The workingman's advocate., 1876-07-15

1 L n
F.r which dity pounds (the. of Mr. Macdonald, MP.
u,rc awarded at the Liverpool Trades Juiun
Congress, January, ls'5.
Those who 50 often speak of the wei
fare III the stat" would dO well u remem-
ber that the phrase has never meant the
welfare VI the people The good old
times were good only for small portion
uf the community, ana although year after
year has shown constant improvement, yet
Than ameiiuratlon has been vary slow and
laueutabe Imperfect. Aristotle says III
ms Politics that the best and most per
feet commonwealth Is one which provides
for the happiness 0t aH its members. The
fact that the great philosopher conceived
such a noble sentiment 80 long ago is IN
itself remarkable; but our admiration for
his wisdom u somewhat diminished when
We find that although artisans and trades
" every Kind are necessary to a state,
they are not parts Of II, and their hap
plness, therefore. is Ot kind with which
the best and most perfect commonwealth
has no concern whatever. Even the
Magma Charta. Of which Englishmen are
80 justly proud, referred only TO a moiety
Of the Two millions Of persons who inhabit-
ed England at the time ot its PRONUNCIATION.
- there Is little doubt that nearly one hall
Of the entire population was then in a state
Of slavery 50 abject that, III the language
OF the oid law-wrters, "the vIllein knew
not IN the evening what he was to do In
the morning, tut ne was bound to do what
ever ne was commanded He was liable
to beating, he was incapable Of acquiring
property for himself, and any he got be-
came his masters; I'D could be separated
from his Nite and children, and sold to an
other lord; NJ he could be passed with the
land upon which he lived AS If he had been
a chattel attached to II. Various causes
noislessly and gradually ehaced this mis-.
erabl condition, though at a very slow
rate. FAINT traces of IL, says Lord
Macaulay, were detected by the curious
SO late as the days IF the Stuarts; nor has
that Institution ylllenageI, even to thi.
hour, been abolished by statue"
CulIke the customs uf other nations,
serfdom IN England bore within it the
germs VI lts own destruction. The lord
might enlIanchise his villein, or the latter
could purchase his freedom If, too, the
slave escaped TO some town, and remained
there unclaimed year and day, he be-
came a free man. There we're also diff
culties ia the way Of proving villenage, the
pnus Of which proof always lay with the
lord. while in all disputes on the subject
the presumption of law was IN favour Of
liberty. Thus, writes Crsasy, while at
the period when we can first assert the
cOmmon-law Of the complete English ma.
tiOn to commence, we hnd this species Oi
slavery 50 widely established i'll this coun-
try, We also fnd the law for It's gradual
and ultimately certain extinction"
With hall nation ia slavery there could
be no working class, as the term is gen
orally understood. The wealthy kept
domestic artisans amongst their servants,
and the wants OF the mobiles were almost
entirely supplied by their retalners. The
yilielns titled the soil while the men IN
towns worked on what is now called the
domestic system, &C., on their own ac-
count There was, therefore, very little
hiring OF labourers. The London taIlOrs,
even IN the reign Of Edward ILL.,, were the
great importers Of WOODEN cloths, and there
can be no doubt that, as a rule, the crafts
men traded IN the raw materials which
they worked. As, however, the trades be-
came more prosperous, and the poor, who
tiocAed to the towns, more numerous, the
former would gradually cease working at
their craft, and, coniining themselves to
trading, would leave the manual labour to
their less fortunate companions. The dis
tncton OF classes would be marked. The
shoemaker would soon learn to look down
upon the cobbler, and the leather merchant
t. desplse the shoemaker
The full history OF our nation, it is
agreed, begins IN the reign Of Henry III /,
and 1t Is thenabouts that We lind anything
like working class gathering itself to-
gether. In the three centuries which i'm
mediately succeeded the Norman conquest.
the commerce Of England was greatly ex-
tended. Foreign commodities were lin
troduced IN abundance, and native manu-
factures established and improved" This
would naturally attract to the towns sIch
serts as wished for liberty, and thus we
ind springlng up III the towns a class of
men possessed Of personal freedom, but
destitute of property in land. These were
the foreruhners Of the working class. The
Statute of Labourers (23 Ed, Ill c. II
ehoNo AAi0 CAlotChCC vi a Ndkc-Ic-
ceiving class, the remuneration being about
one penny a day in addition to food; and
when it is rememeered that the sum men
toned was sufficient to purchase couple
Of fowls or the fifth part Of a sheep, it is
evident that the recipients were well off as
things went. Indeed, the statute referred
10 vas passed because in the opinion of
the lsndhOlders the wages of the agricul
tural labourers had become excessive. "
Here was, III fact the first ''crisis" on re-
cord between employers and employed in
England, The depopulation amounting,
II Is said, to one fourth of the nation)
which followed the great plague of 1348
caused natural rise in the price of labour
Whole villages died out; houses fell in
runs; entire focks perished for want of
headsmen; and the corn crop persisted for
want Of reapers. The clergy even raised
their fees for masses and prayers, because
tS"er persons weRe able to afford such
luxuries; merchants and tradesmen took
advantage Of the small supply of wares to