The Sun.
London, England, 1829-06-03 00:00:00

WEAVERS IN SPITALFIELDS

Mr. WARD said, the petition which he held in
his hand came from an eminent silk-manufacturer in
the city of London, and in order to render it intelli-
gible he would mention to the House a certain pe-
culiarity which existed in the silk trade of this me-
tropolis. The master manufacturer delivered out to
the journeyman weaver the materials which it was
his business to work up, and for that purpose the
journeyman weaver was permitted to take it to his
own residence. At Manchester, and other places
in the country where the silk trade was carried on,
this was not the case. The master-manufacturer in
those towns had the raw material worked up on his
own premises; he could therefore shut his door upon
his own property, and thus, if it were injured, he
had a claim to compensation from those who injured
ir. Here, in London, there was nothing like it;
for the journeyman weaver took the master's pro-
perty to his own place of residence, and this led to
an accumulation of en immense quantity of manu-
factured and unmanufactured goods in the particular
district in which the weavers resided. This cir-
cumstance hail given the weavers a power over the
master-manufacturers which had led to the most
notorious abuses. He must inform the House that
the journeymen silk-weavers had held a meeting at
a place called Temple Mills, in Essex, in which
they had come to the following resolutions :—the
first was, that " there should be a general strike
against those manufac:strers who refused to pay
within 10 per cent. of the book prices of 1824,
and who would not continue to give oat canes
at that price." The consequence of this reso-
lution was, that supposing a master mannfac-
titter was inclined to agree to pay such prices
for the work already given out, it would avail him
nothing, unless he would also agree to pay such
prices for the work which he continued to give out
for the future. The Hon. Member then entered
into some further observations, which were nearly
inaudible in the gallery ; but from which we col-
ected that he was complaining of the state of in-
security in which the property of the silk manufac-
turers was at present placed; and that he was call-
ing upon the Government to take some measures
to maintain and vindicate the law, thus openly vio-
lated. He also stated that the petitioner had in his
petition called the attention of the House to the
prices which his weavers were accustomed to receive
for their labour. He (Mr. Ward) had no right to
declare to the weavers what prices they ought to
receive and be content with ; but this he felt bound
as a man to declare to then), that if they were
really distressed, they were only making bad worse,
by refusing to take the little offered to them ; and
that the sooner they relinquished their present illegal
and unjustifiable practices, the better it would be
for themselves, their families, and their trade at
large. The Hon. Member then moved for leave to
bring up the petition.
Mr. PEEL—The petitioner says, that " the
jourseymen weavers are not satisfied with being
paid the increased wages demanded by themselves
upon the works they have in hand, and which they
had engaged to work up at a lower rate; but they
insist upon having other work delivered out to
them at the same increased wages, whether the
-master has occasion for further work or not, and
also that the master shall give work to such hands
us have been recently discharged by them; and
they refuse to unseal the looms or to desist from
the present system of destruction unless their terms
are complied with." If this be the case, and un-
fortunately there is too much reason to believe that
it is,—why does not the petitioner appeal at once
to the magistrates for protection against the indi-
viduals who thus openly threaten the destruction of
his property ? Is the law incapable of affording
him adequate protection ? When I refer to the
law which applies to such cases, I find it couched
in the following clear and explicit terms :—" If any
person shall, by violence to the person or property
of another, or by threats or intimidation, or by mo-
lesting, or in any way obstructing another, force or
endeavour to force any manufacturer or person car-
rying on any trade or business, to make any altera-
tion in his mode of regulating, managing, or con-
ducting, or carrying on such manufacture, trade,
or business; or to limit the-number of his appren-
tices, or the number or description of his jour-
neymen, workmen, or servants, every person
so offending, or aiding, abetting, or assisting
therein, being convicted before two Justices of the
Peace, shall be imprisoned only ; or imprisoned and
kept to hard labour for any time not exceeding three
months." If, then, a person makes use of such
threats as are stated to have been made against the
property of the petitioner, it is the bounden duty of
',the masters so threatened, according to my view of
the subject, to appeal to the law, not only for their
own protection, but alSo for the punishment of their
offending workmen ; and it is vain fOr them to apply
for a more-poWerful law, if they have not allowed
the terrors of the existing law to be called into ope-
ration. Another complaint which the petitioner
makes is, that there is not in the district of Spite's
fields a police force sufficient to protect the property
of the inhabitants. I admit this to be the case; but
I have done all that I could this Session to add to
the general police force for the protection of the
metropolis.—( Hear, hear.)—On this very day, out
of the limited number of police-officers, which we
have for the protection of the metropolis, 79 have
been stationed in Spitalficids, to enforce the sentence
of whipping passed upon one of the weavers who
wits convicted of the disorderly conduct of which the
petitioner complains. All the civil force which
could be spared has been placed at the command of
the Magistrates of the district; and in case that civil
force had been found insufficient for the purpose
which it was ordered to accomplish, a letter which
I addressed to the commanding officer of the troops
in the Tower would have enabled the Magistrates
to have called in the military arm of the State to
their assistance. The law of the country must and
shall be enforced—(loud cries of " hear" from all
sides of the House)—and here I am compelled
to state that it does appear to me that the
weavers of Spitalfields are acting in the most
shameful and disgraceful manner.—(Repeated cries
of " hear" from all quarters of the House.)—They
have shown themselves utterly unworthy of
the munificent contributions which the gene-
rosity of the country devoted to their support.
—( The same unanimous cheering was here re-
peated.)—And if they persevere in their present impo-
litic, illegal, and unjustifiable course, they will in-

volve themselves, their families, and their trade in
one general and unsparing ruin.—(Hear, hear.)—
At a time of the most profound tranquillity, it is
as much as the trade of Spitalfields can do to com-
pete with that of Manchester, where a larger capi-
tal is engaged, and Where greater improvement m
the maouracture is daily displayed.—( Hear, bear.)
—lf the weavers of Spitaifields think that they can
promote their interests by the interruption which
they are now giving to the operations of their mas,
ters, they are indeed most wofully and lamentably
mistaken.—(Hear, hear.)—Their masters will resort
to other places ; there is no obstruction to the re-
moval of their capital; and it is quite monstrous to
suppose that they will remain in London to submit
to the degrading dictation of workmen, who would
compel them, by a most detestable conspiracy of
8,000 or 9,000 persons, to turn off men who earned
355. a-week in their employment, and who were
content to work at that rate of wages. Sir, I do
most earnestly wish that the weavers of the country
would attend a little to their own interests. Here
are subscriptions going on among them in various
parts of Englund to support the men who are guilty
of this riotous and disorderly conduct in Spital-
fields. There are parts of the country in which
very severe distress is at present experienced by the
working classes. In various districts of Yorkshire
and Lancashire the weavers cannot earn sufficient
to provide themselves with the necessaries of life,
much less with those comforts which we should all
wish the labourer to enjoy; but there is an inflitua-
tion—l can call it nothing else—among them, which
leads them to put aside part of their scanty earnings
to support the weavers of Spitalfields in idleness,
who at this time can earn four times as much as
any of the weavers at Stockport and Manchester.
This gentleman says, in his petition, " that he has
been obliged to discharge many hands who were
earning upwards of 20s. per week, because he dares
not trust his property in Spitalfields, but whom
otherwise he should very willingly have continued to
employ; that some of the weavers now in his em-
ployment, and whose works are sealed, can earn in a
single loom 355. per week, and many others from 18s.
to 25s.,and that he has none in his service, who, if in-
dustrious, need earn less than 15s. per week in a
single loom; and that as the wives of weavers are
generally weaveresses or winders, and their children,
from an early age, are usually employed in some
branch of the manufacture, they who have families
earn proportionally more." I say that if men will
be foolish—l had almost said mad—enough to enter
into combinations to refuse such wages, they are
providing for the ruin of themselves and their fa-
milies as inevitably as men can do. I hope, that
when this absurd behaviour of the Spitalfields wea-
vers is known throughout the country, no one of the
poor operatives in Yorkshire and in Lancashire,who
earn their 7s. or Ss. a week by the sweat of their
brow will devote the smallest portion of their
scanty earnings to a fund, which enables the weavers
of Spitalfields to eat the bread of idleness at their
expence.—(Hear.)—One word now with respect to
the master manufacturers. I lament exceedingly
tat they have given way, as they have done, to
the demands of the journeymen.—(Cries of " hear"
from all parts of the Clouse.)—lt would have been
better—in my opinion incalculably better—for tke
master manufacturers to have resisted to the utter-
most the unjust demands of their journeymen, than
to have gained a temporary repose by compromising
them.—(Hear, hear.)—lf convinced that they can-
not pay the prices demanded without ruin to their
trale, they should refuse to give such prices rather
than make a temporary concession of them.—
(Hear, hear.)—Let them depend upon it they will
gain nothing by such temporary concession.—
(Hear.)—lt is wrong, I admit, for the masters to
combine to reduce the wages of their workmen;
but if conscientiously convinced that they cannot
pay the wages demanded by thasir workmen without
ruin to themselves, they ought to consult their own
interests, and to resist the intimations which they
have received from their workmen that their pro-
perty shall be destroyed if they refuse to give the
wages demanded.—(Hear.)—This very gentleman
admits, in a memorial which he sent to me on the
26th of May last, that the magistrates of the dis-
trict were most ready to attend to all the cases of
complaint which he and others had brought against
their various workmen. (Here the Right Hon.
Gentleman read a letter, in which the petitioner
said " We are ready to acknowledge the attention
which the magistrates have in all cases paid to
the complaints which we have brought before
them"—and in which be complained, if we heard
the letter correctly, of the small force of police which
was stationed in the district). My answer to this
complaint is, that I sent in all the small force of
police which the law at present places at my dis-
posal. if the civil force is insufficient, I say that in
that case, but in that case only, you shall have the
military. 1 have done all that I can to remedy any
inconvenience which may arise from the smallness
of the police force of that district, by placing at the
command of the Magistrates for the present, a force
of ten times its amount, taken from other parts of
the metropolis.—(Hear, hear.)-1 call, therefore,
upon the master-manufacturers to co-operate with
the Magistrates in enforcing the law against their
refractory workmen.-s(Great cheering)
Mr. P. THOMSON, in exculpation of the peti-
tioner, begged to inform the House that he had
nearly fallen a victim to his attempts to carry the
law of the land into execution. He was the first
person who had brought any complaint against the
weavers, and who had determined to prosecute his
complaint before the Magistrates. He had suffered
from a state of things to which the Right Hon. Gen-
tleman had not alluded at all in his speech, and
which was owing to the general mode of carrying
on the silk manufacture in Spitalfields. When the
Right Hon. Secretary said, that the masters were
not willing to exert themselves in defence of their
property, and that they had never appealed to the
law for its protection, lie bad completely-overlooked
one objection which stood in the way of his doing
so. To appeal to the law, you must be able to
bear out your case by evidence. Now the whole
population of the district was ranged against
such evidence, and- used every exertion to
inti-
midate sufferers from coming forward. He cited
the case of the petitioner as one exactly in point.
The Right Hon. Secretary had also overlooked the
great loss of property which the petitioner had sus-
tained in his attempts to vindicate the law. Pro-
perty of his had been destroyed since last week to
the value of 150/. or 2001.; and that, too, not in
the hands of those who wanted work, but in the
hands of those who were earning 355. or 40s. a
a week, and in a way which could not have been
prevented without the presence of an overwhelming
force of police upon the spot. On Sunday night
last a weaver in the employ of Mr. Moore, whilst in
bed, heard a knock at his door. He opened his
window, and called out " Who's there ?" He was
answered, " A friend—lot me in." To this he re-
plied, " Friend or no friend, you can't come in."
The consequence was that his door was immediately
wrenched open by mein force; fifteen men entered
his house; they went up-stairs—they threatened
him with death if he gave any alarm—they destroyed
all the work in his possession ; and not content with -
destroying his work, they also destroyed a loom, the
property of his master. There was another point
also which prevented the master manufacturer from
prosecuting. There were some men who had nerve
enough to despise the threats of the weavers, and
who were willing to risk their property rather than
degrade themselves by any disgraceful submission to
unjust demands: but there were others who were
more timid, and who were desirous to get as much
of their property as they could out of the hands of
the weavers. Was the Right Hon. Secretary aware
of the means to which the weavers resorted to work
upon the feelings of such master-manufacturers ? In
the course of the lust few days, many threatening
le,
by
the masters, bad beers placed in
jthem was drawn up in terms so
d that he could say nothing
odious
itoe,
hands—one
and received
of
disgusting,
more of its contents than it threatened not only the
life and property of the parties to whom it was ad-
dressed, but also the lives of some of their dearest

connexions. He entirely concurred ie the PPtlitle
that to none were these outrages so fatal as e—their
operatives themselves, who were rushing uP°ll„
; to
own ruin, when they combined in this mane
perpetrate outrage upon their masters.
Sir G. PHILLIPS concurred with the
Member who preceded him, ie the
the language of the Right Hon. Gent. w°"hi
productive of the most advantageous effects througo
out the trade. Nothing could, indeed, be Is
pernicious to the interests of the poor thetn9e.„-s
than that practice of combination which now °Le,
happily prevailed. It had come to his kpowleue,l
during reie of these combinations, that bodietiver
men were actually paid to spread themselves' °to ,
the country, and to encourage others by preCePtrie,
well as example in adopting the same
These things were taking place now, and the '4-here
men were turning out at a time and in a place~
wages were very far from being at a low rate.
tei,,
able workman could earn thirty shillings 8 ‘iV to
while young persons were receiving from twe,rivh-eo
opinion that
seventeen shillings, and boys eight shillings. ' they
were the wages at Stockport, and he believed tiro,
were as high as the ordinary wages of the „t,i•sle
He knew so much of combinations as to be se'-'lOO
that wages were not always at the lowest tbst,
where tire " turns-out" chiefly took place; bnut;v;her
on the contrary, the wages were generally higher
there than in other places where the workmen ',ost
DO complaint. The proportion of turning:loe
seemed indeed to be, not in proportion to the
tress, but to the high price of wages. oilier
Mr. HUME deprecated, as much as anYi;rne
Hon. Member, the course pursued by the wor7ifer:
arid predicted, as the result of it, continued 'lt up
ing. In the Committee, however, which
stairs to inquire into the Combination Laws, twill
workmen and masters who were examined u" to
disclaiming any wish to appeal to force, an
kith
Glared they viewed any proceeding of that kind "00
the Utmost horror, and expressed their willinfgee
to use their utmost efforts in repressing it. I; be
were the recorded sentiments of the trades; ",,"•010
was satisfied these persons expressed the 0P7,:c1
of a great majority. After observing he consluto
the clause in the Combination Laws against t:the
practices to be as well framed as any clause 01
kind which ever received the sanction of the Legtihe
lature, the Hon. Member proceeded to say, that they
workmen were now in the best condition which \lot
ever enjoyed. They might work or not w°1.4400
as they pleased, at any hours and for oil Pruclt
they pleased, so that they enjoyed quite ,1140
independence as the masters. It had been sawe'tse
the present proceedings arose from the state of
wag
Combination Laws; but in his opinion there
Is ere
not one combination now for twenty which It
entered into before the amendment of the law6'resi'
appeared, at the present moment, that thesete!..elef'
nations were confined to Spitulfields and Aln—,.ere
field, and, as they had heard, many of them
supported by persons kept in pay for the Purrisst
He agreed with the Right Hon. GentleMan',isle
means should be adopted to bring them t° Peitio°
merit. It was for this assistance that the
prayed, and he trusted the House would not re'ers'
Mr. E. DAVENPORT trusted that tire (ler
tives of Macclesfield would be able to free
selves from any participation in these corni""(1-1°tIri
Mr. FYLER knew the weavers of Coven is
were in the greatest distress. A meeting waoll'
take place on Wednesday, in order to raise ala
seription for supplying soup to many who weref the
state of starvation. He thought the practice ore
masters in lowering the wages by trifles, svhieeh ireti
of little importance to them, but which i°r
something considerable in the earnings of the Yo
,k'
men, could riot be too much condemned.
Mr. V. FITZGERALD defended his "i,ight
}r'
Hon. Friend (Mr. Peel) from the imputation of 'lip
ing expressed himself Man unfeeling mariner toll eft
the operatives. His Right Hon. Friend read
t2oBsp.r
aovy,e,etelkia_t some
i joefs
stthhea i workmen
ts.
that fact, not for the purpose of ahewingthatt!:l
distress existed, but for the purpose of proving 00'0
the consequences of combination fell heaviest h
those who were in distress, and who did not, Peril,a,rs
participate in the mal-practices of the combins'es
As to the fact of the existence of great tlistresfl,o,,
man attempted to deny it ; but now that the '"joill
bers of the House were on the eve of a separath to
Ire thought it important that it should go fort re
the public, that whatever difference of oplai°"bn
vailed on the subject of the distress, there viiteje
one sentiment on this question—that the dto
was bound to concur in any measure intelme.oo
and he allude
enforce the laws and to put down combioetivie
were, real', 7,
fatal to the industry and manufactures of the wetof
country. With respect to the particular
dieri.
the
which the petitioner complained, it was rietibef
workmen of that district should know that r'5,14
listened to the inflammatory language of their Pre,
advisers, distress and misery to the workme"
follow the ruin of the property of the western' gr'
After a few words in explanation, from
FYLER arid Mr. V. FITZGERALD, Ode
Mr. Alderman WAITHMAN concurred t-0 0'
opinion that these combinations were ruinoa oy t°
parties connected with them, and bore testidsett'
the great respectability of the petitioner. 4: Soli'
ling, however, to the observations of the s, he
Baronet (Phillips) on the subject of Prle—i the
thought it right to point out to the attention tot,
House, that hourthat statement it was evidelittp 01
children of ten years of age could, for the tli,fer
eight shillings a.week, do the work, with raf 4.°
loom, of three men; and there were urvardatco4lll;
thousand of these hand-looms in the mantlfee-, of
districts. It was said that the combinatig",tro'
Spitulfields was driving the trade from the wade
polis, but he believed there was very. littlei tr
any where, and that the distress was univernord,
Mr. Secretary PEEL should feel extrent4;ooo
if any of the observation's which fell from him "ntle'
be supposed to cast any reflection on the Veld
man who presented the petition. He ree°"eislija
that at a very early period of these disturbane oeu
had an interview with the petitioner, wino OP;
a disposition to submit to any personal seer'
order to enforce the laws, and therefore anYA,'O4 t°
Mimi against the masters of suffering 600'1,4 t°
be intimidated by the workmen did "not.aYrisit#
him. With respect to the workmen, he:had Aa ore
ted they were objects of commiseration nil:, 1,10
pathy, and he declared his regret that th°,7e in
were disposed to work ut fair prices elioulu
volved in the odium attendant on these prciceeiliefe,
and be stripped of their earnings to support feelitio
combinations. He could trot avoid, indeed, Der
a good deal of indignation against the coors'eallt
sued by these persons, and he had received a,„.1111;
municatien in the course of the last two thla'whic:
marked them as adopting a line of conduct hoiellre
would subject them to well deserved puni7ooo-
A manufacturer of the North of England 11'1"
-
a communication to him stating that a perat)illi.r
was willing to work at a price somewhat loote.ietltt}
that which had been given before was stllliense
a scandalous outrage, and one new to that,:
the country. Vitriol was thrown upon hi° :et e°:';
clothes, and the two persons charged with t"-reeet'i;
mission of the offence were persons, the otle ji'ln'-
ing:3os., the other ‘l.os. Weel:.--(fle"r''reri;
thought these practices deserved the utmost t,(e
bation, and he agreed with the Hon. nnr,"(llleto !lid!
G. Phillips), that the combinations prevtti'e;;ess
greatest extent in those places whose di9'.
the least claim on our sympathy. distf"s.
Mr. WARD denied lie said there was no for Ca;
As to the charge made by the Hon. Mellthereit6
pe
ventry (Mr. Fyler), of using ex-parte staterrl:ooi
could disprove it at once, by saying that he pi, I'
case as made out by the workmen, and no
masters.

etitienf
HERRING FISHERIES.
Mr. FERGUSSON rose to present °,l
from Wigtowlishire, praying for the contio"%oo",'
the bounties on the Herrin Fisheries of St'abge.
mwandicehtto,xtphiereßitotadproilftlieixratt.:As‘n,hakphplireti°;hoOlht'ili
say, had not met with the''desired sue the
was a question essentially connected with t-