The Express.
London, England, 1867-08-31 00:00:00

the •xlreoss.

TO 001.1LISTONDENTI.
Avowlistmtents Intondad far " &mow," Loudon livibint
=mast be at title Mos, 10, Boavorbawtrett, by Two
of Ms day of battik:Wm

HAYM AMBIT.
THIS EVIMINO, AN UNEQI*AL MATCH. Mews. Bucketnne,
Chippendale. Legere, Kendal, Clark, Weathersby, etc.: Mee.
dames eedgvirk, kYlzwlWat, &e.—TO PAILIS AND SAW( DM
Lb. Mr. Buckstone.—And ?KM BMINK.

rmer
ON MONDAY MU:IMMam POOR P&ILLICODDY• Mes,r.
Murray k Gresham ; MIN Polly Marshall. —And THE "'TR EWES
OF LONDON. Mr. Vining. Messrs. M'ldsm, D. Murray. &c. .
Mesdames Stuart, Barnett, and Stanton.

SILITANIA.
Tan Imam THE SER
A;
; Oft. THE OCEAN CHILD.—
The Brothers Hanlon ; the Champion Skaters; Mr. J. Plump.
lon Mr. and Mn. Coleman end Mr. W. Brown—And THY
LAST MAY; OK, THE MISER OP =TEAM GREEN.

IRON WATER AT LONDON BRIDGE.
Taw DAY —Nonfat a. aw••••••Enswows. A 20w.
TO4IOI/10W-40/11a& a. 4a.......A1tera0c0. Y. 2.A.

LONDON, SATURDAY, AUGUST 31.

THERE was a certain element of truth in an
expression of which the politicians of a former
age were extremely fond, but which we hear much
more rarely in the present day. The application
to Government of the epithet " Paternal" has
often given currency to a mischievous argument,
and has been held to justify many measures of
injurious interference with personal liberty. But
in the present day we are coming to a truer con-
ception of what paternal government is. The
original mistake was in conceiving of the whole
people as children, and the Government as caring
for them with a fatherly anxiety and minuteness ;
and against this mistake the liberal movement
which has made Government the servant and in-
strument of the governed has been a success-
ful protest. The tendency of legislation has
therefore been to give the manhood of the nation
its full rights and privileges, to enfranchise trade,
to liberate opinion, to give every man the fullest
possible freedom of action, and to assert the
privileges of the individual against the compulsion
of the mass. But this having been done, the
other functions of legislation may be more freely
exercised. Now that we have given so large a
part of the householders of the nation a share of
the government we can afford to develop its
paternal side. There is, therefore, no inconsis-
tency in a legislation which records an act for the
enfranchisement of the working class side by side
with one for the restriction of the hours of labour
in the case of the women and children of that '
class. The popularisation of government in ren-
dering it impossible that it should assume a
paternal, protective character towards the man-
hood of the nation, only renders it the
more incumbent upon it to act in that
character towards the weaker section of society.
Englishmen's objection' to the " paternal "
theories of government have all arisen from an
objection to be treated as children ; but it is
carrying those objections to an absurd and in-
jurious extreme to demand that Government shall
legislate as though there were no children in the
community. The protection of the weak against
the strong, of the feeble against the powerful, of
those who occupy a subject position against those
who may injuriously tyrannise over them, is not
only one of the beneficent functions of Government,
but is a function the fullest discharge of which is
essential to the full establishment of individual
liberty. The success of the Factory Acts,
and the success which has attended every
judicious extension of their principle, have
removed most of the theoretic objections
which were entertained against them. But i: the
practical working of such measures has been
unaccompanied by the evils which may have been
anticipated, it has been attended with the moat
beneficial results towards the persons protected by
them. It is impossible to estimate the boon
which such protection often is to dependent women
and helpless children. They are the classes who
naturally stand towards society in a state of
PuPilage. They are not able to defend themselves
against the greed of unscrupulous parents, or the
tyranny of grinding employers. They stand
towards such persons only in the attitude of
necessary dependence; they have no power
or rights as against them ; and their necessity
is used by them as an opportunity of oppression.
Putting ourselves, for a moment, in their place,
we may realise a little of the feeling of gratitude
with which they find that the law comes in and
clothes them with the rights which nature has
seemed to deny, or, more correctly speaking, that
the law provides for the enforcement of those
rights which nature has left to the too feeble pro-
tection of the muse of right and the feeling of
sympathy. To such persons the true idea of
paternal government comes vividly home. The
strong arm of the law does what the strong arm
of a father would do, were society perfect—pro-
tects them against oppression, shields them from a
slavery which would make life intolerable, and
guarant.ws them some small share of rest and
enjoyment. It is the universal conviction that
it is in th., power of legislation thus to protect
the weaker portion of society, and the universe'
perception of the beneficence of such protections

which has led to general acquiescence in its almost
universal extension.

The Workshop Regulation Act, 1867, is a mea-
sure which is almost as important as the Factory
Acts themselves. Its object is to extend to
smaller establishments the protection which those
acts give to women and children in factories. I
chief provisions with this object are as follows
No child under eight years of age is to be em-
ployed in any handicraft, and no child under
thirteen is to be employed more than six hours
and a half in any day, and those hours must
be between six in the morning and eight at night.
No woman or person under eighteen may be em-
ployed during any period of 24 hours for more than
twelve hours, and those twelve must be between five
in the morning and nine at night; and an hour
and a half out of the twelve must be allowed for
met and meals. Neither women, young persons,
nor children may be employed on Sunday, nor after
two o'clock on Saturday, except in cases where
not more than five persons aro employed in the
same establishment, and where such employment
consists in making articles to be sold by retail
on the premises, or in repairing such articles. In
grinding, in the metal trades, and in fustian cut-
ting, no child under eleven is to be employed at
all. Stringent provisions are added to ensure
the education of all employed children, and all
workshops are opened to the visits of the inspec-
tors or officers duly empowered to act in enforcing
the provisions of the measure.
Of course, so stringent a law as this must have
some exceptions to its operation. The temporary
exceptions are these. In the first place, the law
itself does not come into action till the first of
January, 1868. During the first six months of
next year, children not less than eleven years of
age may be employed under the conditions which
affect the employment of young persons between
thirteen and eighteen ; and children not less than
twelve may be so employed up to Midsummer,
1870. For the year 1868 the time to which the
Saturday afternoon work is limited, is extended
from two to half-past four ; and till Midsummer,
1870, children, young people, and women may be
employed in the manufacture of preserves, as they
are at present, and males over sixteen may be em-
ployed in machine works as though they were more
than eighteen. The permanent exceptions are con-
siderableandmustbelearnedfrom the Actitself. But
their object is to modify the application of the Act
without interfering with its principle. They simply
recognise the fact that the exceptional character
of some trades renders it impossible for them to
carry out the letter of the law, but not impossible
to obey its spirit ; and the Home Secretary is,
therefore, empowered, withincertain limits and with
certain guarantees, to authorise hours of labour
other than those laid down.