The Sun.
London, England, 1850-12-28 00:00:00

Anialtit altit

LONDON, SATURDAY, DECEMBER 28, 1850.

Although the engine-drivers and firemen of the
northern division of the London and North-Western
Railway have not as yet withdrawn their unreason-
able demands, or formally abandoned their ridiculous
pretensions, the contest may be regarded as virtually
closed. The difference between "sayings and doings"
has received an additional and very striking illustra•
tion. While the malcontents have been " talking,"
the directors have been acting strenuously and effi-
ciently, and they are already prepared for
any alternative—ready, not only to accept
the resignations that may be tendered, but
even to take the initiative and remove the
disaffected—all who may refuse to abide by the re-
gulations that have been adopted, after full and ma-
ture consideration—from the company's service.
This day will bring matters to a crisis. There must
be a total and unconditional submission, en the part
of the men, or they will receive notice to quit ; there
will be no parleying with delegates, no recognition of
illegal confederations, but each man will be required
to state positively and distinctly his unqualified alle-
giance to his employers. Woe to those who refuse or
even hesitate.
" There is a light cloud on the moon,
'Tis passing, and will pass full soon;
If by the time its vapoury sail
Hath ceased her shaded orb to veil
Their hearts within them be not changed"—
then must they be prepared to encounter the inevitable
results c f their insubordination and tle:r mischievous
attempt at dictation. They have grievously miscal-
culated their own strength, and the ample resources
of those whom they have so inconsiderately set at
defiance. They seem to have been impressed with
the notion that the matter was one simply between
themselves and their employers ; that then
were no auxiliaries to whom the latter could
look for assistance and aid, no .persons out of
employment in any degree acquainted with the art
and mystery of engine-driving, or of the mode of sup-
plying coke to the furnaces, so as to keep up the ne-
cessary fires under the boilers, who could be procured
as substitutes in their places. They were, however,
egregiously mistaken in these opinions, having
"reckoned without their host" with a vengeance. As
we have already stated, the question is not one in
which the directors of the London and North-Western
are alone concerned ; every board of every com-
pany, throughout the length and breadth of
the land, are equally interested in the re-
sult, and would join heart and hand in the
struggle, notwithstanding any minor disputes or
differences that may still remain unsettled. Party
dissensions are forgotten in the face of a common foe.
Whig and Tory, Conservative and Radical, Protec-
tionist and Free-trader, would cordially unite to
repel an invasion, and so would railway directors to
overthrow a mischievous system, equally injurious to
all, and to which each might fall victims in turn.
Ample assistance might therefore be looked for from
the locomotive departments of other companies, and,
indeed, we believe we are justified in stating that Lifers
have been made to a greater extent than the exi-
gencies of the case could require.
There are also, it appears, many duly qualified and
competent engine-drivers now unemployed, men
whose characters would bear the strictest investiga-
tion, desirous of obtaining engagements with the
North-Western Company, who would gladly sub-
scribe the regulation as to the three months' notice.
The directors would have no difficulty in providing
fitting substitutes for the seceders, without being
driven to the necessity of taking inferior men, or
having their duties performed in an improper
manner. During the E istern Counties' strike
so many appiicationa were received that the directors
were enabled to obtain picked men of unquestionable
character, and to reject those who would not have
been accepted under ordinary circumstances ; and, as
we have already shown, the fate of the combinatory
may afford a salutary lesson to those who have suffered
themselves to be misled through the sinister advice of
mischievous and designing men, who are acting on
them for their own vile purposes.
The meeting of the men of the southern division,
which took place on Thursday evening, however,
gave the coup de grace to the hopes of the iasurgents?
It was distinctly shown that those who had themselves
no grievances to complain of would not make com-
mon cause with the disaffected, or, to use the words
of one of the delegates from Wolverton, that " they
would not turn out' with the men of the norther,

division." This was decisive on the question, and
there was much sound sense exhibited during the
discussion. What fell from an engine-driver named
SIMPSON, a delegate from the Great Western
Railway, was especially deserving of notice.
_

_
He said, " that he could not see the
inconvenience of the three months' notice, if it should
be signed, provided the masters willingly agreed to
allow the men, if they obtained bona fide situations,
to quit them at a week or fortnight." Now this
point was especially looked to by the provision that
" for any engineman who wished to make a bond fide
engagement with any other company, or who shall
propose to go abroad, or, in fact, shall wish to leave
the company's service for any valid reason un-
connected with a general strike, the usual
fortnight's notice would be deemed sufficient."
What they are contending for is therefore nothing
affecting their individual interests, by which any
man could possibly be prejudiced or his privileges
curtailed, but to retain a mischievous power of con-
trolling their employers by illegal combination.
That is the true point at issue, and that must now be
set at rest. The judicious advice of SIMPSON, one
of them elves, should sink deep into their minds. lie
declared, " to come to the conclusion to advocate
strikes is only to advocate a red for our own backs, and
must prove a great disadvantage to the whole body of
enginenlen. We have had evidence of this throughout,
and I believe the Eastern Counties' strike might have
been preventcd, if they had adhered to wise and good
counsel. The more strikes there are the worse for
ourselves, for we always find a certain set of men