BENEFIT SOCIETIES. 301 doing. Thus it happened that in some of the little colonies above mentioned, ejectments of the tenants, * Whether the rates of remuneration at which the pitmen were expected to sell their labour to their employers, was too little or not, or whether the latter in every instance dealt fairly with the men, the writer does not profess to be competent to decide; the remarks in the text have merely reference to disasters the existence and origin of which were but too palpable. Neither is it intended by any expression of disapprobation towards combinations for overruling a free trade in labour, to cast any imputation upon associations formed for the mutual relief of their members when labouring under sickness, accidents, or infirmity; the former are essentially mischievous, the latter can hardly become other than beneficial. The coal-owners themselves have always been anxious to promote these Benefit Societies, and connected with the Lambton Collieries, there is one numbering about twelve hundred members. It was established by the Earl of Durham, in January, 1833, for the maintenance of its members in old age, sickness, lameness, or infirmity. It is supported by voluntary subscription; and his Lordship contributes a sum equivalent to one-sixth part of the ordinary contributions of all the members. The first anniversary of this association was celebrated at Lambton Castle, when the committee of management, fifty in number, were hospitably entertained by Lord Durham, who after dinner, addressed the persons present on the subject of combinations. "Sad experience (he said) must have shown you that combinations effected but one object-that of enabling a certain number of cunning and unprincipled men to live at your expense, whilst you were starving, and, at the same time, ruining the trade of the district, which in many cases has been transferred to other parts of the country. The laws of the land were violated, assaults and indecent outrages, nay even murders, were committed, and after perpetuating disturbance and confusion for months, and levying thousands of pounds from the industrious workmen, what was the result? Did wages advance? No, the very reverse. Thousands of additional workmen were brought from a distance, and there being many more hands than could be employed, in the natural course of things, wages were still more lowered. The pretence for these unions has been to raise wages; the real effect had been, not the advance of the rate of wages, but merely the support of those delegates for a limited time in idleness and luxury. These men know, or ought to know, that the rate of wages depends on the price which is given by the public for the article worked. Now, the price of coals is very low, so much so, that little or no profit is made by the coalowner. In many instances he actually loses, and pays the wages of his men out of his capital, not out of his profits. Be assured that if prices rise, wages rise as a matter of course; but that if prices fall wages must also fall, and that it is as impossible for the master to pay his men advanced wages when prices are low, as it would be for you to pay your butcher and grocer higher prices for meat and tea and sugar whilst your wages are low. If any of these delegates tell you that the coalowner has been making great profits, out of which he could afford you a higher rate of wages, he has grossly deceived you. In no trade is there less regular profit and more steady and permanent expense. In fact, capital invested in the coal trade vi et armis, were going on, while in another place personal injuries were dealt out to the unfortunate individual who might be disposed to resume work without leave of the "Committee." The inhabitants of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, and those in the immediate neighbourhood, will not soon forget the "stick" of the pitmen in 1832; nor can the latter, as a body, presently recover from the sufferings they brought upon themselves. All the frightful evils resulting from a misunderstanding of the nature above alluded to; aggravated as they were, by a strongly organised power of resistance on both sides, were almost daily exhibited through a considerable portion of the year. When these men had struck work some time, and there appeared no likelihood of any agreement being come to between them and the masters, the latter circulated advertisements in the remote mining districts, inviting workmen to come down to the north to take the place of the turn-outs, holding forth at the same time the fairest prospects of good wages and personal protection: the pitmen, in turn, distributed themselves through the country, and sought by every means in their power to counteract the effect of these flattering inducements-and one of their modes of doing this was by the publication of a broad-sheet list of the accidents "by fire and flood," which had, at various times, occurred in the collieries on the Tyne! Notwithstanding this, great numbers affords less interest than almost any other, with more hazard and uncertainty. At the present moment most collieries are conducted at no profit at all, or at a loss; and if this state of things continues, will have to be shut up. It is in these circumstances that men are going about endeavouring to raise unions in order to raise the rate of wages. Their success would entail the shutting up of many collieries, and the consequent spreading over those remaining all the unemployed hands. The result, I need not tell you, would be a still greater reduction of wages." A STICK OF THE PITMEN. 303 of persons, particularly from Wales, left their houses, removed their families, and went to work in the north. The northern coaches were crowded with the adventurers, and the stage-waggons were piled with their bedding and boxes: many from the shorter distances of Staffordshire or Yorkshire, walked or hired light vehicles-and certainly to see the numerous haggard pedestrians, or the cart loads of squallid women and children, in and about the town of Newcastle, going and returning, was a grievous sight! Many of the strangers found matters so little flattering, that they hastily bent their steps back again; others staid and entered upon their work; not a few, especially of the Welsh strangers, fell victims to the cholera, which raged sorely at several of the collieries; in almost all cases, the condition of the new comers was irksome in the extreme. It was no uncommon thing to see the native pitmen idly reposing on the grass, or unaccountably traversing the neighbourhood, while a policeman with a drawn sword in his hand, or a firelock on his shoulder, was walking to and fro, on the adjacent pit-hill, to protect the party at work within! The police were out every night on duty about the several collieries, to prevent damage to the works or outrage to the men. It was not to be supposed that in a state of things like this, however discreetly the bulk might act-and certainly the conduct of many was irreproachably peaceful-that all the parties who were so highly excited, would demean themselves in such a manner as not to be overtaken in any direct breach of the law. Unfortunately, some very heinous offences, including two or three murders, were perpetrated. The writer cannot forget his feelings when, one evening, re turning from the delightful marine village of Tynemouth to Newcastle, during these disturbances, and seeing a crowd about a public-house, he enquired what was the matter, to receive for reply-" the police have shot a pitman!" This turned out to have been really the case, in a fray that had just ended. Another case, which created considerable interest at the time, not only in the neighbourhood of the collieries, but throughout the country, was the murder of Nicholas Fairless, Esq. a highly respectable and humane Magistrate of South Shields, by two pitmen of the names of Jobling and Armstrong. The last named culprit succeeded in getting out of the country; but Jobling was taken, tried, and executed at Durham, and afterwards, pursuant to his sentence, hung in irons on a gibbet, in a mere called "Jarrow Slake," and within a few score yards of the spot where the fatal act had been committed. This gibbet was particularly obnoxious to the pitmen; and various rumours circulated to the effect, that it would never be allowed long to remain an object of horror to so intrepid a body of men. A few weeks afterwards, the writer of this notice, and a friend with whom he was walking along the head of the Slake, were struck with the altered appearance of the gibbet, and on approaching it they ascertained from various parties, that during the preceding night, the tall post had been ascended, the end of the transverse piece sawed off, and the body carried, as was supposed, out to sea, and there sunk: no tidings either of it, or the persons concerned in the unpleasant and daring enterprise, were ever received. CHAPTER XVI. THE COAL TRADE. Fossil Coal little if at all known to the nations of Antiquity- Mentioned by Theophrastus - Supposed to have been used by the Ancient BritonsOld Cinder Heaps-Coal mentioned bg Saxon Authors-Extract from the "Bolden Book"Charter to the Inhabitants of Newcastle to dig Coals-Sea Coal-Evidence of Early Modes of Working-Hostemen-Earliest Notice of Exportation of Coals-Charitable Donations of Coals -Formerly burned along with Wood-Early states of the Coal Trade-Richmond Shilling-Complaints of the decrease and waste of Fire-woodHistorical Notice of the Introduction of Pit Coal into common use-Evelyn's Lamentation on the Decay of Forests-Coincidence in the Deposits of Coal and Ironstone-Difficulties encountered in substituting Pit Coal for Charcoal in making Iron -Notices of the Coal Trade on the Rivers Tyne, Wear, and Tees. IT is hardly possible to contemplate the prodigious amount of manufacturing power and domestic convenience dependent on the produce of our coal mines, X |