38 TEADE UNIONISM AS A FACTOR IN SOCIAL EVOLUTION. 



their systematic operations, and discover the permeating 

 influence of their associative strength and power." 



The history of Unionism from this stage for some years 

 afterwards is a record of strikes, prosecutions, and protests, not 

 against the law, but against the way in which it was being 

 administered. 



The prosecutions and convictions resulted in the Unions 

 increasing in number ; and, on March 25, 1845, a Society 

 was established, under the title of the National Association of 

 United Trades, which became the the centre of a great move- 

 ment, and gave birth to a newspaper called the Labour League. 

 It proposed to raise a sum of ^£50,000 to provide a fund for 

 the support of workers thrown out of work by labour disputes. 

 It bore fruit in the consolidation of trade associations, and 

 the better understanding of the aims and objects of the 

 Unions. 



In 1856 a Select Committee was appointed to enquire into 

 matters connected with masters and operatives ; and in 1860 

 another committee was appointed for a similar object. These 

 inquiries served the purpose of throwing light upon the 

 questions at issue betweeen the employers and the workmen. 



As I have already mentioned the feeling of the workmen 

 had not been so much against the law as against its ad- 

 ministration, but the Builders' Strike and lock-out in London 

 in the year 1859 — the excitement attending which created uni- 

 versal interest for many months — brought abouta crisis that led 

 to an organised effort and demand for the amendment of the law 

 itself. The Press took the side of the employers, and denouncing 

 the Unions as Secret Societies, " whose power was sustained 

 only by terrorism," demanded that they should be stamped 

 out as an incurable and detestable evil. The Unionists replied 

 by challenging investigation. In the year 1866 it was shown 

 as the result of enquiry by a Select Committee, that the average 

 number of convictions, under the existing laws in England 

 and Scotland alone exceeded 11,000 cases annually. The 

 enquiry led to the passing of the Master and Servants' 

 Act, 1867. 



In the latter year outrages said to have been committed in 

 Sheffield, Nottingham, and Manchester, led to the appoint- 

 ment of a Royal Commission, with power to enquire into the 

 organisation, rules, operations, and conduct of trade 

 societies. 



*' The investigation," Howell tells us, " was searching and 

 complete. The result was embodied in 16 volumes of 

 reports ; the ordeal was a severe one, but," he adds, " the 

 Unions as a whole came out of it without a stain.^^ 



Trade Unionism, and the cause it represented, had won a 

 great and glorious victory. This was demonstrated in the 

 results of the enquiry. Instead of Legislation to suppress 



