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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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re | $ t # e Ityot . Act three tifljeB ; either yxGwae they fe lii a funk anct didn't know yrK * % to a © , or teje they were disgusted at the close proximity of uitftashed , lam assured by respectably and inv oabrtkil eye--v * itnesses , "by townspeople and l > y mamiac | tir ^ rs , anjieveu by the police , that no attempt at ^^ iioei ^ ias made on either side ; even the magis-EMtes / ap i » pt pretend that ' there was , and they only l £# ? iw eicnse the transaction by referring to the '' ipcaioua riot" of the preceding evening . Altogether | t ? Was ahput as justifiable a proceeding as if the J ^ xft Mayor of London were to read the Riot Act to me assembled crowds collected , to see the ridiculously of the in
iinp ^ sing spectacle Man Armour . "Wlifeh t | ds ( solemn farce had been completed , and the people , bating recovered from' their astonish-^ enVhad 'dispersed as quietly as they came , preparations were at once made for concluding the entert ^ tnent with a tragedy ; l ^ ord Palmerston was tdegraphed for a reinforcement of the metropolitan $ * 0 lice , the notary at Fiilvdod- ' ]> arracks were put tM ^ flf ' iniasi ' s ^ eStB" constables were vigorously en-|^ P ^ aiii | ^ e fb | lowing . prostemation was issued : » r C "§ Q 1 # 9 ^ ' '" * VFk&&as public meetings have tieen hoWen in the said b 6 r 6 ngh , at which ihflammat (^ speeches hare been made .
The power-loom weavers , too , have issued a proolamation adjuring the people , " for your own sakes , and for the sake of your cause , do not find the policemen a job , do not assemble together at the corners of streets or near any of the mills in the town ; go quietly on your ways . " And all these injunctions have been faithfully obeyed . It is only natural that the late , proceedings of the magistrates should cause a very strong feeling in the town , and a meetipg of the ratepayers was held last night for the purpose of considering the desirability qf having a stipendiary magistrate . A great flourish
extent , and bring to want and Ijeggary a large body of . those ratepayers who are now independent . That your petitioners therefore pray your Honourable House to insert a clause into the said measure specially exempting from its operations the township of Preston , and thus avert the impending ruin , which , without such exemption , will fall upon the town by the flood of pauper , labourers now being-imported into it from the distant counties of England , in addition to a- large number of paupers iron * Ireland . And your petitioners will ever pray . "
On the other hand , the attitude of the operatives is perfectly calm , but determined . Yesterday , a deputation of the Unionists started for London , to wait upon Lord Palmerston respecting the prohibition of public meetings . On Saturday and Sunday vast open-air meetings are to be held about half-way between Preston and Blackburn ,, and & great , though peaceful , demonstration is expected . Sunday ' s meeting will be attended by operatives from all parts of the Cotton District . The exact place of meeting will not be generally known , until the mornings of the days named , in order to avoid any collision wittt the authorities . pin my last letter , page 201 , second column , top line , for "if English . loomers , read "if English houses . " * ]
has been made about the delicacy of the magistratemanufacturers on the bench , in refraining from acting during the past six months , but it amounts to nothing . ; with the exception cf the Mayor , who is an ex-barrister , every magistrate now acting is connected with the cotton 'business one way or other , either by marriage or connexion . Upon the townclerk , Mr . Ascroft , great responsibility seems to lie , for he is thought to have advised : the reading of the Hiot Act , and he is known to be the confidential legal adviser of the Masters' Association .
The immigration aromoted by the Masters' Association ia n < aw proceeding yitfi some activity , and paid emissaries are engaged in travelling About the country beating up recruits for the mills . As the immigrants arrive in small batches , and by different modes of conveyance , it is impossible to ascertain their exact numbers ; very exaggerated and con ^ dieting statements are made , but I am disposed to believe that scarcely five hundred operatives have yet heen obtained from that source . The Irish , who We * re the first to arrive , presented a picture of Wretchedness and squalor which it would be difficult , if desirable , to realise . It is not easy to imagine !
now such a collection of filthy unfortunates could : be got together , and their state may be imagined when it is known that forty of them are so bad that the masters can make no use of them . An empty house opposite the railway station has been converted into a soft of barracks for the reeeption of the immigrants , and a policeman vrho entered this place on the morning after the arrival of the Irish , left it immediately nauseated to sickness . Some of the recruits from the north of England are more satisfactory , and some families from Buckinghamshire seem clean , healthy , and respectable . On Monday some amusement was created by the arrival
of a batch of female volunteers , rather gaily attired , and with veils ; they seemed very much amused at the adventure , and it is thought that they will not stick to weaving very long . Many stories are afloat about the conduct of the immigrants , especially the Irish . Some of those who fell to the lot of an associated master are said to have celebrated their advent by procuring a little whiskey , upon the strength of which they thrashed an overlooker ; others said that they needn't expect them to get up at six o ' clock in the morning ; in another factory , the
new comers are said to have run away in a fright directly the machinery was put in motion . At Messrs . Humber's mill , this morning , nine of the Irish turned out , on the ground that they had not been furnished with suflicient food , and certainly their condition seemed most deplorable - Many of the associated firms are taking on a large number of short-timers , who are reported among the accessions as full hands . At Messrs . Horrockses and Miller ' s seventy short-timers were passed yesterday . The expense ' to ! the masters of all these fruitless experiments must be enormous . The feeling of the townspeople upon the importation of these unskilled immigrants may be gathered from the following well-written petition , adopted by the meeting of ratepayers before alluded to : —
petition . " To the Honourable the Commons of Great Britain and Ireland in Parliament assembled . "The petition of the undersigned Inhabitant Householders and Ratepayers of the Borough and Township of Preston , in the County of Lancaster , " Humbly Sliowetb , —That your petitioners have noticed the introduction into your Honourable House of a bill to abolish in England and Wales the compulsory removal of the poor , on the ground of settlement , find to make provision for the more equitable distribution of the charging of relief in unions . Thut under ordinary oircumstanees your petitioners would have hailed the introduction of such a measure with great satisfaction , but under the present peculiar situation of the town , your petitioners believe that unless tho borough and township of Preston is specially exempted from the t >
rovisions of Wio said bill , that it will bring ruin upon a large portion ofjtlie respectable ratepayers . That the present extraordinary condition of tho town arises from tho importation of a large number of unskilled pauper labourers , brought into the town and located at the instance of a combination styling itself tho Associated Musters of Preston . That the respective members of the before-named combination , acting under the stylo or denomination of tho 'Associated Mastera of Pieston , ' binds each of its members by a bond to obey all orders passed l > y a majority of its members , failing in wliicli the respective members render themselves liable to a penalty of 5000 / . each . Thut the unskilled paupers now being introduced into tho town of I'm . ton by iho before-named combination , will , under the proposed measure for t lio abolition pf compulsory removals , ultimately become irremovable paupers chargeable upon the pot » r '« funds , and thereby increase trie pourt . rates of tho township of Preston to a mobt iilarmini :
and language uttered , Having a tendency to cause a oreaco ot ifie- ' * $ « flM ! e , ana the cominisBipa of other offences . And ^ ereis ja ^ seriftus 'riot has already taken place in the said borough . And whereas . large numbers of persons continue to assemble and gather together * to the great terror of the peaceabl y disposed inhabitants of this borough . And whereas a proclamation under the Riot Act has this day been read within'the said borough . Notice is hereb y given , that all m ^ ihwti ngs and assemblages aria unlawful , and are hereby prohibi&i ; and ~ a $ L p ersons are warned not to * saemhle and « oner § g it& : together in the public streets -or places within the Sf ^ bqron ^ h ^ as th « y wiU answer lhe < contra ry « fc their periL rjjyorder ofl ^ e Mayor and Magistrates of the . ¦ .. ' ? Bprftug ^ of . Priestpn , , ( .. . .... '" .. < f Xjacffl . Dopp ,.
, 7 * ' Cteck to the Marisla-stes tfM » .- said fcorougli . 2 ** fIaTchi 8 rai ^ 85 ^ ' ... ' . ' ¦ ' '" ' , J 3 qm . til ? W&' f ^ feaa ^ j "? ^ Mf ^ o ^ suijien * which M . mQi ^ m ^^^^ bniB ^ i ^ M , about the Biot Act f ^ f 0 S ^ $ ^^ ( ^ m-1 ^ ; 9 ^ lg * woman , and ^ g ^ , fbottjyp ^ egtep _ .: ^|^ f . - | ip , w £ &r thereat un ^ irue ^^ qannot . t ^^ iegarjcled as a . production <^ ahitedfto insj ) rrerespect -for thejlegaljwwer . At the public meetings which ha ^ e been held throughout the whoie ^ of th ? 3 lock-out ( and public meetings are the , riatorM safety-valves ; for the popular mind , to BCtew down which is a most suicidal act >^ no inflammatory language ticus ever leen uttered ; but , on the
contrary , I am prepared to prove that the confftaut watchword of the operatives has been *? Beace , Iia < w , and . Order "—*? never give the policeman a jpb ; " and the police records of the town give a bright record in their favour , how well and h&iir nob ^ y that precept has been fulfilled . In the nekt place , there had been , no seriinu riot within the borough , farther than 1 have before described ; and , lastly , unless the magistrates themselves were the hinge upon which to hang the assertion , no inhabitants of the , town were in great terror , or oven suffering the faintest alarm .
It is well for these f > oor people of Preston that they have formerly had fatal experience of the tende * mercies of * a bench occupied by cotton-lord magistrates . In 1842 , a riot which , at the outset , might have been quelled by a handful of police , was suffered to come to such a pass , t mt the magistrate-manufacturers had a pretext for summoning the soldiery . Mr . Horrocks , a great cotton lord , was mayor , and his name is- still odious to the poor for that day's work . The military and the people came into collision , stones were thrown , an order was given , and several people vere shot dead in the
streets . The Preston people possibly had this in mind on -Friday last , for , in spite of the manifest absurdity of the -whole proceeding , and the illegality of the prohibition against public meetings , they dispersed quietly to their homes , and the Unionists , With a calmness and a courage which does them high honour , hove ever since refrained from every act which could be construed into a defiance of the authorities . Their public meetings have since been held without the borough , and proclamations have been issued by the committees , of which the following will serve as a specimen : —
"Peace , Law , . an © Order . " to the factobt-avoukebs of pke 8 ton and its " vicinity . " The time has at length arrived when every man , woman , and child is particularly requested to do their duty . Our struggle has attained its four-and-twentieth week , and it is most desirable that all legal means possible should bo tried to bring about , or anything tending thereto , a settlement of thia unparalleled dispute . This is , tuekkfoIie , to oivk Notice
, that any person or persons violating the peace of tho town in any way whatever , eitlier by surrounding the entrances of the vurious mills working , or culling tho parties therein employed certain names , or assembling in crowds in the strcetH , or in any other way violating tlie peace , sucli person or persons shall in no ways whatever reccivo our sympathy and support , or bo the leuat countenanced for such illegal procee < Jin ^ n . " liy order of tlie Spinnera' Committee , " iluiIAEL ( JAL , LAltK ! t . S « r > "
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HEALTH OF . LONDON . ( From ihe Registrar- CfeneraFs Mefum . ' ) The deaths registered in London exhibit a decrease from 11334 in the preceding -week , to 1135 in the week , that ended last Saturday . The sudden rise was preceded by a fall in mean temperature from 42 deg . to 35 deg , ; the temperature then rose to nearly itsformer position at 42 deg ., and maintained it during the last two weeks , and a reduction in the mortality * to the extent of 200 deaths is the consequence . In the tea corresponding weeks of the years 1844-53 , the average numlier of deaths was 1086 , which , if raised in proportion to increase of population , becomes 1195 . The actual number of last week : is less than the estimated amount hy 60 .
Last week the births of 893 boys and 846 girls , in all 1739 children , were registered in London . In the nine corresponding weeks of the years 1845-53 the average number was 1530-^ t the . I ? oyal Observatory , Greenwich , the mean height of tie barometer -was above SO in . on every day of the week . The reading of the barometer has been very remarkable throughout the week ; it increased from 30 / 38 in . at the beginning of the week to 30-45 in . by 10 h . a . m . on the 26 th ; decreased to 30 * 20 in . by 9 Tx . p . m . on the 27 th ; increased to 30 & 2 . in . by noon on 1 st March ; decreased to 30-49 : in . by 3 h . p . M . on the 3 rd } and increased to 30-67 in . by
the end of the week , a point higher than it has reached for many years . The mean temperature of the week was 41-0 deg ., which is 1-1 deg . above tlifr average of the same week in 38 years . The highest temperature of the week occurred on Friday , and was . 57 deg ., and the lowest , namely , 24-6 deg ., occurred on the same day , showing a range of 32-4 deg . The highest temperature on Saturday Avas 49-8 deg . The mean dew-paint temperature of the week was 31-8 deg . The difference between this and the air temperature , showing dry ness of the air , was 9-2 deg .. The wind , which had been mostly in the south-west and south-east during the week , changed on Saturday to north-east . No rain fell in the seven days .
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WIFE-BEATING . Now and then the wife-beating plague is still brought under public notice . Generally the cases have a revolting similarity . Sometimes , however , they are like the following ^ specimens of tlie extreme helplessness of thu > se wives M'hose husbands believe in the doctrine of the lute Duke of Newcastle . The case came before the Worship-street magistrate , on Thursday . Mr . Thomas Wilson , a tr i mming-manufacturer in Slater-street , Spitalfields , was the offender . Mr . Richard Hurst stated the charge : — " I am also in the same business ais the prisoner , in Nichol-steeet Shoreditch and accompanied him home between twelve and one tliia morning . I was perfectly sober , but he was drank , and , as soon as he got in , he asked liia wife for his supper . She directed tho servant to get it for him , and she did so ; Knf . 11 twin latftnincy it * tarn a /\ nlw a riim ^ cfaalr Via i- « c-a / 3 o ireartr iw
, v «* u ujjvu ovv * A . jc * i HO VII 1 JT «* k UIUUOIUUA .. UU UOCU € M T Ol J scandalous « pitnet , and , catching hold of the meat , fhmg lfc upon the ddoor . He next run up to his wife , who was seated quietly a short distance from him , and dealt her auch a terrible blow in tho side with his nut that she dropped from her chair , as though shot . Ho then rushed to the servant girl , and knocked her down , and then , because 1 rcmonstiated . witii him upon his infamous conduct , run at me , and struck mo a violent blow upon tho forehead . I resented the blow ,. and we had a fight which lasted more than five minutes , during the wholo of which time his wife remained thoroughly senseless , and , in fact , did so until the polieo came and lifted ; her from the ground , 1 having run out to procure tho assistance of A surgeon . '
By Mr . Ilanimill . — " His conduct to hia wife of lato haa been most dreadful . I have repeatedly acorn him sharpening knives , declaring that ho would have her life , uwtl 1 liavo frequently utayed for hours in their house to protect her . " I ) obell , l'J 5 H . — " Wliilo on duty in Slater-street 1 heard loud screams of ' Murder' from tho prisoner ' s liouso , and upon gaining an entrance found the wilu senseless upon tho floor , and the prisoner kneeling upon her bosom , and ow < " « ring that he would kill her . 1 pulled him off , upon , which
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2 § $ 1 ? HE ' LEASER . [ Satxj «]> ay ,
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), March 11, 1854, page 226, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2029/page/10/
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