The Sun.
London, England, 1864-07-16 00:00:00

rim sms, LONDW , SATURDAY EVENING, JULY 16, 1864

Hungerford will add still greater facilities to the
means of access already existing. Thanks to those
metrepolitan lines which are threatening to turn

London upside down, entirely for the convenience
of the sufferers, persons may now traverse its wil•

derness of streets with very little delay or
fatigue ; but it is undoubtedly the right
course to pursue with a building of this character
to place it in a position which is within easy reach
of all classes, not only of those more favoured mem-
bers of society, who possess the magic agent which
contracts time and space. If, indeed, the National
Gallery were now in a situation which did not accord
with the character of the institution, it might be
desirable to reconsider the point, but Trafalgar-
Eqaare has been styled " the finest site in Europe,"
and it is capable of being made, as it ought to be, the
centre of artistic interest. Within s iew of the old
historic walls of Westminster and the Houses of
Parliament, were the intervening streets enlarged
and improved, as they ought to be, with the monu-
ment of our greatest naval hero in its front,
surrounded, if the design be ever fairly carried out,
by memorials of other English worthies, there
could scarcely be a more fitting locality with
regard to external associations. If half the care
and money were expended on Trafalgar-square
that have been lavished on those favoured spots near
Kensington, it would now present an appearance a
little more in accordance with our national dignity
and with the wishes of the public. People very
naturally prefer to fix their place of abode at a little
distance from the centre of business, but they do not
expect all the old fixtures, as CHAS. MATHEWS says,
to become part of the moveables. Nobody pretends
that it would be desirable for the Commons to re-
move their place of deliberation from St. Stephen's
to Kensington or Brompton—no one advises that
St. Paul's should be transported to some more airy
or elegant situation in the west. There are changes
enough being clamoured for which the Government
is unwilling to grant, or even to eutertain the idea
of; but this transposition, which is not wanted,
they are always ready to tattle about. In the dis-
cussion which arose in Supply on Thursday even.
ing the old feeling was very strongly manifested.
Three separate representatives of the Government
—one of them the Prime Minister himself—per-
sisted with some ascerbity in pretending that the
House of Commons had come to no decision on the
matter. The right hon. speakers were warned by
the continued interruptions of the House that their
memories were inaccurate, and, indeed, they were
told so plainly enough. Sir TOHN SHELLEY, in his
usual straightforward manner, said that he thought
it a most unfortunate circumstance that the House,
do what it might, could not persuade Ministers that
it was determined that the National Gallery should
remain at Trafalgar-square. Surely, said the hon.
baronet, it was the clay of the First Commissioner
of Works to bow to the decision of the House.
But Ministers with crotchets and pet schemes are not
very willing to submit to any unfavourable decision,
and accordingly it is easy to assert that the house,
though it has expressed its opinion pretty often,
and once or twice in an unmistakable manner, has
never actually committed itself to any particular
scheme, Lord PALMERSTON was full of virtuous
indignation because the House expected the Govern-
ment to have a scheme ready at once when they
had just refused to accept the Ministerial proposal,
which, even as the noble lord put it, sounds absurd
enough to merit the most emphatic disapproval.
" What they had thought best, was to provide for
the National Gallery at the back cf Burlington
House, and to leave the Royal Academy at Trafal-
gar-square." The noble lord hopes next session to
propose some scheme which will reconcile all existing
differences. What that scheme is to be the future
must unfold, but it must be very different from any-
thing that has yet issued from higher cfficial guar.
ters before it will commend itself to the common
sense and right feeling of the people.

The Factory Acts Extension Bill has psssed
through Committee. This is very satisfactory to
reflect upon, for it is a measure that was urgently
called for, and indeed the only wonder is that it
was not sooner projected. It must not be suppos;,•d
either that enough has been done in this line, for,
as Lord SHAFTESBURY observed, this should be
only the precursor of a series of measures which
would confer the greatest benefit on the country.

It is a sad thing that while wealth increases and
commerce flourishes, the health of the operatives
should be injured, and their lives too often sacri-
ficed in consequence of the want of precautions
being adopted and due observance paid to the im-
portant rules which relate to health and the
violation of which entails such useful con-
sequences. The working of this bill will be
the means of affording relief to a hundred
thousand children and young people who have
hitherto drooped under the pressure of overwork,
and that under circumstances which militated
greatly against their health, It is always a source
ofdeserving mind to reflect
that grtehaet pleasurerisinggenteo the
generation are well cared for. There
is no greater security for the well-being of a State
than the right training of its youth. It is not in
accordance:with the-laws of ancient wisdom, or con-
sonant with the principles that modern science has
inculcated, to allow the culpable neglect that of late
years has taken place among us to continue. It
this timely aid had not been administered, and this
respite allowed to these overtaxed faculties and over-
worked frames, the consequences at a future period
would undoubtedly have been fatal to themselves in
many instances, and injurious to the interests of the
community. There is no greater mistake than this
over hurry to get rich, and many disastrous results
have ensued therefrom: There is great truth in
Lora SHAFTESBURY'S remarks on the claims which

the workpeople of this country have on the conside-
ration of the House. During the late cotton famine
no riots had taken place, and indeed the noble lord
said that their predictions had been verified, that
if the Factory Bill passed there would be no more
sedition in these places. It is some relief to those
who regret that the state of the young operatives
throughout the country should be so bad, to know
that since the recent factory legislation took place

the condition of the children there has much im-
proved, and that deformity has almost entirely dis-
appeared. These facts prove beyond dispute that
the criticism of captious persons is unfounded, and
that great goud may be effected by the adoption of
these remedial schemes. A suggestion WAS made
that the Lucifer match manufacturers and the
makers of percussion caps should be exempted
these regulations, but most fortunately it was not
paid attention, to, for Lord SHAFTESBURY eon-

firmed the statement already made by many com.
petent judges, as to the very injurious nature of
these professions. In fact, these trades aro about
the worst that exist. The employment of mak.
ing lucifer matches gives rise to jaw disease; and
women and young children are those who are
generally engaged in the making of percussion caps.
The two hours' extra work, from six to eight, from
which the provisions of this bill release them, are
I very injurious, and the beneficial consequences of
this shortening of their toil will now be apparent,
as it has been in the case of the operatives of the
factories. The gas at night is prejudicial iu the
close rooms where they work, and these hours after
the long day's labour come very heavy upon those