The National Register.
London, England, 1818-04-12 00:00:00

No. sGl.—Vor.. XI.

POLITICAL DISQUISITION.

Tat MANUFACTURING SYSTE M. -Si It R. PSALM
BILL.

• WE regret that we have been unable: to pay an.
earlier attention to this subject, deeply aoonected as it
is with the principles of humanity and justice, and with
those feelings which come home to us all, individually,
100411~611itfiefeiVhigt confer honour upon us,' tab
a nation. We have always considered the situation of
the manufactureec labourer as highly deserving.of com-
miseration—when we contemplate an individual work-
ing for fifteen hours a day in a crowded and heated
room,.sna.ching his hasty meals, and hurrying back
vein to his confinement, to earn-a scanty pittance that
scarce supplies for the maintenance of his family, when
we reflect that by these means he is deprived of the
invaluable blessings of case and exercise, that during
six days of the week he has 'not a moment's leisure for
recreation or improvement; that his mind is neglected,
while his health is impaired ; can the hesitate in admit.
t ing that this protracted, deratitin of labour. is- unnatu-
sal and unjuss ? Can we think with complacency of
the situation of thousands of individuals, who are so
circumstanced, and the labour of whose hands produces
such a tide of prosperity to.the country ? Do they not
merit some attention—aro they not in a great measure,
the instruments of our a.^ealth, and the support of our
affluence? What, though a few pounds in a year were
taken from the gains...)l their merciless employers, .what
that. Igir the rapacity of the speculator were checked,
and his impatifinee compelled to bear a-short delay—
vehat:are all these, in-comparison whit the lives, health,
sad comfort of the multitudes who labour, that. others
may enjoy, while themselves are depressed, neglected,
and despised ?' What can be sucuss.isiconsistent than the.
ireglarintrailtatia4iftlantrai'lnktteettnothile
we do not afford the poor the time to profit by it—wc
g:ve with one haud,.wha'e, we take away with the other
—we subscribe to Bible and to School societies, because
they affect not our worldly interests ; but we deny the
poor man two or threehours in a day either for the pur-
poses of improvement, recreation, or rest. Under this
system, what. degree of monl advancement can we
p:,!-:sibly hope for ? We confine a man for six days, pro-
bably with a number of ignorant anA dissolute compa-
nions, and what probbility is there that be will spend
the seventh in u becoming manner ? We furnish him
with an excuse for irreligion; we do not aCord him.
the slightest opportunity for the acquisition of know-
ledge ; and the Ilatural consequence is, that vice' and
ig,norance arc left in full s:: ay. If such are the evils
resulting from a system that has only as yet bean con-
sidered as applying to men, how much more will our
indignation and sympathy be excit.ul, when we find
the same discipline and habits i,-Apcsed upon children—
i:stlints of the tenderest years, who arc thus early shut
(alt from the reviving it.iluence of the sun, mid doomed
to ra,,s the first 'cars of their existence in a piam that
has all the coacomitant miseries, though not the 1lb:o-
-1 vi,. restr;lint of a pristm Ali that has been said re-

:,)ecting the coosequ,uees to men, applies with
tpafold foree to the ;nupltn:nwit of children in such a
They tire taisea at a period rate: their :01a-
, ‘e!ers and .:‘,:positioa:: vac just beginning to dcvelopc
)•;-.lasclves;: hen they arc destitute of knowledge of
kind, an:l they are at or.ce hurr4e(l to a:school, net
virtue, bat of vice—! of use ivstructiNn, but of
nrt, intrigne, selfishues. I),:pri..-d of tuition,
f.:•inta:ninatel by perni.•;:ms an:l debased in
.atelleet, we eunaot be sur;,rit42.4 at the great propor-
m of crime which always pertains to a large mann-
fusturing town, and which has canna the qsteni to be
f s.:,:re.tA by eiery intelligent aikl benevolent observer.
ft is net our meaning (though we have always
hes'...:!it:;. to is calkl:

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