THE OPERATIVES' PARLIAMENT. 353 



twenty-four shillings weekly for the last twenty years ; and if we 

 consider the prices of provision twenty years since and at the present 

 time, we should be at a loss to explain the cause of a strike, unless 

 we attribute it to a desire of the Unionists to exercise their newly dis- 

 covered power the great secret of most of these wicked absurdities. 



The evil did not stop in Liverpool, for the workmen in the build- 

 ing-trades throughout England, following the example of those of the 

 north, formed one general Union. Members were accordingly elected 

 for counties, a scheme of government was concocted, and a " Builders' 

 Parliament" was convened at Manchester. Greatly to the astonishment 

 of the inhabitants, 275 members, representing as they declared an 

 immense constituency, paraded the town, arm-in-arm, and opened 

 the session ! These fellows had very jolly times, at the expense of 

 their credulous, hard-working brethren, during their short-lived 

 legislation ; but the poor constituents, having to pay about 3000/. for 

 their experiment, it is not expected that they will again indulge so 

 expensive a fancy. The Liverpool strike was kept up for more than 

 six months, at the end of which the funds fell short, when the starving 

 idiots voted the Union a bore, and returned in penitence to their 

 masters. And dearly they paid for their folly ; many of the buildings 

 had been discontinued, contracts had been refused, workmen had 

 been brought from distant parts, and machinery had been invented 

 to supersede bricklayers'-labourers on large buildings ; habits of idle- 

 ness had been acquired by a cessation from labour, which was not 

 the least of the evil ; and, in short, nothing but pauperism awaited 

 the majority of those who, but a few months before, had abundance. 



Our space will not permit us to give examples from many trades ; 

 but perhaps in no instance have the results of a Union been more dis- 

 astrous to the interests of the workmen than with the Clothiers. The 

 Leeds Union, having gained some supposed advantages over their 

 masters, used their power in the most tyrannical manner. They ordered 

 the masters not to employ any hands at piecework, but give each a 

 weekly salary, in order, as they said, to check the spirit of rivalry, 

 inconsistent with their ideas of the advancement of men towards a 

 state of perfectability, which they had heard something of at a lecture 

 by some itinerant philanthropist. The master found that this expe- 

 riment on human perfectability was attended with ruinous loss to him, 

 in consequence of his hands, instead of working as before, when sti- 

 mulated by profit, now passed half their time reading Tait's Maga- 

 zine, or some of their own publications, showing how they could make 

 a shilling out of sixpence with the least possible labour. The 

 master complained to the committee of his losses, on which he was 

 ordered to. keep no books ! 



The most celebrated strike ordered by this august body ended in 

 their total discomfiture. In their usual arbitrary manner, they sent 

 a written order to Messrs. Hindes and Derham, ordering them to dis- 

 charge seven individuals in their employ, without giving any reason 

 for such a command. The manufacturers very properly resisted such 

 an infamous dictation, and in consequence were put under the ban of 

 the Union. All their work-people, amounting to a thousand in number, 

 were thrown out of employ, which cost the Union 4000/. to support, 



M. M. No. 100. 2 Z 



