The Sun.
London, England, 1836-06-27 00:00:00

lie Emancipation Bill, has only made it rise in its
demands. Emancipation was but a means, and that
great measure left so much to be done, that this un-
fortunate country owed it to itself to press the conse-
quences to arrive et advantage's more ipdsaik...C., Ko're
immediate, which should des.c:eviA .tO dcyths in
the misteoce df the urets'sk•k" After some observa-
tions on the of Ministers, the writer goes
on to ob>liiiVe—" Assuredly these are immense con-
eesq.AlS made by the House of Commons to the pre-
,`lnlices and the fears of the Tories. They prove that
the popular party can be contented with a slow pro-
gress and deini-triumphs ; that they how when to
compromise ; that they do not believe it indispensable
to do every thing at once, and to attire by one kap ht
the end of their career. if the House of Lords shall
have the good sense to display the ,same spirit of con-.
ciliation and prudence, England will, perhaps, conti-
nue for a long time to give the world the spectacle of
a great political Alia social revolution, taking place
calmly, and by the force alone of public opinion and
the public reason.”—Morning Chronicle.
It is difficult to understand what the idiots of the
Whio".itadical press mean by their jabbering about the
political origin of the recent trial. Is it meant that a
man who suspects that he has been injured by the se-
duction of his wife should abstain from any attempt to
obtain redress, because the supposed seducer is Prime
Minister ? Then, what is meant by our political su•-
•e"
port of the plaintiff? We never wrote one ,me On the
subject till it had been a matter of public fame that
Mr. Norton had commenced, an action against Lord
Melbourne. We certa;oly did then say, what we now
repeat, that if Lord Melbourne was guilty of the
offence imputed to him, he was unworthy to temain
another day in the high position of Prime Minister..
We might have added, that he was unworthy to it
again in the society of gentlemen ; for if he had been
convicted of that renne, of which he has in our opi-
nion been most justly acquitted, what was the nature
of his guilt ? First, he had abused the patronage of
his Ace, by bestowing a valuable appointment in or-
der to facilitate the seduction of a poor friend's wife ;
next, he had taken advantage of the natural gratitude
of a warm-hearted woman, and by a sort of moral
duresse had claimed the surrender of her honour as the
equivalent for his bounty. Thank God! the noble
defendant stands clear of these monstrous offentcB
against political and social duty. I3ut were we wrong
in saying that a person Convicted of such offences
ought not for a day longer to direct the Councils of
his Sovereign? The sentiment we abide by, though
we rejoice that the cause which inspired it does not
exist. This is the only answer we shall condescend to
give to our miserable cavillers.—Times.

Although it is probable that we shall now hear no-
thing more of Mr. Poulett Thomson's proposed Bill
for removing existing restrictions on infant labour in
our great manufactories for cottons, consumptions, and
coffins, and although, for the present, there must be a
relinquishment of that humane and ingenions expedient,
in virtue of which, by rendering the toils of factory
children wholly insupportable, their lives and sufferings
would be proportionally shortened, and a larger average
of our surplus population annually draughted off into
" another country" than the emigration policy of this
realm has herotofore contemplated ; yet the remarkable
instance of contraband mercy shown up by Lord Ash-
ley on Monday last, whereby it seems a number of
boys had been indulged in tearing up their employers'
Woollens and their own vitals for 34 successive hours,
plainly shows, that unless the utmost vigilance be exer-
cised in restraining the compassion of such masters Ps
Ibbotson, Taylor, and Co., of Batley, their zeal for
literally smuggling "little children" into the kingdom
of Heaven is likely to operate to an extent not
hitherto anticipated, we suspect, either by the
inspired canon or by any human code. All levity
aside, however, we feel constrained to recur to
the condition of the factory children from a
well-founded apprehension, that what cupidity has
failed to wring from the Legislature is actually effected
to a considerable extent by some other means. Not
that the Batley style of execution is ever likely to be
adopted by the respectable manufacturers of England
otherwise than as a foil to set off in advantageous relief
their more moderate scale of- infanticide at the proposed
rate of 12 hours' labour per diem ; but that the motives
and facilities possessed by parents and masters for prac-
tising deception, regarding the exact age of children
between the years of 11 and 14 are such as awaken
the suspicion, strengthened by facts, that the recent
attempt to obtain an augmented Labour Bill has been
nothing better than an end to procure by Parliamen-
tary sanction an impunity for those evasions of the
existing law which we fear are extensively resorted to
in most of our principal manufactories. What number
of boys and girls may occasionally be doomed to such
gallies and shambles as are kept by Messrs. Ibbotson
and Co. we have no means of detecting. The dis-
tinction acquired by these gentlemen is, we earnestly
trust, an unrivalled one. We cannot believe it possible
that a case of similar atrocity is anywhere to be found ;
nor are we unmindful of the fact, so creditable to many
of the master manufacturers, that their 'anxiety to
render their mills and factories as little injurious as
possible to the health of the swarms of children
employed by them, is satisfactorily shown by the ma-
chinery they have erected for the partial absorption of
the dust or other floating particles inseparable from the
processes of cleaning, carding, and spinning, as well as
by their laudable attention to the cleanliness and venti-
lation of their establishments. All this we have seen
and admired. But the truth is, that with every favour-
able allowance that can either be claimed or conceded
on account of such attentions, there are still connected
with the labours of factory children certain revolting
evils, both essential and accidental, which, far from
warranting any relaxation of the existing statutory
restrictions, do in our opinion demand a yet further
interference on the side of morals and humanity. In
the first place, we are well convinced, from good in-
formation, that the present law requiring children to be
not under a certain age before they can be eligible for
the factory labour of eight hours a-day, is very exten-
sively
evaded. Parents, anxious to increase their income
by receiving wages for their offspring whose registers
of birth they are sel?om able to produce, are tempted
to represent thisni a year or two older than they actu-
ally arc ; on the other hand, the interest of mer-
cenary masters, intent chiefly on obtaining cheap la-
bour, is the reverse of involving any nice scrupulosity
as to Children's ages, inasmuch as boys or girls, pro-
-oded they be at all fit for waiting on the machinery,
receive a lowness of remuneration corresponding to the
tenderness of their age. A practice exists, too,
whereby the responsibility of this is attempted, we
suppose, to be in some degree shifted from the em-
ployer. Three or four looms are undertaken by an
expert girl of 15 or 16 years of age. She is the only
person employed at these looms by a direct engage-
ment with tile master, in virtue of which she some-
times receives a maximum of 225. per week ; but, as
she cannot personally superintend the whole of the
looms under her charge, she usually engages the as-
sistance of two or three very young children, often bee
own sisters, who being neither hired nor paid by the
manufacturer, are generally considered as her servants,
for whom she is held to be responsible. One conse-
quence of this superficial arrangement is, that a num •
ber of youthful subordinates are to be found at the
looms, who, in appearance at least, are under the
statutory age. Again ;we entertain very strong doubts
whether the employment of young females at all in such
establishments, and still more, whether their constant as-
sociation with men and boys in their (lady work, can be
vindicated on any sustainable plea. While these females
are not more than 10, 11, or 12 years of age, their
subjection to eight hours' labour a-day, prematurely
accelerating or injuriously retarding the processes of
nature—often fainting with heat or
weariness—always
inhaling an atmosphere corrupted with floating flakes
of cotton or wool—and this at a period of life requiring
peculiarly the indispensable requisites of pure air, mo-
derate exercise, and healthful recreation—is, in our
opinion, neither considerate nor humane. On the other
hand, when factory girls, at the age of puberty, arc seen
working in summer, unable to
endure stays, and pre-
scnting an unseemly exposure of neck and bosom, forced
upon them by weather-heat, aggravated by toil and
steam, as well as crowded and confined rooms, a scene
is exhibited to the casual spectator, and to the men and
boys of the establishment, scarcely consistent with com-
mon decency. The ordinary averment that our valuable
cotton manufacture ought not to be lightly meddled

with, is one which may safely be admitted, we think,
without necessarily involving the cOntinilauce of stteh
proprieties., N7eftt in. the t;:aii;, .6r eien
the I,Y!.e_;';..:At l'fi'ocieralcd system of factory labour imposes
uponits youthful victims, are their animal exhaustion,
their consequent recourse to the stimulants of gin and
opium, their deprivation of educational advantages,
their pulmonary and chronic ai.eav:e.,
with obscene convcrsttio Ana theii Vl\
course. Ilia timtglt all tth'esY3ColkennikAlo lilgilt be
charged trp.m.i the eN.isti'n4 With a conclusive-
,
nes's 4 vViaoMt arginneht 'Whieh hO'rcaSua,ble
person conld Ethikay, ive
lions d thein ilke:o,kiihi'f- aggressions which may
ftr Attemptod by rd-r. Poulett Thomson's Nire.-pullers
shall compel us to speak out. Suffice it to say, in the
meantime, that if any thing were wantin?„ to prece
from the most intelligent and unobjecti,-)kiable sduite's.,
the cruelty and criminality of vela' irig the pie':§eikt
stiietions on the labour of fzietoi.y ehilAeAl the ii'rthif
so desidetatetl can be adtlOced fill 11 tiidst itresistibl'e
form. A curious Aila va1,41,6 pATTif)hlet iipetl phis sub-
ject, pnlished ilr 16,3 i, bech bs,
which, independehtly Of ih Wi)',tltory statistics, pos-
sesses the .vaIUASI4 o:l7.insie recommendation of having
been. wi-ittn by an extensive manufacturer at Bury,
Mime private interests are generally supposed to be at
variance with the recorded conclusions of his observation
and experience. So prejudicial, indeed, were his
views thought to be to the various modifications of
factory depravity, :oppression, and slaughter, that his
alarmed opponents actually bought up his little work
with an avidity which left extant only a few stray
copies) of which we have been supplied with one. The
writer who is understood to be a Mr. Gregg, the
letvliug partner of one of the largest manufacturing
houses in Lancashire, has cut open the concern and
let out its corruptions with a keen and unsparing
knife. How any man above the condition of a savage
can be familiar with its disclosures, which humanity
has extorted' from the author in opposition, as he be-
lieves, to his pecuniary interests, and yet remain an
advocate for increased hours of labour among factory
children, is to us utterly inexplicable. With Mr.
Gregg's useful testimony in the cause of factory
morals and mercy, which we shall certainly recur to,
if circumstances render this necessary, it gives us
pleasure to associate the name and efforts of that
eminent manufacturer and very honest man, Mr.
Fielder', M.P. for Oldham. Differing from Mr.
Fieldeu as we do respecting the safety and soundness
of many measures of the present sub-Ministers, we are
yet at one with him in his opinion of their " insuffi-
ciency"---" their dabbling officiously in affairs which
they do not understand ;" their yeerirws and vacil-
lations "in passing an Act to-day on one authority,
and then repealing it to-morrow on another ;" and,
finally, their acknowledged proneness to " sport with"
the most grave and important interests. " The curse
of the factory system" (see Mr. Fielden's pamphlet, p.
25), as he aptly designates his production, is shown
up by him with great fidelity and spirit. We recom-
mend it to the especial attention of the " officious
dabblers" he speaks of ; and of Mr. Poulett Thomson
who moves like a parrot in his official cage, swinging
in the circle hung up for him by his Manchester mas-
ters, re-echoing their opinions, and gratified by their
" scratches poll, pretty Poul," will still refuse to
abandon the interminable chatter of the economists,
and learn the lessons taught him by this experienced,
independent practical man. Mr. Fielder' and the
country will be furnished with another proof that the
policy of " Pretty Pour and his Ministerial tribe is
determined by neither right nor reason, but solely by
an instinctive and indestructible attachment to their
official nest, which they alteraatcly feather and foul.
—Times.

Two new projects of foreign loan are, it is said, in
agitation in the City. The one intended to prop the
feeble sceptre of Donna Maria of Portugal—the other
the tottering crown of Donna Isabel of Spain. We
trust the public are already on their guard against
these dangerous experiments. We trust that the many
successful proofs we have given of our watchfulness
over their interests will induce them on this occasion
to listen to our warning voice. We hope they will not,
for the fifth time, become the dupes of loan contractors
and jobbing agents, who care not for the ultimate result
of any speculation, provided that their commission is en-
sured. With regard to the first of these projects—are
the public aware that when the Government of Donna
Maria expelled that of Don Miguel, Portugal owed
but 1,500,0001. of foreign debt, and that since the great
event was accomplished the foreign debt has been in-
creased to 13,500,0001. sterling ? Yes, with the bless-
ings of constitutional liberty, Portugal has had the
blessing of 11,000,0001. additional weight of debt im-
posed upon it, and England with the glory of having,
achieved the great work, has had the pleasure of pay-
ing that sum to our most ungrateful allies. Are the
public aware how their money has been disposed of ?
We can tell them—principally in repaying, at an im-
mense profit, the persons who fitted out the buccaneer-
ing expedition to Oporto ; and next in furnishing the
means of plunder to the Portuguese patriots them-
selves. The first is a matter of notoriety by the large
fortunes realised in Portuguese affairs, since ground
down, to be sure, by fishing in Spanish troubled
waters : the other can be easily proved. We shall take
three items for the present as specimens of the rest :
Paid the Duke of as a compensation for
having emigrated
Paid the Duke of P-- for ditto
Paid the Marquis of S-- for ditto

£90,000
Yes, this is the way in which money lent by unfortu-
nate English families, with the hope of establishing a
better income, is disposed of. Only 90,0001. among
three constitutional heroes ! Only 90,0001. for having
run away from Oporto in 1828, and abandoned their
dupes to march through Gallicia, and living in clover
in England, and being worshipped at one end of the
town, and fed and feasted at the other. If a loan be
now made, how will it be disposed of ? We can give
a good guess. First, in discharging the arrears of all
the hungry civil, military, and naval employ& of the
Portuguese Government, who have been in arrear for a
considerable period; secondly, in repaying the native
creditors the sums they had advanced on the late
change of Ministry, for which they are becoming
-clamorous ; thirdly, in providing a fund for the dis-
charge of the future dividends accruing on former loans.
Can anything he so barefaced ? Will John Bull give
his cash as a spoil among the Portuguese ? Will any
father of a family who speculates on the bread of his
children dare face his home at night after lending a
shilling for such a purpose ? The creditor may sup-
pose that British influence will protect him. Why
England and Englishmen are despised in Portugal—
hatred to England is the openly avowed, IroaSt of the
day—death to the English was the war cry of the
late riots at Oporto. The Director of the San Car-
los, at Lisbon, employed by the Crown, had the inso-
lence to refuse the British Minister a box last season
at the Opera, because Lord Howard de Walden had
previously subscribed to the French play. This little
fact proves the whole case. There is neither trade nor
revenue in Portugal—the Government is so feeble that
it has not vontured to collect a single tax. Beyond
the gates of the large towns the Queen's authority
is but nominal. If England refuse to lend money a
bankruptcy must take place. The revenue is even
unequal to meet the ordinary expenses of the State.
With regard to the second project, we imagine that
no loan jobber can venture, in the face of so many ex-
posures of Spanish fraud, to ask for more money in
the name of Donna Isabel. Let the accounts pub-
lished in the Espanol, a Madrid paper of the late Ad-
ministration, be an additional warning. The Queen's
throne is exposed to daily peril—it has been alone
supported by the presence of 20,000 foreign bayonets,
and the moral influence of British aid—but even that
ground now begins to fail ; jealousy of the Estrangcro
is again resuming the ascendancy.. Spain rejects our
mercenary aid as a stain on the national honour. The
present Government is as feeble as the last ; it will re-
ceive our money there is no doubt, but a bankruptcy
must take place unless we continue to furnish the sup-
plies. Let Lord Palmerston indulge his visions of
Peninsular glory at the expense of the nation he re-
presents ; but let the British public be on its guard,
and let no honest man sacrifice the bread of his chil-
dren to sustain profligacy in Spain, plunder in Portu-
gal, and to assist that party in both who detest Eng- "
means in their
land in their hearts, and oppose by all