to the noble viscount, in answer to that part of his speech, in which he was kind enough to attribute those disturbances to the House of Lords.  I believe that they have originated in the unnoticed and unpunished combinations which have been allowed by the government during so many years, to exist,—­whether as political unions or as trade unions, or as other combinations,—­clearly illegal combinations,—­amongst workmen, to force others to abandon their work, by those who work at prices different from those at which they are content to be employed, and at which they have agreed to work for their employers.  These combinations have gone so far in some parts of the country,—­and more particularly in the north of England, and, indeed, throughout almost the whole of the northern part of the island,—­as to threaten destruction to the trade and credit of the manufacturers; and at last they have arrived at that pitch, and have spread to that extent, that the country is brought to the situation in which we see it at the present moment.  For, after all, what are these Chartists, that are found marching about the country, and engaged in the disturbances that prevail?  I have inquired a great deal into the subject, and the result is, that I believe they are nothing more nor less than persons combined together for the purpose of driving other workmen—­engaged, whether in manufactures, in the collieries, or agricultural pursuits, or in other districts—­from their work; and for the purpose of destroying the machinery, and the buildings, and of interfering with the capital of the employers,—­thus striking at the very root of employment, and at the chief means of the sustenance of the people,—­striking at the foundation of the manufactures and the commerce of the country, and of all its prosperity.  This is my sincere belief; and all this, I say, is owing to the want of early notice of the proceedings of those combinations by the government,—­to their not having carried the laws into execution,—­to their having left free from punishment those who have been submitted to trial,—­and to their unfortunate selection of magistrates, and, above all, of the magistrates of the new reformed corporations of Birmingham, Manchester, Bolton, and other towns.  The government may rely on it, that, until they adopt different measures, they will not induce parliament to look with favour on their proceedings.  The government first reduced all the military establishments.  Those military establishments are not, even now, nearly up to their proper footing; and I am firmly convinced that, in the disturbed districts, there is not one half the establishment equal to the ordinary establishment maintained in time of peace.  This circumstance, and the want of a due execution of the law upon those who are tried, convicted, and sentenced to punishment,—­and also the fact, that those who have been appointed to carry into execution the law are persons connected by habit, by association, and even by excitement, with those very Chartists who have violated the law,—­suggest the true causes of these disturbances; and not the nameless grievances created by a nameless opposition in this house, to nameless measures, as alleged by the noble viscount.