The British Press; or, Morning Literary Advertiser.
London, England, 1819-02-26 00:00:00

COTTON SPINNERS.

Lord KLNYON moved the order of the day, which
was read ; and on his motion were also read several
Petitions in favour of a diminution of the hours of
labour for children in cotton manufactories, from
Stockport. Bolton-le-Moors, Hythe, Holywell, in
Flintshire, and other places, which had been lire-
seated to the House about a fortnight since. These
Petitions noticed by name Sir Robed Peel's mea-
sure, on which
The LORD CHANCELLOR remarked, that their
Lordships could nut allow any measure berme their
Lordships to be demintisisted in this mustier.
What did the Hauge, iu its legislative capacity,
know of Sir R. Peel ?

Lord HOLLAND ►aid, that the Petitioners cx-
presend themselves in a manner to he iutrlligihir in
all persons, and that if the Ihouse weir to adopt
such a strictness, it would be equivalent to clo►o%
their doors against all petitions.
The LORD CUANCLLLoIt said, his sole object in
'mitt:ll'4 the ctrcuinstance was to prevent a rept-
titiOn of such a mode of expression.

The Petitimsa being rad—. •
Lord KENTON met, and 'Markin* on the vast
importance of the subject, proceeded to notice the
objection. which. on a former occasioa, lied been
urged against his proposition fur appointing • Com-
miller of Inquiry. Ile raid, that some few masters
had reduced the hours pf labour, but not filleting
their example imitated, they were obliged, in their
own defence, to return to their former lilac of
labour. Ile alluded to the distressing heat of
11110 manufactories ice Lenteiseleirr, which averaged
76, HO, and in some of them so high as 85 degrees.
From three houses he, however, excepted those of
Mr. Holdsworth, and of Meows. Nl'Cinsiiel and Co.
Me ridiculed the idea of considering children of
only eight years of age free labourers, when, if they
were to refuse to work as their masters required,
they would be refused relict' from the overseer of
the parish, and were notoriously unable to procure
other employment. Ile denied, on the authority
of many respectable persons, that the inquiry tub
this subject in Parliament had been the cause of the
late disturbances; to fact, the cotton in • era were
tier very lest clays of persons who had lammed 0141 :
sod although they were more formidable than all
the others, it was bereuse they were the most nu-
merous body. The Noble Lord dwelt on these
;mints, and concluded by moving—" That a Com-
mittee be appointed to enquire Imo the state and
condition of children employed in cotton-fiectoriev,
and to report thereon to the I louse."
The LORD ('iLincOLGolt leasing read the mo-
tion, came &wit from the woolsack and said, that
if it were fully made out to the sati•faction of a
Jury, ilea a child eel tender years lewd been kept to
severe labour, so that its health had beeu thereby ens
daageretl, it WAS an offrieve indictable at COMMON/
1:11V ; and if it defence were set tip that the child was
a free agent. 011 d acted 40111 his own will, it would
hr regarded with great jealousy. The commons
law hail ever considered such proceedings as an of.
fence. He stated this with it full knowledge of
the expense and trouble which would hr required
in bringing the law into action. ;le thought
that some degree of unfairness had been sheen by
particulalizeseg the cotton-spinners and chimney-
sweepers, as 11104 e who should tnedergo all the ex-
pense of legislative p-iteeedings ; for he had 110
doubt that the evil% stiffened in these trades were
nut greater than were endured in many tether occu-
pations. If a general law were thought advisable
for theeprottction of all children ice all maiitilac-
tones, so be it ; but he doubted the policy of ap-
plying a particular law to particular manufactu-
rers. Particular measures would have the effect
only of removing children from one employ merit to
another—from those complained of to others 1101
Ire. prejudicial. He lead lately seen in at provincial
Paper a circumstance that lead sti uck his attention
very strongly. He there saw that individuals who
had complained, with great warmth of feeling, of
the sufferings endured by ascending boys, could
witness with great firmness, and without mu ex-
pre.: of pity or syMpathy, boys of very tender
age descending to coal-pits, of which the depths were
incalculable, where dr danger was far greater, and
the immediate soffrriegs by no means less.
The Earl of ROIILYN argued with considerable
warmth against the principle of the proposed mea-
sure, which was hostile to every consideration of
commerce or of political economy. He stated, that
in the stocking trade, in the worsted mille, and in
the potteries, children were compelled to labour a
greater length of time, and with more severity,
than in the cotton factories. The inquiry, there-
fore, should not be confined to one trade, but
should embrace all. He remarked upon the
heavy expense which the roomed inquiry must
cause to all the parties concerned, not to %weak of
the waste of time and of labour. The Noble Farl
then comuseided upon the ill effects of the mess-
stores proposed on the commerce and matonfartures
of the conistry, and concluded by contending shat
the inquiry should be extended to all trades, as
well as that of cotton-spinning.
The Bishop of CHEsTea would not do justice to his
own feelings if hr did nut state Isis strong inipressien
on this subject to be, that the length of imie during
which children were employed was iejerimis to
their health and destructive 10 their lives. It was
ascertained, that out lions four to 5,000 persons ad-
mitted into the elates', factories. nut above eleven at-
tained the age of fifty years. What had become of the
others?—es here were they gone? tie heart-it that 'hit
question could be answered only in one way, that
they were goer to their silent graves. It was impos-
sible to go into one of those manufactories without
seeing objects painful to humanity; it was us tenable
of demonstration me any mathematical proposition,
that the health of the children must be iijured iii
proportion to the number of tenors in which they
were employed. One of the objet tines urged
against the present measure was, that eso interfer-
ence should be exercised between) free labourer. end
their employers; but who coml.' consider there
children Irre agents The Noble aced Learned
Lord on the Wooleack had met, that the law was
open to those who were oppressed ; but though 111111
was trite io theory, no oar knew better than the
Noble and Learned Lord that it Was not true eel
precrice.—lflear. hear.)—lie argued, finen the
great capital, industry, mid unproved state of ma-
chinery of blues country. even though a few hours
were deducted frosts the lel 1111 l r of children, many
ages must roll away before our maniefectures could
lie undersold on the Confiner's. He denied that
the (Aims spinners were connected with the late
disturbances, or that any delueion lead been prac-
tised atnong them. All they desired was, to have
the labour of their children abridged, and that
their wages should be rated in proportion. •
Earl GRusvettott felt convinced that in opposing
the proposition made by the Noble Lord opposite,
he should lee doing murk more good to the indivi-
duals alluded to than if he had supported it. • He
IF/JS aware that the warmth of debate might carry
!stream very far, but lee could never have *opposed
it would have acted ro strongly upon the Right
Rev. Pielate, as to make him censure all the oppo-
nents to the present measure as enemies to limner-
oily such justice. Ile felt that if the present mea-
sure were adopted, great evils would arise from it
to the country in general. It wee t*lttlllety (lOW.
gerous on every eccount for the Lol,Pl,iture to in-
terfere with the principle of frke labour. The
mowers and those employed by them with, if left to
themselves„ regulate, as most consistent with dear
iiittlual advantages sad the interests of the coun-
try, the boors of tabour red the wages of industry;

but if the present measure titre 'Attica, llte cono.i
otvence must he, that the amount of waged must
be either ascertained by Parliament, or reduced in
proportion to the reduction of hours of labour.
With respect to the effects produced by the
labour of cotton manufactures on the lives of the
labourers. it was 'pwned by the Right Reverend
Prelate that but few arrived at the age of fifty.
It should not, however, he furgotton, that two
thirds of all the persons employed in their manta-
factures, were children, therefore as they advanced
in life, the greater proportion of them were re-
moved, and found empluynient in other trades.
During the war a great 'mutter of them were
drawn off by the army and navy, and as it was
stater! before the Committer, there were no men
liner its appearance or more healthy. The Noble
and Ll'4l'll.ll Lord on the Vl'oolsack stated, that
if evils were really felt. the law was open for the
redress of the sufferer.; to this it we. objected by
the Right Rev. Prelate, that this was true in
theory but not so in practice; but if this objection,
founded on the experoe and difficulty of legal pro-
ceedings, Mid any weight with regard to the per.
5011. employed in cotton manufactures, it was
equally cogent with respect to all other persons;
and why should the cotton-spinners be particularly
selected a: the aisle objects of legislative inter-
ference ? tie remarked th.t children engaged in
various other trades, silk, listen, hosiery, hard-
ware, grid Lae, were employed fur even a greater
number of hours than in the cotton factories. Why
then should these persons be selected, or why
should the present moment be chosen for the
purpose of 'anon an outcry against the master
cotton spinsters ?—why must they be pointed out as
Calms and Monads, fur public execration, while
all other masters were to be considered as Isaacs
and Jacobs, persons meriting universal approba-
tion ? He noticed how very undeserving of atten-
tion the Petitions, for the greater part, were that
were laid on the table. Some of them were ob.
tained by gross delusions, and all seemed to be
founded in total misapprehension. The Right
Rev. Prelate seemed to consider Bolton-le-Moors
as the very scene of cruelty and inhumanity, but
unfortunately for the Rev. Prelate, out of 23 ma-
nufactories in that place and its vicinity, in 16, as
he remembered, children were not employed for
even 13 hours a day. It would be a serious consi-
deration fur Parliament to reflect what the come.
grittier' to the Poor Rates would be, provided the
present measure were adopted—numbers of the
children would probably be thrown upon the
parish, to increase the public burdens. He be-
lieved, from the evidence before them, that
the grossest misconception prevailed on this
point. It the House were to legislate on this sub-
ject it could not stop short, the Legislature could
not overlook the manufacturers in white lead, which
was generally in a few years fatal to life. Laws must
soon he made even for the pot-boys, who were
made to work night and day, and who certaiuly,
after a few year. employment, lose their original
healthy appeeralice. After dwelling on the was.
chief that .ucli legislative interference must pro•
duce on trade its general, the Noble Earl concluded
by expressing his deterrninatioa to oppose the
motion for going into a Committee.
1 he Rail of Livearoor. rose, not for the pur-
pose of prolonging the debate' rend still less with a
desire of fullowing the Noble Earl who spoke last
through the variety of topics he introduced. Hs
object war to draw the attention of the House to
the question which was actually before them. Dur-
ing the last Sessions a Bill was brought into the
House, from the other !louse of Parliament, to
regulate the cotton I,ciories, but was postponed
for want of further evidence. He, however, would
tell the liou.e fairly, that its the last Session
of Parliament lie would readily have voted
for the measure, because even from the .hewing
in time Report of the Committee of the House of
COIIIIIIO/0, he felt that some reculetions were ne-
cessity. It was absurd to consider this as a quell-
ing, of free labour. Who could believe that these
poor children, in their preterit cireinustarices' were
free labourers? His Noble Friend on the Wool-
sack had s.sid, that to overwerk children of tender
age was an offence at common law. This, there-
fore, was a proof that in the opinion of the com-
mon law, such children were nut free agents.—
(Hear. beur.)—But not to be led away into that
view of the subject, lie should merely observe that
the motion How before the House required nothing
more than a etiotitiusuce of the inquiry which,
titanic the last Session of Parliament, the House
declared to lie necessary. It did not pledge the
House to legislate ; all it desired was to pursue an
investigation which was commenced in the last
The Earl of LAU DERD 41.11 said, that even were
he wit 1111%0141g to enter fully into the general
view of the presesit subject, the state of his health
would prevent lust. His sole object was to correct
the incorrect view of the question which had been
represented by the Noble Earl. He took a gene-
ral review of the progress, of the measure, and stated,
that Sir R. l'rei had never entertained an ides ou the
subject, until that good maim, Mr. Owen, had oliewis
him a plan inure extensive than that he afterwards
was willing to adopt. He said that in the manu-
facturing ilisitrict-, parents usually selected their
weakest children to place them iii cotton factories,
which were generally considered as offering a mode
of employmesit highly conducive to health. The
Noble Earl then commented largely oo the evidence
already received, and reworked, that the various
Petitions on the table did soot support the present
motion, did not pray fur inquiry, but required the
enactment of a certain measure. Before lie should
sit down it was his intention to propose an amend-
mem, embracing every
.species of trade wherein
children were employed, where an equal if sot a
greater cumber of hours were occupied, and where
much less attention was ',hewn In the comforts sod
'mauls of the children then in the cotton factories.
lie was surprised that the Rev. Prelate and the
Noble Lord should confine their humanity to the
cotton factories. He was aware that many very
worthy persons bad been led ewer by false and in-
correct views of subjects in which they suffered
their humanity to be their only guide. He recollect-
ed that on the subject of the Chimney-sweepers'
. Regulation Bill. the Dean and Chapter ofehiehester
sent up a Petition to the House, in which they stated
their firsts couvictioir, that without the interference
of Perliatuent, not one of the elbsiliag boys could
midi the kiostato of bleano.-4 Loraghter.)—