The Sun.
London, England, 1842-01-31 00:00:00

_EVENING SUN

[ADVERTISEMENT)
TO TIIE EDITOR OF "IIE SUN.

solicit
s7iVou'ertt:T, favour
Siit—ln the lirnesof iiretinesday last, th_e 26th inst.,
there appeared an article from its Editor replete with
scurrility and misrepresentation respecting the means we
have taken to prosecute, to a successful issue, our strike.
In reply to this, with a view to disabuse the public mind,
an article, of which the following is a copy, has by its
SOCIETY,
professedly " fair play" editor, been refused insertion.
ltln.ussewc.ith
respectfully, are, Sir, yours
We, therefore, respectfully
•
its insertion in yourrnnelytiAeiriAoltmslooAns.Ns,
TO TIIE EDITOR OF THE TIMES.

Sir,—Our attention has been arrested by an article
from your pen, in reference to our strike at the New
Houses of Parliament, and other public works, which ap-
peared in your columns of Wednesday, the 26th inst.,
prejudicial to the cause-of humanity, in which we are en-
gaged, and not strictly true; we, therefore, now ask,
what in a spirit of fairness we rely on your granting,
viz., permission, through the same columns in which
your article appeared, to lay before the public the other
and true side of the question.
Whether our of to annihilate cruelty the most
consummate " has been simply defeated" in London or
not—whether " open houses are provided by the union"
for the quarrymen who, in various localities, manifest
such a humane feeling towards their cruelly ill-treated
fellow-men or not—or whether our delegates proceed
from place to place in the performance of their " labour
of love," " mounted" or otherwise, are questions upon which
we shall not waste our time, or seek to occupy your
pages in animadverting upon. Suffice to say, that, satis-
fied with the justness of our cause, we are as determined
now as at the first Moment, and shall persevere, by
every lauful means, to succeed.
To "die of atrophy,' that is, from the want of nou-
rishment, is what we do not fear, the period of a "con-
summation so devoutly wished for" by our opponents is
" very remote ;" and respecting " club law or " new
police" law, the one we abhor, and the other we

have no intention to offend. It is by sober,
reflecting, and purely moral means,. by " surround-
ing those" who, in ignorance of the sacred duties
of man to man, passively submit to insult and cruelty,
" with a moral and social influence" that we intend to
pilot ourselves to the desired haven. Contrast this with
the following paragraph in your article :—" But for
such a movement as the present, founded on misre-
presentation, and forming part of a systematic at-
tempt to establish a dangerous and unconstitutional
tyranny, we have no compassion or sympathy ;
and repeat, that it must meet with no compro-
mise, but be put down thoroughly and unflinch-
ingly, even though its progress were only to be checked
by a. general steppe ye of trade throughout the country."
hie business now, Sir, is to show that we have not used
" misrepresentation." We preferred several serious
charges against George Allen, foremap to Messrs.
Grissell and Peto, our late employer and which they re-
fused to redress. We then courted, by every means
at our disposal, public inquiry into them, and
preferred, through the medium of The Sun, Morn-
ing Advertiser, and other of the daily and
weekly press, to submit the whole case to arbitration; a
deputation waited on Mr. Grissel, and informed him that
we would concede our request, if by the evidence of
Allen's victims and others who had witnessed his unfeel-
ing conduct., we proved that his conduct towards us had
not been such as we had attributed to him. Mr. Grissell
refused, asserting that he had lowered his dignity in
deigning even to hold converse with them; and this, Sir, is
not much like " misrepresentation" or a desire " to esta-
blish a dangerous and unconstitutional tyranny." The
following, Mr. Editor, are the charges we allege against
George Allen; we are prepared to submit them to any
just arbitration, and to be content with the result:-
Ist. Locking up the pump, or rather the door leading
to it, to prevent those under his control from getting a
drink of nature's beverage, with a view to compel us to
buy beer of an inferior quality from a house he visited,
and until we strongly remonstrated, was the only one per-
mitted to bring beer on the works.
2d. One of our shopmates had the unwelcome in-
telligence from Manchester of the decease of his mother;
he informed Mr. Allen (the foreman), of his wish to go
and see her interred, stating that he would have to be
absent for a week or a fortnight ; when Allen informed
him, if that was the case, he might stop . away alto-
gether ; with an assertion that he (Allen) would not
keep a job open for any man that length of time under
such circumstances.

3d. It has also been quite customary for Allen to
order, in the most domineering manner, many a good
tradesman to " pick tip his tools and be off," before he
had been many hours on the job ; also for the most
trifling mistake, have been discharged at a moment's no-
tice, without the least consultation as to whether they
were blameable or not. Again, one of the men had his
leg broken by a fall from a scaffold, and on his return
to his work, expected, of course, as he had been lamed
in the service of his employers, that they would continue
to give him work. But, No : Allen immediately dis-
charged him, with an execration that he wanted none
such d d hobbling fellows as him there.
4th. The same foreman told one of our shopmates,
who had been at home ill for some time, and whose wife
was also very ill, on his return to work, to go about his
business, as he (the' foreman) did not want any men
there of his description. We immediately made a col-
lection for him, to enable him to procure food for him-
self and his sick wife.
sth. Another of the men had been called from his
work to attend the death-bed of his wife, and when he
came from that scene to his work, he was told to go
back and die with her, and be damned. In fact, his
general conduct has been so bad, as to be quite unbear-
able ; and, to terrify us, he has made a practice of
threatening to discharge two or three dozen of us at a
time, if we even complained of such conduct.
These, Sir, are facts which we are at any time pre-
pared to prove, and, as there is convened on our behalf
a public meeting to he holden at the White Conduit
House, on the evening of Monday next, the 31st instant,
we solicit the attendance of Messrs. Grissell and Peto,
George Allen, or any of their agents in their behalf
when and where every facility shall be afforded them to:
lay their own statement before the public.
We are, Sir, yours respectfully,
THE MASONS' SOCIETY.
THOMAS SHORTT, Secretary.

INCENDIARY FIRE AT BORROWASH.—We.
very much regret to state that a fire, the work of an in-
cendiary, broke out on the premises of Mr. William
Meakin, of Borrowash, Derbyshire, on the evening of
Thursday last, at the early hour of eight o'clock. It
appears that at that hour Mr. Meakin was in his stack-
yard, when he perceived a fire in the barn, and which,
from the ascendancy it had gained, defied all efforts to
extinguish it, notwithstanding the active exertions of
the neighbourhood. The barn is within a few yards of
the turnpike-road, and it was evident that whoever had
been guilty of the diabolical act came from thence, as
the footmarks were dittinctly visible in the snow from
the highway to the building. The barn contained a
quantity of wheat, barley, and a variety of farming im-
plements, worth probably 801., all of which were entirely
consumed, and, we regret to say, were uninsured.—Don-
caster Gazette.

EFFECTS OF THE CORN-LAWS ON THE
OBSERVANCE OF DIVINE SERVICE.—At the annual
meeting of the Bristol City Mission Society, held last
week, the Chairman, the Rev. T. East, of Birmingham,
forcibly described the unchristianizing influence of the
ruinous Corn-laws on the religious community ; he
stated that, in the town of Birmingham, " at least 15 per
cent. of the more steady hearers of the Gospel, and ?ft per
cent. of the most pious attendants and members of the
churches, had been rendered unable to attend a place
of worship by the rapidly increasing poverty of the
times. They had not clothes to appear in, and their
children had no clothes ; and to such an extent did this
state of things prevail in Birmingham, that they had
been obliged to establish Sabbath schools for single
streets in the town, in order to take in the poor half-
clothed children, who would otherwise receive no in-
struction." This alarming state of things, it should be
remembered, is not confined to Birmingham alone ; it
• exists at our very do, ! The Report of the Committee
of the same Society stnted, that the visitors had to con-
tend with great difficulties, arising from their inability to
meet the temporal distress which so greatly prevails in our
city ; and, we perceive by an advertisement, that it has
been found necessary, in the Tabernacle district, to
solicit public subscriptions, in order, as far as possible,
to render the labours of the missionaries and visitors
available for the purposes of Christian instruction, for
which they were designed.
WHO WOUND UP THE CLOCK—On Tuesday
morning St. Peter's clock was set going. Why? it may
be reasonably asked. It' the Churchwardens were right
in ordering it to be stopped, why not have the courage
to persist in the act till, at the proper time, they could
give an explanation of and defend their conduct ? If
they were not right—if the Hate-payers have been
seriously inconvenienced during the last three months
by a contemptible desire on the part of some indiViduals
to show their spleen and spite do the parish officers who
gave in to a paltry feeling think they are now to emape
unwhipped—" shake hands and make it up," becatice
forsooth, when the town has been disturbed and the
Church scandalised by their silly- conduct, they choose to
set the clock going ?—Brighton Herald.
THEVINDICTIVE.—Extract from a letter re-
ceived from an officer serving on board her Majesty's
ship Vindictive, dated Portsmouth Dock, 30th .January,
1842 :—." We were in reality in a most, awful scrape
from 9 A.M. to 10 P.m., when the unexpected and pro-
vidential shift of the wind (three points only), mainly-
contributed to our preservation. But for this, and the
tranquil coolness of our commander, we should certainly
not have witnessed Thursday's dawn of day. This is
the fourth time in my career that 1 have been spared,
when eternity, as I thought, was immediately before me.
We were to have taken the flag of Sir Thomas Cochrane
to China, but as the ship is found to be very much in-
jured, we shall not be able to refit in time to proceed
with him."

COURT
ly
OF SESSION.—On- Wednesday
ithhiotero„
ro
nine Judges were present in Court, a circumstance
S
which, we believe, has not oeeured on a regular sedcrunt
day in the memory of any individual now ronne,etan
with the legal profession. The four Judges aligen!
indisposition were Lords Meadowhimlc, Moiler
•Icf-
frey, and Cuninghame. Lord Moncreiff
who
expected to be out again to-day: LordinJeffrey,
Engliid for
has not been in Court since July, is now
the benefit of his health,
ay
be re-established, so as to enable
L'ords Meadowbank
his
duties doting the summer sessioil
t
illihisiehiisoloi
is e
about
-uttdti
enn-
both will ere long resume their s
which all shiriiicnertoelypehroerme
and Cuninghanie have
t s
(11 been coo ntased. Lfboceraesineodmo
ne
nm eilbeur
cury.
John Dunlop,
dbßatiejinihr e s refor
Wednesday 2 y
last,ears after diel
an
nt