[475]The immediate publicity given to the agitation was due, in the first place, to the sympathy of J. E. Matthew Vincent, the editor of the Leamington Chronicle, and secondly, to the instinct of the Daily News, which promptly sent Archibald Forbes, its war correspondent, to Warwickshire, and “boomed” the movement in a series of special articles. A contemporary account of the previous career of Joseph Arch is given by the Rev. F. S. Attenborough in his Life of Joseph Arch(Leamington, 1872; 37 pp.). See also The Revolt of the Field, by A. W. Clayden (1874), 234 pp.; and “Zur Geschichte der englischen Arbeiterbewegung im Jahre 1872-1873,” by Dr. Friedrich Kleinwächter in Jahrbücher für Nationalökonomie und Statistik, 1875, and Supplement I. of 1878; “Die jüngste Landarbeiterbewegung in England,” by Lloyd Jones, in Nathusius-Thiel’s Landwirthschaftliche Jahrbücher, 1875; The Romance of Peasant Life, 1872, and The English Peasantry, 1872, by F. G. Heath; The Agricultural Labourer, by F. E. Kettel, 1887; Joseph Arch, the Story of his Life, told by Himself, 1898; A History of the English Agricultural Labourer, by Dr. W. Hasbach, 1908; “The Labourers in Council,” a valuable article in The Congregationalist, 1872; “The Agricultural Labourers’ Union,” in Quarterly Review, 1873; “The Agricultural Labourers’ Union,” by Canon Girdlestone, in Macmillan’s Magazine, vol. xxviii.; “The Agricultural Labourer,” by F. Verinder, in The Church Reformer, 1892; and others in this magazine during 1891-93; Conflicts of Capital and Labour, by G. Howell, 1878 and 1890 editions; Labour Legislation, Labour Movements and Labour Leaders, by the same, 1902; and Village Trade Unions in Two Centuries, by Ernest Selley, 1919.

[476]Other Labourers’ Unions sprang up which refused to be absorbed in the National; and the London Trades Council summoned a conference in March 1873 to promote unity of action. Considerable jealousy was shown of any centralising policy, and eventually a Federal Union of Agricultural and General Labourers was formed by half a dozen of the smaller societies, with an aggregate membership of 50,000.

[477]The Birmingham Trades Council, for instance, issued the following poster:

“Great Lock-out of Agricultural Labourers!

“An Appeal. Is the Labourer worthy of his Hire?

“This question is to all lovers of freedom and peaceful progress, and it is left for them to say whether that spark of life and hope which has been kindled in the breasts of our toiling brothers in the agricultural districts shall be extinguished by the pressure of the present lock-out. The answer is No! and the echo resounds from ten thousand lips. But let us be practical; a little help is of more value than much sympathy; we must not stand to pity, but strive to send relief. The cause of the agricultural labourer is our own; the interests of labour in all its forms are very closely bound up together, and the simple question for each one is, How much can I help, and how soon can I do it? If we stay thinking too long, action may come too late; these men, our brethren, now deeply in adversity, may have fallen victims when our active efforts might have saved them. The strain upon the funds of their Union must be considerable with such a number thrown into unwilling idleness, and that for simply asking that their wages, in these times of dear food, might be increased from 13s. to 14s. per week. Money is no doubt wanted, and it is by that alone the victory can be won. Let us therefore hope that Birmingham will once again come to the rescue, determined to assist these men to a successful resistance of the oppression that is attempted in this lock-out.

“The great high priest and deliverer of this people now seeks our aid. We must not let him appeal to us in vain; his efforts have been too noble in the past, the cause for which he pleads is too full of righteousness, and the issues too great to be passed by in heedless silence. Let us all to work at once. We can all give a little, and each one may encourage his neighbour to follow his example. The conflict may be a severe one. It is for freedom and liberty to unite as we have done. We have reaped some of the advantages of our Unions; we must assist them to establish theirs, and not allow the ray of hope that now shines across the path of our patient but determined fellow-toilers to be darkened by the blind folly of their employers, who, being in a measure slaves to the powers above them, would, if they could, even at their own loss, consign all below them to perpetual bondage. This must not be. We must not allow these men to be robbed of their right to unite, or their future may be less hopeful than their past. Let some one in every manufactory and workshop collect from those disposed to give, and so help to furnish the means to assist these men to withstand the powers brought against them, showing to their would-be oppressors that we have almost learned the need and duty of standing side by side until all our righteous efforts shall be crowned by victory.

“All members of the Birmingham Trades Council are authorised to collect and receive contributions to the fund, and will be pleased to receive assistance from others.

“By order of the Birmingham Trades Council,
“W. Gilliver, Secretary.”

[478]Queen’s Regulations for the Army for 1873, Article 180; the whole correspondence is given in the Report of the London Trades Council, June 1873.