The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-06-14 00:00:00

timated that they only do so from coercion, and that they
will be reduced to 3s. 6d. as soon as possible, the cotton
porters' association hare resolved that work shall cease
altogether, that none of the men shall work for individual
firms, but that, as they struck in a body, they will return
to work in a body. They also call upon the saltmen,
cartmen, cornmen, and dock labourers, to remain firm to
each other, and rather suffer hunger and thirst, and see
their children starve, than take work under the strike
price, or with firms who employ men who are not mem-
bers of the association.

On Sunday the town was placarded with large bills
announcing that a monster meeting would be held yester-
day morning, at St. George's quay, at the unusual hour
of half-past five o'clock.
The next meeting was held at the George's Quay, at
one o'clock in the afternoon of yesterday. The assem-
blage was not so very large as might have been antici-
pated from the number out on strike.—Mr. Cornett, the
secretary of the Corn-porters' Association, and other in-
dividuals present, addressed the gathering ; and, from the
various speeches made on the occasion, we learned that
the feeling uppermost in the mind of the men was that of
indignation at a number of their confreres who had be-
trayed them—uniting with them at first in the " coming
out," and then quietly " slipping in" to the unoccupied
situations of their fellows. All the speakers agreed in
this—that such a state of things could not long exist. It
must either be a universal strike, or a complete cessation
of the movement. It involved a grievous injustice that
one portion of the trade—and that the least honourable
and manly—should be in employment, while the other
portion. with their wives and children, were idle and starv-
ing. That night a meeting of amalgamated committees
would be held, to consider what course had best be
adopted—whether they ought to give in, or whether per-
sist in the course of procedure upon which they had
entered—a course (said one of the speakers) upon which
they themselves had at first entered somewhat unwillingly,
and in which they probably would not have been engaged
but for the advice of the other trades' associations of
Liverpool. They were out at the instigation of the work-
ing men of Liverpool ; and, if they pursued the "strike"
—as would probably be the case—they would do so, as
they had done from the first, with no intention or wish to
break the law of the land, but to do all legally and in good
order ; not with the determination to frighten and inti-
midate, but only with the honest desire to counsel and
advise with their fellows, so that they might stand up for
their legitimate rights. Whatever course was decided
upon that evening by the amalgamated committees, would
be made known to the entire body of men " on strike" on
the following morning ;and, this evening (Tuesday), agreat
meeting of the members of the Cotton-porters' Associa-
tion would be held in the Concert-hall, Lord Nelson.
street, for the purpose of endeavouring to come to some
amicable settlement.—So the matter at present rests. It
is worthy of mention that the men were moderate in their
tone—the most extravagant and revolutionary language
being used by the paid secretary, a young man named
Cornett, who, from his appearance, does not appear to be
a porter. He was the only speaker who indulged in in-
flammable words, and " physical force" and " starvation
before we surrender," were among the foolish phrases
which flowed copiously from his lips. One or two of the
real working porters spoke much more to the point and
much more wisely—affirming that nothing was farther
from their intention than to outrage the law of England,
or violate the private liberty of the English subject, in
working for whom and for what he pleases. A letter in
our contemporary of yesterday, purporting to be from
the cashier of a cotton-broker's office in town, was read
to the meeting amid loud hisses, and comments by the
way which impressed us with the opinion that the writer,
in making himself an anonympus personage, acted with
great wisdom. His castigations of the porter class were
pronounced to be false ; and one of the orators expressed
his conviction that, while many of them were not what
they ought to be, still, as a body, they were most intelli-
gent, orderly, and sober, and that in their ranks talent
was to be found which would grace the Commons house
of Parliament. This was hailed with loud symptoms of
satisfaction by the assembled lumpers ; but, after this
burst of eloquence, little occurred that was noteworthy—
the heavy and continuous fall of rain which accompanied
the speaking, exercising a somewhat depressing influence
on the orators of the movement.