The Sun.
London, England, 1833-08-06 00:00:00

more spiritually alive than ever. For the first
time, we shall hear of them among their flocks,
acting the parts of good shepherds, and protect-
ing them from the wolfish incursions of Apol-
Ivan. What a miracle of humility and modera-
tion will Dr. PHILPOTTS become I What a
contempt for filthy lucre will the Bishop of DUR-
HAM exhibit I What a divine odour will that
" precious pot of ointment," LONDON, send
forth ! We anticipate nothing short of an epis-
copal millennium—another reign of apostolic
saints upon earth, when once the Bishops have
surrendered their seats in the Lords.

The Bill, as amended by the Committee " to
regulate the labour of children and young per-
sons in the mills and factories of the United
Kingdom," has been this morning laid upon our
table. It of course bears very little resemblance
to the absurd jumble of the Conservative Lord
ASHLEY; but it contains enactments to which
we most decidedly object, as carrying the prin-
ciple of interference to an extent which must be
as injurious to the working classes, as any in
Lord ASHLEY'S Bill. A short abstract of the
provisions of the measure before us will not
perhaps be unacceptable to our readers. The
first clause prohibits all persons, under 21 years
of age, from working at night, that is, between
the hours of half-past eight o'clock in the even-
ing, and half-past five o'clock in the morning,
except in the case of apprentices and others em-
ployed in the fulling, roughing, or boiling of
woollens. The second provides that persons
under eighteen years of age, shall not
work more than twelve hours per day, and on
Saturday not more than ten. The third, fourth,
and fifth clauses provide for making up for lost
time by want of water in water mills, damage to
machinery, &c. The sixth clause provides, that
not less than an hour and a half shall be al-
lowed for meals to the parties restricted as
above, but it is so vaguely worded as to leave
it a matter of doubt whether the meal time is to
be deducted from the hours of work. The seventh
clause prohibits the employment of any child under
nine years of age, except in silk mills. The
eighth prohibits the employment of any child
who has not completed its 13th year, for more
than eight hours, except in silk mills, where
children, thirteen years of age, are allowed to
work ten hours per day. The ninth provides,
that children employed in any one mill less than
eight hours, shall not be employed in any other
mill more than the residue of eight hours. The
succeeding clauses, up to No. 14 inclusive, re-
late to forms of certificates of age, without
which it is declared unlawful to employ any
child. Clauses fifteen, sixteen, and seven-
teen, provide for the appointment of inspectors,
define their authority, &c. We have said define
tl,eir authority, but, in point of fact, it is not
defined at all. Clause sixteen says, " the said
inspectors, or any of them, shall have power,
and are hereby required, to make all such
rules, regulations, and orders, as they, or
any of them, may deem tic for the due ex-
ecution of this Act, which rules, regulations,
and orders shall be binding on all persons
to whom they are addressed, or whom they
may concern or interest." Certainly this may
lead to no harm, but it may also lead to the
most intolerable tyranny ever imposed upon any
body of men. If this provision is intended to
be acted upon to its full extent, the simple-t
plan would have been at once to make over the
complete control and management of our whole
manufactures to four persons to be called In-
spectors. Clauses from eighteen to twentv-one,
relate to the teaching of children in
factories, restricted to eight hours' work, read-
ing, writing, and arithmetic, and are, in our
opinion, tile least objectionable provisions in
the whole Bill. The machinery is exceedingly
simple, and, we should think, would work well.
Clause twenty-two makes the mill owner
liable to a penalty for a child remaining
within the outer walls of any factory for
more than the eight hours. Clause twenty-
three relates to the mode in which Inspectors
shall give notice. Clause twenty-four directs
that the interior walls of mills shall be
whitewashed once every year. The twenty-
fifth clause compels masters to have an abstract
of the Act and the rules of the inspector hung
up in their mills. Clause twenty-six makes
parties guilty of forging a certific tie, &c., liable
to imprisonment and hard labour for any period
not exceeding two months. By the twenty-
seventh clause, parents and others who receive
the wages of children are made liable to punish-
ment, as well as masters, for their employment
more than the time allowed. Under the twenty-
eighth clause, agents and servants of factory
owners are made personally liable. The
twenty-ninth clause is of somewhat an ex-
traordinary description. It provides that if
it shall be proved that the propelling ma-
chinery of any mill was in operation on the day
mentioned in the information, before five o'clock
in the morning or after nine o'clock in the even-
ing, the justice or inspector before whom the
complaint is made, shall convict the party com-
plained against, unless it shall be proved that
the person alleged to have been overworked had
not been employed in any manner contrary to the
provisions of this Act on the day mentioned.
l'hal is to say, that unless the master shall
be able to prove a negative, the mere fact of his
machinery being at work out of the hours above-
mentioned shall be taken as a proof of guilt.
A thing more monstrous we cannot imagine.
The thirtieth clause makes the penalty for of-
fences against this Act, not otherwise provided
tor, vary from one pound to twenty, at
the discretion of the justice or inspector
before whom the conviction takes place.
The succeeding clauses, up to the forty-first,
relate to the form of proceedings under the Act.
The most extraordinary is the 39th, which
simply says, " And be it further enacted, that
no appeal shall be allowed against any convic-
tion under this Act, neither shall such convic-
tion be removeable by certiorari or bill of ad-
vocation into any court whatever." This is
exceedingly cool after what we have seen of the
power given to the inspectors. What! no appeal
from the decisions of men who are armed with
an authority almost despotic over the fortunes of
all who may be so unfortunate to have invested
their capital in manufactures? Unless some
change be made in this matter, and the Bill be
really carried into effect, there will be no more
complaints of internal competition. So far from
new factories starting up, people will withdraw
their capital out of them as fast as they can. The
system to be established will be more irksome than
even the Excise espionage now practised.The con-
sequence must, in the end, be, that instead of
the people complaining that they get their bread
with difficulty, they will complain that they
cannot get it at all. Instead of over
-work
there will be no work. This was precisely the
effect we dreaded from Lord ASHLEY'S Bill.
We preferred Lord ALTHORP'B proposition as
a less departure from principle than Lord ASH.'

LEY'S; but if its details are to be such as we
here find them, we have no hesitation in
saying that we shall incur all the hazards
we dreaded in the more open attack upon the
freedom of labour. How is it possible, for
instance, that the masters should escape the pits
opened for them in clause nine. A child who has
been working from five in the morning, comes
to a mill to be employed at ten or at twelve;
how is it possible for the masters to ascertain
the fact if the child chooses to say that it has
not been at work? Yet this must be a com-
mon ca,e it the system of working two sets of
children to one set of men is resorted to. The re-
maining clauses of the Bill relate to de-
tails for the payment of salaries, &c. Among
these clauses is a provision we deem of
great importance, and which we really think
would, of itself, almost do away with even the
appearance of necessity for investing the Inspec-
tors with the arbitrary power given them under
this Bill. We allude to the enactment requir-
ing every Inspector to keep full minutes of
all his visits and proceedings, and report
the same, with the state of the mills and children
employed in them, at least once every year, to
his Majesty's Secretary of State for the Home
Department. Having now gone through the
Bill, we must say, that although as a whole it is
less objectionable than Lord ASHLEY'S, it
is still of a nature which would make it
desirable to try the experiment suggested by Mr.
BOLLING before carrying it into effect. That sug-
gestion was to try Sir JOHN HOBHOUSE'S Bill
universally, and to appoint inspectors to see it
carried into effect. This, with the adoption of
the education clauses of the Bill before us,
would be quite far enough to go, as an experi-
ment, in a course acknowledgedly against prin-
ciple. We trust Mr. BOLLING will redeem the
pledge he gave in Committee, and bring forward
a proposition to the effect we have stated.