proved not only by the evidence of his given on the ground that the Society was accomplices, but by his own confession, that he had suborned violent assaults, robbery, fire-raising, and murder; that he retained in his service men whom he had hired to do these deeds, and that to pay them he had embezzled the funds and falsified the accounts of the Society. But the Saw-Grinders' Union refused to repudiate his crimes and to expel him, because, as they alleged, he had risked his life on their behalf, and the law afforded no remedy for the offences which he had taken upon himself to punish with death.' It would have been strange, indeed, if the law had prevented non-Unionists from engaging to work with whom and at what wages they thought proper. established for illegal purposes. It is certainly right and proper that no association should be supported in doing illegal acts, but quite unjust that because it aimed at illegal as well as legal objects its funds should be embezzled with impunity. And it was felt that the Legislature might properly be called on to extend full proprietary rights, and the power of enforcing them against wrong-doers to those associations whose rules and objects were not of a criminal character. The great body of the people came at length to the conclusion that Trades' Unions are not in themselves improper or immoral, and that there is no good reason why the working classes might not combine to fix the rate of wages which they would accept from the masters, provided that they did not 'picket,' waylay, threaten, and maltreat those who were willing to take employment at the rates which the Unionists rejected. 'With regard,' said the Report of the Comworkmen to combine together for determining and missioners, 'to the general question of the right of stipulating with their employer the terms on which only they will consent to work with him, we think that provided the combination be perfectly voluntary, and that full liberty be left to all At this very time Mr. Baron Bramwell, in the case of the journeymen tailors of London, while forcibly insisting on the illegality of coercing, molesting, or annoying other men in the exercise of their right of disposing of their own labour, laid it down that a combination to raise wages, even though it proceeds to the sometimes inevitable climax of a strike, is not contrary to the law of England so long as it is conducted without breach of the peace, or obstruction to or interference with other persons. No candid other workmen to undertake the work which the or reasonable person would ask more than parties combining have refused, and that no this; but the powers of the Sheffield obstruction be placed in the way of the employer Unionists were, in their own estimation, resorting elsewhere in search of a supply of labour, so insufficient that they thought it neces- there is no ground of justice or of policy in withsary to supplement them by fire-raising, holding such a right from the workmen ;' and they wounding, and murdering! The Unionists Bill be brought in so far relaxing the existing law, add that they are prepared to recommend that a complained, indeed not without reason, in substance, as to enact that no combination of that their associations were treated as in-persons for the purpose of determining among herently illegal, and that they were left without remedy in cases of pillage or embezzlement of their property. It was decided by the Court of Queen's Bench in January, 1867, that a Trades' Union which is also a Benefit Society, but which has among its rules any that in the judgment of the law amount to a restraint of trade, is ipso facto deprived of the right of recovering from a defaulting treasurer the money which he had misappropriated. This decision was themselves, or of stipulating for the terms on which they will consent to employ or be employed, shall be unlawful by reason only that its operation would be in restraint of trade.' The Commissioners were also of opinion that there would be advantage to the Unions if they were established with the capacities for rights and liabilities arising from a status recognized by law; and that there would be advantage to the public if their proceedings were made public, and the officers of Unions acting according to law had the position to which persons discharging important duties are entitled.' They recommended there fore that 'facilities should be granted for such registration as will give to the Unions capacity for rights and duties resembling in some degree that of corporations, and to the public the means of knowing the rules, members, and funds of the Union, and also their expenditure and proceedings.' by the law to both parties, but not liberty to employ intimidation or violence. But though, as one of their most zealous supporters has admitted, 'legislation has now accomplished all that any reasonable advocate of the claims of the Trades' Unions could have demanded,' the evil practice of assaulting non-Unionists has by no means been abandoned. Neither have the unjust and injurious regulations respecting apprentices and the freedom of labour. In the Clyde iron shipbuilding trade restrictive regulations have been enforced to such an extent that the ironworkers are receiving from 20s. to 25s. a day, while the ship-joiners are earning only 5s. 6d., this result having been brought about mainly by minimizing the number of apprentices. The effect has been most injurious to the ironworkers themselves, and there is great danger that shipbuilding may be driven from the Clyde, as it was a few years ago from the Thames, by the greedy and tyrannical conduct of the workmen. Several years elapsed, however, before these judicious recommendations were car-picketing,' waylaying, intimidating, and ried into effect. It was not until 1871 that an Act was passed which aimed at putting an end to trade disputes, by holding the balance even between employers of labour and those employed by them. The system thus inaugurated was carried out in 1875, when masters and workmen were placed on perfect equality as regards the matter of contract. A breach of contract was to be treated on both sides as a civil, not a criminal affair, and was not to be punished by imprisonment except as that penalty would be inflicted in other cases by a county court judge for contumacious disobedience to the orders of the Court, or in certain peculiar cases where a wilful and malicious breach of a contract would inflict great injury on the public. A section of the working classes, more In regard to such cases there was no dis- provident and foreseeing than their fellows, tinction made between employers and the instituted in 1844 a Co-operative Society, persons employed. Imprisonment might and set an example which has been widely be inflicted also on any person who hid or followed throughout the country. In that injured the tools of workmen in order to year it occurred to a few poor flannel weavers prevent them from doing their work, or who in Rochdale that they might combine for the attempted by intimidation or violence to purpose of economizing their expenditure induce others to abstain from working or by supplying themselves with good and to join in a strike. The right of work- cheap food and clothing. They were of men to combine for the purpose of raising course aware that shopkeepers had each to wages, or for any other object which is not pay rent, rates, taxes, and other expenses, in itself illegal, has now been fully recog- and to maintain themselves and their family nized, and no distinction is made, in the out of the small profits which they received eye of the law, between them and the from a moderate aggregate of returns. They employers of labour. The former are at saw also that the system of credit entailed perfect liberty to unite in a resolution not bad debts, thus increasing the cost of articles. to work for less than a certain rate of wages, to honest customers, and that as the shopand to carry it into effect by a strike should keeper was often obliged in turn to purchase they think fit. The latter are equally at on credit, he could not buy in the cheapest liberty to combine in a refusal to give the market. It seemed evident therefore that rate of wages demanded, and to vindicate if they could command a little capital to their determination by a lock-out. Freedom make a beginning, they might supply themof action in this respect is the rule prescribed | selves with food and clothing on much more VOL. IV. 24 favourable terms than by dealing at the shops. Some of them had a conscientious objection to the taking of an oath, and therefore could not appeal to a court of law to enforce payment of accounts, while others had scruples with respect to suing. They were all aware that the credit system often led to litigation, and that litigation always entailed waste of time and money. They therefore determined neither to take nor to give credit. These pioneers of the Co-operative movement, twenty-eight in number, subscribed 2d. a week each, and when their joint contributions reached the amount of £28 they took a small shop in a back street of Rochdale, where they commenced their operations. After fitting up the shop, only £14 remained to purchase goods. A neighbouring shopkeeper said in derision that he could take away the whole stock-in-trade in a wheelbarrow. In all previous attempts to establish a combined enterprise of this kind the profits were divided among the shareholders, but the Rochdale co-operatives resolved that their profits should be divided among the customers in proportion to the amount of their purchases-an arrangement which was no doubt one main cause of the Society's success. The Equitable Pioneers,' as the Society was termed, commenced their operations with groceries, and at the same time raised their weekly contribution per member to threepence. At the close of 1845 the Society numbered eighty members, and had a capital of £181 12s. 3d. They now added butcher meat and all sorts of clothing to their stores. Soon after reaching this stage they considered it necessary to publish an account of their objects, and of the means which they had adopted to carry them into effect. 'The objects of this Society,' they said, 'are the social and intellectual advancement of its members. It provides them with groceries, butcher's meat, drapery goods, clothes, shoes, clogs, &c. There are competent workmen on the premises to do the work of the members and execute all repairs. The capital is raised in £1 shares, each member being allowed to take not less than five and not more than 100, payable at once or by instalments of 3s. 3d. per quarter. The profits are divided quarterly as follows: 1st, interest at 5 per cent. per annum on all paid-up shares; 2nd, 24 off net profits for educational purposes; the remainder to be divided among the members in proportion to money expended. For is a library consisting of more than 3000 volumes. the intellectual improvement of the members there The news-room is well supplied with newspapers and periodicals, fitted up in a neat and careful manner, and furnished with maps, globes, microscope, telescope, &c. The news-room and library are free to all members. A branch reading-room has been opened at Oldham Road, the readers of which meet every second Monday in January, April, July, and October to choose and sell the papers.' In order to furnish hints for the guidance of those who applied to them for information, with a view to the formation of new societies, they printed a paper suggesting various regulations, which gives a high idea of the sound sense and intelligence of the Pioneers. They especially recommended that officers should be chosen for their integrity, intelligence, and ability, and not for their wealth or distinction. The progress of the Rochdale Pioneers' Society was very remarkable and gratifying. The Rev. Mr. Molesworth states that in 1860 it numbered 3450 members, possessed £37,710 of funds, did business to the amount of £152,083, and had made £15,906 of profits. In 1850 they set on foot a new society, called the 'Co-operative Corn-mill Society,' in imitation of one which had been for some years in successful working at Leeds. It 1863 it was grinding nearly 1700 sacks of flour, meal, &c., per week, and in addition to the Rochdale store, with its branches, it supplied the co-operative shops of the towns and villages for many miles around. In 1854 an association was formed in Rochdale for the purpose of manufacturing cotton, and the Pioneers' Society invested a large portion of its superabundant capital in this undertaking. The building, which contains all modern improvements, cost £40,000, the whole of which was paid before the mill was opened. A Co-operative Sick and Burial Society was also formed, a Cooperative Turkish Bath, and a Land and Building Society. The capital invested in these various institutions was estimated in 1861 at £125,729. The depression of trade and manufactures in Lancashire in consequence of the American Civil War was a severe trial to the whole of these co-operative institutions, especially to the Cotton Manufacturing Association, but they all weathered the storm. The Pioneers notably afforded aid to some of their own members who had been reduced to distress by the cotton famine; but the Store Society for a long time gave £10 weekly to the Relief Fund, and liberal contributions to it were made also by the Corn-mill Society and the Manufacturing Association. The Pioneers have eleven substantial well-built branch stores in Rochdale, each doing a large business, and having a news-room and a reference library of its own. A fortieth part of the profits of the Society is set aside for educational purposes; their library contains a good many thousands of well-selected volumes, and a news-room supplied with the leading daily and weekly journals, and almost every important periodical. £986,446. In the ten years, from 1862 to 1871, a net profit of £3,739,093 was realized upon a total trade of £53,822,762. In the last ten years, viz. 1872 to 1881, the profit had been £13,712,176, upon a trade of £169,433,328, so that the business had increased during the last decade more than three times, and the profit more than three and a half times. During the twenty years the Co-operative Societies had made a profit of very nearly seventeen and a half millions sterling, and that profit had been at the rate of no less than 29 per cent. on the capital. The returns for Scotland showed a still more marvellous result. During the ten years from 1872 to 1881, the societies in this part of the country had done business amounting to £24,503,662, and made a profit of £2,107,401, which, with reference to the share capital employed, gave a dividend of 65 per cent. per annum, or more than double that which had been realized by their friends on the other side of the Tweed. Nor had the movement been by any means confined to Great Britain. In Austria associations were spreading all over the country; in Germany there were nearly half a million members of the People's Co-operative Banks, The success of the Rochdale Society led and about 300 similar institutions existed in to the establishment of similar institutions Italy. The principle of co-operation has been in most parts of the country. They have carried in some quarters to an extent which rapidly advanced in numbers and wealth, has caused considerable dissatisfaction. It and now both their membership and their has been adopted by the civil servants of capital are to be counted by the hundred the Crown, and in Dublin and Edinburgh, thousand, and their aggregate sales annually as well as in London, a considerable numamount to a good many millions. At ber of the upper classes avail themselves the Co-operative Congress held in Edin- of the advantages offered by the Civil Serburgh in May, 1883, it was stated by vice Stores. But notwithstanding this the chairman, Mr. W. E. Baxter, M.P., drawback, and some other objections, there that, leaving out of view the large Civil can be no doubt that the co-operative prinService Stores in the metropolis, the total ciple has been highly beneficial; and in sales of the 782 retail societies in England addition to its pecuniary saving it has conin 1882 amounted to £13,863,498, and tributed not a little to train the working the sales of the wholesale societies were classes in the manufacturing districts in £3,574,695. In Scotland the total sales habits of frugality, temperance, and self-were £3,280,644, the wholesale being reliance. Position of France at the close of the War between Austria and Prussia-Vacillation of the Emperor-His claims on Prussia-Crafty policy of Bismarck-He outwits the French Ambassador-Project for a Treaty-The French Emperor's attempt to purchase Luxemburg-Hostile feeling between France and Prussia-Reorganization of the French Army-The Purchase System-Inefficiency of the Officers-Corruption of the system-Origin of the quarrel between France and Prussia-Candidature of Prince Leopold for the Spanish Throne-Excitement caused by it in France-False report about the King of Prussia's treatment of the French Ambassador-Declaration of WarDeception practised on the French Emperor-State of his Army and of the German forces-Defeat of the French at Wissembourg and Wörth-Shameful character of their retreat-Defeat at Spicheren-Depressed state of the Emperor-Resignation of the Ministry-Battle of Courcelles-Defeat of the French at Mars-la-Tour and at Gravelotte-Bazaine takes refuge in Metz-March of MacMahon to his relief-Battle of Sedan-Surrender of the Emperor and of MacMahon's Army-Conduct of the New Ministry-Riots in Paris-Deposition of the Emperor, and flight of the Empress-Proclamation of a Republic-Character of the Emperor. THE position of France, and especially of the French Emperor, had now become exceedingly critical. The aggrandizement of Prussia, as the result of the war with Austria, which he had permitted if not encouraged, had greatly altered his own situation. The result of that war took the Emperor completely by surprise. A strong and united Germany was regarded as highly perilous to France. There can be little doubt that if Napoleon had been ready to go to war in 1866 he would at once have appealed to arms, and there is good reason to believe that Count Bismarck apprehended war from France in that year. In his celebrated speech to the Reichstag in 1874 he admitted that Prussia's position at that moment had been most critical. 'If France,' he said, 'had only had a small force at her disposal, it would have been sufficient to form a very respectable army by uniting with the South German contingents an army which would have immediately compelled us to abandon all our successes in Austria in order to protect Berlin.' But Napoleon was not in good health, and seemed to have lost all his old energy. The unexpected and untoward results of the war had so bewildered him that he could not make up his mind to adopt any decided course. Count Walewski urged him to place at least 100,000 men on the Rhine. The Duc de Gramont wrote from Vienna that Prussia was almost ex hausted, and durst not risk a war with France. Baron Beust, who visited Paris to implore the support of France in behalf of Austria, said it was only necessary for him to make a simple military demonstration in order to be master of the situation, and that if he omitted to take this step at the present moment, he would in the end have to encounter not only Prussia, but all Germany. It was pointed out by the Queen of Holland to the French Minister at the Hague that the future of the Napoleonic dynasty was at stake. All was in vain; the Emperor was of opinion that it was not advisable 'to run after hazards.' The counsel of such men as M. Lavalette and M. Rouher was preferred to the energetic advice of M. Drouyn de Lhuys, who recommended that the army should be placed on a war footing, and the favourable moment was allowed to escape. The Emperor flattered himself that Prussia might at this juncture be induced to give her consent to the re-establishment of the frontiers of 1814, and M. Benedetti was sent to the headquarters of the Prussian army in Moravia to open negotiations with Bismarck for that purpose. He suffered himself, however, to be completely outwitted by the astute and unscrupulous Prussian Premier, who carefully avoided committing himself to any definite arrangements, but kept the French envoy in play by assuring him that he was quite disposed |