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 descriptions
 of persons without apprenticeship into the manufactures, 0CCA-3i0ns
 a surplus of manufacturing poor, and an unnecessary competition,
 ruinous to the commercial capital and industry of the nation;
because the overflow of goods causes all the productions of the manufactories
 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 workmen,
 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 immunities
 of the apprenticed artisans, will produce the same consequenzes
 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 increased
 number of juvenile criminals, public trials and executions.
That the pretensions to the allowance of universal uncontrolled freedom
 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 British
 constitution, established by law,
That the meeting highly approves the proceedings of the 62,875 masters
 and journeymen, who have already presented petitions to the

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