B. BResolutionen der Uhrmacher. 693 
conferred upon them as a property, as much as it has secured the 
property of the stockholder in the public funds; and it is clearly 
anjust to take away the whole of the. ancient established property 
and rights of any one class of the community, unless, at the same 
time, the rights and property of the whole commonwealth should be 
dissolved, and parcelled. out anew for the public good. 
). That is has been owing to the neglect of that invaluable statute, that 
‘he manufactures of this country have so much degenerated from 
;heir former excellence, as to cause their exclusion from some foreign 
markets, — 
That in consequence of too minute a division of labour, injudiciously 
allowed in several manufactures, the workmen employed are not 
enabled to make throughout any one article however simple, or even 
to maintain themselves by their industry. — 
That the unlimited or promiscuous introduction of various descripti- 
ons of persons without apprenticeship into the manufactures, 0CCA- 
3i0ns a surplus of manufacturing poor, and an unnecessary competi- 
tion, ruinous to the commercial capital and industry of the nation; 
because the overflow of goods causes all the productions of the ma- 
nufactories to fall in price, and be sold to foreigners for less money 
than they cost in making; which deficiencies are necessarily made up 
by the ruin of the master manufacturers, bankruptcies, and dividends 
to. creditors; and are the cause of increased parochial and other 
"ates, thus unnecessarily created, for the support of the poor work- 
men, who are deprived of the fair price of their honest labour. 
That the repeal of the said statute, without enacting in its stead some 
law more effectual for the protection of the ancient rights and immu- 
nities of the apprenticed artisans, will produce the same consequen- 
zes to Britain as the proceedings upon the ediet of Nantes did to 
France. 
That the system of apprenticeships, whether considered in a religious, 
political, or moral point of view, is highly beneficial to the State, 
and from the neglect thereof is to be attributed the great defalcation 
of public morals, the numerous frauds committed in trade, the in- 
creased number of juvenile criminals, public trials and executions. 
That the pretensions to the allowance of universal uncontrolled free- 
dom of action to every individual founded upon the same delusive 
theoretical principles which fostered the French Revolution, are 
yholly inapplicable to the insular situation of this Kingdom, and if 
allowed to prevail, will hasten the destruction of the social system 
so happily arranged in the existing form and substance of the Bri- 
tish constitution, established by law, 
That the meeting highly approves the proceedings of the 62,875 mas- 
ters and journeymen, who have already presented petitions to the 
0. 
I 
oo 
NT. 
8. 
19.