[43] This petition (in the British Museum) is printed in Brentano’s _Gilds and Trade Unions_, p. 97. Benjamin Franklin, who worked in London printing offices in 1725, makes no mention of Trade Unionism. The Stationers’ Company continued, so far as the City of London was concerned, to regulate apprenticeship; and we see it, in 1775, taking steps to prevent employers having an undue number. Regulations agreed to by the employers and the compositors, as to the rates of pay for different kinds of work, can be traced back to 1785, at least. A copy of the rules of “The Phœnix, or Society of Compositors” meeting at “The Hole in the Wall” tavern, Fleet Street, shows that this organisation was “instituted March 12th, 1792.” In 1798 five members of the “Pressmen’s Friendly Society” were indicted for conspiracy in meeting for the purpose of restricting the number of apprentices (they sought to limit them to three for seven presses). Although the secretary to the “Society of Master Printers” had requested these men to attend the meeting, in order to get settled the pending dispute, they were convicted and sentenced to two years’ imprisonment (_Conflicts of Capital and Labour_, by George Howell, 1890, p. 92). [44] For this interesting case we are indebted to Professor George Unwin’s researches in the records of the Feltmakers’ Company, whose “Court Book” contains the record. See _Industrial Organisation in the 16th and 17th Centuries_, by George Unwin, 1904; “A Seventeenth-Century Trade Union,” by the same, in _Economic Journal_, 1910, pp. 394-403; the chapter “Mediæval Journeymen’s Clubs” in Sir William Ashley’s _Surveys, Historic and Economic_, 1900. [45] House of Commons Journals, vol. xxxvi.; 8 Eliz. c. 11; 1 James I. c. 14; and 17 George III. c. 55; Place MSS. 27799--68; Committee on Artisans and Machinery, 1824; _Industrial Democracy_, p. 11; “A Seventeenth Century Trade Union,” by Professor George Unwin, in _Economic Journal_, 1910, pp. 394-403; _Conflicts of Capital and Labour_, by G. Howell, 1890, p. 83. The organisation evidently continued in existence, at least in its local form; but the existing national “Journeymen Hatters’ Trade Union of Great Britain and Ireland” claims to date only from 1798. In 1806 the Macclesfield hatters were indicted for conspiracy in striking for higher wages, and sentenced to twelve months’ imprisonment. Particulars of this organisation will be found in _The Trial of W. Davenport ... Hatters of Macclesfield for a Conspiracy against their Masters_ ... by Thomas Mulineaux, 1806. [46] For the whole history of this industry, see _The Tailoring Trade_, by F. W. Galton, 1896. [47] _The London Tradesman_, by Campbell, 1747, p. 192. [48] _The Trade of England Revived_, 1681, p. 36.