The Sun.
London, England, 1840-06-08 00:00:00

WEAVING POPULATION.

With regard to their pecuniary and physical condi-
tion, it will have been seen that the money price of
labour in ribbon weaving has, on the whole, declined less
during the present century, than the price of the
articles on which it is usually expended, while a re-or-
ganiz ttion of the trade has greatly improved the posi-
tion and circumstances of the great body of the city
weavers, at the same time that it extinguished a mid-
dle class of employers ; that the money earnings of the
rural single-hand weavers were almost always wretch-
edly low, and are now little altered ; that the condition
of the ribbon weavers, so far as it is determined by the
amount of their "real wages," or of the commodities
which their money wages will purchase, has not, on the
whole, declined during the present century, but, in the
case of the city weavers, has much improved; that
within the last ten years, since the recovery of the
shock felt on the first introduction of foreign ribbons.
and of the consequent depression of prices for
weaving, there have been, however, successive
reductions in these prices, under the mutual
competition of the city and rural weavers ; that, though
their positive comforts have, on the whole, increased
during the past years of the present century, the relative
reward of labour has declined, as compared with the
general condition of the handicrafts and of the proper-
tied classes ; and that this relative decline produces
discontent among the weavers, and uneasiness among
the neighbouring higher ranks of labourers. The
homes of' the first-hand journeymen in the city present
considerable appearance of comfort, and those of the
single-hand weavers in the country frequently one of
much misery ; while the decline in out-door habits
among the city weavers entails a physical inferiority
which forbodes both immediate and future unhappi-
ness. In " condition," therefore, by which term the
Commission undoubtedly contemplated their " physical
condition," the ribbon-weavers, hut more especially the
single-hand weavers, are a class not positively de-
pressed, but relatively outstripped by other classes
of society. By these, however, they cannot be aban-
doned to relative depression, without evils being in-
curred of the most serious magnitude, through the
struggles and uneasiness which must ensue among
the labouring classes generally, from the existence in
the midst of society of masses relatively so low in
condition.—Fletcher's Report on Hand-loons Weavers.

May we here allude to a report very current,
that no invitation to attend the meeting and take part in its
proceedings had been sent to Lord Brougham and Mr. Macau-
lay—the one a :Minister of the Crown—but both individuals
whose services in the glorious cause have been, it would have
been thought, sufficiently distinguished to have entitled them
to the eourtesy of an invitation ? Oh, there may be a cause
that Lord Brougham should not be present. Who
ifsort
Istseirselling
at all acquainted with the eloquence of henry Brougham
who does not recollect the killing burst of indignation in which
he told a former leader of Toryism (we quote from memory)
that " when the vessel of the Slave Trade went down amidst
the exulting cheers of that House, the noble leader and his
hand were to be seen upon its deck, and lashed to its rigging."
No !no ! Henry Brougham was not tit to be present. at a
meeting at which a leader of Toryism was to be thrust into the
foreground of the slavery extinction. Sir Robert Peel came
forward in a way that would make a man imagine that he never
was the advocate of slavery " white" or " black." As to the
" white" slavery he was kicked out of his predilections in that
by the Irish people ; and as to black slavery we take leave to
ask him one question—namely, how many hours he took to con-
sider whether or not he should present and support the petition
of the West India proprietors against the proposal of Lord
Stanley to purchase the emancipation of our colonial slaves?
We can make some revelations upon that point.—Observer.
We have much pleasure in stating, that Lord
Morpeth has appointed Mr. Arthur Helps to be Isis Private
Secretary, in the place of Norman Macdonald, whose most ju.
dicious appointment to the office of Under Secretary of State
for Ireland, we noticed last week. Mr. Helps Ras for some
time Private Secretary to the late Chancellor of the Exchequer
(Lord Monteagle), and is now a Commission Obse rer of French
Claims, which commission is about to exp
..- French
Claims,

ETENING EDITION.

PUBLICATION OF BLASPHEMOUS

WORKS.

At the Manchester Salford Hundred Sessions, on
Monday, Mr. Abel Heywood was indicted for selling
Haslam's " Letter to the Clergy of all Denominations."
Dr. Brown and Mr. Jonathan Peel conducted the pro-
secution, and Mr. Cobbett appeared for the defence.
Mr. Heywood withdrew his plea and pleaded guilty.
After some dispute between the Counsel, it was agreed
that Mr. Heywood should stand in his own reccgniz.
;laces to appear when called upon for judgment. Dr.
Brown said, acting there under instructions from the
Treasury. he bad to state that the prosecution was in-
stituted by Government, not with any intention to re-
press free discussion in any manner, but to teach such
pllrteans as the dettndant that no Government could al-
low pteblications of this kind. He would refer the Court
to the law on the subject, and not state merely his own
opinions. In Starkie's Law of Libel, page 135, it
was stated, " There can be no doubt as to the ge-
neral right of inquiry and discussion, even upon
the most sacred subjects, provided the license be
exercised in the spirit of temperance, moderation,
and fairness, without any intention to injure or af-
front." This was established in the prosecution of
Paine's Age of Reason. In that trial, the Learned
Counsel for the prosecution, Mr. Erskine, observed,
" Every man has a right to investigate, with reason,
controversial points of the Christian religion ; but no
man, consistently with a law which only exists under
its sanction, has a right to deny its very existence, and
to pour forth such shocking and insulting invectives as
the lowest establishment in the gradation of civil au-
thority ought not to be subject to, and which would
soon be broken down by violence and disobedience, if
they were: J. Peel said it was the more neces-
sary that some remarks should be made on this matter,
in consequence of every wall in the town having been
covered with placards in reference to this matter,
headed, in large letters, " Persecution for opinion's sake."
—Mr. Cobett said, notwithstanding the speech of Dr.
Brown, he thought it necessary to address a few words
to the Court, the more especially to introduce an affidavit
made by the defendant to place himself in that situation
before- the public in which he thought he ought to be
placed. In it the defendant stated, that, having seen
a discussion in the House of Lords relative to these
publications, he looked over his stock, and then
discovered what this publication was ; and from that
time to the present he bad refrained from publishing
any portion of these works. The Chairman said he
was anxious to say a few words on this case, least the
offence which was alleged to have been committed, and
which was admitted by the defendant, should be con-
sidered lbss serious than it otherwise might be. The
offence is a vary dangerous one. The prosecution, how-
ever, was not to punish but to prevent its being in
ruturc committed ; and he had no doubt that they bad
taken the course they had, because they thought it the
best to ensure the end in view. The evil of such pub-
lications as this was very great ; and they all knew well
from experience, that, however absurd a doctrine might
be, that was no reason why it should not lead unwary
persons astray. It was very satisfactory to bear the
statements made on the part of the defendant, and they
hoped that this publication would not in future be sold
by him. Under these circumstances, they should re-
quire the defendant to enter into his own recognizances
in the sum of 3001. to appear and receive judgment
when called upon. The defendant then entered into
his own recognizances, and was d;scharged.-31anches-
ice Guardian.