Mr. Burt, M.P. for Morpeth, presided on Tuesday at an
International Conference representing 265,000 miners of all nations, held at Jolimont, in Belgium. He made an admirable speech, declaring that there was among British miners no difference of opinion as to the advisability of short hours, the only dispute being as to the mode of obtaining them. He was in favour of self-help, and not of legislative interference with full-grown men, more especially as the law would always be evaded where there was no Union to watch its operation. He acknowledged the value of strikes, but said they were two-edged weapons, requiring skill and discrimination in their use. They should not be employed until the resources of conciliation and arbitration had been exhausted. British Trade-Unionists were wholly opposed to violence. They were sure from experience that persistent agitation would give them all they required, more especially as they asked of Parliament fair-play rather than coddling. The miners should insist on their right of combina- tion, but regard those who advocated outrage as their greatest enemies. We trust that Mr. Burt's almost statesmanlike speech, which was, of course. intelligible only to a part of his audience, will be translated all over the Continent. It forms a marked contrast to the "peppered tongue" which the leading workmen in France too often serve out as food to their disciples.
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