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    men in the iron trades were tried for conspiring to injure their masters . Mr . Baron Bolfe , the present Lord Chancellor , was the presiding judge , and he laid down this rule , " that if the workmen in assembling had no other object than to persuade one another that it was their interest not to work except for certain wages , or . not to work under certain wages , or unless certain regulations were complied with , that was not an illegal object , provided it was sought in a peaceable manner . " Such is the rule laid down by a iudo-e who attained the very highest esteem on thc ' ~ Bcneh , and who is now the Lord . Chancellor

    of England . At ' Stafford Assizes , in 1851 , some _ tin-plate workers were tried for combination against-their masters , and Mr . Justice Erie then laid down another rule . He said , "That where persons combined together to obstruct and molest a master manufacturer , in order to enforce him to alter his modo of carrying on his business , and in pursuance of that object combined to persuade other men to leave his employ , that being an overt act , was an indictable offence . " Mr . ' Justice Erie is also a judge much esteemed ; his legal

    knowledge , his general nrobitv , are admitted ; and ledge , his general probity , are admitted ; and although we think the judgment which he delivered at Stafford in the Wolverhampton case illogical and harsh , still , we repeat , it is not our object to enter into that question . For the present moment it suffices us to show , that two judges , both of high repute , have undertaken to interpret the existing law , and that one of them interprets it to mean , that men are liable to indictment if they combine to persuade each other , ¦ while the other interprets it to mean that men ma ?/ lawfully combine to persuade each other .

    The existing law , therefore , is interpreted by two judges in an exactly opposite sense . If the working people trust to the interpretation of Mr . Baron Eolfe , they may be indicted under the interpretation of Mr . Justice Erie . Now , a law which may be construed to mean either that the working classes are enabled to combine , or that they are forbidden to combine , is not a just law , —not a law which makes obedience easy . It is what the late Lord Chancellor would have called " a mockery , a delusion , and a snare . " Evidently , therefore , ( he case is one for a Declaratory Act , kucIi as Mr . . Driuniuoiul proposed to introduce .

    When , however , we appeal again to Parliament , the opportunity arises of revising , not only' the terms , but the policy of the law , and it is fair to consider whether or not it is desirable to maintain or to abrogate the statute . The expediency of a law must be determined by the facts of ( he case . Now , what are the facts P Jt is the custom of the ironmasters in Staffordshire to meet every quarter , and to determine what shall ' he the price of iron . Jt is ( he custom of masters

    in many towns to meet and determine what , shall be ( he rateof wages paid to theworkmen . General resolves are adopted ; and then . , * is no doubt that if there is a difference of opinion , those who are in favour of certain measures use their best eloquence to persuade others to their view . There is no doubt , also , that if any one person were to net counter to the opinions of the rest , although probably they would not beat him , or throw him out of window , or hoot after him iu the KtrcetH , ho would in the end find himself nome-Uovv or other the loser -. hm business would

    suffer , and ho Mould bo very uncomfortable at social meetings , and even iu church or chapel . Catching the tono of public dislike , dealers would pass his warehouse , friends would not invite him , waiters at public dinucrH would forget him , and waiters upon Providence in the pulpit would level pious sarcasms ; il him . There i . s another class of persons in ytaffordshire an < i Wolvorhamplon , who have a commodity to sell—( he workpeople with ( heir labour . They meet to arrange I ho prico at which it shall jie sold ; a dillci'cncc of opinion arises amongst i ' lem . and those who think that the price nhoiihl

    lie higlier t ( in . it tliat which con tents Homo others , i ; nc I heir (> est eloquence to persuade / ho . se others I .- their view . According to IV ! i \ . 1 ustieo Krle , in ; iic ;; e proceedings the working classes commit :, n iiuliciable oilcnee . The Solicitor-General , in' '¦'¦ 'I , iul codiices a new element , into their crime : 'i ¦¦ . !• , t \ die p ei \ , » ms out <>/ ' Ivor / , ' must not use p ¦ ¦ . ¦ unsuiMs iij ,, i ; i i rcivinis w ho are iu work . Now , *\ lii ! , ¦ ' , <¦!¦ llu- diU ' civiic of op inion as to the ex-1 ¦''"" . ' 'aw limy In- ;; . inong ( it lawyers , wo are Hj . iwuoly convinced ih : i ( , th < rin , \ v oUght | , | M > pmclically equal both for inustorM : uul men . Wo lll'O

    not less convinced that persuasion cannot be constituted an offence , except by a very gross stretching of legal intervention . It would be a manifest outrage on . common sense to interfere with the Staffordshire ironmasters or the Liverpool manufacturers ; and if they are free , it is an outrage on justice to interfere with the men . There is , indeed , a species of compulsory law which the legislature may very fairly enforce : it is , where a particular regulation would , derive its whole value from its universal observance ; where the decided majority of any class wish it to be

    enforced upon themselves ; but where a few individuals might frustrate it . Although not a pure example of such a rule , the Ten-hours Bill partook of that character . In such matters , one class should not have an advantage in the compulsion of another class . It is as unjust to let the masters prevent the workmen from combining to persuade each other in arranging their wages , as it would be to let the workmen prevent the masters ; but to permit the one without the other , violates common sense as well as justice .

    The truth is , that many of these complications arise from the attempt to make too much law . Government cannot interfere with individuals ; neither can workmen fix the rate of wages by law ; nor ought masters to be able to prevent a rate of wages by law . The legislature ought absolutely to withhold its hands from meddling with such matters . Its interference occasions nothing but bad feeling and unexpected embarrassment . We recog-nise the same reasoning as strictly ap-Wlvino- to Sir Henrv Halford ' s Bill for the

    prevention of abatements in the Nottinghamshire weavers and other trades . Abatements from wages , whether in the name of rents for frames , of commission for giving out goods , or of contributions to a " superannuation fund , " are not always in themselves dishonest , but are indistinguishable from dishonesty , and are therefore very objection ble . They are always open to all the objections which apply to what medical men call topical treatment—that is to say ,

    mitigations of symptoms arising from a disease which is in itself neglected ; arfwliere a man puts a salve on an eruption without trying to cure the disease that causes the irritation . The frame-work knitters of Nottingham are not compelled to take the work upon the terms offered by the masters , and it is tyranny to force a master to give work on particular terms , or to prevent him from giving it on any terms that he chooses to offer If the frame-work knitters of Nottingham

    lie under some compulsion , that does not spring from the masters , but from something else , and the compulsion , wo believe , is this . Our laws alienate the native of . England from the land to which he is born ; they prevent him from getting his livelihood out of the surface of the earth ,- no substitute is provided to secure him even a bare subsistence , and , therefore , he is under the compulsion of necessity to take what he can get . By the complication of many laws he is debarred from an education which is given to others of his fellow countrymen . His faculties jire less cultivated than others ; he is more

    helpless than they , and , therefore , at their mercy ; and yet when all that is done , the legislature steps ' in and prevents that comparatively poor and helpless man from combining with his follows to arrange the terms of their labour , although it permits the man who is educated , and full of resources to combine for keeping down wages . The framework knitters of Nottingham would not bo under any compulsion by their masters if we had a sound i ' oor Law , or if we had not manacled their liberties by combination laws . Emigration and brisk trade are doing much to suspend the operation of our tyrannical lawn , and therefore it is a peculiarly good time to consider those laws , since it can be done without excitement or

    irritation . In this ease , as in many others , it will be foiliid that the evil mainly consists in our having too Diarlt . compulsory law . The law is not only too much , but it is . superfluous . All desirable cikIn to be attained by this law of individual intcrVcntioii c ; in be attaijied by a general law . If the musters have a right to combine , the workmen have a , riglit to combine ; but both have no rip ; I it , to use coercion or to break the peace ; and a general police law for the preservation of the peace , properly administered , would keep them under control . That is all that ouglit to be nought . The proper thing to do with the combination lawn is to repeal them absolutely . Should

    any deficiency appear in the means of maintaining : peace , at Wolverhampton , or L iverpool , or Nottingham , the proper thing would be to revise the law of assault , and to supply whatever may be wanted in that general law . But it is a law which should make no distinction between the labourer , the shopman , and the manufacturer . We have got freedom of trade , we now want freedom of labour ; but the House of Commons , not well trained in logic , not practically acquainted with trade , not aided by any assessors representing the working classes , proves to be so little capable of understanding this question , that it cannot conceive the existence of the difficulty , which consists in the conflicting interpretation oi the two judges . And Lord John Russell himself , who is so earnest to promote the development of the democracy , thinks it more important to pass an Exchequer Bills bill a stage , than to deliberate on the imperfections of a compulsory law which affects the liberties and livelihood of the multitude in that democracy . If Lord John . Russell would contrive any means of letting half-a-dozen members of the working classes into the House , they could soon explain to him what it is . In the meantime , we are glad to see Mr . Montague Chambers act so well as leading counsel .

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    448 THE LEAbtk [ SaturpIy ^

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    HONOURABLE MEMBERS PAINTED BY THEMSELVES . Me . Detjmmond is a person who is governed only by force or bribery . If he were a poor man and had a vote , the only use that he would make of it would be to sell it . If he were a peer , his view of the public interest would be determined by his getting a blue riband . He entered the House of Commons in the hope of a place . He has his price . He only wishes that Government had more places to give ; the sole danger of Government is the want of more places . Government is like a sow which brings forth more pigs than she has teats for , and a surplus of hungry pigs is the great danger to the State . * But Mr . Drummond , unfortunately , is as yet without a teat , and , by his own account , he must be a dangerous fellow . We are not painting his character for him , we have his own certificate for it . All that wo have done in the foregoing sentences has been , in the description by Mr . Drummond , to substitute for everybody else , at whom he was talking , himself ; for we judge of others by ourselves . The greater includes the less—the universal picture includes the artist that painted it . Sir Frederic Smith is " a meritorious officer , and an honourable gentleman . " He has an official connexion with Chatham , he wants a seat in Parliament , and he uses his official connexion with Chatham and with the Administration to bribe the voters with placo and otherwise . He acts , in short , on the Drummond view of mankind , but he does all this in the most innocent manner . He is so innocent , according to Sir Frederic Thesiger , that neither ho nor anybody else had any idea that there was anything illegal in the transaction , Ho is " a straightforward , manly , honourable person , " and knew not what he was doing . Sir Frederic Thesiger also " thought that no bribery , in the proper sense of the term , had been committed by Sir Frederic Smith . " And members generally to whose experience he appealed , would say , " whether in canvassing a largo constituency there was anything which they found more difficult than to prevent persona making applications for favours P " What is the inforonco from this avowal except that if a general officer falls , a tear of charity must blot out the record of his fall ; but if a poor voter falls , ox-A . ttorney- (* eneral Thesiger has no plea in bar of his sentence . A fact is one thing , n statement respecting it in another , and there are honourable members who do not perceive tho necessary connexion between the two . " Some thousands" of persons make * applications to Mr . Stafford , and he replies to each , " bis elaiiiiH will have my best consideration . " It is " a , stereotypod answer , " at least with Mr . Sfallord , who tells us flm fact . To oaoh of : i thousand his " best " - — -the lavish opthnint ! JIo writes a letter Haying , "I am commanded by my Lords Commissioners of tho Admiralty , " when he \ h not commanded by my Lords Com-* . Probably I bo inliiibitnnts of . I'iddinfrhuin exhibit this clangor iu Mm bipjlieHl ; dofjroo . In Mint parinb , which « 'l ( iH , H il . H own perpetual curate , l . horo itro eighty palronH , one pulpit , and a hundred candidates ! A hundred piga lor orio teat in that government of tho i > ooj ) lo . JV | o woudor that in 1 'iddiughum thu Church ia iu diuigor .

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), May 7, 1853, page 448, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1985/page/16/