The Sun.
London, England, 1853-01-22 00:00:00

LONDON, SATURDAY, JANUARY 22, 1853.

Everybody acquainted with the course pursued
by the British Parliament in the last ten years'
legislation, remembers the glorious triumph
achieved by JOHN FIELD&N in 1847, through the
passing of that Ten Hours' Factory Bill
,which
was designed by him to benefit so largely the great
mass of our toiling population. Scarcely any one,
however, is aware that that beneficent measure
has been so far tampered with, that its humanising
influences have in a very deplorable manner be-
come—particularly of late—restricted. Insomuch
is this really the case,- that it has not erroneously
been deemed advisable to reanimate in the cause
the dormant enthusiasm of the community. The
Holy Agitation, as we may well call it—for is not
its object exclusively that of conferring upon the
poorer classes the consolation of such leisure as
may be rendered for them a source of un-
utterable happiness ? has been, within the
last few (lays, revived at Oldham, and re-
vived, too, under the auspices of JOSHUA
FIELDEN of Stansfield-hall, Todmorclen ! Upon
the shoulders of the son the mantle of a worthy
sire has descended. From him we may now ex-
pect the fortunate completion: of that noble and
humane enterprise upon which his father so suc-
cessfully adventured. Successfully, we assert,
not without forethought and deliberation ; for
the evils at present militating against the happy
operation of the enactment of 1847 arise from no
legislative forgetfulness of the pure and generous
principle therein established. That principle has
been formally recognised by the English Parlia-
ment. It needs no further elucidation—it only
requires its somewhat more perfect and complete
vindication. For, as matters at present stand,
in its regard the operatives do not by any
means benefit as largely from the innovation
as might at the outset not unreasonably have been
anticipated. The secret of the flaw in the good
measure originated, or at any rate realised, by
Joam FIELDEN, is simply this—that the Act of
1847 has been since interfered with by the Act of
1850, the former "just, wise, and beneficial," the
latter a " mockery, a delusion, and a snare." It
is the. tardy recognition of this that wakened once
more the ardour of the more active Reformers in
the manufacturing districts, and which has called
into the van of the new movement one with the
" time-honoured" name of FIELDEN, a FIELDEN of
Stansfield-hall, JOSHUA FIRTDMNT of Todmor-
den. Championed by the son of the re-
vered. Father of the Ten Hours' Question,
We may confidently augur well for the new
agitation in the good old cause, inaugurated on
WWednesday last by a numerous meeting at Old-
ha
Presided over by the chief magistrate of the
municipality. Why is not JOSHUA FEELDEN in
parliament ?
in its He has a part to play there—here-
ditarycharacter There more effectively
than outside the House. of Commons he might
continue to watch over the frequently endangered
interests of the operative," his father did be-
fore him," with so much advantage
advantage to the councils
of the Legislature. But for the absence of a
FIELDEN from the Chamber of the Representatives
in 1850, we might not have witnessed the passing
of that supposed emendation of the Bill which was
transformed in 1847 into an enactment, but which
during the session before specified was closed
against many of its more beneficent consequences.
is there not some constituency in the manufac-
turing districts that would honour itself by re-
turning to the House of Commons as its Member,
the son of JOHN FIELDEN—JOSHUA FIELDT, of
Stansfield-hall, Todmorden
According to the present system, it is lamentable
to reflect how very readily the law ragulating the
Ten Hours' Question May at all times be evaded.
The violation of the enactment proves, indeed, on
inquiry to be of very frequent recurrence.
The Factory Inspectors find themselves, on
all hands, deprived of the opportunity of
brinling the offenders to punishment. They
cannot even discover the fact of infrirn ge -
meat, What is the statement of Mr. FIELDEN"
upon this Particular? Wiry, that the masters may
at Pleasure violate the law with impunity, because.
of the impossibility—(it int
these days of Detectives
seems a strong word in
the perpetration of the
discovering them in
by evilt abhorred by the peo-
ple, and opposed
rrilviees Parliament. Imme-
diately, an Inspector a
aryl-town by the
railway, information is at oneeillferwarded from the
station to the factory, apprising the owner of the
and, of course,
approach of his unwelcome visitor ;

ong before his arrival, an appearance of equality is
mparted to the whole ordering of the establish-
ment. If the Inspector enters a room at night
j when the females are toiling at unlawful hours, the
lights are at once extinguished. If in the day-
time he enters an apartment where operatives
who should not be there are assembled, as he
appears through one door they disappear through
another. And so there are evasions of the law
with impunity under all circumstances ! Against
the continuance of this system due provision
ought at once to be made by the Legislature.
The question is one admitting no longer
of argument. The advisability of a rational
restriction of the time of labour to the females
and children of our manufacturing operatives
was long since, thanks be to GOD ! almost univer-
sally recognised. Added to this, " proof posi-
tive" has been drawn from experience that the
effects 013 the interference of Parliament upon this
subject, instead of being in any way prejudicial,
has tended, so far as it has yet gone, to the in-
creased demand of labour, and to the extension of
commercial enterprise. It was said before the
measure of 1847 was passed, that, in the event of
the carrying of the enactment, the operatives
would be injured by the diminution of their wages.
Well, their wages have been decreased, but their
comforts have increased simultaneously. The evi-
dence of Mr. FIELDEN upon this matter is emi-
nently worthy of consideration. Ho says that, in
answer to his inquiries upon the subject, he has
been told by operatives—" We may get less
wages, but our provisions are cheaper, our children
come home sooner at night, and they can wash,
and mend, and make, all of which things had before
to be paid for ; thus," say the poor fellows, "though
we may get less wages, we have more to spend in
eating, drinking, and clothing." Surely, d consi-
deration ! Then as to the increased demand of
labour consequent—yes, we may almost say con-
sequent—upon the enactment of 1847, it is cal-
culated by Mr. LEONARD HORNER, Factory In-
spector of the district of Oldham, that in that
locality alone 14,000 more hands will be required
in the mills now in course of erection. Every-
thing, in fact, tends to the encouragement of the
beneficent changes already commenced by the
British Legislature in regard to the Ten Hours'
Factory Question—that humane question which
has become permanently associated with the name
of FIELDEN—that question which has called forth
the sympathy of more than one of the free States
of America, and which chiefly inspired the hopes
of the French multitude on the outbreak in 1848
of the last European Revolution.

It is but a matter of simple justice to Mr.
JARDINE, and to the office-keeper of the War-
, office, his wife, and daughter, to direct public
attention to the statements yesterday made at the
Police-court, Bow-street, by Dr. CHOWNE, the
Senior Physician, and Mr. HANCOCK, the Senior
Surgeon of Westminster Hospital, respecting the
recent alleged outrage at the Horse-Guards, an out-
rage whi ch naturally excited the deepest indignation
in the public mind at the impunity afforded to the
supposed offenders. If the original statement had
been correct ; if an unfortunate child, only four
years of age, had really been stabbed in so brutal
a manner, nothing could extenuate the atrociou3
act, and the party who committed, and all
who endeavoured to suppress the fullest investi-
ation into this case, would be deserving of exem-
illary punishment. It appears, however, not
only that the extent of the injury has been
greatly exaggerated, but that it is more than pro-
bable that the wound was purely accidental, arising
from one of the feet of the little sufferer slipping
through the grating, which thus inflicted the
wound, and the marks of bruises on the child's
thigh appear to fully corroborate the view of the
transaction taken by the experienced and talented
practitioners above referred to.
The extraordinary excitement arose chiefly from
the positive allegation of the mother that her
child had been stabbed through the grating. She,
however, repeatedly varied her statements, declar-
ing at one time that the child bad said that she
was hurt by an old woman from the area, who
called out, " Get away you little —" ; at
another that it was her sister who saw the de-
linquent and heard the exclamations ; and again,
that the injury was inflicted with a toasting fork
—a matter which the nature of the wound ren-
dered totally impossible ; and ultimately, that
" she had never supposed that any one could have
stabbed the child wilfully, but she believed it was
done- accidentally by some one who only meant to
frighten the poor thing away ; and if the person
had come forward and confessed as much, she
(the mother) world have forgiven it !"
These contradictory statements would com-
pletely deprive the mother's testimony of the
credit that might have been accorded thereto i f
it had been consistent and invariable. - They
would warrant the opinion that she had been
availing herself of the sympathy which the mys-
terious transaction had eicited in the public mind
to obtain benefactions, which, although very
acceptable, and perhaps much required, could not
be looked for under ordinary circumstances. Her
representation would then have been taken
quantum valeat, but for the corroboration of the
house surgeon of the hospital, who distinctly and
unequivocally declared that " the injuries must
have been inflicted by some sharp instru-
ment." There was no doubt or hesitation
on his part. He was much more decided in his
views of the occurrence than Dr. HATCHELL was
as to the cause of death of Mrs. KIRWAN, and yet
a jury acted on that opinion, thereby con-
signing a person who had previously occupied a
respectable position in society to certain infamy,
and possibly an ignominious death on the scaffold ;
and yet it now appears that it is not only possible,
but almost certain, that he was mistaken.
Mr. JARDINE, in speaking of the unfortunate trans-
action said—" No doubt it was the statement made
by the house surgeon that has given rise to all
the horror in the public mind, for be believed that
the public would have been charitable enough to have
considered it a case of accident, if any probable
grounds had been given for the supposition."
There can be no difficulty on the point ; it was from
the positive assertion of a person supposed, from
the situation which he occupied, to be a compe-
tent authority on such points, that the thrilling
sensation was excited in the public mind on
abundantly sufficient grounds. The person who
gave such flippant testimony has had a greater
share of practice than falls to the lot of many of
his professional brethren who are called on to de-
liver opinions before Courts of Justice in matters
of vital importance. And yet what does Mr.
HANCOCK, the senior surgeon, say, when express-
ing the opinion of Dr. CHOWNE and himself ?
" That view (of the house surgeon) may have
occurred to a person of less experience than
ourselves, especially after the positive statements
of the mother of the child, that it was] stabbed
through the grating, but we know that the injury
might have been caused another way."
We trust that this extraordinary.occurrence and
the very erroneous opinions with respect thereto
that obtained currency and almost universal cre-
dence, may have the effect of inducing medical
practitioners to exercise a greater degree of cau-
tion before they give expression to such
unqualified and positive opinions respecting
matters of which they have not very considerable
practical experience, and also cause juries to
weigh such evidence closely and accurately, and
to investigate the foundation on which it rests
before they confirm it by their verdict, and
cause irreparable
ruining all his prospiencjtusiTin tloife.a fellow-creature,

It appears, then, that FRANCESCO MADIAI is /10t
yet killed by his imprisonment.e Whatever benefit
of fact into which
this correction of the slight
press was led may bet t0r11.7
make
Catholics, we
the
ts
bodily error,
have been most willing to
we say, for unhappily, for poor IVIA.n/A81,1:114;111
and temporal lot is scarcely better
prison in a state of health'
itself ; and so far as Tuscany is concerned,
ncedeatdh
his being kept in
which must render imprisonment ultimately fatal
is as disgraceful as his actual death. These pater-
nal Italian Princes do really appear to be the in-
carnations of injustice and cruelty. Not long ago,
Mr. GLADSTONE (and no act of his life has done

him equal credit), exposed the infamous injustice
of the noble Poerio's mock trial at Naples, and the
revoltingly cruel barbarities of the patriot's dun-
geon; all Europe rang withthe aristocratic exposure,
in the cause of aristocracy, of the despot of Naples'
doings ; and Austria on Italian soil appears
to have learned that though hanging would
do for Hungarian patriots, yet that literally hang-
ing, simple "hanging, was too good for" those of
Italy ; and a hitherto unheard-of scheme was de-
vised to prolong the agonies of strangulation for
an hour or so ! Vast numbers, however, even in
England, imperfectly appreciate either the merits
or the sufferings of true foreign patriots, of those
even who, as Mr. GLADSTONE remarked of POERIO,
were merely desirous to obtain some of those very
humblest safeguards of liberty which here are
looked upon as too elementary for discussion. The
case of the MADIAIS, on the contrary, is one which
from the Duke or Earl to the village school girl,
every one can understand ; it is not that those who
appreciate the other wholesome iniquities al-
luded to do not burn with indignation at the
thought of them ; but that, in this case no Chris-
tian can control his feelings at the thought of
imprisonment or the guillotine for reading one's
self, or reading to others, that blessed book whose
truths from childhood upwards have been the
guide of his life, and his consolation in sorrow.
Catholics are strangely mistaken if they think
that because the majority of Protestants obey
their Bible too little, they are, therefore, indif-
ferent to it. They have an inward and well-
founded reverence for it, which will not bear to
see it treated as a felon, by sending all who trust
themselves in its company to the felon's cell.
Hence the deep interest with which every class,
the more lax as w ell as the most religious,
follow this excellent man and his wife into
their dungeons, read with aching hearts of
their pure and holy faith and patience un-
der degradation and suffering, and feel that
they have one commmon cause with them.
Not only members of the Evangelical and Pro-
testant Alliances, but every Englishman with the
slightest veneration for revealed religion ; yes,
and even the few who are sceptical concerning it,
are deeply aroused at this flagrant denial of the
first rights of man. The testimony of the highly
trustworthy Chaplain to the Prussian Legation, as
well as that of the most respectable deputation
which visited the MADIAIS from this country and
others, leaves no doubt on any one's mind of the
sincere and simple, indeed elevated, piety of the
humble sufferers. No Englishman can or does
look upon them as sufferers for a dogma or a
crotchet, but for the very essence of religion
itself.

We perceive that a deputation on the subject
has waited on Lord JOHN RUSSELL, and he has
said all that official reserve permitted him. We
certainly think it much less creditable to our
Government to hold diplomatic intercourse with
the bigoted Duke of TUSCANY than for his vic-
tims to hold intercourse with their Bibles'; but
we fear that such a mode of action
would produce little impression on so relentless
a mind, and it would, perhaps, rather interfere
with such poor consolations as foreigners can yet
offer to the MADIAIS. We are happy to learn
from Lord JOHN that the late Government had
exerted itself for them in a way which met his
approval, and which Sir H. BULWER, with his
full concurrence, is still continuing.
But why, we indignantly ask, was it a merely
Protestant deputation to the Foreign-office ? Are
no Catholic bosoms fired with the hottest indigna-
tion that such things are done in the name of their
faith ? It is, unless they inwardly aid and abet
these cruelties, more their business than ours.
They must publicly move in the matter, or it will
be justly said, not that the Duke of TUSCANY, but
that Popery has murdered the readers of the
Bible. Their faith is disgraced by all this, not
ours ; yet hitherto few of them seem concerned
to free it from this reproach—one of their pro-
minent members appears even to glory in
it. Where is Cardinal WisEmAx Does he
imagine that red hats and stockings, and surrep-
titious and sounding titles will do more for Popery
than getting rid of these Tuscan blots on its gar-
ments ? Or, does he really think that England
will not nauseate the hypocrisy which would raise
the cry of Protestant persecution because his
Foreign Lord • was denied the right of using
English territory, to the praise and glory of his
Hierarchy, but which can look on very calmly
while Popery refuses liberty, health, and life
itself to its own victims ? We have always
been, and we are, thorough supporters of
Catholic Emancipation—of entire Emancipation ;
but, unless our English and Irish Catholics will
give ir; practical evidence that their Popery is not
the Popery of Tuscany—unless they will show
even more zeal than the Protestant Alliance to
put an end to -these Roman Catholic cruelties,
they will compel us to doubt whether Popery can
be dealt with like any other faith. British civilisa-
tion and freedom has driven persecution out of
British Protestantism : it now remains to be seen
whether it has driven it out of British Popery.

MEDITERRANEAN AND HEAVY PORTION OF INDIA
MAIL.—The Oriental Company's steam-packet Ripon,
Captain R. Moresby, arrived at Southampton yesterday,
and landed her mails under the charge of Lieutenant
W. P. Newenham, R.N. Her dates are :—Alexandria,
Jan. 7 ; Malta, Jan. 11 ; Gibraltar, Jan. 16 ; South-
ampton, Jan. 21. Her cargo consists of 4 packages of
specie, 1 box of gold dust, 209 bales of raw silk, 29 cases
of silk goods, 20 casks of elephants' tusks, &c. Alex-
andria harbour was full of shipping of all nations. The
steam-frigate Faidgaad, sent out by the company for the
Pacha, was lying there, after a fine run from Malta of
68 hours. She frequently averaged 13 knots, with only
two boilers. There was a grand ceremony performed
on her being handed over to the Egyptian officers. The
admiral's ship fired a salute of 21 guns for the English
flag, and when it was hauled down, and the Egyptian
flag hoisted in its place, another salvo of 21 guns was
fired—the brass band of the Ripon performing " God
save the Queen" on board of the splendid ship. The
officers who took her out had each a handsome Damas-
cus sabre presented to him of the value of 25 guineas.
The crew got each a month's pay in addition, and the
Ripon's band was presented with 151. Alexandria was
healthy ; but the rain poured in such torrents, that the
wretchedly filthy streets were almost impassable. The
quarantine period between it and Malta had been re-
duced from three days to little more than one day. An
excavated city, like Pompeii, near Cairo, named Sacco;
rah, was the object of much curiosity. There have
been found in it 38 sarcophagi, each weighing 68 tons.
They formerly held the ashes of the sacred bulls, and are
all of granite.
ACCIDENT ON THE GREAT NORTHERN RAILWAY.—
An accident happened yesterday afternoon to the 12.20
train from York by the breaking of a tire of one of the
leading wheels of the engine. This took place about
eight miles north of Doncaster, near the Womersley sta-
tion of the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway, over
which line the trains of this company run. I was at
Doncaster, and immediately went to the spot, and am,
therefore, enabled to give the following account of
the accident :—The train was about its proper time, or
two or three minutes late. The line is straight. The
driver and his fireman both saw that the tire had broken,
and endeavoured to stop, but, before they had time for
this, the engine left the line, at an embankment of 12
feet in height, and turned completely on its side. It is
very much embedded in the earth. Next to the engine
was a horsebox, which is broken all to pieces, and
the horse killed.' Next to the horsebox was a break
van, which is very much damaged. A second-class car-
riage was next the break van, and went partially down
the embankment, but it has sustained hardly any damage ;
and all the rest of the train proceeded uninjured on their
journey. Captain Binstead, the superintendent of the
Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway, was on the ground
when I reached the place, and had made the necessary
arrangements for working the down line, sent a pilot
engine to accompany all the trains in both directions
while the up line was impeded, and by about 6 o'clock
p.m. both lines were in operation. The engineman has
his toot much crushed by part of the horsebox, and the
fireman has his thigh broken by falling when he jumped
from the engine ; one passenger had his knee bruised,
and one passenger had a slight cut on the nose ; all the
others escaped unhurt. Three or four of the telegraph
poSts were knocked down, and messages consequently
were stopped.—SEYMOUR CLARKE, General Manag6r of
the Great Northern Railway.
DEATH OF MR. CFIARES LAWRENCE.—Just as we were
going to,press, we received intelligence of the death of
our esteemed townsman, Mr. Charles Lawrence, in the
77th year of his age. This melancholy event took place
last evening, at' the residence of the deceased, Mosley-
hill, Aigburth. The name of Mr. Charles Lawrence has
been long known and honourably identified with the
growing prosperity of this port, as the principal in the
great mercantile firm of Charles Lawrence and Son. He
was a deputy-lieutenant and magistrate for this county,
and in the year 1823 served the office of mayor in this
borough. For a long period, and up to the time of the
amalgamation with the London and Birmingham Rail-
way,iKbynstoi hrx toe
oroi Manchester.
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