The Sun.
London, England, 1845-03-25 00:00:00

KING'S COLLEGE.

On Tuesday next (Founder's day) the Rev. Lewis
William Sampson, M.A., and Fellow of this Society, will
preach the usual sermon in the College Chapel, betore
the University.

THE CHURCH.
The following appointments of gentlemen of this Uni-
versity have just taken place :
The Rev. Walrond Whitter, M.A., of St. Peter's Col.
lege, to the rectory of Bradford, Devon.
The 'Rev. William Holmes, 8.A., of Caius College, to
the rectory of Osmandiston, alias Scole.
The Rev. Thomas White, M.A., of Trinity College, to
the perpetual curacy of Kirk Hamerton, Yorkshire.
The Rev. Robert Hawthorn, M.A., of St. Peter's Col-
lege, to the vicarage of Stapleford, Cambridgeshire.
The Rev. Henry Press Wright, 8.A., of St. Peter's
College, to the perpetual curacy of St. Mary, Quarry-
hill, Leeds.
The Rev. Henry Paul Measor, M.A., of King's Col-
lege, to the curacy of Felmersham, Beds.
The Rev. R. E. Kerrick, M.A., of Christ's College, to
the vicarage of Pampisford, Cambridgeshire.

A General Conference of Trades' Delegates, from all
parts of the kingdom, commencPd its sittings yesterday
at the Parthenium Club-rooms in St. Martin's-lane.

It originated in a meeting of delegates from the London
Trades, held at the Bell Inn, Old Bailey, on the
Gth of February, when resolutions were passed
by which the present position of the trades was
described as ." extremely perilous," and it was an-
nounced that a conference would-be held at Easter, " to
devise means by which an effectual resistance may be
given to any measure introduced in'the present session
of Parliament, tending to impair the interests of the work-
ing classes." A hope was expresso din the circular issued
by the Committee appointed to prepare for the Confer-
ence, that it " would be all powerful in preventing the
introduction, or deterring the prosecution, of any mea-
sure in Parliament of a similar character to that of the
Masters' and Servants' Bill."

Shortly after two o'clock the chair was taken by T. S.
Duncombe, Esq., M.P.
The CHAIRMAN then proceeded to open the meeting in
the following words :—Gentlemen, in assuming the office
which your confidence rather than my own will or fitness
has imposed upon me, I feel some difficulty—a dif-
ficulty not arising out of any misgiving as to your ability
to devise and power to execute any plan that the
majority of this highly important assembly shall deli-
berately agree upon, but the difficulty, of deciding
upon the most proper and apt machinery for
the purpose of giving effect to your judgment.
Gentlemen, I learn that you have wisely de-
cided upon excluding all political topics from your
consideration; but I feel convinced that, should the day
arrive when the English mind shall see that " a fair
day's wages for a fair day's work" can only be achieved
through the fair representation in Parliament of those
seeking their just rights, that then my countrymen will,
with their characteristic boldness, demand such a
change in the system as shall ensure to them not only
the possession, but the protection of the fruits of their
industry.—(Cheers.) It is wise, however, that you should
first test the willingness of those who have the power
not only to remedy your grievances, but to render.7any
great political change valueless in your eyes.—(Hear,
hear.) It is better to persuade men than to coerce
them, and should your first move have been in a poli-
tical direction I fear that the varied elements of which
this national assembly must naturally consist, would
have presented an appearance of internal contention and
strife, rather than of organisation and union, two ingre-
dients indispensable to the success of your project. Gentle-
men, although I am here rather to learn than to instruct,
yet I hope I may, without presumption, be permitted to
suggest such a course as I conceive best calculated to in-
sure success. You may, and most probably will, evince
great wisdom and astuteness in those several discussions.
bearing relatively or positively upon your several
positions, while the manifold interests which are re-
presented upon this occasion may lead some to suppose
that there is difficulty in combining those interests in
any one common plan. Such, however, is not my opinion,
for while there may appear no connexion between a
cotton-spinner and a shoemaker, nevertheless, we must
come to the conclusion, that that. machinery cannot be
perfect which does not equally represent and equally
protect the interests of both.—(Hear, hear.) This,
then, is the important point to which I would respect-
fully direct your attention :—The establishment of such
a devising and controlling body as shall give effect to,
and fully carry out, whatever plan the majority of this
assembly shall decide upon. You will have done but
little, if you meet and separate, after having merely pro-
claimed your wrongs and suggested your remedies. You
must do more—having the power, you must boldly pro-
claim your determination to redress yourselves ; and,
humble as I am, I shall have sufficient confidence in your
importance and integrity, when backed by your concur-
rence, to declare in my place in Parliament, that the
hour has at length arrived when Englishmen know their
rights, and are determined to possess them.—(Cheers.)
In the debate upon the " Ten Hours' Bill," during the last
session of Parliament, when the House of Commons
stultified itself by preferring the ascendancy of a Minister
to the interests and even the well-being of the working-
classes, my mind was for the first time directed to the
practical operation of the principle of restriction, and to
that question I would now draw your most serious atten-
tion. You will naturally consider whether or not any,
or all the measures submitted by Parliament to the coun-
try, are calculated to cause an equitable distribution of the
profits on trade between capitalists and labourers, and if
they are not calculated to do so, you will then, I hope,
enter upon the consideration of some well-digested plan
to effect an object of the most vital importance, one upon
which I do not hesitate to say the existence of the middle
classes and of the landed aristocracy depends, and for
this reason :—lf our mechanical powers of production
go on increasing according to well-founded anticipa-
tions, one of two results must necessarily follow, either
new markets must be discovered as consumers, or
the surplus of idlers must progressively increase.
As then the discovery of new customers is at best
but problematical, we must look upon an increasing sur-
plus as the more rational result from improved machinery,
and how to deal with that surplus is the question of
paramount importance to those who are as yet allowed
to labour and to live.—(Hear, hear.) Whether this sur-
plus should be maintained by those employed ,to avert
competition, or by the Government—that is, by the
country, according to the rules of justice, is the grand
question. I hold that those at work cannot and ought
not be called upon to apply any portion of their earnings
to the support of a surplus created by the operation of
a new system, over which they have no control ; and I
further hold, that the Government has no right to tax
one portion of the community for the maintenance of
another portion, rendered dependent, while willing to
labour.—(Hear, hear.) Those who have read the ac-
counts stated by me in the House of Commons, relative
to the effect produced by practising the principles of
restriction at Sheffield, must come to the conclusion
that short hours of labour do not lead to a reduc-
tion of wages, although it may tend to reduce
the inordinate profits of capitalists, accumulated rather
from their power over the labour market than

from the just sources of trade or speculation ;—in fact
that calculations of profit and loss are now based upon
the ability of the powerful to reduce the wages of the
powerless, rather than upon the ordinary rules by which
we are told commerce should be regulated. The reasons,
however, why your employers have been enabled to hold
your labour in complete subjection are so well known to
all who have taken part in strikes, whether just, unjust,
or speculative, that I should abstain from any comment
upon that part of the subject, were it not necessary for
the direction of your minds to the adoption of such
measures as would enable you in future to judge, first,
of the justice of a strike ; and secondly, of your effici-
ency to carry it out. In all cases where strikes have
taken place they have been for the most part entered
upon rashly, though perhaps justly ; and the justice
of your case has been lost in the rashness of your
measures. However righteous your claims may
appear at first sight, it has too often happened that
your own rashness has enabled your masters to enlist
the power of the law to insure their own triumph, and
hence have been compelled to fight against the two-
edged sword of capital and legal persecution. When-
ever a strike takes place the local authorities, who are
for the most part employers have been able to warp
some enthusiastic and justly indignant minds from their
con-
struedthusyour imperfect machinery has been unable to compete
original intoP c'rePon set' r tuoc ttihveeacclonopsptiiornacyofor whatsed itiisone,aasinldy
against the more perfect machinery of your opponents.
Through the legal acumen, perseverance, and steady
watchfulness of the miners' law adviser, Mr. Roberts,
that large body of men were enabled to continue what
I will call the most justifiable and extensive strike
upon record, for a period of many months, notwith-
standing that the vengeance and the power of their
masters was directed against them, and the power
of the law was at their command, if the conduct of
the men had authorised its interference. This strike
failed, not because it was capriciously entered upon, but
because there was wanting a proper plan of national or-
ganisation to insure its success. Gentlemen, this I un-
derstand to be a national body, and I must, therefore,
presume that one of your main objects will be the esta-
blishment of sonic permanent machinery for the regula-
tion of trades' matters and trades' strikes. That that
body shall be legally constituted, with power vested in
its members to hear all matters connected with trades'
business, and in all cases where the rights of any one
trade are threatened or invaded, that that trade, if a
strike should be sanctioned by the governing body, shall
be sustained, upheld, and supported during the struggle,
however long it shall continue: the terms to be submit-
ted to, and agreed upon by a majority of the governine•
body. I think that such a plan would divest a strike
of that local and personal feeling which is in general
attributed to the prime movers, and would give protec-
tion to those who, if struggling alone, must necessarily
be subject to all those disadvantages which unprotected
poverty experiences in its struggles with protected
wealth.—(Hear, hear.) Of course, in the formation of
such a body, you must take local machinery into your
consideration ; that is, suppose a strike takes place in
Sheffield or in Manchester, sanctioned by the ruling
body, in such case you Fut yourselves in communication
with the local delegates of that trade, appointed by their
body—who become honorary members, for the time, of
the general body—and, if necessary, you appoint one or
more as commissioners from your permanent executive,
to repair to the spot where the strike takes place, there
to instruct themselves upon, and to inform you of, all
matters connected with the movement, and in such cases it
is my opinion that any excitement necessary to sustain the
strike, should be transferred from the place where it
occurs to the metropolis, where of course the governing
body will hold its permanent sittings. By these means
strikes, when just, would be of short duration, because
the united power of the Rational trades of Great Britain,
when properly and justly directed, as I feel assured they
would be, would prove an over-match for the power of
the local masters, or even the whole masters of the
kingdom, should a counter-organisation be attempted.
By systematic organisation of this kind the political