THE UPSTANDING CROP 39 



The following statement signed by the Chairman was 

 circularised with the rules : 



" Let courtesy, fairness and firmness characterise all our 

 demands. Act cautiously and advisedly that no act may have 

 to be repented or repudiated. Do not strike unless all other 

 means fail you. Try all other means ; try them with firmness 

 and patience. Try them in the enforcement of only just claims, 

 and if they all fail, then strike." 



The immediate aim was i6s. a week for a g| hours working 

 day. 



The Congress was marked by a strong religious note. 

 Indeed, an outsider coming to it might have imagined that he 

 was taking part in some strange Methodist revival. In the 

 first place, it passed a resolution that " the Committee be- 

 lieves in the justice and righteousness of their cause, and have 

 the firmest faith that the Divine blessing will rest upon it." 



As though confessing their sins these untutored men told 

 of their privations and their hopes. Again and again there 

 were cries of " Amen " and " Praise Him." 



" The gentlemen on the platform were variously referred to as 

 ' Honnered surs,' ' These yer worthy gents/ ' These raal genel- 

 men,' etc. The audience were alternately moved to laughter 

 and tears. One delegate said : ' Sir, this be a blessed day ; 

 this ere Union be the Moses to lead us poor men up out o' Egypt ' ; 

 and another delegate commenced his speech with this explanation, 

 given in a confidential tone : ' Genelmen and b'luv'd Crissen 

 friends, I's a man, I is, I's goes about wi' a oss.' Another 

 informed the assembly that ' King Daavid sed as ow the 'usban- 

 man as labourers must be the fust partaker o' the fruit,' adding, 

 'and now he's mo'astly th' last, and loike enuff gets none at 

 all.' Yet another, descanting on the ways of Providence, 

 remarked that ' little things was often chus to du graat ones, and 

 when 'e sa' the poor labrin' man comin' furrud in this 'ere move- 

 ment, and a bringin' o' the faarmers to terms, he were remoinded 

 o' many things in th' Scripters, more perticler o' the rams' horns 

 that blew down the walls o' Jericho, and frightened Pharaoh, 

 King of Egypt.' " 1 



When Spurgeon heard of the movement he said " it was 

 the best news he had heard next to the Gospel." 2 But 



1 Village Trade Unions, by Ernest Selley. 



3 Labourers' Union Chronicle, August 23, 1873. 



