Page 158 of The Armor of Light
Several people stood up in favour of the bill, saying that ‘unlawful’ combination between workers was becoming more common and threatened serious mischief. ‘Claptrap,’ said Spade under his breath. There were not enough unions. Millions of hands had no protection from the rapacity of masters.
What the House of Lords really feared, Spade had no doubt, was a revolution like the one in France.
Keithley spoke in a familiar way to a man standing, like Spade, with his elbows on the bar. After a short conversation he returned to Spade’s side and said: ‘Lord Holland should be speaking next but one.’ Holland was the only peer expected to speak against the bill.
‘Who was that man you talked to?’
‘A newspaper reporter. They know everything.’
Spade studied the man. ‘Where’s his notebook?’
‘Forbidden,’ said Keithley. ‘Taking notes is against the rules of the house.’
‘So he has to remember everything.’
‘As much as he can. If ever you hear a peer or an MP complaining about inaccurate newspapers, ask them why they won’t let reporters take notes.’
‘Seems foolish.’
‘This place has far too many foolish rules.’
Once again Spade felt the urge to become a member of Parliament and campaign for reform.
Keithley pointed out Lord Holland, a handsome man in his mid-twenties with thick black eyebrows and curly black hair justbeginning to recede at the temples. Although he owned slaves in Jamaica, he was in other respects liberal. ‘Married to a divorced woman,’ Keithley murmured disapprovingly; Spade, being the lover of a married woman, could not share his disapprobation.
A few minutes later Holland was on his feet, and he spoke with passion. ‘The bill is unjust in principle and mischievous in tendency,’ he said.
Good start, Spade thought.
‘The object of the bill is to prevent combinations among workmen; but its great, and peculiar, feature is that it changes trial by jury to summary jurisdiction. We must ask whether the bill, if likely to destroy combinations, is also likely to be productive of consequences equally dangerous to society?’
This was all a bit abstract, to Spade; too distant from the everyday lives of the people at whom the bill was targeted.
‘The two parties do not meet on equal terms; the inequality is in favour of the masters. They have the advantage of their workmen, by being able to hold out longest; they have better opportunities of prejudicing mankind in their favour; they are smaller in number, and consequently better able to concentrate and combine their strength – and to defeat detection.’
Holland used a lengthy and confusing comparison with gamekeepers and poachers to illustrate the simple point that masters and hands had opposing interests, and therefore justices who were also manufacturers could not possibly be objective as judges in trials of their workers, or their friends’ workers. ‘It is always in the interest of the master to impute a conspiracy to his workmen, even if they have a perfectly fair case for a raise in wages.’
‘Bloody right,’ Spade said under his breath.
Holland pointed out that the bill cast its net too wide. ‘A person might be prosecuted as concerned in a combination, for merely giving friendly and well-intended advice!’
He finished by proposing a delay of three months so that the bill could be given better consideration.
No one supported him. The proposers of the bill did not trouble to reply to his speech. His suggestion of a delay was rejected.
No petitions were considered.
The bill was then put to a vote. So few men shouted ‘No’ that a count was unnecessary.
Two days later the bill was approved by the king and became law.
23
ELSIE WONDERED WHYher mother looked anxious. They were at breakfast in the palace. Arabella had a slice of toast on her plate that she had buttered but was not eating. There was a little frown between her red-brown eyebrows. Otherwise she looked fine. She had put on weight lately, but she seemed to have a glow of health. What was bothering her?
The bishop was tucking into sausages and readingThe Times. ‘An Anglo-Russian force has invaded the Netherlands,’ he said. He liked to tell his wife and daughter what was happening in the world. ‘That part of the Netherlands was conquered by the French, who decided to call it the Batavian Republic.’
Elsie had theKingsbridge Gazettein front of her.‘It says here that the 107th Foot – that’s the Kingsbridge regiment – is part of that force. Some of my former Sunday school pupils are in the regiment. I hope they’ll be all right.’
