Star. — London, England, 1818-04-02 00:00:00

=g-.- , - , SLOE POISON ! Greybeards have often wnisper'd me Beware—s:env poison lies in tea ; But I have laugb'd to scorn each elf, Because I never died myself, And saw no signs of such an end. Bat now my manners I must mend ; I must think them prone to lying : For I have ample proofs that dying Is very common in the trade Where sloe-kaves into kw are made, And what we've lately made such noise on Discovering—is indeed sloe poison TO DRITISII MANUFACTURERS. I beg to address you, Gentlemen, on behalf of a cause in which, as men and fellow subjects, we are all deeply interested—the amelioration of the circum stances of those whom we employ as operatives in our various Wianufactures. Many of you, w ho have r eceived a liberal education , will , I am sure, acknow ledge that it is a subject of great national impor tance, and will consider it with more just and enlar ged views, than the narrow principles of immediate gain might suggest. To such it would be presump tion in me to offer any explanation of that which must already be obvious to them ; but there are others who have not been so fortunate—who have never had the leisure to study or to think about mat ters of this nature ; and for those only are the follow ing observations intended : Practices now prevail in our manufacturing sys tem, which have been produced by circumstances, not under the controul of any individual, and for which, therefore, ne individual can be justly blamed. They are, however, notoriously the source of most grievous evils, and stand in the way of improvements in the condition of our working classes, which are essential to the well-being of the State, and u ithout which indeed its security must rest on a very preca rious foundation. I refer to the premature employ ment of children ; and to the unreasonable term of daily labour, now exacted from persons of all ages who are employed within our manufactories. It is to these practices we may attribute the worst effects of the manufacturing system ; and if we permit them to continue, through mere indifference to the subject, or from the egregious and fatal delusion that they are connected with the prosperity of our manufactures, we must be content to suffer all the evils arising from the increasing misery and demoralization of the work ing classes. But it is my most earnest wish to excite the public attention to this important question, and to do away with any delusion that may exist in your quarter respecting it—to convince you that the conti nuance of these practices is directly opposed to every individual interest in the country ; and that these fruitful sources of evil may be effectually closed without even diminishing the immediate gains of the master manufacturer. Let us direct our attention, in the first place, to the unnatural circumstances in which the younger part of our operatives are now placed. Children are per mitted to be employed, almost from infancy, in our manufactures, all of which are more or less unhealthy. They are condemned to a routine of long protracted and unvarying toil within doors, at an age when their time should be exclusively divided between healthful exercises in the open air, and their school education. The utmost violence is thus offered to nd tare at their very outset in life. Their intellectual as well as their physical powers, are cramped and pa ralysed, instead of being allowed their proper and na tural developement ; while every thing about them conspires to render their moral character depraved and dangerous. Without a vigorous constitution and good habits, children can never become really useful subjects of the state, nor can their lives be rendered comfortable to themselves, or uninjurious to others.-- While so many obstacles are unnecessarily opposed to that mode of training for the rising generation, which humanity and exped►ency so strongly recommend, so ciety is alone to blame for the imbecility and suffering that may arise within it ; the offspring of our poor must continue to be squalid and wretched—to be un taught for any good, or really useful purpose, but admirably trained to effect their own misery—desti ned to disturb the peace of society in their younger daps, and at an early period to become a burthen on the community for the remainder of life, eating that bread in idleness, which, if the state did justice to them or to itself, would never be claimed by any, not naturally infirm, except as the reward of useful in dustry. I conceive it to be a fact which consists equally with the experience of every one of you as it does with mine, that the labour of a child, strong and healthy, possessed of intelligence, and of good habits and dispositions, is infinitely more valuable than of one who is weak and unhealthy, imbecile in mind, and of depraved habits and dispositions. But though this fact is abundantly clear, it may not occur to you to trace the cause of this difference between the two in dividuals, and to perceive that, in almost every case this great disparity is to be referred altogether to the di.Terent circumstances under which they have bees trained and educated. A very little examination and reflection, however, will convince you that this is the true state of the case ; and I will not allow myself to suppose, that in the face of so striking a fact, you will any longer have any desire to employ the inferior in strument, when, by meads of regulations as practica ble as they are humane, you may with certainty pro cure the best. No child should be employed within doors in any manufacture until he is twelve years of age. In those manufactures in which dexterity of operation is much more easily acquired by children at an early, than at a more advanced period of life, they might perhaps be employed, in order to obtain such facility, for five or six hours a-day when between ten and twelve years of age ; but I am of opinion that any advantage thus procured can be obtained only by tenfold sacrifices on the part of the children, their parents, and their country. I think an intelligent slave master would not, on the sole principle of pe cuniary gain, employ his young slaves even tea hours of the day at so early an age. And we know that ju dicious farmers will not prematurely put their young beasts of burden to work ; and that when they do put theni to work, it is with great moderation at first, and, we must remember too, in a healthy atmosphere. But children from seven to eight years of age are employ ed with young persons and men and women of all ages, for 14 or 15 hours per day, is many of osu manufactures, carried on in buildings in which the atmosphere is by no means the most favourable to human life. If the well-being of our fellow creatures be a more important object than a fractional diminution of the prime cost of a few articles of commerce—often very I useless ones—and if that object be a primary consi deration in any change ist the practices and habits of society, then surely the - r esent generation has gout far astray from the rig ht course, when, it has ex changed nine hours of healthy and really productive labour,for fourteen hours of unhealthy, and often of useless or pet nicious employment. To mark the con trast of the two systems, look at the healthy, compa ratively well trained, Scottish peasant boy, who at tends the parochial school until he is fourteen or fifteen years old,—and then turn your eyes to the feeble, pale, and wretched flax or cotton spinning children, who, at an early age, are doomed all the year round to one unvarying occupation for fourteen or fifteen hours a-day, going to their work in winter before it is light in the - morning, and returning lor-g after dark. And here I may well ask—how should we like our children, girls as well as boys, to be thus employed ? Would any of us permit our slaves, if we were obliged to maintain them, to be so treated? Surely it is but necessary to call your attention to these facts, and you must instantly be aware of the injustice and useless cruelty, which we thus inflict upon the most helpless beings in society. At this moment I feel almost ashamed to address any human being on such a subject. You may perhaps admit that the Legislature has a right to regulate the labour of these helpless children, And that you would not suffer much inconvenience from being obliged to employ persons of more ad vanced age in their place : but the free labourer, you may say, should be permitted to work, as long as he is willing, for hire. If the operatives in our manu factures were really free, and had the option to work nine or fifteen hours a day, it might be less necessary to legislate on this subject. But What is their actual situation in this respect? Are they, in any thing but appearance, free labourers ? Would they not , in fact, be compelled to work the customary gOurs though they were twenty? What alternative have they—or what freedom is.there in this ease, but the liberty of starving T An excess of labour and confinement pre maturely weakens and destroys all the functions of the animal frame; and few constitutions can be pre served in health and vigour, under a regular occu pation in our manufactures for more than ten hours per day, exclusive of the time requisite for meals. It may, however, perhaps appear to you that you have no particular interest in attending to the health- and comforts of the working classes, provided you can get your work well and cheaply performed by them. Every master manufacturer is most anxious to have his work cheaply performed, and as he is perpe tually exerting all his faculties to attain this object, he considers low wages to be essential to his success. By one master or other, every means are used to re , duce wages to the lowest possible point, and if but one succeeds, the others must follow in their own de fence. Yet, when the subject is properly considered, no evil ought to be more dreaded by master manu facturers than low wages of labour, or a want of the means to procure reasonable comfort among the working classes. These, in consequence of their num bers, are the greatest consumers of all articles; and it will always be found that when wages are high, the country prospers; when they are low, all classes suffer, from the highest to the lowest, but more par ticularly the manufacturing interest ; for food must be first purchased, and the remainder only of the la bourers wages can be expended in manufactures. It is therefore essentially the interest of the master ma nufacturer that the wages of the labourer should be high, and that he should be allowed the necessary time and instruction to enable him to expend them judiciously—which is not possible under the exis tence of our present practices. And this brings me to the main point of this letter :—ls it, or is it not, the interest of the master manufacturers that their operatives should be employed longer than ten hours per day ? The most substantial support to the trade, commerce, and manufactures of this and of every country, are the labouring classes of its population ; and the real prosperity of any nation may be at all times accurately ascertained, by the amount of wages, or the extent of the comforts, which the productive classes can obtain, in return for their labour. It is evident that food must be procured by the working man and his family before he can purchase any other article. If therefore this class of our population is so degraded and oppressed, that they can only procure the bare necessaries of life, they are lost as customers to the manufacturer ; and it is to be recollected that at least two thirds of the population of all countries derive their immediate support from the wages of labour, and in this country chiefly from trade and manufactures. The working classes may be injuri ously degraded and oppressed in three ways : Ist, When they are neglected in infancy. 2dly, Where they are overworked by their employer, and are thus rendered incompetent from ignorance to make a good use of high wages, when they can procure them : and, Sclly, When they are paid low wages for their labour. But when ignorance, overwork, and low wages are combined ; not only is the labourer in a wretched situation, but all the higher classes are es sentially injured, lthough none will suffer in conse quence more severely than the master manufacturer, for the reason which has been before stated. Let your minds dwell a little longer on this subject, and you will soon discover that it is most obviously your I interest that your operatives should be well taught in infancy, and during their future lives rendered healthy, and put in possession of the means of being i good customers to you. But they cannot be well taught, healthy, or competent to spend moderate wages advantageously for themselves, for you, and for the country, if they enter into your employment at a premature age, and are afterwards compelled to exhaust their physical powers by unreasonable labour, without proper relaxation and leisure. By such short sighted practices you cut up your prosperity by the root, and most effectually kill the goose from which you would otherwise daily receive the golden egg. I can have no motive to deceive you. My whole pecuniary interest is embarked in the same cause with you. lam one of yourselves, and should suffer more than the majority of you by any measure that really injured the manufacturing system. I have taken mach pains not to be misled on this subject; and my view of it has been, I think, unbiassed. I ha* no Inclination towards an particular principle or practice but what an honest love of truth directs. Under these circumstances, allow me to assure yoti, my firm conviction is, that our present practices ar e destructive of every t hing which deserves the name of comfort or happiness among our work people, and therefore inconsistent with common humanity towards them—that they are most ruinous to the best interests of our country, and ten times more powerful opponents to our success as manufacturers, than all the competition which it is possible for fo reign nations to create against us. We complain of the wretchedness of our work people—and yet we work them, from infancy to old age, in such a manner, and under such circumstances, that, whatever wages they receive, the mass of them must be wretched. We complain that all markets are overstocked with our manufactures—and yet we compel our young children, and millions of adults , to l abour' almost day and night, to urge forward perpetually increasing mechanical powers, that those markets may be still more overstocked. We complain that numbers of our strong7healthy, And active labourers, are unemployed—,and yet we prematurely employ children—infants almost—and greatly overwork a large part of our population, as if it were purposely to keep those out of employment who ought to work, and to whom employment would be of the greatest individual and national advantage. We complain that the poor-rates are become an evil so alarming, that if they continue to go on un checked, they threaten to shake the foundation of civil society ; and yet we leave the mass of our popu lation in ignorance, suffer their health and morals to be undermined in childhood—destroyed in manhood —and subject them to premature helpless old age ; thereby taking the most effectual means to compel our working classes to resort to the poor laws, as their sole inheritance, and thus accelerate the most formidable evil, that ever yet, from within, assailed a civilized community. We complain that foreign raw materials are extra vagantly high, yielding the cultivator an enormous profit, and that the articles we manufacture from them, by the over-wrought exertions of our men, women, and children, under every deprivation of natural comfort, and aided by unrivalled and almost ' perpetually moving mechanism, will not enable us to give a bare subsistence to these wretched beings— and yet by our long hours of labour, we take every' means in our power to increase the price of the fo reign raw material, and to diminish the profit on the articles we manufacture. Such is the blind igno rance of our conduct, that I am compelled to ask, where is the boasted intellect of the British Isles To those who can comprehend and steadily trace the rise, progress, and consequences of the manufac turing system, it is evident that it has given birth to circumstances, which train men to think it their pro per business and duty, technically speaking, to take a fair advantage of all their fellows, and to sacrifice their own happiness, and the well-being of society, at the shrine of individual gain • although by such practices the most favoured of them obtain only the shadow of their wishes, while, by their overstrained exertions, in a wrong direction, the substance of their desires is removed to a greater and a greater distance from their grasp. Let us, my friends, now no longer proceed thus ; let us stand still and examine the wisdom of those practices so dear to some of us—namely, the prema ture employment of children, and the exaction of excessive labour from a part of our adult population, while thousands are wholly unemployed, and mise rable, and starving, for want of occupation. A very limited share of sagacity, properly directed, will shew us that, in our character of manufacturers only, it is clearly our interest to permit children to be properly educated, and to possess sound and vigorous consti tutions ;—that our operatives, and all the working classes should not be asked or permitted to labour more than twelve hours per day, with two hours in termission, for rest, air, and meals ; and that, in re turn for their labour, th ey should be allowed wages sufficient to enable them to purchase wholesome food, and some of the most useful articles of manufacture. View these changes in the most unfavourable light in which they can be placed for the manufacturing interest, and they will be found, each and all of them, to be beneficial to it. Should the non-employment of children, under twelve years of age, and the limi tation of the hours of labour to twelve, inclusive of meals, occasion a small fractional addition to the prime cost of our manufactured articles, by the con sequent diminution of the supply, yet as the latter now exceeds the demand, the prices of the articles will advance in a greater proportion, and the con sumer, as h • ought, will make up the difference.— But any difference that may thus arise must be small indeed, compared to the perpetual fluctuations which are made in the prices of all articles, by a few wealthy speculators buying up at once immense quantities of the raw materials, from which the various articles of commerce are made. In the cotton business, for in stance, as being now the most extended, (but the principle applies equally to all), the ameliorations proposed will not affect the prime cost of the thread more than the fraction of a penny per pound, and the finished cloth or muslin, not more than a fraction of that fraction per yard—while such speculations will increase the prime cost of the raw material from I d. to 12d. or 18d. per pound—and that to benefit a very few individuals at the expense of the public. 1 find no fault with such speculations—but it does not become those who are the most active in them, and the chief gainers by them, to contend against t he re moval of evils which affect the well being and vital interests of millions of the most helpless of the popu lation, merely on the plea that a small fractional ad dition would thereby be made to the prime cost of an article—when for their own immediate gain they would add 10 or 20 times the amount to its price. In short, my friends, when you come to examine the subject fairly and honestly, you will certainly find that no valid reason exists for the longer continuance of the grievous and pernicious practices which now prevail in our trade; and that, instead of opposing them, it is especially our interest, one and all, to pew tion the legislature to remove them without delay and I trust that when you have dispassionately, without prejudice, taken all these circumstances into your consideration, you will accordingly pour in pe titions from every district in which manufactures are establiiired. aOraLAT owls. 14w Lam...as, Maw; act, 1818. onAr PUOILIST7C mercy, 'kV' LEN PA INTER a SOILING, or Matti( VII DOWNS, Praia LRATIIIIRHEAD, St:Ritzy, At a little after one yesterday PAINTER and Sp ar , '4 l appeared in the outer ring, and, upon their r oetl :-, snook hands in the most cordial manne r . sp,:!.' threw his hat up first in the ring, and PAlNt kk mediately followed the same hne of c0n1.ct... 1 , half one - the men set to. PAINTER wa s sex. by Tub( lISLCHER and HARRY HARMER, aid by Cass and ByteNe.—Seven to four cur.t a; two to one against SPRING. ROL: YDS. I. The attitude of Spring was good—bis So?, t. ; back, apd his length of arms rendered him diScdc. to e, Y. They sparred for three minutes without a hit bung Spring appeared tired and put down his hands. planting a blow, hit short; more long rparrire ix; some hits were exchanged, and Painter reteir,d s. side of his cheek that sent him staggering, and in %I— back of his head and part of his shoulder came i tact against one of the stakes of the ring. This rouse six minutes—Spring received great applause. 2. Painter seemed somewhat stupidest from the effret i ,!.,,,, accident; hut, nevertheless, he appeared quickly t 0?, ,. Spring again hit short, when Painter planted a :Lep his left hand. More long sparring occurred.—Vailk Wan e _, : exchanged, when Painter received a hit and s:ipp,d der Shouting and applause. The long odds at this early try, ct • fight was now on the totter. 5. The hitherto idea of a masking fight era note a t and the Randall and lielasco system seemed uow to IN tile s of the day. It was more of a display of rim, than .?:„ Spring planted a hit and got away; Painter made a lea:, Spring followed him over the ring. Two sharp coaster h. 3. curved in the body. Spring laugh, d, ar.d Bare Painter and got away dexterously. Paioter made play, a c d severe facer ; some blows were tx,:hanged, and, in cl latter endeavoured to fib his antagonist, but, in the strength of Spring prevailed ; he nut only 1.c.1 bands, but extricated himself in gallant style, a1•.2 on him as he was going down. Gre . ..t applause; odds were completelyfluorcd; in many pans of tilt 7.. now even betting. Twenty-one minutes bad eL , 13,..d. 1. Long sparring again occurred. Some h. a Ace In closing, Spring held his opponent's hand to ittlt:s doubled up. Both down. but Spring uppert,lovt. 5. The forte of Painter seemed to have mate:: There was more science exhibited than trwir pert card scorned to make its appearance. La clus Palater 6. In " Big Ones" there was nothing like ricz •L „ tween them ; and a long kyla was c4ntLmplztt-d .. tators. Two severe counter whirrs occurred. Pedr.:r: when Spring returned a sharp blow on his mouth. Spring got Painter clown.—Applause.—The above occupied half an hour. 7. Painter commenced this round well by plartii.7 a `..!,,T the head, and one on the body of his opponent. But la Spring fell heavily upon him. B. This was also a good rour.d. Pubror prt it -try ! - -a, and got away. In closing, bt.th hung on the ropu, down. _ _ A. This round was the best ditglay rf sadhag Painter throughout the fight. He planter! winfril Lan trA success, and OM was so SMUT, that had tt cot bre§ for tta %in Spring must have gone down. In closing both down. 10. Spring hit short severalthr.es, and Painter plant:d xr4 Robbers But in return he rec&od are sharp hits, i.. (• • quenee of which he turned round and went QM applatite for Spring. 11. The manliness of conduct exhibited in r—r 9! !:; Spring received thunders of appl:tose. Palates rod.u.....trs:. 3 punish Spring in the act of dosing; but the latter, :gsai holding him tap ;s he might have done, let i'ainter d..osc, td put up both his hands.—Bravo, Spring!—He now six-came ic a great measure the favourite ; and the lamas thus beta ts look bf ist. 2. The same manly conduct again occ , Ared on tie ran of Spring. 1; Spring slipped, talc hi b t y l a ' . 13. Painter hit down.-14. Blow for blow, but Pais:erJorn. 5 the pu s. 16. Ss Wt n dors, Painter," from his friends. 17. Painter got a blow on the mouth, when be went hut, but be appeared to slip. 18. The kft hand of Spring was used with 10 CCM, ml:a science and length gave him great advantages. P...interuA. 19, 20, 21, 22, 22, 24. Painter was evidently murk dare* id, and went down in all these mutt& Be frequently ba La. self down. 26. Spring, although he frequently hit short, planted sent heavy chopping blows on the arms and sho;dders of Faints. The latter on going in was hit down.—Caleb 11.16iv.z acv loudly roared five guineas to one on Spring. 26. Painter was so weak that he hit himself down. 47. Springs left hand caught Painter as be was meat{ A and the latter fell on his face. 28, :„ , 9, 30, 31 and last. Description is not necessary f7r the rounds. Painter was completely exhausted, and be mitt.: Jr contest, after fighting one hour and 28 minutes. SPRING has turned out a much better man this he was previously rated; though it is even no LT ed, he is not a hard hitter. I'AISTER. it shcd seo. did not complain of the pintisktisent he receive.. let of the severe pain of his head, and the bility he experienced of using his shouluer to 47 advantage. The gameness of PAINTER is lop sel known to need any comment ; but, as a f.rcva fighter, he never ranked, from the cor.fined st.i:e .1 his arms, added &o his being a round hitter. Es'f.l% 4 is, undoubtedly, a boxer of talent—he ;:scs hand well, though not so quick as CARTER ; :;• 111 gets away with ease and dexterity. He also posewi coolness and command of temper. SrEts.ts b 0.4 was rather marked; he was also distressed one period of the fight, but he soon recert kept the lead. Upon his being ticclarei the vic Cara took him up in his arms, and earned hum round the ring, amidst loud huzzas. It is tlIcng::: by several of the amateurs, that a very differr...:•::- ruination of the event would have :Act pla:c, not the accident in the first round * 3 PAINTER. The long faces are trot to be des n A minor fight and a bull bait afterwards too. Thursday, in her 21st year, at Toysh:m,Drecnfh.. -e .. ea she bad been taken for theleueSt a a miler the only child of Tack. WLea , E•q• PaYr' from the chest at Greenwich. Saturday, in Raker-street, Portrr.an-square, L t • William St. Leger, aged 55, late of the 24th Lii On the 15th instant, aftrr a illness of thrt fourth year of her age, Lady Caroline Parker, Earl of Morley. ~_.~ PRTCE OF STOC Reduced shut KS Y ESTER 11%N. India Stock India Bonds bti :4 1 pr. Exch. Bills (.2.J.) 13 19 Ditto rlid) 17 'JO Cons. or Ac.76 l _ ITS; 7: 1 : Lott. Tickets Cons. 790781 79ti 4 per Ct. shut Navy 106 fit Long Anns. shut Bank Stock COAL MARKET, Aram I. Ships at Market. Ships Mid. 1" ice. 52i Nwcastle 15 Sunderland 1 Elgin Main 41 102 1 3 :3 0, 0 :15.15. f. t C osa . d. ! . . t tt ,, ,,0 .4 „0 4 ,„ 5. 5. i 4 c.:... 1 Cinder s 0 , HIGH W ATER A LONPON BRIDGE TO-MOla tt '"' Morning - - 30 minutes after ii Aftertetwn - - 5 i .•..:,....... ........ 12 ... - ---==-•. '. - 71, r---- --•••=7 -.1, LONDON Fristril and pi:Wished by Lam iiash r`w" Naos, lesnklo-lisr. :uid OSEit 9. 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