The Sun.
London, England, 1847-05-18 00:00:00

etieninsntt

LONDON, TUESDAY, MAY 18, 1847.

A maiden speech in the House of Lords could
scarcely have been uttered upon a more propitious
theme than that delivered yesterday evening by the
Earl of ELLESMERE. It was followed by the second
reading of the Factories Bill, with a majority of
forty-two in a House of sixty-four. A more appro-
priate juncture could scarcely have been selected for
the passage of this benevolent measure than the one
which has just arrived. Everything combines to de-
monstrate the foolishness of the policy which has
hitherto been adopted in commercial matters. Every-
thing goes to show that the opponents of Mr.
FIELDEN have argued upon the shallowest principles,
upon the most preposterous premises, upon the most
contradictory and frivolous calculations. Lord
ELLESMERE availed himself of none cf these ad-
vantages for the purpose of mentioning the an-
tagonists of the Bill in the language of derision,
or opprobrium. He restricted his observations to the
benefits which must infallibly accrue to society by
the carrying out of its provisions; he spoke ear-
nestly in behalf of those who are without a voice
in the Legislature; he pleaded the cause of the un-
enfranchised manufacturing operatives, who are com-
pelled to yield to the ordonations of their taskmasters
without an opportunity of bringing those taskmasters to
a judicial tribunal for the purpose of relieving them-
selves from an insufferable drudgery, and visiting
their employers with a deserved punishment. We
congratulate Lord ELLESMERE upon the honour-
able course he has pursued upon this question ; we
congratulate the Upper House upon the almost una-
nimous manner in which it has received the measure;
we congratulate the Baron DuriN upon the approxi-
mating fulfilment of his generous and philanthropic
anticipations, and upon the chance which must
speedily. be afforded him of introducing a similar
measure to the French Chambers, not merely " wafted
thither by numerous petitions signed by the opera-
tive classes themselves," but enforced by the
emphatic and ennobling decision of the British Par.
liament. And was not the Noble Earl, who moved
the second reading of the " Ten Hours' Bill" last
evening, correct in observing that " England has
hitherto been quoted and referred to by the other
manufacturing countries of Europe as the model and
pride in commercial legislation ?" If our reformatory
movement in the emancipation of the negro races has
elicited the approval of all civilised nations, except-
ing that bastard republic which cherishes despotism
under the very banners of freedom, and treats all
other men with the most supercilious contumely,
while eulogising and adoring itself: if our minor
enactments for the prevention of cruelty to animals have
appeared worthy of foreign panegyrics, and not un-
worthy of foreign imitation : if our great effort to
consummate the national freedom by extending that
freedom to internal and international trade, has been
welcomed with the acclamations of the most en-
lightened of the continental states, and has insured
for one of our own merchants, RICHARD COBDEN,
such an ovation as man never had before—then may
we assuredly look forward to the extension of the
blessings of Mr. FIELDEN'S maasure, not merely to
the artisans of these islands, but to the millions who
earn their daily bread by the sweat of their
brows, in the most remote as well as in the most ad-
jacent quarters of the habitable globe.
When this noble and beneficent scheme shall have
passed triumphantly through the Committee, and the
third reading of the Peers, when it shall have passed
into a law with the superscription of the potent
syllables La reine le mute—then may the unhappy
victims of a selfish and inexorable avarice be in
a more favourable position for the development of
their moral, physical, and intellectual faculties.
Mothers will no longer be merely toil-worn automata;
children will cease to be stunted in their bodily
growth by premature labour, cramped in their
knowledge by a total neglect of the most
elementary tuition, and dwarfed and distorted
in their moral character by precocious sor-
rows and untimely destitution. GOD knows, there
is no mere affectation of philanthropy in all this !
And experience has shown that our auguries are not
merely coloured by the benevolence of our wishes, but
that whenever a legislature has interfered for
the protection of the helpless, whenever a state has
striven to prevent the over-employment of its indus-
trious millions, whenever a kingdom has sought to
effect the equalisation of work and the juster distri-
bution of wealth, incalculable good has resulted
instead of evil and confusion. We are grateful to the
Members of our Legislature for the honesty and ,
benevolence of their recent decisions.

The sounds of wailing and lamentation are again
wafted from the Irish shores; hut it is not merely
the misery or the suffering of Irishmen that has
occasioned an universal gloom to diffuse itself
throughout all ranks and classes in the sister kingdom.
They mourn for the illustrious dead ; they weep for
the kind-hearted and benevolent nobleman, who,
during a season of unparalleled affliction, had
occupied the highest station in their land, who, as the
representative of their So VEREIGN, had struggled with
an energy and devotion, which it is feared may have
hastened his own end, to mitigate the sufferings, to
alleviate the wants, and to relieve the distresses of
his unhappy compatriots. At eleven o'clock on Sun-
day night the Earl of BESBOROUGIE expired, after a
protracted struggle of several wee ks' duration,
during which period but little hopes remained
of his ultimate recovery. His Excellency con-
tinued in full possession of all his faculties to the
last moment, and, although fully aware of his ap-
proaching end, he evinced the most perfect resigna-
tion and submission to the Divine will that his friends

could have desired. Ile could look back upon his

useful career without one feeling of regret. A peaceful
conscience smoothed his dying pillow. For such a
man death possessed no terrors ; he yielded up his
spirit surrounded by those who were near and dear
to him, and by whom he was deeply and fondly
lov-,cl, while a grateful people thankfully acknow-
ledge his beneficent intentions, his anxious wishes for
the amelioration of their condition, for their elevation
in the social scale, and grieve for the heavy loss they
have sustained in the death of their benefactor.
His Excellency was born on the 31st of August,
1781, and was consequently in the 66th year of his
age. He succeeded to the family honours on the 3d
of February, 1844, on the death of his father, FRE-
DERICK PONSONBY, third Earl of BESBOROUGH, whose
life was protracted far beyond the common lot. His
Lordship early entered into political life, and from
the first was a liberal and consistent politician. He
represented his native county (Kilkenny) in Parlia-
ment for many years. On the accession of
the Whig Ministry, under the Premiership
of Earl GREY, he joined the Administration,
and contested the representation of the same
county with the Honourable Colonel BUTLER, brother
to the Earl of KILKENNY, and a strong upholder of
the repeal movement. Lord DUNCANNON was, not-
withstanding the influence of his antagonist, returned
by a majority of 336 to 269. On the general election
of 1832 he started for Nottingham in the place of Sir
Thomas (now Lord) DENMAN, who had just been
appointed to the Chief Justiceship of the Court of
Queen's Bench, and was, in conjunction with Sir R.
C. FERGUSON, returned by an overwhelming
majority over the Tory candidate. In the
July of 1834 the Noble Lord was called by
writ of summons to the Upper House. On
the formation of the Melbourne Cabinet, Lord
DUNCANNON was named Secretary of State for the
Home Department, subsequently Chief Commissioner
of her MAJESTY'S Woods and Forests, and Lord
Privy Seal. Upon the death of his father,
_ _ as we have

already stated, his Lordship succeeded to the title
as Earl of Besborough, Viscount Duncannon, and