THE OPERATIVES' PARLIAMENT. 347 



served by an army in a hostile country ; and so effectual are they in pro- 

 ducing the desired end, that an establishment is not unfrequently kept in a 

 state of literal siege ; no one can enter or leave it without danger of mo- 

 lestation ; and if fresh workmen have by any means been introduced, beds 

 and provisions are prepared for them within the walls of the factory." 



Now it becomes absolutely necessary, for the protection of life and 

 property, that this lawless system should be checked. Magistrates 

 must have the power of interference to protect the .well-disposed; 

 and, however revolting it may be to the feelings of Englishmen to 

 sanction arbitrary measures in legislature, yet, as nothing can be more 

 despotic than this law of the Unions, it ought to be met with measures 

 equally summary. The committee which sat in 1824, at whose re- 

 commendation the combination laws were repealed, were quite aware 

 of the importance of enacting a law for the punishment of outrages 

 upon society, committed in furtherance of the objects of combination. 

 We quote one of their resolutions : 



" That it is absolutely necessary, when repealing the combination laws, 

 to enact such a law as may efficiently, and by summary process, punish 

 either workmen or masters, who, by threats, intimidation, or acts of vio- 

 lence, should interfere with that perfect freedom which ought to be allowed 

 to each party, of employing his labour or capital in the manner he may deem 

 most advantageous." 



By neglecting this advice the present evil has grown to its present 

 extent. On the repeal of the laws regarding combination, the power 

 was given to magistrates to punish with three months imprisonment 

 any one convicted of an assault under the sanction of a Union, but 

 granted an appeal to the sessions, by which interval witnesses are in- 

 timidated, and the law becomes a dead letter. The Unions, as they 

 at present exist, we believe, however, to be vulnerable at one point, 

 even without fresh legislation. The law, as it now stands (37 Geo. III. 

 c. 123), with regard to the administration of oaths, is thus interpreted 

 by the highest judicial authority : 



" Every member of a Trades' Union who shall bind himself to obey the 

 decision of the majority, though that obedience be restricted to a mere re- 

 fusal to work, and not to disclose the transactions of the society, being 

 guilty of felony, and liable to be transported for seven years." 



Although no decision of this nature has ever been called for,* and 

 we must only consider the above as a judicial opinion, yet there is 

 sufficient to show that the oath-taking in the Unions is contrary to the 

 spirit of the law ; and whether in the present case there might be some 

 unwillingness to bring the provisions of the statute to bear upon any 

 oath-taking, not being seditious, the legislature ought to make up the 

 deficiency, particularly when we consider the nature of the oath re- 

 quired to be taken, a copy of which we shall give in another place. Be 

 the present act sufficient or not, there is one thing clear that some 

 facility must be afforded for suppressing acts of intimidation. No- 

 thing can portray the nature of Trades' Unions more clearly than 



* Since writing the above, we find some persons at Dorchester are convicted 

 unaer this act. 



