good trade and general prosperity, wrung from
their labour a California of gold, which is now
being used to crush those who created it, still lower
and lower in the scale of civilization. This has
been the result of our commercial prosperity!—
more wealth for the rich and more poverty for the
Poor! Because the workpeople of Preston
protested against this state of things,—because they
combined in a fair and legitimate way for the
purpose of getting a reasonable share of the reward
of their own labour, the fair dealing Employers of
Preston, to their eternal 'shame and disgrace, locked
up their Mills, and at one fell swoop deprived, as
they thought, from twenty to thirty thousand
human beings of the means of existence. Cruelty
and tyranny always defeat their own object; it
was so in this case, and to the honour and credit
of the working classes of this country, we have to
record, that, those whom the rich and wealthy
sought to destroy, the poor and industrious have
protected from harm. This love of justice and
hatred of wrong, is a noble feature in the character
and disposition of the working man, and gives us
hope that in the future, this world will become
what its great Architect intended, not a place of
sorrow, toil, oppression and wrong, but the dwelling
place and the abode of peace, plenty, happiness
and love, where avarice and all the evil passions
engendered by the present system of fraud and
injustice shall not have a place.

"The earth was not made for the misery of its
people; intellect was not given to man to make
himself and fellow creatures unhappy. No, the
fruitfulness of the soil and the wonderful inventions
—the result of mind—all proclaim that these
things were bestowed upon us for our happiness
and well-being, and not for the misery and
degradation of the human race.

"It may serve the manufacturers and all who
run away with the lion's share of labour's produce,
to say that the impartial God intended that there
should be a partial distribution of his blessings.
But we know that it is against nature to believe,
that those who plant and reap all the grain, should
not have enough to make a mess of porridge; and
we know that those who weave all the cloth should
not want a yard to cover their persons, whilst those
who never wove an inch have more calico, silks
and satins, than would serve the reasonable wants
of a dozen working men and their families.

"This system of giving everything to the few,
and nothing to the many, has lasted long enough,
and we call upon the working people of this country
to be determined to establish a new and
improved system—a system that shall give to all who
labour, a fair share of those blessings and comforts
which their toil produce; in short, we wish to see
that divine precept enforced, which says, ' Those
who will not work, shall not eat.'

"The task is before you, working men; if you
think the good which would result from its
accomplishment, is worth struggling for, set to work and
cease not, until you have obtained the good time
coming, not only for the Preston Operatives, but
for yourselves as well.

"By Order of the Committee.

"Murphy's Temperance Hotel, Chapel Walks,
"Preston, January 24th, 1854."

It is a melancholy thing that it should not
occur to the Committee to consider what
would become of themselves, their friends,
and fellow operatives, if those calicoes, silks,
and satins, were not worn in very large
quantities; but I shall not enter into that
question. As I had told my friend Snapper, what I
wanted to see with my own eyes, was, how
these people acted under a mistaken
impression, and what qualities they showed,
even at that disadvantage, which ought to be
the strength and peace—not the weakness
and trouble—of the community. I found,
even from this literature, however, that all
masters were not indiscriminately unpopular.
Witness the following verses from the New
Song of the Preston Strike:

"There's Henry Hornby, of Blackburn, he is a jolly brick,
He fits the Preston masters nobly, and is very bad to trick;
He pays his hands a good price, and I hope he will never sever,
So we'll sing success to Hornby and Blackburn for ever.

"There is another gentleman, I'm sure you'll all lament,
In Blackburn for him they're raising a monument,
You know his name, 'tis of great fame, it was late Eccles of honour,
May Hopwood, and Sparrow, and Hornby live for ever.

"So now it is time to finish and end my rhyme,
We warn these Preston Cotton Lords to mind for future time.
With peace and order too I hope we shall be clever,
We sing success to Stockport and Blackburn for ever.
         " Now, lads, give your minds to it."

The balance sheet of the receipts and
expenditure for the twenty-third week of the
strike was extensively posted. The income
for that week was two thousand one hundred
and forty pounds odd. Some of the
contributors were poetical. As,

"Love to all and peace to the dead,
May the poor now in need never want bread.

three-and-sixpence." The following poetical
remonstrance was appended to the list of
contributions from the Gorton district:

"Within these walls the lasses fair
Refuse to contribute their share,
Careless of duty—blind to fame,
For shame, ye lasses, oh! for shame!
Come, pay up, lasses, think what's right,
Defend your trade with all your might;
For if you don't the world will blame,
And cry, ye lasses, oh, for shame!
Let's hope in future all will pay,
That Preston folks may shortly say—
That by your aid they have obtained
The greatest victory ever gained."

Some of the subscribers veiled their names
under encouraging sentiments, as Not tired
yet, All in a mind. Win the day. Fraternity,
and the like. Some took jocose appellations,
as A stunning friend, Two to one Preston
wins, Nibbling Joe, and The Donkey Driver.
Some expressed themselves through their
trades, as Cobbler Dick, sixpence. The tailor
true, sixpence, Shoemaker, a shilling, The
chirping blacksmith, sixpence, and A few of
Maskery's most feeling coachmakers, three
and threepence. An old balance sheet for the