offenders. The secrets of this terrible system of outrage could no longer be hidden, and very soon the cloud burst, and revealed both the crimes and the criminals. The new association struggled on, however, for some time, and in 1866 another conference was held in Manchester; this was succeeded by one held in Preston in September 1867. At this date 47 trades belonged to the association, representing about 23,000 members. It was at this time in debt, and a levy of one penny per member per week was resolved upon to meet the then liabilities of the Alliance. Meanwhile the official enquiry at Sheffield had brought to light a series of crimes which sent a thrill of horror through all classes of society. The result was that the scheme failed from lack of members and funds; some of those who had joined broke away, others were at the time so distressed, in consequence of depression in trade, that they were unable to pay their levies; after a struggling existence of about two years, finding that it was not able to proceed with its work, the association came to grief, and was dissolved. In point of fact, the whole scheme was abortive; its plans broke down, its treasury was insolvent, and all the efforts of the Sheffielders could not give it stability or life. From first to last about 60,000 members joined the association, and it raised by way of levy and contribution about 2,000/ It is but fair to say that most of the leading men of Sheffield who were prominent as members of this association were in no way implicated in the outrages, although the principal offender held the position of treasurer until the date of his examination. The abovementioned association must not be confounded with that of the organised trades of Sheffield, which, although similar in name, was purely local and confined to the town and its neighbourhood.

§ 7. Another effort was made to collect the whole of the forces of trade-unions into one focus, and to centralise its power, by the London Working Men's Association, but beyond its first conference, held in London in March 1867, it did little in the way of general organisation; whatever other work it engaged in was chiefly confined to efforts to amend the law of Master and Servant, and to promote political agitation. In reality it never seriously proposed to weld the tradeunions of the country into one vast association.

§ 8. The idea of starting a national federation of trades slumbered after this until January 1873, when the subject was brought before the congress, then being held in Leeds, by the Secretary of the Sheffield Trades' Council. In January of the following year, 1874, at the congress held in Sheffield, the subject was again brought forward and discussed, but there was considerable diversity of opinion as to the practicability of effecting any federation which would be useful or command general support. In the end the subject was referred to the Parliamentary Committee. At the Liverpool Congress, held in 1875, a meeting of the chief representatives took place for the purpose of framing a basis of federation, to be laid before the trades; but very little came of it, and the whole thing fell through.

§ 9. There was considerable discussion at one time, especially in the public press, with regard to these abortive attempts at federation. The employers declared that if some such confederation was ever effected, the ruin of the trade of the country would be complete and irretrievable. But this prophecy has been made so often that, like the boy in the fable of the wolf and the sheep, people begin to discredit the cry; and even if the predicted mischief were to arise, the Cassandras would be disbelieved, so that the fold would be ravaged

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before help could arrive to prevent the disaster. There is, however, very little danger to be apprehended, by employers or the public, from this cause; if any such federation should ever be brought about, it will be due to some concerted and arbitrary action on the part of employers, which will have the effect of forcing a precipitate and concurrent movement on the part of the trades. If measures were ever taken with the object of putting down the combinations of the men, combined action would be taken at once to resist such a madheaded piece of folly. Until that day arrives, the employers and the public may rest assured that the trade of England is safe in so far as it depends on a confederation of the whole of the trade-unions into one vast army for defence or aggression, inasmuch as there are too many difficulties in the way, which cannot be overcome either easily or quickly.

§ 10. There is certainly a bare possibility of partial federation amongst cognate trades, such as the engineers, the steam-engine makers, the iron founders, the boiler makers, and iron ship builders; or in the building trades, comprising the carpenters and joiners, the masons, the bricklayers, the plasterers, and others; or, again, in the textile trades, embracing the weavers in silks, cottons, woollens, and many other branches. But the probability even of this is not so great as may be supposed, for there are very many distinct and separate interests to be considered and reconciled before any action could be taken which would be likely to have any practical results, or direct bearing on labour questions.

§ 11. The difficulties in the way of federation are much greater than most persons imagine; if we take the building trades as an example, there are three large unions of the carpenters and joiners, two in

England, and one in Scotland; these cannot or will not amalgamate; there are two of the masons, one in England, and one in Scotland; there are two of the bricklayers, which for years have been at daggers drawn, and will not co-operate. The engineers and the steam-engine makers are separate and distinct, and so are the ironfounders of England and Scotland. There is no danger, then, of this dream of federation being realised, and if ever there should be a kind of loose confederation, as the result of circumstances which cannot now be foreseen, it will be formed for defensive purposes only.

§ 12. English capitalists may therefore feel secure, in so far as they are threatened with ruin from this cause, that the idea is but a phantom and a dream, terrible in its realism to timid and superstitious people, but dismissed with a smile.by those who know anything of the habits and modes of thought of the working classes of this country, and especially of unionists, who are neither dreamers nor socialists, but slow, practical, hard-headed Anglo-Saxons, to whom an extra penny per hour is of more value than the finest theory ever propounded by a patriot or a philosopher. The danger rather is that they take too little heed of the warnings and teachings of patriots and philosophers, than that they are likely to be led astray by their socialistic doctrines.

II.--Trades' Councils.

§ 13. Trades' Councils are considered by many merely as a preliminary step towards a complete federation of the unions; to a certain extent they may have that appearance to those who only know them by hearsay; if they have this tendency at all, it is only in the mildest possible form, and need create no uneasiness in

the public mind. As at present constituted they carry comparatively little weight, and exert even less influence on the general body of the unions in their individual or corporate capacity; at least it is so as regards their internal arrangements, or their decisions in all matters of policy or government. As a matter of fact it was never intended that a trades' council should meddle with, or interfere in, the working of any of the societies of which it is composed, and in most of their rules there is a positive prohibition against any such interference.

§ 14. The special object of a trades' council seems to be to act as a medium of intercommunication between the several local trades of the town which have affiliated themselves to that body; and also as a means of ready and concerted action in matters of general interest, but which are not quite within the sphere of any one union in the town or district. Sometimes, at the solicitation of a trade, they go considerably beyond the narrow scope of their own rules, but when they do so they act with great caution.

§ 15. The constitution of these trades' councils, and their objects, are pretty much the same in all places; a general description will therefore be sufficiently accurate for all practical purposes, as it will apply equally to each and every one of them. (1.) They are essentially voluntary in their character and organisation; any union in the district may or may not join the council, as it thinks fit, or it may cease its connection with it at any moment, if it desires to do so. (2.) The payments are also voluntary, although active efforts are made to approximate, as nearly as possible, to a pro ratâ contribution, according to the number of members represented, but this is not absolutely nor strictly enforced. (3.) In most cases the annual payments are ridiculously small, not