The Statesman. — London, England, 1818-03-25 00:00:00

i . . • - T -- .- - need*, sod tbreetNilakkalf! • I tru elki4r d Y4 it not by such*men that out gteist•itathemil tonperbs . henceforward to bedireeted. •if their yokels to , t dominise in otir.Coundls, the . 'eltat Interests ,Of. ' country must soon be utterly sacrificed to the greens' political errors. • It is the creed Utah clan,- one effort or es pence should be spored to improve tic 0 trifling baubles and lugedes, which, when perfected' are of no Intrinsic value whatever, 'vrtiC)i cannot a particle of strength or comfort to that - v.I)OWD; while any- attempti to ameliorate the coodition of he. man beings are decried as unnecessary sod visionary as travelling nut of the proper baleen of life, which' to them is solely and exclusively to accumulate wealth -...wealth, which Ii not only acquired at the espenci of every thing that is truly great or valuable in AO character of a nation, but which, when acquired., is useless, ney,.*the highest degreciojerious to then s•tent and others. It is, wiroLord, to Dolt kind 'of 'in-bailee as I:base now ineribed Ike The pest' in-' terests of the country hero been iscribeed Vol 'nark , and if the Gavermment cannot proceed withoof nook •aid, it is not tiitficateto toes to 141'4 lilt sPeeflibi .. lead. . • Should it be - Bred upon yen, my ,Lord, that these and other ameliorating neeseres will gliaattelt 'a itti. mules to population that the worlkaill soon be tee small. for its inhabitanti, 11" cannot imigind thatyoer Lordship will Centemplece such an argument with stir alarm. I intend in take , an early opportunity of -showing that this dread of an mews 4 popuintion! fin oo better foundation than - eaists for the nursery terrors of ghosts and hobgoblitis; that at this no silent the earth is a comparative' desert ;• that ell: in Present inhabitants are suffering for the went of a Much more eiteaded population; and that when the subject comes to be properly understood, no real evil will ever be apprehended from this source. Being strongly impressed with this . view of the subject, I have felt it a deny imperative upon me, thug publicly to recommend to• your Lordship, as Prime Minister of the country, to adopt. by means of the Bill now under the consideration of the Legit-, !store, • declared principle of gradually and systems.. tically reforming the growing evils of the country by well and properly forming the habits of the rising go., neration. It is obviously a necessary- preliminary to this work of reformation, that the mandectoin should relinquish the premature and oppressive em. ployment of children. The importance of the sub. ject of this Letter renders it unnecessary to apologize for having thus occupied so much of your Lordship". ; time. Be assured that with every properfeeling of respect for the long sacrifice which you have made 1 of your private comforts, in the discharge of public duties, Your Lordship's most obedient bumble sorvent, ROBERT OW EN. New Lanark, Merck 20, 1818. • No rent ndranlate has occurred froma oar enahlhee our fn• shintothle females to purchase One lac; and insulin. at otte•fnarth of the f o rmer prices; hut to produce them at this price, many thouboods of our populottirm have existed amidst disease and wretchedness, and beets carried prematurely to thei► grans. FRENCH PAPERS,. . • PARIS, MAROI 21.—A zahmltous wind spread consternation yesterday in the qearter of St.. Ger main. At h.tlf-past three a fire was discovered at the Theatre Royal de l'Odeen, which a fewminuteea(ier wards burst forth with violence, and the 'Elicit(' was soon enveloped in flames. The most prOmpt ance was rendered. The firemen ran from the neighbouring stations, and anon a numerous body of, them, together with detachments of the National Guard, the Royal Guards, the Gendsruserie de la Chasse, the Royal Gendarmerie, and a great num ber of Citizens occupied the principal points where any service could be rendered, and with a view to Preeeet the fire from Wending to the houses in the Rues de Racine and de Corneiiie, which were sepa rated from the Theatre by two arcades. At half-past four the roof feil in with a great crash, and the fire had no longer any aliment to feed it but the wrecks of the edifice. , Owing to the active ever fifths of the firemen, and others the persons who re• sided at the Theatre were all saved. The four facades, the grand entrance, the corridors, the grand stair- MPS, the stairs of communication, and the boxes of the actor% were all preserved. The Chancellor of France end the Grand Re ferendary of the Chamber of Peers, proceeded to the spot on the first news of the event, end remained with all the persons attached to the service of the Chamber whilst the fire lasted. The Duke de Berri also Wetted thither, and on. teasingly encouraged the zeal of those emptoyed. The Minister of General Police and Prefect of Police took the most effectual means to protect pro: perry. A number of families are by this esent'redeeed to the greatest distress. At the time the fire broke out, the score had jest finished rehearsing a piece for Toesday, led the dif ferent persons employed li t ers preparing for a re presentation this day. .7 . A grenadier of the guards, and three Grimes, are said to have been killed. Nothing is known as to the cause of the Very little property could be saved., • A shod( of an earthqsake was felt leiliatem mane of Noroy, in the night bateifetirellyllibirid 13th instant. A letter from• Lisbon of the 12t1i.ott. Mies, that the King of Portugal and Brazil he it:ceded to the Holy Alliance. The Lord detained at Saint Pilagle for a debt of 40,000 francs, is Lord Spencer Chichester. The Loire, the Saone, and the Correa,/ have all overflowed their banks, and inundated the adjacent lands. Five per Cents.—Thorsdal, oz. div. 65f. 110 c. Friday, ditto, 651. 90c. Exchange on London—One Month, 23f. 95c. Three Months, 23f. 15c. The Saxon Miaister to the Germanic Diet has no. tified to that Assembly, in the Name of his Sovereign, that the half of Lusatia which reaiva to Simony, is henceforth to be considered as ea integral part of tbt Gertnanic Confederation. Lusatia has not hitherto been considered as forming part of the Germanic Empire. 4r • _., ..• r , ~. tale, sod happiness of their felloo-crestures---whose only !Amerce after wards is pariah relief. I regret, hoot arc, to see that the amelinratiog clauses which the Bill bef 're me contains in its present form, are inadequate to remedy the evils which ono exist, and which 10'4 agt ought to have been prevented. Its onactruititsilvitipts intended amelioretions to Cotton only •; and permit children at nine years old to be employed in them from that period to 16 years of age, twelve hours and a buff per day, allow* only etre hour and a half for meal; and 'exercise in the open air. I bete no 4oehl the Honourable Member ink *hem this 11111 originated, and who has devoted Ms mach time to the subject, is aware that these enactments are very inadequate to meet the existing Palk, lie was probably afraid to ask more, lest he should increase the. opposition of those, who think themselves interested in perpetuating an oppression ma their fellow -creatures, Worse than any slavery of the sense extent with which the homes; race has been hitherto afflicted. We are unacquainted with any station, ancient or modern, that hall suffered Its hon. dreds of thousands of children, °flowed to Snell, years of age, to work incessantly for 15 hours per day in an overheated unhealthy atmosphere, allowing them only 40 minutes out of that time for dinner • and change of air, which they breathe often in damp cel lars or in garrets, in confined narrow streets or dirty lanes. And this system of oppression will be sanc tioned by the British Legislature if the Bill proposed shall be allowekir to pass in its present stile; r u t it is in evidence taken before a Committee of the Hoot* of Commons, appointed to Inveatigete the subject, that such practices prevail in other manufactoriet as unhealthy is the cotton. It cannot for a moment be supposed that the Legislature will now compromise its character by giving its countenance to loch abuses. Far better would it be that the evil ihould remain in its full extent, than that the poor sufferer should be mocked by enactments which merely hold out a petty, paltry relief to those employed in one branch of our manufactures, while thousands aid hundreds of thousands in other situations are left to esperience • all the oppression and slavery of which I now com plain. My Lord, I do hope that this important subject will be taken up and defended by the Ministers of the trown on its broad end tree principles: I trust they will prove to the cotsetry at large that revolts. lion or violent reformation is not necessary to com pel them to protect the oppressed and the helpless ; and that they are willing of themselves to begin the work of gradual reformation, at that point from which alone any beneficial reformation can ever corn. mence—that is, by attending well to the proper training and education of the rising generation. Let this point be adopted as the polar star of the domestic policy of Great Britain, and it may safely be pre dicted that her pas' fleeting prosperity and success will become as shadows when contrasted with her future permanent strength and glory. A fortunate opportunity at the proper woment now presents it self to begin this admirable work, and let us hope it will be seized with avidity by our most enlightened Statesmen, who, discarding the ignorant and de f railiog feelings a party, will unite all their efforts sn a cause in which all have a common interest, and by the adoption of timely preventive femurs* , founded on principles leading to onion and good will among mankind, will overcome those evils in the social system, which now in every direction threaten forcibly to dissolve all existing Governments and In. stitutions. But, my Lord, and I put the question to you as a practical Statesman, can the habits of the rising generation be well and properly formed while they continue to be immured almost from infancy within our demoralizing and unhealthy manufactories for 14 or 15 hours per day ? Or rather, my Lord, could the greatest enemy to 'human nature devise more effectual means by Which to blight every hope of improvement or happiness to man ? Could such a being, it; the plenitude of his cunning and hatred, to surely settle in any other way a blasting curse on human beings, or so certainly inflict upon them every form and degree of misery to which their nature is liable? To advance one step beyond a mere pretence to ameliorate the wretched condition of the working classes—the sole instruments by which our necessa ries, our comforts, and our' luxuries are produced, they must be protected from that oppression to which they are now exposed, and their children 'must be placed under circumstances in which they may be trained in habits useful to themselves and to society. If the Bill now before the Legislature secure not these objects, it will not effect any thing that had not much better be left undone. Instead of confin ing the provisions of the Act to Cotton-mills only, they should extend to all manufactories whatever not carried on in private houses. Instead of children being admitted at nine years of age to work in Cot ton-mills, t twelve and a half hours per day, with only an hour and a half for meals and recreation, no child should be admitted to work in any manufactory be fore ten years of age, and not for more than six hours per !lay until he is twelve years old. And no manu facturer should tt. permitted to employ either ynong or old for a longer period than twelve hours per day, allowing them out of that time one hour for breakfast and another for dinner, leaving ten boors for fall and constant work, which is one more than our an cestors thought beneficial ; and I doubt whether nine hours of regular and active employment, established as the measure of daily labour to be required from the working classes, would not be still more econo mical and profitable for the country. I am fully aware of the clamour which these pre- 1 positions will at first call forth from the blind ava-, rice of commerce; for commerce, my Lord, traias her children to tee only their immediate or apparent interest ; their ideas are too contracted to carry them beyond tie passing week, month, or year at the ot. most. They have been taught, my Lord, lo cons:. der it to be the essence of wisdom to expend millions of capital, and years of extraordinary scientific ap plication, as well as to sacrifice the health, morals, and comforts of the great mass of the subjects of a mighty empire, that they may uselessly improve the , manufacture of, 'and increase the demand for, pins, needles, and threads--that4hey may have the singu lar satisfaction, after Immense care, labour, and anxiety en their 'own parts, to destroy the real ~wealth and strength of their cooetry by gredstalljt I AProlioing the morals and physical vigour of its in isabstsnts. for the sole end of relieving other nations of their due sham if this eaviablo process of pint. •. r , fl a~ ~. s R4ilr. 7 kLa - -, -, r • .' ;~.. '• IN THE MOP .DRAWS.-Tto 5 : IDA Te I• lids! the reblie OSee!. ST4TESMAN. • Westminster has long set an example . to the rest. of the nation of intrepid watchfulness over the Iteit'' lie rights, of a Hared •regard • far the CrOthetitetion.tH the:bind and foe itoiorthieat defenders. • That en, 11ftilttliol*.iilffit' *hick . ing'.l . :ely testate llte:Utitp. ,rloset 041,1 bes again been mosthenottrably 1- hibited ; and 'if is for the. People of,the empire at large, equallyinteceested'in the preservation of Con stitutional Liberty and the rights ofproperty, to fol io! op Ale eXample with corresponding )tiacrity.— :The .modenchoiy and terrific reign of arbitrary pe alsiametf 'which continued its salon with iticreised, . i rigour ender the Suspension of the chief geoid .of personal freedom has been eiseclW OA power that so rashly mad injudiciously tried' elk silents the complaints of. the People by la! liming corporeal agonies- opoo them, by aportni 'with their mirertis, and spurning their Petitions, hors shrunk ipto itself; • and the men who. were lately so daring in 'their • attempts to 'strike . terror into the nation, have been glad to seek shelter under a Bill of Indemnity, and to acknowledge the authority of the lifts they have violated. But it is in lain they sa . hope to estingoish the memory of their transactions by dropping the curtain ,of a legislative enactment--- by hypocritical cant about religion, or their gained manoeuvres to increase the power of the Church. The ration can no longer be hOod-Winked by such expedients. The memory of what has been 'ransomed can never be extinguished. There is no Bill of Indemnity that. can preserve the authors and the agents of such deliberate crimes foggiest the Peo. pie, and the principles of humanity, from the contempt and indignation which they have excited in the general mind. Unhappy was the state of the country, and wretched were the means resorted to by the Government to remove its calamities.— Thoutilnds of peaceable, though starting, men met -to Petition the Legislature for the only means of relief, and in strict conformance to the regulations of the Constitution. The sole relief• afforded was to disperse them by armed power, and to imprison and fetter numbers of innocent persons, who prayed but for !erre to toll and •('he iontterin right, of Eng. tishmen. The Petitioner demanded to Pti ezemined and ofered proofs Of their veracity: their. prayers. served only to accumulate their insults and their vet• ations they were denied enquiry, and - nevertheless irtrnded Pith the appellation of liars. Thercoin... plained of the most erne! imprisonment : they had been chained together—they bad been torn at dead .of night, from their wives and families—the only sounds I Wiled reached some of them amid the horror, of e toolbar, 'confinement were the tidings of the death 'of a wife.—Of 6 child—of the disease, the . beggary, the absolute ruin of all that had been dear to them : in their dungeons they had suffered with cruel diseases, and Ind been obliged to undergo painful and dangerous sorgi• cal operation!, without the consoling presence of any whom they loved : when they demanded, proofs of their guilt, and appealed to the laws of their coot*. try, they were thrown back upon a society which. had been taught to mistrust them, and among which , they no longer retained the ties of mutual confidence:l when they made known their sufferings to the Leeds. tureieselcihey were not merely treated with contempt, hot their severest sufferings were Windbag ridicule. , One of the Members of the Rouse, of Commons,_ notorious for the jocular freedom with which he babi• lastly tents the most serione subjects, whether re. •lating to religion or to the bonds of human connections, whenever he has a political point to gain, had tin audacity to mince sport to, the House of the corporal pangs. Of, one of these . satrer., who had writhed- under the anguish of an usotte Mayer, ne_ i ,well as the anguish of • oppreeilna` 4 —, This watt tae conduct of men composing ibe Gown. meat of '.England towards .the. People who boast. of. their Constitution ! And under ,this Minirry the. British nation yet suffers. the'deptivaliwn-of many of its • chartered righia,.; a I ..1 q ale iitteietfo weight nlElebt and tailerthfever oppressed the most neforteuete couseek, What "mild ..our io cestors hive said to::araeli 'proceedings...4o sub unlicensed tyrionlegiitsr Secret Committees end Green Bags, aetT is a 'bertha) of tam: as Oils enmity, view bears?' aid whit wield those who :with Ilium* " the mighty tyrant of their fields withstood;' have said to the manner of imposing these tam ? • Would - they •have • .sorffored • their Mallet Chartaiad their Bill of Rights to yield to e'Sespent7 sign Act, sad a Bill Of Indemnity ? Tltesivinciplet of the English Constitution have beep made to give way•Alre Revolottos the most lesetting..to natosi.. Ie against this Revolution, in favoer . oti tt fitti t ibildellle , many lift op their woke ; and the*, they deprecate, the meads encoded to by their . pressers to eitablish arefc Revolution and -conee all free sentiment, the spirit of Liberty nano! but hope that a day - will yet-come 'when the enemies of the public bapplausie like Op Eliseo if old, (Linking ,~.. a ~ •'~ 'Mail the apples of our tree of freedom, shall ieti pilldr Mouths filled with druid with ashes. It , hth *VW Melt acts of tha sates,: sod k brio ~ to eht of ih e obstruct ty fe ka t he, ect ef tight of. a P S lt ru lt st he ne 4 filgali The et ‘ s i f iled oretbin as rete; rendering it necessary that when five miWona of men have to complain of a common wronither shall only de it by tintstiein slat veal esimadve upon at the Meeting, but it isa still more grievous no. • Went tion that though flee orfillowsof *preened lobjeeise, shall by this manner clearly !minis the satire et ' A their wrong and the redrese.le .itaid ? all these titian sheirld be scooted, eve' 411,10eavtivaileaal ' mends of the People be rejatellad-Witit ettitenopt...6.: • :Much has been justly said,: in reprobation of A. arbitrary measures - of the STUARTS, and the spluggi n they entailed upon the counlry. Bet if OM Acts remain its force, and ate acted spun against 'ha free, exercise of the prisiieges-of the People, it yid .be dilficalt to discover whertylint benefits rn.p u blit liberty - are to be found, that bon resulted few * d i g expulsion of the tyrannic Legitimates. We Caroni ) bet remember too that though the STUARTS. weft tyrants in esery sense of Its .word, and we corsik r ,, wish to, see every remnant of ibeic•political code es. 4 ploded or reviled, it is only, sine, they-left the me. Lionel stage clear to their SateßSSaft, that we ban esperienced the benefit of a National Debt, whia,; - ` 64 in its progress through each succeeding reign, to its present slate of perfection, that of vine hundred mil• lions, hie "Grown with their growth, and strengtheeed with their strength." The British People must now more then ever per ceive the necessity of exerting the remains left theta ' of their Constitutional privileges to effect the re. formation so desirable in the State. The very essence of the Constitution has been set aside, and a way • opened to occasional despotism, which is entirely dependent upon the incliostion of Ministers. Thc 2 . corrupt Parliaments of PITT and his successors have • • left bar valued Constitution completely at the dis. • pool of the Ministry. A return to pore prin. ciplei in the Representation can alone save - us from the consequences of this great evil.— • ' It war formerly boast enough to rouse the blood of our ancestors e hen it was asserted, that " the fiber. bertha of the People were derived from the bounty , of the Grotto." Our ancestors answered such a "boast by proving, on various occasions, and particu• • larly in 16118, that the Crown had itself no rights—k*: no prerogatives—but what it derived from the People; BaaCron, one o f the greatest of ear i old !stayers, has said, " let Kings temper their power by the bridle of - the law." And he add+, 64 For soy Prince or Potentate •on earth, of *bat kind sorter, to exercise 4oterninent, and eithei by 'sprees consasisOn ? .pamedinfalg,, :Ivo' person' ally received from too, or else by• the authority derioet . al first from As con, • sent of the People, epos whom he-imposes laws, Is no beuer than mere tYranny ; for laws they are not,' • whicii pblitical approbation hath4latinadirsiti•ited 'political ipprobation they . can only gin, trim : per somilly .declare their consent, or by others in theta ' names, by tight originally derived from them, as in .I Parliaments." These were the sentiments of our' forefathers. -• But how . widely and wapiti' have we departed 'horn their steps, when we ban selfend persons who do, not derive their right to sit italter • Pavliament from a seventh part of us, trideolareby their acquiescence in Reports of Secret. Committees, the !Maunal concerti to measures that have invaded and . destroyed its Rights and Libertiesond when the People who have these Coe rtered Rights to plead against the power of the Crown, and the despotism of the Minis. try, may address one another in the galling language of t the Tragedy from the times .of Tug/los s aad ! s r with too much truth,— „ " Every Mini•ering Spy ' • That will lifelibe Mid swear, is lord of yea, (If .e, of all our fotlonft nesd our live' I Our lOM's are cancan) ;Midas; nod our words * How ineoreht •oever, at e matte crimes We shall not shortly dare. in fell oar drafts, Or think, but 't will be Ire spon." ". • , French Papers to the 224 'have :been received.. They inform os of the destruction, by fire, of the beautiful Theatre L'Ofieors, in St. Germain. l'he fire • broke out shortly after three o'clock on Friday of.o.se. tertiosin,ind such was the-fury of the flames, that its the course of a few hours the ttiferitteOf the building was entirely levelled with the groctod. L'olleon wee. - 0 1 . allowed to be one of the beet constructed and most elegant Theatres in Enrope. • • The Journals make no mention of the arrest of Gonfalon, the Man secured of the attempt upon the • life of th. Duke of WELLINGTON. But this silence may bedeemed necessary by thentNitice to favour chi discovery of his accomplices.' .The Chamber el D.- pities contioees occupied iu hearing and disposing of 8 great Dumber of Petitions presented boas indivi. duals in different parts of Fie*: The disces.ions 'on the Dories of Customs lerndoeted ea Thursday, end Monday nest is filled for receiving the Report. The Chamber adjoernedrto Saturday,- when the Re• port on the Budget was to presented. - • An article from Vienna retertigesthe roped- of intended Congress of Savereivas, at Frankfort; or Duseelderff, by stating, that. the •Emparaw will tern from Dalmatia, in limo* he prepentat The Freud Stocks are mill4/1414--01$ lit. . 90t» • • • The-Doke of Wetwevo;r„iaospectisel ie KnOsil in the coarse of a few days. The s favpsylkl• amnions which • be has.- had of late. etivh the French Ministers on the sebieet:of the ,liquidstionv, seed of the removal of the Allied..troopa, afe Pill 1 0 • be se .important, .and ,the situation of trifalrasit. this atemerit, so•critical. • dist it fathom,* fOr,tilligliar his Grace to come ovef (0.1411340-06 celifieo •'I meet on Vie natter. . • . , 4 ArJ 1 I' W . O%iT r30,0`.