Address from the Executive Council of the Amalgamated Society of Engineers, &c., To their Fellow Workmen throughout the United Kingdom, the British Colonies, and Foreign Countries.

The true element of power or weakness in a union is to be found rather in the relative proportion which its numbers bear to the entire total of men engaged in their trade. A few general remarks will lead up to the facts which show that the lesser number has really been the power which has raised and improved the condition of the whole body, and it will be seen that had the number of unionists been in the reverse proportion to what it is, the progress of our class would have been much greater. Taxation was consequently heavy, and the resulting poverty of the masses was intense. The indomitable pluck and perseverance of our people have been our strong points as a nation, and in no way have these qualities been more grandly displayed than in the slow but sure improvement which our working population has made in its own position.