The justices of the peace found the rate demanded reasonable; it was amended in some instances, and the masters immediately refused to pay the rate. Our counsel in the process had consented, for the purpose of obviating the difficulties and getting over the objections that might be made against the expediency, to withdraw the imperative part of the prayer; the prayer of the petition originally founded upon, prayed, that they might be compelled to pay the price, but it was only a declaratory decision, as the imperative part was withdrawn, for the purpose of preventing the difficulty; we then, as the masters refused to pay, tried every method of getting an extra-judicial decision. The present Lord Justice Clerk had been a member of the Committee of the House of Commons in 1809, and appeared decidedly opposed to the principle of interference; and we conceived from the sentiments of the court, that though they had decided the law, if we went on the expediency of the case, we might very likely lose, and we determined therefore to try the experiment of striking work.
What was the result of this strike?
About three weeks after the effort commenced, there was a direct interference, on the part of government, to suppress it, by the apprehension of all the parties concerned.
What do you mean by the apprehension of all the parties concerned?
There was a committee of five, who had conducted the process during the whole period, and we were all apprehended and committed to gaol.
You were one of the five?
I was.
Under what law were you apprehended?
There was no specific law. There was a case I might have mentioned, but as it applies to the combination, I will introduce it here. In 1811, a combination had taken place amongst the cotton spinners; and in a case that was aggravated by assault, that was tried at the Glasgow circuit, the present Lord President Hope, who then presided, stated it as an aggravation of the crime of combination, that there was a clear remedy in law, as the magistrates had full power and authority to affix rates of wages, or settle disputes: that was the ground on which we entered the action in 1812. In the face of this, after having acted upon it on this principle, the mere act of striking work in a body was construed as an infringement of the Combination Law; and after having acted upon the authority of Lord President Hope, we were convicted, on what law I am yet at a loss to know.
Have there been any combinations, or any individuals prosecuted for combinations, since that period?