The Sun.
London, England, 1836-09-27 00:00:00

FACTORY CHILDREN.

We have been accustomed to hear and read many strange
things, coming from the people who call themselves the
friens of the factory children ; but nothing so atrociously
wicked as the following words, which are stated to have
been used by Mr. Oastler, at a meeting on the ten hours'
bill, held at Blackburn on the 15th instant, has yet come
under our notice. Mr. Oastler is reported by the Black-
burn Gazette to have said—
" Oh, we must have men that will fight up to the knees
in blood for the ten hour bill. For perhaps we may have
to fight for it yet ; but mind take care that you don't begin
until you see me lead the way.—(Shouts of laughter.) I
will tell you, however, how we can beat them. If they
will resist, I will teach every factory child in the kingdom
how to use a knitting needle among the machinery. Oh, yes,
I'll do for them. I'm taking lessons now to learn little
children how to do more harm than good. This is on con-
dition—that they resist the law. lam resolved that the
laws of England shall triumph over the factory monsters, or
that the factory monsters—shall breathe their last !"
A man who can use language like this—who can talk of
teaching children to destroy the property of their em-
ployers—may, if be please, call himself a christian or a
philanthropist, but he is either a madman or a most har-
dened and desperate villain. Of course we do not know
that Mr. Oastler used the words, having only the authority
of the paper above-mentioned ; but if they were used by
him, it is high time either that his friends should put him
under some restraint, or that the law should interppse to
check the career of wickedness which he seems disposed to
run.

The Manchester Guardian, from which we take the
above, has the following remarks on the charge brought by
Mr. Bell against the Hon. and Learned Member for Kil-
kenny2—

" Now, whether O'Connell ever made any promise to
support a ten hours' bill (by the way we never heard of
Mr. Fielder's) we do not know ; nor are we at all aware of
his reasons or motives for voting in favour of the bill
brought in by Mr. Poulett Thomson • but of this we are
very sure, that the statement made by Mr. Bell on the
authority of some nameless informant (most probably Mr.
Oastler) is grossly untrue from end to end. Of course,
we need not inform our readers in this neighbourhood, that
Mr. Potter is no more a mill-owner than Mr. Bell or Mr.
O'Connell ; consequently the assertion that he and "the other
" mill-owners " did unquestionably present Mr. O'Connell
with a thousand pounds, is mere nonsense. The subscrip-
tion raised in Manchester towards defraying the expenses
incurred by Mr. O'Connell in defending his seat for Dub-
lin, and the seats of some of his sons, had just as much to
do with his vote on the Factory Bill as it had with the
burning of Troy. Mr. O'Connell's vote was given on the
9th of May ; but nobody had either heard or thought of the
subscription until after the decision of the Dublin Election
Committee, which took place five days subsequently
namely, on the 14th of May ; and of the 1,0001. or there-
abouts, raised in Manchester, not one-fifth was subscribed
by mill-owners, or persons who had any personal interest in
the factory bill, one way or other.
" The story is evidently a gross and clumsy fabrication,
got up by some of the advocates of the ten hours' bill ;
and nobody need feel any surprise at it. The _people who
can teach little children to use knitting-needles amongst
the machinery are not likely to stick at a falsehood or two,
when those may happen toiuit their purpose."

INCREASED CIRCULATION OF NEWSPAPERS.—
The number of Newspapers sent through the General Post_
office, on Saturday last, was 74,800 ; being upwards of
30,000 over the usual number.
• HALIFAX.—Mr. Wood pretends to call himself
a Reformer ; and out of thirty-one motions submitted to the
House for discussion, Mr. Wood has been absent, how many
times ? Once ? Twice 1)- Three times ? Yes, five times
three, which is equal to fifteen times that Mr. Wood has been
absent from his duty in Parliament I Mr. Wood is neither
more nor less, in truth, than a Tory in the disguise of a Whig.
ile has voted against nearly every measure that was for the
benefit of the people ; and those he has not voted for at all, is
through absence ; and, mind you, the 'Voiles have attended
to, and got a most decided advantage over the-people, both in
the House and in the country, by the assistance of irresponsible
legislators in the Upper House.—Leeds Times.

7c.sterday afternoon, about two o'clock, an elderly
^ntleman, apparently about sixty years of age, quite ex-
hausted, went into Mr. Stammer's, licensed victualler, High-
!qrect, Whitechapel, but before he had sat many minutes,
appearing in a dying state, and not being able to say where he
lived, Alr. S. had him conveyed to the London Elospi,tal in a
hackney-coach, but before he arrived life was extinct.. Ile
now lies at the London hospital to await the Coronef's in-
.quest. Nothing whatever was found in his possession to
ascertain who he was.

On Saturday evening a very lengthened inquiry took
place, at the White Hart Inn and Posting-house, Crawford
Bridge, on the Windsor-road, before Mr. Stirling and ahigEly-
respectable Jury, on view of the body of Mr. John Moody,
aged 79, an extensive stage-coach proprietor, whose death was
occasioned by injuries received, in consequence of the upsetting
of a Windsor coach, which be was driving, on the evening of
Saturday se'nnight. The Jury, after a short consultation, re-
turned a verdict of " Accidental Death."

A cock partridge, perfectly white, was lately-shot in
Foxholes Field, by Geo. Taylor, gamekeeper to B. M. Os-
halleston, Esq., of Ilunmanby. —York Herald.
NORWICH MUSICAL FESTIVAL.—The following
is a comparative statement of the receipts at the Musical Fes-
tival of 1833, and at that just concluded :

1833.

1836.

Gs. 11f. Gs. Gs. Hf. Gs
Tuesday Evening... 91
Wednesday Morning 94 ...... 541 ...... 134
Wednesday Evening 21
Thursday Morning. 188
Thursday Evening. 116
Friday Morning .... 189

699 5,385 852
Fancy Ball. 159. 55. 15s. ss,
Friday Night 1,175
Lord Viscount Ranelagh has accepted a commission
in the service of Don Carlos ! ! I

5,373

PROSPERITY.—The influx of strangers into Brad-
ford is so great, that dwellings are riot to be obtained; in
fact, such is tho demand for houses that they are frequently
promised 'ere the builders have got above ground. New ware-
houses, new buildings, and streets, projected and projecting,
meet the eye in every direction.—Leeds Times.

We regret exceedingly, says the Tyne Mercury,
to hear that a misunderstanding exists between a portion of
the pitmen of this district and their employers. The chief
cause of discontent, we believe, to be an impression, whether
well or ill-founded, that the corves or baskets in which the
coals are brought from the mine to bank have been larger than
they ought to have been, and that the pitmen have in conse-
quence received less money for working them than they were
entitled to. A numerous meeting of pitmen belonging to
colleries on the Tyne and Wear took place on Black Fell on
Saturday last, which was addressed by Messrs. Parkin, Pyle,
Hepburn, Marton, Reed, Hammond, and Lowrey, and reso-
lutions were agreed to, to the effect that a full statement of
their grievances should be laid before their employers.

The counterpane manufacturers of Bolton have
made an advance of 2d. in the shilling on the price of weav-
ing—Leeds Mercury.
ASSASSINATION OF A WIFE BY TIER ilus-
BAND.—At the Court of the Seine Assizes held last Friday, a
case of strong suspicion was made out against a man, by name
Amouroux, of having murdered his wife. The body of the
unfortunate woman was found in a garret in a state of putre-
faction. Amouroux's aecount of the cause of his wife's death
was, that in consequence of the embarrassed state of their
affairs, she and he had both agreed to die, under the now com-
mon system of double suicide • that accordingly a charcoal
fire was employed, which had the desired effect on his wife,
but that on him, notwithstanding his renewed attempts, the
vapour took no effect. Medical men were of opinion that
death might have been caused by the charcoal, or by some
other cause. There were no marks of violence, nor was there
any evidence of internal poison. The investigation was to be
resumed on the following day.

Chief Justice Tindal returned to Brighton on
Wednesday by the GeneralkSteam Navigation Company's
ooT he
packet the Belfast, from a eMtnental tour. Mrs. Fitzher-
bert has left Brighton in greatly improved healthL
for
ndn Salisbury,
with the intention of proceeding shortly to
Dowager Marchioness of Westmeath arrived at Brighton on
Thursday. Lady Hartland has engaged apartments at the
York Hotel, and is daily expected.
The StocAport Advertiser says that the Lancashire
Papers that have lowered their price to 4d. have refused to
deliver them to their customers as heretofore, unless paid extra
for the delivery. It is stated that 32 new provincial papers
have been already published, and that prospectuses of upvmrds
of 40 others have been put forth. Several of the country Jour-
nals, which usually published on Wednesdays, postponed their
publication until Thursday (the 15th), in order to mail them_
selves of the reduction in the stamp duty.
We have already spoken of the existence of a spe-
cies of influenza amongst horses in various parts of the coun-
try, and that it had in some places been attended by very se-
rious effects. We are sorry to say the malady is norr pre-
vailing here in rather a severe degree, and that several horses
(in two or three instances highly valuable ones) have-died
under its influence. The disorder exhibits itself in the form
of a swollen throat, with inflammation of the lungs, and un-
less promptly attended to, fatal results are almost certain to
follow.— Worcester Herald.

Captain Jeffrey of the Glasgow police had had forty
shopkeepers and hawkers before the Police Court for using
unjust weights. Fraud, by means of light weight, it seems,'
has been carried on to a very great extent. Of the forty,
there were fined by Bailie Gourlay three shopkeepers, two of
hem in the sum of one guinea each, and one in fifteen shillings,
for having their whole sets of weights light, and their beams
unjust. A number of others were fined from 2s. 6d. to los.
for having single weights too light. The fines altogether
amounted to 11/. , and the unjust weights were all confiscated.