A.D. 1776 
—1850. 
whteh drs- 
mppointed 
the advo- 
sates of 
repeal, 
the Com- 
hination 
Acts were 
rot re- 
ymposed, 
758 
LAISSEZ FAIRE 
McCulloch had argued that peaceful combinations among 
workmen might raise the rate of wages in any trade, if they 
had fallen below the normal level ; he held that combinations 
were powerless to raise wages above the natural rate. He 
argued that if they did so temporarily, there would be a 
diminution in the opportunities of employment offered by 
masters, and that this would soon work the needed cure, 
without legislative intervention; he was quite convinced 
that the working classes incurred heavy losses and could not 
possibly gain by engaging in strikes. It was a great dis- 
appointment to the men, who had worked so hard in the 
cause of repeal, that the first use which the working classes 
made of their freedom was to embark in a course of conduct 
that their advocates, as well as their opponents, regarded as 
necessarily mischievous, not only to the country as a whole, 
but to the operatives in particular. The dislocation of 
business in many places became very serious. The Thames 
shipbuilding trade was completely disorganised ; despite the 
efforts of Hume and Place to prevent them!, the Glasgow 
sotton-weavers came out on strike; and there were similar 
trade disputes in many parts of the country. 
It was little wonder that the great shipowners and other 
employers? were roused to demand the re-enactment of the 
laws which had been so recently repealed, and drafted a bill 
to be laid before Parliament. Mr Huskisson had been much 
influenced by the ship-builders?, and the opinion he had held 
as to the necessity of retaining the Combination Laws was so 
far confirmed by the results, that he was glad to have another 
Committee on the subject. According to Place, he intended to 
hold a formal enquiry, and thus give apparent sanction to the 
determination he had already taken to carry the shipowners’ 
bill for re-enacting the laws. Hume and Place set themselves 
to balk this design: the operatives, who had formerly been 
must occasionally take place; money matters can be regulated in no other way 
and by no other means; but beyond these there will be very little association of 
any kind, nothing deserving the name of combination in the sense this word is 
nsually understood.” Observations on Mr Huskisson's Speech on the Laws 
relating to Combinations of Workmen (1825), p. 21. 
1 Wallas, Life of Francis Place, 218. 
2 The great strike of woolcombers at Bradford was imminent, and the 
smployers urged the desirability of re-enacting the Laws. Burnley, Wool and 
Wool-combing, 168. 8 Wallas, Life of Francis Place, 226. 4 Tb. 226.