Biographical Sketch Of The Late Sir Archibald Alison, Bart., &C,

industry on which they depend , they have none t blame for it but themselves . And if this effect does not take place , what other result do they anticipate ? Do they expect by combination and violence permanently to secure both higher Avages

for their labour than circumstances will permit , and also a durable vent for their produce , ? Will not the market for our industry be lost if such au effect continues ? Will not Prussia , ami Russia , ancl France , receive it with open arms , ancl

readiljgive it that protection which it has ceased to find in the British Isles ? Ancl will not this city be reduced to ruins , and the land of Watt and Ark-Avright be stript of its fabrics ; and despotism , in the end , reap those fruits Avhich the arms of

freedom have soAvn ? Around us—on all sides—the Avoeful effect of these strikes upon the interests of industry are spreading . They tell us , in a voice of thunder , that the Avorst enemy of the poor is the combined conspirator . Fever and pestilence are

Avalking in the rear of combination—they find a copious harvest of death in the Aveakened victims of compulsory idleness . Above 3 , 400 cases of fever Avere treated last year in the Royal Infirmary of Glasgow alone . The total cases of that disease Avere above 8 , 000 . These numbers , appalling as

they are , this year are on the increase . The average mortality of the city , which , fifteen years ago , Avas 1 in 40 , and four years ago , 1 in 29 , was last year so high as 1 in 24—a rate of mortality , it it belieA r ed , unparalleled in any other European

city . AU this has taken place during a jjeriod , till last year , of unexampled prosperity , when all Avilling to work had ample employment . I am not surprised afc these calamitous results—they have advanced side by side Avith combined conspiracy .

I see in them the effect of the arm of Omnipotence chastising the folly or Avickeduess of man—the necessary consequences of his own infatuation . Impressed ivith these ideas , I feel that in striving to bring to light the details of this conspiracy I

have been really the poor man's friend . I have not been maintaining the interests of Avealth against poverty—of tyranny against freedom—of capital against industry ; I have been supporting the cause of industry against idleness—of

innocence against violence—of liberty against oppression . Gratefully acknowledging your lordships ' too flattering encomium , I can arrogate to myself no merit in what I have done—I have merely discharged my duty , as all my brethren in the same situation would have done : but I have the

satisfaction of thinking it will not be Avithout it reAA * ard , if it shall be instrumental in opening theeyes of the working classes of this great community to their real interests , and restoring that harmony betAveen them ancl their employers Avhich infatuation

only can seek to break , ancl the rupture of AA'hich . mutual suffering must ever accompany . " Sir Archibald had to perform a prodigiously large amount of business in his legal capacitj ' . At his ordination to the Sheriffship of Lanarkshire ,

the duties devolving upon him in that capacity were comparatively light , but with the gradual ' growth and business capacity of the city , his duties necessarily became more burdensome and onerous . It is a generally acknoAvledged fact , that the cases

either in point of number or value introduced and disposed of annually in the Sheriff Court , is more than equivalent to the Sheriff Court transactions throughout the rest of Scotland . The following facts Avill doubtless be interesting to the reader . In 1834 , Avhen Sir Archibald Avas appointed Sheriff of Lanarkshire , the population AA'as under 400 , 000 ,

iu 1861 , it Avas 031 , 000 . The amount of judicial business in the county is now quadrupled . He reviewed the judgments of seven substitutes , sat in open court three times a week , while he wasoccupied during the remainder of the Aveek

discharging the multifarious duties pertaining to his office . AVith this large accession of neAV business , the expenses of the court necessarily increased-It AA'ill perhaps be remembered about twelve months ago , a movement Avas originated AA'ith the

vieAV of having his salary raised to a sum commensurate Avith the business he had to perform . Hismemorial to the Lords of Treasury we may state Avas supported by the Faculty of Procurators , and he succeeded , Ave believe , in getting it advanced to

£ 3 , 000 , being an advance of £ 1 , 300 a year over his former salary . Looking to these facts , Avhich speak for themselves , it is really astonishing- to find narrow-minded bigots , AVIIO are evidently the slaves of jn-ejudice , passing sneering animadversions upon Sir Archibald ' s decisions . We readily admit thafc a few of his almost oral series of decisions Avere afc

times off-hand and careless , and occasionally Avere overturned by the courts of final appeal ; bufc before descanting on his merits as a judge , Ave should thoughtfully consider the unparalleled amount of the business he had to perform . Thafc

as a judge he possessed signal abilities for fulfilling the duties of the office , no one divested of party spirit and prejudice , Avho has folloAved him through .