The Sun.
London, England, 1829-05-30 00:00:00

GUILDHALL

IVilliant Flowers, a journeyman weaver, was
brought before Mr. Alderman ANSLEY yesterday,
charged with disorderly conduct on the premises of
Messrs. Wilson, Moore, and Co., in Milk-street,
Cheapside.

Mr. Ambrose Wilson said the prisoner was one
of their journeymen, and he charged him with re-
fusing to quit the premises when ordered to do so,
on the previous evening. He had previously used
rude, indeed threatening language. He made a
claim of money, and witness disputed his liability to
pay, telling him he might apply at Guildhall for re-
dress. As he refused to leave the premises, witness
was obliged to give him in charge.
Prisoner said that he and many others took home
their work on Wednesday morning, and had been
waiting to be settled with all Wednesday and all
Thursday. It was the rule of the trade when a cut
(portion of a whole piece) was taken home, to settle
for that at the time, and for the remainder when it
was brought in ; but Mr. More refused either to
settle for the cut or to advance a part of the amount,
and as he (prisoner) could not support his family
longer without assistance, he had refused to go away
and had been locked up.
Mr. Alderman ANSLEY said the magistrate had
no power to control a gentleman in the way he
should carry on his business, and say you shall
advance so much to your men. Prisoner ought
not to have acted in such an obstinate improper way.
Some person said he had employed the prisoner
five years before he came to Mr. Moore, and found
him an honest upright man. It was the common
practice to pay for every cut when it goes in.
Mr. Moore begged this person might be sworn.
Mr. Alderman ANSLEY thought this unnecessary,
as he was not a party in the case. Prisoner should
have come to the Magistrate when his employer re-
fused to pay, and not behaved riotously.
Mr. Moore observed, the prisoner went so far as
to say, that he wished he had had something in his
hand, •or that he had been present when deponent
was in the witness•box at another place.
The cry of " False! false ! false !" among the
crowd of weavers present, swelled from a murmur
to a roar.

Mr. Alderman ANSLEY—Silence. This is very
improper. Prisoner—l said, rather than go home,
I would go to gaol--there I should get victuals.
Mr. Moore—On my oath, as I was walking
away, I heard the prisoner distinctly threaten me

Alderman ANSLEY (pointing to the crowd) with
some warmth.—Then that whole phalanx have been
crying " false," and contradicting a gentleman re-
specting what was said when they were not pre-
sent, and could know nothing about it.
Mr. Moore said, he allowed the man might sum-
mon him before the Magistrate, and he was ready to
meet him at once upon his complaint.
Alderman ANSLEY—But we must dispose of your
charge first. I might hold him to bail for the threat;
but I suppose you do not wish that ? Mr. Moore
intimating he had no wish to press the complaint, the
Alderman dismissed the prisoner with an admoni-
tion not to annoy and obstruct Mr. Moore in his busi-
ness in future.

Flowers then made his complaint. He carried
home 56 yards of mantua on Wednesday, Mr.
Moore required all the finished work to be brought
in, and Mr. Moore refused to pay him, or any of the
other men. He took the work from the warehouse
at Bd. a-yard, but Mr. Moore had sent his weavers
word that he would give 9d.
Alderman ANSLEY—If you agreed to do it for
Bd., that is your claim, and the amount will be 1/.
17s. 4d. Now, Mr. Moore.

Mr. Moore (to Flowers)—ls the work now in
your hands sealed up ? Flowers—lt is not.
Mr. Moore—When was it unsealed? A voice
in the crowd—Don't answer that.

Flowers—l was not at home all yesterday, and I
can't answer.

Mr. Moore—Did you sleep at home on Wednes-
day night ? Flowers—Yes, I did.
Mr. Moore—Was the work sealed yesterday
morning ? Flowers—l did not look at it ; I wanted
to get to your warehouse.
Mr. Moore—Was it not sealed on Tuesday night
when you cut the work off, which you brought home
next morning ? Flowers—Yes.

Mr. Moore—When was it first sealed ? Flowers
paused, and the voice repeated—Don't answer.
Come, I'll answer that. It was late on Friday night.
Mr. Alderman ANSLEY said he did not compre-
hend what sealing meant.
Mr. Moore said a deputation of his workmen
waited on him on the 22d instant, with some reso-
lutions, which had been carried at a meeting of 8,000
weavers the day before, to the effect that if the
masters refused to give within 10 per cent. of the
prices set out in the book of wages of 1824, the
workmen should mutually visit each other's work-
rooms, and seal a piece of tape over some part of tke
loom, so that no more silk should be wove for the
masters so refusing. This the journeyman could
tear off in an instant, but he chose to consider it an
obstruction to working, and desisted entirely from
labour.

Mr. Moore asked complainant if he was at home
when the work was sealed ? Flowers—No.

Mr. Moore—Do you know who sealed it ?
Flowers—l cannot tell.

Mr. Moore said, his answer to the complainant
that he refused to pay according to custom upon the
cut coming in was, that the master was released
from fulfilling a contract when the workman only
partially fulfilled it on his part. It was an implied
condition that the journeyman should pursue the
work with reasonable expedition. About 132 yards
had been given out to the complainant, and he
brought home half at the end of 18 days; 25 days
had elapsed since, and the other half was not finished
by nine or ten yards. This delay he considered
amounted to a breach of contract. When the piece
was finished, he would pay for it, and he told the
complainant so long ago.
A weaver said it was unfair to reckon the time in
this way. The man must have worked from four
in the morning till eight at night, and on Sundays
too, to d 9. 66 yards in 18 days. Another said three
persons must have worked at it : a man could earn
but 12s. a week at such work, and this was the way
their wives and children were reduced to wanting
shoes and stockings, meat, and bread.
Mr. Alderman ANSLEY said, every body pitied
their distress, and a great deal had been done for
them; but with respect to the sealing, he never
heard of a stronger case of combination; and if the
men had been charged with that offence before him,
he should have certainly decided against them.
Their conduct was extremely foolish, as it must
drive the masters to send their work into country
manufactories, where it could be got up cheaper.
A weaver said the public charity only enabled the
masters to grind them down the more. When Go-
vernment sent 1,0001. to Spitalfields, the masters
reduced the wages instantly Id. the yard.
Mr. Moore said it ought not to go abroad that
the wages given were such that the men could not
exist on them. He had paid the complainant 445.
2d. for the eighteen days' labour already spoken of.
Some of his (Mr. Moore's) work had been cut to
pieces in the loom ; but it was a fact, that in no in-
stance was the work so cut until the journeymen had
been paid for their labour on it.
A workman complained of the combination
among the masters, and the starvation among the
operatives ; and another remarked that the combi-
nation laws being repealed, the workmen had a right
to combine, and seal the work, or do any thing else
that was necessary to save them from sinking under
oppression. Wages had been reduced one-third.

Mr. Alderman ANSLEY repeated his observations
on the folly of asking the masters to give high
wages.
A voice—There are 32 of us in the same situa-
tion with Flowers. We have taken in work and
cannot get our earnings, though our families are
starving.

A paper was handed in containing a list of these
demands, amounting to about 501.
_ .

Mr. Moore said be would not enter into speech-
making with his workmen; they were distressed
enough, no doubt, but they had work, and neglected
to do it. When any money was due to them, the
Magistrate would, he knew, if it were necessary,
compel them to pay. He understood the Alderman
to be of opinion he was not bound to pay the com-
plainant till he brought the whole of the work in.
Complainant said he would bring the remaining
10 yards home on Monday, and give security for it,
but he was really in great distress.
Mr. Moore said he would take no security, and
again asked the Alderman's opinion.
Mr. Alderman ANSLEY said he could not make
the order the complainant required; but he would
recommend him to Mr. Moore's notice, on account
of his distress. He had no claim, but he was in want.

Mr. Moore retired without making any promise
publicly whether he would or would not pay them.

BOW-STREET.

Joseph Harris, alias John Teasley, was yesterday
charged, before Sir R. BIRNIE, with having been
found at large in the county of Middlesex, contiary
to a sentence of transportation for life which had
been passed upon him.
This man, who was by trade a silk-weaver, was
three times sentenced to transportation. In the
year 1811, he was convicted at the Old Bailey of a
.burglary committed at Bethnal-green, and sentenced
to die, which bentence was afterwards commuted by