners. If it were
only 40 children who were fed the matter would be
most insignificant ; but it was important that the
example he had set should be extensively followed.
He had received the day before the Leith Pilot,
which recommended strongly the formation of simi-
lar institutions ; and on last year's fete day he had
read a letter which had appeared in the Times, stat-
ing that in imitation of the children's dinner at
Guernsey the Rev. Mr. Wood had established for
poor children in London a dinner at which 320
were fed ; thus the 40 had increased to 320.
(Cheers.) this year Lady Thompson, treasurer of
the children's dinner, Marylebone, had sent him a
letter, published in the Guernsey papers, which the
speaker noticed. It stated that six thousand chil-
dren had dined during the few months of its esta-
blishment. First, then, there were forty, after-
wards the three hundred and twenty, and now
the six thousand : thus the little stream of Guernsey
had become a large river in London. He begged
now to thank Lady Thompson and her colleagues
for their endeavours. (Cheers.) Addressing him-
self to the ladies, he asked them to think of their
children whilst beholding the poor ones present ;
and requested them, who were happy and favoured
mothers, so to inculcate from childhood the frater-
nity of men that the little'rich should not be envied
by the little poor. Let us sow the seeds of love ;
thus we shall appease the future. He wished that
the children should have one day of joy but of the
year of misery. To-day they had had a luncheon,
and now clothes were about to be distributed to
them ; and, in the third place, they would share the
joys of a Christmas-tree. (Cheers.) Every one of
us, said M. Hugo, has here below duties of different
sorts to perform. God imposes on us, in the firit
instance, serious duties—we must struggle iu the
interest of all men ; we must combat ag dast the
strong and the powerful—against the strong when
they abuse their strength, and against the power-
ful when they badly employ their power ; we
must take by the collar the despot, whoev.er he
be, from the carter who ill treats a horse, to the
king who oppresses a people. To be successful
and to struggle are rude necessities ; lite would be
hard if it only consisted of that. Sometimes after
useless endeavours we ask respite from duty ; we
drag ourselves into the presence of conscience, and
conscience replies that we must continue in duty.
The struggle, however, is interrupted, to contem-
plate these poor little ones, whose fresh-coloured
faces are both lighted and rosy by
the splendid
dawn of life. W e feel moved ; we pass from indig-
nation to tenderness, and we understand the aim of
life. Thus we thank God, who, though
giving us
to combat the powerful and the wicked, gives us yet
to succour the innocent and the feeble - (cheers)—
and who, side by side with the g
has placed the cheerful ones_ threa Let latter dutiesto of
upholdlife,
the former. (Great applause.)
At the conclusion of the speech, garments were
distributed to the children ; then the company passed
into the iitapcstried room," where M. Hugo super-
intended the presentation of the numerous articles
which were on the Christmas-tree ; after which he
presented some pieces of music to several of the
ladies, as a souvenir of the fete, and a large piece
of music was drawn for by lot. The fete ended
shortly before two p.m. From two to three hun-
dred visitors were prevent.

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