Richmond daily Whig. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1842-1861, 1860-01-23

nv than that Of the masters They the abject ser
wants Of the Trades Unions which aboundn demagogues
as ruthless and heartess those which ines our coun
try The strike commenced amidst eloquent speeches
ION the part of the field officers Of the Union, mostly
strangers who had resored Preston from the adoln
ing towns aid in this great struggle OF labor against
capital There was considerable vtuperauon, excite
ment and passion in the addresses, but the conduct oil
the people was e1ceIenby far the greater number OF
them being sinned against than SHINING In many
eases. thew displayed truly noble spirit patiently e-
"uring their suerings and heroicay bearing up under
priyatiOus in he hope that they might secure some
solid benefits for their order They thought they were
right, and they sadly suffered from their error The
Union was well supported by the adjoining towns, the
factory hands for some time sending contributions to
Preston, amounting to about $4,000 week
The total funds contributed by operatives during the
tbirysix weeks amounted to the Extraordinary sum OF
"e97, 900, an indication Of money power on the part
"of the working people, which, if exercsedn right direc'
tons would not tail TO produce the most beneficial re-
sults But Notwithstanding all this help the great mass
"of the Preston operatives rapidly gravated towards
absolute restitution Homes broken up, furniture
vas sold to the very last stick and women even dspos
led of their marriage rings to buy food for their children
'Then the Union collapsed the workpeOpe went back
ito their employment, but without the ten per cent
A their sacrifices had been in yain and the only re-
suits Of their worse than irutles herOsm were broken
hearts ruined homes and moral and physical desoation.
The loss in wages by the operatives during the strike
was quarter of million sterling, and the total amount
.of loss to all parties involved in the struggle, was up
wards of half million"
.'Tbat ronsp ere dispossdof their marriage rings to
Ba food for their children" What picture does that
simple record present of the distracted wife and the tor
tured mother Her children crying with emacated hips
for food and the mother tearing from her finger as their
last escape from the pangs Of hunger disgrace and SER
ude in the amshouse the cherished token Of the hon
ey of their birth and pledge of her fidelity TO their ia
,he We thank God that We have no apprehension that
ay such spectacle ever cOn,rasted its orments with the
happy beams of the sun which shine on Virginia and her
sisters of the south OF visited the glmpses OF the moon
making night hideous.'
Yet, we must not shrink from the duty, distressing
though it be- of rectng for the correction Of humani-
tartan decisions and the rebuke Of phanthrOpc
foes other facts in this melancholy history of the work
ngs of that great lie, which calls the most abec of all
iu this country, free labor.
We forget whether it is Junius some other writer
equally deluded or deluding who says, whenever l
see a Scotchman, involuntarily put my hand on my
pocket the object being OF course keep the Scotch
mlu', band out Of it. We the people of the United
States who are composed Of the various Of Chris
,sujom aud the mighty before them, of whom lac
corug to Bishop Wa-burtou) God condescended to be-
come temporal Prince dsabused OF all those mar
TOW preudices which attribute monopoly of excel
euces to one people and Of defects TO another Yet
cucature have no merit unless they indicate the prom
ueut features Of those they design to ridcue aud their
harsh climate and sterile soil were compensated to the
nblbiaut, OF Great Britain beyond the Tweed by those
high endowmeut which Providence bestowed to contend
with them Industry, ingenuity, ecouomy-it was to
perfect these high intellectual exceeucies that the vu
gtr aud barbarian blessings Of genial climate and fer
ti', soil were denied them. Typfed a naor land, As
nation. physioogicaly aud intellectually she will ever
boz regarded despite of all political lusions she gaze
earnestly on the world the genius Of industry, crown
ca with every trophy which civilization has won. Yet
among her prominent virtues is thrift which, in other
words what the brilliant genius, Charles Lee, called
the rascaly virtue Of prudence" We might imagine
tat the prudence the proprety the acuteness OF the
c1uuy Scots would have saved them from these unproh-
table civil brois londly dcuominated by the victims OF
s7Ylr seryudc the great struggles Of labor against
capital" But worldly wisdom continually oveTeaches
itself Il was found cheaper in Glasgow employ Irish
bor and penny wisdom betrayed the masters into pound
folly ID made them forget the prOcyity of Pat, of go-
r.ols Pat 10 bros The reviewer says The Glasgow
STRIKES have been accompanied with much greater VIC
cuce than those Of Preston, probably because OF the
much greater Infusion Of the Irish element in the opera
tive population there Impulse and passion which are the
leading features in 20 many strkc congeuial to the
Ir,hmaus nature and il is certainly remarkable to
observe the numbers OF persons from the sister isle, it
we NAV Judge of their nation by their names, who ap-
near among the leaders Of strikes in all large
.togns The most formidable Glasgow strike which
has occurred of 1tc years that of 1886, when du-
ring au almost tot cessation of trade the masters who
chad but recently raised the -piuu1rs wages ouesiNth
proposed 10 reduce lbeu again TO their former stand
ard iu order that TREY might keep the mills running
The vorkmen refused to comply. They stopped work,
formed themselves ipto committee and hired assas-
-ias and ytrio tarouer5 to deal wh the nob, or new
hands taken in by the masters. More than one muir
der va, committed. several mills we're burnt, and ma
.u, decd, of violence were done But after the strike
had lasted for seventeen weeks the finally went
back 70 their vogk on the masters terms
ID tbs Irish element IL the operatives of Glasgow was
So DISASTROUS there il easy imagine what it must be
10 the green isle itself The operatives 10 its capitol,
5a with true Celtic vehemence, have thrown them
solves. heart and SOUL into the emeutes and have
fought their battles with devotion worthy of better
cause. Moreover, they have been almost uniformly
successful but their victories have been almost uni
hrmIy more disastrous than defeats Dublin for
mer the seat Of numerous extensive and highly pros
'pcrous manufactures and trades. One after another
these various branches Of industry were ruined by
strikes, Fanel silk lace and gloves almost ceased &c
be manufactured, and the best Irish workmeu migra
" tea to England and Scotland.
"The wretched and poverty-stricken Liberties o.
Dublin, uu.-orbled by machinery and capital but in
Tested with paupersrp in its most revolving forms, still
testify TO the ruin inflicted the trade of Ireland by
che combinations OF her operatives O'Connell him
self admitted that Trades Unions had wrought more
evil 10 ireland than even absentceism and Saxon maad
"miuis,ratou."
IF any uuprivieged man ventured to work at any
Iniou trade it was at the peril of his life. Indeed
several poor wreches we're assassinatcd at the expense
ofhe Unions and the murderer remained undiscovered
N5 organization could have been more perfect and it
result was ruin. The sbpwrghts and sawyers carried
eyery point with their masters and in the course of few
wears there vas not a single mastershipwright in Dublin
Il vessels fresuenug the port required repairs they
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