Richmond enquirer. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1815-1867, 1825-05-24
FOREIGN.
BRITISH PARLIAMENT.
HOUSE OF COIJNO.NS-MARcH 20.
COMBINATION LAWS.

COMBINATION LAWS.
Mr. Huskisson rose pursuant TO notice 10 NOV
for Select Committee to inquire into the effect O
the Repeal of the Combination Laws. Since thes
laws were repealed in the last Session of Parlia
ment, proceedings OF very serious nature had Ia
Ken place In different parts of the country. Th
parties seemed to have acted in total misconcep
ton of the spirit by which Parliament was influ
enced IN dealing with these laws. When the Hon
oentleman, Mr.. Hume) last year moved for
Committee TO inquire into the combinations of work
men and the acts that bore upon the subject, h,
concurred in the motion because the laws appeared
TO him 10 be complicated and contradictory, and &c
need some amendment, He agreed to the inquiry
because these laws did not appear TO bear equally
| In their practicable application upon workmen anc
their employers, and because he knew that they
tended TO keep alive among them spirit of mis-
trust and opposition. The Committee was very
numerous. 1t consisted, he believed, of fifty gen
tiemen. They examined numerous witnesses, they
sat long, and the result was, not a report to the
House, which would have been the most desirable
mode OF proceeding for the purpose of afiordng
the necessary information to direct their Judgment
ana TO point out the grounds which they were
TO leglsate, but the Committee came to certain Re-
solutions. He Mr.. III. member Of the
Committee, but prevented by other duties from
attending as often he would have wished When
the BIZ was brought in, the necessity of giving his
1t sufficient attention. The Bill went TO repcal
not only all statutes regarding combinations but
even TO remove any remedy the common law might
have provided. 1t was the opinion ofa very com
petent Judge, tine Member for Peterborough (NIr
SCARCITY that the common law quite sufficient
TO prevent all injurious combinations He (Mr
Huskisson) conceived, therefore, that the remedies
provided al common law should have been p eserv-
ed However, the Bill repealed, not only between
Parlia but,l L
the whole OF the common law as it bore upon the
subject OF combination. 1t being late in the Ses-
SION, the measure went through the House with un-
usual rapldity. TWAS read second time, after
very little discussion, the 81 of June, and on
the 9th 1t was passed. For this despatch he did
not mean TO impute any blame to the Honorable
Gentleman (Mr. Hume.) 1t was quite natural that
he should feel anxious 10 carry the Bill through the
House as soon as possible at that period of the
Session. However since that period he had receiv-
ed, ~ his official capacity, numerous statements
concerning the conduct of worlmen in different
parts of the country. His Right Honorable Friend
Mr.. Secretary Peell received others in which at
tenuon was called TO various disgraceful acts Of
outrage. Hear He saw the representations made
TO his Right Honorable Friend upon the subject.
IL would appear that these outrages were now be-
coming more numerous, and producing 4 spirit Of
combination and resistance which, if Ieft 10 itself
must be attended with the most serious mischief
The evil was making rapid progress, and if suffer
ed TO go on would, In all PROBABILITY, arrive at such
magnitude as to render it subject more fit for the
interference OF his Right Honorable Friend than
for his MIR. Huskisson's,) armed as his RIGHT Ho-
norable Friend was with the civil power, and au-
thorized, II he should judge it necessary TO call on
the military TO aid him in putting down, what he
could call by no other name than formidable con-
spiracy. However, in its present state aud if ia
Ken IN proper time II might, perhaps be dealt with
rather as question OF commercial regulation, than
one requiring the strong arm of power 10 nut il
down He was quite satisfied that if some rene
dy was not applied speedily, the evil would grow
TO magnitude that would require very different
measures. II those who appeared to guide large
masses OF tire population, did desis from these
dangerous pursuits, his Right Honorable Friend.
Mr.. Peel, must feel himself called upon in duty 10
make use OF the powers within his reach, or if
they were not sufficient, apply to Parliament
for additional powers. lie trusted that 10 person
in that House would look upon him as hostile to
the principle of free trade, and the right of every
man TO dispose Of ms labour and skill to the best
advantage; hc meant the right OF obtaining fer il
the highest remuneration he could, and of CARRYING
1t to any market where lie thought lie could obtain
more favourable terms He always maintained
that his labcur was the estate of the poor man. and
that lie ought to be liberty dispose Of it to the
best advantage; but he must contend also, that
those who employed him were to be protected. 1t
was their capital and their machinery that nut his
labour IN motion; that capital therefore and that
machinery ought to be as sacred in the eve of the
law and as amply protected as the property Of the
workman which was his labourer II was for the
interest of the workman himself that tue property
OF his employer should be protected, for without
that he could have no employment He might de-
tain the House too long BY going into minute state
ments, but the subject was 30 important that il
could not be lightly passed over. In the outrages
TO which he alluded many lives had been lost and
that under circumstances which prevented detec
ton, and enabled the perpetrators to escape with
IMMUNITY But without any particular statement of
the vlOlences committed, he might shew what the
views and principles Of the individuals were. and
the sort of right they claimed of interference with
the conduct and property of their employers Their
objects might be collected from the articles bv
which they professed to be regulated The La
mark, Dunbarton, and Ayrshire Golfers had not
less than between twenty and thirty of these arti.
cles. They were as regularly organized as some of
the new Governments, that had sprung up in differ
ent parts OF tue world. They had their Deputies
Electors, President, Secretary, and Committees
BY the AYRSHIRE Association provision was made
Tor a General Meeting of Delegates, and not alone
from those OF the same trade, for here there was
union Of trades, and each might send delegates to
the General Meeting, sort Of Federal Republic of
different trades. II was provided that each dele
gate should be paid by the workmen of bis own
trade; but the president, secretary and treasurer
were to be paid ont OF the general fund The del
egates were elected for six months and might af-
ter the lapse OF that period, be reelected In the
eleventh article the duty Of the General Committee
was specified, and part Of their duty it appeared
was, to warn the employees; TO point out the dam
ger in which they were placed, and if they should
neglect such warning, to try every thing that pru-
dence might dictate 10 put them ont of the trade,