Mary Barton Page #59

Mary Barton: A Tale of Manchester Life is the first novel by English author Elizabeth Gaskell, published in 1848. The story is set in the English city of Manchester between 1839 and 1842, and deals with the difficulties faced by the Victorian working class.

• Novel

								

his arm in Jem's to lead him away in an opposite direction to that in
which he saw Mr. Carson was going. Jem submitted gloomily, for a few
steps, then wrenched himself free. The policeman shouted after him,

"Take care, my man! there's no girl on earth worth what you'll be
bringing on yourself if you don't mind."

But Jem was out of hearing.




CHAPTER XVI.

MEETING BETWEEN MASTERS AND WORKMEN.


   "Not for a moment take the scorner's chair;
   While seated there, thou know'st not how a word,
   A tone, a look, may gall thy brother's heart,
   And make him turn in bitterness against thee."

   "LOVE-TRUTHS."


The day arrived on which the masters were to have an interview with
a deputation of the work-people. The meeting was to take place in
a public room, at an hotel; and there, about eleven o'clock, the
mill-owners, who had received the foreign orders, began to collect.

Of course, the first subject, however full their minds might be of
another, was the weather. Having done their duty by all the showers
and sunshine which had occurred during the past week, they fell to
talking about the business which brought them together. There might
be about twenty gentlemen in the room, including some by courtesy,
who were not immediately concerned in the settlement of the present
question; but who, nevertheless, were sufficiently interested to
attend. These were divided into little groups, who did not seem
unanimous by any means. Some were for a slight concession, just
a sugar-plum to quieten the naughty child, a sacrifice to peace
and quietness. Some were steadily and vehemently opposed to the
dangerous precedent of yielding one jot or one tittle to the outward
force of a turn-out. It was teaching the work-people how to become
masters, said they. Did they want the wildest thing heareafter, they
would know that the way to obtain their wishes would be to strike
work. Besides, one or two of those present had only just returned
from the New Bailey, where one of the turn-outs had been tried for a
cruel assault on a poor north-country weaver, who had attempted to
work at the low price. They were indignant, and justly so, at the
merciless manner in which the poor fellow had been treated; and their
indignation at wrong, took (as it so often does) the extreme form of
revenge. They felt as if, rather than yield to the body of men who
were resorting to such cruel measures towards their fellow-workmen,
they, the masters, would sooner relinquish all the benefits to be
derived from the fulfilment of the commission, in order that the
workmen might suffer keenly. They forgot that the strike was in this
instance the consequence of want and need, suffered unjustly, as the
endurers believed; for, however insane, and without ground of reason,
such was their belief, and such was the cause of their violence. It
is a great truth, that you cannot extinguish violence by violence.
You may put it down for a time; but while you are crowing over your
imaginary success, see if it does not return with seven devils worse
than its former self!

No one thought of treating the workmen as brethren and friends, and
openly, clearly, as appealing to reasonable men, stating the exact
and full circumstances which led the masters to think it was the wise
policy of the time to make sacrifices themselves, and to hope for
them from the operatives.

In going from group to group in the room, you caught such a medley of
sentences as the following:

"Poor devils! they're near enough to starving, I'm afraid. Mrs.
Aldred makes two cows' heads into soup every week, and people come
several miles to fetch it; and if these times last we must try and do
more. But we must not be bullied into any thing!"

"A rise of a shilling or so won't make much difference, and they will
go away thinking they've gained their point."

"That's the very thing I object to. They'll think so, and whenever
they've a point to gain, no matter how unreasonable, they'll strike
work."

"It really injures them more than us."

"I don't see how our interests can be separated."

"The d----d brute had thrown vitriol on the poor fellow's ankles, and
you know what a bad part that is to heal. He had to stand still with
the pain, and that left him at the mercy of the cruel wretch, who
beat him about the head till you'd hardly have known he was a man.
They doubt if he'll live."

"If it were only for that, I'll stand out against them, even if it
were the cause of my ruin."

"Ay, I for one won't yield one farthing to the cruel brutes; they're
more like wild beasts than human beings."

(Well! who might have made them different?)

"I say, Carson, just go and tell Duncombe of this fresh instance of
their abominable conduct. He's wavering, but I think this will decide
him."

The door was now opened, and a waiter announced that the men were
below, and asked if it were the pleasure of the gentlemen that they
should be shown up.

They assented, and rapidly took their places round the official
table; looking, as like as they could, to the Roman senators who
awaited the irruption of Brennus and his Gauls.

Tramp, tramp, came the heavy clogged feet up the stairs; and in a
minute five wild, earnest-looking men stood in the room. John Barton,
from some mistake as to time, was not among them. Had they been
larger boned men, you would have called them gaunt; as it was, they
were little of stature, and their fustian clothes hung loosely upon
their shrunk limbs. In choosing their delegates, too, the operatives
had had more regard to their brains, and power of speech, than to
their wardrobes; they might have read the opinions of that worthy
Professor Teufelsdruch, in Sartor Resartus, to judge from the
dilapidated coats and trousers, which yet clothed men of parts and
of power. It was long since many of them had known the luxury of a
new article of dress; and air-gaps were to be seen in their garments.
Some of the masters were rather affronted at such a ragged detachment
coming between the wind and their nobility; but what cared they?

At the request of a gentleman hastily chosen to officiate as
chairman, the leader of the delegates read, in a high-pitched,
psalm-singing voice, a paper, containing the operatives' statement of
the case at issue, their complaints, and their demands, which last
were not remarkable for moderation.

He was then desired to withdraw for a few minutes, with his fellow
delegates, to another room, while the masters considered what should
be their definitive answer.

When the men had left the room, a whispered earnest consultation
took place, every one re-urging his former arguments. The conceders
carried the day, but only by a majority of one. The minority
haughtily and audibly expressed their dissent from the measures to be
adopted, even after the delegates re-entered the room; their words
and looks did not pass unheeded by the quick-eyed operatives; their
names were registered in bitter hearts.

The masters could not consent to the advance demanded by the workmen.
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