turned out of his cottage. It was well secured against wet and weather, and had glass windows, with a proper front and back entrance. He remained in it a long time after the settlement of the strike, and worked at the colliery. It was situated between the head of Foreman's Row and Stickley's Farm, where there is a wide space of ground on the roadside between the hedge and the turnpike road, and which he contended no one had any more right to than himself. Had the owners not interfered, those who belonged to the ground would have had some difficulty in getting him off; so determined was he to continue in the occupation of his primitive residence.

CHAPTER XXII.

TREATMENT OF THE LEADERS OF THE LATE STRIKE. RECOMMENCEMENT OF THE UNION AGITATION. FRESH MEETINGS HELD ALL OVER THE TWO COUNTIES. THE MEETING AT WRECKINGTON. MEN DISCHARGED ATTENDING THE MEETINGS. DISPUTE AMONGST THE MASTERS.

FOR

Though the collieries on the Tyne, Wear, and Tees had now generally resumed operation there were a few of the pits in various parts of the two counties that were completely laid off, and did not again commence working. The large numbers of men caused by these pits being laid in, and the extensive importation of strangers during the strike, glutted the labour market for a time, and enabled the owners to pick and choose from amongst their old servants. All did not meet the miners as the Delaval head viewer had done, and numbers were refused work, generally those who had been most active, and had taken a leading part in the late strike. Mr. Christopher Haswell, Jun., who was, previous to and during the strike, a member of the executive council of the National Association, was an instance of this treatment. He lived in the house with his father and three brothers at Seghill Colliery; and when they went to apply for work, the master agreed to find work for them all with the exception of Christopher. He travelled to several collieries in the two counties and tried to get work but was refused, and the men of Seghill Colliery decided to employ

him in the powder store, to deal out powder and candles to them. Being a single man at the time, he still lived in the house with his father; but the masters not having been able to drive him away, gave old Christopher and his sons a month's notice to quit the colliery. Young Christopher went to Scotland, thinking that his father and brothers would not be further disturbed; but such was not the case, for the notice was enforced, and they were thrown out of work. They travelled round a great number of collieries in the two counties, and in many places, though men were wanted they would not give them employment when they told their names, the answer always being "we cannot give you work." It was evident the name was on the "black books," and a particular friend of the old man's advised him if he wanted work in the two counties to change his name, as he knew many men working at places under another name. The old man, who was very conscientious, and a strict Methodist, said "I was named Christopher Haswell when I came into the world, and will be Christopher Haswell till I go out of it." This was often quoted in pointing out the honesty of old Mr. Haswell.

Charlaw Colliery was at this time advertising for men, and he ultimately succeeded in getting work for himself and family there. After he had been there a considerable time the head viewer of Seghill meeting him one day, said he hoped that things were all passed now. And then he asked him to return to Seghill, promising to give him and his sons employment. He particularly asked after Christopher, who had been the cause of the father and sons leaving Seghill, and said "send to Scotland for him and I will give him employment, for I respect you and your sons for your honesty." The old man liking Northumberland better than the County of Durham, shifted back and remained at Seghill till he died. Christopher, who when in Scotland got married, brought his wife with him and lived at Seghill as long as the owners had the colliery.

Numbers of the leading men put up with great hardships before they got employed; some never went back to the pits, whilst others got situations at distant collieries. Indeed this was not the worst of the hardships that the leaders of this eventful strike had to put up with, for both they

and their families were not only prevented getting employment and nearly starved in consequence of the active and zealous manner in which they had laboured through the strike for their fellow-men, but even the men forgot themselves and their benefactors, and not only repaid them with scant gratitude but often with positive insult.

The union now became very weak, a large number of the collieries giving it up altogether. Those who had pawned their feather beds, watches, clocks, rings, and every article they could conveniently dispose of, or who had stood bond for certain amounts of goods for those who stood in most need of it, now found themselves placed in a critical position.

Martin Jude, who has scarcely been mentioned during the whole strike, bitterly opposed it at the commencement, but when it was once begun, no one laboured harder, and more earnestly than he did while it lasted. He was the great general, at the head in the private counsels. He now raised himself up in greater vigour, and urged the men never to give up the union. In 1845 the conference was sitting in Newcastle, and it was resolved to hold a series of public meetings in the two counties. Large placards were accordingly printed announcing that a number of meetings would be held on the Tyne and Wear on Monday, July 7th.

West Cramlington held their meeting at Botany Bay, a short distance from the colliery. The speakers were Messrs. Hardy, Scott, and Duro, from Derbyshire. Another meeting was held on Scaffold Hill, Mr. J. Fawcett in the chair; the speakers were Mr. Welsby, from Lancashire; Mr. Anty, from Yorkshire; and W. P. Roberts, Esq., the miners' attorney. At this meeting it was agreed to hold a general meeting either on the Town Moor, or Shadon's Hill. At a meeting held at Sheriff Hill, Martin Jude was chairman, and the speakers were Embleton, Holgate, and Price. A resolution was passed in favour of holding a general meeting of the Tees, Wear, and Tyne men at some central place. Another meeting was held at Coxhoe on the 8th July, and addresses were delivered by Messrs. Swallow and Daniels, urging the miners to join the union; whilst a gathering of the miners of Derwent Iron Works took place on Black Hill on the 10th July; the chairman being Mr. James

Hardy, and the speakers, Messrs. Price and Duro. On the 16th another meeting was held at Walker, addressed by Mr. Daniels; and Mr. Embleton, during the month, addressed meetings at Black Hill, Berry Edge, Seaton Burn, and West Cramlington. A camp meeting in favour of the union was held on Sunday the 27th, at Scaffold Hill, and addressed by Davis, Embleton, Mycroft, and Wakinshaw. Another meeting of a similar character was held at Botany Bay, near West Cramlington, on the 10th August, addressed by Messrs. Swallow, Embleton, Davis, and Smith, from Leicestershire.

A meeting at Wreckington took place on the 25th, of the men of Springwell, of the King and Fanny, Sheriff Hill, and Washington pits. At this gathering, Mr. Hammond, a veteran pitman, was in the chair. He said that during his long life he had been opposed to injustice, and wherever oppression raised its brazen front he would be there to oppose it. The pitmen were an oppressed body of men. The newspapers had stated they wanted a strike, he denied it. He thought past experience would show the folly of strikes, and the evils resulting therefrom.

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Mr. James Hardy next addressed the meeting. He said they had come to try to persuade the men to act together, to try to stop that internal war which was committing so much devastation amongst them. Let them act like brethren to each other, for the masters had power enough without the men lending them theirs. Men were working against each other, but let not the strong man imagine that the Almighty had given him his physical powers to be abused. No, if he violated the laws of nature, nature in the end would punish him. Men's overworking caused a reduction of score priceof which he gave several instances-and he was vinced that there was never more need of their being united. He did not want to see them in battle array against their masters, he wanted them to unite to benefit themselves; to cultivate a spirit of love, and to relieve the sick and unfortunate, which was one of the objects of the Miners' Association. He then introduced the question of ventilation, the Haswell misfortune, and went into a long statement in order to show the oppressions practised amongst miners, during which he stated that some masters were turning men off for merely attending a meeting.

Mr. Duro, from Derbyshire, next addressed the meeting. He spoke long on the benefits of union and the restriction of labour. He was very severe on the local press for misrepresenting the proceedings of the pitmen, as well as on the masters for turning men off for attending meetings. By this, he said, they thought they would stop the men from taking any part in the union; whilst, at the same time, they enjoyed the privilege of union themselves. He contended that the working men had as much right to join together to protect their labour, as the employers had to protect their capital.

Mr. Daniel also addressed the meeting, and alluded to the masters discharging men for attending meetings, which he characterized as an extremely harsh and unjust proceedure. He proved that according to the 5th and 6th of Geo. IV., their meetings and union were perfectly legal so long as they abstained from intimidation. That Act stated that no person should be subject to any pains or penalties, or suffer any punishment for attending such meetings, but the masters, having more power than the Queen, the Lords, and the Commons, thought differently, for they discharged a man, and thus subjected him and his family to many privations, perhaps to want; and that he thought was punishing with a vengeance. He said that this plan would not avail them in the end, they had a good cause, and that cause would rather be advanced than retarded by oppression. But to such an extent was the turning of the men off for attending meetings carried, that they became fairly terrified, and they had great difficulty in getting men to act as delegates, or take any part in the union, because men knew that to do so was tantamount to dismissal.

When the speakers had addressed the assemblage and the resolutions had been carried, the meeting separated in a peaceable manner.

At this time a happy event for the miners took place, being no other than a dispute among the coal owners resulting from the late strike in 1844. The coal owners

had a rule in their association for fixed quantities of coal to be wrought at each colliery, and a fine was levied upon the firms which vended more than the stipulated quantity, whilst others who had not worked the fixed amount, were allowed to make up the quantity the next year. In consequence of