Gibson observed, that though no further object was expressly contemplated by the Union, he would not answer for their not increasing their demands as they proceeded. If there was any attempt to equalize the wages by reducing all to the lowest now given, the Union would demand an advance. “Who gives the lowest?” inquired Mr. Wentworth. “Except some upstarts whom we can easily manage, Mortimer and Rowe give the lowest, and you, sir, the next lowest, and Elliott the highest.” “Who was lamenting lately that the combination laws were repealed, so that the masters cannot be prosecuted for oppression? Who proposed to burn them in effigy, tied to one another’s necks?” The deputies looked at one another, and then answered that all this was only private talk of one of their meetings; it was never meant for earnest. “Well, I only let you know that you may look about your Committee-room and find where the little bird builds that carries the matter; and if you can’t find her, take care that she has nothing to carry that you would be ashamed to own. Did you learn from her that the masters combine against you?” “We learn it from our own eyes, and ears, and senses,” said Clack. “Have not masters oppressed their men from the beginning of the world?” “Indeed I don’t know,” said Mr. Wentworth. “If Adam had a gardener under him in Paradise, they might have tried to turn one another out, but I never heard of it.” “Stuff and nonsense, sir, begging your pardon. Don’t we know that masters always have lorded it over the poor? They were born with a silver spoon in their mouths, and——” “I wonder where mine is,” observed Mr. Wentworth; “I will look in my mother’s plate chest for it.” The orator went on,— “They openly treat us like slaves as long as they can, and when we will bear it no longer, they plot in secret against us. They steal to one another’s houses when they think we are asleep; they bolt their doors and fill their glasses to their own prosperity, and every bumper that goes down their throats is paid for with the poor man’s crust.” “They must have made the little bird tipsy, Clack, before she carried you such a strange story as that.” “Don’t tell me, sir, that it is not true! Don’t tell me!” “I am not telling you anything; for the plain reason, that I have nothing to tell. I only want to ask you one or two things, as you seem to know so much more than we do. Pray what have the masters combined for just now?” “To lower our wages, to be sure.” “And yet Mortimer pays one rate, and I another, and Elliott another. Why don’t I ask as much labour for my money as Mortimer?” “You dare not,” cried Clack. “You know it’s not fair,” said Taylor. “You are not the man to grind the poor,” said Gibson. “You have not hit it, any of you. You all seem to think it is a matter of pure choice with us, what wages we give.” “To be sure,” said Clack, “and that is the reason we want parliament to settle the matter at once and for ever.”