The Sun.
London, England, 1864-09-08 00:00:00

in fulfilling their heritage of toil, are imbibing the

seeds of disease and sinking into premature graves

or dragging on wretched lives, The reports of the

medical officers of the Privy Council furnish a
world of subjects which earnestly call for attention
and demand consideration. Many who call it ex•

aggerated fancy and mistaken kindness to make

such a fuss about operatives and such like conceal:ls
may find out for themselves the due importance of
the subject. It is from the evidence of the,se well
qualified to form an opinion that the best, notion
can be gained, and all qualified to be 'ledges are
unanimous in their condemnation of much that
goes on under the name of necessary employ.
ment ; and the deleterious systems prevailing in
places where the struggle for daily bread is also
rendered a race for an early grave or a competi-
tion for the wards of a hospital or the interior of a
workhouse. The milliners suffer greatly from the '
want of ventilation in the rooms where they pursue
their employments, and this militates considerably
against their health. It seems strange that, so
few attempts should be made to legislate upon this
matter. The only real cure and effectual remedy
will be to make it an offence against the law of
the land to employ young persons more than a
certain number of hours per diem, and to institute
inquiries as to the state of the sanitary condition
of the places appropriated to work. It cannot be
impossible to do this, and no secondary causes
should be allowed to stand in the way, for impera-
tive necessity calls loudly for interference. When
life is in the balance it is high time that the absurd
conventionalities of custom be done away with,
and that prejudice and private interests should
be made to give way to the claims of justice and
the dictates of humanity. The fashionable milliners
who periodically amass immense fortunes can well
contrive some other mode of conducting their
business, and they seem to find out a remedy if
they are obliged to do so. The journeymen tailors
also suffer greatly from the neglect of mini.
tory arrangements in their occupations, and their
case calls loudly for amelioration of some kind or
other. It is of no use for indignant parties to con.
tradict these statements, and, indeed, there are
proofs to the contrary of their assertions that will
not be put aside. The mortality among the class
is fearfalcto contemplate, as many as nearly double
of the agricultural class being carried off in middle
life. The close state of the rooms in which they
labour is so bad that all comfort is destroyed, and
the wretched occupant, while he struggles for his
maintenance and the support of his family, is injur-
ing his health, undermining his constitution, and
inviting the attendance of the thousand ills that
flesh is heir to. The painful family of death more
hideous than their Queen, are the ministering spirits
of our workrooms, and implant their blighting
influences and spread their deadly snares around
the unsuspicious and hard working artizan, who
plies his toil in the vain delusion that he is doing
his best for himself and those dear to him. It must
be:considered that they which urge this subject upon
the attention of the Legislature do not labour with-
out a cause, they fight not as they who beat the air.
They put before the responsible agents of society
the evils of a system that make the emporiums of
labour the nurseries for foul :disease to ger-
minate, and the charnel-houses where spirit and
strength are the prey of consuming languor.
How long will indifference be manifested upon these
all-important topics, how long will the Priceless
daughters of fashion and the greedy sons of com-
merce pursue their way, in the knowledge that their
garments have been made by those who sewed with
a double thread, a shroud for themselves as well as
apparel of beauty and elegance for more favoured
fellow-mortals. It is an awful thing to reflect upon
1 that our vaunted civilisation tolerates such attro-
-1 cities, and in some measure creates them. We
know that if we speak with the tongues of men and
of angels and have not charity, it shall not profit
us ; what, then, can be the lot of those who fail in
rendering the first principles of justice. The workers
of our community have a right to protection, and
a claim on the care of the authorities of the State,
that their hours of toil should not be overdone,
their places of resort rendered as wholesome as
possible, and their condition rendered as comfortable
as is consistent with the right performance of their
tasks. Laborare est orare is a beautiful saying,
but the work that injures by undue pressure can
never profit or prosper, it will be a curse to those
who toil, and a reproach to those who traffic in such
barter, and when the voice of suffering and oppressed
humanity calls aloud for redress and remedy, it
must not be that such claims are unheeded.

If the present generation needed any proof of the
advantages of Free Trade, it would be abundantly
afforded by the condition of Chinese finance. The

throwing open of the treaty ports has produced a
most striking Effect, and the returns of the import
and export trade under foreign flags, just forwarded
to this country by Sir F. BRUCE, exceeds the most
sanguine anticipations. The import trade, which,
according to this report, was in 1860 41,000,000
taels, or about thirteen millions of our money, had
increased in 1863 to 81,000,000 taels, or about

twenty-seven millions sterling. This surprising
change, it will be seen, took place in two years,
but it is explained by the fact that 1860 was the
last year before the opening of the Northern ports
and of the Yangtze river, which is so important an
element in Chinese commerce. The application of
steam to navigation has proved of the highest vatae
in navigating this river, since the violence of the
winds and the currents were previously great ob-
structions. The foremost nation of the world is
thus indebted to the skill and science of the outer
barbarians for the free use of their own river. It
is a noticeable fact that the Chinese themselves
share largely in the increased trade, and a consider-
able proportion of the goods carried up
Paid down
the Yangtze aredesigned for home cansumption.
The central provinces
of the empire a -Je thus enabled
to find a marketfor their produce
"rditholit the tedious
and costly circuit they have h •
it,nerto been compelled
to make. Au unnecessaril7 lengthened journey is
hiYe exactions '..4 the officials are extortionate
to be regretted and avoided in China,
weshpeerceiatl
and oppressive. The exports of Shanghae itself
have suffered irom the raids of the insurgents who
ravaged the silk districts, and either carried off the
labouring population or drove them away through
fright. The rebellion is now so far extinguished,
or at, least subdued, that we may reasonably hope
that another will show a favourable alteration in
this Particular, since our own merchants must neces-
sarily suffer as well as the Chinese. This fact con.
firms the justice
STON'S resolution taonpdrpotreociatrti he tey
Tor fe
atLordy
Ports,
. P a L11:i En ict
e-
Shanghae itself might otherwise have fallen into
the hands of the T •
aetangs, thus nndoing all the
work which Lord ELGIN had accomplished, and in-
flicting on Chinese commerce and Chinese pros-
perity the most serious and perhaps irreparable in-
jury. The Chinese are the very people to appreciate
the value of commercial dealings. They are
cautious and painstaking, and find it neces-
sary to exert all their industry to obtain
support for their dense population. They
are not Blow to appreciate and to realise the
advantages opened up to them by their dealings
with the West, and accordingly we find a large