THE METROPOLITAN MAGAZINE. VOL. X. MAY TO AUGUST, 1834. LONDON: SAUNDERS AND OTLEY, CONDUIT STREET; BELL AND BRADFUTE, EDINBURGH; SMITH AND SON, GLASGOW ; AND W. F. WAKEMAN, DUBLIN. 1834. THE METROPOLITAN. TRADES' UNIONS. It is a singular feature in the present condition of this country, that its agitation, from domestic and other sources of discontent, appears to resolve itself into Unions; like the acting of the cohesive power upon atoms, which, though separated in a quiescent fluid, fly to obey the laws of attraction, when their state of individual repose is disturbed. It may be, hereafter a matter of deep speculation to the historian, to enter more fully into the causes of this political phenomenon. We ascribe it to the freedom of the individual, arising from the peculiarity of our constitution, and we congratulate ourselves and the country, that a state of things, which, in our old antagonist, France, would long ago have been decided by revolution and bloodshed, has, in this country, produced only the gatherings of phalanxes, to oppose what have been considered by the people as encroachments upon their liberties and their rights. We are now a nation of Unions. Political parties are but Political Unions, and the Conservatives are just as illegal, or as legal, whichever you please, as the widely-extended Political Unions themselves. On the one side, we have the union of wealth and influence, on the other, the union of the mass; up to the present time each employing none other but legal measures to uphold their respective claims, and contending for constitutional rights without violating constitutional laws. So far all is well; but we have now to comment upon another and hitherto unheard-of species of Union; one which is legal in itself, and illegal in its acts; one, that if not checked, either by legal enactments, or causes to which we shall hereafter advert, threatens the peace, the security, and the prosperity of the country; an Union which has declared that labour is no longer marketable, and in making such declaration, strikes a blow at once to social order and national prosperity. Its ramifications are immense, its power tremendous, its conduct arbitrary and tyrannical, and it yet remains to be proved in what manner this powerful combination may be directed. When we reflect that its meetings are secret and masonic-that dreadful oaths are administered-that the obedience of its members is implicit and that this obedience is enforced through every part of the United Kingdom, we at once perceive that a well-regulated and extended Union of force of this description becomes an immense engine to be applied, if diverted from its original intentions, to the most alarming and dangerous purposes. We feel, May 1834.-VOL. X.-NO. XXXVII. B |