The masters at Preston have carried the dispute with their
men into the law-courts by penal proceedings : Cowell and four other leading men have been arrested and committed on a charge of con- spiracy; the conspiracy lying in systematic steps taken to carry away the new hands whom the Masters' Association had brought to the town. The evidence before the Police Court on that part appears to be conclusive. In other respects there is nothing new in the case. The men appear to think that they have an equal right to play with the new hands as they would with chessmen, and to move them back as the masters advanced them, if they can do so by inducements in the shape of money payments. It re- mains to be seen how far the law will sanction that idea. There is no charge of violence ; and the committee, although deprived of their principal leaders, have taken great pains to preserve or- der. The arrest appears to be intended-as a stroke of energy on the side of the masters. That it did not provoke the people to violence, is a lucky chance; and the policy of the proceeding is questioned, since it is supposed that the masters were fast ad- vancing towards a victory over their hands by the force which lies in greater length of purse.
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