House of Commons speeches made in debates by James and John Platt.

CIVIL SERVICE SUPERANNUATIONS.
HC Deb 29 June 1857 vol 146 cc564-601 564 
http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1857/jun/29/supply-miscellaneous-estimates#S3V0146P0_18570629_HOC_51
MR. James PLATT said, he felt deeply interested in their Vote on this ground; he believed that art had been too long  neglected in this country, and that many important branches of manufacture had suffered thereby. He was quite  satisfied that by agreeing to the original Resolution the House would initiate a policy full of advantage to the  country. We possessed many mechanical contrivances which were not enjoyed by other countries; but, nevertheless, our  neighbours across the Channel, owing to their superior taste and greater cultivation of art, beat us in the  production of numerous articles of general use, and this he thought was a sufficient proof that we should no longer  neglect the encouragement of art. Motion made, and Question put, "That a sum, not exceeding £34,000, be granted to  Her Majesty, to complete the sum necessary to defray the Expenses of the General Management of the Department of  Science and Art, of the Schools throughout the Kingdom in connection with the Department, and of the Geological  Surveys of Great Britain and Ireland, &c., to the 31st day of March 1858. 

§ The Committee divided:—Ayes 33; Noes 157: Majority 124. 

INDIAN RAILWAYS.—OBSERVATIONS
HC Deb 17 July 1857 vol 146 cc1713-30 
http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1857/jul/17/indian-railways-observations#S3V0146P0_18570717_HOC_108

MR. PLATT said, that having received frequent communications from the borough which he had the honour to represent  on the subject of the production of cotton in India, with which the development of railway communication in that  country was so intimately connected, he might be suffered to offer a few observations to the House on the present  occasion. The hon. Member below him (Mr. Ayrton) seemed to complain that the work of railway construction had gone  on too rapidly in India. Now, in order to disabuse the hon. Gentleman's mind of such an impression he would supply  him with some stastictics connected with the Great India Peninsular line. He believed that that line was first  brought under the notice of the Board of Control in 1844. However, the Bill was not introduced into the House of  Commons until 1845, when it fell to the ground because of the opposition of the East India Company. Well, the scheme  remained in abeyance until 1848. When the Bill was permitted to pass, what was the result? Why, the contracts were  made in 1849, and now in 1857 just eighty-eight miles of railway were opened. Now, he would ask the House whether  that bore any comparison with the progress of railway enterprise in either England or America? It was proved before  the Select Committee which had been appointed to consider the growth of cotton in India, that the cotton had to be  brought down from the plantations, a distance of 400 miles, on the backs of bullocks to the sea coast, and that the  cost of that carriage actually doubled the price of the cotton, while if good roads were made, we should receive  cotton at a cheaper rate, and in return find a market for our manufactured goods. The value of our cotton  exportation he found stated at between £36,000,000 and £38,000,000 a year; but it would be well if the House  understood that at that moment they were paying £10,000,000 more than they ought for cotton. Now, that made the  value of 1729 our exports appear very much more than it really was, or at all events, it did not follow that the  profits to this country with an increased export were greater than before. He believed, on the contrary, the  position of the manufacturing interest in Lancashire at the present moment to be very unsatisfactory, and that the  difference between the price of the cotton and the profit of the manufacturer was less than at any previous period.  The consumption of cotton in this country was increasing year by year, while the supply did not proceed in an equal  ratio. In other lands the supply did not equal the demand. The United States of America supplied seven-eighths of  the cotton consumed by England, while the increase of slave labour there was but very gradual, and even that  increase must sooner or later come to a stand-still. If that were so, it behoved them to look to other countries for  a supply of cotton, and to India they ought to turn their eyes in the first instance; but there the difficulty was  how to bring the cotton down to the sea-coast. At the same time the production of cotton in India was accompanied  with difficulties unknown to America; in India the climate greatly interfered with the work, and in consequence it  became necessary that certain works of irrigation should be undertaken by the Government. In conclusion, he begged  to assure the House that the greatest anxiety, he might almost say alarm, existed in the manufacturing districts  with respect to the future supply of cotton. He believed that that anxiety was well founded, and that the only way  of escaping from the difficulty was by connecting the cotton districts in India with the coast by means of railways,  and by proceeding with works of irrigation, which, as the East India Company was the landlord of that country, it  ought to undertake. 

SUPPLY.—MISCELLANEOUS ESTIMATES.
HC Deb 10 August 1857 vol 147 cc1316-64
http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1857/aug/10/supply-miscellaneous-estimates#S3V0147P0_18570810_HOC_181

MR. James PLATT said, that the public money was contributed from all parts of the country, and in the case of  Battersea Park and the bridge it was spent on local objects. If they were to spend the public money in that manner,  it should be done on some equitable principle. Now, there were many towns in the north where parks were required,  and he should have no objection to see grants of public money for parks all over the country

(James Platt died 7 days later on the 17th August 1857 in a shooting accident on Saddleworth moor).
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ELECTORAL STATISTICS. 
Observations:
HC Deb 23 March 1866 vol 182 cc856-85 856 
http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1866/mar/23/observations#S3V0182P0_18660323_HOC_65

§ MR. John PLATT desired, as a large employer of labour, to say that he thought the measure of the Government would  be-rather too restricted than otherwise as regarded the artizans and the working classes. In his own neighbourhood  he em- 866 ployed about 5,000 adult males in one of the most important branches of mechanical enterprize, and one in  which the best class of artizans in England were engaged. Among those 5,000 adults there were only sixty-nine who  had votes; and out of that sixty-nine there were only thirty-five who could be properly described as being of the  artizan class. With thirty-five voters out of 5,000 adult males, who were among the most intelligent and best paid  workmen in this country, it could hardly be said that the artizan class was over-represented in my own statistics.  Taking the borough with which he was connected (Oldham), the results would be found very much the same. The  population was 107,000, and the voters upon the register were 2,229. Of the latter, only 150 belonged, properly  speaking, to the working or artizan class. That he took to be a fair sample of the modern manufacturing towns in the  North of England. Having had an experience of upwards of thirty years of the working class, he could say that,  although it was quite true they bad their failings, as well as any other class, ho had no fear whatever of them. He  was aware that there was one thing that frightened many employers and manufacturers—namely, the trades unions; hut  in regard to that point he took a different view from some persons. They would place more responsibility on the  workmen by giving them votes and teaching them political economy in a practical sense and by that means they would  reduce the numbers who joined trades' unions. Moreover, during the last fifteen or twenty years an advance had been  made by those bodies. Formerly many of them had very restricted laws; but since then some of the most important and  most intelligent of them, and among others the Amalgamated Society of; Engineers, had abolished all their  restrictive laws, and converted themselves into j simple benefit societies; after which their employers had had no  further trouble. 

TRADES UNIONS, &c. BILL— [BILL 68.] 
SECOND READING.
HC Deb 07 July 1869 vol 197 cc1344-86 
http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1869/jul/07/second-reading#S3V0197P0_18690707_HOC_18

MR. PLATT said, the Bill concerned three classes of persons—Trade Unionists, employers, and non-Unionists. He, for  one, did not think there was much in the apprehension of foreign competition; he had no fear of it in this country.  But at the same time he felt that restraints on trade, if carried out to the extent to which many of the Trades  Unions desired to carry them, would be productive of disastrous results. "When the Trades Unions used their funds to  support strikes, or in other words, in restraint of trade, he looked upon them as most mischievous. On the other  hand, they could not shut their eyes to the fact that many things in the Trades Unions were highly deserving of  commendation—such, for example, as the aid given to sick and unemployed members, the funds applied to burials, and  the information given to members of the places where work was plentiful and where it was scarce. All these results  were good and beneficial, and he, as a large employer of labour, went entirely along with the Trades Unions in these  respects. He certainly considered that the combination laws, at present in existence, were of no benefit to the  employers. The employer derived no protection from them, and he could see no use in continuing them upon the statute  book. But there was another party whose interests ought not to be forgotten in this House—the great body of the  labourers. It was to be remem- 1365 bered that however numerous the Trades Unionists might be, considered by  themselves, they were still a small minority of the working classes of the country. He thought every practice in  restraint of trade was disadvantageous to the main body of the working classes, and robbed them in some measure of  the employment which was their due. Many improvements might be made in the customs of trade; for instance, he looked  upon it as a great evil that the system of apprenticeship should exist in any trade, and the sooner it was abolished  the better. It tended to foster in the minds of working men the idea that they had some right or vested interest in  the trade which they had learned, and it stood in the way of the progress of inventions that might displace the  skilled labour which they had learned to exercise. He could well appreciate the feelings of a person who, having  served a long apprenticeship to some species of skilled labour, found that by the invention of some new machine the  vested interests to which he thought he had acquired a right by his apprenticeship were taken from him. But it was  for the interest of all parties that a machine which reduced the cost of production one-half should be employed,  even though the immediate interests of the labourer might suffer. The hon. Member for Frome (Mr. T. Hughes) had  alluded to the Society of Amalgamated Engineers. Now it happened that the strike of 1852, of which the hon. Member  drew so pathetic a picture, originated in his (Mr. Platt's) establishment. The main cause of that strike was not a  question of reduction of wages; and he might add that he did not believe any of the great strikes ever rose out of a  question of wages. There was a more important principle than wages involved in that strike. The object of the  Amalgamated Engineers was, in the first place, to limit the employers to a certain number of apprentices; and,  secondly, to secure, that if any new machine were invented and adopted it should be worked by a skilled person, even  though a carter or farm servant might learn how to use it in twenty-four hours as well as the best skilled man in  the country. That was the principle on which the strike took place which ended so disastrously for the engineers.  Soon after the close of the 1366 strike the engineers held a great meeting in Glasgow, and from Mr. Allen's evidence  before the Royal Commission it seemed that those two rules to which the masters took exception were expunged. Since  that time the society had gone on increasing; its funds were more flourishing, and it numbered more members than  ever. But though the society deserved credit for its prudence, he was not prepared to say that they had abandoned  their designs in regard to restraints on trade, though certainly they had not been made a prominent part of their  proceedings. With respect to employers, he considered that when the Trades Unions became troublesome, and insisted  on rules which were in restraint of trade, it would provoke among the masters a spirit of opposition; and whenever  that spirit was evoked, and the two parties met face to face he agreed with the hon. Member for Hastings (Mr. T.  Brassey) that the victory would remain with the employer. But if a medium course could be suggested it would be  better for all parties; for there could be no doubt that the interests of employers and employed were one. A  principle had lately been brought forward, which was in antagonism to that of Trades Unions, and that was the  principle of co-operation. Now, co-operation was not antagonistic to labour, or in restraint of trade, because it  was the interest of all the members of a co-operative society to produce at the lowest possible rate. It appeared to  him that the day was not far distant when Trades Unions and cooperation would come into competition, and he  predicted that when that day came co-operation would beat Trades Unions. He should vote for the second reading of  this Bill, because he wished to do away with all class legislation. He wanted the Trades Unionists to see that the  Legislature was willing to give them every possible facility for the purpose of combination. But at the same time  there must be a clause in the Bill to protect those who were not Trades Unionists, and who were willing to work at  lower wages or on other conditions; there must be no system of picketing or practical intimidation. The non-Unionist  wanted protection, and he looked to this House to place him on equal terms with the Unionist. 

------------------------------------
EAST INDIA REVENUE ACCOUNTS
HC Deb 05 August 1869 vol 198 cc1343-61 
http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1869/aug/05/east-india-revenue-accounts#S3V0198P0_18690805_HOC_141

MR. PLATT said, that he felt great interest in the question, inasmuch as the prosperity of Lancashire depended, in a  great degree, on the development of the resources of India. At one time it was said that Indian cotton would not be  used in Lancashire. No doubt before the American War very little of that cotton was used; but since then the exports  of cotton from India had risen from 125,000 lbs. to 30,000,000 lbs. per annum. He did not mean to say that some of  those exports did not find their way to the Continent, but three-fourths of the Indian cotton was used in  Lancashire. The town which he represented (Oldham) used, he believed, one-sixth of the cotton imported into this  country, and three-fifths of the cotton it used was Indian cotton. Oldham was the first town to use Indian cotton,  and by the use of such cotton it had been able to surmount the crisis caused by the civil war in America better than  any other town in Lancashire. He did not go so far as to call on the Government to grow cotton in India, but he  asked them to give facilities connected with it. The Government proposed to make railways on a large scale, and he  would suggest that a preference should be given to railways that went through the cotton districts. The  manufacturers of Lancashire had been pertinaciously pressing on the Government the question of roads to the cotton  districts for many years past. Some ten years ago he was chairman of a cotton company in India, which came to grief  in consequence of the want of roads. Lord Halifax, who was at that time Secretary of State for India, gave a promise  that a railroad to Darwar and the cotton districts should be immediately commenced. Now, after a lapse of nine  years, there was a prospect of the road being commenced, and he trusted that it would be made. India could produce  more cotton without diminishing the quantity of land devoted to the production of the food of the people. The  produce of cotton was only from 50 lb. to 70 lb. an acre. They did not ask for an increase in the acreage, but for  an increase in the productiveness of the land which was now employed. He found that in the Southern States of  America, by the employment of artificial manures and other means, the produce of the soil 1357 had been raised from  500 lb. to 700 lb. per acre, and if the same thing could be done in India there was a large margin for the further  development of the cotton trade. He agreed with the hon. Member for Manchester (Mr. Bazley) that a Board of  Agriculture, or else a Minister of Agriculture ought to be appointed in India, with agents and inspectors in all the  subordinate districts. If this were done, it would turn out immensely to the advantage not of the revenues of India  only, but also of its ryot population. There was no country in which information upon agricultural matters was so  much needed as in India. This was well proved at the time of the war with Russia, from which country we had been  accustomed to obtain our supplies of jute. It was soon discovered that the article could be grown in India, and from  that time jute became a permanent export of India. Neither did he think India had any reason to fear the competition  of America in the production of cotton. Much was said just now about the Chinese settling in the Southern States,  but he believed that a great social battle would have to be fought before that could be accomplished. Lancashire  could consume any amount of cotton from India. Indian cotton, when well selected, was quite equal to the middling  cotton of America. There was another remark of the hon. Member for Manchester with respect to the advantages of  America in manufacture which he could not endorse. It must be remembered that since the Americans had adopted a high  tariff they had lost every neutral market in the world—even the market of China. This was so much the case that Mr.  Wells, who had been sent over to this country to inquire into our system of Free Trade had recommended, on his  return, a great relaxation of the American tariff. He hoped it would not be considered that Lancashire was  importunate in pressing the Government as it did. 

FRANCE—COMMERCIAL TREATY. 
MOTION FOR A SELECT COMMITTEE.
HC Deb 03 May 1870 vol 201 cc110-76
http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1870/may/03/motion-for-a-select-committee#S3V0201P0_18700503_HOC_27

MR. PLATT said, the real object of the hon. Member's Motion was evidently to revive Protection—retaliation being  another name for reciprocity. But how would the hon. Member carry out his principle? This country drew large  supplies from America, which imposed taxes upon our manufactured articles; to carry out a system of retaliation  towards America it would be necessary to weight heavily the produce which was obtained from that country, and so to  destroy the manufactures of Lancashire. There was, unhappily, much poverty in the country at present; but in the  days before free trade there had been an amount of distress and pauperism much greater in proportion to the  population than that which now existed. During the last 50 years peace had generally prevailed; and, as a natural  consequence, arts and commerce had greatly progressed, not alone in this country, but in very many of the  Continental nations as well. And the question which we had now to ask ourselves was, whether we could prevent  foreign countries from manufacturing? He maintained, unhesitatingly, that the position of this country was not a  disadvantageous one. 141 After all the calculations capable of being made as to foreign countries, the manufactures  of this country enjoyed an advantage of fully 15 per cent over the manufactures of those of the most favoured  country in Europe. It might be asked how it was that, with all these advantages, woollen fabrics were imported from  Belgium? The truth was, that every country enjoyed some little advantage, arising from better knowledge or better  manipulation; and in woollen manufactures Belgium undoubtedly was very much in advance of this country. Then as to  wages. These were undoubtedly higher in England than in any other country; but, on the other hand, the work produced  was more valuable. So that, measuring the amount of work produced with the amount of wages earned, England was  absolutely the cheapest country as regarded the cost of production. In illustration of what he had just said, as to  the advantages enjoyed by one country over another in some special knowledge or skill in manipulation, he might  mention that in Rochdale a woollen manufacturer was absolutely bringing over persons from Belgium to instruct our  people in the manipulation of wool. As to machinery, there was some special excellence in the products of nearly  every country. We were indebted to France for one of the most beautiful machines in the cotton manufacture, and to  Belgium and America for other machines: with regard to some things we might learn from them, as to others they might  learn from us; and the question which arose was, which country ultimately would be in the best position to command  the neutral markets of the world? Our exports had increased largely of late, which showed conclusively that the  English race was capable of competing with the rest of the world; and the figures which had been quoted by the  senior hon. Member! for Manchester (Sir Thomas Bazley), and by the Secretary of the Board of Trade, proved that we  were advancing rapidly in all branches of manufacture. The observation of the English factory worker,; quoted by the  hon. and learned Member; for Coventry (Mr. Staveley Hill), that he could make everything that was imported, and  that, therefore, he was being robbed by the importation that was going on, might be retorted by the foreigner with  twenty-fold force. The 142 present state of things in America showed that it was impossible to adopt Protectionist  principles without increasing the cost of the article produced, and thereby confining the consumption of such  manufactures to the country producing them. To adopt such a line of policy, therefore, would be suicidal on the part  of a small country like England, whose prosperity was entirely dependent upon freedom of trade, and upon the  cheapness of raw materials. The same arguments would apply to trades unions, because the cheaper the manufacturers  could get their work done the better for them, and, therefore, the better for the country. He had no doubt that on  the present occasion the French Treaty was merely put forward as a stalking-horse to raise the cry of Protection.  The hon. Member for Northumberland (Mr. Liddell) had alluded to the idea that was in the mind of Mr. Cobden at the  time of the conclusion of the Treaty, and that was that a good feeling would be produced between the two countries.  This country would have reduced the protective duties if France had not moved at all; and he thought this country  had done right in assisting the French Emperor in the difficult position in which he was placed at the time, and  enabling him to bring the Treaty to a conclusion. 

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION (re-committed) BILL.— [BILL 167.] 
COMMITTEE. [Progress 7th July.]
HC Deb 08 July 1870 vol 202 cc1713-52 1713 
http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1870/jul/08/committee-progress-7th-july#S3V0202P0_18700708_HOC_58

MR. PLATT said, he wished before the debate closed, to say a few words. Being a large employer of labour, he had  some years ago erected a school, and having appointed a certificated master, he gave him instructions how he should  proceed. Matters were so arranged that there was accommodation for about 300 children. The school was on the  premises; every young person in his employment under 14 years of age, attended the school for two hours daily, and  no deduction was made from their wages. On the other hand, no charge was made for school attendance; so that 1740  the permissive principle could not have been tried under more favourable circumstances. The attendance at first was  good, but after some months the attendance gradually fell off, so that the master was obliged to report the  circumstance. Efforts were then made to persuade the children to attend; the address which he delivered to them was  successful for the time, but before many weeks were over the attendance dropped back again. The master then declared  that, unless he could report the truants to the foreman over each department of the works who should have power to  discharge children who did not attend school, it would be hopeless to go on. Having tried the permissive system some  months ineffectually, he gave the schoolmaster the required permission, and in the first week afterwards about 50  boys under 14 years of age were discharged. The following week the parents of the boys, discovering what had  occurred, asked permission for the children to return, promising that if their children were reinstated at work they  would become responsible for their attendance in school; and from the moment that plan was adopted the school  prospered, and there were no more reports of irregular attendance. It had been put before the House in many speeches  that the working classes were in favour of compulsion; that he believed to be a great question, and he was by no  means certain that, if the matter were put to them at a public meeting, working people generally would be in favour  of compulsion. Parents knew very well that the labour of their children represented a certain amount weekly, and  being themselves ignorant of the value of education, they preferred the money to the advancement of their children  at school. Children themselves were not very anxious for education, though in time, no doubt, they might become so.  In a generation or two compulsion might be no longer necessary in England, any more than in Germany and Switzerland,  where, though compulsory laws existed, both parents and children were so well aware of the value of education that  appeal to the laws became unnecessary. Looking, however, to the present, he feared that, unless some means were  taken of enforcing the attendance of children, very many years must elapse before any great results from this Bill  could be 1741 looked for. There were schools enough; the lack lay in the attendance of the children, springing, as  he had already said, from the fact that the parents attached greater value to money than to education. 

THE PATENT LAWS. 
MOTION FOR A SELECT COMMITTEE
HC Deb 07 March 1871 vol 204 cc1512-34
http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1871/mar/07/motion-for-a-select-committee#S3V0204P0_18710307_HOC_51

MR. PLATT, as a patentee and user of patent inventions, avowed himself in favour of the Patent Laws, and that all  objections would disappear if a proper preliminary examination were instituted. It was quite notorious that patents  were often granted, embodying improvements similar to those already patented; and it was almost impossible for the  Law Officers, in regard to matters of a technical character, to find out the distinctions from the language of the  specifications. Owing to her patent system, England was now the test market for inventions, so that English  manufacturers were often in possession of important improvements many years before those of any other country. That  was a great advantage. He believed it was in the interest of the public that patents should be retained, believing  that their tendency was to reduce the cost of manufacture. Many parties engaged in the manufacture of patented  articles were strangers to the invention—as for example, Mr. Bessemer, in his invention in regard to steel, had  never any connection with the manufacture of steel, and without the security of the Patent Laws the probability was  that we should never have heard of that invention — at least for many more years to come. It did not follow that by  the abolition of patents they would abolish secresy. He knew a gentleman who had an invention which he kept to  himself for 25 years, and this monopoly he would perhaps retain for another 25 years. But under the Patent Laws an  invention was certain to become the property of the public after a certain limited time. He maintained then that,  with a proper discrimination, the granting of patents was a benefit to the public. What was called a combination  patent in a mechanical sense was one of the most dangerous that could be granted. In such cases the parties never  disclosed the parts which were new until perhaps in the course of some trial, at a ruinous cost to a manufacturer;  and, indeed, it was possible, even in the course of the trial, that the combination might be changed. To prevent  such an abuse, the parts in the specifications which were claimed as new should be coloured to distinguish them; and  he agreed also that it would be well to do away with provisional specifications, and insist on complete  specifications at the time the patent was granted. As to the trials of patent causes, these were almost mockeries.  It was next to impossible that the Judges should understand the technical questions that came before them without  the help of experts; but if experts sat with, them, 1534 no other alteration in the tribunal would be necessary. 

ELECTIONS (PARLIAMENTARY AND MUNICIPAL) (re-committed) BILL— [BILL 103.] 
COMMITTEE. ADJOURNED DEBATE.
HC Deb 26 June 1871 vol 207 cc560-637
http://hansard.millbanksystems.com/commons/1871/jun/26/committee-adjourned-debate#S3V0207P0_18710626_HOC_32

MR. PLATT said, that from his own experience in a large and populous borough, he believed there were other persons  besides landowners and manufacturers who brought influence and intimidation to bear upon voters. At contested  elections in his own borough, for many years the small shopkeepers and tradesman, for fear of violence, had had to  place in the windows of their houses the names of the candidates for whom they intended to vote, and sometimes  pickets were actually stationed near a tradesman's shop to stop customers and try to induce them not to deal with  them. This was what was done by those turbulent and unscrupulous men who formed 613 a minority of the operatives in  large and populous boroughs, and who were at the bottom of all strikes. The great body of the operatives were often  forced into strikes by these men in opposition to their own inclinations, and to what they believed to be their own  interests. Only the other day a strike occurred in the borough he represented, and it was universally admitted by  every manufacturer in the borough, that if a Ballot could have been taken among the workmen, there would have been  no strike at all, but the operatives would at once have accepted the arbitration which was offered by the masters.  The conclusion, therefore, that he drew from the proposed adoption of the Ballot was quite opposed to that drawn by  the hon. Gentleman opposite the Member for South Northumberland (Mr. Liddell). He believed the Ballot would have a  Conservative influence, because it would eliminate from the elections the rowdyism which now existed, and would take  away the power possessed by small sections of the working classes. The Trades Union Bill, which would soon become an  Act, would make trades unions legal, and the two parties which would come into competition would be their delegates  and the employers of labour. If those trade societies once got into the hands of turbulent men there would be a  great evil to overcome, and the Ballot would act as a protection to the more reasonable members, and help to curb  the powers of those who wanted to create disturbance. At present, when a decree went forth from one of those  societies, it originated with a few persons, though the great body of the members of the society felt bound to obey  it, and support their executive; and it was well known that if they had the protection of the Ballot—that being the  universal opinion in regard to the strikes which recently took place in the borough he represented—the mass of the  artizans would prove in favour of moderation, and accept, for instance, the arbitration which in the case referred  to had been offered by the employers.